Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 31:7-9 — waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." "Save thy people" This indicates that "eternal salvation" is the culmination of God's promises here. The remnant of Israel... (Jeremiah 31:7). This expression forbids any notion that the whole nation of apostate racial Israel were meant to be included in these glorious promises. In both this and the preceding paragraphs, God assured Israel of his "everlasting love." With the utmost tenderness,

Ezekiel 8:1 — chapter 8 a detail on the horrible defilement of God's temple by apostate Israel, which God forewarns will cause the removal of his presence from it (Ezekiel 8:6). (2) The supernatural ministers of instruments of Israel's punishment appear in Ezekiel 9. (3) The cherubim make preparatory movements to depart the Temple in Ezekiel 10; and (4) the actual departure of God's presence from the Temple occurs in Ezekiel 11:22-25. The one topic here is the defilement of the Temple and God's removal from it. THE

Joel 3:15 — what this means; but it would appear to be certain that cosmic disturbances of the very greatest magnitude will attend God's final arraignment and judgment of the prince of his creation, namely, man. That the final day is always considered "near" (Joel 3:14) by the inspired authors appears to derive from two things: (1)    in the sense of recurring judgments upon the incorrigibly wicked, as seen in so many historical examples, notably the destruction of Jerusalem, that day in its

Matthew 21:42-43 — completeness of the structure depended, that on which, as the chief cornerstone, the two walls met, and were bonded together.Dean Plumptre, as quoted by R. Tuck, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1961), p. 356. Christ as the Cornerstone suggests that: (1) law and grace; (2) God and man; (3) time and eternity; (4) B.C. and A.D.; (5) the Mosaic dispensation and the Christian dispensation; (6) the letter and the spirit; and (7) judgment and mercy, both begin

Matthew 22:4 — represent the invitation to the Jewish people, as it was renewed to them at the second epoch of the kingdom, that is, after the resurrection and ascension.Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Parables (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), p. 227. Two things support Trench's view: (1) God was willing to overlook the first blunt rejection of Christ (even his crucifixion), attributing it to ignorance (Acts 3:17). (2) Also, the Jews continued to have a priority in hearing the gospel for

Matthew 26:54-55 — temple teaching, and ye took me not. Jesus' emphasis was ever upon the fulfillment of God's word. It is not merely the death of Christ, but the death of Christ "according to the scriptures," that constitutes the true gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3 ff). The Scriptures were the only weapon on which Christ relied in his encounter with the prince of evil (Matthew 4:4, which see). The thesis of his life was "and the scriptures cannot be broken" (John 10:35). As for the expression "thus

Matthew 5:17 — removed. Christ took the law out of the way (Colossians 2:14-16); and yet he did so, not by violating it, but by fulfilling it! Christ fulfilled the law (1) by his own unswerving obedience to it, (2) by his exact manifestation as its promised Messiah, and (3) by enlarging and expanding its teachings, lifting them to a higher and purer level, and by bringing all the Old Testament teachings to perfection in the perfect Law of Liberty.

Matthew 6:4 — qualities to commend it: (1) It assures purity of motive in the heart of the giver by removing the temptation to hypocrisy. (2) It protects and honors the privacy of the recipient, a privacy that is indispensable to his recovery and rehabilitation. (3) It protects the benefactor from a proliferation of calls upon his generosity. (4) It provides a noble basis for the development of true love and friendship between the helper and the person helped. (5) It honors this specific commandment of Christ;

Mark 12:26-27 — "God spake … in the book of Moses," thus equating the Pentateuch with the word of God, (2) that he made an argument for the certainty of a resurrection to rest upon a single Old Testament verb, and the tense of a verb at that! and (3) that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in some meaningful sense, are not "dead" but "living." As Grant said, "This is probably the strongest of all arguments for immortality: not the nature of man but the character of God."Frederick

Mark 13:20 — decreed for the future as being already done. How this shortening was accomplished is not exactly known. Sanner wrote, "Impelled by matters of pressing personal concern, the Roman generals hastened back to Italy."A. Elwood Sanner, op. cit., p. 384. Some of the events that might have entered into their breaking off of the Jewish war without the total destruction of the whole nation were: (1) disturbances in Gaul that interfered with the campaign of Vespasian; (2) the death of Nero plunged Rome

