Updated text and new maps bring this standard introduction up to date.
Throughout Christian history, the works of Josephus have been mined for the light they shed on the world of the New Testament. Josephus tells us about the Herodian family, the temple, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He mentions James the brother of Jesus, John the Baptist, and even Jesus himself. In "Josephus and the New Testament," an internationally acknowledged authority on Josephus introduces this first-century Jewish historian to readers who want to begin to explore his witness to environment in which early Judaism and Christianity took shape.

The Passion Translation is a modern, easy-to-read Bible translation that unlocks the passion of God's heart and expresses his fiery love-merging emotion and life-changing truth. This translation will evoke an overwhelming response in every reader, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures. If you are hungry for God, The Passion Translation will help you encounter his heart and know him more intimately. Fall in love with God all over again.

Richard I. Pervo provides the most complete translation of the pseudepigraphic Acts of Paul in English, together with a detailed commentary. The research perspective of this work is primarily literary, with detailed attention to the history of composition and revision. The author encourages a fresh look at this section of the 'Apocraphal Acts' through the lens of the Pauline legacy and in the context of ancient popular narrative.

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship. Overview of Commentary Organization Introduction-covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology. Each section of the commentary includes: Pericope Bibliography-a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope. Translation-the author's own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English. Notes-the author's notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation. Form/Structure/Setting-a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here. Comment-verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research. Explanation-brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues. General Bibliography-occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

We live in times of insecurity. New nations are coming to birth. Social and political patterns are evolving. Violence, terrorism, and war threaten the very foundations of civilization. These external insecurities are reflected in the internal world of the mind and of the spirit. There is widespread distrust of Christian faith and a preference for agnosticism or free thought. Many church members are confused and uncertain. Against this background, to read the letters of John is to enter another world marked by assurance, knowledge, confidence, and boldness. The certainty of Christian people is twofold: objective (that the Christian religion is true) and subjective (that they have been born of God and possess eternal life). Both are expounded by John, who takes it for granted that this double assurance is right and healthy. Today we urgently need to hear and heed his teaching about the nature of these certainties and the grounds on which they are built. John Stott was one of the world's leading and most-loved Bible teachers and preachers. In this Bible study guide you can explore Scripture under his guidance, enhancing your own in-depth study with insights gained from his years of immersion in God's Word.

Directly or indirectly, race makes many appearances in the Fourth Gospel. What is the meaning of all this attention to ethnic labels? Race in John's Gospel investigates how John reflects the racialized ideas current in its milieu, challenging some and adapting others. Ultimately, John dismisses race as valid grounds for prejudice or discrimination, devaluing the very criteria on which race is based. The cumulative effect of this rhetoric is to undermine the category itself, exposing earthly race as irrelevant and illusory. However, John's anthropology is layered, and looks beyond this unimportant earthly level. Above it, John constructs a heavenly level of racial identity, based on one's descent from either God or the devil.

This book surveys the current landscape of New Testament studies, offering readers a concise guide to contemporary discussions. Bringing together a diverse group of experts, it covers research on the most important issues in New Testament studies, including new discipline areas, making it an ideal supplemental textbook for a variety of courses on the New Testament. Michael Bird, David Capes, Greg Carey, Lynn Cohick, Dennis Edwards, Michael Gorman, and Abson Joseph are among the contributors.

Pastor John MacArthur will take you through the Thessalonians and the short letter to Titus, passage by passage, so that you can better understand Paul's audience, his message, and his reminder to live a life of faithfulness. Like a tender shepherd, Paul wrote the letters of 1 & 2 Thessalonians to the church he founded in the large city of Thessalonica. These were friends he knew, loved, and missed. His purpose in writing was to thank them for their work of faith, their labor of love, and their continued hope in the Lord Jesus Christ . . . and His coming again. Similarly, Paul's letter to Titus-a young pastor in Crete-is filled with personal affirmation, counsel, and guidance on how to prepare church leaders for effective evangelism. These letters of instruction are as inspirational for us today as they were for these first-century Christ followers. -ABOUT THE SERIES- The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates: Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text. Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context. Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life. Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.

This book demonstrates that the Gospels originated from a sequential hypertextual reworking of the contents of Paul's letters and, in the case of Matthew and John, of the Acts of the Apostles. Consequently, the new quest for the historical Jesus, which takes this discovery into serious consideration, results in a rather limited reconstruction of Jesus' life. However, since such a reconstruction includes, among others, Jesus' messiahship, behaving in a way which was later interpreted as pointing to him as the Son of God, instituting the Lord's Supper, being conscious of the religious significance of his imminent death, dying on the cross, and appearing as risen from the dead to Cephas and numerous other Jewish believers, it can be reconciled with the principles of the Christian faith.

