In the 1970s and 1980s, my wife and I were privileged, together with a group of friends, John and Sally, Dennis and Freda, Dave, Richard and Gill, to lead a series of intensive Bible studies with a changing group of undergraduate students each Sunday evening during university term. In preparation for a study, we would meet one evening during the week to discuss the passage of scripture proposed for the following Sunday, and we would share together what we had each learned from commentaries and other sources. On Sundays, one of us would present the passage for perhaps an hour, and after coffee and biscuits, we would have forty minutes or more of open discussion. Those were life-changing evenings for me. I developed a deep respect for scripture, a longing to live it out, and a desire to share it. The studies came to an end smoothly and happily when John and Sally moved to Oxford. This prompted Margaret and me to leave our comfortable downtown church in Cardiff and offer to throw our lot in with a struggling small Baptist church in one of the Welsh valley towns. I offered to take a lead in Bible teaching within the church, and Margaret became involved in time off, a group for older women, and in a number of other community-based initiatives. After a few months, I was invited to accept leadership of the church as a layperson, an untrained Baptist pastor. After much thought and prayer, I accepted, and so commenced the happiest period of my married life and the busiest period for the both of us! Fourteen years later, the church moved to larger premises, led by a gifted local lad with reference to whom I often said, “I lectured the church. Wayne communicates to the people!” For each service in the church, I typed out an A4 essay on the Bible passage that had been preached, and at the end of the service, I stood at the door, said farewell to each person, and gave each of them a copy of my essay. In this way, I hoped that I might increase both the respect for scripture throughout the church and perhaps reinforce the memory of each passage presented in the sermon. When Margaret and I resigned from leadership of the church, I rewrote a series of twenty-eight sermons I had given in the church. I had these printed and bound together into a booklet and I gave a copy as a farewell gift to every person who attended the church. These essays have been further edited and are now published under the title A Medical Scientist Examines the Life of Jesus. The present volume is based on another series of sermons I had given in the church. These, too, have been edited and rewritten as a series of essays under the title Lessons for Life Based on the Lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Every serious student of the Bible desires to understand the text, discover the biblical principles, and apply the truths to his/her life. This commentary is designed to help students, pastors, and Bible teachers understand the book of Hebrews in a simple manner. Working from the popular New International Version (NIV), the author provides helpful commentary on the text verse-by-verse. This verse-by-verse commentary is different from others in two respects. First, it is brief while some commentaries are unnecessarily wordy and verbose. Second, it is Pentecostal in outlook. This implies that we generally adhere to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and adopt a literalist approach to the interpretation of the Bible. Hebrews has many deep truths which make it a thrilling adventure to read through. It is a treasured work for centuries in the life of the church. It is an indispensable contribution to the New Testament.

The first book in the Covenants Section of the Biblical Evolution Revolution series, delves deep into the Abrahamic Covenant and uses it, rather than the Messianic Covenant, to interpret Old Testament scripture. This singular change reveals an intriguing perspective of the Bible with the hope of generating peace and love between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The viewpoint of the author is a direct challenge the mainstream beliefs of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. With the discussion of Islam, the author's perspective of the Quran is used as an intrical part of the prophecy, rather than as an opposing viewpoint. The discussion is candid and in-depth. Specifically, on how the covenants relate to the Jewish Palestinian Conflict as well as the War on Terror. Like all the books in the Biblical Evolution Revolution Series, once you read the book you will never see the world the same way again.

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 bibliography contains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Art historian Eleanor Pearson DeLorme and her erudite coauthor, Charles Pearson DeLorme, lead us through a virtual gallery of great paintings by masters of Western art: from Rubens and Brueghels Garden of Eden to Signorellis Testament and Death of Moses. They tell two stories: that of the great story of Gods redemption and that of the lives and times of the masters who labored to portray Gods story, which is, at the same time, our own.

This fresh and readable commentary exposes theological meaning in Hebrews by tracing its use of rhetorical strategies from the ancient cultural and educational context.

Since its first publication in 1970, A Survey of Israel's History has established itself as a popular and useful text in Bible colleges and seminaries. This revision by David O'Brien, which brings A Survey of Israel's History up to date, is certain to add to its value and continue its popularity. A chapter on the Intertestamental Period has been added. Numerous line-maps, charts, and diagrams help to clarity details. An extensive chronological chart provides an overall summary of names and dates. Authoritative, thoroughly biblical, factually sound, and movingly human -- A Survey of Israel's History will prove enormously helpful to the student of the Bible, and to anyone in search of a definitive history of the chosen people.