Critical Introduction to the NT: Interpreting Jesus' Message

Critical
INTRODUCTION
to the
NEW TESTAMENT

Critical
INTRODUCTION
to the
NEW TESTAMENT
Interpreting the Message and
Meaning of Jesus Christ
CARL R. HOLLADAY
Abingdon Press / Nashville

A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
INTERPRETING THE MESSAGE AND MEANING OF JESUS CHRIST
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holladay, Carl R.
A critical introduction to the New Testament : interpreting the message and meaning of Jesus Christ / Carl R.
Holladay.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-687-08569-1 (adhesive perfect binding : alk. paper)
1. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS2361.3.H65 2005
225.6’1—dc22
2004030675
All scripture quotations unless noted otherwise are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright
1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States
of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from The Jerusalem Bible, copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman Todd, Ltd., and Doubleday, a division of
Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked NEB are from The New English Bible. © The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and
The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1961, 1970. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked REB are from The Revised English Bible © Oxford University Press and Cambridge
University Press, 1989.
Permission to quote from the following works in both print and electronic form has been granted by the named publisher:
C. K. Barrett, The New Testament Background: Selected Documents. London: SPCK, 1989. Copyright © SPCK, Holy
Trinity Church, Marylebone Road, London, NW1 4DM, England. Used by permission.
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV/1. Edinburgh: TT Clark, 1956. Copyright © The Continuum International
Publishing Group, 15 East 26th St., Suite 1703, New York, NY 10010. Used by permission.
Gunther Bornkamm, Jesus of Nazareth. Translated by Irene and Fraser McCluskey. Copyright © 1960 by Hodder
Stoughton, Ltd., and Harper Row, Publishers, Inc. English translation copyright © 1961 by Hodder and Stoughton,
Ltd., and Harper Row, Publishers, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture. © 1988 F. F. Bruce. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P. O. Box 1400,
Downers, Grove, IL 60515, www.ivpress.com, and Chapter House, 53 Bothwell Street, Glasgow G2 6TS, Scotland.
Rudolf Bultmann, Jesus and the Word. Translated by Louise Pettibone Smith and Erminie Huntress Lantero. Reprinted
with the permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon Schuster Adult Publishing Group. Copyright © by Charles
Scribner’s Sons.
W. D. Davies, The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964. Copyright © Ms.
Rachel M. Davies, 6 Stoneridge Circle, Durham, NC 27705. Used by permission.
Adolf Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East: The New Testament Illustrated by Recently Discovered Texts of the Graeco-
Roman World. Translated by Lionel R. M. Strachan, taking into account the 4th German edition, 1923. Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker, 1965. Reproduced by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Limited, 338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BH,
United Kingdom.
Edgar J. Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1926. Copyright
© The University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637. Used by permission.
05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

George Howard, The Teaching of Addai. Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations 16, Early Christian
Literature Series 4. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature (Scholars Press), 1981. Used by permission of The Society
of Biblical Literature, The Luce Center, Suite 350, 825 Houston Mill Road, Atlanta, GA 30329. www.sbl-site.org
Joachim Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus. London: SPCK, 1957. Copyright © SPCK, Holy Trinity Church,
Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DU, England; www.spck.org.uk. Used by permission.
Ernst Käsemann, Essays on New Testament Themes. London: SCM Press, 1964. Copyright © SCM Press, 9-17 St.
Albans Place, London, N1 ONX, England. Used by permission.
H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton, Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History and The Martyrs of Palestine. London: SPCK, 1954.
Used by permission of SPCK. Copyright © SPCK, Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DU,
England. www.spck.org.uk
Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin, Development, and Significance. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1987. Copyright © Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, United Kingdom. Used
by permission.
James Moffatt, General Epistles. New York: Harper Collins, 1928. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd
St., New York, NY 10022. Used by permission.
David L. Mosher, trans., Augustine: Eighty-Three Different Questions. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of
America Press, 1982. Copyright © The Catholic University of America Press, 620 Michigan Ave., N.E., 240 Leahy
Hall, Washington, D.C. 20064. Used by permission.
Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann, eds., Luther’s Works: American Edition, Copyright © 1967 Concordia
Publishing House. Quotations from volumes 15 and 30. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission. Quotations from vol-
ume 35. Copyright © Augsburg Fortress Publishers, P. O. Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209. Used by permission.
Norman Perrin, Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus. London: SCM Press, 1967. Copyright © SCM Press, 9-17 St. Albans
Place, London, N1 ONX, England. Used by permission.
James M. Robinson, A New Quest of the Historical Jesus. London: SCM Press, 1959. Copyright © SCM Press, 9-17 St.
Albans Place, London, N1 ONX, England. Used by permission.
Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of Its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede. Translated
by William Montgomery. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. Used by permission, The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2715 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4319. www.press.jhu.edu
Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus: First Complete Edition. Edited by John Bowden. Based on the trans-
lation of the first German edition in 1906 by William Montgomery, revised by J. R. Coates, Susan Cupitt, and John
Bowden. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001. Copyright © Fortress Press. Used by permission.
Daniel J. Theron, Evidence of Tradition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1957. Copyright © Baker Book House
Company. P. O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287. Used by permission.
Quotations from the following volumes of The Loeb Classical Library are reprinted by permission of the publishers and
the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press: Dio Cassius, Volume VI, LCL
83, translated by Earnest Cary, 1917; Plutarch, Volume VII, LCL 405, translated by Phillip H. DeLacy Benedict
Einarson, 1959; Pliny the Younger, Volume II, LCL 59, translated by Betty Radice, 1969; Select Papyri, Volume I, LCL
266, translated by A. S. Hunt C. C. Edgar, 1932. The Loeb Classical Library ® is a registered trademark of the
President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus No. 115, letter of consolation from Egypt, second century C.E. Photograph was provided by the
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Catalogue number: Papyrus No. 32.
Reproduced with permission.
Oxyrhynchus Papyrus No. 119, letter from Theon to his father from Egypt, second or third century C.E. Photograph
was provided by the Bodleian Library, Oxford University Library Services, Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BG, England.
Catalogue number: MS. Gr. Class. F. 66 (P). Reproduced with permission.
Papyrus 52, a papyrus fragment of John 18:37–38, dated about 125 C.E. Reproduced by courtesy of the Director and
University Librarian, The John Rylands University Library of Manchester, Manchester, England.
Papyrus 75, an early third-century papyrus, containing portions of Luke and John. Reproduced by courtesy of the
Bibliotheque Bodmer, Cologny-Geneve, Switzerland.
Images of woodcuts used throughout the book are from the Digital Image Archive of The Richard C. Kessler
Reformation Collection, Pitts Theology Library, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322
www.pitts.emory.edu. Used by permission, with gratitude to M. Patrick Graham, Librarian and M. A. Pitts Professor of
Theology Bibliography.
Front cover: The image of Jesus Christ, the Pantocrator, is from the sanctuary of St John the Wonderworker Eastern
Orthodox Church, 543 Cherokee Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30312.

