Everyone knows the New Testament begins with the Gospel of Matthew, but how many know Matthew was actually one of the later books to be written? (It wasn't even the first Gospel ) But Evolution of the Word is not your typical New Testament.

Marcus J. Borg, esteemed Bible scholar and bestselling author, shakes up the order of the New Testament as we know it by putting the books in a completely new order--the order in which they were written. By doing so, Evolution of the Word allows us to read these documents in their historical context. For the first time, see how the core ideas of Christianity took shape and developed over time.

Borg surveys what we know of the Jewish community of Jesus followers who passed on their stories orally. Into this context emerges the apostle Paul, whose seven authentic letters become the first collected writings that would later become the New Testament. Borg offers helpful introductions for each book so that as we read through these biblical documents, spanning over a century in time, we see afresh what concerns and pressures shaped this movement as it evolved into a new religion.

In this groundbreaking format, Borg reveals how a radical and primitive apocalyptic Jewish faith slowly became more comfortable with the world, less Jewish, and more pre- occupied with maintaining power and control. Evolution of the Word promises to change forever how we think about this historic work.

In "Jesus, the One and Only," best-selling author and Bible teacher Beth Moore invites you to know Christ personally. Watch and listen as He breaks up a funeral by raising the dead, confronts conniving religious leaders of His day, teaches on a Galilean hillside, or walks on the waves and calms the storm.
Like a ragtag band of followers two thousand years ago, you will never be the same again after such an up close and personal encounter.
"He is Jesus, the One and Only, transcendent over all else," writes Moore. "To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to long for Him. To long for Him is to finally reach soul hands into the One true thing we need never get enough of . . . Jesus Christ. He's all you need."
Available for the first time in trade paper, this new edition also features an excerpt from Moore's "Jesus, the One and Only" Bible study.

The Greek scholar William Lorimer spent the last ten years of his life working on this project. Each Gospel has a different form of Scots to match the different forms of Greek used by the various apostles and scribes, and the vigour and immediacy of the language is everywhere apparent. Transcribed, edited and published by his son Robin Lorimer, this scholarly and dramatically fresh reading of an already familiar text caused a sensation when it first appeared in 1983. Beyond the poetry of the King James version, here are the voices of the disciples themselves, speaking, as they undoubtedly did, in 'plain braid Galilee'.

"The followers of Jesus are to be different," writes John Stott, "different from both the nominal church and the secular world, different from both the religious and the irreligious. The Sermon on the Mount is the most complete delineation anywhere in the New Testament of the Christian counter-culture." In the Sermon on the Mount, the "nearest thing to a manifesto" that Jesus ever uttered, we find Jesus' own description of what he wanted his followers to be and do. In this Bible Speaks Today volume, Stott guides readers through Jesus' well-known but often poorly understood teachings in Matthew 5 through 7. Leading us to listen carefully to the meaning of each verse in its context, Stott also confronts the challenges this text raises for today's Christians and draws out practical applications. This revised edition features lightly updated language, current NIV Scripture quotations and a new interior design. A seven-session study guide at the end of the book will help you more deeply ponder the message of the Sermon on the Mount and how it speaks to your life.

Paul writes his letter to the Philippians referencing two related forms of persecution. The Christians of Philippi are experiencing persecution by the Roman authorities who govern the Philippi. Paul himself is experiencing persecution by the Roman authorities (the Roman emperor's praetorian guard) in Rome. Roman persecution is thus the fundamental context for his letter. Paul's most basic premise in this letter is to hold high the slave, Jesus Christ! In perhaps the most moving passage he ever wrote (Phil 2:6-11) Paul delineates that Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped at but rather empties himself taking the form of a slave and embracing crucifixion, the slave's form of death. Accordingly. God has raised Jesus to the highest place and has caused all on the earth, above the earth, and under the earther to bow at the name of Jesus and to proclaim that Jesus alone is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Very significantly, Paul affirms that Christian slaves are ennobled by Jesus initiatives. Because these slaves now join the other Christian citizens in having "citizenship in heaven," Paul's letter constitutes a radical threat to the Roman imperial authorities in this way as well.

Jesus told a story about a young son, his older brother and their loving father. It's a great story that teaches us about God and about how patient he is. Jesus told stories, great stories, that tell us about who God is and what he is like. In the Stories From Jesus series the parables are retold and explained for young children.

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.