As Christians, we often talk about how Jesus was a good teacher, a miracle worker, a gracious friend, and ultimately our Savior and Lord.

And while all those things are true, we don't often put Jesus in the category of genius, even though any study of his teachings in the New Testament would

prove that to be the case. My guest today is Peter Williams, and he uses the famous story

of the prodigal son to unpack how Jesus was a genius in the way that he taught during his earthly

ministry. Exploring the intentional literary mastery that Jesus displayed in and through

his words, Williams allows us to go deeper into a parable that most of us think we know by heart.

He also offers advice on how to read Jesus' words in the Gospels in a way that we begin to notice our

Savior's genius and the incredible depth of Scripture as a whole.

Peter Williams is the principal of Tyndale House, Cambridge,

the chair of the International Greek New Testament Project

and a member of the ESV Translation Oversight Committee.

He's also the author of The Surprising Genius of Jesus,

what the Gospels reveal about the greatest teacher from Crossway.

Let's get started.

Well, Peter, thank you so much for joining me again on the Crossway podcast.

Great to be with you.

It's great to talk again.

Today we're going to look at the parable of the prodigal son, as we often refer to it,

although you have a different name for it that we'll get into in a minute,

and explore in particular the purpose of looking at this parable is to look at how Jesus used his teaching.

It was so intelligent and clever and even a genius you call him in how he taught

to the people who are listening to him. And kind of we're going to use this parable as a jumping

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