There are five chapters of this book. The first chapter is the overview of the whole book and how the research was going to be conducted. It also gives the summary of law and love in the books of Paul. The interaction between law and love in Pauline writing has been an interesting topic, where we have discovered that the law of God cannot be separated from his agape love, which has followed mankind from creation and eventually leads him to eternity. We discovered that the law of God reveals Gods character, and that is his love. The law of God and his love are one and cannot be separated from each other. God gives the law to prove to man that he loves him deeply and eternally. The death of Jesus on the cross was the final crown of the proof of how much we mean to God and the length He can go to redeem us. He gave his all for our redemption. The plan of salvation is the perfect revelation of law and love in Pauline writings. Chapter 1 and 2 looks at law and love and the theology and ethics of law and love. The plan of salvation is laid bare and how the Jews missed the mark of spreading the Word to the whole world by holding to God as a Jewish God alone. In chapter 3 we discover the difference between the ceremonial law and the Decalogue. The ceremonial laws were pointing toward the coming of Jesus, and so with his arrival, they came to an end because they were pointing to his coming. The Decalogue was there and it will continue till the end of time when Jesus will come the second time. Chapter 4 is all about love and what it means to God and how he could not compromise his Decalogue and the meaning of redemption. Chapter 5 is the blending of law and love in Pauline writings. Keeping the law is not a problem when you love God and you know that God loves you; its not difficult to keep the Decalogue because your love supercedes the law. When you love someone, its easy to follow or keep the law. Gods Decalogue is a mirror and love is the crown of our redemption. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son to die for man because His law could not be changed. Love will lift us up, such that doing and keeping Gods law will not be a burden but a pleasure because through Christs death, we realize how important we are to God.

Paul writes that we are justified by faith apart from 'works of the law', a disputed term that represents a fault line between 'old' and 'new' perspectives on Paul. Was the Apostle reacting against the Jews' good works done to earn salvation, or the Mosaic Law's practices that identified the Jewish people? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul's second century readers understood these points in conflict, how they relate to 'old' and 'new' perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the Apostle's own meaning. Surprisingly, these early witnesses align closely with the 'new' perspective, though their reasoning often differs from both viewpoints. They suggest that Paul opposes these works neither due to moralism, nor primarily for experiential or social reasons, but because the promised new law and covenant, which are transformative and universal in scope, have come in Christ.

Brian S. Rosner seeks to build bridges between old and new perspectives on Paul with this biblical-theological account of the apostle's complex relationship with Jewish law. Rosner argues that Paul reevaluates the Law of Moses, including its repudiation as legal code, its replacement by other things, and its reappropriation as prophecy and wisdom.

This book introduces the Epistles and discusses the different interpretive approaches which have been used to gain a clearer understanding of them. An introductory chapter defines the Epistles and describes the history of their canonization, following chapters are devoted to each of the texts with each chapter including: 1) historical-cultural background; 2) the social-scientific context; 3) social-rhetorical purposes; 4) narrative discourse; 5) postcolonial and 6) feminist insights; and finally 7) theological perspectives. At the end of each chapter there are suggestions for further reading and a list of reflection questions. Several chapters include a section or two considering a particular interpretive issue especially relevant to the particular text. After taking up each text, Lockett considers again whether the Epistles are a unified whole or to be heard as individual voices. Here the book interacts with some of the ideas of Rob Wall and David Nienhuis regarding the various thematic/theological connections running through the texts. A final chapter takes up the relationship between the Pauline Epistles and the Catholic Epistles within the New Testament.

This one-of-a-kind reference volume provides focused study on the often-neglected portions of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation. Expert contributors present more information than any other single work—dealing exclusively with the theology, literature, background, and scholarship of the later New Testament and the apostolic church.

In this study of John 1-12, the author develops the thesis that Jesus is the divine, incarnate Torah, and that Jesus as Torah is the conceptual center of the Fourth Gospel. An overarching goal of the treatise is to explore the Evangelist's portrait of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Mosaic law. Connected with this aim is the central thesis that the Messiah appears in the Gospel of John as the realization of all the law's redemptive-historical types, prophecies, and expectations. A corresponding major claim is that those who trust in Jesus for eternal life and heed his teaching satisfy fully the requirements of the moral law recorded in Scripture. An examination of John 1-12 substantiates the truth that Jesus is the perfection of the gift of the Tanakh. He existed in the beginning with the Father and Spirit as God. The eternal Torah is light and life, fulfillment and joy, in fellowship with the triune God for all eternity. The divine Tanakh, by becoming incarnate, revealed the glory of the Father and made the fullness of God's grace and truth available to humankind. The living Word not only provides salvation but in so doing unveils the loving and redeeming heart of the Father for all to see. The Son of God is the one to whom all the Old Testament luminaries--such as Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah--pointed, and in whom their eschatological hopes were realized. The Anointed One is greater than and supreme over all the religious institutions once associated with the Jerusalem tabernacle and temple. Even such Jewish festivals as the Feast of Tabernacles, Pentecost, Dedication, and Passover find their fulfillment in the Messiah. This volume is appropriate for personal study and is also suitable as a college and seminary text.

In The Love of Neighbour in Ancient Judaism, Kengo Akiyama traces the development of the mainstay of early Jewish and Christian ethics: "Love your neighbour." Akiyama examines several Second Temple Jewish texts in great detail and demonstrates a diverse range of uses and applications that opposes a simplistic and evolutionary trajectory often associated with the development of the "greatest commandment" tradition. The monograph presents surprisingly complex interpretative developments in Second Temple Judaism uncovering just how early interpreters grappled with the questions of what it means to love and who should be considered as their neighbour.

This five-views work brings together an all-star lineup of Pauline scholars to offer a constructive, interdenominational, up-to-date conversation on key issues of Pauline theology. The editors begin with an informative recent history of biblical tradition related to the perspectives on Paul. John M. G. Barclay, A. Andrew Das, James D. G. Dunn, Brant Pitre, and Magnus Zetterholm then discuss how to interpret Paul's writings and theology, especially the apostle's view of salvation. The book concludes with an assessment of the perspectives from a pastoral point of view by Dennis Edwards.

A leading New Testament scholar provides important essays on the Apostle Paul, his letters, his theology, and his significance for the development of the earliest churches. Originally published in 1977 as Studies in Paul, this newly typeset and edited second edition includes another important Dahl essay on the book of Ephesians. Contents Paul: A Sketch Paul and Possessions Paul and the Church at Corinth A Fragment and Its Context: 2 Corinthians 6:14--7:1 The Missionary Theology in the Epistle to the Romans The Doctrine of Justification: Its Social Function and Implications Promise and Fulfillment The Future of Israel Contradictions in Scripture The One God of Jews and Gentiles Introduction to the Letter to the Ephesians