For
Sarah Elizabeth Holladay
and
James Patrick Holladay

Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiii
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART 1 THEOLOGY AND SCRIPTURE
Chapter 1 The New Testament as Theological Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
■ Christian Theology: Believing in Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
■ The Theological Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
❍ Text and Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
❍ Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
❍ Interpreter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
❍ Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
■ Catalysts for Theological Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
■ Jesus the Catalyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
■ Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
■ Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 2 The Shape of the Canon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
■ Some Fourth-Century Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
■ Earlier Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
■ Later Testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
■ Significance of Different Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
■ Order of Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
vii

PART 2 THE GOSPELS: NARRATIVE TRADITIONS ABOUT JESUS
Chapter 3 Relating the Gospels to Each Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
■ Strategies for Relating the Gospels to Each Other . . . . . . . . . . 43
❍ Harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
❍ Literary Comparison and Diachronic Reconstruction
(Literary Dependence) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
■ The Synoptic Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
❍ Agreement in Wording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
❍ Sequence of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
❍ Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
■ Possible Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
❍ Single (or Common) Source Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
❍ Miscellaneous Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
❍ Literary Dependence Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
■ Widely Held Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
❍ Two Gospel Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
❍ Two Source Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
❍ Multiple Stage Development Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . 66
❍ The Ongoing Debate: Two Gospel or Two Source
Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
■ The Gospel of John and the Synoptic Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
❍ Similarities between John and the Synoptics . . . . . . . 69
❍ Traditions Unique to John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
❍ Sources and Theories of Composition . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
❍ Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
❍ Synopses in English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
❍ Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Chapter 4 From Jesus to the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
■ Centers of Activity Rather Than Stages of Development . . . . 83
■ Life Settings in Which the Jesus Tradition Took Shape . . . . . . 84
❍ Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
❍ Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
❍ Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
■ Literary Forms within the Jesus Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
❍ Sayings and Teachings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
❍ Stories about Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
❍ The Passion Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
■ From the Jesus Tradition to Written Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
❍ Some Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
❍ Writing the First Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
❍ Writing Other Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
❍ Locating the Gospels in Certain Centers . . . . . . . . . . 93
viii

■ Before the Written Gospels: The “Tunnel Period” . . . . . . . . . . 94
❍ Traditional Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
❍ The Form Critical Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
❍ The Rabbinic Transmission Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
❍ Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
❍ Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
❍ Parables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Chapter 5 From the Gospels to Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
■ Medieval Lives of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
■ The Modern Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
❍ Reimarus: Rationalistic Historiography . . . . . . . . . . . 105
❍ Strauss: Dialectical-Mythic Interpretation . . . . . . . . 107
❍ Renan: Romantic History and the “Fifth Gospel” . . 110
❍ Farrar: Orthodox Historiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
❍ Schweitzer: Thoroughgoing Eschatology (and
Wrede: Radical Skepticism) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
❍ Kähler: The Historic, Biblical (Dogmatic) Christ . . 115
❍ Bultmann: The Kerygmatic Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
❍ After Bultmann: The New Quest and the Recovery
of History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
■ More Recent Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
❍ Criteria of Authenticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
❍ Other Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
❍ The Jesus Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
❍ Legacy of the Jesus Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
❍ The Difficulty of Finding Patterns and Directions . . 127
❍ Other Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
■ Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
❍ The Gospels as the Voice of the Church . . . . . . . . . 130
❍ The Problematic Role of History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
❍ Learning to Live with the Fourth Gospel . . . . . . . . . 131
❍ Critically Embracing the Mythic Dimension of the
Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
❍ The Peril of Modernizing Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
❍ Devising Critical Methods Appropriate to the Study
of the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
❍ Respecting the Narrative Structure of the Gospels . 133
❍ Grasping the Message and Meaning of Jesus . . . . . . .134
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Chapter 6 The Gospel of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
■ The Second Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
ix
Preface

■ From Second to First Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
■ Giving Shape to the Jesus Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
■ The Plot of Mark’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
■ Jesus in Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
❍ What Jesus Does . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
❍ Who Jesus Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
❍ Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
■ Discipleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
■ Mark’s Theological Achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
■ The Ending of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
❍ Books and Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
❍ Ending of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
❍ Mark in the History of Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Chapter 7 The Gospel of Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
■ The First Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
■ Matthew as a Second Edition of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
■ The Tradition Matthew Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
■ Matthew’s Use of the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
■ Matthew’s Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
■ The Shape of Matthew’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
■ Matthew’s Theological Reshaping of the Tradition . . . . . . . . 192
❍ How the Story Begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
❍ Matthew’s Use of Traditions in Chapters 8–10 . . . . . 194
■ Matthew’s Theological Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
❍ A New Foundation Narrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
❍ A New Vision of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
❍ A New Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
❍ A New Ethic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
❍ Sermon on the Mount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Chapter 8 The Gospel of Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
■ The Tradition about the Author of the Third Gospel . . . . . . 222
■ Luke’s Theological Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
■ The Shape of Luke’s Story: Using Earlier Traditions about
Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
❍ The Birth Stories (Chs. 1–2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
❍ The Galilean Ministry (3:1–9:50) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
❍ The Travel Narrative: Jesus’ Journey from Galilee
to Jerusalem (9:51–19:27) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
x
Preface

