Gospel According to John

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In-depth exposition of John - Rated
D.A. Carson is an excellent Bible scholar, and "The Gospel According to John" is an in-depth, thorough exposition of Scripture.

Designed for preachers or those leading Bible studies, the book is certainly not light reading. Frequently the text refers to the original Greek and uses highly technical terms with which the reader is assumed to have prior knowledge. If you have not read a commentary on John before this is certainly not a starting point. However, for those who have studied John to some extent before then the book will be invaluable in fully understanding the context and teaching of Jesus Christ as recorded in John.

I used this to lead a Bible study on John, and found the book a great resource. However, often I would need to refer to a simpler, shorter commentary before reading this. With perserverance though, this book was invaluable in increasing my understanding of John.

In conclusion, for an in-depth understanding of John this is a great book, but it requires a lot of work in order to fully appreciate.

Standard Scholarly Text on John - Rated
I am currently teaching through the Gospel of John. The commentaries I use I split into two main categories - scholarly and applicational. Of the former category, Carson's work has time and again proved far and away the most helpful, both in terms of information and accessibility. It is by no means perfect (his theory that this gospel was written primarily to the Jews is not convincing - cf. Wallace's Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics on Predicate Nominatives) but any gripe is minor. This work is a modern classic.If you were looking to purchase one more scholarly (as opposed to applicational/devotional) commentary this should be the one.