Like his original hearers many people today find Jesus' sayings hard. Some sayings are hard because they are difficult to understand, others because the demands they make on us are only too clear. F. F. Bruce examines seventy of the hard sayings of Jesus to clear away the cultural and historical difficulties which keep us from grappling with the real challenge of Jesus' message. Evident in each chapter is Bruce's keen evangelical scholarship and pastoral insight.

As well as telling parables and stories, giving teachings on how to discern questions of ethics and human nature, and offering beatitudes for comfort and encouragement, Jesus also spoke words and flung insults that followers then and now have found difficult, to say the least. He instructs disciples to hate members of their own families (Luke 14:26), warns that unending fire awaits some people, says body parts should be cut off if they offend. He calls a foreign woman a ‘dog’, the Jews ‘offspring of vipers’ and his closest disciple ‘Satan’. Preachers often gloss over these or avoid them altogether as they are still so shocking. In The Difficult Words of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine sheds vital light on understanding these by exploring how these sayings sounded to those who first heard them. She reveals Jewish modes of expression, humour and the long tradition of Jewish insults and what they mean, and how we might interpret these sayings today within a gospel of love and reconciliation.

Now in paperback, Hard Sayings of the Bible has explanations for over five hundred of the most troubling verses to test the minds and hearts of Bible readers. Verse by verse, four distinguished Bible scholars take you behind the scenes to find succinct solutions to the most difficult verses in Scripture.

Have you ever read something in the Bible and just scratched your head, or been challenged by a skeptic to explain a seemingly scandalous verse? Trent Horn can help. In Hard Sayings, Trent looks at dozens of the most confounding passages in Scripture and offers clear, reasonable, and Catholic keys to unlocking their true meaning.

Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus“This book will stir the pot of biblical scholarship for years to come. It will force many to rethink the origin of the Gospels and the Jewishness of Jesus. Some may disagree with Bivin and Blizzard at certain points. No one, however, can ignore the soundness of their conclusion: Jesus is a Hebrew...

Manfred T. Brauch tackles forty-eight frustrating passages from the letters of Paul and helps readers understand their importance for Christian living today.

The Tough Sayings of Jesus Volume 1 - Member Book is a 4-session study that examines a few of Jesus' more puzzling conversations and confidently questions things Jesus said that are, in most cases, difficult to swallow. Participants will thoroughly study the meaning of each of these sayings and delve into the historical and cultural context of Scripture. The study offers no pat answers, but instead focuses on sparking discussion and providing fresh insight. Author: Michael Kelly lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jana, and kids, Joshua, Andi, and Christian. He grew up in Texas and earned a Master of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He has written Holy Vocabulary: Rescuing the Language of Faith.