❍ The Jerusalem Section (19:28–24:53) . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
■ The Things That Have Been Fulfilled Among Us:
Luke’s Use of Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
■ Luke’s Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
■ Luke’s Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
❍ When Will the Son of Man Come? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
❍ Why Must God’s Messiah Suffer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
❍ Who Are God’s People? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
■ Aspects of Luke’s Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
❍ Jesus in Luke: God’s Messiah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
❍ The Kingdom of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
❍ Jesus’ Vision of Life before God: Blessings and Woes 255
❍ Leaving Everything: Discipleship and Wealth in
Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Chapter 9 The Gospel of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
■ The Maverick Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
❍ Formal Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
❍ Material Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
❍ Why John Is Different . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
■ Expressing Truth through Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
■ John’s Conversation with Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
■ John’s Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
■ John’s Theological Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
❍ Cosmic Dualism: The World Above, the World
Below . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
❍ The Cosmic Redeemer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
❍ Polarities of Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
❍ Life after Jesus: Living by the Spirit in the World . . 301
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
PART 3 THE STORY OF JESUS CONTINUED:
THE CHURCH’S ORIGIN AND EXPANSION
Chapter 10 The Acts of the Apostles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
■ Luke’s Motivations for Writing Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
■ Luke’s Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
■ Luke’s Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
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❍ Opting for History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
❍ Selective Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
❍ Speeches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
■ Luke’s Theological Vision in Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
❍ Luke’s Three Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
❍ “Thus it is written”: Scripture’s Promises Fulfilled . . 336
❍ The Church: The Story of Jesus Continued . . . . . . . 341
❍ The Church as the People of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . 346
■ The Lukan Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
❍ Paul’s Relationship to Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
❍ Paul’s Jewishness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
❍ Paul’s Apostleship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
❍ The Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
❍ Paul’s Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
❍ The Apostolic Decree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
❍ Other Theological Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .356
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
PART 4 THE PAULINE LETTERS AND HEBREWS
Chapter 11 Reading the Pauline Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
■ The Study of Ancient Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
■ The Structure of Paul’s Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
❍ Greeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
❍ Opening Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
❍ Body of the Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
❍ Concluding Greetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
❍ Doxology/Benediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
■ Types of Pauline Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
■ The Use of Earlier Christian Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
■ An Edited Collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
■ A Chronological Framework for the Pauline Letters . . . . . . . 378
■ Implications of Chronology for Reading Paul’s Letters . . . . . . 384
■ Paul’s Influence on the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
❍ The Pauline Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
❍ Paul’s Life and Thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
❍ Pauline Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Chapter 12 The Thessalonian Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
■ Paul and the Thessalonian Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
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■ Anxieties, Exhortations, and Continuing Instruction:
The Rhetoric of Reassurance in 1 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . 403
■ Resisting Resistance: The Hard-Edged Exhortation of
2 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
■ Elaborating Basic Beliefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
❍ Living in God’s Space and Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
❍ Awaiting God’s Son from Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
❍ The Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
❍ The Coming of the Lord and the Final Battle . . . . . 410
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
Chapter 13 The Corinthian Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
■ Selection or Compilation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
■ Relating the Letters to the Church’s Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
❍ Paul’s Founding Visit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
❍ Events Following Paul’s Departure from Corinth . . . 423
❍ The Writing and Reception of 1 Corinthians . . . . . 423
❍ Events after 1 Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
❍ Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
❍ A Proposed Reconstruction of Events after
1 Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428
■ 1 Corinthians: What the Cross Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
❍ Paul’s Opening Appeal: Understanding the
Implications of the Cross (Chs. 1–4) . . . . . . . . . . 429
❍ Behaving Responsibly as a Community of Faith
(Chs. 5–6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
❍ Answering the Corinthians’ Questions (Chs. 7–16) 433
■ 2 Corinthians: Doing Theology in the Context of Ministry . 439
❍ Authentic Ministry (2 Cor 2:14–6:10) . . . . . . . . . . . 441
❍ The Collection (2 Cor 8–9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
❍ Defending His Ministry (2 Cor 10–13) . . . . . . . . . . . 452
■ Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
■ 1 Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
■ 2 Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
■ 1–2 Corinthians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
Chapter 14 Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
■ The Crisis in Galatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
■ Paul’s Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
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❍ Paul Defends Himself (1:1–2:21) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
❍ Paul Elaborates His Theology of Righteousness
through Faith (3:1–5:12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
❍ Paul Encourages Freedom and Life in the Spirit
(5:13–6:18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470
■ The Truth of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
❍ Christ, the Focal Point of the New Creation . . . . . . 471
❍ Effects of the New Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478
Chapter 15 Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
■ Romans as an Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
■ Plotting the Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
■ Paul’s Theological Vision in Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
❍ God’s Justifying Righteousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
❍ Apart from Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
❍ The Faith Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
❍ There Is No Distinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 508
❍ Christ, the Pivotal Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
■ The Ending of Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513
❍ The Ending of Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Chapter 16 Philippians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520
■ Expressing Thanks for Their Financial Gift (4:10–20) . . . . . . 521
■ Explaining His Imprisonment (1:12–26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522
❍ Framing Life or Death Choices in the Spirit of Jesus
Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524
■ Conduct Worthy of the Gospel: Having the Mind of Christ
(1:27–2:18; 4:2–7, 21–23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
■ Maintaining Contact through Co-workers (2:19–3:1a) . . . . . 527
■ The Identity That Comes with Knowing Christ (3:1b–4:1) . 527
■ Crafting Letters to Strengthen the Bonds of Affection . . . . . 529
■ The Christ Hymn (2:6–11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
❍ The Christ Hymn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
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❍ Unity of the Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
❍ The Opponents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
❍ Place of Composition: The Ephesian Imprisonment 538
Chapter 17 Philemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
■ The Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540
■ Love as Enacted Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542
■ Slavery as a Theological Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
❍ Slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
Chapter 18 Colossians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
■ Why the Difference? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
■ The “Deceptive Philosophy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
■ The Theological Vision of Colossians:
“The Mystery of God . . . Christ Himself” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
❍ Becoming More Aware of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560
❍ Christ’s Supremacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
❍ The Moral Life: “Walking Worthily of the Lord” . . . 565
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
❍ Theology of Colossians within the Context of
Pauline Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .573
❍ Other Theological Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
❍ The Colossian Heresy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
❍ The Household Code in Colossians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Chapter 19 Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
■ The Pauline Frame of Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
■ Ephesians as an Expanded Version of Colossians . . . . . . . . . . 578
■ An Anomalous Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
■ “The Church, the Wisdom of God in Its Infinite Variety” . . . 581
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Chapter 20 The Pastoral Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593
■ The Church’s Use of the Pastorals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
■ The Puzzle of the Pastorals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
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❍ Language and Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
❍ Theological Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597
❍ Historical Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598
■ A Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
■ Authorship and Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
■ The Letter of Paul to Titus: Continuing Paul’s Work;
Teaching What Is Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
❍ Stabilizing Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
❍ Practicing Virtue: The Pursuit of Godliness . . . . . . . 604
■ Paul’s First Letter to Timothy: Preserving Paul’s Legacy . . . . . 605
❍ What Is Required to Preserve Pauline Christianity . 606
❍ What Is Required of Ministers of the (Pauline)
Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
■ Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy: Passing the Torch;
Moral Exhortation as Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611
❍ Paul’s Testament as a Letter of Exhortation . . . . . . . 612
❍ Pauline Christianity as Envisioned in 2 Timothy . . . 614
■ The Theological Vision of the Pastorals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
❍ Paul’s Gospel as Foundational Truth and Normative
Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 616
❍ Dealing with Deviance and Dissent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
❍ Ordering the Church’s Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
❍ Salvation through Moral Education: Christian
Paideia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
❍ The Core Theological Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 620
■ Widows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 625
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
❍ Studies of Statistical Analysis of Authorship . . . . . . 633
Chapter 21 Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 634
■ The Church’s Use of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 635
■ The Riddle of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
■ Rhetoric in the Service of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
■ The Central Argument: Discerning Scripture’s Voices . . . . . . 645
❍ Jesus the Pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
❍ Psalm 110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
❍ Jeremiah 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
❍ Psalm 40 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
❍ Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
■ Hebrews and Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
❍ Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
❍ Old and New Covenant and the Mosaic Law . . . . . . 652
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❍ Faith and the Moral Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
■ Why Endure? Making the Case for Remaining Faithful . . . . . 655
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667
PART 5 THE CATHOLIC LETTERS
Introduction to the Catholic Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 675
Chapter 22 James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
■ Identifying James: The Person and the Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
■ How Christian Is James? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680
■ A Miscellany of Teachings or an Ordered Discourse? . . . . . . . 681
■ Faith and Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
■ The Theological Vision of James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
❍ Monotheistic Piety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
❍ Torah Observance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
❍ Practical Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 687
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691
Chapter 23 First Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
■ The Purpose and Structure of the Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 698
■ A Baptismal Homily? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
■ Living as Christians within a Non-Christian Society . . . . . . . 701
■ First Peter’s Theological Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
❍ The God Who Calls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 705
❍ The Christ Who Suffered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
❍ The Spirit Who Sanctifies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
❍ The Church as Exiled Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
■ The Church’s Use of 1 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 711
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Introduction to Jude and Second Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
Chapter 24 Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
■ The Letter’s Purpose and Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
■ The Threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
■ The Faith Worth Fighting For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 730
■ The Church’s Use of Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
xvii
Preface

Chapter 25 Second Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
■ Responding to the Crisis Created by the Delay of the
Parousia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 736
❍ Skepticism about the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
❍ Envisioning a Hopeful Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 738
■ Recasting the Message of Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 740
■ The Church’s Use of 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
■ Jude and 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
■ Jude and 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
■ Jude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
■ 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
❍ General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
Chapter 26 The Letters of John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
■ Some Questions to Decide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 753
■ The Catalyst: A Crisis of Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
■ The Response of 1 John: Nurturing Community . . . . . . . . . . 757
❍ The Voice of Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
❍ Being Obedient Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
❍ Clarifying Belief and Testing the Spirits . . . . . . . . . . 760
❍ Cultivating Moral Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 762
■ The Responses of 2–3 John: Defining Boundaries of
Fellowship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 766
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 768
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 769
PART 6 JESUS IN THE APOCALYPTIC IMAGINATION
Chapter 27 Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 775
■ The Literary Structure of Apocalyptic Writings . . . . . . . . . . . 776
■ The Apocalyptic Worldview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 777
❍ Revelation Compared with Other Apocalypses . . . . 778
❍ Interpretive Yield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
■ The Occasion and Setting of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782
■ A Unified Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785
■ Reading Strategy: Linear or Cyclical Reading? . . . . . . . . . . . . 790
■ John’s Theological Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
❍ John’s Prophetic Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
❍ Early Christian Worship as the Context for John’s
xviii
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Prophetic Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 791
❍ John and the Jesus Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 792
❍ John’s Conversation with Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 793
■ John’s Use of the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 794
■ John’s Theological Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
❍ The Sovereign God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 797
❍ The Slaughtered Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 799
❍ The Contest with Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804
■ Revelation as a Problematic Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
■ The Church’s Reception of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809
■ Ways of Reading Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
❍ Premillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
❍ Postmillennialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
❍ A Spiritual Millennium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
❍ Non-Millenarian Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
❍ Three Ages of History: Joachim of Fiore . . . . . . . . . . 814
❍ Other Forms of Classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 815
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
❍ Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817
❍ Apocalyptic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823
PART 7 THE FORMATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON
Chapter 28 The Christian Scriptures: Witnesses to Christ and
the Church’s Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
■ Clarifying Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
❍ Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830
❍ Canon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 830
❍ New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 832
❍ Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
■ Some Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 834
■ Consensus and Fluidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
❍ Consensus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 837
❍ Fluidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 838
■ Other Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 842
■ Catalysts: Conflicting Theological Visions and the
Emergence of Orthodoxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
❍ Marcion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 845
❍ Gnosticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
❍ Montanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .849
■ Criteria of Canonicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
❍ Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 852
❍ Apostolicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853

