Showing titles in Commentaries

Drawing from his extensive teachings on spiritual formation, Willard illuminates the timeless wisdom contained within each parable, revealing their profound relevance to contemporary life. With clarity and depth, he guides readers through the subversive messages embedded within these seemingly simple stories, urging us to break free from the grip of worldly values and embrace the radical teachings of Jesus. The Scandal of the Kingdom is not just a book—it's a call to action.

In this book, H.K. Holland outlines and gives you an overview of each book in the New Testament. He tells you the author of the book, the backstory and the people the author was writing to. Most people do not read their Bibles because they do not understand them. They do not understand the organization. But once you understand how every book is organized, it becomes easier to read the Word of God for yourself. This book is easy to read, filled with basic information to get you reading the New Testament. It is also packed with history, regarding what happened after the last book in the Old ...

Critics outside the church often accuse the Old Testament God of genocide, racism, ethnic cleansing, and violence. But a rising tide of critics within the church claim that Moses and other "primitive," violence-prone prophets were mistaken about God's commands and character. Both sets of critics dismiss this allegedly harsh, flawed, "textual" Old Testament God in favor of the kind, compassionate, "actual" God revealed by Jesus. Are they right to do so?

If you start at the beginning of the New Testament and read straight through, first you’ll find three similar accounts of Jesus’ life. Then you come to the gospel of John. From recounting Jesus’ signs to recording His famous I am statements, John puts a spotlight on Jesus’ redemptive work so that others will believe and be saved. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul provides an introduction to John in his accessible, conversational style. Each chapter is packed with insights and exhortations to draw you closer to the life and light of the Savior.

Of all things Catholic, there is nothing that is so familiar as the Mass. With its unchanging prayers, the Mass fits Catholics like their favorite clothes. Yet most Catholics sitting in the pews on Sundays fail to see the powerful supernatural drama that enfolds them. Pope John Paul II described the Mass as "Heaven on Earth," explaining that what "we celebrate on Earth is a mysterious participation in the heavenly liturgy."

Taking his trademark intellectual approach to understanding Christianity, Timothy Keller uncovers the essential message of Jesus, locked inside his most familiar parable. Within that parable Jesus reveals God's prodigal grace toward both the irreligious and the moralistic. This book will challenge both the devout and skeptics to see Christianity in a whole new way.

What do we do with a God who sanctions violence? Old Testament violence proves one of the most troubling topics in the Bible. Too often, the explanations for the brutality in Scripture fail to adequately illustrate why God would sanction such horrors on humanity. These unanswered questions leave readers frustrated and confused, leading some to even walk away from their faith.

Escaping from Eden will take you on a journey around the world and into the mythologies of ancient Sumeria, Mesoamerica, India, Africa, and Greece, to reveal a profound secret, hidden in plain sight in the text of the Bible.

This book will help you to discern God’s will for your life. Within the pages of this book, you will learn about some of the great figures in the Bible and how they learned how to follow the Lord in every aspect of their lives through His Voice. Imagine the Lord directing every major event and even every footstep in your life. This book will inspire you to trust the Lord in everything. You can expect the Lord to direct every event of your life through His Voice. This book will show you the process. Trust the process. Your life is as much spiritual as it is physical. The Torah provides the...

Domitian’s contribution to religion is virtually unknown. Yet, as this book illustrates, he is the father of some of Christianity’s most profound concepts. The goal of this book is to define the specific themes and concepts that make up Domitian’s religious precepts – in a sense, we are defining the specific Domitian overlay to the Christian materials developed for his brother Titus. In the author's previous book on this topic entitled Unkilling Jesus, he presented analyses to support the thesis that Jesus was a fictional composite of the Emperor Vespasian, and his sons Titus and ...

This book will help you discover the treasures that are in your soul. God will use the painful experiences in your life to bring out purpose. The Man in the Mirror is the image of God perfected in you. In this book, I focus on helping you discover the beauty that is in your soul by allowing God to mold you into your “Man in the Mirror” through the difficulties of life. Allow me to take you on a journey to creating your Man in the Mirror, a more authentic version of you. I also invite you to read my other books, The Final Countdown: Your Journey in the Symphony of Creation and Earth, ...

A 2,000 year old sentence can change your understanding of fundraising forever. Professor Russell James III invites readers on a transformative journey through one of the New Testament’s most compelling passages on wealth and giving: 1 Timothy 6:17-19. As a simplified, yet richly detailed technical commentary, this work offers a fresh look at how the early church understood and approached the delicate topic of “those who are rich” and their capacity for meaningful generosity. From the opening chapters, which highlight the characters, setting, and backstory of Paul’s fundraising ...

It takes courage to walk out our faith. Courage to stand for what we believe. To set our standards on Biblical truth, not cultural trends. To pursue a life defined by integrity and character. And we find no greater profile in courage than in the life of Christ. This study follows our Savior as he faced opposition, challenged critics, and courageously chose to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Romans is the definitive statement of Christian doctrine - the most comprehensive book in the New Testament. Its impact on history is unequaled. This is the first in a trilogy (Galatians, Hebrews) on Habakkuk 2:4 - "the just shall live by faith" - which later became the mantra of the reformation. It has an international outlook: As a Roman citizen, and with both Hebrew and Greek culture of history, religion, philosophy, poetry, science, music, etc., Paul's Epistle to the Romans is the most profound writing that exists anywhere.

"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever" (Daniel 2:44). The overarching message of Daniel is that Jesus the Messiah is now ruling over the nations. He is the King of kings. Daniel tells us that Messiah’s kingdom will advance in the whole world from “generation to generation” (Daniel 4:4,34). Christ’s dominion is “given to the people of the saints of the most High” (Daniel 7:22...

Biblical scholars Brandon O'Brien and Randy Richards shed light on the ways that Western readers often misunderstand the cultural dynamics of the Bible. They identify nine key areas where modern Westerners have significantly different assumptions about what might be going on in a text. Drawing on their own cross-cultural experience in global mission, O'Brien and Richards show how better self-awareness and understanding of cultural differences in language, time, and social mores allow us to see the Bible in fresh and unexpected ways.

Is God a sadistic torturer? Coldhearted judge? Genocidal maniac? Unfortunately, our popular caricatures often make him out to be. God has some skeletons in the closet. At least, that's what many of us fear. "How can a loving God send people to hell?" "Isn't it arrogant to believe Jesus is the only way to God?" "What is up with holy war in the Old Testament?" These are difficult questions that our family, our friends, our culture - even we ourselves - are asking.

Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

Thomas Schreiner, a respected scholar and a trusted voice for many students and pastors, offers a substantial and accessibly written overview of the whole Bible. He traces the storyline of the scriptures from the standpoint of biblical theology, examining the overarching message that is conveyed throughout. Schreiner emphasizes three interrelated and unified themes that stand out in the biblical narrative: God as Lord, human beings as those who are made in God's image, and the land or place in which God's rule is exercised.

In Job: Beyond What You've Been Taught, history, archaeology, and theology converge to illuminate one of the most profound books of the Bible—Job. Far from a simple tale of suffering and faith, the Book of Job is a literary masterpiece that has challenged readers for millennia. Job: Beyond What You've Been Taught explores Job not only as scripture but as a product of its ancient Near Eastern context. Drawing on archaeological findings from Mesopotamia and Canaan, historical records, and comparative literature—such as the Babylonian Ludlul-Bēl-Nēmeqi—this study situates Job within a ...