The parable of the prodigal son is considered by most commentators to be part of Luke's special tradition (L). Nevertheless some exegetes, struck by its strongly Lucan character, consider it Luke's creation. Another option should be considered – that Luke rewrote a parable that was originally analogous to Matthew 21.28–32. Even if this hypothesis cannot be conclusively proven, it helps heuristically to reveal more fully Luke's literary and theological genius. In line with our increasingly clear conviction that the evangelists were not mere compilers of traditions, this suggestion deserves to be discussed afresh.

This narrative-critical study of Acts proposes that Luke has deliberately arranged events so that the discussion about circumcising baptised Gentiles is postponed for as long as possible. When the issue does surface, it is raised by a delegation of second-wave Christians from the sect of the Pharisees. These factors combined give the impression that circumcision of Gentiles, a matter long settled by Luke's own day, had never been original, favourable or sanctioned by God or the apostles. By portraying the movement to circumcise Gentiles as belated, extrinsic and pernicious, Luke's representation of difference in the church resembles that of later heresiologists.

This essay argues that Deut 29–32, especially Deut 31, plays a significant role in 2 Cor 3, especially vv. 7–18: Paul's elusive allegorical narrative draws on Deuteronomic motifs of ‘closure’ (the end of Moses, of the law and of the Israelites); the national observance of reading the law and encountering the Lord face to face; and the succession of Moses by one named Ἰησοῦς in the LXX. This analysis extends scholarly discussion of Paul's use of Deuteronomy and contributes to the wider debate about Paul's use of scripture and his understanding of Jesus' relationship to Moses and the Mosaic covenant.

1 Thessalonians 1.2-10 is generally understood to be making reference to the Thessalonians participating in missionary activity in which they proclaim the salvific message of Christ. Read this way, the text presumes that the Thessalonians have evangelized areas even before the Paul party arrived. That a newly constituted group of artisans would undertake such an aggressive program seems unlikely. The rhetoric of the passage is better understood in light of the practice of associations in proclaiming honours for their gods and their founders and benefactors, the news about which spread via networks of traders, artisans, and other travelers throughout the provinces of Macedonia and Achaia.

Recent archaeological and historical research has stressed the manifold relationship between Nero and Domitian thereby opening fresh insights into both the ‘remembered persecution’ of Christians by Domitian and the probable date of the Book of Revelation. It is this form of memorial strategy that throws new light on the old problem of Domitian and Revelation.

The publication of Josef Schmid's landmark work on the textual history of the Apocalypse seemingly established the Andreas Text Type as a fourth-century product. The primary evidence for Schmid's claim came from the fourth-century corrections of the Apocalypse in Codex Sinaiticus, corrections which bore a close resemblance to the Andreas text of the Apocalypse. Schmid's reconstruction, however, is flawed. The fourth-century corrections he identified are actually from the seventh century. The data supporting a fourth-century Andreas text type does not exist. Schmid's widely influential error appears to have been based on a misreading of Milne and Skeat's Scribes and Correctors of the Codex Sinaiticus.

The saying in the Gospels about the blood ‘from Abel to Zechariah’ has generated a number of theories regarding the identity of Zechariah and why Jesus specifically mentions these two victims. While a prominent interpretation today regards the names as pointing to the bookends of the Hebrew Bible, the Greek and Latin Fathers had their own peculiar ways of solving the exegetical puzzles connected to the saying. It seems that the invention of the printing press, and the stable sequence of books it created, exerted an influence on the development of the popular modern view.

Although interpreters of Philippians have observed both the number and the progression of items in Phil 3.5–6, previous scholarship on the letter has failed to recognise that this ‘catalogue of boasting’ consists of precisely seven items. As a result, commentators have not attempted to explicate these two verses in light of the ostensible presence and influence of numerical symbolism. This paper offers a fresh reading of Phil 3.5–6 (and surrounding verses) – one that keeps Paul's sevenfold list of his pedigree and performance in Judaism clearly in view. The insights gleaned from the interpretation proffered in this article enable a fuller understanding of this programmatic autobiographical text.

The perfect tense-form verb ἀναβέβηκεν in John 3.13 is usually interpreted in light of traditional verb theory, as a ‘past action with present results’. This interpretation introduces an apparent problematic chronology in that the Son of Man ascends before descending; however, recent developments in Greek grammar, particularly verbal aspect theory, provide a viable solution to this grammatical ‘problem’ and indicate that the Son of Man's descent precedes his ascent.