❍ Orthodoxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
❍ Catholicity or Universal Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 854
❍ Employing the Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
■ Canon: Some Implications for the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 856
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 861
■ Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 865
Appendix 1 Canonical Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .871
■ The Muratorian Fragment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
■ Origen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 872
■ Eusebius of Caesarea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 873
■ Codex Claromontanus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
■ Cyril of Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 875
■ Athanasius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
■ Amphilochius of Iconium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 876
■ Epiphanius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
■ The Mommsen Catalogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 877
■ Codex Sinaiticus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
■ Codex Vaticanus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
■ Canon of the Council of Laodicea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 878
■ Canon of the Council of Carthage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879
■ Jerome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879
■ Codex Alexandrinus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 880
Appendix 2 Patristic Comments on the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
■ Papias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
■ Irenaeus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883
■ Clement of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
■ Tertullian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
■ Eusebius of Caesarea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885
■ John Chrysostom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 886
■ Augustine of Hippo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
■ Jerome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888
■ Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 889
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 891
xx
Preface

Maps, Diagrams Images
Map: The Eastern Early Roman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxv
Diagram: “Doing Theology” Tetrahedron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Diagram: Augustine’s View of the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Diagram: Single (Common) Source Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Diagram: Miscellaneous Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Diagram: Literary Dependence Theory: Straight Line Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Diagram: Literary Dependence Theory: Triangular Relationship 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Diagram: Two Gospel Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Diagram: Two Source Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Diagram: Four Source Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Diagram: Probable Contents of Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Diagram: M: The Special Material in Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Diagram: L: The Special Material in Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Diagram: Traditional Model of the “Tunnel Period” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Diagram: Form Critical Model of the “Tunnel Period” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Diagram: Rabbinic Transmission Model of the “Tunnel Period” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Map: Palestine at the Time of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Image: Woodcut of the Evangelist Mark (1541) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Diagram: The Gospel of Mark (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Diagram: Matthew’s Interpretation of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Image: Woodcut of the Evangelist Matthew (1541) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Diagram: Matthew’s Use of Sources in Chapters 8–10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Diagram: The Gospel of Matthew (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Diagram: Luke’s Interpretation of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Map: Setting for Luke’s Travel Narrative (Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem) . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Image: Woodcut of the Evangelist Luke (1541) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Image: Woodcut of the Women at Jesus’ Tomb on Easter Morning (1563) . . . . . . . . . 260
Diagram: The Gospel of Luke (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Map: The Geography of John’s Gospel (Jesus’ Journey in John 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
xxi

Diagram: The Length of Jesus’ Ministry in John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Image: P75 (3d-cent. papyrus; the end of Luke and the beginning of John) . . . . . . . . 280
Image: P52 (the oldest NT manuscript [ca. 125 C.E.]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Image: Woodcut of the Evangelist John (1541) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Diagram: The Gospel of John (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Image: Woodcut of Jesus’ Ascension in Acts 1 (1547) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Map: Early Expansion of Christianity (Syria and Cilicia) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
Image: Woodcut of the Coming of the Spirit on Pentecost in Acts 2 (1569) . . . . . . . 326
Map: The Eastern Mediterranean in Paul’s Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Diagram: The Speeches in Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Map: Homelands of the Pentecost Pilgrims in Acts 2:9–11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Map: Early Expansion of Christianity into Asia Minor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Image: Woodcut of Saul’s Conversion in Acts 9 (1695) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Diagram: The Acts of the Apostles (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Image: Oxyrhynchus Papyrus No. 115, Letter of Consolation (2d cent. C.E.) . . . . . . . 368
Image: Papyrus Letter from Theon to His Father (2d or 3d cent. C.E.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Image: Woodcut of the Apostle Paul (1477) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Image: Woodcut of Paul at His Writing Desk (1536) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Diagram: Suggested Pauline Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Diagram: Chronology of Paul’s Life and Letters (Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Map: Via Egnatia (The Aegean Region) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Image: Woodcut of the Apostle Paul with Two Swords (Matthias Flacius, 1549) . . . . 407
Map: The Aegean Region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Image: Woodcut of the Apostle Paul (Lucas Cranach, 1550) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Map: Galatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
Image: Woodcut of Saul’s Heavenly Vision on the Damascus Road (1477) . . . . . . . . 473
Image: Woodcut of Phoebe, a Deacon of the Church at Cenchreae (1547) . . . . . . . . 501
Map: Main Roadways of Asia Minor (and the Lycus Valley) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556
Map: The Eastern Mediterranean (Geographical Setting of the Pastorals) . . . . . . . . . 599
Image: Woodcut of the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews at His Writing Desk (1695) 651
Image: Woodcut of James Delivering His Letter to a Courier (1547) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 686
Map: Asia Minor (Roman Provinces Addressed in 1 Peter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Image: Woodcut of the Apostle Peter (Lucas Cranach, 1550) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 706
Image: Woodcut of the Apostle John Sending a Letter by a Courier (1547) . . . . . . . 761
Image: The New Jerusalem in Rev 21 (Caspar Luiken, 1712) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
Map: The Seven Churches of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783
Diagram: The Book of Revelation (Column Chart) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788
Diagram: The Martyrs’ Song of Deliverance in Rev 15:3–4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 795
Image: The Opening of the Seventh Seal in Rev 8 (Caspar Luiken, 1712) . . . . . . . . 796
Image: The Slain Lamb Receives the Scroll in Rev 5 (Caspar Luiken,1712) . . . . . . . 800
Image: Satan’s Defeat in Rev 20 (Caspar Luiken, 1712) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 806
xxii
Maps, Diagrams Images

Preface
T
he idea for this book began in 1997 when Rex Matthews, then Senior Editor
for Academic Books at Abingdon Press, invited me to write a theological intro-
duction to the New Testament. What was needed, Rex insisted, was an intro-
ductory text for theology students, ministers, and Bible teachers that would treat the
usual historical and literary questions but that would give special attention to theo-
logical issues.
I was intrigued with the suggestion, but little did I realize that the project would
occupy my attention for the next five to six years. I drafted the requisite book propos-
al, which was vetted among several New Testament professors in North America who
regularly teach introductory courses in seminaries. Jouette Bassler (Perkins School of
Theology at Southern Methodist University), Charles Cousar (Columbia Theological
Seminary), and Richard Hays (Duke Divinity School) read the proposal and offered
many helpful suggestions. Also at an early stage, my Emory colleague Fred Craddock
offered insightful suggestions about how to conceive the project.
Further refinement occurred in a grant proposal, which I submitted to the
Association for Theological Schools (ATS) in Pittsburgh. Shortly before, thanks to
the initiatives of James L. Waits, Executive Director of ATS, and Daniel Aleshire,
Associate Director of ATS, the Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology program had been
established under the auspices of the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc., with the enthusi-
astic support of then-President John W. Cook. Once established, the program was nur-
tured under the creative leadership of Michael Gilligan, Program Director for
Theology. From the outset, these fellowships were intended to fund projects with an
explicit theological dimension that had potential for enriching the life of the church
and its ministries. These two foci—theology and church—figured centrally in my con-
ception of the project.
Although I had over twenty years of experience teaching New Testament intro-
duction at Yale Divinity School and Candler School of Theology, I had to rethink
basic questions of pedagogy. What, for example, do ministers really need to know about
the New Testament to relate it meaningfully to their own life of faith and the com-
munities of faith they serve? I also had to rethink the genre of New Testament intro-
xxiii

