Bible Commentaries

Acts 13:26-29 — … "The Greek term here is [@xulou] and means not only tree, but wood." H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 211. The apostolic preachers stressed the offense of the cross, "Cursed is every one that is hanged on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13). They … laid him in a tomb … The antecedent of "they" in this passage would appear to be "dwellers in Jerusalem," including both disciples of Jesus and the class who were his enemies, since it was the

Romans 14:15 — Christian's credential of the hope of glory lies specifically in this, that he shall love the brethren. As an apostle said, We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death (1 John 3:14). The so-called fault, therefore, of setting a brother at naught, is no minor thing at all, but a mortal sin. Stated here in the negative, "Thou walkest not in love," this vice of not loving a brother was positively stated by John in the

2 Corinthians 3:17 — it is Christ who sends the Spirit. There is liberty … When a Christian is converted, receiving the Holy Spirit as an earnest of redemption, there is bestowed at the same time freedom: (1) from the law (Galatians 4:18); (2) from fear (Romans 8:13); (3) from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2); (4) from sin (Romans 6:18); and (5) from corruption (Romans 8:21). Filson's understanding of what Paul meant here is: Christ and the Spirit are one in nature and share in the guidance of the church …

2 Corinthians 5:3 — shall be their disappointment. That is why the apostle John instructed that class of Christians to "Buy of me (the Lord) white garments that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest" (Revelation 3:18). Although salvation is of grace and of the free gift of God, there is a certain "clothing of oneself" that is required of all who would not be naked in eternity. However people may deny this, it is true, as Paul will state dogmatically

2 Corinthians 5:4 — touched upon by Paul in this: The Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself (Philippians 3:21). The body of our humiliation … This is inspired comment upon the body which is a burden and in which Paul said "we groan." The body of any mortal, at last, is the body of his humiliation. Many years or even decades may pass with

Galatians 1:4 — observing forms and ceremonies of the Law of Moses. In the last clause of this verse, Paul noted that Christ's giving himself was according to the will of God. For seven centers of initiative in the crucifixion of Christ see my Commentary on Romans 3:25-26. The word "ransom" is used of this sacrifice of Christ in Matt. 28:28, Mark 10:45, and in 1 Timothy 2:6. As Sanday observed, "It was a sacrifice for sinners, wrought in their behalf for their benefit, a sacrifice wrought in their

Galatians 5:19-21 — even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. This is another of Paul's lists of evil works, similar but longer than the one in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and also resembling those given in Romans 1:27-32 and 2 Timothy 3:1-8. Extensive comments on various items in this list have already been made in my commentary on Romans and my commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians in this series. There are fifteen evils listed here by Paul, and Ramsay identified them

Ephesians 1:8-9 — Christ." The difference in wisdom and prudence is this: Wisdom: This is knowledge that sees into the heart of things, which knows them as they really are. J. Armitage Robinson, St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (London: Macmillan Company, 1903), p. 30. It is the ability to see the great ultimate truths of eternity. William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), p. 96. It more nearly approximates our word "insight. Willard H. Taylor,

Ephesians 5:30-31 — Because we are members of his body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh. Here (Ephesians 5:31) Paul quoted verbatim the passage from Genesis 2:24, making it the Scriptural basis of the grand analogy between Adam I and Adam II, between Eve and the bride of Christ. Because we are members of his body … Paul here says of the bride of Christ,

Ephesians 6:14-17 — God. FAITH … "Faith comes by hearing God's word" (Romans 10:17). SALVATION … Paul wrote to Timothy that "From a babe thou hast learned the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15). Thus salvation comes only of the sacred writings which are the word of God. THE WORD OF GOD … This is also the sword of the Spirit. No passage in all the Bible any more dramatically teaches the absolute necessity of the Christian's thorough

Philippians 2:22-24 — … The whole world of New Testament churches in those days knew the proof of Timothy. The word translated "proof" was used of gold and silver that had been tested and could be accepted as current coin." John A. Knight, op. cit., p. 329. Timothy had been with Paul in Philippi when that church was founded (Acts 16:1 ff); he was in Thessalonica and Berea (Acts 17:1-14), and in Corinth and Ephesus (Acts 18:25; Acts 19:21-22); and even at the time Paul wrote this letter he was standing

