The two letters of Paul to Timothy and the letter to Titus (generally called the Pastoral Epistles) are often treated by scholars as a later creation of some unknown author. This often has the effect of devaluing their teaching and making some regard the Pastorals as only of secondary importance in the canon of Scripture. Therefore, it is important to fins a commentary that will take the claim to Pauline authorship seriously and argue it persuasively. (more…)
1 & 2 Thessalonians
The Thessalonian epistles are possibly the earliest Pauline documents that we have in the New Testament. They reveal to us something of Paul’s motives and methods in ministry and show particularly his teaching about the return of Christ and its implications for us. (more…)
In this, the final article of his series, John Woodhouse looks at the connection between the Word of God and The Bible. Are they one and the same? Does God speak new words today?
Where there is the word of God, and faith in God because of that word, there is the totality of Christianity (Briefing #10). (more…)
The letter to the Colossians gives us precious insights into aspects of Paul’s teaching that are only alluded to in his other writings. As the apostle deals with false teaching, he develops a magnificent picture of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and its implications for us. Most commentaries on Colossians also deal with the letter to Philemon which reveals Paul in another light, dealing with a particular problem of personal relationships. (more…)
Philippians may at first appear to be insignificant compared with other Pauline epistles but it contains some important theological statements and shows how Paul dealt with practical issues in one of his less troublesome congregations. (more…)
Is too much experience a bad thing? How does an emphasis on God’s word square with the activity of the Spirit? It is to these and other questions that John Woodhouse turns in the second article of his series.
The epistle to the Ephesians confronts the reader with a number of issues relating to the church and the Christian life that are not fully developed in other Pauline letters. (more…)
Evangelicals seem to spend a lot of time talking about ‘the Word of God’. It is one of our catchcries. Are we mistaken in having this emphasis? What is the place of experience and the Spirit? Does the ‘word of God’ equal ‘the Bible’? In this stimulating series of three articles, John Woodhouse offers some fresh insights into what ‘God’s Word’ is, and what it means for the modern Christian.
Although the epistle to the Galatians is not large compared with Romans or the Corinthian letters, it is a highly significant document for discovering the mind of Paul and thereby the mind of God on some really important issues. (more…)
C.K. Barrett’s commentary in the Black’s Series (1973) is still the most outstanding treatment of this difficult epistle, both at the level of thoughtful exegesis and stimulation for preaching. (more…)
The best simple introductory commentary is by Leon Morris in the Tyndale series (New Edition, 1983). F.F. Bruce offers a similarly helpful introductory work, covering 1 and 2 Corinthians in the same volume (New Century Bible, 1981). (more…)
K.P. Donfried’s The Roman’s Debate (Augsburg, 1977), a collection of essays on the purpose of Romans, is a good introduction to this epistle.
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INTRODUCTORY STUDIES
I. H. Marshall’s Luke-Historian and Theologian (Paternoster, 1970) and R. Maddox’s The Purpose of Luke-Acts (T & T Clark) are worthwhile starters to the book of Acts. There are also some very helpful articles in Apostolic History and The Gospel (Paternoster, 1970) by W.W. Gasque and R. P. Martin. (more…)
Introductory Studies
Three good conservative introductions are Leon Morris’s Studies in the Fourth Gospel (Paternoster, 1969), Robert Kysar’s The Fourth Evangelist and His Gospel (Augsburg, 1975) and Stephen Smalley’s John-Evangelist and Interpreter (Paternoster, 1978).
There are two helpful introductory studies on Luke’s gospel: Luke-Historian and Theologian by I. H. Marshall (Paternoster, 1970) and a work by F. Bovon, Luke the Theologian (Pickwick Publications, 1987).