Summary
We find Stephen S. Smalley’s 1, 2, & 3 John a careful technical guide to the Johannine letters, with sustained attention to themes of truth, love, obedience, and assurance. It helps us track the letters’ pastoral purpose, especially where the polemical edge can be misunderstood.
The volume is detailed and sometimes demanding, but it regularly brings clarity where these letters can feel repetitive or circular. That clarity can serve our preaching well.
Why Should I Own This Commentary?
We should own this commentary when we want help preaching assurance without sentimentality and warning without cruelty. The letters deal with false teaching, spiritual confidence, and genuine love for the saints. Smalley’s careful work helps us keep those threads together.
We also benefit from attention to structure and key terms. 1 John in particular can feel like it spirals rather than progresses. Technical guidance can help us show our people the letter’s pastoral logic.
For Reformed preaching, the letters are a rich field for Christ centred ministry, especially as we proclaim the apostolic testimony to the Son and the Spirit’s work in producing love, holiness, and perseverance.
Closing Recommendation
We recommend this as a useful technical companion for those who teach the Johannine letters with some regularity. It is strongest alongside a more directly expository volume, but it can sharpen our reading and steady our applications.
As a next step, we can visit the Bible Book Overview, then browse Top Recommendations, and use the Reformed Commentary Index to build a wiser working shelf.
Purchase here
Stephen S. Smalley
Stephen S. Smalley was a British New Testament scholar of the modern era, writing within evangelical scholarship.
He is known for work in Johannine literature, helping pastors handle themes of truth, love, assurance, and false teaching with balance and clarity. His exposition supports preaching that is warm without being vague, and firm without being harsh, because it keeps the person of Christ and the call to walk in the light central.
He remains valued for clarity, pastoral sensitivity, and a strong sense of the text’s purpose.
Recommended titles include 1 John, 2 John, 3 John in Word Biblical Commentary, John in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, and studies on Johannine theology.
Theological Perspective: Broadly Evangelical