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

by Douglas Sean O’Donnell

Publisher:

Crossway

, 2023

Overview

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 Jesus’ 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

Key Features

• Includes reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level
• Helps readers study some of Jesus’ most famous narrative parables
• Features date and historical background, theological context for the Bible passage

Contents

• Series Preface: Douglas Sean O’Donnell
• Week 1: Overview
• Week 2: The Sower (Mark 4:1–20)
• Week 3: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37)
• Week 4: The Rich Fool (Luke 12:13–21)
• Week 5: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)
• Week 6: The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31)
• Week 7: Two Parables on Prayer (Luke 18:1–14)
• Week 8: The Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:21–35)
• Week 9: The Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16)
• Week 10: The Tenants (Mark 12:1–12)
• Week 11: The Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1–14)
• Week 12: Three Parables on Christ’s Return (Matthew 25)

Praise for the Print Edition

These Knowing the Bible volumes introduce a significant and very welcome variation on the general run of inductive Bible studies. Such series often provide questions with little guidance, leaving students to their own devices. They thus tend to overlook the role of teaching in the church. By contrast, Knowing the Bible avoids the problem by providing substantial instruction with the questions. Knowing the Bible then goes even further by showing how any given passage connects with the gospel, the whole Bible, and Christian 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 Goldsworthy, Former Lecturer in Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Hermeneutics, Moore Theological College

This Knowing the Bible 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, Stated Clerk, Presbyterian Church in America

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 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

Product Details

• Title: The Parables of Jesus: A 12-Week Study
• Author: Douglas Sean O’Donnell
• Series: Knowing the Bible
• Publisher: Crossway
• Print Publication Date: 2023
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 96
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Parables › Study and teaching
• ISBNs: 9781433589478, 9781433589454, 9781433589447, 1433589478, 1433589451, 1433589443
• Resource ID: LLS:KNOWINGBIBLEPARABLES
• Resource Type: text.monograph.bible-study
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-10T19:56:24Z

About Douglas Sean O’Donnell

Douglas Sean O’Donnell (MAs, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Wheaton College) is senior pastor of New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois. In addition to serving as an instructor for the Charles Simeon Trust, O’Donnell is a member of the North American Patristics Society, the US Board of the Irish Bible Institute, the Center for Pastor Theologians, and the Evangelical Theological Society. He is the author of a number of books, including The Beginning and End of Wisdom, The Song of Solomon and Matthew in the Preaching the Word commentary series.