Meist wird die Erforschung der neutestamentlichen Textgeschichte vor allem als ein Hilfsmittel auf der Suche nach dem ‘Urtext’ angesehen. Dass auch in textkritischer Hinsicht vielleicht zweitrangig erscheinende Zeugen von hoher theologischer wie auch historischer Relevanz sein können, zeigt sich auf mehreren Ebenen. So lassen sich nicht nur Verbindungen zwischen der konkreten Textform manchen Manuskripts und theologiegeschichtlichen Problemstellungen der ersten Jahrhunderte aufweisen, auch die Beschaffenheit des Materials, seine Funktion etwa als Amulett oder im christlichen Schulunterricht, seine Verwendung als Grabbeigabe oder die Wiederverwertung für verschiedenste Zwecke ermöglichen wertvolle Schlüsse auf den frühchristlichen Umgang mit dem NT.

James M. Robinson and Christoph Heil have read P. Oxy. 655, i, 1–17a as a pre-Q text, to whose tradition Q 12.22b–31 added originally independent sayings. The present article reads Q 12.22b–31 as an original unity, and P. Oxy. 655, i, 1–17a as a redaction of Q 12.22b–31 or its canonical derivatives.

The article seeks to provide an answer to the question of why Paul says so little about Jesus in his letters. Paul's relative silence on Jesus' words is dealt with in the light of a socio-historical perspective. The study seeks to elucidate how Paul mitigates Jesus' seemingly radical remarks over ethical issues on marriage and the requirements of inheriting the kingdom of God in 1 Corinthians (6.9–10 and 7.10–11), so that his teaching may fit into the new Sitz im Leben of the Corinthian Christian community.

Based on an integrated reading of the social and sacramental dimensions of 1 Cor 11.17–34, this study suggests that, rather than denoting the private homes of the wealthy, Paul's use of οικια/οικος (11.22, 34) refers to the domain of the Corinthian church's gathering. As a result, his exhortation in these verses entails not a tacit endorsement of stratified resources but a concerted argument for the feeding of the hungry in the community's shared meal (δειπνον), a meal he hopes will imitate Jesus' pattern of self-sacrifice and so will become a meal that is ‘of the Lord (κυριακον δειπνον)’.

2 Cor 9.6–15 is crucial for understanding Paul's collection for Jerusalem, and this investigation exegetically examines the text while giving particular attention to three dimensions: sapiential material, rhetoric, and the socio-economic nature of the Corinthian church. The study concludes that the sapiential material comes from a Hellenistic Jewish background, though it shares affinities with Greco-Roman themes. Paul employs deliberative logos in vv. 6–10 as he addresses those in the lower socio-economic levels of the church, while he primarily employs pathos in vv. 12–14 and addresses those in the higher socio-economic levels of the church.

The Thessalonians' grief about the dead believers and their anxiety about the date of the parousia arose mainly out of their inadequate understanding of the eschatological sayings of Jesus which Paul had delivered to them. Therefore, in 1 Thess 4.13–5.11 Paul seeks to resolve the problems by helping them understand those sayings properly in the light of the fundamental saving event of Christ's death and resurrection.

Heb 13.9–14 envisages a situation where Christians of a Jewish background are still defining themselves too much by their Levitical heritage. They are still interacting with the synagogue, including participating in religious meals. Hebrews urges the readers to go outside the camp/gate, to sever the ties with Jerusalem, that is, to make a clean break from Judaism both in understanding and in practice. Such a parting may bring abuse, but this is only to follow the way of Jesus. The problem then is not so much an attraction back into Judaism, but a failure to leave it sufficiently in the first place.

Luke 24.13–35 narrates the story of how the recently crucified and risen Christ meets up with two of his perplexed and despondent disciples as they are walking from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus, how he explains to them as they walk together that it had been foretold long ago by the prophets that Christ would suffer and die, how he is persuaded by them, when evening has come, to break his journey at their home in Emmaus, how he reveals himself to them at dinner in the breaking of the bread, and, finally, how the two disciples return immediately, even at this late hour, to Jerusalem in order to report these miraculous events to the 11 apostles.