Bible Commentaries

Genesis 12 overview — rest in the grave! The Command to Abram. "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee" (Genesis 12:1). The ascending and climactic nature of this commandment reveals what an act of faith it was on Abraham's part that he promptly obeyed it, however imperfectly, at first. The comment from Hebrews 11:8-10, is: "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went

Genesis 7:17-20 — there is no way to explain all of this Deluge. Just as that event was a moral test for Noah's generation, it is still a moral test for our own generation. Faith in what is written here cannot be produced by intellectual understanding of it. As always, faith in God is not an intellectual but a moral decision (John 3:19). A scientific community that has no explanation whatever of how marine fossils are found at elevations above the snowline in the Cordilleras and the HimalayasC. F. Keil, op. cit., p.

Psalms 63:7-8 — "For thou hast been my help, And in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me." "In the shadow of thy wings" "It is our duty to rejoice in the shadow of God's wings. This denotes our recourse to Him through faith and prayer, as naturally as little chickens flee from the cold to the protection of the hen's wings."Matthew Henry's Commentary, Vol. III, p. 470. Christ himself adopted this beautiful metaphor (Matthew 23:37).

Hosea 4:2 — "There is naught but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood." The fact that the Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth commandments of the Decalogue are here indicated by the fact of Israel's violation of them

Mark 13:29 — Incarnation-Crucifixion-Resurrection-Ascension, on the one hand, and the Parousia (Second Coming), on the other, belong essentially together and are in a real sense one Event, one divine Act, being held apart only by the mercy of God who desires to give men opportunity for faith and repentance, then we can see that in a very real sense the latter is always imminent now that the former has happened. It was, and still is, true to say that the Parousia is at hand and indeed this, so far from being an embarrassing mistake on

Mark 9:28-29 — by nothing, save by prayer. Asked him privately … It was well for the reputation of the apostles that they sought a private answer, for they were grievously at fault. Matthew quoted Jesus as saying their failure was due to their "little faith" (Matthew 17:20), and Mark's words indicate either a failure to pray at all or some serious lack in their prayers. Even the greatest miracles performed by Jesus were done so in answer to prayer (John 9:31; John 11:41); and, although the mention

John 11:14-15 — Then Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him. Paraphrase: I am glad I was not there; if I had been, I would have yielded to the cries and entreaties of the sisters. Healing him would have been a great wonder, but raising him from the dead will be a greater one; and I am glad for this opportunity to raise your faith to a higher level.

John 17:23 — I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that thou didst send me, and lovedst them, even as thou lovedst me. I in them, and thou in me … See under preceding verse (John 17:22) and under John 14:20. The perfect unity flows out of perfect submission to the total will of God in Christ, resulting in "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, etc." (Ephesians 4:4 f). God's love of Christ means God's love of Christ's body, which is his church.

Acts 5:13 — But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them. The rest … refers to the non-Christian community, who, although afraid to unite with the community of faith, nevertheless praised and lauded the holiness preached and practiced among them. Join himself … This makes "joining the church" a Scriptural phrase, as further corroborated by Acts 9:26. Hervey said that "The expression, `join

Romans 2:28-29 — men," was meant. Lenski, Hodge, and many others have built theological castles upon the five verses which conclude this chapter, expressed in many pages of eloquent denunciations of "moralists" who trust in outward rites instead of genuine faith in the Lord, no less than fifteen pages, for example, in Lenski being devoted to these five verses: But to borrow a word from Shakespeare, "Methinks thou dost protest too much!" It has already been noted that Christians, and things pertinent

Romans 6:7 — that hath died is justified from sin. Paul returned in this statement to the legal phase of justification "in Christ" (as fully discussed under preceding verses); but something new is added here. Justification, far from being accomplished by faith only, is also dependent upon the believer's death to sin, in the sense of being "in Christ." He that died … is another way of saying, "He that believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was baptized into Christ for the remission

1 Corinthians 15:17 — And if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Believing in the resurrection of Christ is absolutely mandatory for all who hope for salvation; and this applies equally to all individuals, institutions and even churches which deny it. There is no redemption apart from the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, inclusive of the doctrine of the resurrection and many other necessary deductions from the prime fact of our Lord's divinity.

Galatians 5:15 — But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Christian faith and behavior are never more frustrated and disgraced than by spiteful criticisms, derogatory remarks, snide observations and poison-tongue fulminations of Christians against each other. The fate of any group permitting such a development issues

Philippians 4:18 — things, and abound: I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. The apostle "credits the givers with the proper spirit, that is, the attitude of faith, love and gratitude." Ibid., p. 209. Notice how giving is described in the terms of the worship of God, being a "sacrifice," "an odor of a sweet smell," a figurative reference to the incense burned in the tabernacle, symbolical

1 Timothy 5:14 — therefore, is that she shall rule her household subject to the authority of her husband. Give no occasion to the adversary for reviling … Spence's comment on this is: The adversary here is not the devil, but the sneering worldly man, jealous of a faith he will not receive, envious of a life he will not share, and always on the lookout for flaws of followers of a religion which he hates. H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., p. 205. The particular slander Paul was guarding against was discerned by Lenski

2 Timothy 2:22 — But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Chrysostom's comment on this was, "Every inordinate desire is a youthful lust. Let the aged learn that they ought not to do the deeds of the youthful." Chrysostom as quoted by White, op. cit., p. 168. Sound as such a view surely is, it is extremely doubtful that Timothy, at the time of Paul's writing, had reached an age when this advice was inappropriate.

Hebrews 6:3 — And this will we do, if God permit. The pledge of the writer, and he graciously includes his readers, is to go on unto perfection, with no attempt on his part to re-teach his addressees on the subject of the fundamentals, the reason for this being that it would do no good anyway. This was true because of the impossibility of rekindling the cold ashes of a dead faith after its life-giving flame had been extinguished. He does, however, devote some little space to an explanation of that reason.

1 John 2:26 — teachings, a crisis which he met by a profound and forceful reiteration of what he himself and all of the apostles had preached from the very beginning of Christianity. Christians must still meet philosophical deceit and cunning perversions of the holy faith in exactly the same manner. No new teaching is needed, the original gospel being relevant in all situations tending toward apostasy.

Jude 1:5 — that believed not. Though ye know all things once for all … Here again is (Greek: [@hapax]), indicating that the Christian knows the whole message once and for all, finally, before he is even converted. In the sense of its basics, the Christian faith is not an exploration, but an acceptance, but not so much after that acceptance a learning, as it is a doing. Barnett defended the RSV as superior in their rendition of this as, "Learn one lesson, and you know all."Albert E. Barnett, The

Revelation 14:13 — spiritual body which is the church; and the same manner of being "in the body" is likewise that of being "in Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:13). See fuller discussion of this in my Commentary on Romans, pp. 123-127. Thus the same obedience of faith which unites one with Christ in baptism also unites him with the true spiritual body of Christ. Who die in the Lord … None ever died "in the Lord" who was not "in him" before he died; so what is indicated here is fidelity