Love Your Enemies (A History of the Tradition and Interpretation of Its Uses)

Jesus' Love Command in the Synoptic Gospels and the Early Christian Paraenesis

By John Piper

1980

First Published

3.77

Average Rating

288

Number of Pages

8H47M

Audio Length

From 1971–1974 John Piper attended the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in München for doctoral work. In choosing a dissertation topic he decided to explore Jesus’s command in the Synoptic Gospels to love one’s enemies, and its relationship to similar ethical exhortations in the epistles (the Early Christian Paraenesis). Using a “history of traditions” approach, Piper begins by examining each New Testament reference to Jesus’s command in an attempt to place its origin within the broader paraenetic tradition. Piper moves on to survey similar exhortations for enemy love in the environment of the early church, then analyzes this particular command of Jesus within the broader context of his whole message. He investigates the theological significance of Jesus’s love command in the paraenesis and finally concludes by focusing on the Gospel tradition’s use of the command, particularly in Matthew and Luke. First published by Cambridge University Press in the Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, this repackaged edition features a new, extensive introduction. A serious work of Christian scholarship by a long-time respected author and pastor, this will be of interest to scholars, students, and lay people who have training in New Testament studies.

Avg Rating

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Author

John Piper

Author · 128 books

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years, he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than 50 books and more than 30 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.