This study examines the varieties and continuities of ethical exhortations and ideals in the Jewish and Christian traditions (c. 200 BCE-100 CE) that fall under the rubric of non-retaliation. One of the principal conclusions of this thought-provoking work is that a critical factor in determining the shape of non-retaliatory ethics is whether the exhortation is applied to relations within the local and/or elect community or to relations with oppressors of the elect community. It becomes apparent also that the non-retaliatory ethic of the NT stands solidly in the tradition of non-retaliatory...

What if rather than only reading Philippians, we allowed Philippians to read us? In this 31st volume in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, New Testament scholar Gordon Zerbe challenges readers to allow Paul's prison letter to interpret our own lives--not by extracting lessons out of historical and cultural context but by imagining ourselves into the ancient Roman world . . . and back again.