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About the Book

This is one of the few statements Jesus made that is readily accepted by believers and skeptics alike. Its authenticity is not seriously questioned and yet it is a revolutionary command.

Giving attention to various critical theories, John Piper presents evidence that the early church earnestly advocated for non-retaliatory love, extending it to those who practiced evil in the world. Such love was key to the church’s own ethical tradition or paraenesis.

Piper illuminates the Synoptics and passages in Romans, as well as 1 Thessalonians and 1 Peter, with non-canonical evidence, investigating the theological significance of Jesus’s love command.

Originally published as #38 in the Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, this is John Piper’s doctoral dissertation from the University of Munich. It is a serious work of Christian scholarship by a long-time respected author and pastor. This repackaged edition features a new, extensive introduction and will be of interest to scholars, students, and lay people who have training in New Testament studies.

First Edition 1979; New Edition 2012
Crossway Books (Wheaton, Illinois)

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Table of Contents

Preface to the 2012 Republication
Note on the Title and Previous Editions
Preface to the 1979 Edition

Part 1 – In Search of the Paraenetic Tradition of a Command of Enemy Love
1. The Pertinent Texts
2. Literary Dependence or Common Traditional Source?
3. Determining the Form of the Command in the Paraenetic Tradition
4. Conclusion

Part 2 – The Origin of the Command of Enemy Love in the New Testament Paraenetic Tradition
1. The Question and the Approach
2. Hellenistic Philosophy
A. Seneca
B. Epictetus
3. The Old Testament
4. Hellenistic Judaism
A. Works from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
B. Philo
5. Qumran and Works in the Region of its Influence
6. Palestinian Judaism outside Qumran
7. The Teaching of Jesus
8. Conclusion

Part 3 – Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love in the Larger Context of His Message
1. Preliminary Remarks
2. Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love and the Kingdom of God

Part 4. The Use and Meaning of Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love in the Early Christian Paraenesis
1. Preliminary Remarks
2. The Motivation of the Command of Enemy Love
3. The Content of the Command of Enemy Love

Part 5. The Gospel Tradition of Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love and its Use in Matthew and Luke
1. The Gospel Tradition of Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love before the Gospels
2. The Gospel Tradition of Jesus’ Command of Enemy Love in the Gospels

Conclusion

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Translations

Portuguese
Publisher: Editora Fiel

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Related Resources

• Finish Your Piper Collection — at Long Last (blog post)
• Learning from Myself Forty Years Later: Thoughts on the Republication of My Doctoral Dissertation (blog post)