伏生於秦皇焚書之際壁藏《尚書》，後求得廿九篇以教於齊、魯之間，並說解《尚書》經義，是伏生於《尚書》有存經、傳經、解經之三大功。漢文帝 (前179-157在位) 時曾受詔講授，為漢代今文尚書學宗師，所謂「言《尚書》自濟南伏生」者是也。其解《尚書》之作今存《尚書大傳》輯本，以清人陳壽祺 (1771-1834) 所輯三卷本最佳，皮錫瑞 (1850-1908) 七卷本之疏證最稱精審。《四庫全書總目》謂該書「或說《尚書》，或不說《尚書》，與經義在離合之間，而古訓舊典，往往而在，為六藝之支流」；皮錫瑞則云該書「兼明大義，不盡釋經，而釋經者，確乎可據」。兩說皆得「傳」類解經著作之特色，本文即探討其解經時所呈現之思想。分以政治思想、天人關係、循環史觀、禮制社會、四時五行學說等五端論之，各得其以德為本、追求和諧、三統輪替、注重等級結構、順時應變之思想要義。

Fu Sheng's 伏生 contributions to the Shangshu 尚書 (Book of Documents) is comprised of three aspects: 1) he hid the book from the First Emperor of Qin 秦始皇 in a wall, preventing it from being burned, 2) he collected twenty-nine documents from the book for teaching in Qi 齊 and Lu 魯, and 3) he explicated the classical meanings of the book. By decree of Emperor Wen 漢文帝 (179-157 B.C.), Fu Sheng went to the imperial court to lecture and became a master of the jinwen 今文 version of the Shangshu. That's why it is said in Chinese that "explanations of the Shangshu came from Fu Sheng." Fu sheng's interpretations of the Shangshu were preserved in the compilation Shangshu da zhuan 尚書大傳 (The Great Tradition of the Book of Documents), of which Chen Shouqi's 陳壽祺 (1771-1834) version of three volumes was the best, while textual research on it in Pi Xirui's 皮錫瑞 (1850-1908) seven volumes was the most precise in the Qing dynasty. In the Siku tiyao 四庫提要, the description of the compilation states, "Some discuss the Shangshu and some do not. Its meaning vacillates between complimenting and being at odds with the meaning of the classics. Explaining the annotations of ancient books has always been a custom. This book exists as a subfield of the Six Arts." Pi Xirui thought the book "has an overall meaning; while its content does not all explain the classics, what explanations it does contain is reliable." These two views highlight a feature of classical exegeses. This article aims to investigate the thought in this compilation from five angles: political thought, the relationship between heaven and man, cyclical history, society governed by rites, and doctrine of the four season and five elements. Finally, moral supremacy, harmony, cycle of the three rulers, hierarchical structure, and change by time are concluded to be the compilation's core ideas.