Genesis provides us with a foundation for correctly understanding the world. Within Genesis, the character and the role of human beings within the world God has created is revealed. In reading Genesis we find on every occasion, in his dealings with mankind, God steps in by his grace and demonstrates that he is in control.
This concise guide by a leading New Testament scholar helps readers understand how to better study the multitude of Old Testament references in the New Testament. G. K. Beale, coeditor of the bestselling Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, focuses on the “how to” of interpreting the New Testament use of the Old Testament, providing students and pastors with many of the insights and categories necessary for them to do their own exegesis. Brief enough to be accessible yet thorough enough to be useful, this handbook will be a trusted guide for all students of the Bible.
Biblical Hebrew: A Compact Guide offers a one-stop guide for those who have taken first-year Hebrew to refresh the memory on language forms, grammar, and word meanings. Students who are in second-year Hebrew courses can use this reference resource to assist them in the identification of words in the biblical text and the way they are used in sentences.
Ultimately, this inexpensive reference gives the most important information on biblical Hebrew grammar.
The Bible teaches us that Christians are those who believe in Christ. But what does true saving faith look like? Is it a blind leap in the dark? Is it knowing about God? Does it translate into something that those around us can see? How much faith is enough?
Here Christian faith is examined from biblical, theological, and historical perspectives. Its aspects of intellect, relationship, trust, works, and maturity are explored to answer these questions and to show us what faith truly is.
Basics of the Faith booklets introduce readers to basic Reformed doctrine and practice. On issues of church government and practice they reflect that framework–otherwise they are suitable for all church situations.
The investigation of union with Christ and justification has been dominated by the figure of John Calvin. Calvin’s influence, however, has been exaggerated in our own day. Theologians within the Early Modern Reformed tradition contributed to the development of these doctrines and did not view Calvin as the normative theologian of the tradition. John V. Fesko, therefore, goes beyond Calvin and explores union with Christ and justification in the Reformation, Early Orthodox, and High Orthodox periods of the Reformed tradition and covers lesser known but equally important figures such as Juan de Valdes, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Girolamo Zanchi, William Perkins, John Owen, Francis Turretin, and Herman Witsius. The study also covers theologians that either lie outside or transgress the Reformed tradition, such as Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Faustus Socinus, Jacob Arminius, and Richard Baxter. By treating this diverse body of figures the study reveals areas of agreement and diversity on these two doctrines. The author demonstrates that among the diverse formulations, all surveyed Reformed theologians accord justification priority over sanctification within the broader rubric of union with Christ. Fesko shows that Reformed theologians affirm both union with Christ and the golden chain of salvation, ideas that moderns find incompatible. In sum, rather than reading an individual theologian isolated from his context, this study provides a contextual reading of union with Christ and justification in the Early Modern Reformed context.
Samuel Rutherford was perhaps the most influential religious writer in post-Reformation Scotland. He is famous for his Letters but his theological writings have been strangely neglected. This diverse collection of essays examines the breadth of his theological contribution. Several extracts from his writings are also included.
The temptation to give up while running the race of faith is all too real. Despite our best attempts to be faithful witnesses of the gospel of Christ, we oftentimes feel overwhelmed by discouragement and doubt. Empowered by Joy is a devotional inspired by Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It focuses on how we can enjoy an endless stream of joy through our relationship with Christ and thus experience power to fulfill our calling to make known the good news of God!
Paul’s letter to Titus is one of the most neglected letters of the New Testament. Many have contended that it is an incoherent letter devoid of a theological message and purpose. This study proposes otherwise, presenting an entirely new structure for Titus that demonstrates how the theme “Exhort and Reprove to Commendable Works according to the Hope of Eternal Life” unfolds through the chiastic structures in the letter. Jeon not only demonstrates the unity of the letter but also invites the reader to explore other ways chiasms can be used to enhance New Testament interpretation. Any intrigued by Titus, and the Pastoral Letters as a whole, will discover herein a unique approach to the letter and a fresh and invigorating interpretation of its underlying message.
This reader from Karl Barth’s multi-volume Church Dogmatics offers an introduction to the whole work, key readings in reasonable portions with introductions and provides helpful hints at secondary material. An ideal textbook for all beginners studying the work of one of the most important theologians of the last century.
The Bible contains four Gospels which tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, many more Gospels once existed. Who, then, determined which Gospels would, for the next two thousand years, serve as the main gateways to Jesus and his teaching?
