Snapshots (Baker Publishing Group)

The gospel is often presented as little more than a ""get out of hell free"" pass. But is that all there is to it? What made it so compelling that the Apostle Paul would give up everything, enduring hardships and deprivation to preach good news? David deSilva argues that some Christians have unintentionally reduced the gospel to a message Paul would hardly recognize. The ""gift of righteousness"" is far richer than many of us have dared to imagine! In “Transformation: The Heart of Paul's Gospel”, deSilva examines the gospel message as presented in Paul's letters. He demonstrates that Paul had nothing less in mind than the means to transform and renew all of creation-including ourselves. Prepare to let Paul's message of change and renewal transform your own thinking.

Before the New Testament or the creeds of the church were written, the devotional practices of the earliest Christians indicate that they worshipped Jesus alongside the Father. Larry W. Hurtado has been one of the leading scholars on early Christology for decades. In Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice, Hurtado helps readers understand early Christology by examining not just what early Christians believed or wrote about Jesus, but what their devotional practices tell us about the place of Jesus in early Christian worship. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of early Christian origins and scholarship on New Testament Christology, Hurtado examines the distinctiveness of early Christian worship by comparing it to both Jewish worship patterns and worship practices within the broader Roman-era religious environment. He argues that the inclusion of the risen Jesus alongside the Father in early Christian devotional practices was a distinct and unique religious phenomenon within its ancient context. Additionally, Hurtado demonstrates that this remarkable development was not invented decades after the resurrection of Christ as some scholars once claimed. Instead, the New Testament suggests that Jesus-followers, very quickly after the resurrection of Christ, began to worship the Son alongside the Father. Honoring the Son offers a look into the worship habits of the earliest Christians to understand the place of Jesus in early Christian devotion.

The Ascension is essential to the gospel. The good news of Jesus includes his life, death, resurrection, and future return-but what about his ascension? Though often neglected or misunderstood, the ascension is integral to the gospel. In “The Ascension of Christ”, Patrick Schreiner argues that Jesus' work would be incomplete without his ascent to God's right hand. Not only a key moment in the gospel story, Jesus' ascension was necessary for his present ministry in and through the church. Schreiner argues that Jesus' residence in heaven marks a turning point in his three-fold offices of prophet, priest, and king. As prophet, Jesus builds the church and its witness. As priest, he intercedes before the Father. As king, he rules over all. A full appreciation of the ascension is essential for understanding the Bible, Christian doctrine, and Christ's ongoing work in the world.

In “The Reconciling Wisdom of God: Reframing the Doctrine of the Atonement”, Adam Johnson, already a leading scholar of the atonement, considers God's redemptive work in Christ through the atonement as an act of God's infinite wisdom. In making this crucial turn, Johnson is able to speak to proponents of the various atonement theories and move the discussion forward in a new direction, grounded in the truth of God's infinite wisdom. Genuinely reframing the debate around the atonement, “The Reconciling Wisdom of God” is a must-read for students of the atonement.

How did the Apostle Paul view the Church? And where does Israel fit in? How are the promises to Israel fulfilled? In “Heirs of Promise”, P. Chase Sears discusses this relationship between the Church and Israel, and he explains how that affects our understanding of the Old Testament. Using a biblical-theological approach to the book of Romans, Sears argues that Paul understood the church not as a replacement of Israel, but as the new Israel—the continuation of Israel reconstituted in Christ. And Jesus, as the Son of God, is the true Israel who fulfills all of God's purposes for Israel and creation. Sears shows how the Old Testament promises to Israel are being fulfilled in the Church.