An Introduction to the New Testament

782 Pages·2005·5.91 MB·English

by  D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo

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AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
THENEW
TESTAMENT
ﱷ
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Zondervan Books by D. A. Carson
Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church
The Gagging of God
An Introduction to the New Testament (coauthor)
Matthew in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary
Telling the Truth (general editor)
Worship by the Book (editor)
Zondervan Books by Douglas J. Moo
2 Peter, Jude in the NIV Application Commentary Series
Romans in the NIV Application Commentary Series
Romans, James, 2 Peter, Jude in the Zondervan Illustrated
Bible Background Commentary
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SECOND EDITION
AN
INTRODUCTION
TO
THENEW
TESTAMENT
ﱷ
D. A. Carson & Douglas J. Moo
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An Introduction to the New Testament—Second Edition
Copyright © 1992, 2005 by D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees,
you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen.
No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or
mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
AER Edition January 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-53956-8
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carson, D. A.
An introduction to the New Testament / D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo.–2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 0-310-23859-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-310-23859-1
1. Bible. N.T.—Introductions. I. Moo, Douglas J. II. Title.
BS2330.3.C37 2005
225.6'1—dc22 2005005186
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Ver-
® ®
sion . TNIV . Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights
reserved.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
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This book is gratefully dedicated to Joy and Jenny
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Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1. Thinking about the Study of the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. The Synoptic Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
3. Matthew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
4. Mark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5. Luke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6. John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7. Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
8. New Testament Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
9. Paul: Apostle and Theologian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
10. Romans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
11. 1 and 2 Corinthians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
12. Galatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
13. Ephesians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
14. Philippians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
15. Colossians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 516
16. 1 and 2 Thessalonians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
17. The Pastoral Epistles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554
18. Philemon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588
19. Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
20. James . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
21. 1 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 636
22. 2 Peter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
23. 1, 2, 3 John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
24. Jude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
25. Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 697
26. The New Testament Canon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
Name Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 758
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
About the Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .785
Share Your Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .786
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Preface
The primary focus of this book is “special introduction”—that is, it treats histor-
ical questions dealing with authorship, date, sources, purpose, destination, and
the like. Many recent books devote more space than we do to literary form, rhetor-
ical criticism, and historical parallels. We do not minimize the importance of such
topics, and we have introduced them where they directly bear on the subject at
hand. However, in our experience, they are better given extended treatment in
courses on exegesis, especially the exegesis of particular books. Moreover, we fear
that too much focus on these topics at the expense of traditional questions of intro-
duction tends to divorce the New Testament books from their historical settings
and students from some important debates in the first centuries of the Christian
church. This also means that we have often referred to primary sources. In debates
over such questions as what Papias means by “John the elder,” we have tended to
cite the passage and work through it, so that students may see for themselves what
the turning points in the debate are (or should be!).
Although the emphasis of this book is on “special introduction,” we have
included a brief outline or résumé of each New Testament document, sometimes
providing a rationale for the choices we have made. In each case we have pro-
vided a brief account of current studies on the book and have indicated some-
thing of the theological contribution that each New Testament document makes
to the canon. Our ultimate concern is that new generations of theological stu-
dents will gain a better grasp of the Word of God.
We have tried to write with the first- and second-year student of seminaries
and theological colleges in mind. Doubtless in most instances the material will be
supplemented by lectures. Some teachers will want to use the material in some
order other than that presented here (e.g., by assigning chapters on Matthew,
Mark, and Luke before assigning the chapter on the Synoptic Gospels). Bibli-
ographies are primarily in English, but a small number of works in German,
French, and other modern languages appear. These bibliographies are meant to
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