duction. What should such a work actually look like? Should it be organized around
the familiar “W’s”—Who wrote each document? When? Where? To whom? Why? If
standard literary and historical questions were to be treated but not given the same
weight as in traditional introductions, what would this mean? And if greater attention
were given to the theological dimension of the New Testament, what form should it
take?
To my great delight, I was awarded a Luce Fellowship to work on the project dur-
ing a 1999–2000 sabbatical year granted by Emory. I interpreted this as a strong
endorsement of my project, and I remain indebted to ATS and the Luce Foundation
for their support. Rather than simply writing up my lecture notes from previous years,
however, I felt an obligation genuinely to rethink the task of introducing the New
Testament to theology students in the changed environment of the twenty-first cen-
tury. Working on the book has been an intriguing intellectual challenge, since it has
required me to broaden my own horizons of theological understanding and yet tackle
a question at the heart of my own academic discipline. One of the great values of the
Luce Fellowship program was being able to attend for three consecutive years a semi-
nar comprising recipients of awards from other theological disciplines—the first year
as a newcomer, the second year as a presenter, and the third year as a “veteran.”
Preparing a presentation for this group of engaging, diverse scholars at the Luce
Conference, held at the Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton Theological
Seminary in November 2000, required me to engage in interdisciplinary conversation
with other scholars, most of whom were not specialists in New Testament studies but
just as passionate for its theological claims as I.
Coupled with the Luce Seminar was another interdisciplinary experience—The
Consultation on Teaching the Bible in the Twenty-First Century—sponsored by Lilly
Endowment, Inc., and offered for three consecutive years at Wabash College in
Crawfordsville, Indiana. From 1998–2000, some thirty biblical scholars, roughly
fifteen from Hebrew Bible and fifteen from the New Testament, met for a week of
intensive discussion of issues related to teaching the Bible in colleges, universities, and
seminaries. Before this diverse, and sometimes raucous, group of colleagues comprising
Jewish and Christian scholars, women and men who represented several ethnic groups
and taught in a variety of settings throughout North America, I presented my project.
The interchange was lively, and questions from persons teaching in settings quite dif-
ferent from a mainline Protestant seminary required me to think through my project
at an even deeper level. I am grateful to the Lilly Endowment for funding this consul-
tation, to Raymond Williams, Director of the Wabash Center, and to Gary Anderson
(Harvard Divinity School) and Richard Hays for convening the biblical group; also to
each of the participants for many lively conversations that allowed me to discuss what
I was doing.
Yet another context that has shaped my project is the institution where I teach—
Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Since coming to Emory in 1980, I
have benefited immensely from the engaging collegiality that characterizes Candler.
Monthly faculty colloquia allow another form of interdisciplinary discussion, and, once
again, I used this venue to discuss my project. As usual, the conversation was focused,
lively, and constructive, and the feedback from my Candler colleagues was very useful.
xxiv
Preface

Beyond these formal meetings, I have benefited from ongoing discussions with my
Emory New Testament colleagues: Michael Brown, Luke Johnson, Steve Kraftchick,
Gail O’Day, Vernon Robbins, Walter Wilson, and, of course, Emeritus Professor
Hendrikus Boers. One of the monthly New Testament colloquia, attended by faculty
and graduate students, provided another forum for presentation and critique. Besides
this were ongoing conversations in offices, hallways, and over lunch.
Other Emory colleagues have also been valuable conversation partners: Don
Saliers, Walt Lowe, David Pacini, and Joy McDougall on theological aspects of the
project; Lewis Ayres on the formation of the New Testament canon; and Brooks
Holifield and Jonathan Strom on different aspects of history of interpretation. Another
emeritus colleague, Robert Kysar, also kindly offered comments relating to the Fourth
Gospel. As in so many other respects, my Old Testament colleague John Hayes, with
whom I have coauthored other books, has been a valuable, and always entertaining,
conversation partner, especially on matters of the history of biblical interpretation as
well as protocols of editing and publishing. Thanks are also in order to the remarkable
staff at Candler’s Pitts Theology Library and to its Librarian, Patrick Graham, for their
assistance and cooperation at every stage of the project. I also owe a word of thanks to
two Candler deans, Kevin LaGree and Russell Richey, for supporting the project and
providing sabbatical time and institutional resources at critical junctures.
Another advantage of working at Emory is having access to master’s level theol-
ogy students at Candler and doctoral students in the Graduate Division of Religion.
Both settings have provided me wonderful research assistants. At an early stage,
Patrick Gray, Scott Shauf, and John Weaver worked carefully through several chapters
and provided critical feedback and research assistance. I have also drawn on the
expertise of doctoral students’ dissertation research: Greg Stevenson and Lynn Huber
on Revelation, and Patrick Gray and Bryan Whitfield on Hebrews. At a later stage,
two other New Testament doctoral students, Derek Olsen and James (Bru) Wallace,
provided invaluable assistance in researching bibliographical and other details, edit-
ing, and compiling lists of abbreviations and indices. Derek’s expertise with computers
has been a marvelous resource, and I gratefully acknowledge his assistance in produc-
ing a number of the diagrams. So reliable and resourceful has Bru been at every stage
that early on I dubbed him Jacobus Factotum—appropriate enough, I thought, given his
Christian name. As the endnotes reveal, a doctoral seminar on the Gospels offered in
the spring of 2002 provided an occasion to think through some basic questions. From
this seminar I have drawn on the work of William Wright and Bart Bruehler. From the
School of Theology, Andy Guffey has also been a resourceful assistant, especially in
providing several of the diagrams for the book, but also in many editorial details. I am
also grateful to Edward McMinn, an M.Div. student enrolled in my New Testament
Interpretation class, for focusing his experienced editorial eye on the manuscript and
producing pages of suggested revisions and corrections.
In the final stages of the project, Bo Adams provided invaluable editorial assis-
tance and computer expertise. Brad Storin also assisted with editorial work but his
main contribution was the compilation of the index. To both I owe special gratitude.
A number of church venues have also been important testing grounds for several
ideas in the book. Among the most prominent is my own congregation, Northlake
xxv
Preface

Church of Christ in Atlanta, where I regularly teach adult Bible classes. Several of the
chapters were composed while teaching the same material at the Northlake church, as
well as before sermon seminars and workshops offered under the auspices of Candler
and also at Rochester College in Rochester, Michigan; Pepperdine University in
Malibu, California; and Austin Graduate School of Theology in Austin, Texas. An
invitation to give the W. B. West, Jr. Lectures at Harding Graduate School of Religion
in Memphis, Tennessee in November 2002 also afforded an opportunity to give a pub-
lic lecture titled “Introducing the New Testament Theologically” and to engage in a
profitable discussion with another group of energetic theology students.
A number of professional colleagues at other institutions have also been kind
enough to read parts of the manuscript or individual chapters, including Richard Hays,
David Moessner (University of Dubuque Theological Seminary), James Thompson
(Abilene Christian University), Jeff Peterson (Austin Graduate School of Theology),
Christopher Rowland (Oxford University), and Birger Gerhardsson (Lund
University). An invitation from Gregory Sterling at the University of Notre Dame
enabled me to present a lecture on the project to the faculty and students at the School
of Theology, from which I received valuable feedback. I am especially indebted to two
of my former teachers, both of whom are now emeritus professors: Abraham J.
Malherbe, Emeritus Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and
Interpretation at Yale Divinity School, and C. F. D. Moule, Emeritus Lady Margaret’s
Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Each was willing to look at the
entire manuscript and offer detailed comments and corrections, and I have sought to
incorporate their suggestions into the final manuscript. To each of them I am indebted
in quite different ways for putting me on the path to New Testament scholarship and
for encouraging me and nurturing my work over the years.
A special word of thanks to the editorial staff at Abingdon Press: to John Kutsko
and Bob Ratcliff for their willingness to be innovative and to deploy precious editorial
resources to the project; to Kathy Armistead and Tim West for superb editorial over-
sight and copy editing; to all four for their commitment to excellence and quality.
Atlanta
February 28, 2005
xxvi
Preface

