Bible Commentaries

Genesis 17:11-15 — Press, 1972), p. 28. CIRCUMCISION Whitelaw's list of purposes of circumcision included the idea that it was intended to "foreshadow Christian baptism."Thomas Whitelaw, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 233. However, the resemblances between baptism and circumcision are far less extensive than many suppose. The similarities: (1)    It was mandatory for all (the males) who belonged to Abram's posterity, and baptism is mandatory

Genesis 29:13-20 — born. (3)    Her posterity became the principal element in the true Israel, following the defection and loss of the Northern Israel. (4)    David the king who gave his name and title to Christ himself ("the son of David") was her descendant. (5)    She was the first, and therefore the lawful, wife of Jacob. (6)    Her son Judah gave his name and title to Christ, "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah." (7)    She is here mentioned first

Genesis 37 overview — 39. Although Joseph is a key factor in the development of the nation at this point, dominating the narrative almost completely. Nevertheless, "Jacob is still the dominant character."H. C. Leupold, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1942), p. 950. The entire last section of Genesis, beginning here, records eleven important events which were significant in the continued development of Israel. Willis, following Skinner, listed these as follows.John T. Willis, Genesis (Austin: Sweet Publishing

Genesis 5:1-2 — Toledoth II (Genesis 5:1) This remarkable chapter bridges the time-lapse between the Creation and the Flood, that is, from Adam to Noah. It is an error to view this genealogy as merely a variation of the Cainite line given earlier. The resemblance between some of the names

Lamentations 2:1-10 — 698. "God, in these verses, is represented as a furious warrior, who with irresistible power destroyed everything that Judah had trusted in. They had stopped trusting in God, and instead were relying on might (Lamentations 2:2), palaces (Lamentations 2:5), strongholds (Lamentations 2:5), the physical Temple (Lamentations 2:6)."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 855. All these were destroyed. "He hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden" Solomon's temple was not God's tabernacle

Malachi 4:2 — commentators to be Christ, who is supposed to be described as the rising sun.C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Company) p. 468. … At least as early as the time of Coverdale (1535), the sun of righteousness was understood to be Jesus. This interpretation is continued in "The Translators to the Readers" of the King James Version: "But when the fullness of time drew near, that Sunne of Righteousness, the Son of God should come

Luke 18:31-34 — in a lifetime of reading, has found nothing whatever in the insinuations of those who abuse the sacred New Testament, in their assumption that it was written by fallible MEN, that justifies any relaxing of this confidence. In Matthew 1:22; Matthew 2:5; Matthew 2:17, etc., throughout the Gospel, there are many texts in which this same concept of God's writing "through the prophets" is emphatically stated. For a list of things Jesus prophesied of himself, see under Luke 9:22; Luke 9:45; Luke

John 15:8 — first, last, and great duty of the church. Fruit … may not be understood here as meaning exclusively the manifestation of the graces and virtues of holy living, although the fruit of the Spirit is definitely said to be such things (Galatians 5:22). A larger and more comprehensive meaning is included here, namely, that of producing more Christians. Conversions are the fruit Christ had in view here; and no Christian, and no church, can be considered truly "in Christ" unless passionately

Acts 10:1-2 — actually means "cohort," usually the tenth part of a Roman legion; but a detached cohort, as this evidently was at Caesarea, usually had a thousand men. A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1950), Acts, p. 332. The commander of such a regiment was called a "chiliarch," and his force was divided into hundreds, each commanded by a centurion. It is strange that the decimal system should have prevailed in that ancient army and that today

Acts 11:25-26 — prompted Barnabas to search out Saul and introduce him at Antioch. Probably it was because the word of the Lord had revealed to Ananias that Saul would bear the Lord's name before the "Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). The immediate mention of the "name" in the same context supports this view. The disciples were called Christians … The importance of this makes it imperative to study more fully both the name "disciples" and the name "Christian,"

Acts 17:1 — the gospel in strategic cities … he did not aim to preach wherever he could find an audience … but had a program for establishing churches in key centers." Everett F. Harrison, Wycliffe Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 445. Dummelow observed that: His plan was first to evangelize the seats of government and the trade centers, knowing that if Christianity was once established in these places it would spread throughout the empire. J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy

Acts 9:3 — And as he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus: and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven. Calculated by any of the roads that might have been taken to Damascus, the distance was "between 130 and 150 miles, a journey of something like six days." E. M. Blaiklock, Cities of the Old Testament (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965), p. 13. The time of this approach to Damascus was about noon (Acts 22:6); and from this it seems

Romans 1:16 — unbroken consciousness of power. "I am not ashamed; for it is the power of God." The gospel is not only an epoch-making power for salvation; its effect reaches into eternity, just as itself derives from eternity. Emil Brunner, op. cit., p. 15. Ashamed … Paul's mention of not being ashamed of the gospel is appropriate, because in the city of Rome were all the trappings of human glory, pride, selfishness, power, and cruelty, also every extravagance of intemperance, vice, and idolatry.

Romans 13:11 — death would precede the final judgment (2 Timothy 4:6), that a space of time sufficient to allow the revelation of the man of sin would intervene before it (2 Thessalonians 2:3 ff), and that the fullness of the Gentiles would come in first (Romans 11:25), all of which knowledge on Paul's part made it impossible for him to have considered the judgment day as being just around the corner. His reference to Christ's coming, and such expression as "the day is at hand," applied to the impending

Romans 16:19 — is come abroad unto all men. I rejoice therefore over you: but I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple to that which is evil. The threat of evil teachers and their seductive operations was pointed out by Christ himself (Matthew 7:15-23), and the Saviour's description of such persons is still the fountain source of the true knowledge concerning them. They are wolves in sheep's clothing, being recognizable principally by their fruits. The minister, or other teacher, who scatters

Romans 5:14 — Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. Both Adam and Moses are types of Christ, but here the focus is upon Adam, a figure also developed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49. Adam was the great progenitor of the human race; Christ is the spiritual head and father of all that are saved. Adam brought shame and death to all mankind; Christ has made possible the salvation of all mankind. Adam's bride, Eve, was taken from

2 Corinthians 4:18 — ordinary sense. 4.    Jacob, when near death, blessed his sons and "made mention of the departure of the children of Israel" (Hebrews 11:22). This was trust in "things unseen" by virtue of their being future. 5.    Moses forsook Egypt and cast his lot with Israel; "For he endured as seeing him who is invisible," i.e., the invisible God (Hebrews 11:27). No greater test of trusting the "unseen" was ever successfully met.

Hebrews 3:7-11 — years. Wherefore, I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways; As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. THE SECOND EXHORTATION The quotation here is from Psalms 95:7 ff and introduces the second of a series of exhortations designed to bolster the lagging faith of the Hebrew Christians and to warn them against apostasy, the warning being strongly reinforced by the appeal to the analogous falling away which took

Hebrews 6:4-6 — "The apostle does not mean that it is impossible for God to renew a second time an apostate; but that it is impossible for the ministers of Christ (to do so)." James Macknight, Apostolic Epistles (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1960), p. 532. Allow that God might indeed do what is here called impossible does no violence to truth, since all things are possible with God, except that he should lie or deny himself; and if the renewing of an apostate is not an action included in that exception,

2 Samuel 6:1-5 — and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals." "Again" This word is presumably a reference to a previous gathering of David's men (2 Samuel 5:6). The parallel account explains that David had consulted all of the leaders of Israel before the journey to Baale-judah. "David… went… with all the people… from… Baale-Judah" From 1 Chronicles 13:6 we learn that the word