The Earliest Christian Mission To All Nations In The Light Of Matthew S Gospel

"This original work of scholarship clarifies how, in light of Matthew's Gospel, the first Christians understood and claimed Israel's messianic mission to people of every ethnic group immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The essays in this volume, which are written by friends, colleagues, and former students, are dedicated to Gary B. McGee as a memorial to his life, work, and service. As a professor with a clear calling to teach, he modeled this passion at the Open Bible College (Des Moines, Iowa), Central Bible College (Springfield, Missouri), and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (Springfield, Missouri). He exuded the understanding that quality teaching, superior scholarship, a genuine Pentecostal spirituality, and an irenic spirit can and should go together. Within the title of this volume, A Light to the Nations, two aspects become clear. First, each person is called to be "a light to the nations," as Gary McGee modeled. Second, and foundational to the first, is the reality that Jesus Christ is the ultimate light, and our energies, study, discussions, and life in general should rely on this fact. As a reflection of Gary McGee's life and ministry, these two aspects are focused through three lenses, which are the three sections of this volume: Ecumenism, Missions, and Pentecostalism. The essays represent a diversity of subjects and denote various explorations by colleagues and friends of Gary B. McGee.

Bringing Pentecostal theology into the Bible and mission conversation, Amos Yong identifies the role of the divine spirit in God's mission to redeem the world. As he works through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, Yong emphasizes the global missiological imperative: "People of all nations reaching out to people of all nations." Sidebars include voices from around the globe who help the author put the biblical text into conversation with twenty-first-century questions, offering the church a fresh understanding of its mission and how to pursue it in the decades to come.

As one of the leading figures in New Testament studies, Robert W. Wall has continually focused on the function of the New Testament as a "canonical” or authoritative collection of writings, reflecting not only the content and essence of the Church's emerging faith, but also the life to that community of followers of Jesus who eventually became widely known as “Christians.” In the vein of his defining work, The New Testament as Canon: A Reader in Canonical Criticism, Wall now reflects upon his more recent body of study. Always emphasizing 'canonical conversation', Wall had collected and revised some of his most important essays of the last two decades, including Unity of Luke and Acts (2010), The Unifying Theology of the Catholic Epistles (2003-13) and Images of Church in John's Revelation (2015). Completed by a new essay on the canonical approach to the Paratext of Hebrews, and with vital "introductory notes" for each chapter that highlight both Wall's revisions and his response to critical reception, this book is yet one more asset in Wall's continuing pursuit of the canonical function of the church's Scriptures.

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 two places in the First Gospel (Matt 10:5b-6; 15:24) the Messianic mission of Jesus and his disciples is limited to a group called ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. In light of Matthew’s intense interest in Jesus’ Davidic Messiahship and the Jewish Shepard-King traditions surrounding King David it is argued that the 'lost sheep of the house of Israel' refers to remnants of the former northern kingdom of Israel who continued to reside in the northern region of the ideal Land of Israel.

The concept of "faith" holds a central position in New Testament and early Christian thought, yet this concept has not received the careful attention it deserves in the Synoptic Gospels. The present study offers a comprehensive analysis of "faith" as a key motif in the Gospel of Matthew, where it plays a major role in communicating this Gospel's vision for how readers should respond to the person and message of Jesus. The argument propounded is that Matthew's unique narrative portrayal of the Canaanite woman's faith (15:21-28) is used for pedagogical purposes, namely, that by comparing and contrasting her "great faith" with those characters expressing "no faith" and "little faith," Matthew uses Jesus's quantitative πίστ-terms to teach on the nature of true faith. She embodies Matthew's theological vision of faith! Even though she is a gentile outsider/enemy, she comprehends the universal scope and abundant blessings of Jesus's mission. Moreover, she acknowledges Jesus's messianic identity, correctly perceiving him to be both David's royal heir and David's Lord. Finally, based on who she perceives Jesus to be and the purpose of his mission, she demonstrates faith as trust manifested in action.

This capstone work from widely respected senior evangelical scholar Donald Hagner offers a substantial introduction to the New Testament. Hagner deals with the New Testament both historically and theologically, employing the framework of salvation history. He treats the New Testament as a coherent body of texts and stresses the unity of the New Testament without neglecting its variety. Although the volume covers typical questions of introduction, such as author, date, background, and sources, it focuses primarily on understanding the theological content and meaning of the texts, putting students in a position to understand the origins of Christianity and its canonical writings. Throughout, Hagner delivers balanced conclusions in conversation with classic and current scholarship. The book includes summary tables, diagrams, maps, and extensive bibliographies.