Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

The Book of Martyrs by John Foxe written in the 16th century has long been the go-to source for studying the lives and martyrdom of the apostles. Whilst other scholars have written individual treatments on the more prominent apostles such as Peter, Paul, John, and James, there is little published information on the other apostles. In The Fate of the Apostles, Sean McDowell offers a comprehensive, reasoned, historical analysis of the fate of the twelve disciples of Jesus along with the apostles Paul, and James. McDowell assesses the evidence for each apostle’s martyrdom as well as determining its significance to the reliability of their testimony. The question of the fate of the apostles also gets to the heart of the reliability of the kerygma: did the apostles really believe Jesus appeared to them after his death, or did they fabricate the entire story? How reliable are the resurrection accounts? The willingness of the apostles to die for their faith is a popular argument in resurrection studies and McDowell offers insightful scholarly analysis of this argument to break new ground within the spheres of New Testament studies, Church History, and apologetics.

In The Theology of the First Christians, Walter Schmithals offers a comprehensive history of the development of religious thought from the preaching of Jesus to the formation of the New Testament canon. This well-researched volume will be of great interest to New Testament scholars and students.

These studies on the character of the Apostles form a complete series on the lives, times, and ministries of those men chosen by God to declare his message to the world.

In the Bible, the age before Jesus Christ came to the world have been called the age of the Old Testament and the age after Jesus Christ came to the world have been called the age of the New Testament. The Old Testament as the Law means that God gave the Scriptures through the angels as the messenger of God to the Prophets in order to make the Israelites serve to God. These scriptures are the first covenant of God, thus the Old Testament is called the first covenant as well. By the way, the Israelites as the dependents of Abraham symbolized the chosen people of God who God had predestined as his people before God created the heavens and the earth. Thus, the Israelites were God's people in the age of the Old Testament and the chosen people of God have been God's people in the age of the New Testament. In this way the Old Testament means the first covenant as the Law that God gave to make the Israelites keep it by their mind of the flesh for their living with the flesh in the world. Thus, the Law became the regulation of their living with the flesh. By the way, their mind of the flesh has been tempted by the messenger of the devil just as the serpent in the Eden Garden tempted the mind of the flesh of Eve as the wife of the Adam. The Israelites as the human being have to live with their mind of the flesh without their spirit that can follow God who is spirit. Because the human being has been born with the dead spirit as the guilty conscience without their spirit as good conscience due to Adam's sin that followed the temptation of the serpent instead of the command of God in the Eden Garden. This is called as the original sin of human being. And in the age of the New Testament as the age of the new covenant or the age of the Salvation, Jesus who came to the world and the apostles preached the world of truth of God as the gospel of Christ to the chosen people of God to save them through their spirit born again from their dead spirit due to Adam's sin. (See the messages of John 3:3-5) The word of truth of God as the gospel means the New Covenant as the law of the Spirit, but not the first covenant as the Law. And the new covenant as the law of the Spirit become the regulation of the spiritual living for God's people. It means that the Scriptures in the New Testament become the word of truth of God as the gospel of Christ for the salvation of the chosen people of God. So that the gospel has the spiritual meaning in the messages instead of the literal meaning of the messages in order to save God's people. Because the one who are born again from the dead spirit due to Adam's sin must be aware spiritually of the gospel in order to follow the will of God who is spirit for the spiritual living by his spiritual new life as his new self instead of the living of the flesh by his old self that lived with his mind of the flesh. As the mentioned above, now we have to be aware spiritually of the gospel as the new covenant becoming the New Testament in order to be saved from our original sin due to Adam's sin in the Eden Garden. Therefore through this books with the Spiritual Interpretation, you, as the chosen people of God are able to be aware spiritually of the world of truth of God as the new covenant for your salvation. When you read this books, the spiritual messages of God that are living with the power of God will lead you to be born again with good conscience from the dead spirit due to Adam's sin as the original sin.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

Are you baffled by the Book of Revelation? Understand the purpose, key themes, and symbolism of the most fascinating book in the Bible with The Book of Revelation For Dummies, an easy-to-understand guide that will help you grasp the enduring messages of Revelation and apply them to your life. You will understand what Revelation says about the past, present, and future, and how it relates to the rest of the Bible. You will learn how this mysterious book of the Bible fits into a historical context. You’ll discover all kinds of interesting facts about the apostle John and learn about the details of his world. You will be able to choose a perspective for interpreting this book of the Bible and decipher the many haunting symbols. There is no need to read this reference guide from cover to cover; simply browse the table of contents or flip through the pages to find the answers and assistance that you need. Discover how to: Interpret the prophecy of the Revelation Place it in historical context Understand how it relates to other books in the Bible Unravel the details of the apostle John’s life and world Choose a perspective for understanding See the grander scheme of things Complete with lists of the ten most commonly asked questions about end times and the ten rules of thumb for interpreting scripture, The Book of Revelation For Dummies will help you understand and decode one of the most perplexing books in the Bible!