ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has been on my heart for nearly ten years—often with a burning-in-the-bones urgency as I mulled preliminary ideas. Write. Write. Write. Yet even though this book restlessly loomed as a fire waiting to be kindled, circumstances required that the flint, steel, and tinder be stowed away for several years. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to complete the task.

As I began working on this manuscript, conversation proved to be steel striking flint. Without the shower of sparks generated by contact with others, progress would not have been possible. I am unable to thank everyone who has helped nurture the flames, but I would like to give special recognition to some individuals and groups.

I have a number of friends to thank. First, I would like to single out Jonathan Miles, associate professor of philosophy at Quincy University. This book has been forged, hammer and tongs, by a constant engagement with his sharp mind and Christian spirit. Second, I extend a special thank you to Scot McKnight. Not only was Scot’s research an important stimulus for my own, he contributed significantly to this project. He expressed enthusiastic support for the initial outline and was generous to supply a thought-provoking foreword. Many other professionals also provided invaluable comments on the whole or a portion: David Downs, Joshua Jipp, Kent Lasnoski, Matthew Lynch, Eric Rowe, Daniel Smith, and Daniel Strudwick. Several church leaders read initial chapters and discussed them with me, including Andrew Cashman and Zeke Nelson. Quincy University was kind to reduce my teaching load by three credit hours for the spring of 2014, which accelerated the drafting of several chapters. Special thanks to president Bob Gervasi, vice president of academic affairs Ann Behrens, and my department chair, Daniel Strudwick.

If this book finds an audience among pastors, scholars, and general theological readers, then much of its purpose will have been met. But it has also been crafted with the college or seminary classroom in mind. If it succeeds in this capacity, then this will be in no small measure due to my students at Quincy University. I’d like to give a grateful shout-out to my Exploring the New Testament classes (spring 2015, 2016) for reading the bulk of the manuscript and testing the “for further thought” questions. Meanwhile, my Romans class (spring 2016) gave useful feedback on chapter 8. Several students went beyond the call of duty in interacting with the manuscript: Sarah Alexander, Bridget Bicek, Andrea Brown, Nick Clark, Michael Crotteau, Sammi Goble, Teresa Gorrell, Brianna Johnson, Katherine Rathgeber, Lacey Rokita, and Genesis Torrens.

The personnel at Baker Academic have stoked coals or applied the damper when appropriate. James Ernest (who has since left Baker Academic) was the initial acquiring editor. I cannot say enough good things about how James handled the acquisition of this project. Not only did he show enormous confidence in me and my ideas from the outset, but he generously invested time by providing sentence- and paragraph-level suggestions that helped me enhance the manuscript—and this, astonishingly, even before the manuscript was under contract with Baker! James passed my project to the extraordinarily capable Bryan Dyer, who helped guide the manuscript into production. Bryan provided sound judgment with regard to the macro-organization, helped tame some overly wild portions, and also provided necessary nuance. I am also grateful to anonymous reviewers who supplied comments to Bryan. Other folks at Baker have been splendid too—Jim Kinney, Eric Salo, David Nelson, Mason Slater, Paula Gibson, and Louis McBride.

My family deserves high praise. Sarah, my wife, has been constant in her love and support. She is also patient. As a woman who needs little practical encouragement toward allegiance alone (she lives her loyalty to the King Jesus daily like none other!), she has nevertheless heard more about it than any mortal should. My children have been a boundless source of joy and entertainment: Tad, Zeke, Addie, Lydia, Evie, and (just arrived!) Anna.

This book is dedicated with much love and heartfelt gratitude to my parents, Mike and Linda Bates. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for all that childhood care—diapers changed, food and lodging provided, meals cooked, baseball games coached—and for all that you continue to do for me. But thanks, Mom and Dad, above all for raising me in a home filled with love—a love so tangible yet transcendent that it could only have one source. God is glorified through you.