The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible encourages readers to explore how the vital roots of the ancient Christian tradition inform and shape faithfulness today. In this volume, prominent Reformed theologian Michael Allen offers a theological reading of Ephesians. As with other series volumes, this commentary is designed to serve the church, providing a rich resource for preachers, teachers, students, and study groups.

Pastors and leaders of the classical church--such as Augustine, Calvin, Luther, and Wesley--interpreted the Bible theologically, believing Scripture as a whole witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Modern interpreters of the Bible questioned this premise. But in recent decades, a critical mass of theologians and biblical scholars has begun to reassert the priority of a theological reading of Scripture. The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible enlists leading theologians to read and interpret Scripture for the twenty-first century, just as the church fathers, the Reformers, and other orthodox Christians did for their times and places. This addition to the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible offers a new interpretation of the theology and the narrative context of 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Jude. Risto Saarinen makes three unique claims: 1) the Pastoral Epistles need to be understood in terms of character formation and diagnostic language, 2) the treatment of gifts and giving is a prominent feature of the epistles, and 3) a theological exegesis of these books results in a new view regarding the nature of doctrine. This commentary, like each in the series, is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

This commentary on 1 and 2 Kings demonstrates the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible for today's church.

Matthew is the third volume in the forty-volume Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. This commentary, like each in the series, is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

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The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible encourages readers to explore how the vital roots of the ancient Christian tradition inform and shape faithfulness today. In this addition to the series, two respected scholars offer a theological reading of Judges and Ruth. As with other volumes in the series, this commentary is designed to serve the church--providing a rich resource for preachers, teachers, students, and study groups--and to demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

With his work on Acts, Jaroslav Pelikan initiates the forty-volume Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible.

This volume examines early Jewish and Christian imagery to demonstrate that the most probable interpretation of Christ's descent in Ephesians 4:9-10 refers to the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost subsequent to the ascent mentioned in Ephesians 4:8. The central portion of the book deals with the ascent-descent imagery associating Ps. 68:19 with Moses as found in Targum Psalms, the rabbinic literature, and other early sources. The section dealing with rabbinic interpretations of Ps. 68:19 is of particular importance demonstrating an approach for dating elements found in the later rabbinic tradition. The theological innovation of the author of Ephesians in identifying the ascended Christ as the Spirit who descended at Pentecost is highlighted as the best explanation of this difficult passage.

Ephesians: A Theological Commentary for Preachers engages hermeneutics for preaching, employing theological exegesis that enables the preacher to utilize all the units of the Letter to craft effective sermons. This commentary unpacks the crucial link between Scripture and application: the theology of each preaching text, that is, what the author is doing with what he is saying. Ephesians is divided into twelve preaching units and the theological focus of each is delineated. The overall theological trajectory or theme of the book deals with God's consummation of all things in the cosmos in Christ, and the role of the church in this grand and glorious divine operation. This theme is progressively developed in Ephesians, in each of the twelve passages. The specific theological thrust of each unit is captured in this commentary, making possible a sequential homiletical movement through each pericope of Ephesians. While the primary goal of the commentary is to take the preacher from text to theology, it also provides two sermon outlines for each of the twelve preaching units of Ephesians. The unique approach of this work results in a theology-for-preaching commentary that promises to be useful for anyone teaching through Ephesians with an emphasis on application.

The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible encourages readers to explore how the vital roots of the ancient Christian tradition inform and shape faithfulness today. In this volume, a leading theologian known for his expertise on Barth offers a theological reading of Philippians. George Hunsinger draws on patristic and medieval theology and on Calvin, Edwards, Barth, and Torrance as he explores what the biblical text means for ecclesial interpretation today. As with other series volumes, this commentary is designed to serve the church, providing a rich resource for preachers, teachers, students, and study groups.