The Parables of Jesus: A 12-Week Study

By Douglas Sean O'Donnell

Engaging 12-Week Study Helps Readers Better Understand and Apply God's Word
The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture.
 
In The Parables of Jesus, Douglas Sean O'Donnell helps readers study some of Scripture's most famous narrative parables—including the good Samaritan, the prodigal son, and the rich fool—and understand their place in the storyline of Scripture.

- Helpful Bible Study Resource: Features date and historical background, theological context for the Bible passage, "Whole-Bible Connections," compelling reflection questions, and more
- In-Depth: Ties the biblical text in with the whole story of Scripture, shows how each passage unveils the gospel, and illuminates the doctrines taught in each passage
- Part of the Knowing the Bible Series: With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on every page of the Bible

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crossway Books
• Release date: Oct 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9781433589478

Douglas Sean O'Donnell

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the senior vice president of Bible editorial at Crossway. Over the past twenty-five years he has helped train people around the world to read and teach the Bible clearly. He has pastored several churches, served as a professor, and authored or edited over twenty books, including commentaries, Bible studies, children’s books, and a children’s curriculum. He also wrote The Pastor’s Book with R. Kent Hughes and The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition with Leland Ryken.

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This series is a tremendous resource for those wanting to study and teach the Bible with an understanding of how the gospel is woven throughout Scripture. Here are gospel-minded pastors and scholars doing gospel business from all the Scriptures. This is a biblical and theological feast preparing God’s people to apply the entire Bible to all of life with heart and mind wholly committed to Christ’s priorities.

Bryan Chapell, pastor; author, Christ-Centered Preaching and Christ-Centered Worship

"Mark Twain may have smiled when he wrote to a friend, ‘I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long letter.’ But the truth of Twain’s remark remains serious and universal, because well-reasoned, compact writing requires extra time and extra hard work. And this is what we have in the Crossway Bible study series Knowing the Bible. The skilled authors and notable editors provide the contours of each book of the Bible as well as the grand theological themes that bind them together as one Book. Here, in a 12-week format, are carefully wrought studies that will ignite the mind and the heart."

R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois

"Knowing the Bible brings together a gifted team of Bible teachers to produce a high-quality series of study guides. The coordinated focus of these materials is unique: biblical content, provocative questions, systematic theology, practical application, and the gospel story of God’s grace presented all the way through Scripture."

Philip G. Ryken, President, Wheaton College

"These Knowing the Bible volumes provide a significant and very welcome variation on the general run of inductive Bible studies. This series provides substantial instruction, as well as teaching through the very questions that are asked. Knowing the Bible then goes even further by showing how any given text links with the gospel, the whole Bible, and the formation of theology. I heartily endorse this orientation of individual books to the whole Bible and the gospel, and I applaud the demonstration that sound theology was not something invented later by Christians, but is right there in the pages of Scripture."

Graeme L. Goldsworthy, former lecturer in Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Hermeneutics, Moore Theological College

"What a gift to earnest, Bible-loving, Bible-searching believers! The organization and structure of the Bible study format presented through the Knowing the Bible series is so well conceived. Students of the Word are led to understand the content of passages through perceptive, guided questions, and they are given rich insights and application all along the way in the brief but illuminating sections that conclude each study. What potential growth in depth and breadth of understanding these studies offer! One can only pray that vast numbers of believers will discover more of God and the beauty of his Word through these rich studies."

Bruce A. Ware, T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Knowing The Bible

Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Series Editor

••••••

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth and Esther

1–2 Samuel

1–2 Kings

1–2 Chronicles

Ezra and Nehemiah

Job

Psalms

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel, Amos, and Obadiah

Jonah, Micah, and Nahum

Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts

Romans

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians and Philemon

1–2 Thessalonians

1–2 Timothy and Titus

Hebrews

James

1–2 Peter and Jude

1–3 John

Revelation

The Ten Commandments

The Sermon on the Mount

The Parables of Jesus

••••••

Douglas Sean O’donnell (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the Senior Vice President of Bible Editorial at Crossway. He is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including The Beginning and End of Wisdom; The Pastor’s Book; The Song of Solomon and Matthew in the Preaching the Word commentary series; and Psalms and The Parables of Jesus in the Knowing the Bible series. He also contributed Song of Solomon and Job to the ESV Expository Commentary.

The Parables Of Jesus

A 12-Week Study

Douglas Sean O’Donnell

Knowing the Bible: The Parables of Jesus, A 12-Week Study

Copyright © 2023 by Crossway

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Some content used in this study guide has been adapted from the ESV Study Bible, copyright © 2008 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Crossway owns all the material written for Knowing the Bible (KTB), and authors were contracted on a work-for-hire basis for their labors. Since 2023 the contributors to KTB have been asked to incorporate the best Gospel Glimpses, Whole-Bible Connections, Theological Soundings, and other features from previous contributions in order to enhance later volumes. The author of this volume incorporated material from Drew Hunter (Matthew), Jimmy Agan III (Luke), and Michael LeFebvre (1–3 John).

Some content in this study guide is drawn from Douglas Sean O’Donnell and Leland Ryken, The Beauty and Power of Biblical Exposition: Preaching the Literary Artistry and Genres of the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022); Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Matthew: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013); Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Mark: Arise and Follow the Son, ESV Commentary on the Four Gospels (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, forthcoming). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some content is drawn from Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Matthew, The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary (Austin, TX: The Gospel Coalition, 2021), available at https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/commentary/matthew. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design: Simplicated Studio

First printing 2023

Printed in the United States of America

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