xxvii
Abbreviations
1 Apol. Justin Martyr, Apologia i (First Apology)
1 Clem. 1 Clement
1 En. 1 Enoch (Ethiopic Apocalypse)
1QH Qumran Hodayot (Thanksgiving Hymns)
1QM Qumran Milh
.amah (War Scroll)
1QpHab Qumran Pesher Habakkuk
1QS Qumran Serek Hayah
.ad (Rule of the Community)
1QSb Qumran Rule of the Blessings (Appendix b to 1QS)
2 Bar. 2 Baruch (Syriac Apocalypse)
2 Clem. 2 Clement
2 En. 2 Enoch (Slavonic Apocalypse)
3 Bar. 3 Baruch (Greek Apocalypse)
4 Ezra 4 Ezra
11QMelch Qumran Melchizedek
AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary
ABRL Anchor Bible Reference Library
ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers
Acts Pet. Acts of Peter
Ag. Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Alex. Lucian, Alexander (Pseudomantis / Alexander the False Prophet)
An. Tertullian, De anima (The Soul)
Ann. Tacitus, Annales (Annals)
Ant. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities
Antichr. Hippolytus, De antichristo (Concerning the Antichrist)
Antid. Isocrates, Antidosis (Or. 15)
Apoc. Ab. Apocalypse of Abraham
Apoc. Pet. Apocalypse of Peter
Apocr. Ezek. Apocryphon of Ezekiel

xxviii
Abbreviations
Apol. Tertullian, Apologeticus (Apology)
Arist. Plutarch, Aristides
Ascen. Isa. Mart. Ascen. Isa. 6–11 (Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah)
Autol. Theophilus, Ad Autolycum (To Autolycus)
Bapt. Tertullian, De baptismo (Baptism)
Barn. Barnabas (Epistle of Barnabas)
B.C.E. Before the Common Era
BDAG Bauer, W., F. W. Danker, W. F. Arndt, and F. W. Gingrich. A Greek-
English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Literature. 3d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000)
Bruce, Canon F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVarsity
Press, 1988)
C. Ar. Athanasius, Orationes contra Arianos (Orations against the Arians)
Catech. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses (Catechetical Instructions)
CD Qumran Cairo Genizah copy of the Damascus Document
C.E. Common Era
Cels. Origen, Contra Celsum (Against Celsus)
cf. compare
ch(s). chapter(s)
Cher. Philo, De cherubim (On the Cherubim)
Chron. Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon (Chronicle)
Civ. Augustine, De civitate Dei (The City of God)
Claud. Suetonius, Divus Claudius (The Divine Claudius)
col(s). column(s)
Comm. Dan. Hippolytus, Commentarium in Danielem (Commentary on Daniel)
Comm. Gen. Origen, Commentarii in Genesim (Commentary on Genesis)
Comm. Jo. Origen, Commentarii in evangelium Joannis (Commentary on the Gospel
of John)
Comm. Matt. Origen, Commentarium in evangelium Matthaei (Commentary on the
Gospel of Matthew)
Comm. Phlm. Jerome, Commentariorum in Epistulam ad Philemonem liber
(Commentary on the Epistle to Philemon)
Comm. Ps. Jerome, Commentarioli in Psalmos (Commentary on Psalms)
Comm. Rom. Origen, Commentarii in Romanos (Commentary on Romans)
Comm. ser.
Matt. Origen, Commentarium series in evangelium Matthaei (Commentary on
Matthew 22:34–27:63)
Comm. Tit. Jerome, Commentariorum in Epistulam ad Titum liber (Commentary on
the Epistle to Titus)
Conf. Philo, De confusione linguarum (On the Confusion of Tongues)
Cons. Augustine, De consensu evangelistarum (Harmony of the Gospels)
Const. Ap. Constitutiones apostolicae (Apostolic Constitutions)
Contempl. Philo, De vita contemplativa (On the Contemplative Life)
Cult. fem. Tertullian, De cultu feminarum (The Apparel of Women)
De or. Cicero, De oratore (On Oratory)

xxix
Abbreviations
Dial. Justin Martyr, Dialogus cum Tryphone (Dialogue with Trypho)
Did. Didache (The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles Through the Twelve
Apostles)
Diogn. Diognetus (The Epistle to Diognetus)
Div. quaest.
LXXXIII Augustine, De diversis quaestionibus LXXXIII (Eighty-three Different
Questions)
Doctr. chr. Augustine, De doctrina christiana (Christian Instruction)
Dom. Suetonius, Domitianus (Domitian)
Ecl. Clement of Alexandria, Eclogae propheticae (Extracts from the Prophets)
e.g. for example (Latin exempli gratia)
enl. enlarged
Ep. Cyprian of Carthage, Epistulae (Epistles)
Ep. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae (The Letters of Pliny)
Ep. Seneca, Epistulae morales (Moral Essays)
Ep. Apos. Epistle to the Apostles
Ep. fest. Athanasius, Epistulae festales (Festal Letters)
Ep. Tra. Pliny the Younger, Epistulae ad Trajanum (Letters to Trajan)
Epist. Basil, Epistulae (Epistles)
Epist. Jerome, Epistulae (Epistles)
Eth. nic. Aristotle, Ethica nichomachea (Nichomachean Ethics)
Exc. Clement of Alexandria, Excerpta ex Theodoto (Excerpts from
Theodotus)
ff. folio pages
fl. flourished, e.g., Clement of Rome fl. ca. 96 C.E.
Fid. Grat. Ambrose, De fide ad Gratianum (On the Faith, to Gratian)
FTMT Fortress Texts in Modern Theology
Gk. Greek
Gig. Philo, De gigantibus (On Giants)
Gorg. Plato, Gorgias
Gos. Heb. Gospel of the Hebrews
Gos. Thom. Gospel of Thomas
Gos. Truth Gospel of Truth
GP Burton Throckmorton, ed., Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the
Synoptic Gospels (5th ed.; Nashville: Nelson, 1992)
Haer. Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haeresium (Refutation of All Heresies)
Haer. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses (Against Heresies)
Herm. Hermas
Herm. Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem (Against Hermogenes)
Herm. Mand. Shepherd of Hermas, Mandate
Herm. Sim. Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude
Herm. Vis. Shepherd of Hermas, Vision
Hist. Tacitus, Historiae (The Histories)
Hist. eccl. Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History)
Hist. eccl. Sozomen, Historia ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History)

xxx
Abbreviations
Hom. Jerome, Homiliae (Homilies)
Hom. 2 Cor. John Chrysostom, Homiliae in epistulam ii ad Corinthios (Homilies on
2 Corinthians)
Hom. Act. John Chrysostom, Homiliae in Acta apostolorum (Homilies on the Acts of
the Apostles)
Hom. Ezech. Origen, Homiliae in Ezechielem (Homilies on Ezekiel)
Hom. Jer. Origen, Homiliae in Jeremiam (Homilies on Jeremiah)
Hom. Luc. Origen, Homiliae in Lucam (Homilies on Luke)
Hom. Matt. John Chrysostom, Homiliae in Matthaeum (Homilies on Matthew)
Hom. Phlm. John Chrysostom, Homiliae in epistulam ad Philemonem (Homilies on the
Epistle to Philemon)
Hypoth. Philo, Hypothetica
i.e. that is (Latin id est)
Ign. Ignatius
Ign. Eph. Ignatius, To the Ephesians
Ign. Magn. Ignatius, To the Magnesians
Ign. Phld. Ignatius, To the Philadelphians
Ign. Pol. Ignatius, To Polycarp
Ign. Rom. Ignatius, To the Romans
Ign. Smyrn. Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans
Ign. Trall. Ignatius, To the Trallians
Jos. Asen. Joseph and Aseneth
Jov. Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum libri II (Against Jovian, 2 Books)
Jub. Jubilees
KJV King James Version
LCL Loeb Classical Library
Leg. Athenagoras, Legatio pro Christianis (A Plea for the Christians)
Leg. Plato, Leges (Laws)
Leg. alleg. Philo, Legum allegoriae (Allegorical Interpretation)
lit. literally
LJCE David Friedrich Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined (ed.
Peter Hodgson; trans. George Eliot; Philadelphia: Fortress,1972;
reprinted Sigler Press, 2002)
LW Luther’s Works: American Edition (ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T.
Lehmann; St. Louis: Concordia; Philadelphia: Muhlenberg/Fortress,
1955–1996)
LXX Septuagint (Greek translation of the OT)
m. ’Abot Mishnah Avot (The Fathers)
m. Sanh. Mishnah Sanhedrin
Mag. mor. Aristotle, Magna moralia (Great Ethics)
Marc. Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem (Against Marcion)
Mart. Pol. Martyrdom of Polycarp
Mem. Xenophon, Memorabilia

