Bible Commentaries

Psalms 34:11-14 — used in the New Testament. One or two, or a very few, related things are mentioned as a metaphor standing for the whole list! This type of metaphor is called a synecdoche, In the New Testament, the most famous example of this is, "We are justified by faith," not meaning, of course, that we are justified by "faith alone," but by all of those Christian qualities of which `faith' is a prominent part.

Habakkuk 3:18 — treasured them in moments when all earthly prospects failed, and the soul was left no alternative except that of passing through the shadow of death. There is no more moving comment on the prime words of this prophecy, that, "The just shall live by faith," than that which is contained in these verses. The affirmation is exquisitely and nobly worded.Ibid. Habakkuk's unwavering faith in God is not blind. He exercised it in the full knowledge of the horrors that were to come upon his native land and

Mark 6:40 — And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. It was a manifestation of the multitude's faith that they consented to arrange themselves, as if for a feast, at a time when no food was in sight.

John 6:57 — As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he shall also live because of me. Eating Christ is a metaphor for accepting the whole system of Christianity in faith and obedience.

Acts 3:1 — affirming that whereas, in Peter's speech on Pentecost, "the way of salvation was described as consisting of three steps, repentance, baptism, and remission of sins … now the nature of this process is better understood … the idea of faith is fundamental in this address. Through faith comes healing" Ibid., p. 20. Ramsay's exegesis, above, is ,the classical example of the lengths to which men will go in their efforts to get baptism out of the plan of redemption, Ramsay's argument

Acts 5:15 — popularity that attached to the Twelve. Adam Clarke took the view that: I cannot see all the miraculous influence here that others profess to see … It does not appear that the persons who thus thought and acted were converts already made to the faith of Christ; nor does it appear that any person was healed in this way. Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1937), Vol. V, p. 717. Likewise, Lange refused the premise that people were healed by Peter's shadow,

Acts 5:19-20 — and said, Go ye, and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this Life. An angel of the Lord … This is another of the supernatural wonders that attended the inception of Christianity. In the very nature of things, the new faith could never have been established without the providence of God. Jesus had promised that he would be "with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20); and of course he was. All of the powers of hell would be frustrated

1 Corinthians 12:8 — which God endowed certain men in the primitive period of the church's history. The word of wisdom … "This was the doctrine of the gospel, communicated by inspiration, … peculiar to the apostles, and enabling them to direct religious faith and practice infallibly." James Macknight, op. cit., p. 195. This is mentioned first because it was first chronologically and first in importance. The word of knowledge … This was the gift of that superior order of prophets, among whom

1 Corinthians 2:5 — That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. "What depends upon a clever argument is at the mercy of a clever argument"; S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 594. and Paul

1 Corinthians 7:18-19 — Moses." Ibid. Circumcision is nothing … Three times Paul made this statement, each time concluding with a powerful statement of that which is everything; here it is "keeping the commandments of God." In Galatians 5:6, it is "faith working through love"; and in Galatians 6:15, it is "a new creation." Any reconciliation of these epic pronouncements with the Protestant heresy of salvation "by faith alone" is impossible. As the apostle John said, "And

Galatians 2:21 — IS righteous, the sinner first of all renouncing his own identity, in the sense of having any merit (as Jesus said, "denying himself"'), being baptized into Christ and remaining "in him" until the final summons. It is the perfect faith and righteousness of Jesus Christ which constitute "the righteousness of God through the FAITH OF CHRIST" (Romans 3:22-26). Please see my Commentary on Romans, chapter 3, for extensive discussion of this.

Galatians 3:21 — a genuine righteousness, not an imputed thing at all, except by the device of the corporate body of Christ. The present-day notion of God in some manner "injecting righteousness," or imputing righteousness to sinners upon the basis of mere faith is incorrect, because "faith only" bypasses the corporate body of Christ, which is his church. This means that it bypasses the "seed singular" who is Christ!

Galatians 5:7 — Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth? In all Paul's writings, he sought to lead people into "the obedience of faith"; and his writings in Galatians do not deviate from that invariable purpose. Who did hinder you … The original meaning of the word translated hinder is to break up a road, as an army before the advance of hostile forces." William

Colossians 2:6-7 — As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and builded up in him, and established in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. In him … in him … in your faith … These are all references to the Christian's fidelity "in Christ Jesus," that is, as bona fide members of his church, fully identified

1 Timothy 6:20-21 — O Timothy, guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge that is falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Guard that … is one of the needless revisions in the American Standard Version. As Hervey said, "GUARD for KEEP is hardly an improvement. The meaning for keep is to guard, keep watch over and PRESERVE." A. C.

2 Timothy 1:13 — Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Based upon the fact of the Greek word for "pattern" having sometimes been used to describe the rough draft or sketch used by artists as a preliminary to a painting, some have concluded that Paul merely

2 Timothy 2:17-18 — and their word will eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Will eat as doth a gangrene … The word here, according to White, "is the medical term for the consuming progress of mortifying disease"; Newport J. D. White, op. cit., p. 166. and once again the vocabulary of Paul's close

2 Timothy 2:6 — the right of ministers to be supported financially, whereas such an application seems unlikely in this paragraph where the apostle is not at all stressing such a thing. Perhaps the intended application is that in striving so diligently to establish faith and endurance in others, Timothy himself will be the first to profit from such exhortations and strivings. White proposed that Paul might have meant that Timothy would benefit no matter how successful or unsuccessful his efforts might prove to be,

Hebrews 11:23 — By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a goodly child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. The events in view here are recorded in Exodus in the first two chapters, where it is told

James 2:23 — called the friend of God. James here quoted exactly the same passage that Paul quoted in Romans 4:3, proving that his teaching concerned exactly the same kind of justification as that in view by Paul; it does, however, explode any possibility of "faith only" having been the grounds of that justification, even in the teachings of Paul. And he was called the friend of God … References to Abraham as the "friend of God" are found in 2 Chronicles 20:7 and Isaiah 41:8. Tasker's