The author originally taught the material that became this book as an adult elective in a midweek church class. The title, Jesus Said What? , captures the approach attempted here. For example, when Jesus said in the Sermon On the Mount, You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart, His hearers had a Jesus Said What? moment.

The book takes a close look at the words of Jesus to see the profound effect they had, both then and through to the twenty-first century. Since the content of the book began as a live presentation, an attempt has been made to maintain the same sense of informal intimacy the attendees experienced. The author taught the material directly from his notebook computer with the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible displayed on the left half of his screen, and the Greek New Testament displayed on the right half of his screen. While the quoted scriptures are the NIV, the scripture was then discussed phrase by phrase, the speaker sometimes paraphrasing or adding descriptive language to the presentation in order to illustrate or clarify what was being said. In addition, since this was a live session, questions or comments that were raised by participants sometimes have been included in the book where appropriate and helpful.

The goal was to take a serious but fresh new approach to the scriptures being studied. Though the language may at times seem casual, the conclusions drawn and the words of the biblical text were taken quite seriously. The point of this book is that words and language matter, both in the original Greek and in contemporary English. This is a journey back to the times and culture in which Jesus found Himself in order to capture the full depth and breadth of what He said. His words did, after all, change the world.