David Gooding

John Lennox

Who gets to determine what Christianity means? Is it possible to understand its original message after centuries of tradition and conflicting ideas? Gooding and Lennox throw fresh light on these questions by tracing the Book of Acts’ historical account of the message that proved so effective in the time of Christ’s apostles. Luke’s record of its confrontations with competing philosophical and religious systems reveals Christianity’s own original and lasting definition.

The Definition of Christianity

How can one book be so widely appreciated and so contested? Millions revere it and many ridicule it, but the Bible is often not allowed to speak for itself. Key Bible Concepts explores and clarifies the central terms of the Christian gospel. Gooding and Lennox provide succinct explanations of the basic vocabulary of Christian thought to unlock the Bible’s meaning and its significance for today.

The Bible and Ethics

Is Christianity just a belief that dulls the pain of our existence with dreams that are beautiful but false? Or is it an accurate account of reality, our own condition and God’s attitude toward us? Gooding and Lennox address crucial issues that can make it difficult for thoughtful people to accept the Christian message. They answer those questions and show that clear thinking is not in conflict with personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Christianity: Opium or Truth

With a profound understanding of both the Scriptures and the classical world that influenced Luke, this exposition leads us through the artistry of Luke’s presentation. However familiar the terrain of this Gospel, we will find that having an experienced guide makes a difference. By bringing out the significance of the narrative as a whole, David Gooding’s analysis will help us to arrive at a confident understanding of Luke’s message and open up insightful lines of application at each step along they way. Right from the start of his Gospel Luke makes it clear that the story of Jesus is neither ancient myth nor contemporary fable. It is straightforward history. To emphasize this he provides us with historical co–ordinates. He informs us, for example, that when John began publicly to introduce Christ to His nation it was in the fifteenth year of Emperor Tiberius’ reign, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, during the high–priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. This is, then, an historical account. But what does Luke’s history of Jesus mean? And how can we be certain that we have understood the message that he has presented in his account of Christ’s life? David Gooding asks us to begin by recalling that Luke is an ancient and not a modern historian. A modern historian might compile a list of the things that Jesus did and taught, and then add his own explanations. But Luke has more in common with ancient historians such as Thucydides and writers of Old Testament books such as Judges and 1 and 2 Samuel. With minimal comment, he has grouped the material about Christ in a way that leads thoughtful readers to discover for themselves the point and purpose of each incident. Luke is, then, both historian and artist. It has often been lamented that Christ’s public ministry on earth was so short–lived, and His death at the hands of His enemies a tragedy. But Luke will not have it so. Following Christ’s own statements, he divides his Gospel into two parts: the coming of Christ from Glory into our world, and His going back to Glory. David Gooding shows that by arranging the events of each part into discreet stages and movements, Luke is proclaiming that Christ was carrying out a definite mission – His going, by way of His cross, resurrection and ascension was as deliberate as His coming.

The Third Gospel’s Ordered Historical Narrative

According to Luke

The Letter to the Hebrews contains some of the New Testament's best-loved passages as well as some of its most difficult. It has stirred the hearts of generations of Christians with its visions of the exalted Christ, his deity, humanity and sufferings, and his fulfilment of the Old Covenant by becoming a superior sacrifice and a High Priest of the New Covenant. Its examples of the faithful obedience of men and women like Abraham and Sarah who were 'looking for a city whose builder and maker is God' continue to spur on multitudes to greater devotion in their own journey of faith. Yet this same letter, with its solemn warnings, has also brought distress to many and caused some to question their own faith, if not their very salvation. In a clear and concise manner informed by pastoral concern, David Gooding explains the meaning of Hebrews' warnings as he expounds the letter as a whole. He carefully examines the position and temptations of its original readers in the first century. Many were undergoing such severe persecution that they might easily have wondered why, if Jesus really were the Messiah, they had to experience such pain and loss. He expounds its major themes in order to show that its unified message is that hope and enduring faith in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, will never be put to shame. As he guides us step by step, he reaches outside the limits of the letter itself in order to explore rich fields of Old Testament history, prophecy, ritual and poetry from which the letter has drawn so many of its insights. This practical and readable exposition elucidates Hebrews' searching questions about the progress we are making in our own pilgrimage of faith. It is an invaluable help for understanding that both its beauties and its difficulties are intended to strengthen that faith. For, as the letter's original readers discovered, faith finds its only secure resting place in the true and coming King whose kingdom will stand even when everything else is shaken to pieces.

An Unshakeable Kingdom

Just before his execution, Jesus Christ invited his disciples to join him at a borrowed house in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. As he faced betrayal, arrest and crucifixion, he taught them about the very heart of the Christian faith, namely, holiness. When the time came to leave the house, he continued his teaching. As they made their way through darkened streets that were filled with hostility to him, he spoke of how he would empower them to be his witnesses in a world that would often hate them too. Jesus was the teacher; the disciples were his pupils. It was the school of Christ. David Gooding’s exposition reveals the significance of the lessons Jesus taught inside the upper room (chs. 13–14), their connection to the lessons taught outside in the streets (chs. 15–16) and how both parts of this course on holiness relate to the Teacher’s prayer to his Father (ch. 17). With a scholar’s care for the text of Scripture, he expounds both the devotional richness and the practical nature of the lessons. He shows that to understand Christ’s teaching on holiness is to know his power to change lives.

David Gooding

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