A Survey of the New Testament, 5th ed.

Top Highlights

“he claims to teach genuine wisdom, the kind that comes from the Holy Spirit, who alone knows the mind of God” (Page 417)

“What others thought of you counted more than what you thought of yourself, so that there resulted what scholars call a dyadic personality, one determined largely by others rather than highly individualistic (contrast ‘being your own person’ and ‘doing your own thing’).” (Page 57)

“The Greek culture, called Hellenism, had been spreading for some time through Greek trade and colonization, but Alexander’s conquests provided far greater impetus than before. The Greek language became the lingua franca, or common trade and diplomatic language. By New Testament times Greek had established itself as the street language even in Rome, where the indigenous proletariat spoke Latin but the great mass of slaves and freedmen spoke Greek, so that Paul wrote his Letter to the Romans in Greek. Alexander founded seventy cities and modeled them after the Greek style. He and his soldiers married oriental women. Thus the Greek and oriental cultures mixed to produce a Hellenistic culture.” (Pages 24–25)

“The author of Hebrews portrays Jesus Christ distinctively as a priest who, having offered none other than himself as the completely sufficient sacrifice for sins, now ministers in the heavenly sanctuary. The purpose of this portrayal, which emphasizes the superiority of Christ over every aspect and hero of Old Testament religion, is to ensure that the recipients of the letter do not apostatize from Christianity back to Judaism.” (Page 500)