xxxi
Abbreviations
Metaph. Aristotle, Metaphysica (Metaphysics)
Metzger,
Canon Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origin,
Development, and Significance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)
Mon. Tertullian, De monogamia (Monogamy)
NA27
Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece (27th ed.; Stuttgart:
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001)
Nat. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia (Natural History)
Nat. Seneca, Naturales quaestiones (Natural Questions)
Nat. d. Cicero, De natura deorum (On the Nature of the Gods)
NEB New English Bible
Nero Suetonius, Nero
NHC Nag Hammadi Codices
NIV New International Version
NJB New Jerusalem Bible
NPNF1
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1
NPNF2
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2
NRSV New Revised Standard Version
NT New Testament
NTA New Testament Apocrypha (ed. E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher;
trans. R. McL. Wilson; 2 vols; London: Lutterworth, 1963-65)
NTL New Testament Library
Oct. Minucius Felix, Octavius
op. cit. in the work cited (Latin opere citato)
Orat. Tatian, Oratio ad Graecas (Oration to the Greeks)
Or. Brut. Cicero, Orator ad M. Brutum (Orator)
OT Old Testament
OTP The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (ed. J. H. Charlesworth; 2 vols.; New
York: Doubleday, 1983–1985)
p(p). page(s)
Paed. Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus (Christ the Educator)
Paen. Ambrose, De paenitentia (On Repentance)
Pan. Epiphanius, Panarion (Adversus haereses / Refutation of All Heresies)
Pan. Pliny the Younger, Panegyricus
Panath. Isocrates, Panathenaicus (Or. 12)
Pecc. merit. Augustine, De peccatorum meritis et remissione (Guilt and Remission
of Sins)
Pelag. Jerome, Adversus Pelagianos dialogi III (Dialogues against the Pelagians,
Three Books)
Peregr. Lucian, De morte Peregrini (The Passing of Peregrinus)
PG Patrologia graeca (ed. J.-P. Migne; 162 vols.; Paris, 1857–1886)
Phil. Isocrates, Philippus (Or. 5)
PL Patrologia latina (ed. J.-P. Migne; 217 vols.; Paris, 1844–1864)
Pol. Polycarp
Pol. Aristotle, Politica (Politics)

xxxii
Abbreviations
Pol. Phil. Polycarp, To the Philippians
P. Oxy. Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Praem. Philo, De praemiis et poenis (On Rewards and Punishments)
Praescr. Tertullian, De praescriptione haereticorum (Prescription against Heretics)
Prax. Tertullian, Adversus Praxean (Against Praxeas)
Pre. Pet. Kerygma Petrou (Preaching of Peter)
Preachings
of Peter Kerygmata Petrou (The Preachings of Peter)
Princ. Origen, De principiis (Peri archo
-n / First Principles)
Prob. Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit (That Every Good Person Is Free)
Protr. Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus (Exhortation to the Greeks)
Pss. Sol. Psalms of Solomon
Pud. Tertullian, De pudicitia (Modesty)
Quis div. Clement of Alexandria, Quis dives salvetur (Salvation of the Rich)
REB Revised English Bible
Res. Tertullian, De resurrectione carnis (The Resurrection of the Flesh)
Resp. Plato, Respublica (Republic)
rev. revised (by)
RGG3
Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart (ed. K. Galling; 7 vols.; 3d ed.;
Tübingen, 1957–1965)
Rhet. Aristotle, Rhetorica (Rhetoric)
RSV Revised Standard Version
Sacr. Ambrose, De sacramentis (The Sacraments)
Sat. Juvenal, Satirae (Satires)
SBT Studies in Biblical Theology
Scorp. Tertullian, Scorpiace (Antidote for the Scorpion’s Sting)
Sel. Exod. Origen, Selecta in Exodum (Excerpted Comments on Exodus)
Sel. Ps. Origen, Selecta in Psalmos (Excerpted Comments on Psalms)
Sera Plutarch, De sera numinis vindicta (On the Delays of the Divine Vengeance)
Serm. Augustine, Sermones (Sermons)
Sib. Or. Sibylline Oracles
Silv. Statius, Silvae
Somn. Philo, De somniis (On Dreams)
Soph. Isocrates, In sophistas (Or. 13)
SPNT Studies on Personalities of the New Testament
Stromata Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (Miscellanies)
Superst. Plutarch, De superstitione (On Superstition)
suppl. supplemented (by) or supplement
Symp. Methodius of Olympus, Symposium (Convivium decem virginum)
T. Dan Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (=T. 12 Patr.), Testament of Dan
T. Gad T. 12 Patr., Testament of Gad
T. Jud. T. 12 Patr., Testament of Judah
T. Levi T. 12 Patr., Testament of Levi
T. Mos. Testament of Moses

xxxiii
Abbreviations
T. Naph. T. 12 Patr., Testament of Naphtali
T. Reu. T. 12 Patr., Testament of Reuben
Theron,
Tradition Daniel J. Theron, Evidence of Tradition (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1957)
Tim. Plato, Timaeus
Tract. ep. Jo. Augustine, In epistulam Johannis ad Parthos tractatus (Tractates on the
First Epistle of John)
Trin. Didymus, De Trinitate (On the Trinity)
Trin. Hilary of Poitiers, De Trinitate (On the Trinity)
UBS4
United Bible Societies, Greek New Testament (4th ed.; Stuttgart:
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001)
Ux. Tertullian, Ad uxorem (To His Wife)
Virg. Tertullian, De virginibus velandis (The Veiling of Virgins)
Vir. ill. Jerome, De viris illustribus (Concerning Illustrious Men)
WA Weimar edition of Luther’s words (WA = Weimar Ausgabe), D.
Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (69 vols.; Weimar:
Böhlau, 1883–1997)
Biblical Books
Old Testament
Gen Genesis Isa Isaiah
Exod Exodus Jer Jeremiah
Lev Leviticus Lam Lamentations
Num Numbers Ezek Ezekiel
Deut Deuteronomy Dan Daniel
Josh Joshua Hos Hosea
Judg Judges Joel Joel
Ruth Ruth Amos Amos
1–2 Sam 1–2 Samuel Obad Obadiah
1–2 Kgs 1–2 Kings Jonah Jonah
1–2 Chr 1–2 Chronicles Mic Micah
Ezra Ezra Nah Nahum
Neh Nehemiah Hab Habakkuk
Esth Esther Zeph Zephaniah
Job Job Hag Haggai
Ps(s) Psalms Zech Zechariah
Prov Proverbs Mal Malachi
Eccl Ecclesiastes
Song (or Cant) Song of Songs (Song
of Solomon, or
Canticles)

xxxiv
Abbreviations
Old Testament Apocrypha (OT pseudepigrapha cited in the text are included in master
list above)
Bar Baruch
Add Dan Additions to Daniel
Pr Azar Prayer of Azariah
Bel Bel and the Dragon
Sg Three Song of the Three Young Men
Sus Susanna
1–2 Esd 1–2 Esdras
Add Esth Additions to Esther
Ep Jer Epistle of Jeremiah
Jdt Judith
1–2 Macc 1–2 Maccabees
3–4 Macc 3–4 Maccabees
Pr Man Prayer of Manasseh
Ps 151 Psalm 151
Sir Sirach/Ecclesiasticus
Tob Tobit
Wis Wisdom of Solomon
New Testament
Matt Matthew 1–2 Thess 1–2 Thessalonians
Mark Mark 1–2 Tim 1–2 Timothy
Luke Luke Titus Titus
John John Phlm Philemon
Acts Acts Heb Hebrews
Rom Romans Jas James
1–2 Cor 1–2 Corinthians 1–2 Pet 1–2 Peter
Gal Galatians 1–2–3 John 1–2–3 John
Eph Ephesians Jude Jude
Phil Philippians Rev Revelation
Col Colossians

