D.A. Carson, The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus: An Evangelical Exposition of John 14-17, Baker books, 2018

Review:

The last words of famous people usually merit specific attention.  This is most certainly true for Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer recorded in John’s Gospel, ch. 13-17. D.A. Carson has provided a gift to all Christians in his exposition of those chapters in The Farewell Discourse and the Final Prayer of Jesus.   He has written it for “everyday Christians” in a “popular style” (D.A Carson, The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus, Baker Book p. 9), though he uses the standard academic commentary form of exposition verse by verse.  His exposition is valuable in and of itself, but it is also wonderfully interlaced with pithy statements which bring the truths in these chapters into everyday life and into our hearts.                                                       5 stars M.L. Codman-Wilson Ph.D., 3/1/18

Excerpts:

 “The irony of our situation [as we luxuriate in the blessings God has already given us] is that our love of our privileges has not by and large produced any more triumphant faith and any more spiritual serenity than would otherwise be the case. Quite the opposite, we have fomented a neurotic generation of malcontents. .” (D.A Carson, the farewell discourse and final prayer of Jesus, Baker Book p. 81).

“Even the most casual reading of the book of Acts reveals the enormous theological and conceptual barriers that the church had to cross as it struggled, sometimes with acute division of opinion to come to grips with the full implication of Jesus’ saving work. In those formative months and years Jesus here assures his disciples the Holy Spirit would lead his disciples into all truth p. 86

On John 14:

“The world wishes peace on people… Christ by contrast bequeaths the gift of peace on all his followers, bestowing it as an essential part of the salvation he achieves for them. The cross wins peace with God, the forgiveness, restoration and healing that flow from this primary peace constitutes the only adequate basis of peace with others and peace within ourselves “My peace.” The expression is stunning… It is the peace that he himself provides and it is part and parcel that he himself experienced during his mortal life…This peace involves dying daily to overgrown self- interest. p 89-92

“It is remarkable that Jesus’ last extended discourse before the cross spends so much time exhorting the disciples to love one another and to obey Jesus’ commands, and so little time in enjoining them to doctrinal purity” (pp. 117, 119).