A prolific author, Bruce wrote nearly sixty books and booklets, hundreds of articles and more than 2,000 book reviews. Early in his career, he edited ''
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words and supervised its publication in one volume from the original four volumes. Later in his career, he was named general editor of the New International Commentary of the New Testament after the death of Ned Stonehouse, the previous editor. He was also editor of the Yorkshire Celtic Studies,
the Evangelical Quarterly,
the Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute,
and the Palestine Exploration Quarterly''. The first book Bruce wrote,
Are the New Testament Documents Reliable? (1943) was "based to a large extent on talks given to students." It was widely read and
Christianity Today named it one of "the top 50 books that have shaped Evangelicals." He wrote commentaries on Habakkuk (in
The Minor Prophets, ed. by Thomas Edward McComiskey, Baker, 1992), Matthew, John, Acts (one on the Greek text and one on the English text), Romans, 1 & 2, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, Hebrews, and the Epistles of John. He wrote several history books:
Israel and the Nations: from the Exodus to the Fall of the Second Temple; New Testament History: Jews, Romans, and the Church; and
The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress of Christianity from Its First Beginnings to Eighth-Century England. He explained, "I have written as a historian, not as a theologian." Bruce's
magnum opus (according to
Theology Today) was his biography of Paul, published in England as
Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit and in America as
Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free. The magazine
Christian History said that aside from the New Testament, "the place to begin (exploring the life of Paul) is F.F. Bruce's ... most readable and engaging biography of Paul." However, Robert Morgan, writing in
The Journal of Theological Studies, claimed "a certain uncontroversial flatness about what we are told of Paul's thought." Bruce might well agree with Morgan, for, as
A.R. Millard said, "Readers of Bruce's extensive writings will look in vain for novel theories or speculative hypotheses spun to exhibit the Author's intellectual caliber, the sort of work that wins momentary acclaim and then is superseded. Rather, his works evaluate evidence and interpretations carefully and honestly in spare yet readable prose, lightened with amusing examples and flashes of dry wit." Bruce viewed the New Testament writings as historically reliable and the truth claims of Christianity as hinging on their being so. To Bruce, this did not mean that the Bible was always precise or that this lack of precision could not lead to some confusion. He believed, however, that the passages that were still open to debate were ones that had no substantial bearing on Christian theology and thinking. Bruce's colleague at Manchester,
James Barr, considered Bruce a "conservative liberal." ==Honours==