Bible Commentaries

Jonah 2:2 — cried I, And thou heardest my voice." This marvelous prayer which God heard and answered was not offered from any formal position such as kneeling, standing, etc. "The Bible shows by example that men may pray in any posture."Paul T. Butler, op. cit., p. 236. The Scriptures show that men prayed kneeling (1 Kings 8:54), standing (Nehemiah 9:5, Luke 18:13), bowing down on the earth with face between the knees (1 Kings 18:42), lying in a sickbed and turning the face to the wall (2 Kings 20:2), failing prostrate

Zechariah 1:2-3 — called these verses "the keynote of the entire book, and one of the strongest and most intensely spiritual calls to repentance to be found anywhere in the Old Testament."George I. Robinson, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1926), p. 150. Some have professed surprise that Zechariah called for repentance from the same group of people that Haggai, only two months previously, had assured by the promise of the Lord that, "I am with you" (Haggai 1:13). But, as Leupold observed: "Every

Matthew 10:40-42 — taught here is that receiving the apostles is equivalent to receiving Christ, and that receiving Christ is equivalent to receiving God. The importance of the apostolic mission is underscored by these words. It is "through their word" (John 17:20) and "through your apostles" (2 Peter 3:2) that all the benefits of the Christian faith may be acquired. Note also the limitation, "in the name of a disciple," equivalent to "for my sake" in Matthew 10:39. All spiritual

Matthew 12:41 — rise in righteous anger and cast evil out of his universe. Christ's word on this subject makes it impossible to hold "our age" as the judgment; for "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). Nor is the day of death to be viewed as the day of judgment. THAT comes after death. The verses before us show that the judgment is a simultaneous judgment of all nations and conditions of men, regardless of the ages in which they lived. The Queen

Matthew 2:2 — of the Jews. That the Messianic hope of the Hebrews was well known throughout the ancient world is evident from the following considerations: (1) The Old Testament had been translated into the Greek language in the Septuagint translation "about 280 B.C." The Old Testament was thus given a worldwide circulation at least a quarter of a millennium before Christ was born. Dummelow noted that "Synagogues existed through the east; … at Damascus, nearly all the women were proselytes."J.

Luke 24:49 — And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high. This verse also, as indicated by Luke 24:48, was addressed to the apostles. They were here instructed not to begin the task of worldwide evangelism until they had been clothed with power from on high. Jesus also told them that "Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon

John 15:19 — apostles and the divine message they delivered to men. In this lies the reason why unregenerated men have authored whole libraries of rejection and hatred against the Gospel of John. Given the two facts, (1) of what unregenerates are in themselves, and (2) of what the glorious Gospel of John is, and the hatred of this Gospel becomes absolutely inevitable. Can anyone believe for a minute that the word of Christ through the apostles is treated with any less bias and hatred than that which marked the world's

John 18:22 — had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? With his hand … The Greek word from which this is translated can mean either one of two things: (1) a stroke with a rod, or (2) a blow by the hand to the ear, or face, the latter "being the current punishment for a word supposed to be insolent." H. R. Reynolds, op. cit., II, p. 387. This was the beginning of that vulgar and brutal mockery which was the lot of the

John 7:37 — 84. In such a context, Jesus' cry for men to come unto him and drink was the equivalent of his promising the Holy Spirit to all who would follow him. Thus, in this Gospel, there is another recurrence of emphasis upon water. See comment under John 4:2.

Acts 14:18 — 16. Although Luke did not mention Paul's success at Lystra, there were, nevertheless, some who accepted the gospel. Boles pointed out that Among the more conspicuous converts were the devoted Jewess, Lois, her daughter Eunice, and the young Timothy (2 Timothy 1:5). H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 226.

1 Corinthians 1:8 — many gifts." Donald Guthrie, The New Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Win. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1053. Full redemption for all people must await THAT DAY when the Lord shall come in his glory and all his holy angels with him (2 Timothy 4:8).

1 Corinthians 3:11 — Tyndale Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1958), p. 67. Of course, this is not the only metaphor of Christ's preeminence in his kingdom. He is also called the door of the sheepfold (John 10:7), the chief corner stone (Ephesians 2:20), the head of the body (Ephesians 1:22-23), etc.

2 Corinthians 13:3 — and exert his authority, in defying him to come with a rod, in presuming on what they called his weakness, they were really challenging Christ. James Denney, Expositor's Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1947), Vol. V, 2 Cor., p. 806. Some of the false apostles had been saying: "No matter how boldly he writes, when he comes he will be weak and unimpressive"; but Paul here promised to come and discipline them in the sternest manner.

2 Corinthians 9:15 — working of the grace of God through Christ in the hearts of the Corinthians is in view here, it is not such a work of Christ but Christ himself who is meant. Plumptre spoke of some who believe the gift here to be the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Acts 2:38 f; but it is that word "unspeakable" which, more than anything else, compels one to see in the gift "none other than Jesus Christ himself."

Philippians 1:12 — what were those things? The last half of the book of Acts gives a great many of the near incredible things that happened unto Paul, revealing his life as an odyssey surpassing that of any other, save Christ alone, who ever lived on earth. In addition, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 briefly mentions many other things not even hinted at in Acts. Only a man of the profoundest humility could have made this casual reference to such a list of sufferings and hardships as that which marked Paul's life. Rather than

Philippians 1:2 — to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Frequent comments on this characteristic Pauline greeting have been made in this series of commentaries. For example, see my Commentary on Romans 1:1 and my Commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:2. Scholars are inclined to make a big thing out of the order of "grace" and "peace" as they appear in most of Paul's greetings. As Boice said, "The final point is this: grace comes before peace …. In God's order of things

Colossians 4:17 — S. Peake, op. cit., p. 547. This verse establishes the principle that a church is responsible for admonishing and encouraging ministers, nor is it evident here that Archippus was in any way standing in special need of encouragement. From Philemon 1:2, where Archippus is mentioned along with Philemon and Apphia in a manner suggesting that he may have been their son, it is also concluded that Archippus had had previous service together with Paul. The New Bible Dictionary, op. cit., p. 77. Several

2 Timothy 1:4 — danger and death to loved ones, openly wept; and there are a number of examples of this in the New Testament. As Ward said, "We are not called to a hard Stoicism which condemns all emotional experience." Ronald A. Ward, Commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1974), p. 143. Many speculations regarding the occasion of Timothy's tears are left in the air by the brevity of the New Testament narrative. Some think Paul was remembering the occasion at Lystra

Hebrews 9:6 — on which would mean that the Herodian temple was yet standing and certainly dating Hebrews prior to 70 A.D. Here is a partial list of services performed by the priests: (1) They lighted the lamps each evening and trimmed them every morning. (Exodus 27:21; Exodus 30:8). (2) Each sabbath day they renewed the loaves on the table of showbread (Leviticus 24:5). (3) They burned twice daily the incense on the golden altar, this coinciding with the morning and evening sacrifices, and with the trimming and

Revelation 21 overview — EPILOGUE (Revelation 21—22) The scene here moves to eternity, after the end of time, when all the enemies of God have been vanquished, following the final judgment of all men, and when the long drama of human struggles and temptations shall have been concluded. Christ