Evangelicals Now
<< December 1998 >>

Knowing Where We Stand - The Message of John's Epistles

Knowing where we stand:
The message of John's epistles
By Peter Barnes
Evangelical Press. 160 pages. £4.95
ISBN 0 85234 414 7

I enjoyed reading this commentary. Peter Barnes has a style that is robust, like so many of his fellow-Australians!
He is acutely aware of the power of these epistles to speak into our day of spiritual and moral decline and is not afraid to ask some very awkward questions. In a church climate today which often seems to ask so little of its members, he sketches out the three main tests for authentic Christianity which John expounds: the doctrinal test, the relationships test and the obedience test. As one would expect, he is very clear on the need for doctrinal purity and on the central claim of these epistles that Christ is the God-man. 'If Christ is not the eternal one made flesh, he is the most audacious deceiver who ever lived.'
He pulls no punches in criticising John Stott for believing that evangelical Christians can have fellowship with 'liberal Christians'. This refers to Stott's debate with fellow Anglican David Edwardes in the book Essentials. Some may feel this is too harsh but it alerts us to the perils of compromise for the sake of an easy life.
He makes an excellent point in the second chapter, when he challenges the assumption that so many make that the first thing we need to tell the world is that God is love. 'However soothing that may be, it is not John's message, nor is it really the message of the Bible. John's first assertion is that God is light' (p.19). A good, clear, stimulating read which will certainly provoke and inform.

Ross Terranova