New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John Vol. 1. William Barclay
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the first volume of the original Daily Bible Readings, which later became The Daily Study Bible (the commentary on Acts), was published in 1953, no one could have anticipated or envisaged the revolution in the use of language which was to take place in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Indeed, when the first revised edition, to which William Barclay refers in his General Introduction, was completed in 1975, such a revolution was still waiting in the wings. But at the beginning of the twenty-first century, inclusive language and the concept of political correctness are well-established facts of life. It has therefore been with some trepidation that the editing of this unique and much-loved text has been undertaken in producing The New Daily Study Bible. Inevitably, the demands of the new language have resulted in the loss of some of Barclay’s most sonorous phrases, perhaps best remembered in the often-repeated words ‘many a man’. Nonetheless, this revision is made in the conviction that William Barclay, the great communicator, would have welcomed it. In the discussion of Matthew 9:16–17 (‘The Problem of the New Idea’), he affirmed the value of language that has stood the test of time and in which people have ‘found comfort and put their trust’, but he also spoke of ‘living in a changing and expanding world’ and questioned the wisdom of reading God’s word to twentieth-century men and women in Elizabethan English. It is the intention of this new edition to heed that warning and to bring William Barclay’s message of God’s word to readers of the twenty-first century in the language of their own time.
In the editorial process, certain decisions have been made in order to keep a balance between that new language and the familiar Barclay style. Quotations from the Bible are now taken from the New Revised Standard Version, but William Barclay’s own translation of individual passages has been retained throughout. Where the new version differs from the text on which Barclay originally commented, because of the existence of an alternative reading, the variant text is indicated by square brackets. I have made no attempt to guess what Barclay would have said about the NRSV text; his commentary still refers to the Authorized (King James) and Revised Standard Versions of the Bible, but I believe that the inclusive language of the NRSV considerably assists the flow of the discussion.
For similar reasons, the dating conventions of BC and AD – rather than the more recent and increasingly used BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) – have been retained. William Barclay took great care to explain the meanings of words and phrases and scholarly points, but it has not seemed appropriate to select new terms and make such explanations on his behalf.
One of the most difficult problems to solve has concerned monetary values. Barclay had his own system for translating the coinage of New Testament times into British currency. Over the years, these equivalent values have become increasingly out of date, and often the force of the point being made has been lost or diminished. There is no easy way to bring these equivalents up to date in a way that will continue to make sense, particularly when readers come from both sides of the Atlantic. I have therefore followed the only known yardstick that gives any feel for the values concerned, namely that a denarius was a day’s wage for a working man, and I have made alterations to the text accordingly.
One of the striking features of The Daily Study Bible is the range of quotations from literature and hymnody that are used by way of illustration. Many of these passages appeared without identification or attribution, and for the new edition I have attempted wherever possible to provide sources and authors. In the same way, details have been included about scholars and other individuals cited, by way of context and explanation, and I am most grateful to Professor John Drane for his assistance in discovering information about some of the more obscure or unfamiliar characters. It is clear that readers use The Daily Study Bible in different ways. Some look up particular passages while others work through the daily readings in a more systematic way. The descriptions and explanations are therefore not offered every time an individual is mentioned (in order to avoid repetition that some may find tedious), but I trust that the information can be discovered without too much difficulty.
Finally, the ‘Further Reading’ lists at the end of each volume have been removed. Many new commentaries and individual studies have been added to those that were the basis of William Barclay’s work, and making a selection from that ever-increasing catalogue is an impossible task. It is nonetheless my hope that the exploration that begins with these volumes of The New Daily Study Bible will go on in the discovery of new writers and new books.
Throughout the editorial process, many conversations have taken place – conversations with the British and American publishers, and with those who love the books and find in them both information and inspiration. Ronnie Barclay’s contribution to this revision of his father’s work has been invaluable. But one conversation has dominated the work, and that has been a conversation with William Barclay himself through the text. There has been a real sense of listening to his voice in all the questioning and in the searching for new words to convey the meaning of that text. The aim of The New Daily Study Bible is to make clear his message, so that the distinctive voice, which has spoken to so many in past years, may continue to be heard for generations to come.
Linda Foster
London
2001
INTRODUCTION
(by John Drane)
John has always been recognized to be different in character from the other three gospels. At the time that William Barclay was himself a student, it was fashionable to explain this by supposing that John’s account is an essentially fictional narrative, loosely based on the synoptic gospels, but concerned more with defending early Christian beliefs than with providing any sort of independent testimony to the life and teaching of Jesus. By the time that Barclay wrote this volume, the idea that John’s gospel should be rehabilitated as a credible historical account had been proposed by several leading scholars, but was still a matter of considerable ongoing debate. Barclay unhesitatingly accepted this ‘new look’ on John, not only affirming the essential trustworthiness of the gospel as an authentic presentation of the life and teaching of Jesus, but also connecting its composition with the apostle John himself. His proposal that the finished gospel was not actually written down by the apostle himself, but reflected the life and faith of a ‘Johannine community’ that flourished in Ephesus towards the end of the first century, has been more fully explored since Barclay’s time, and is now widely accepted among New Testament scholars, though some would be inclined to date the gospel itself a little earlier than AD 100.
Some aspects of this commentary would certainly be expressed differently today, especially Barclay’s descriptions of the ‘opponents’ whom he believed John was countering. He scarcely noticed the anti-Jewish tone of some passages which has been the subject of heated debate, and the description of Gnosticism at 1:3 as ‘an intellectual and philosophical approach to Christianity’ is by no means the whole story. Texts written by Gnostics themselves have shown that Gnosticism was not an exclusively Christian phenomenon, while some doubt that ‘Gnosticism’ as such really was a definable entity, preferring to see it as a more loosely formulated ‘attitude’, much like today’s ‘New Age’, with which it has much in common.
In characteristic Barclay style, this volume is concerned with the wider meaning of the text to Christian life and witness. He has a good deal to say about what would now be called contextualization, the relevant expression of the Christian message in different cultures. The recurrence of this theme throughout not only reveals Barclay’s own underlying concern for effective mission, but also highlights an issue which continues to be a key challenge for the Church at the beginning of this new century.
John Drane
University of Aberdeen
2001
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
The Gospel of the Eagle’s Eye
For many Christian people, the Gospel according to St John is the most precious book in the New Testament. It is the book on which above all they feed their minds