To understand and apply the Bible well you need two sources of information. One is the Bible itself. The other is an understanding of the cultural background against which it was written, which is precisely what a modern reader does not have.

Craig Keener, among the leading New Testament scholars on Jewish, Greek and Roman culture, supplies that background verse by verse through the whole New Testament. This revised edition of the standard reference work in its field has been expanded throughout with more recent material. Named by Christianity Today among its Books of the Year.