NIV Zondervan Study Bible: Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message

by Zondervan

Overview

“This NIV Zondervan Study Bible is a tremendous tool for informed Bible reading and study. I highly recommend this publication.” Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City

“Let the NIV Zondervan Study Bible equip you for more faithful theological thinking and doctrinal integrity.” R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The NIV Zondervan Study Bible, featuring Dr. D. A. Carson as general editor, is built on the truth of Scripture and centered on the gospel message. An ambitious and comprehensive undertaking, Dr. Carson, with committee members Dr. T. Desmond Alexander, Dr. Richard S. Hess, Dr. Douglas J. Moo, and Dr. Andrew David Naselli, along with a team of over 60 contributors from a wide range of evangelical denominations and perspectives, crafted all-new study notes and other study tools to present a biblical theology of God’s special revelation in the Scriptures. To further aid the readers’ understanding of the Bible, also included are full-color maps, charts, photos and diagrams. In addition, a single-column setting of the Bible text provides maximum readability.

The accessible and fresh interior design will capture your attention and enhance your study experience. Along with your purchase, you’ll also receive free electronic access to the NIV Zondervan Study Bible.

8.9-point type size

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310438335
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	08/25/2015
Pages:	3008
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 2.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

D. A. Carson (Ph D, Cambridge University) is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, where he has taught since 1978. He is co-founder (with Tim Keller) of the Gospel Coalition, and has written or edited nearly 60 books. He has served as a pastor and is an active guest lecturer in church and academic settings around the world.

Richard Hess (Ph D, Hebrew Union College) is Earl S. Kalland professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages, Denver Seminary.

Douglas J. Moo (Ph D, University of St. Andrews) is the Kenneth T. Wessner Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His work centers on understanding the text of the New Testament and its application today. He has written extensively in several commentary series, including the NIV Application Commentary, Pillar Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, and the New International Commentary on the New Testament.

Andrew David Naselli (Ph D, Bob Jones University; Ph D, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is research manager for D. A. Carson and administrator of the journal Themelios. He has taught New Testament Greek at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and he currently teaches exegesis and theology as adjunct faculty at several seminaries. He is the author of Let Go and Let God? A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology.

Read an Excerpt

NIV Zondervan Study Bible

Built on the Truth of Scripture and Centered on the Gospel Message

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By D. A. Carson

ZONDERVAN

Copyright © 2015 Zondervan
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-43833-5

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO MATTHEW

AUTHOR

The unanimous tradition of the early church ascribed this Gospel to Matthew, one of Jesus' 12 closest followers and a former tax collector, also named Levi (cf. 9:9 – 13 with Mark 2:14 – 17). Strictly speaking, however, all four Gospels are anonymous. No statement within them anywhere identifies their authors; in contrast, Paul's name appears in the opening greetings of each of his letters. It is likely that the titles were added only after there was more than one Gospel, thus necessitating a need to distinguish them from one another. So the author of this Gospel (Greek euangelion kata Maththaion) probably was not the person to give his document this title.

At the same time, no other names ever competed with Matthew's as this Gospel's author. The oldest known testimony comes from an early second-century Christian writer named Papias, whom Eusebius, an early fourth-century church historian, quoted as saying, "Matthew composed his Gospel in the Hebrew [or Aramaic] language, and everyone translated as they were able" (Ecclesiastical History, 3.39.16). Of the 12 apostles (except for Judas, who betrayed Jesus), it is not likely that anyone would have chosen to ascribe this Gospel to Matthew, the once hated tax collector, unless they knew that he actually wrote it.

Some modern scholars think Matthew is not the author for four main reasons: (1) We have discovered no ancient text of this Gospel in Hebrew (see the Eusebius quotation above), and most of Matthew in Greek does not read like a direct translation from a Semitic tongue. (2) Matthew appears to have relied on Mark's Gospel for his content and wording at numerous places, but an apostle would not have had to depend on a Gospel written by a lesser-known Christian who was not an eyewitness to most of what he penned. (3) Matthew appears to refer to himself in 13:52 as an early Christian scribe, not a tax collector. (4) Some of Matthew appears too anti-Jewish to have been written by a Jewish follower of Jesus the Jew.

