Dr. William H. Marty - 102 Fascinating Bible Studies on the New Testament

I had the unique privilege of teaching Old and New Testament Survey to four hundred freshmen for thirty-seven years. It was an exciting experience. They were eager to learn, and keenly attentive in class, at least at the beginning of each semester. Of course, since they were at Moody Bible Institute, they expected their Bible teachers to answer all their questions about the Bible, including some that angels never imagined. I soon learned that I would never get through survey if I didnt control their questions, so I had to be somewhat of a killjoy and explain to them that I couldnt answer all their questions. I assured them that in their four years at Moody they would have multiple opportunities to get answers to their questions. I also confessed that I didnt know all of the answers, which was somewhat shocking to some students. But I assured them that my colleagues knew more than I did about certain subjects and would be able to answer their questions.

Im sorry, but I have to be a killjoy again. This book will answer a lot of your questions, but not all of them. Thats the bad news. The good news is that the editor gave me the liberty to pick the topics. When he told me that, I thought he must be kidding. Did he know what he was doing giving a retired Bible teacher that kind of freedom? He was serious, so most of the studies are on topics about which I think I am capable of making a few intelligent comments. But not all. I chose some topics that I had not previously studied but have had questions about. Some are a bit difficult and even controversial. I have tried to avoid tipping my hand on the ones that are controversial, but it is impossible to be completely unbiased. So if you disagree with me on a conclusion, thats okay. Im not inspired; the Bible is. I realize I may be wrong, and people who disagree are not heretics. Some may have a different interpretation of certain passages. It is possible to agree to disagree if those passages are not foundational to orthodox Christian doctrine.

Whats in this book? A lot of studies on topics from the New Testament. At one point, I told the editor I felt like I was writing a Bible dictionary, but I was the only contributor. He was really encouraging. He said that he felt the same way as an editor. How are the topics organized? I tried to balance the studies between the life of Christ (the four Gospels), the book of Acts, Pauls epistles, the general epistles, several studies on the book of Revelation, and doctrine. Because this isnt a story, the order in which you do the studies doesnt matter. You can start with the last study in the book and then go to the next one that captures your interest.