Acts is arguably the most exciting book in the New Testament. It covers the tumultuous early years of Christianity and narrates the growth of the church throughout the Roman Empire. Luke tells this story by focusing primarily on two men, Peter and Paul. This book examines their apostolic ministries as they are revealed within the pages of The Acts of the Apostles. Their apostolic ministries are examined in the context of several different components: Leadership, Evangelism and Church Planting, Miracle Working and Healing, and Mystical or Supernatural Experiences. These categories are shown to detail particular aspects of each man's apostleship work. These categories provide a convenient way to compare and contrast the type of ministry that each apostle performed, as described by Luke. Spell also devotes a chapter each to Luke's literary method and the relationship of Peter and Paul as seen in their letters. These two chapters lay important groundwork for examining the apostles. This book will provide the reader with valuable insights from Scripture that they can apply to their own lives and ministry. By looking at how Peter and Paul conducted their ministries in the first century, we can be more effective in the twenty-first.

Acts is arguably the most exciting book in the New Testament. It covers the tumultuous early years of Christianity and narrates the growth of the church throughout the Roman Empire. Luke tells this story by focusing primarily on two men, Peter and Paul. This book examines their apostolic ministries as they are revealed within the pages of The Acts of the Apostles. Their apostolic ministries are examined in the context of several different components: Leadership, Evangelism and Church Planting, Miracle Working and Healing, and Mystical or Supernatural Experiences. These categories are shown to detail particular aspects of each man's apostleship work. These categories provide a convenient way to compare and contrast the type of ministry that each apostle performed, as described by Luke. Spell also devotes a chapter each to Luke's literary method and the relationship of Peter and Paul as seen in their letters. These two chapters lay important groundwork for examining the apostles. This book will provide the reader with valuable insights from Scripture that they can apply to their own lives and ministry. By looking at how Peter and Paul conducted their ministries in the first century, we can be more effective in the twenty-first.

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

The Bible calls for studying it through a method called "rightly dividing." 85 Pages in the Bible uses this approach to show the reader the parts of Scripture that are absolutely essential to his or her understanding.

A compendium of approximately three hundred texts--in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin, Ethiopic, Syriac, Coptic, and other languages--that are important for the study of Jewish messianism and early Christology. In recent decades, the study of Jewish messianic ideas and how they influenced early Christology has become an incredibly active field within biblical studies. Numerous books and articles have engaged with the ancient sources to trace various themes, including "Messiah" language itself, exalted patriarchs, angel mediators, "wisdom" and "word," eschatology, and much more. But anyone who attempts to study the Jewish roots of early Christianity faces a challenge: the primary sources are wide-ranging, involve ancient languages, and are often very difficult to track down. Books are littered with citations and a host of other sometimes obscure writings, and it can be difficult to sort them all out. This book makes a much-needed contribution by bringing together the most important primary texts for the study of Jewish messianism and early Christology--nearly three hundred in total--and presenting the reader with essential information to study them: the critical text itself (with apparatus), a fresh translation, a current bibliography, and thematic tags that allow the reader to trace themes across the corpus. This volume aims to be the starting point for all future work on the primary sources that are relevant to messianology and Christology. About the Author Gregory R. Lanier (PhD, University of Cambridge) is Associate Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He has written extensively on early Christology and published Old Testament Conceptual Metaphors and the Christology of Luke's Gospel (Bloomsbury, 2018); Septuaginta: A Reader's Edition (Hendrickson, 2018); and Is Jesus Truly God? How the Bible Teaches the Divinity of Christ (Crossway, 2020). He also serves as associate pastor of River Oaks Church in Lake Mary, Florida.

Our world is changing dramatically, yet many Christians still rely on cookie-cutter approaches to evangelism and apologetics. In his magnum opus, Os Guinness presents the art and power of creative persuasion—the ability to talk to people who are closed to what we are saying. Discover afresh the persuasive power of Christian witness.

More than fifty scholars, under R. C. Sproul, collaborated to produce this study Bible to help readers understand the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Published by Ligonier Ministries, trade distribution by P&R Publishing.

Did Jesus claim to be the "bridegroom"? If so, what did he mean by this claim? When Jesus says that the wedding guests should not fast "while the bridegroom is with them" (Mark 2:19), he is claiming to be a bridegroom by intentionally alluding to a rich tradition from the Hebrew Bible. By eating and drinking with "tax collectors and other sinners," Jesus was inviting people to join him in celebrating the eschatological banquet. While there is no single text in the Hebrew Bible or the literature of the Second Temple Period which states the "messiah is like a bridegroom," the elements for such a claim are present in several texts in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea. By claiming that his ministry was an ongoing wedding celebration he signaled the end of the Exile and the restoration of Israel to her position as the Lord's beloved wife. This book argues that Jesus combined the tradition of an eschatological banquet with a marriage metaphor in order to describe the end of the Exile as a wedding banquet.

John Dominic Crossan explores the lost years of earliest Christianity, the years immediately following Jesus' execution. He establishes the contextual setting through a combination of literary, anthropological, historical and archaeological approaches. He challenges the assumptions about the role of Paul and the meaning of resurrection, and forges a new understanding of the birth of the Christian church. Here is a vivid account of early Christianity's interaction with the world around it, and of the new traditions and communities established as Jesus' companions continued their movement after his death.

Galatians is one of the earliest of the Pauline letters and is therefore among the first documents written by Christians in the first century. Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with the first real controversy in the early church: the status of Jews and gentiles in this present age and the application of the Law of Moses to gentiles. Paul argues passionately that gentiles are not “converting” to Judaism and therefore should not be expected to keep the Law. Gentiles who accept Jesus as Savior are “free in Christ,” not under the bondage of the Law. Galatians also deals with an important pastoral issue in the early church as well. If gentiles are not “under the Law,” are they free to behave any way they like? Does Paul’s gospel mean that gentiles can continue to live like pagans and still be right with God? For Paul, the believer’s status as an adopted child of God enables them to serve God freely as dearly loved children. Galatians: Freedom through God's Grace is commentary for laypeople, Bible teachers, and pastors who want to grasp how the original readers of Galatians would have understood Paul’s letter and how this important ancient letter speaks to Christians living in similar situations in the twenty-first century.