Although there is agreement that the body of the Sermon on the Mount (SM) contains three parts, there is little consensus regarding the nature of the third part. This passage is compared with different examples of wisdom instruction, each of which offers a unified composition on the moral problem of ‘goods’, broadly conceived as that which confers good standing or status, not only in economic terms but in social and spiritual terms as well. This provides a perspective from which to examine the overall structure of the sermon in the light of certain practices evident in ancient texts for organizing moral discourse.

The redactional pericope in Matt 7.21–23, in which Jesus the final judge condemns certain false Christians, can and should be viewed as an anti-Pauline text. Those rejected by the Matthean Jesus are none other than Paul and those of his circle. This identification is indicated not only by their description as workers of lawlessness, but also by their defence that they are true Christians because they prophesy, work miracles and perform exorcisms in the name of Jesus. These charismatic activities were clearly associated with Paul and/or his churches.

In the climactic trial scene of Matthew's Gospel, Pontius Pilate stands over Jesus and, having washed his hands, declares himself innocent of ‘this man's blood’. This shorter reading is found in most modern translations and critical editions and is supported by many of the best manuscripts. It has been the preferred reading ever since Wescott and Hort. Prior to then, however, a longer reading was preferred by the majority of scholars. It reads ‘I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man’. It too is found in many of the best manuscripts, but for the last century has been all but ignored by scholarship. This internal investigation will show why it is finally time to give the longer reading a second glance.

Der vorliegende Artikel untersucht zwei Geschichten, die mit kritischer Tendenz die Überlieferung rezipieren, daß Elia Gegner seiner Prophetie durch Feuer vom Himmel getötet hat (2 Kön 2.10, 12). In beiden Geschichten kommt das Verhalten des Elia als Rollenvorbild nicht zum Tragen. Der Grund ist freilich nicht eine generelle ‘Humanisierung’ religiöser Vorstellungen: Bei Lukas ist die heftige Reaktion Jesu auf den Vorschlag der Zebedaiden, ein samaritanisches Dorf durch Feuer vom Himmel zu zerstören (Lk 9.54–55), gerade dadurch zu erklären, daß dieser Vorschlag aufgrund seiner biblischen Hintergründe plausibel erschien, vgl. Offb 11.3–13, wo ein christlicher Autor einen militanten Elia für die Endzeit erwartet. Die Reaktion Jesu hat satanologische Implikationen, die hier erstmalig herausgearbeitet werden (vgl. Mk 8.33). Sie war aus soteriologischen Gründen notwendig: Jesu Weg nach Jerusalem, an dessen Beginn Lk 9.51–56 steht, führte ins Leiden; damit ist prophetische Militanz in dieser Situation ausgeschlossen. Im Testament Abrahams ist der Ausgangspunkt der Erzählung von Abraham, der auf dem Thronwagen Gottes sitzend Sünder tötet, bis Gott ihm Einhalt gebietet (Test Abr 10), nicht so sehr eine Irritation über die inhumanen Folgen frommen Eifers als vielmehr die Frage, warum denn ein solches Vorgehen, das ‘Gerechtigkeit sofort’ bewirken würde, nicht von Gott selbst praktiziert wird.

This article considers afresh the origin of the pericope of the adulteress, which is absent from some important manuscripts. Comparison of the witnesses to the text reveals that it has been preserved in two distinct forms, one (attested by Codex Bezae and the minuscules 2722 and 1071) that is Markan in style, and the other (attested by f13) that reproduces the style of Luke. The conclusion drawn is that the account was first composed by Mark (and placed after Mark 12.12) and subsequently adopted by Luke (after Luke 20.19). Because of the apparent moral leniency displayed by Jesus, the story would have been removed at an early date from both Gospels, and then later reinserted by some manuscripts but at different places.

Dem Programm in Apg 1.8 entsprechend gliedert Lukas die Apostelgeschichte unter geographischer Hinsicht in drei Abschnitte, in denen er die Verbreitung des Evangeliums bis zu den Enden der Erde als neue Form der Zerstreuung beschreibt. Diese Zerstreuung wird nicht mehr wie in der alttestamentlichen Prophetie als Realisierung des Gerichts, sondern als Weg des Heils verstanden. An die Stelle einer endzeitlichen Sammlung auf dem Zion rückt der Evangelist die Sammlung Israels und der Völker in der positiv verstandenen Diaspora. Vor diesem Hintergrund endet die Apostelgeschichte sinnvoll im neuen Babylon mit Paulus' Verkündigung in Gefangenschaft.

Several scholars have argued that Paul's statements about ‘justification’ in Gal 2.16 are intended to serve as common ground with his Galatian opponents. Yet Paul seems to argue polemically for the same idea in 2.21. Moreover, the structure of Paul's diatribal rhetoric in 2.16–21 suggests that Paul thought his statements in 2.16 would be controversial. When we observe that Paul continues to argue through chs. 3 and 4 for this same understanding of ‘justification’, it becomes clear that the Apostle expected his views in 2.16 to meet stiff resistance in Galatia.

Various interpretations have been offered to identify the woman of Rev 12, attributed with the sun, the moon, and twelve stars: Mary, Israel, or the church, or a combination of the items church and eschatological Israel. My article tries first to detect tradition historically the semantics of the sign of the woman in labour and her newborn son and arrives at the conclusion that it represents a new eschatological beginning in Israel. Then a reader-oriented approach shows the possibility of a recipient familiar with the hellenistic constructions of society to view Rev 12 as a Christian myth, narrated with elements of well-known hellenistic myths, for example, that of Telephos or of Isis/Osiris. The comparison leads to the conclusion that Rev 12 functions to induce its readers to be aware of their own eschatological identity in contrast to the identity of their social environment and to engage consciously in a cultural conflict.