The story of the New Testament is best understood when it is set in its historical context, which is what F.F. Bruce does brilliantly in this book. He begins by explaining the political, social, intellectual, and religious aspects of the Jewish people after their return from exile. The life and ministry of Jesus is then set within that culture. After the crucifixion of Jesus, "none of the authorities . . . could have reckoned with the event that confounded all their calculations," says Bru...

This modern classic in New Testament studies offers a compelling defense of the reliability of the Christian Scriptures. Christianity Today named "The New Testament Documents" one of the top 50 books that have shaped Evangelicals. "Our object," says F.F. Bruce, "is to find out what historical research reveals about the origin of the New Testament canon." Concise chapters explore dates and origin of various New Testament books, the formation of the New Testament canon, and examines the Gosp...

The Books and the Parchments is a classic text on the history and origins of the Bible. It explains the languages in which the Bible was written, how the books of the Bible were chosen, and the Bible's transmission and translation – from the earliest translations to the most popular English versions. Included are sections on the "Lost Books of the Bible" and the Apocrypha and other early Christian books. Professor Bruce makes it clear that he was writing for "non-specialists . . . and . . ...

This book is perhaps the most accessible introduction to the writings of St. Paul ever written in modern English. That’s because Professor Bruce does not approach his “expanded paraphrase” as a Bible translator, but as a storyteller recounting the life of Paul after his conversion and his correspondence with churches and individuals. This expanded paraphrase “is designed to make the course of Paul’s argument as clear as possible,” says F.F. Bruce. One unique aspect of The Letters of Paul i...

This ebook opens our understanding of the Acts of the Apostles so that “you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.” Acts is the second volume of the history of Christian origins by Luke, a doctor who wrote “an orderly account” of the life of Christ and the early church. The first volume is Luke’s gospel. Written as part of Scripture Union’s Bible Study Commentary series, which encourages regular, systematic personal Bible reading, this commentary is also ...

This outstanding commentary is easy to read, informative, and intended for the general reader interested in serious Bible study. The translation used is Bruce's own. He sets passages in their historical and cultural context, compares them with the other three Gospel accounts, and opens the meaning of the verses. The book has won such praises as "scholarly, concise, and practical"; "the best overall commentary on the Gospel of John"; and "clear-headed and consistently informative." Drawing ...

This story of the early Christian church – from its infancy to the conversion of the English in about A.D. 800 – pictures a church that is an unquenchable spiritual force organized for tribulation. Its spiritual resources are never stronger than in times of seeming disaster. The book is divided into three sections: “The Dawn of Christianity” deals with the church from its infancy to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; “The Growing Day” continues to the accession of Constantine in A.D. 313; a...

“. . . undertaken to provide earnest students of the New Testament with an exposition that is thorough and abreast of modern scholarship and at the same time loyal to the Scriptures as the infallible Word of God.” This statement reflects the underlying purpose of The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Begun in the late 1940s by an international team of New Testament scholars, the NICNT series has become recognized by pastors, students, and scholars alike as a critical yet o...

The Gospel of Matthew, written for Jewish Christians, focuses on who Jesus is, why he came, and how he fits into God’s bigger purposes. Matthew shows that Jesus is the long-expected Messiah, the bringer of God’s kingdom. The most prominent feature of this gospel is the teaching of Jesus, which is arranged in five discourses that dominate the book’s structure. This commentary is written by one of the most influential biblical scholars in recent times. F.F. Bruce’s writing is clear, illumina...

A thorough verse-by-verse exposition of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. “Nowhere,” says Bruce, is God’s “glorious purpose unfolded so fully and clearly as in the Epistle to the Ephesians. . . . The message of Ephesians is that only through Christ, in the fellowship of his body, can iron curtains, color-bars, class-warfare and all other divisions of this kind be brought to an end. . . . Only Christ can bring together the people on either side of these barricades, by first bringing them to h...

Who was Jesus and what did he do? These questions are right on target for understanding Jesus as a figure of history. But Christians mean more than that when they ask these questions. They go on to ask, Where did he come from? What is he doing? What is he going to do? For Christians, Jesus is the preexistent Son who became incarnate. And as the resurrected and living Christ, he continues to act, and he will yet do great things in the future. In this book, F.F. Bruce, one of the eminent New...

How did the books of the Bible come to be recognized as Holy Scripture? Who decided what shape the canon should take? What criteria influenced these decisions?After nearly nineteen centuries the canon of Scripture still remains an issue of debate. Protestants, Catholics, and the Orthodox all have slightly differing collections of documents in their Bibles. And many Christians today, while confessing the authority of all of Scripture, tend to rely on only a few books and particular ...