SECOND EDITION

An INTRODUCTION To The NEW TESTAMENT

D. A. CARSON & DOUGLAS J. MOO

ZONDERVAN

An Introduction to the New Testament—Second Edition

Copyright © 1992, 2005 by D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carson, D. A.

An introduction to the New Testament / D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo.—2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-310-23859-1

1. Bible. N.T.—Introductions. I. Moo, Douglas J. II. Title.

BS2330.3.C37 2005

225.6′1—dc22 2005005186

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

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This book is gratefully dedicated to Joy and Jenny

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

1. Thinking about the Study of the New Testament

2. The Synoptic Gospels

3. Matthew

4. Mark

5. Luke

6. John

7. Acts

8. New Testament Letters

9. Paul: Apostle and Theologian

10. Romans

11. 1 and 2 Corinthians

12. Galatians

13. Ephesians

14. Philippians

15. Colossians

16. 1 and 2 Thessalonians

17. The Pastoral Epistles

18. Philemon

19. Hebrews

20. James

21. 1 Peter

22. 2 Peter

23. 1, 2, 3 John

24. Jude

25. Revelation

26. The New Testament Canon

Scripture Index

Name Index

Subject Index

Preface

The primary focus of this book is “special introduction”—that is, it treats historical questions dealing with authorship, date, sources, purpose, destination, and the like. Many recent books devote more space than we do to literary form, rhetorical criticism, and historical parallels. We do not minimize the importance of such topics, and we have introduced them where they directly bear on the subject at hand. However, in our experience, they are better given extended treatment in courses on exegesis, especially the exegesis of particular books. Moreover, we fear that too much focus on these topics at the expense of traditional questions of introduction tends to divorce the New Testament books from their historical settings and students from some important debates in the first centuries of the Christian church. This also means that we have often referred to primary sources. In debates over such questions as what Papias means by “John the elder,” we have ...