On the other hand, (1) writers translating from one language to another in the ancient Mediterranean world often translated freely, putting their own stylistic stamp on their work. The Gospel as we have it does contain a lot of parallelism in its literary style, a regular feature of both Semitic prose and poetry. (2) Early church tradition affirmed that Mark got much of the contents of his Gospel from the apostle Peter, the leader of the apostles in the mid-first century, which would make his narrative one of great interest to Matthew. (3) It is not at all clear that 13:52 is the author's self-reference, but even if it is, the unusual literacy of tax collectors would have made it natural for Matthew as a follower of Jesus to turn to scribal activity. (4) Finally, a careful reading of his Gospel shows that while Matthew depicts Jesus as sharply challenging certain Jewish leaders and more general national trends, he does so as a devoted insider, not as an outsider to the movement. There is no compelling reason, then, to reject the early church's uniform conviction that Matthew was the author of this narrative. Little interpretive significance necessarily changes, however, if one rejects this conclusion and attributes the book, as many today do, to an otherwise anonymous first-century Christian.

DATE

The second-century Christian writer Irenaeus declared that Matthew wrote "while Peter and Paul were preaching the Gospel and founding the church in Rome" (Against Heresies, 3.1.1). If this is accurate, Matthew was probably written in the early to mid-60s, because this is the one time before the martyrdoms of these two Christian leaders that we know they were together in the capital of the first-century Roman Empire.

There are at least three objections to this line of reasoning: (1) Matt 22:6 – 7 is "prophecy" after the fact, reflecting knowledge of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans. (2) The tensions with Pharisaic Judaism recurring throughout the Gospel reflect conditions in the latter decades of the first century, when Christian Judaism and rabbinic Judaism were competing to be the one true remaining form of Judaism after the destruction of the others due to the war with Rome. (3) Matthew was written after Mark, and Mark was written either just before or after AD 70, so Matthew must have been written later still.

In reply: (1) The first objection holds only if Jesus could not have actually predicted the coming fall of Jerusalem, which seems to require unwarranted antisupernatural presuppositions. (2) The competition described was beginning already in the 60s, and the numerous references to the Sadducees (not the Pharisees) and the larger Jerusalem temple leadership as Jesus' primary antagonists, especially during his passion, could support a pre-70 debate (before the Pharisees alone were left). (3) Mark may well have been written in the early 60s, so that Matthew's use of Mark poses no problem for a date in the early or mid-60s. Whether one dates Matthew to the 60s (which more conservative scholars prefer) or the 80s (which more liberal scholars prefer), we are still well within a 60-year period of time from the events narrated. Most ancient history that has survived and is deemed to be reasonably trustworthy was written considerably longer after the events happened than this. Matthew merits all the more trust.

BACKGROUND, OCCASION, AND PURPOSE

What little ancient testimony we have (Irenaeus, Eusebius, Jerome) suggests that Matthew wrote in the Holy Land or to Jewish believers in the Holy Land. Most of the tradition affirms simply that he addressed predominantly Jewish Christians without specifying their location or a place from which he wrote. Modern scholars have frequently suggested Antioch of Syria because of its large Jewish and Jewish-Christian population and because it was a city outside of Israel that would have needed a Greek rather than Hebrew or Aramaic account. Beyond these basic points it is difficult to add much with any confidence.

It may well be, as a consensus of modern scholarship has increasingly suggested, that Matthew was writing primarily to Jewish-Christians who had broken from the synagogue (or been excommunicated by their local synagogues) because they accepted Jesus as Messiah and Lord. But they were not so far removed from their Jewish roots that the tensions of this break had dissipated. Believers wanted their purely Jewish friends and family to join them in worshiping Jesus. Non-Christian Jews increasingly feared that God was punishing Israel for tolerating this "apostasy" in its ranks. Such "sibling rivalry" could naturally have produced some of the strong language in Matthew's Gospel about the Jews of Jesus' day and accounted for the emphasis on some of Jesus' equally strong invective against various Jewish leaders (e.g., 15:3 – 9; ch. 23). Conflict with key Jewish leaders also probably hastened the shift to a multiethnic church of Jew and Gentile alike (e.g., 21:43; 28:18 – 20).

