Faculty Profiles

On a plaque mounted in my office are the words of the great pietist theologian Johann Albrecht Bengel: "Apply yourself wholly to the text; apply the text wholly to yourself."

In my academic career, I have applied myself to the text by teaching New Testament and writing commentaries on the text: James, 2 Peter and Jude, Romans, Galatians, Colossians, and Philemon. I have also sought--undoubtedly less successfully--to apply the text I teach and write about to myself. Yet since the text I deal with is no less than God's word to his people, I must grapple not only with original meaning but with application to myself and to the contemporary church.

Toward that end, I have also been active in my local church, serving as elder most years, in teaching and preaching to the church, and in conducting home Bible studies. My service on the Committee on Bible Translation (the group of scholars charged with revising the text of the NIV) has also been very rewarding. For over twenty years, my ministry was based at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in Deerfield, IL.

During my time at Wheaton, I have worked mainly with graduate students—especially in the M.A. in Biblical Exegesis and Ph.D. programs. I seek to model to students a rigorous approach to the Greek text that always asks the "so what" questions of ultimate significance and application. My academic interests revolve around the interface of exegesis and theology. The Pauline and General Letters have been my special focus within the NT canon. My projects over the next few years include the writing of commentaries on 1-2 Thessalonians and Philippians. My wife, Jenny, and I have five grown children and thirteen grandchildren. We enjoy travel and photography together.

University of St. Andrews
Ph.D., 1980

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
M.Div., 1975

• The Letters and Theology of Paul
• The Epistle to the Hebrews
• The Epistle of James
• New Testament Introduction
• Creation Theology and Environmental Studies

• Pauline Theology
• Creation Theology, with special reference to environmental issues
• Galatians
• Hebrews

• BITH 543 New Testament Criticism 
• BITH 546 New Testament Book Studies from the English Text
• BITH 548 Life and Teachings of Paul
• BITH 646 New Testament Book Studies from the Greek Text
• BITH 648 New Testament Theology
• BITH 649 Advanced New Testament Topics
• BITH 882 Various Ph.D. Seminar Topics

 

• A Theology of Paul and His Letters: The Gift of the New Realm in Christ
• The Epistle to the Romans (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)
• An Introduction to the New Testament
• The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (The Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC))
• Galatians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament)
• The NIV Application Commentary 2 Peter, Jude
• The Letter of James (The Pillar New Testament Commentary (PNTC))
• Romans: The NIV Application Commentary: From Biblical Text to Contemporary Life
• Encountering the Book of Romans: A Theological Survey (Encountering Biblical Studies)
• Creation Care: A Biblical Theology of the Natural World (with Jonathan A. Moo)