Introduction
A
s the title suggests, this book is meant to be an introductory text, and as such
presupposes little or no familiarity with the writings of the New Testament.
Like many standard introductions, it provides basic literary and historical
information about the New Testament and early Christianity. My particular slant on
these writings, however, is theological. As the subtitle suggests, I view the New
Testament as a defined collection of writings that the church privileges as theological-
ly normative for interpreting the message and meaning of Jesus Christ.
Accenting the theological dimension of the New Testament does not render this
book a New Testament theology in the conventional sense. As an introduction, it is
designed to acquaint students with the contents of each writing. It also seeks to pro-
vide basic information that will assist readers in becoming responsible interpreters of
the New Testament. It distinguishes itself from a New Testament theology by treating
the individual writings in their canonical position rather than recasting the material
according to some thematic arrangement. This book thus seeks to introduce the New
Testament theologically without thereby producing a New Testament theology.
In the opening chapter, I describe briefly how I understand the New Testament
as a collection of theological writings. Here I introduce a simple model through which
students and other readers can understand theology in different modes—cognitively,
practically, and ethically. The intent of this model is to envision theology not so much
as an academic discipline to be studied but rather as a dynamic process in which reflec-
tive believers can engage.
After a short discussion of the canonical shape of the New Testament—the “table
of contents”—I move directly to the writings themselves in roughly canonical order:
the Gospels, Acts, the Pauline letters, Hebrews, the Catholic Letters, and finally
Revelation. When I teach this course at my seminary, I move to the actual reading of
the New Testament itself as quickly as possible—usually after two or three class ses-
sions. I have found it valuable pedagogically for students to read the four Gospels in
close succession and then discuss the various strategies that have been developed for
relating the Gospels to each other. Then I treat the formation of the Gospel tradition
and issues related to the figure Jesus. For the book, however, I have included these
1

chapters before the chapters on each Gospel, primarily to introduce basic terminology
and categories that are used in each chapter.
Thereafter, the treatment is relatively straightforward. An introductory chapter
on Paul precedes the individual chapters on each Pauline letter or set of letters. The
rationale for this approach is to concentrate the bulk of the discussion in the textbook
on the individual writings themselves. Each chapter has been written to orient the
reader to the New Testament writings rather than to substitute for actually reading
them. In my experience, students tend to read the textbook rather than the New
Testament itself. I have tried to counter this seemingly irresistible tendency by writing
each chapter not as an expanded paraphrase of each New Testament writing but as
focused, though systematic, discussion of relevant interpretive issues.
Throughout the book I have given special attention to how the church has read
and appropriated the New Testament over the centuries. Seen one way, this approach
can be characterized as the history of interpretation of the New Testament. It is some-
times designated by the German expressions Auslegungsgeschichte, literally “history of
interpretation,” or Wirkungsgeschichte, literally “history of (its) effects or influence.”
Regardless of the precise term that is used, what is in view is how the New Testament
has actually been read by the church, the role it has played in various controversies,
how it has shaped the church’s self-understanding, and how it has figured in shaping
the church’s practices. Since we are able to track how the church has interpreted the
New Testament through the centuries, this “afterlife” of the text has an inescapable
historical dimension. Yet, because the New Testament has figured so centrally as a theo-
logical resource for the church, attending to this “reception history” also exposes
important theological dimensions. What the New Testament has meant to the church
over time is a critically important dimension of what it now means.
Understanding the context within which I teach the New Testament—and in
which it is taught in many seminaries throughout North America and abroad—helps
explain this aspect of the book. Within my own seminary, students are introduced to
the history of Christian thought during their first year of theological training. A year-
long introductory course to the New Testament occurs in their second year. Thus when
I teach New Testament introduction, I can usually presuppose that students have
acquired a broad historical framework for understanding church history or the history
of doctrine. In any case, I consciously seek to correlate the study of the New Testament
with their understanding of Christian history and doctrine. This approach especially
makes sense if one takes seriously the suggestion that church history and the history of
doctrine are, in many ways, the history of the interpretation of the Bible.
I clarify this point for the benefit of laity or others who may wonder why so much
attention is given to how the New Testament was read and interpreted after the first
century. For one thing, such an approach enriches the student’s understanding of just
how influential these writings have been over time, both within the church and the
broader culture throughout the world. For another, it helps students identify different
interpretive options. They are able to see that the church in earlier periods has often
struggled with questions that are seemingly “modern.” A third benefit is that students
are able to see themselves as part of a hermeneutical continuum—they hold hands
with earlier generations of interpreters, learning from them even while critiquing
2
Introduction

them. Finally, by experiencing how the church has appropriated the New Testament
in many different times, places, and circumstances, students are able to see that it is
more than a sacred text that has been read and revered but is itself an ongoing, living
tradition that is part of the church’s organic life.
Perhaps a word of explanation is also in order for two other aspects of the book:
its length and its exclusive attention to scholarship available in English. As to the for-
mer, I have tried to include within the work what I think is essential for introducing
students to the New Testament. I have done so in order to limit the number of supple-
mental texts that students will have to purchase. I also recognize that New Testament
introductions may be taught within a single quarter, a semester, or over the course of
an academic year. I have written the book to be suitable in any of these formats. In my
own seminary, we introduce students to the contents of the New Testament in one
semester and spend the second semester focusing on New Testament exegesis and
hermeneutics. Even so, students use a textbook throughout the year. I am also aware
that such basic textbooks tend to be used well beyond seminary. They are used first by
students in seminary, then over time by students who have become ministers. I have
thus written the book in the hope that it will have residual value—that ministers will
be able to consult it with benefit over the course of their ministry.
I have thus sought to make the discussions in each chapter accessible but substan-
tive. This applies both to the preliminary material in each chapter and also to the sec-
tions in which I attempt to sketch the theological vision of each author or writing. As
to the latter, rather than using the standard categories of Christology, ecclesiology,
eschatology, etc., I have sought to recast from a fresh perspective what is at stake theo-
logically within the work and how the author/writing envisions a theological response.
As I indicate in the first chapter, I regard each writing of the New Testament as a
specific instance of “doing theology.” I have written each chapter to convey some sense
of what this means.
As for limiting bibliographies to works available in English, the book reflects my
North American setting. Even so, the bibliographies are quite long. I have erred on the
side of length, however, to make the bibliographies useful to several audiences, from
theology students and ministers to graduate students and scholarly specialists. I have
annotated the bibliographies to give some sense of how I evaluate the scholarly debate.
I have also indicated with an asterisk the items that I would recommend for purchase.
Quite often, students ask me to recommend commentaries or other reference works to
purchase for their libraries. The asterisked items constitute my cumulative set of rec-
ommendations to guide individuals and churches in building their own libraries. I thus
beg the indulgence of my Continental colleagues in not including works in German
and French, as well as other languages. This does not mean, however, that I have failed
to take into account the scholarly conversation beyond North America.
I have placed most of the technical references and discussion in the endnotes to
allow introductory readers to concentrate on more basic matters. I have chosen to
include this information, however, for those who wish to probe certain questions more
deeply.
I do hope, however, that the length and the substance of the discussion will
invite rather than discourage readers. I remain convinced that the New Testament
3
Introduction

prompts serious students to deeper reflection and that such reflection always requires
concentration and effort. In this, as in so many other respects, Rudolf Bultmann’s
words are apt: “the reader should realize that no end is gained by making the matter
seem easier than it really is . . . for a great end one must be ready to pay the price, and
I would rather frighten a reader away than attract one who wants something for noth-
ing.”1
Note
1. Jesus and the Word (New York: Scribner’s, 1934), 15.
4
Introduction

Critical Introduction to the NT: Interpreting Jesus' Message

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