This Catholic commentary on First and Second Peter and Jude interprets Scripture from within the living tradition of the Church.

Delve Deeper into God's Word In this verse-by-verse commentary, Robert Gundry offers a fresh, literal translation and a reliable exposition of Scripture for today's readers. First Peter emphasizes proper Christian conduct in the face of anti-Christian hostility. Second Peter and Jude describe false teachers and their ungodliness, affirming the true knowledge of Christian belief to counter heresy. Pastors, Sunday school teachers, small group leaders, and laypeople will welcome Gundry's nontechnical explanations and clarifications. And Bible students at all levels will appreciate his sparkling interpretations. This selection is from Gundry's Commentary on the New Testament.

Who would not relish the opportunity to read two-thousand-year-old letters? These four of the seven catholic letters" are addressed not to any specific church, as are Paul's epistles, but to the church in general. Giving us valuable insights into early Christianity, they insist on the need to join good works with faith, present Jesus' sufferings as the model for enduring persecution and warn against intruders intent on undermining traditional faith and morals. Far from being mere exercises in nostalgia for the "good ol' days," the letters offer principles that have not lost their value for the Church of the third millennium. Patrick Hartin's clarity and conciseness update the Church's earliest struggles to remain faithful to the spirit of Jesus Christ. These are letters for us today, too. Fr. Patrick J. Hartin, PhD, is professor of New Testament at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, and the author of the Sacra Pagina commentary on James and A Spirituality of Perfection: Faith in Action in the Letter of James, published by Liturgical Press.

Crisis in the church is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the church has always been - and probably always will be - involved in some kind of crisis. Even in the apostolic period, which is regarded by many as the church's golden age, there were serious crises coming both from the outside, as in 1 Peter, and from the inside, as in Jude and 2 Peter. The three short New Testament letters treated in 1 Peter, Jude and 2 Peter illustrate the problems early Christians faced, as well as the rhetorical techniques and theological concepts with which they combated those problems. In the first part of this volume, Donald Senior views 1 Peter as written from Rome in Peter's name to several churches in northern Asia Minor - present-day Turkey - in the latter part of the first century C.E. The new Christians addressed in 1 Peter found themselves aliens and exiles in the wider Greco-Roman society and suffered a kind of social ostracism. But they are given a marvelous theological Vision of who they have become through their baptism and pastoral encouragement to stand firm. They are shown how to take a missionary stance toward the outside world by giving the witness of a holy and blameless life to offset the slander and ignorance of the non-Christian majority and possibly even to lead them to glorify God on the day of judgment. In the second part of this volume, Daniel Harrington interprets Jude and 2 Peter as confronting crises in the late first century that were perpetrated by Christian teachers who are described polemically as intruders in Jude and as false teachers in 2 Peter. In confronting the crises within their churches, the authors appeal frequently to the Old Testament and to early summaries of Christian faith. While Jude uses other Jewish traditions, 2 Peter includes most of the text of Jude as well as many distinctively Greek terms and concepts. It is clear that for the authors, despite their different social settings, what was at stake was the struggle for the faith. Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, is a professor of New Testament at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and general editor of New Testament Abstracts. He is a past-president of the Catholic Biblical Association of American and the editor of the Sacra Pagina series. He also wrote The Gospel of Matthew in the Sacra Pagina series. Donald Senior, CP, is a professor of New Testament studies and president of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He was recently appointed by Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Biblical Commission. General editor of The Bible Today, he also co-edited The Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of the Bible and the 22-volume international commentary series New Testament Message, and he wrote the four-volume The Passion series published by The Liturgical Press.

THE NEW AMERICAN COMMENTARY is for the minister or Bible student who wants to understand and expound the Scriptures. Notable features include:* commentary based on THE NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION;* the NIV text printed in the body of the commentary;* sound scholarly methodology that reflects capable research in the original languages;* interpretation that emphasizes the theological unity of each book and of Scripture as a whole;* readable and applicable exposition.

The NIV Application Commentary helps you communicate and apply biblical text effectively in today's context. To bring the ancient messages of the Bible into today's world, each passage is treated in three sections: Original Meaning. Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. A bridge between the world of the Bible and the world of today, built by discerning what is timeless in the timely pages of the Bible. Contemporary Significance. This section identifies comparable situations to those faced in the Bible and explores relevant application of the biblical messages. The author alerts the readers of problems they may encounter when seeking to apply the passage and helps them think through the issues involved. This unique, award-winning commentary is the ideal resource for today's preachers, teachers, and serious students of the Bible, giving them the tools, ideas, and insights they need to communicate God's Word with the same powerful impact it had when it was first written.

This title is available on eBook! For more information see: www.MennoMedia.org/e-books Erland Waltner explains how 1 Peter applies Jesus' teaching on loving the enemy to the life situation of scattered Christians in Asia Minor. Peter empowers believers to be communities of hope, not retaliating for the abuse they suffer, but bearing witness of their Lord by word, lifestyle, and doing good. J. Daryl Charles shows how 2 Peter and Jude are relevant since the church still faces ethical compromises and pastoral dilemmas. Their apocalyptic imagery stresses that the concerns of Christian faithfulness and faith are absolutely crucial. The church needs such moral exhortation. Table of Contents (PDF) Read the Introduction to 1-2 Peter (PDF) Read the Introduction to Jude (PDF) Check out other commentaries in this series!

The Cornerstone Biblical Commentary series provides up-to-date, evangelical scholarship on the Old and New Testaments. Each volume is designed to equip pastors and Christian leaders with exegetical and theological knowledge to better understand and apply God’s Word by presenting the message of each passage as well as an overview of other issues surrounding the text. The commentary series has been structured to help readers understand the meaning of Scripture, passage-by-passage, through the entire Bible. The New Living Translation is an authoritative Bible translation, rendered faithfully into today's English from the ancient texts by 90 leading Bible scholars. The NLT’s scholarship and clarity breathe life into even the most difficult-to-understand Bible passages—but even more powerful are stories of how people’s lives are changing as the words speak directly to their hearts. That's why we call it “The Truth Made Clear.” About the authors of this volume: Grant R. Osborne (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has authored and edited numerous books, including The Hermeneutical Spiral and many commentaries on the New Testament. M. Robert Mulholland Jr. (ThD, Harvard Divinity School) is vice president of Asbury Seminary and an expert in New Testament and Christian Origins and spiritual formation. His several books include The Deeper Journey and contributions to the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. He is also a frequent speaker at Bible and spiritual renewal conferences.

This commentary, written from a distinctively Pentecostal perspective is primarily for pastors, lay persons and Bible students. It is based upon the best scholarship, written in popular language, and communicates the meaning of the text with minimal technical distractions. The author offers a running exposition on the text and extended comments on matters of special significance for Pentecostals. She acknowledges and interacts with alternative interpretations of individual passages, and her commentary also provides periodic opportunities for reflection upon and personal response to the biblical text.

Collegeville Bible Commentary New Testament Volume 9: 1 And 2 Tim, Titus, James, 1 And 2 Peter, Jude