Good Aspire (Page 6)

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Daniel

Introduction to Daniel Author and Title The book of Daniel, named after and written by Daniel in the sixth century b.c., records the events of his life and the visions that he saw from the time of his exile in 605 (1:1) until the third year of King

Hosea

Introduction to Hosea Author and Title The opening verse, “The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri,” identifies Hosea with other OT prophets and follows the same general pattern of naming the book after its author (cf. Joel 1:1;Jonah 1:1; Mic. 1:

Joel

Introduction to Joel Title and Author “Joel, the son of Pethuel,” whose name means “Yahweh is God,” gives the book its title. Little is known of Joel except what is learned from the book itself. His references to Judah (3:1, 6, 8, 18, 19, 20) and Jerusalem (2:32;

Amos

Introduction to Amos Author and Title The first verse of the book identifies it as the work of Amos, one of “the shepherds of Tekoa.” Nothing else is known about Amos apart from what he says about himself in 7:14–15. There Amos insists that he is not a

Obadiah

Introduction to Obadiah Author and Title The superscription for the book identifies the genre as a “vision,” a prophetic revelation from God spoken through his prophet “Obadiah.” Unfortunately, the only thing known about this prophet is his name (a common one in the OT), which means “one who serves Yahweh.

Jonah

Introduction to Jonah Author and Title The title of the book is the name of the main character, Jonah. The book is anonymous, and there are no indicators elsewhere in Scripture to identify the author. The foundational source for the book was likely Jonah’s own telling of the story

Micah

Introduction to Micah Author and Title Rather than being identified by his father or family (cf. Joel “son of Pethuel” [Joel 1:1]; Jonah “son of Amittai” [Jonah 1:1]), this prophet is identified by a location, “Micah of Moresheth” (Mic. 1:1; for Moresheth-gath, see 1:14). It was

Nahum

Introduction to Nahum Author and Title The book is named after its author, the prophet Nahum of Elkosh. His name means “comfort.” The message given to him by God, that Nineveh would be destroyed, brings comfort to Judah. The location of Elkosh is uncertain, although the date (see below) and

Habakkuk

Introduction to Habakkuk Author and Title Little is known about the prophet Habakkuk. He was likely a contemporary of Zephaniah and Jeremiah, and possibly even of Ezekiel and Daniel, but none of the other prophets mention him. His name appears twice in the book (1:1; 3:1), and he

Zephaniah

Introduction to Zephaniah Author and Title While the originator of the words of this book ultimately was Israel’s God (“the Lord”), the prophetic intermediary who delivered them to Judah was Zephaniah, after whom the book is named. Little is known about him apart from his name and pedigree. That

Haggai

Introduction to Haggai Author and Title The book of Haggai contains messages delivered by the prophet Haggai, and thus it is reasonable to consider Haggai its author. The name Haggai, which means “festal,” promotes the conjecture that his birth occurred during a festival of Israel, or perhaps links his name

Zechariah

Introduction to Zechariah Author and Date The prophet Zechariah was a priest, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. He was a member of a prominent priestly family who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel in about 538 b.c. (Neh. 12:4). Zechariah began his ministry in 520 b.

Malachi

Introduction to Malachi Author and Title The Hebrew name “Malachi” means “my messenger,” or perhaps “messenger of (the Lord)” if “Malachi” is a shortened form of “Malachiah” (2 Esd. 1:40). Based on the lxx and Targum Jonathan, some scholars have argued that “Malachi” in 1:1 ought to be

Matthew

Introduction to Matthew Author and Title Since none of the four Gospels includes the names of their authors in the original manuscripts, they are all technically anonymous. This is not surprising, since the authors likely compiled their Gospel accounts for members of their own churches, to whom they were already

Mark

Introduction to Mark Author and Title Widespread evidence from the early church fathers affirms that Peter passed on reports of the words and deeds of Jesus to his attendant and writer, John Mark. Of particular significance in this regard are the brief statements by Papias (Bishop of Hierapolis; c. a.

Luke

Introduction to Luke Author The third Gospel does not name its author. This is also true of the book of Acts, the author’s second work. This does not mean, however, that the original readers did not know who wrote these two books. The Lukan authorship of Luke–Acts is

John

Introduction to John Author and Title The title says that the Gospel was written by John, and other evidence identifies this John as the son of Zebedee. The internal evidence indicates that the author was (1) an apostle (1:14; cf. 2:11; 19:35), (2) one of the 12

Acts

Introduction to Acts Acts is unique among the NT writings, in that its main purpose is to record a selective history of the early church following the resurrection of Christ. It is the second part of a two-volume work, with the Gospel of Luke being the first volume. Both books

Romans

Introduction to Romans Author and Title As the opening words of the letter indicate, the apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans. Only a few scholars in history have doubted his authorship, and their doubts have been shown to be groundless. The title of the book indicates that the letter

1 Corinthians

Introduction to 1 Corinthians Author and Title The first word of 1 Corinthians states that Paul is its author. There is no good reason to doubt this. The theological concerns of the letter, the energy of its style, its vocabulary, and its historical connections with the other Pauline letters and

2 Corinthians

Introduction to 2 Corinthians Author and Title The apostle Paul is the undisputed author of 2 Corinthians. Although some scholars have questioned whether Paul wrote 6:14–7:1, due to its unique vocabulary and subject matter, these differences are more likely due to the fact that in this passage

Galatians

Introduction to Galatians Author and Title The first word of the letter to the Galatians is “Paul,” and there has been widespread agreement by scholars down through the ages that Paul is indeed the author. The title in most Greek editions of the NT is “To the Galatians,” and the

Ephesians

Introduction to Ephesians Author and Title Pauline authorship of Ephesians was universally accepted until modern times. Today a number of scholars claim that it was written in Paul’s name by an unknown follower or imitator of Paul, and they give two main reasons: (1) the letter’s style and

Philippians

Introduction to Philippians Author and Title Paul is the stated author of Philippians, and few have questioned his authorship. It was written to the Christians in the Roman colony of Philippi. Date Scholars have debated Paul’s location when he wrote Philippians. Caesarea, Ephesus, and Rome have been the three

Colossians

Introduction to Colossians Author and Title Paul and Timothy are explicitly named as the authors of Colossians (1:1). Timothy probably served as Paul’s secretary (amanuensis) since the first person singular (“I”) is used throughout the letter (e.g.,1:24). The title indicates that Paul wrote the letter