NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
by
JAMES M. GIBBS, Ph.D.

This site contains the biblical research work of James Millard Gibbs, primarily in the New Testament, published and unpublished. It has been developed over many years of teaching in England (Lichfield Theological College and The Queen's College, Birmingham, the latter as a recognized lecturer of Birmingham University) and India (The United Theological College, Bangalore), and some of it has been left in the form shared with my students, to whom I owe much. You are welcome to use it, preferably acknowledged.

• The three most prominent areas are chiastic structuring, the relating of NT writings to Jewish lectionary usage, and the pervasive wise/powerful/well-born paradigm for human beings that underlies and structures much of the NT witness to Jesus.  It is this third area that is of the greatest significance.

• I am putting these materials on the Web for two reasons: firstly, to make them more readily available, and secondly, because their cogency, I believe, depends on primary data rather than on trawling through masses of more recent secondary literature.

• In time I intend to present materials on individual writings  such as Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts, John, the Johannine epistles, the letters of Paul (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philemon), Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Jude, 2 Peter and Hebrews. There will also be studies on such subjects as chiastic structuring, Pauline authorship, and Jewish lectionary usage in the New Testament, with special reference to Mark, Romans, 1 Corinthians and Galatians.

• Starred items (*) are pastoral, but based on research.

   

My e-mail address is JMandDAGibbs@aol.com. Comments, questions, criticisms and suggestions will be welcome.

Last updated: 18 March, 2009

Table of contents:
    The Bible in the Church: A Radical View
Biblical Studies
      Wisdom, Power and Well-being: Ancient (Biblical) Parameters for Humanity
      Image of God
          "Three Notes on Genesis 1" by Paul Humbert.)
      Isaac Typology and the New Testament
      Son of God
     Epistles as Probably Homilies before the Eucharist
     The Synoptic Problem
     "Recognized" Ministry in the New Testament
     Resurrection in the New Testament
     Notes on Ethics in the New Testament 
Chiastic Structuring:
    An Introduction to chiastic structuring: Detection & Significance
    Chiastic structures in:
        Matthew    Romans    1 Corinthians       2 Corinthians    Galatians    Philippians  Ephesians
        Philemon   Jude         2 Peter              1,2,3 John Overall Chiasms
Jewish Feasts, Fasts and Lections
    Relating Jewish lectionary usage to NT writings: How I got started
    Tables of the Old Testament Passages used as readings
    The Torah Sedarim of the Nisan and Tishri Cycles
    Mark and the Triennial Lectionary
    1 Corinthians, Galatians & Romans related to the Torah Sedarim
    Galatians and its Pentecost setting.
Paul
    Pauline Authorship
    Pauline Theology - Some Notes
    Romans
        Romans: Chiastic Structures
        Romans and the Torah
        Wrath in the New Testament (with special reference to Romans)
    1 Corinthians
        1 Corinthians and the Observance of Passover
        1 Corinthians - Chiastic Structures 
        1 Corinthians and the Decalogue
        1 Corinthians Exegesis
            Chaps 1-5       Chaps 6-10       Chaps 11-13         Chaps 14-16
        1 Corinthians & Wisdom, Power and Well-being
        1 Corinthians and Women in Paul
    2 Corinthians
        2 Corinthians: The three chiastic units and their significance
    Galatians
    Philemon
Deutero-Pauline Epistles
    Ephesians: Introductory Notes 
    Ephesians: Chiastic Units
     1 Thessalonians: Its Parallel Structure
    Philippians
    The Pastoral Epistles: Their Structure
The Gospels
     Gospel Prologues and Their Function
    'Passing by' in the Gospels
Matthew
    Matthew: Introductory Notes
    Matthew: Exegetical Notes
    Chiastic Structuring in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5.3-7.11)
        & the Chiasm of Matt 5.1-7.29 against 22.15-24.3
    Confessional Titles in Matthew
    Matthew's use of 'Kingdom', 'Kingdom of God' and 'Kingdom of Heaven'
    Matthew's Son of God as the Torah Incarnate
    Matthew & Wisdom, Power and Wellbeing
    'Son of David' in Matthew: Purpose and Pattern
    The Lord's Prayer*
    Matthew and the Triennial Lectionary
Mark
    The Structuring of Mark: An Assessment (2008)
    St Mark's Day Sermon*
    Mark Exegetical Notes
    Mark and the Triennial Lectionary
    John and Jesus in parallel in Mark
    Mark 6.45-8.26 in parallel with Joshua
    Mark 6.45-8.26 and the Gentile Mission
    Mark & Wisdom, Power and Wellbeing
Luke - Acts
    Notes on Luke-Acts: Structure, Aims, Theology, Etc.
    Luke 1-2 as paralleling Genesis 27-43 (by C. T. Ruddick, Jr)
    Luke 24.13-33 and Acts 8.26-39: Emmaus Incident and Eunuch's Baptism
    Chiastic Structures in Acts (by J. R. Bradley)
John
    John 1-13 and theTriennial Lectionary (by C. T.Ruddick, Jr)
    John 18-20 as basically inverting Genesis 1-3
    John: Background to the "I am the ..." statements
    The Gospel of John and the Lectionary
1 John
    1 John and echoes of Genesis 1-4
2 Peter and Jude
    Chiastic Structure of 2 Peter and Jude

Published articles, reviews and book

Sermons (mostly based on the Revised Common Lectionary, Church of England)

Some Forthcoming Studies
Matthew Exegetical Notes
John and the Triennial Lectionary

Link: Steve Gibbs, Classical Guitarist