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.

From the dramatic events recorded in Acts and the various teachings found in the Epistles of Paul, Richard Longenecker traces the history and the theology of the "apostle to the Gentiles." Educated under Gamaliel, who was one of the greatest rabbis of the first century, Paul was thoroughly familiar with both the Old Testament and Jewish tradition. At first a persecutor of the church, he became a builder of churches. This book describes the dramatic change. Paul's theology is discovered in his writings. It developed as there was need for instruction and it is therefore a living theology. It grew as his ministry grew, and his ministry was almost as broad as the world of his day. The author points out that Paul's life was centered in one unalterable purpose: to present the divine plan of redemption in Christ. In fulfilling this purpose, Paul wrote on various issues of Christian living and carefully refuted errors. These issues and refutations all find a place in Dr. Longenecker's discussion

Paul's teachings are vital to understanding the Christian gospel - his letters, says Richard Longenecker, are second in importance only to the words of Jesus - so the turbulent, long-running controversy over contrasting interpretations of Paul's message takes on crucial importance. Longenecker's Paul, Apostle of Liberty stands as a significant, constructive evangelical study of Paul's theology, including the creative tension between law and liberty that runs throughout his thought. When this book was originally published in 1964, Longenecker then presciently anticipated several subsequent debates, addressing many of the same questions that such scholars as E. P. Sanders and Richard Hays did years later. This new edition of Paul, Apostle of Liberty includes a foreword by Douglas Campbell and a lengthy addendum by Longenecker discussing the major developments in Paul studies over the past fifty years.

Pauls Letter to the Romans has proven to be a particular challenge for commentators, with its many highly significant interpretive issues often leading to tortuous convolutions and even dead ends in their understanding of the letter.
Here, Richard N. Longenecker takes a comprehensive look at the complex backdrop of Pauls letter and carefully unpacks a number of critical issues, including:
* Authorship, integrity, occasion, date, addressees, and purpose
* Important recent interpretive approaches
* Greco-Roman oral, rhetorical, and epistolary conventions
* Jewish and Jewish Christian thematic and rhetorical features
* The establishing of the letters Greek text
* The letters main focus, structure, and argument

Masterly, balanced, concise, jargon-free essays on topics central to the theology of Paul, remaining closely in touch with the biblical text itself while always alert to the range of scholarly opinion and debate. These eleven articles from a recognized leader among New Testament scholars are an attractive entry-point for students into key aspects of Paul's thought, and are, equally, well worth revisiting by experienced scholars. Two essays concern Paul's personal life, one on the impact of his conversion on his understanding of Jesus and one on his experience of prayer. On Galatians, Longenecker explores the idea of the 'pedagogue', and on Romans the questions of its addressees and its purpose. Other themes are Paul's vision of community formation, his concept of mutuality, and the variability of his responses to opponents. In the last three essays, the focus is on Paul's theology of the resurrection-its basis, its background in Jewish thinking, and whether his thought on the subject underwent development.

These eleven lucid, fresh, and thought-provoking essays from a master-craftsman among New Testament scholars reflect his conviction that these three topics-hermeneutics, Christology, and discipleship-must always be considered together. In the first set of essays, Longenecker sets out his distinctive take on the nature of an evangelical hermeneutics. In the second set, he focusses on what he calls the 'foundational conviction of New Testament Christology', the obedience / faithfulness / sonship of Christ, and brings back into discussion often forgotten dimensions of Christology. Here he explores a range of christological materials and motifs within the early Christian communities, with special studies on the concept of the virgin birth and on the curious case of the Melchizedek Christology in Hebrews. The third set, both practical and exegetical, are, as he says, 'where the rubber meets the road', on the implications of the 'Son of Man' imagery for discipleship and on the theme of discipleship in Luke-Acts.

A fresh look at the meaning of Jesus' parables for Christian living today. The parables recorded in the Gospels are central for an understanding of Jesus and his ministry. Yet the parables are more than simple stories; they present a number of obstacles to contemporary readers hoping to fully grasp their meaning. In this volume, thirteen New Testament scholars provide the background necessary to understand the original context and meaning of Jesus' parables as well as their modern applications, all in a manner easily accessible to general readers. Contributors: Stephen C. Barton Craig A. Evans Richard T. France Donald A. Hagner Morna D. Hooker Sylvia C. Keesmaat Michael P. Knowles Walter L. Liefeld Richard N. Longenecker Allan W. Martens Klyne R. Snodgrass Robert H. Stein Stephen I. Wright

This volume, written by eleven first-class scholars, brings into focus the Resurrection message of the New Testament. Much more than just biblical exposition, these essays demonstrate how the resurrection both provides the basis for joyful living now despite the shadow of death and undergirds the Christian belief in a future after death.

The august contributors to this volume examine the nature of Paul's Damascus Road experience and the impact of that experience on his thought and ministry, and explore how Paul's experience functions as a paradigm for Christian thought today.

These essays examine what the New Testament says about the subject of discipleship, highlight the features of both unity and diversity that appear throughout the New Testament, and suggest how Christian discipleship can be expressed today.

This volume focuses on Christology in the New Testament. It is a topic that has been treated extensively in monographs, commentaries, systematic theologies, and devotional writings of the Christian church. Nonetheless, the contributors believe it deserves a better critical, historical, exegetical, and bbiblical theologyb treatment than is usually received in either the scholarly or the popular press. So this volume was prepared with the hope that a more responsible treatment of Christology in the New Testament will prove to be of help to many earnest Christians who seek to think and live in a more Christian fashion, and thereby have a positive impact on the church at large.