I have already shared Bowman’s bibliographies for James and Hebrews with you all, so this post we will complete the General Epistles with the two epistles of Peter, Jude, and the three epistles of John. Enjoy!

General Epistles: A Very Short Bibliography

Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

1 Peter

Achtemeier, Paul J. 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996. Well-done but now somewhat dated commentary reflecting standard mainline/liberal approach to the epistle.

*Elliott, John H. 1 Peter: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries 37B. New York: Doubleday–Anchor Bible, 2000. Nearly a thousand pages long commentary by the premiere modern Petrine scholar, a Lutheran who taught for decades at the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. Even though it is older than the excellent commentaries by Forbes and Jobes, this one remains an absolute must for serious exegetical study of the epistle.

Forbes, Greg W. 1 Peter. Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament. Andreas J. Köstenberger and Robert W. Yarbrough, series eds. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2014. Recent commentary by an Australian evangelical scholar focused on the exegesis of the Greek text.

Jobes, Karen H. 1 Peter. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005. Excellent commentary by an evangelical scholar whose work deserves to be better known.

Pierce, Chad T. Spirits and the Proclamation of Christ: 1 Peter 3:18-22 in Light of Sin and Punishment Traditions in Early Jewish and Christian Literature. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011. The most thorough recent monograph on what may be the most controversial passage in the New Testament, offering a careful review of the relevant ancient literature.

2 Peter and Jude

Note: Due to the close relationship between 2 Peter and Jude, many if not most commentaries and studies include the two epistles together.

Bauckham, Richard J. Jude, 2 Peter. Word Biblical Commentary 50. Waco: Word Books, 1983. One of the most often-cited commentaries on the epistles, and justly so; worthy of being on this list although it is now somewhat dated.

Bauckham, Richard J. Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990. Moderately conservative study exploring the connections between the epistle of Jude and the historical Jesus.

Davids, Peter H. The Letters of 2 Peter and Jude. Pillar NT Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. 5.0; 5 reviews; 316K. Perhaps the most popular academic commentary on the epistles; recommended by Clint Arnold, Jerome Neyrey, Seyoon Kim, and Ralph P. Martin.

*Green, Gene. Jude & 2 Peter. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008. One of the best recent evangelical commentaries on the epistles; recommended by both Bauckham and Davids.

Neyrey, Jerome H. 2 Peter, Jude: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 37C. New York: Doubleday, 1993. Moderately critical Roman Catholic scholar’s commentary on the epistles.

Epistles of John

Brown, Raymond E. The Epistles of John: Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary. AB 30. New York: Doubleday, 1982. Massive commentary (over 800 pages) by the most influential Roman Catholic biblical scholar of the twentieth century (taking a moderately critical approach).

Culpepper, R. Alan, and Paul N. Anderson, eds. Communities in Dispute: Current Scholarship on the Johannine Epistles. Early Christianity and Its Literature. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014. Collection of essays representing current mainline/liberal scholarship on the epistles.

*Jobes, Karen H. 1, 2, and 3 John. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the NT. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014. Most up-to-date evangelical commentary on the epistles.

Lieu, Judith M. I, II, and III John: A Commentary. NT Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. Mainstream scholarly commentary, dissociating the epistles from the Gospel of John.

Yarbrough, Robert W. 1–3 John. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the NT. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008. Noteworthy in-depth evangelical commentary.