Tom Wright was recently acclaimed by Newsweek as 'the world's leading New Testament scholar'

Revelation is a book that many Christians find confusing due to the foreign nature of its apocalyptic imagery. It is a book that has prompted endless discussions about the 'end times' with theological divisions forming around epicenters such as the rapture and the millennium. In this book, award winning author Gordon Fee attempts to excavate the layers of symbolic imagery and provide an exposition of Revelation that is clear, easy to follow, convincing, and engaging. Fee shows us how John's message confronts the world with the Revelation of Jesus Christ so that Christians might see themselves as caught up in the drama of God's triumph over sin, evil, and death. Fee draws us into the world of John and invites us to see the world through John's eyes as the morbid realities of this world have the joyous realities of heaven cast over them. In this latest installment in the New Covenant Commentary Series we see one of North America's best evangelical exegetes at his very best.

The very essence of the existential relationship between the human and the divine is communicated by the English word, 'worship'. Although the word appears to carry a univocal meaning in English, no such word per se exists in the Greek New Testament. The English word at best explains but does not adequately and completely define the dynamics involved in the relationship between humanity and God. Worship and the Risen Jesus in the Pauline Letters approaches the subject of Christian worship in respect to its origins from the perspective of the earliest New Testament writer: Paul. This book seeks to address the relative absence in scholarship of a full treatment of worship in the Pauline Letters. Closely related to the theme of Christian worship in the Pauline Letters is the person of the risen Jesus and the place he occupies in the faith community. This work proposes a proper working definition of, including criteria for, 'worship'. Paul employed an array of Greek words as descriptors to communicate the various nuances and dimensions related to one's relationship with God. 'Worship' also functioned for Paul as a boundary marker between believers and unbelievers vis-a-vis baptism and the Eucharist. The eschatological and teleological aspects of worship are also examined through a study of the Carmen Christi (Phil 2: 6-11). This study maintains that worship in Paul is not defined by any one word but is rather a composite and comprehensive personal religious relationship between the worshipper and God.

The first letter to the Corinthians is one of the most discussed biblical books in New Testament scholarship today. Despite this, there has been no consensus on its arrangement and central theme, in particular why the topic of the resurrection was left until the end of the letter, and what its theological significance would have been to the Corinthian church. Matthew R. Malcolm analyses this rhetoric of 'reversal', examines the unity of the epistle, and addresses key problems behind particular chapters. He argues that while Jewish and Greco-Roman resources contribute significantly to the overall arrangement of the letter, Paul writes as one whose identity and rhetorical resources of structure and imagery have been transformed by his preaching, or kerygma, of Christ. The study will be of interest to students of New Testament studies, Pauline theology and early Christianity.

The Life of Jesus is the biographical account of Jesus' supernatural birth, extraordinary life, unjust death, confirmed resurrection, and promised return to earth. The text from all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) is harmonized into a singular narrative and presented chronologically. Other features include: - Words of Jesus in red - Reader's edition single-column format without verse numbers - Contemporary, easy-to-read font - Subject headings that introduce sections of the Bible text and its source in the Gospels - Expanded text from the other Gospels for the richest presentation of duplicate accounts.

This highly readable investigation of the early church explores the revolutionary nature, dynamics, and effects of the earliest Christian communities. It introduces readers to the cultural setting of the house churches of biblical times, examines the apostle Paul's vision of life in the Christian church, and explores how the New Testament model of community applies to Christian practice today. Updated and revised throughout, this 40th-anniversary edition incorporates recent research, updates the bibliography, and adds a new fictional narrative that depicts the life and times of the early church.

This engaging book guides readers through one of the most colorful books of the Bible, illuminating passages from Acts that show the Christian gospel expressing itself through the lives, speech, struggles, and adventures of Jesus's followers. The book emphasizes the disruptive character of the Christian gospel and shows how Acts repeatedly describes God as upsetting the status quo by changing people's lives, society's conventions, and our basic expectations of what's possible. Suited for individual and group study, this book by a New Testament scholar with a gift for popular communication asks serious questions and eschews pat answers, bringing Acts alive for contemporary reflection on the character of God, the challenges of faith, and the church.

