Many interpreters of the Fourth Gospel detect allusions to biblical texts about marriage, but none offers a comprehensive analysis of these proposed allusions or a convincing explanation for their presence. Building on the work of Richard Hays, Donald Juel and Craig Koester, in this 2006 book Jocelyn McWhirter argues that John alludes to biblical texts about marriage in order to develop a metaphor for Jesus and how he relates to his followers. According to McWhirter, John chooses these texts because he uses a first-century exegetical convention to interpret them as messianic prophecies in...

Although several scholars have written in the past about how Luke portrays Jesus and the apostles as prophets, no one has yet provided a comprehensive theory as to why Luke's main protagonists resemble Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Moses, and Jeremiah. McWhirter shows that Luke uses these biblical prophets as precedents, seeking to legitimate the things about which his audience has been instructed in the face of events that seem to contradict those teachings. By the 80s of the first century, the Romans had killed Jesus, Peter, and Paul; ravaged Jerusalem; and destroyed the temple. Many Gentiles...