Study Bible Commentary

Based on more than 20 years of research and spiritual practice, written by a man who is both a spiritual practitioner and award-winning scientist, Essential Spirituality shows how you can apply the seven practices central to all the world's major religions in your daily life. Filled with stories, myths, case histories, prayers, and practical advice, this extraordinary work has the power to change your life.

How can we persevere through persecution? First-century Christians wrestled with this question. They were often harassed, slandered, beaten, and ostracized for their faith. As they endured these difficult circumstances, we can imagine their joy upon receiving two encouraging letters from the Apostle Peter. No stranger to suffering, Peter likely penned these letters while in a Roman prison just before his martyrdom. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul takes us through Peter’s epistles line by line.

Of John's five New Testament books, these three include a sermon and two personal letters, one of which may have been written to Mary, the mother of our Lord. His Gospel deals with our past: salvation. Revelation deals with our future. John's First Epistle deals with our present: sanctification. It has been called the New Testament sanctum sanctorum. This study contains eight hours of verse-by-verse teachings.

The book of Acts bursts with the passion of early Christians embracing God's work and spreading Jesus's message worldwide. It also lays bare the challenges churches face, demonstrating that 'normal church life' has never been plain sailing. Acts is a dynamic narrative of journeys, trials, and triumphs, inspiring us in our own spiritual journeys. Acts, Part 1 spans from Luke's introduction to Herod's death in chapter 12.

The Gospel according to John has always been recognized as different from the "synoptic" accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But what explains the difference? In this new translation and verse-by-verse commentary, Michael Pakaluk suggests an answer and unlocks a 2,000-year-old mystery. Mary's Voice in the Gospel According to John reveals the subtle but powerful influence of the mother of Jesus on the fourth Gospel.

At every moment the author brings deep insight, conviction, and clarity about what God's Kingdom work is all about.

"Finishing Well" is the name of the game. Here was a rich, young ruler - a first century "yuppie" if you will - who, although getting off to a rather problematic beginning, finished well, indeed. A rich young ruler questioned Christ about what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Mark's Gospel includes a detail that Matthew and Luke failed to mention: "And Jesus looking upon him loved him..." This hints at the possibility that young John Mark himself may have been that rich young man.

Popular writer and teacher Jeannine Brown shows how a narrative approach illuminates each of the Gospels and highlights the overarching stories. This book offers a corrective to tendencies to read the Gospels piecemeal, one story at a time. It is filled with examples that show how narrative criticism brings the text to life, making it ideal for courses on the Gospels. Listeners will gain hands-on tools and perspectives to interpret the Gospels as whole stories.

Many pastors, students, and teachers have come to know and depend upon James Montgomery Boice’s scholarly yet accessible commentaries on the most popular books of the Bible. Here is an addition to the Boice commentaries that has a unique focus. Instead of examining an entire book of the Bible, it provides listeners with an in-depth look into Matthew 5-7, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

In the early 19th century, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, conceived the idea of extracting a gospel purified of what he saw as extraneous philosophical, mythological, and theological elements. To do so, he took verses from the four canonical gospels and arranged them into a single narrative, focusing on the actual words of Jesus.

God has provided a tactful and solemn weapon for us to use in our daily Christian walk, but we must understand what we have and how to use it. In Making the Most Use of Your Bible, Dr. Ricardo Holloway has provided brief summaries and scripture examples for each book of the Bible, an explanation of the intertestamental books, and book reference charts for the Old and New Testaments.

In Hebrew, this book is called dibhere ha-yamim: ''the words concerning the days.'' The Jewish Bible regards the Old Testament as 22 books and Chronicles is counted as a single book. I and II Chronicles take the form of a history: David and Judah are the focal points. The emphasis of I and II Chronicles is on the Southern Kingdom and the preservation of the Davidic line.

James has so much to say about living a powerful and effective life in Christ. The book addresses a variety of topics important to growing your faith and teaches that you not only need to read the Word of God and know what it says, but you also need to act on it. In this comprehensive biblical commentary, Joyce Meyer offers you practical insights for studying the book of James, with room for personal reflections that will help you grasp the truths in God's Word. You'll discover how to identify life-changing wisdom and get a better understanding of God's plan and purpose for your life.

Autobiographies from the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Talmud teaches that the ancient patriarchs were all prophets, and that each one of them left testaments for their descendants to read. These contain commands for their children, moral lessons, and prophecy. This legend is not only repeated among the Essene community, but fragments of 20 such records have been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls!

What happens at the end of our lives and of the course of history? Will God bring about a just and peaceful world? What lies beyond this realm, and what can we know of the beings who dwell there? In Death, the End of History, and Beyond, Greg Carey offers resources for understanding multiple, even conflicting, ways that the Bible imagines these ultimate realities.

Few, if any, thinkers and writers today would have the imagination, the breadth of knowledge, and the literary skill to conceive of a powerful secular alternative to the Bible. But that is exactly what A. C. Grayling has done, creating a nonreligious bible drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing, redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions.

An examination of sex and the Bible by one of the leading biblical scholars in the United States. For several decades, Michael Coogan's introductory course on the Old Testament has been a perennial favorite among students at Harvard University. In God and Sex, Coogan examines one of the most controversial aspects of the Hebrew Scripture: What the Old Testament really says about sex, and how contemporary understanding of those writings is frequently misunderstood or misrepresented.

The Book of Enoch: A Complete Guide and Reference is the ultimate reference and guide to the book of 1 Enoch (The Ethiopic Book of Enoch). This guide and reference contains the author's notes and insights on the ancient text, as well as commentary, parallel Bible verses, references to 2 Enoch and 3 Enoch, history, prophecy, and the Calendar of Enoch. The author has included an amazing section on the application of the Calendar of Enoch to the prophecy of Daniel and "Daniel's Week of Years."

If you could spend a few minutes with the giants of faith in the Old Testament in person, what lessons would they share with you? In Learning from the Giants, John C. Maxwell draws on 50 years of studying the Bible to share the stories of Elijah, Elisha, Job, Jacob, Deborah, Isaiah, Jonah, Joshua and Daniel. These people fought and won epic battles, served kings, and endured great hardships for God to come out on the other side transformed through His grace.

Here is Thomas Jefferson's classic abridgment of the Bible, in which Jefferson sculpted the words and ideas of Christ into a resounding moral philosophy. On and off for 17 years (including his term in the White House), Jefferson cut and pasted the philosophy of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Scripture, into one compact statement. He omitted any references to the virgin birth, miraculous healings, demonic possession, or supernatural events of any kind. His aim was to distinguish the moral philosophy of Christ from the religion that was later created around Christ.