Recent books and films have traced the decision to a series of fourth-century councils and powerful bishops. After achieving victory over their rivals for the Christian name, these key players, we are now told, conspired to ‘rewrite history’ to make it look like their version of Christianity was the original one preached by Jesus and his apostles: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John became the prime tools for their re-sculpting of the Christian story, leading to the destruction of previously treasured writings like the Gospels of Judas, Mary, and Thomas. Are the four canonical Gospels, then, in the Bible as the result of a great, ecclesiastical conspiracy? Or does this explanation itself represent another ‘rewriting of history’, this time by a group of modern academics?
Who Chose the Gospels? takes us to the scholarship behind the headlines, examining the great (and ongoing) controversy about how to look at ancient books about Jesus. How the four Biblical Gospels emerged into prominence among their competitors is a crucial question for everyone interested in understanding the historical Jesus and the development of the Christian church.
It is difficult today to discern much of a difference between Christians and non-Christians. The person who claims to be a Christian with saving faith seems no different from the one who claims otherwise. In this context, many are left wondering what true faith is. This brief study on Paul’s letter to Titus addresses the question of what it means to be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ. May this book challenge you to explore afresh the necessity of pursuing good works in view of God’s free gift of salvation!
This study of the New Testament canon and its authority looks deeper than the traditional surveys of councils and creeds, mining the biblical text itself for direction in understanding what the original authors and audiences believed the canon to be. Canon Revisited distinguishes itself by placing a substantial focus on the theology of canon as the context within which the historical evidence is evaluated and assessed. In effect, this work successfully unites both the theology and the historical development of the canon, ultimately serving as a practical defense for the authority of the New Testament books.
Many men have the skills to lead a church, but only some are called. Dave Harvey helps men considering pastoral ministry to see God’s active role in the process of discerning their calling.
God’s Word offers a clear framework for evaluating one’s call, especially within the context of community. Harvey offers six diagnostic questions to help prospective pastors process their calling, and what they should be doing now if they aren’t sure. Illustrated with personal and historical stories, Harvey explores biblical and practical principles for determining the pastoral call.
Over the past twenty-four years of ministry, Harvey has enjoyed assisting many men in discerning whether they are called into ministry. This book will guide you through that all-important process with wisdom and confidence in God’s faithfulness in your life.
It’s time to reclaim the core of our beliefs…
Important aspects of Christianity are in danger of being muddied or lost as relativism takes root in our churches today. What was historically agreed upon is now readily questioned and the very essentials of the Christian faith are in jeopardy. It’s time to reclaim the core of our beliefs.
To that end, D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, Kevin DeYoung, and other influential leaders have created this volume to defend the traditional gospel and to strengthen the church.
The Gospel as Center will help you join in the movement―the movement dedicated to a Scripture-based reformation of ministry practices and the centrality of the gospel―and stand united under the conviction that what holds us together is worth fighting for.
The ESV Study Bible, Personal Size compresses all the features of the award-winning ESV Study Bible into a smaller size for easier carrying. This Personal Size edition retains all of the original’s 20,000 study notes, 240 full-color maps and illustrations, charts, timelines, and introductions—more than 2 million words of Bible text, insightful explanation, teaching, and reference material. Enjoy the wide array of resources from the internationally best-selling ESV Study Bible, now in a convenient and portable smaller size.
The Christ’s Faith coheres with orthodox Christology and Reformation soteriology, and needs to be affirmed to properly confirm the true humanity of the incarnate Son. Without addressing the interpretation of the Pauline phrase pistis christou, this study offers a theological rationale for an exegetical possibility and enriches a dogmatic account of the humanity of the Christ.
The coherence of the Christ’s faith is shown in two ways. First, the objection of Thomas Aquinas is refuted by demonstrating that faith is fitting for the incarnate Son. Second, a theological ontology is offered which affirms divine perfection and transcendence in qualitative fashion, undergirding a Chalcedonian and Reformed Christology. Thus, the humanity of the Christ may be construed as a fallen human nature assumed by the person of the Word and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
The dogmatic location of The Christ’s Faith is sketched by suggesting its (potential) function within three influential theological systems: Thomas Aquinas, federal theology, and Karl Barth. Furthermore, the soteriological role of the doctrine is demonstrated by showing the theological necessity of faith for valid obedience before God.