Mark 13:25 — "shake" this earth in the sense of removing it (Hebrews 12:26). We should believe God's promise and construe the words here as a reference to cataclysmic future events incapable of description by finite men. In this connection, see 2 Peter 3:8-13. Bickersteth's comment is pertinent: The powers may here mean those great unseen forces of nature by which the universe is held in equipoise. When the Creator wills it, these powers shall be shaken. "The pillars of heaven tremble" (Job

Mark 15:16 — MOCKERY The mockery about to begin was not the only mockery of Jesus, there being in fact no less than six, as pointed out by Major: The Evangelists record six mockings of Jesus by: (1) the High Priest's servants; (2) Herod Antipas and his soldiers; (3) the soldiers of the Roman garrison; (4) the general public; (5) priests and scribes; and (6) the two crucified brigands.H. D. A. Major, The Gospel according to St. Mark (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1939), p. 189. The Praetorium … was

Luke 1:66 — events narrated. Along with Luke 1:80, and Luke 2:52, this is a typically Lukan style. This clause is an anthropomorphic metaphor such as abounds in the Old Testament. The "feet" of God (Exodus 24:10), the "finger" of God (Exodus 31:18), the "eyes" of God (Deuteronomy 11:12), the "ears" of God (Numbers 11:18), and the "hand" of God (Exodus 9:3) are Old Testament examples of the same metaphor. Such imagery was used to aid human thinking with regard

Luke 6:41-42 — the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For extended comment on this see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 7:3 ff. This is truly an inspired comparison. Of course, it would be literally impossible for a man with a plank in his eye to probe for the mote in his brother's eye; but in the moral and spiritual realm such a thing is going on all the time. Big Guilt

Luke 8:45-46 — me. Who touched me …? Here, to be sure, are the grounds of cavil. Did not Christ know all things? Why the perplexity here? Of course, there was no perplexity. Mark said, "He looked round to see her that had done this thing" (Mark 5:32); and it is certain that Jesus knew, not merely that some woman had touched him, but which woman had done so, as well. As Trench observed: Elisha said, "Whence cometh thou, Gehazi?" (2 Kings 5:25); and God said, "Adam, where art thou?"

John 20:29 — there; but, in the last analysis, it is human testimony. In the word of God? Certainly, but conveyed in earthen vessels; and it is the polarization of the soul with reference to the Creator that will trigger the soul's reaction to it. See under John 3:19. Jesus did not pronounce a blessing upon Thomas, which is not to say that a blessing was withheld, but that he did not here announce one, that grace having been reserved for the faithful of all ages who have believed without seeing and whose hearts

Acts 14:3 — Scriptures as the word of God; but the Gentiles knew nothing of the Scriptures, or at least but little; hence the appearance of signs. The opposition mentioned above in Acts 14:2 was perhaps frustrated by the mighty miracles performed by Paul (Galatians 3:5). At any rate the preaching continued without abatement for some time. It is of interest to note that each time miracles are mentioned they are associated with apostles, or persons on whom the apostles had laid hands. Never do we hear of the Christians

Acts 16:3 — over that issue wherever possible; and therefore, purely as a matter of expediency, Paul met it by the circumcision of Timothy. Those who have accused Paul of inconsistency in this, in the light of his adamant refusal to circumcise Titus (Galatians 2:3), have failed to discern the essential differences in the two situations. Titus, a Greek (thought by some to be Luke's brother), had no Jewish connection whatever; and there could have been no excuse at all for circumcising him, except, as the Pharisee

Acts 8:18-19 — with ordaining church leaders, nor any reference to such a ceremony as confirmation; but it is basic to the understanding of such facts as: (1) the cessation of apostolic miracles, (2) the termination of inspiration among evangelists and teachers, (3) the impossibility of any such thing as an apostolic succession, and (4) the necessity of concluding the canon of the New Testament. For a full discussion of all this, see under "Laying on of Hands" in my Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 6:2. Regarding

1 Corinthians 3:18 — deceive himself. If any man thinketh that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. A SUMMARY OF PRECEDING ADMONITIONS Here begins the summary of what Paul had written up to here. This through 1 Corinthians 3:23 gives the highlights of what Paul had written up to this point. Dummelow's paraphrase of this is: Do not deceive yourselves; but if there be any of you priding himself on his worldly wisdom, let him quickly unlearn it, that he may learn the true