New Testament
Special Studies
There are several helpful new books in this category. Can We Trust the Gospels? by Mark Roberts (Crossway; pb., 202 pp.) is a very helpful, non-technical defense of the reliability of the Gospels. This is a good book to give to college students and to help in “Davinci Code” and “Gospel of Judas” conversations. John Piper’s What Jesus Demands of the World (Crossway; hb., 400 pp.) is a serious investigation of the commands of Jesus found in the gospels. Piper has done his academic homework but writes as a pastor. This book will be very helpful in preaching in the gospels as well as for personal contemplation of the commands of Jesus.
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Peter Walker’s In the Steps of Jesus: An Illustrated Guide to the Places of the Holy Land (Zondervan; hb., 215 pp.) is helpful simply in getting a feel for the land of Jesus. It is richly illustrated.
Kim Riddlebarger in The Man of Sin: Uncovering the Truth about the Antichrist (Baker; pb., 240 pp.) provides a good, balanced treatment of a challenging theme in the Bible, examining each place in the Scriptures where this theme arises. Ann Jervis’ At the Heart of the Gospel: Suffering in the Earliest Christian Message (Eerdmans, pb., 149 pp.) is a helpful, pastoral study of the prominence of suffering in the message of the New Testament. We need to make sure this important theme of the Scripture is evident in our preaching.
Gordon Fee, Pauline Christology (Hendrickson; hb., 707 pp.) is a must have. Fee is always exegetically careful and pastorally aware. Similar to his approach in his book on the Holy Spirit in Paul (God’s Empowering Presence) Fee works his way book by book through Paul examining passages that speak to Paul’s understanding of Christ. His exegesis of key texts will be helpful as will his theological conclusions.
Faithful to the End by T Wilder, D. Charles and K Easley (B&H; hb., 327 pp.) is a college or seminary level introduction to Hebrews through Revelation. It interacts with a good bit of the scholarly discussion and can be a helpful tool when beginning a sermon series through one of these books.
Commentaries
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Nelson; hb., 950 pp.) provides concise coverage of the entire New Testament. The level of coverage is something like a very thorough study Bible.