A Companion WORKBOOK to Help You Discover the Great Story of Scripture and Find Your Place in It Living God's Word is your pathway to read the Bible as it was meant to be read: as God's Great Story. This WORKBOOK is designed for use alongside the second edition of Living God's Word. While the textbook helps you see the big picture of what God is doing throughout the Bible, the WORKBOOK lets you reflect on and internalize what you are reading. Many Christians resolve to study the Bible more fervently, but often struggle to grasp the progression of Scripture as a whole. They encounter various passages each week through unrelated readings, studies, and sermons and it all feels disconnected. But once they see the Bible as God's Great Story, they begin to understand how it all fits together and they start see how their own lives fit into what God has done and is doing in the world. In Living God's Word, Second Edition, New Testament scholar J. Scott Duvall and Old Testament expert J. Daniel Hays help Christians consider how their lives can be integrated into the story of the Bible, thus enabling them to live faithfully in deep and important ways. Living God's Word explores the entire Bible through broad themes that trace the progression of God's redemptive plan. Each section deals with a certain portion of Scripture's story and includes: Reading/listening preparation Explanation Summary Observations about theological significance Connections to the Great Story Written assignments for further study These features--combined with the authors' engaging style--make Living God's Word an ideal book for those who want to understand the Bible better, for introductory college courses, Sunday school electives, or small group study. When used alongside the textbook, this workbook is the ideal resource for anyone looking to better understand how the entire Bible fits together as God's Great Story.

The earliest and briefest of the four Gospels has traditionally been ascribed to a disciple named Mark In some ages it been overshadowed by its lengthier neighbors in the New Testament, but its pages hold rich rewards for those who ask the right questions. Who was "Mark," and what were his purposes--historical, theological, or otherwise? How does he shape his story of Jesus, and what interpretation of the origins of Christianity does that shaping reveal? More particularly, what is his understanding of his central character, Jesus of Nazareth? And finally, what abiding value does his story hold for those who read this "good news" as a key part of the charter of the Christian church in its life today?
Seminarians, other graduate students and advanced undergraduates, pastors, and other readers seeking an introduction to the Gospel of Mark through the lens of sensitive literary, historical, and theological scholarship need look no further. In Mark: Storyteller, Interpreter, Evangelist, Francis J. Moloney offers the fruits of top-level biblical scholarship in a broadly accessible format. Students and professors alike will appreciate and profit from his fresh and lucid presentation of the message of one of the Christian faith's earliest and most enigmatic proponents and the inventor of its most revered literary genre.

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor's reputation as a recognized expert on the Corinthian correspondence has been built on the original solutions he has offered to perennial problems. Brought together for the first time in one volume, each of the twelve articles anthologised here deals with a complex aspect of interpretation for 2 Corinthians. Whether addressing the interpretation of a particular passage, the question of co-authorship, or the relation of the epistle to other texts, Murphy-O'Connor presents his evidence in a characteristically clear and incisive style.
A newly written 'reception history' has been appended to each article to bring the collection up to date with the latest research on the epistle.
This is a companion volume to Keys to First Corinthians, also available from Oxford University Press.

This book investigates the use of the Greek term "proskuneo" with Jesus as the object in the New Testament writings. Ray M. Lozano unpicks this interesting term and examines its capacity to express various degrees of reverence directed toward a superior: from a respectful greeting of an elder, to homage paid to a king, to cultic worship paid to a god. Lozano then looks at the term in reference to Jesus in the New Testament writings, and carefully considers whether Jesus is portrayed as receiving such reverence in a relatively weak sense, as a merely human figure, or in a relatively strong sense, as a divine figure. Lozano highlights how scholars are divided over this issue and provides a fresh, thorough examination of the New Testament material (Mark, Matthew, Luke-Acts, John, Hebrews, and Revelation) and, in so doing shows, that each of these New Testament writings, in their own unique ways, presents Jesus as a divine figure-uniquely and closely linked to the God of Israel in making him an object of "proskuneo."

In "Spiritual Landscape," James Resseguie culls recent study in narrative criticism to present the spiritual significance of the geographic environment, social relationships, and the local economy in Luke's Gospel. Students, preachers, spiritual directors, and readers interested in spirituality from a biblical perspective will gain insight from the role of stories such as the road to Emmaus, the tax collector's feast, and the demoniac's change of clothes.

During the Orthodox celebration of Holy Week, the Church relives the arrest, trial, sufferings, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. On Matins of Holy Friday (commonly served on the evening of Holy Thursday), there is a special service where, the passion of Christ's sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane, His Trial, and Crucifixion through all four Gospels is read aloud in church. This book provides the English text for those twelve Passion Gospel readings.

This insightful study explores the significance of the interactions between Jesus and 'marginal' women recounted in the "Gospel of Matthew". Employing social-scientific models and carefully using comparative data, "Love" examines the various aspects of this marginality, identifying the attempts of Matthew's Gospel to promote Jesus' vision of a new surrogate family of God that challenges the traditional structures of the household.