Bible Commentaries

Genesis 19:30 — "And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him: for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters." The weakness of Lot's faith appears also in this. He had received divine permission to dwell in Zoar, but nevertheless he was afraid to stay there and decided to flee to the mountains as the angel had at first commanded him to do.

Psalms 45:12 — "And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; The rich among thy people shall entreat thy favor." "Tyre" is here a symbol of the Gentile nations that shall adhere to the Christian Faith, which is the Bride of the King. "The rich among the people." This is the same prophecy which is recorded in Revelation 21:24, "The kings of the earth bring their glory into the kingdom of God."

Zechariah 13:9 — comment on this anywhere than in the writings of the apostle Peter who made this a description of the tribulations that shall test the Christians: "Now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6-7). Inherent in this is the necessity that every Christian's faith be tested

Matthew 8:13 — And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour. Quite properly, there is no detailed account of the servant's illness. The only diagnosis is that given by the centurion; but the fact of the cure is emphatically declared. The details, which might have been very interesting, are overshadowed by the faith of the centurion and the resultant teachings of the Lord.

Matthew 9:28 — And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Christ tested the faith of the two men by waiting until he had entered the house and they had followed, and also by asking them if they believed he was able to do it. They passed the test, and Jesus healed them.

John 3:16 — disciple through tribulations and distress, and enlightening the soul during every darkness. Faith is the first of the preconditions of redemption in Christ Jesus, and it is also the last, there never being a single moment of the Christian pilgrimage when faith is not required. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). "On him …" is alleged to be one of the words that is Johannine rather than from Christ, but such a conceit is rejected. Glorious as faith assuredly is,

John 6:10 — Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Regarding the abundance of green grass in a "desert" place, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 14:13. It was a manifestation of faith that they all sat down with no visible store of food in sight. The Lord's simple command was a sufficient reason for their obedience.

John 8:28 — Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know … Some of the priests (in fact, many of them) would believe (Acts 6:7), but not until after the crucifixion, resurrection, and world-wide proclamation of the faith.

Acts 13:36-37 — For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption; but he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Having clinched his argument regarding the resurrection of Christ by his appeal to the testimony of the eyewitnesses, and to the Old Testament prophecy of it, Paul proceeded to announce the availability of salvation from sin through faith in Christ.

Acts 19:4-5 — And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Boles noted that "Luke does not give a formula for baptizing, but simply explains that these men were baptized in obedience to their faith in Christ." H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 299.

Acts 5:16 — And there also came together the multitude from cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folk, and them that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. Every one … There were no failures among the cures wrought by the Twelve, thus making it clear that the phenomenon in view here was in no manner akin to the faith healing crusades of our own day, in which failure is their principal feature and the "cure" is always questionable.

Romans 4:9-10 — Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for righteousness. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Paul here dealt with the last stronghold of Jewish objection to Gentile admission to Christianity,

Romans 7:6 — Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 230. The insinuation that "oldness of the letter" has reference to obeying the commandments of Christ, and that "newness of the spirit" means being saved by "faith and nothing but faith" is unfounded, and such a construction of Paul's words is an unjustifiable distortion.

1 Corinthians 15:58 — steadfast amidst changing scenes and times, despite temptations and sorrows, and without regard to every "wind of doctrine" that creates some little stir among people. Unmovable … The Christian is to be unmovable not in prejudice, but in faith. Abounding in the work of the Lord … Far from advocating an easy way of salvation by merely believing, Paul demanded and encouraged that the redeemed should abound continually in the Lord's work. He commanded the Philippians to "work

2 Corinthians 11:14 — and tactics of the evil one. The tactics of such deceivers follow closely the pattern of Satan in Eden: (1) As Satan flatly denied God's word, evil teachers do the same today, stridently declaring their soul-destroying doctrine of salvation "by faith alone," contradicting the word of God which says people "are not justified by faith alone" (James 2:24). (2) As Satan promised Eve that she and Adam would "be as gods," the sophisticated false teachers of this generation

2 Corinthians 6:8 — By glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true. The uninhibited nature of Paul's letter shines here. In the case of "glory and dishonor," it is the good which is mentioned first; but in the next pairing, it is the evil which is first mentioned. All of these expressions have the weight of declaring Paul's fidelity to the faith and constant prosecution of his labors as an apostle regardless of all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 3:10 — night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face, and may perfect that which is lacking in your faith? As noted in the chapter introduction, this prayer was answered years afterward (Acts 20:1-2), indicating that, even in the case of such a holy one as Paul, prayers were sometimes not answered at once, but after long delay. The great admonition is always to pray and not to faint.

Hebrews 11:13 — These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. These all, in this place, is not a reference to Abel, Enoch, and Noah, mentioned above,

James 2:1 — My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. My brethren … Significantly, this entire epistle is addressed to Christians, true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ; for only such persons could truthfully be addressed

2 John 1:6 — And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it. In the writings of John, keeping God's commandments is the only proof, either of faith or of love. It is in such passages as these that the common authorship of all these epistles is so evident. See in 1 John 3:23 for further comment.