Fully revised and updated edition of an established and widely-appreciated textbook

This second edition of "Jesus and the Gospels "prepares readers for an intensive study of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the events they narrate. Craig Blomberg considers the historical context of the Gospels and sheds light on the confusing interpretations brought forth over the last two centuries. The original 1997 book won a Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and this updated version, factoring in new scholarship, debate, critical methods, and the ongoing quest of the historical Jesus, ensures the work will remain a top tool for exploring the life of Christ through the first four books of the New Testament.

The third quest for the historical Jesus has reached an impasse. But a fourth quest is underway--one that draws from a heretofore largely neglected source: John's Gospel. In this book, renowned New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg advances the idea that John is a viable and valuable source for studying the historical Jesus. The data from John should be integrated with that of the Synoptics, which will yield additional insights into Jesus's emphases and ministry. Blomberg begins by reviewing the first three quests, reassessing both their contributions and their shortcomings. He then discusses the emerging consensus regarding demonstrably historical portions of John, which are more numerous than usually assumed. Peeling back the layers, we discover in Jesus's ministry an emphasis on purity and purification. The Synoptics corroborate this discovery, specifically in Jesus's meals with sinners. Blomberg then explores the practical and contemporary applications of Jesus the purifier, including the "contagious holiness" that Jesus's followers can spread to others.

This handbook provides a one-stop-shopping guide to the New Testament exegetical method. Brief and approachable, it offers both a broad overview of the exegetical process and a step-by-step approach to studying the New Testament in depth, helping students and pastors understand the text and appropriate it responsibly. The book is chock-full of illustrations of New Testament texts where the method under discussion truly makes a difference.
"A wonderfully clear and accessible handbook for New Testament exegesis. Exegetically rigorous, theologically informed, and practically useful."--Thomas R. Schreiner, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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With its decades-long legacy of helping readers grasp the Bible’s meaning, the NIV Study Bible embodies the mission of the NIV translation to be an accurate, readable, and clear guide into Scripture. Specifically designed to expand upon the NIV, the NIV Study Bible’s editorial team crafts that same accuracy and clarity into every study note.

Now the study Bible millions have come to trust has been fully revised and updated. A new committee of top biblical scholars--who are current and former NIV translators with a passion for making the Bible’s meaning clear--have pored over every note, every article, every chart, and every essay to refine this treasured resource even more. Thousands of newly written or revised notes and articles combine with hundreds of four-color maps, charts, photos, and illustrations to create an entire library of study helps designed to increase your understanding and application of God’s word.

Features:

• Complete text of the accurate, readable, and clear New International Version (NIV)
• Over 21,000 bottom-of-the-page study notes, with icons to make important information easy to spot
• Over 125 topical articles, 16 pages of full-color maps, the Comprehensive NIV Concordance with nearly 4800 word entries, and a subject note index enable even deeper study
• Sixty-six book introductions and outlines along with six section introductions provide valuable background information for each book of the Bible
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One of humanity's most basic and common practices - eating meals - was transformed by Jesus into an occasion of divine encounter. In sharing food and drink with his companions, he invited them to share in the grace of God. His redemptive mission was revealed in his eating with sinners, repentant and unrepentant alike. Jesus' 'table fellowship' with sinners in the Gospels has been widely agreed to be historically reliable. However, this consensus has recently been challenged, for example, by the claim that the meals in which Jesus participated took the form of Greco-Roman symposia - or that the 'sinners' involved were the most flagrantly wicked within Israel's society, not merely the ritually impure or those who did not satisfy strict Pharisaic standards of holiness. In this excellent and thorough study, Craig Blomberg engages with the debate and opens up the significance of the topic. He surveys meals in the Old Testament and the intertestamental period, examines all the Gospel texts relevant to Jesus' eating with sinners, and concludes with some contemporary applications.