So Matthew's central purpose is to commend following Jesus as the true way for a Jew to continue as one of God's elect people. But he doubtless has multiple purposes. His distinctive inclusion of five large blocks of Jesus' teaching (chs. 5 – 7; 10:5 – 42; 13:1 – 52; ch. 18; chs. 23 – 25) suggests catechetical designs, especially since so much of this teaching involves ethical matters, and discipleship is a major theme in Matthew as well. With unique references to the "church" (16:18; 18:17) and to God's people living in community, along with warnings against false teachers, Matthew may also be trying to take some of the first steps in implementing organization and criteria for leadership in the Christian church.

GENRE

Despite some claims to the contrary, Matthew is still more like Mark in literary genre than any other known work of its time, and Mark still reads more like theological biography than any other known genre of its time. Like all ancient historians, the Gospel writers' main reason for writing was not to chronicle unadorned facts about the per- son of Jesus of Nazareth like some modern dispassionate historians. Biographers in antiquity selected paradigmatic events. Though the evangelists had theology they wished to stress, that does not impugn their reliability. After all, the very nature of certain ideologies requires factual support in order to be persuasive! Matthew, like Christians more generally, had an uphill battle in convincing monotheistic Jews that Jesus is God, so he would have had no reason to create additional problems for his cause by playing fast and loose with the history on which it was built. Competing Jewish movements would have quickly debunked the fledgling church, given the care with which Jews in general passed on by oral tradition information that was important to them. Strikingly, the traditions about Jesus that were preserved from ancient Jewish sources regularly called him a "sorcerer who led Israel astray." In other words, they acknowledged his wondrous feats but disputed which supernatural power inspired him.

At the same time, this is a "gospel," an account of good news. Like Mark, Matthew is convinced that Jesus of Nazareth was God's heaven-sent envoy to proclaim good news to Israel and to fulfill all of Scripture's prophecies, even if by unconventional and unexpected methods — dying for the sins of the world rather than fighting to rid the land of the Romans. Christians ever since have believed that this is the most important good news that anyone can receive or share.

THEOLOGY

In light of the circumstances that led to Matthew's Gospel described in Background, Occasion, and Purpose on p. 1923, the dominant and distinctive themes of this book occasion no surprise. Matthew stresses how a message that is the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel is increasingly rejected by many within the nation and how Jesus prepares the way for the Gentile mission his disciples will embark on. Only Matthew has Jesus' comments about being sent just to Israel during his earthly life (10:5 – 6; 15:24), and only Matthew has Jesus sending the disciples to all the nations (28:18 – 20) and the kingdom being taken from the current Jewish leadership and "given to a people who will produce its fruit" (21:43).

Matthew's depiction of Jesus focuses on his roles as Teacher (especially with Matthew's five main sermons; see Outline, p. 1925) and Son of David (the Messianic king from David's lineage who would rule Israel). In common with the other Gospels, Matthew portrays Jesus as preferring the title "Son of Man" for himself, alluding to the exalted human who is ushered into God's presence to receive universal authority over the peoples of the earth (Dan 7:13 – 14). He is also the "Son of God," a title that in Jewish circles could mean merely Messiah, but which, especially in Matthew, came more and more to have overtones of divinity (e.g., 14:33; 16:16). The most significant title for Jesus in Matthew is probably "Lord" — Jesus as both Master and God (e.g., 8:2,6,25; 9:28). Somewhat distinctive to Matthew, though less common, are Jesus as "wisdom" (e.g., 11:19) and "Immanuel" (that is, "God with us"; 1:23; see 28:20).

Matthew further highlights discipleship and often discloses a little more understanding on the part of the Twelve than does Mark (cf. 14:33 with Mark 6:52). Only Matthew uses the word "church" among the four Gospels (16:18; 18:17), with teaching about its foundation and its discipline. Matthew calls more attention to Peter, although the distinctive passages in which he appears include both positive and negative traits (14:28 – 31; 15:15; 16:18 – 19; 17:24 – 27; 18:21), so it is clear that Matthew is not trying to overly exalt Peter as some in the history of the church have done.

MATTHEW

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1:1-17pp — Lk 3:23-38

1:3-6pp — Ru 4:18-22

1:7-11pp — 1Ch3:10-17

1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehemy in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

6 "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'"

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from NIV Zondervan Study Bible by D. A. Carson. Copyright © 2015 Zondervan. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERVAN.
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