This book provides a literary analysis of New Testament texts on marriage, sex, family, and celibate ideals. It seeks to explore if, how, and eventually to what extent the New Testament favors sexual abstinence. The core of this study consequently consists of fresh perspectives on the issue of sexual abstinence in the New Testament through close readings of 1 Cor 7, Gal 3:28, Matt 19:10-12, and Mark 12:18-27/Matt 22:23-33/Luke 20:27-40, with a keen eye to the many ambassadors of abstinence in the texts-characters exhibiting sexual abstinence given a favorable characterization and function. As a comprehensive literary analysis of these texts from this perspective lacks precedent in contemporary biblical scholarship, the study is a valuable contribution to the ongoing scholarly debate on the biblical views on sex and marriage.

The present study represents the first attempt to expand the methodological and practical framework of textual scholarship on the Greek New Testament from an Orthodox perspective. Its focus is on the Antoniades edition of 1904, commonly known as the Patriarchal Edition. The examination of the creation and reception of this edition shows that its textual principles are often misrepresented. In particular, it is shown to be more closely related to the Textus Receptus than to lectionary manuscripts. This is confirmed by an analysis of lectionary manuscripts using the Text und Textwert methodology and a detailed comparison of the Antoniades edition with the recent Editio Critica Maior of the Catholic Epistles. A textual commentary is provided on key verses in order to formulate guidelines for preparing an edition of the Greek New Testament that would satisfy the needs of Orthodox users in different contexts. This study offers a foundation for the further development of New Testament textual scholarship from an Orthodox perspective, informed both by modern critical scholarship and Orthodox tradition. It also provides a fresh translation of Antoniades' introduction in an Appendix.

Appealing to anyone who uses a mobile phone or tablet, the Filament Bible Collection is a line of lightweight print Bibles featuring a first-in-market app that connects readers to extensive content related to any page they are reading. Readers simply scan a page number of the Filament Bible with the simple-to-use free Filament Bible app on their mobile device to instantly access study notes; devotionals from authors such as Chris Tiegreen, Nancy Guthrie, Colin S. Smith, and Harold Myra; interactive maps; articles; teaching videos (The Bible Project); and worship music (The Worship Initiative) related to the verse or passage of Scripture being read.

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Ephesians presents readers with a volatile mix of assurance, exhilarating worship, and forceful exhortation-a bracing challenge to today's church. The letter convinces Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld that the grace-gift of faithfulness leads to worship. Power, peace, and new creation are gifts of grace equipping the church to participate in God's reconciling embrace.This commentary guides readers to a life-changing encounter with Ephesians, probing interpretations, refreshing Christian teaching, and calling everyone to "walk" accordingly, with a song in heart and throat. 402 Pages.

Chalmer E. Faw brings Acts to life for our day. He blends thorough biblical scholarship with wisdom from extensive and varied experience in missionary work and Bible teaching. His careful exposition of the book of Acts is supplemented with literary and theological discussion.The key word in Acts is witness for Jesus Christ, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. God's Spirit anoints the church at Pentecost, leads believers in handling conflicts between converts new and old, and empowers Christians to overcome false beliefs and magic. In Acts, Luke tells this dramatic story with subtle humor. 336 Pages.

Unveiling Empire aims to be a fresh look, with new insights and interpretations, at the apocalyptic visions described in The Book of Revelation.'

Katherine Joy Kihlstrom Timpte addresses a gap in scholarship by answering the question: "how is a child supposed to be the model recipient of the kingdom of God?" While most scholarship on Mark 10:13-16 agrees that children are metaphorically employed because of their qualities of dependence, Timpte argues that it is more specifically an image of the disciple's radical transformation, which both mirrors and reverses the traditional rites of passage by which a child became an adult. Timpte suggests that Jesus, by insisting that one must enter the Kingdom of God as a child, invokes two interlacing images. First, to enter the Kingdom of God, one must be fundamentally transformed and changed. Second, this transformation reverses the rite by which a child would have become an adult, removing the adult's superior status. Beginning with a summary of the scholarship surrounding children in the Bible, Timpte explores the perception of children in the ancient world, their rites of passage and entrance into adulthood, and contrasting this with the processing of entering the kingdom of God, while also highlighting childish characters in Mark. Timpte concludes that to enter into the kingdom as a child means that one must strip off those things one gained by leaving childhood behind: wealth, respect, family, much like Jesus, who throughout Mark's Gospel moves from powerful to powerless, respected to despised, and accepted by all to rejected even (seemingly) by God. Jesus models transformation to childhood in an emphasis on what the Kingdom of God is like.