Craig S. Keener

569 Pages·2016·3.07 MB·English

by  The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament

This book is dedicated to our
brothers and sisters
on the frontline of evangelism in
Africa, Asia, Latin America,
the inner cities of North America and
the many other places
where followers of Jesus are paying a
high price
to proclaim his gospel in truth. Many
of them have not had
the time or opportunity to pursue the
original cultural context
of the New Testament, but I pray
with all my heart
that this book will be useful to them
in their service
to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The list of scholars in New Testament, Judaic studies and Greco-Roman
antiquity to whose writings I am indebted could fill many pages, and for this
reason I forgo it. The list of scholars with whom I have studied personally is
shorter, but still I list only a few of my academic mentors: Ben Aker, Mary
Boatwright, Morna Hooker, Dale Martin, Eric Meyers, Ramsey Michaels, Jim
Moyer, E. P. Sanders, D. Moody Smith, Wesley Smith and Orval Wintermute.
More direct acknowledgment must be made to my faithful and patient editors
at InterVarsity Press, Rodney Clapp and Ruth Goring Stewart. About two years
after I had decided that IVP would be the ideal publisher for a commentary like
this one if I ever got the time to write it, Rodney contacted me and asked if I
would be interested in writing a book for IVP. Since that time I have appreciated
not only the editorial help but also the spiritual encouragement my friends at IVP
have provided.
Finally, I must thank my students and members of congregations over the
years who have afforded me the opportunity to test out the ideas in this
commentary. They are the ones who helped me sift through which elements of
background were genuinely important to communicating the message of the
biblical text and which were only peripheral. In this connection, I should
mention especially my undergraduate students at Duke and my seminary
students at Hood Theological Seminary. I should also thank the various campus
ministry groups (InterVarsity, Raptures, Crusade and Koinonia at Duke, and
New Generation at Livingstone College) that have allowed me to test out this
commentary's material in smaller group settings and in personal discipleship.
The story of how the Lord provided financially while I was working on the
commentary full time-to the exact dollar amount I had prayed for to pay rent and
buy groceries that year, and within twenty-four hours of the prayer-is another
story in itself. But I have seen the Lord's special hand of providence in the
undertaking of this work, and I hope that, in the end, this work owes far more to
his input than to mine.
ABBREVIATIONS 8
HOW TO USE THIS COMMENTARY 9
THE NEED FOR A CULTURAL-HISTORICAL COMMENTARY 22
GOSPELS 38
MATTHEW 43
MARK 132
LUKE 185
JOHN 259
ACTS 320
NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS 407
ROMANS 411
1 CORINTHIANS 451
2 CORINTHIANS 491
GALATIANS 517
EPHESIANS 538
PHILIPPIANS 556
COLOSSIANS 568
1 THESSALONIANS 583
2 THESSALONIANS 597
1 TIMOTHY 605
2 TIMOTHY 622
TITUS 634
PHILEMON 642
HEBREWS 647
JAMES 686
1 PETER 705
2 PETER 723
1 JOHN 734
2 JOHN 747
3 JOHN 750
JUDE 752
REVELATION 757
GLOSSARY 822
MAPS & CHARTS 833