Colossians 1:23 — short, that means if they do not quit the church! "Faith" in this passage is not subjective, but objective, meaning "the Christian religion." Will and Ariel Durant, Rousseau and Revolution (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967), p. 3. Which was preached in all creation … The same thought is expressed in Colossians 1:6. See notes under that reference. "Creation," as used here, is suggestive of Mark 16:15 and Romans 8:22, which see with the comments. Paul loved to

1 Thessalonians 2:15 — Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955), p. 71. Yes, the Jews were guilty. Of course, they were not alone in their guilt. All people, one way or the other, were involved in the death of Christ. See my Commentary on Romans, pp. 127-133 for extended discussion of "Who Crucified Jesus?" (2) This verse refutes the objections some have expressed regarding the gospel of John, affirming that John, a Jew, could not so consistently have referred to "the Jews" as enemies

1 Thessalonians 2:16 — persecutions both in Judea and upon the mission field, at Thessalonica they enlisted the Gentiles, their magistrates and leaders, and turned them against Paul and the gospel. This was the "sin against the Holy Spirit" Jesus had mentioned in Mark 3:29. God had mercifully forgiven Israel the murder of the prophets (sin against God), and the murder of Christ (sin against the Son); but as Jesus said, the sin against the Holy Spirit was final. Christ had already announced the hardening of Israel,

2 Timothy 1:8 — me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God; Interestingly enough, Paul did not consider himself Nero's prisoner at all, but "the prisoner of the Lord," a line of thought also in evidence in Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1, and Philemon 1:9. The meaning of this is that Paul considered it the will of God that he should thus suffer and that he left everything safely in the hands of the dear Saviour. Be not ashamed … does not mean that Timothy was

Hebrews 11:26 — Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward. The reproach of Christ is variously understood by commentators, some believing that: (1) it is the same kind of reproach that Christ suffered; (2) it is the reproach suffered for one's faith in Christ; (3) it is the reproach that fell on Moses as the type of Christ; or (4) it is the reproach that Christ had to bear in his own person and also in the person of every believer in Christ. To this writer, it seems that all of these things are in the reproach

Hebrews 12:12-13 — chapter, the image of the great Olympian contest is the vision in the author's mind; thus, the limp, relaxed hands and the palsied knees bring to mind a boxer who is "out on his feet," or a runner who is about to falter in the race. See Isaiah 35:3 which has nearly this same language. Make straight paths for your feet again suggests the language of Isaiah 35, and is a reference to encouragement of the weak and faltering by smoothing the way before them. It is the stronger members of the believing

Hebrews 13:5 — of the love of money: (1) the discontent of people, their passionate and burning desire always for more and more, and (2) their lack of reliance upon the promises of God. And, concerning the promise of the Father, the author here quotes Deuteronomy 31:16; Joshua 1:5; and Psalms 118:6. "He will not leave thee nor forsake thee." The utter folly of making money, whether actually possessed or merely desired, the basis of any security in the present life is in the very nature of riches themselves

1 Peter 2:2 — as newborn babes, long for the spiritual milk which is without guile, that ye may grow thereby unto salvation; As newborn babes … Paul used this same figure in 1 Corinthians 3:2; but Peter here, using the same figure, stresses, not the contrasting diet of infants and adults, but the appetite which all Christians should have in order to grow. All Christians should have a constant and intense longing for the word of God. Long

2 Peter 1:13-14 — of the body. The putting off of my tabernacle … Peter was soon to die, but he viewed the destruction of his body as the same as "putting off" clothes, or pulling down a tent. "The word for `putting off' here is also in 1 Peter 3:21, another link between the two epistles." B. C. Caffin, op. cit., p. 7. "These (2 Peter 1:13-15) are the words of a man for whom death is much in mind, and this would fit the 60's as the period when they were written." John A. T. Robinson,