Matthew: A Commentary, Volume 1

Front Cover
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 25. juuni 2007 - 652 pages
Recognized as a masterly commentary when it first appeared, Frederick Dale Bruner's study of Matthew is now available as a greatly revised and expanded two-volume work -- the result of seven years of careful refinement, enrichment, and updating.

Through this commentary, crafted especially for teachers, pastors, and Bible students, Bruner aims "to help God's people love what Matthew's Gospel says." Bruner's work is at once broadly historical and deeply theological. It is historical in drawing extensively on great church teachers through the centuries and on the classical Christian creeds and confessions. It is theological in that it unpacks the doctrines in each passage, chapter, and section of the Gospel. Consciously attempting to bridge past and present, Bruner asks both what Matthew's Gospel said to its first hearers and what it says to readers today. As a result, his commentary is profoundly relevant to contemporary congregations and to those who guide them.

Bruner's commentary is replete with lively, verse-by-verse discussion of Matthew's text. While each chapter expounds a specific topic or doctrine, the book's format consists of a vivid, original translation of the text followed by faithful exegesis and critical analysis, a survey of historical commentary on the text, and current applications of the text or theme under study. In this revision Bruner continues to draw on the best in modern scholarship -- including recent work by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., by Ulrich Luz, and by many others -- adding new voices to the reading of Matthew. At the same time he cites the classic commentaries of Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, and the rest, who, like Bruner himself, were not simply doctrinal teachers but also careful exegetes of Scripture. Such breadth and depth of learning assure that Bruner's Matthew will remain, as a reviewer for Interpretation wrote, "the most dog-eared commentary on the shelf."

Volume 1 of Bruner's commentary is called The Christbook because the first twelve chapters of Matthew are focused on the nature and work of Christ. As Bruner proceeds through these chapters, he shows how Matthew presents, step by step, central themes of Christology: Jesus' coming (chapters 1 4), his teaching (5 7), his miracles (8 9), his sermon on mission (10), and his person (11 12). Throughout the book there are also thoughtful discussions of significant topics such as baptism, marriage, Jewish-Christian relations, and heaven and hell.

Eminently readable, rich in biblical insight, and ecumenical in tone, Bruner's two-volume commentary on Matthew now stands among the best in the field.

From inside the book

Contents

1820
23
The Question of the Historicity of the Virgin Birth
37
The Deity of Jesus and the Questions
45
Introduction to the Doctrine of Human Nature
53
Representative Humanity 21315 1923
73
The Doctrine of Human Nature in
79
A Discussion of Infant and Believer Baptisms
112
The Temptation of Cheap
127
The Call to Justice
336
2427
359
The Touching Messiah The Ten Miracles
370
1834
392
The Five Miracles of Freedom
409
1834
427
The Sermon on Mission
445
13b15
469

The Ministry of the Son and Servant
135
B Jesus the Lord of the Church The Service of
142
The Teaching Messiah The Sermon on the Mount
150
A The Inaugural Need or Poor Beatitudes of Grace
157
The Foundation of Ethics
194
The Call to Faith
281
1934
319
2439
481
4042 111
493
The Six Portraits
501
The Fire Christ
545
Gospel Parallels in Mark and Luke I
586
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2007)

Frederick Dale Bruner is the George and Lyda Wasson Professor of Religion Emeritus at Whitworth University. His other books include A Theology of the Holy Spirit: The Pentecostal Experience and the New Testament Witness and commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John.

Bibliographic information