Understanding difficult passages in the New Testament requires the application of sound hermeneutical principles, and in this volume respected Bible teacher Robert Stein shows the way to exegetical precision.

This study constitutes a compilation of the author's previous books treating difficulties in the New Testament: Difficult Passages in the Gospels (1984), Difficult Sayings in the Gospels (1985), and Difficult Passages in the Epistles (1988). The author selects representative verses from the Gospels and Epistles, articulates the proper procedure for interpreting them, and then proposes a resolution of the perplexing passages. Stein promises that the student "will not merely 'solve' specific difficult passages but develop a comprehensive method of interpretation that can be applied to other passages as well."

In part 1 Stein tackles the thorny problems of parallel accounts in the Gospels and the difficulty created by some of Jesus' sayings and actions. In part 2 he explicates thirteen rules for detecting exaggeration and hyperbole in the teachings of Jesus, while in part 3 he focuses on "the task of understanding what the authors [of the Epistles] sought to convey by their words."