The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship. Overview of Commentary Organization Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology. Each section of the commentary includes: Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope. Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English. Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation. Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here. Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research. Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues. General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

In the Bible, storytelling is an important means to pass on the revelation of God. God repeatedly commanded the people of Israel to tell his mighty acts to the next generation. Invariably churches follow this mandate and use biblical narratives as a means to transmit God’s self-revelation to enable transformation. The author, Dr Annie George, listens to the voices of children in order to understand their perceptions of how storytelling of biblical narratives help them in their spiritual formation. Dr George’s research highlights the importance of evaluating the impact of biblical narratives from a child’s perspective as well as emphasising the need to give the same priority to the spiritual transformation of children as with other areas of study and ministry.

Examines the Old Testament roots of trinitarian thought, the historical developments that gave rise to the doctrine of the trinity and contemporary thinking about trinitarian issues.

Is Jesus really the only way? What is unique about Christ and missions? How can a new understanding of Jesus Christ bridge the gap between modern positivism and post-modern relativism? Can we learn from the model of Jesus how to be more effective mission workers? This volume (Number 12) of the annual Evangelical Missiological Society series offers answers to these questions and more as it discusses the clear and relevant communication of the centrality of Jesus Christ.

In The Dangerous Duty of Rebuke Matthew Goldstone explores the ways in which religious leaders within early Jewish and Christian communities conceived of the obligation to rebuke their fellows based upon the biblical verse: “Rebuke your fellow but do not incur sin” (Leviticus 19:17). Analyzing texts from the Bible through the Talmud and late Midrashim as well as early Christian monastic writings, he exposes a shift from asking how to rebuke in the Second Temple and early Christian period, to whether one can rebuke in early rabbinic texts, to whether one should rebuke in later rabbinic and monastic sources. Mapping these observations onto shifting sociological concerns, this work offers a new perspective on the nature of interpersonal responsibility in antiquity.

The thesis of this book is that virtue ethics is key to understanding Trinitarian progressive sanctification. The thesis is supported by four reasons why virtue ethics is key to understanding Trinitarian progressive sanctification: (1) the Trinity, virtue ethics, and sanctification are historically and conceptually interconnected in the tradition and Scripture, (2) virtue ethics based on metaphysical realism is the most biblically consistent ethical framework for Trinitarian progressive sanctification, (3) Jesus’ active roles as a teacher and example of virtue play an important part in Trinitarian sanctification, and (4) Jesus’ priestly heavenly intercession aimed at manifesting virtue in believers is crucial to understanding how the Trinity progressively sanctifies believers. The active roles of Jesus in sanctification, ordered by the Triune premise, indicate that the Trinity sanctifies such that: (1) the value having its source from the Father, is revealed through the teaching of the Son to motivate believers, who are empowered to be motivated by the Spirit, (2) the character that is from the Father is revealed through the Son’s example that is to be imitated by the believer through habituation and reciprocity, by the Spirit’s leading, and (3) believers are led by the Spirit’s intercession into prayer (Rom 8:14-16, 26-27), to be helped through the Son’s priestly intercession, in order to receive an answer from the Father, with the aim of manifesting the virtues of endurance and hope in the lives of believers.