Bible Commentaries

Genesis 17:15-16 — Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, And moreover I will give thee a son of her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her." See under Genesis 17:5 regarding the uncertainty of the meaning of the change from Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. That it was significant and that God attached great importance to it is seen in the stress these new names received in this passage. As a matter of fact,

Psalms 14:6 — suggested that, Whatever plans and intentions of godly men to do for the glory of God, these are the counsels of the poor which, "The children of the world, who are in possession of worldly power seek to frustrate."F. Delitzsch, Old Testament, Vol. 5 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 208 In the picture of the total depravity of mankind that emerges here, whatever good may be intended or advocated by anyone, the possessors of worldly power will move to frustrate any such good intentions.

Psalms 4:5-6 — righteousness." This is a reference to keeping the Lord's commandments as diligently, faithfully, and continually as is humanly possible. Of course; Christian "sacrifices" are utterly unlike the bloody offerings of the Old Testament, as indicated in 1 Peter 2:5. "Light of thy countenance upon us." The literal Hebrew word here for "countenance" is "face." James Moffatt's Translation of the Bible, 1929, rendered the passage "Smile upon us," and the Good News Bible rendered it, "Look on us with kindness."

Proverbs 16:26-27 — man deviseth mischief; And in his lips there is a scorching fire." "His mouth urgeth him thereto" The need to earn a living inspires men to work. "An ungodly man diggeth up evil; and in his lips there is a burning fire."J. Vernon McGee, Vol. III, p. 58. "The description of agitators in this through Proverbs 16:30 needs little comment."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), Vol. 5, p. 55 In this verse, the mischief maker is a gossip. The burning fire in his words is designed

Micah 2 overview — people, especially of the nobles, for which God had determined to punish the entire nation (Micah 2:1-2). He particularly identified that punishment as their removal from the land which they mistakenly believed was "theirs," not the Lord's (Micah 2:4-5). He then identified and refuted the "false prophets" whose lies had deceived the people and encouraged them in their rebellion against God (Micah 2:6-11). He concluded the chapter with a brief but strong promise of redemption for "a remnant" of the

Malachi 3:3 — passage in mind: "The proof of your faith, being more precious than gold… proved by fire… ye are built up a spiritual house… a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ, etc. (1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 2:5). The sacrifices "in righteousness" offered by the Christian include: our faith (Philippians 2:17), the love of God (Mark 12:33), our words, "the calves of our lips" (Hosea 14:2), our confession of Christ (Hebrews 13:15-16), our baptism into Christ

Matthew 28:7-8 — bring his disciples word. The angel in this passage summoned the disciples to a prearranged meeting place with Christ in Galilee, upon a mountain (Matthew 26:32). Robertson identified the appearance there with the one mentioned by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6) in which Christ was seen by more than five hundred brethren at one time.A. T. Robertson, A Harmony of the Gospels (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1922), p. 249. THE TEN EPIPHANIES (APPEARANCES) 1.    To Mary Magdalene (John and

Mark 10:18 — him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God. Erdman is certainly correct in his comment on this: "It is a mistake to suppose that Jesus denies his own sinlessness, or disclaims divinity."Charles E. Erdman, op. cit., p. 155. "The perfect goodness of God was a universal doctrine of Judaism";Halford E. Luccock, op. cit., p. 801. and it is evident that the Lord was here building the young man's thoughts toward the recognition of Jesus as God. It is the equivalent

John 5:21 — fulfilled in the raising of Lazarus; and, in context: these words amount to a promise that Jesus would indeed raise the dead before the very eyes of his enemies. These words also have a spiritual application that Jesus stressed a little later (John 5:25).

John 7:3 — Judaea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. His brethren … contrasting with "disciples," compels the understanding of this in the ordinary sense of his human brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 13:55), who were, in all probability, additional sons of Mary and Joseph (See my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 13:55-56). His brothers at this time did not believe in him (John 7:5), having a carnal view of his work. They said, in effect., "Get on

John 7:41 — Others said, This is the Christ. But others said, What, doth Christ come out of Galilee? Galilee … was indeed the residence of Jesus, but the people seemed ignorant of the fact that he was born in Bethlehem as the prophet had foretold (Micah 5:2). It seems that they merely assumed that since he lived in Galilee he had also been born there. Also, added to the difficulty of the people was the slander of the Pharisees that no prophet had ever come out of Galilee; but they were wrong about that

John 7:7 — testify of it, that its works are evil. Jesus' brothers and their friends had not broken with the hierarchy in Jerusalem; and thus it was all very well for them to go up to the feast; but Jesus had broken with it, and they were plotting to kill him (John 5:18). For the Lord to have walked boldly into the trap laid for him in Jerusalem would have been folly. The Lord had dared to instruct them on the proper method of observing the sabbath, exposing the sin of their regulations imposed in place of the divine

Acts 10:42 — Implicit in such an epic fact is the teaching: (1) that all men shall be raised in a general resurrection, (2) that Christ is risen from the dead, (3) that he has ascended to heaven, (4) that all power and authority in heaven and upon earth are his, and (5) that salvation may be found only in him.

Acts 16:4 — apostles and elders in Jerusalem to accept. Even the four prohibitions regarding idols, fornication, blood and things strangled were grounded not in the law of Moses primarily, but in God's teachings which antedated the Mosaic covenant (Genesis 9:3-5).

1 Corinthians 10:22 — Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? Even in the Old Testament, idol worship was spoken of as provoking the Lord to jealousy; and, as Macknight said, "This is an allusion to Exodus 20:5, where, after prohibiting the worshipping of images, God adds, "I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God!" James Macknight, op. cit., p. 163. Are we stronger than he? … This carries the thought, "Do you really wish to be an enemy of

2 Corinthians 2:6 — consideration of Paul are evident in his unwillingness even to mention either the name of the offender or to identify the shameful sin of which he was guilty. Inflicted by the many … This indicates that, according to his instructions (1 Corinthians 5:4), the whole congregation had dealt with the offender in a public gathering. There was no way to ease sin like that out of the church privately. Sufficient … This requires the understanding that the guilty man had put away his father's wife,

Colossians 2:12 — reference to immersion as the action recognized by the apostles as being required in the baptism commanded by Christ. One may read bales of sophistry on this subject, but the simple truth is easy to see. See the parallel Pauline reference in Romans 6:3-5, together with comments in my Commentary on Romans.

James 5:8 — Return" of Christ, under 1 Thessalonians 1:10, in CT. The particular "coming of the Lord" mentioned by James here was indeed "at hand." As James would declare a little later, "The judge standeth before the doors" (James 5:9).

1 Peter 4:8 — moral and spiritual strength. Love covereth a multitude of sins … "The meaning is that love will overlook its neighbor's faults." David H. Wheaton, op. cit., p. 1246. The teaching of this is quite similar to Proverbs 10:12 and James 5:20.

2 Peter 1:8 — For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. "It is the necessity of possessing these things enumerated in 2 Peter 1:5-7 and to be achieved at least in part by human effort, that is here stressed." Albert E. Barnett, op. cit., p. 178. If … How frequently this word appears in the New Testament! suggesting here that in the last analysis, there is a vital and