Making Sense of the
New Testament

THREE CRUCIAL QUESTIONS

Craig L. Blomberg

© 2004 by Craig L. Blomberg

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Book House Company

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Blomberg, Craig

Making sense of the New Testament / Craig L. Blomberg.

p.    cm. — (Three crucial questions)

Includes bibliographical references and indexe.

ISBN 0-8010-2747-0 (paper)

1. Bible N.T.—Evidences, authority, etc. I. Title. II. 3 crucial questions.

BS2332.B49 2004

225.1—dc22 2003065338

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International VersionTM. Copyright 2001 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked niv are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978,1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

for George Kalemkarian

with profound gratitude for a friendship
that has surpassed three decades

Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface

Introduction

1. Is the New Testament Historically Reliable?

2. Was Paul the True Founder of Christianity?

3. How Is the Christian to Apply the New Testament to Life?

Summary

Subject Index

Scripture Index

Abbreviations

AJT Asia Journal of Theology

BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research

Bib Biblica

BSac Bibliotheca Sacra

BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin

EvQ Evangelical Quarterly

ExpT Expository Times

HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JR Journal of Religion

JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

NovT Novum Testamentum

NTS New Testament Studies

PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly

SJT Scottish Journal of Theology

TrinJ Trinity Journal

TynB Tyndale Bulletin

VC Vigilae Christianae

WTJ Westminster Theological Journal

Preface

Many people deserve my thanks for enabling this project to come to completion. Jim Weaver, the former academic books editor for Baker, first approached me about getting involved and was willing to issue me a contract with a due date years into the future, due to my many other commitments. Jim Kinney, the current academic editor, was gracious enough to continue to encourage me to pursue the project, even while he was lining me up to do additional writing further down the road. Michelle Stinson and Jeremiah Harrelson, both recent graduates of Denver Seminary’s Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies program, devoted numerous hours of research assistance during the 2001–2 and 2002–3 school years, respectively. Jeanette Freitag, as an assistant to our faculty, helped ...