Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 20:28 — "Kindness and truth preserve the king; And his throne is upholden by kindness." True as this proverb is, the quality of kindness was seldom found in the Oriental monarchs of ancient times, not even in Israel. "A king's guards are loyalty and good faith; his throne is upheld by righteousness."The New English Bible. "Loyalty (that is, loyalty to the sacred covenant) and faithfulness are here marks of the ideal king,"The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 565. and are not intended as a description

Jonah 1:8 — "Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?" There would have been no need whatever to elicit any confession of guilt from Jonah, if the sailors had had any faith, absolutely, in their casting of lots. But with that, as a starting point, they plied the suspected prophet with a series of urgent questions; and Jonah did not disappoint them.

Matthew 12:20-21 — to victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles hope. — Isaiah 42:1 ff The last sentence of this quotation gives the sense but not the exact words of Isaiah 42:4. The bruised reed and dimly-lighted lamp are symbols of weakness and feebleness of faith, applicable in this place, no doubt, to the general spiritual condition of the Gentiles, but also a pledge that Christ does not despise the faith of any of his children, however weak and ready to perish. Barnes saw in the bruised reed a symbol of

Matthew 22:1-2 — comparison and analysis of all three parables, see under Matthew 22:14, below. This parable has the following analogies: The king represents God. The king's son is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The marriage supper stands for the privileges of the true faith. The messengers are the evangelists of all ages who preach the truth. The mistreatment of the messengers refers to the hostility of the Pharisees against the apostles, first, and to other preachers later. The rejection of the invitation is the rejection

Matthew 8:25 — and rebellion; Jesus' conscience was calm through innocence. Jonah was the source of danger on his vessel; Christ was the source of safety on his. The apostles' turning to Christ in this extremity is exactly what they should have done; but the lack of faith that prompted it is deplorable and was rebuked by the Master.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one" (Mark 12:29). "The Lord is one" is equivalent in every way to "One is the Lord," or "there is one Lord," and nobody has any difficulty understanding that in the Bible such expressions as "there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, etc" (Ephesians 4:4) are merely another way of saying "There is only one Lord, only one faith, and only one baptism." How strange it is that the critics who have no difficulty at all in translating `by faith' as `by faith only' should

Mark 3:34-35 — Gospel of Mark (Valley Forge: The Judson Press, 1881), p. 56. It should never be lost sight of that, in the last analysis, it is obedience to the will of God that separates the saved from the lost. Undue stress upon the doctrine of justification by faith, making it read, "by faith only," has obscured this fact in much of the current religious literature. Looking round on them … is a graphic detail provided by Mark, and Matthew added another, "He stretched forth his hand towards

John 6:62 — Christ into heaven, an event which would, of necessity, be preceded by the sufferings and death of the Lord. It seems that for that latter fact, not stated but implied, the Lord spoke these words with a view to raising the question of how his disciples' faith would be able to withstand the far greater test of events leading to his ascension. If a shocking metaphor had offended them, how about their reaction to what was coming in the Passion?

Romans 1:8 — First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. First, I thank my God … There is no use to look for "second" and "third" in this epistle for no such outline ever entered Paul's mind. His "first" in this place simply

Romans 6:17-18 — Lard. What Paul did not say in this verse is also significant in another instance. He did not say, "Thank God that … you believed," but "Thank God that … ye became obedient," proving that whatever was said of either faith or obedience was never intended to exclude the other. Certainly, obedience mentioned here cannot be thought of as excluding faith; why then should faith ever be thought of as excluding obedience? Two expressions in these verses are of particular

1 Corinthians 8 overview — of the love of brethren, with regard to its possible influence upon others, and in the light of what others may think of it; (3) that no Christian has a right to practice anything, however innocent it may be to him, if in so doing he shall damage the faith of another; and (4) that whatever is done, even to the weakest member of the body of Christ, is also done to Christ himself, and that weakening or destroying the faith of even the least and weakest of Christ's members is a sin of the greatest magnitude

Galatians 3:16 — even the saints of the Old Testament, are saved. They are saved "in Christ," there being this correspondence between the manner of their salvation and our own, namely, that both for them and for us, the basis of it was "the obedience of faith," notwithstanding the tests for them were not the same as the test which those under the New Covenant must meet. For us, the manner of our being "in Christ" is dogmatically declared to be the baptism of believers "into Christ,"

Ephesians 2:10 — Christ; but they are conditions antecedent to eternal life, which may indeed, for cause, be waived by the Father in love, but which may not, under any circumstances, be rejected with impunity by arrogant man who simply decide they will do it "by faith alone." Most of the commentators who advocate the "faith only" heresy are very broadminded (!) in dealing with this verse. They say: "The essential quality of the new life is good works." "If we are not living a life

Philippians 2:17-18 — Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all, and in the same manner do ye also joy and rejoice with me. There is in view here a sacrifice, whether like that in Exodus 29:40, or like one of the animal sacrifices offered to pagan gods, is not specified; because

Hebrews 4:11 — inheritance to be possessed now but actually entered only in the eternal world. Bruce outlined a similar opinion thus: "It is evidently an experience they do not enjoy in their present mortal state, although it belongs to them as a heritage, and by faith they may live in the good of it here and now." J. Barmby, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 21, Hebrews, p. 109. Disobedience, as in Hebrews 3:18 (which see), is the great enemy of

James 1:27 — out that certain rationalists point to this passage as teaching their kind of religion: "Just do good and lead a clean moral life; the rest doesn't matter." Ibid., p. 561. This is just as reasonable, however, as making Paul's "saved by faith" to mean "saved by faith alone." In both cases, the synecdoche is ignored. James did not here limit true religion to concern for the fatherless and the widows, but he made these two to be a figure including the totality of Christian

James 2:10 — Law. Not so. The Law, like the Lawgiver, is one." J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1035. This is another instance of James' reiterating a principle laid down by Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:19). "Transgression of one precept of the Christian rule of faith is a breach of the whole, because it breaks fellowship with the object of faith." Walter W. Wessel, op. cit., p. 952. All of this is part and parcel of the "perfection" theme which dominates the epistle, having the great value of

James 2:5 — Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20), thus said Jesus; and there can hardly be any doubt that James had such words in view here. Christ did

2 Peter 1:5-7 — Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge; and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control patience; and in your patience godliness; and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love. In these verses there

1 John 3:10 — of God are manifest … has the meaning that Christians may be identified by their conduct. Any and all transgressions of the law of Christ deny such transgressors any status whatever as children of God. Those who speak loudest about their "faith in Christ," but who do not display the type of behavior set forth in the New Testament as Christian conduct, may in no sense establish by their profession a status which their unchristian lives deny. People who do not make a serious and consistent