Written with the rigor and precision of a New Testament specialist, Preaching the Parables provides a responsible introduction to understanding and proclaiming the parables that pastors, church leaders, and seminary students will appreciate. Craig Blomberg demonstrates how the structure of a parable is key to its interpretation and thus to its exposition. He shows how a parable, when properly contemporized, can be a powerful rhetorical device, and that recognizing the elements of the parable that were atypical to everyday life leads to important surprises that will be of significance to contemporary parishioners. Each of the fifteen exemplary sermons is accompanied by an analysis that points out key interpretive decisions.

One of the most difficult questions facing us today is that of the proper attitude toward possessions. In wealthy nations such as Britain and the USA, individuals accumulate much and yet are daily exposed to the plight of the poor, whether the homeless on their own city streets or starving children on their TV screens. What action should they take on behalf of the poor? What should they do with their own possessions? In Neither Poverty nor Riches Craig Blomberg asks what the Bible has to say to these issues. He avoids easy answers, and instead seeks a comprehensive biblical theology of possessions. Beginning with the groundwork laid by the Old Testament and the ideas developed in the intertestamental period, he draws out what the whole New Testament has to say on the subject and finally offers conclusions and applications relevant to the modern world. This is a book that all concerned with issues of poverty and wealth should read.

The role of women in positions of worship and church leadership is one of the most divisive and inconclusive biblical debates. Two Views on Women in Ministry furnishes you with a clear and thorough presentation of the two primary exegetical arguments so you can better understand each one's strengths, weaknesses, and complexities. Egalitarian - equal ministry opportunity for both genders (represented by Linda L. Belleville and Craig S. Keener) Complementarian - men and women fill distinctive ministry roles (represented by Craig L. Blomberg and Thomas R. Schreiner) This revised edition brings the exchange of ideas and perspectives into the traditional Counterpoints format. Each author states his or her case and is then critiqued by the other contributors. The fair-minded, interactive Counterpoints forum allows you to compare and contrast the two different positions and form your own opinion concerning the practical and often deeply personal subject of women in ministry. The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

People regularly give certain reasons for not believing in God, but they are much less aware of what the New Testament actually teaches. Although challenges to Christianity are perennial and have frequently been addressed, they are noticeably more common today and are currently of particular interest among evangelicals. Skeptics of Christianity often ask highly regarded biblical scholar and popular speaker Craig Blomberg how he can believe in a faith that seems so problematic. How can God allow evil and suffering? Isn't the Bible anti-women, anti-gay, and proslavery? Isn't the New Testament riddled with contradictions? What about the nature of hell, violence in Scripture, and prayer and predestination? Following the author's successful Can We Still Believe the Bible?, this succinct and readable book focuses on what the New Testament teaches about ten key reasons people give for not believing in God.

Many people continue to believe that only a small percentage of the New Testament accounts of the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth reflect what he really said and did. The reasons for scepticism may vary over the years, but some arguments have proved remarkably persistent - for example, the Gospels were not written by people in a position to know what Jesus was like, primitive cultures believed in miracles that we know are impossible, theological interest precludes historical accuracy, non-canonical texts disprove the stories in the Gospels, and so on. Such claims are in fact weakly supported, or have actually been disproved. However, various issues contribute to the complexity of the question of the Gospels' trustworthiness, and disagreements remain. Furthermore, confusion has been compounded by fiction promoted in popular culture, or by eccentric, unrepresentative scholarship. Since its first appearance in 1987, Craig Blomberg's response to scepticism in 'The Historical Reliability of the Gospels' has been widely appreciated. Fully revised and updated, this new edition takes account of the vast amount of relevant scholarship that has appeared over the last two decades. Ranging over a wide field - differences between parallel accounts of the same event, the striking contrast between John and the Synoptic Gospels, the theological interests of the evangelists, the miracles of Jesus, the testimony of extrabiblical sources, and critical assessment of historical methods - Professor Blomberg presents a thorough, informed engagement with the main issues in the ongoing debates. Deliberately refusing to appeal to the inspiration of the Bible or to church tradition, he convincingly demonstrates the overall historical reliability of the Gospels.