Bible Commentaries

Numbers 3 overview — as a fly-speck on the Washington Monument. We do not believe any error exists in these numbers, but if God did indeed allow, through the weakness of men, some little flaw now and then in the Sacred Scriptures, it would have been by design to test the faith of his children. If people are going to believe merely those things that appear "reasonable" to them, the whole character of true faith in God is already destroyed. How REASONABLE could it have been to Abraham that he should slay his son Isaac as

Matthew 5:15 — bushel (Matthew 5:14), that is, permitting business and commerce to obscure one's influence for the truth. (2) He warned against hiding it under a vessel (Luke 8:16), that is, permitting cares, duties, and obligations of life to take precedence over faith. (3) He prohibited hiding it under the bed of licentiousness, laziness, or idleness (Luke 8:16). What then should be done with the light or influence of the Christian's life? It should be placed upon "THE STAND." And, pray tell, what can

Matthew 8:16 — And when even was come, they brought unto him many possessed with demons: and he cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all that were sick. Demon possession is a problem for some. The sophisticated mind of this scientific age, as a usual thing,

Luke 10:27-28 — be saved as Christ, in Christ, and completely identified with him, such a thing being achieved by membership in Christ's spiritual body of which he is the head. Membership in that body is free to all mankind upon their fulfilling the preconditions of faith, repentance, and baptism (into the one body, 1 Corinthians 12:13); but the grounds upon which God accounts man as righteous must be identified as the perfect faith and obedience of the Son of God. The full scope of this marvelous truth does not

Luke 9:57 — sharp romantic focus in the believer's heart, as in the case of this man, then there would be a great many more followers. However, much more is involved than an enthusiastic decision. Under the excitement of the moment, this man declared an unwavering faith; but, in a sense, he did not know what he was saying. He was a representative of the type seen in the parable of the sower, those receiving the seed on shallow soil, quick converts quickly lost.

John 11 overview — Lazarus, the seventh of the great signs. We do not wish to accommodate with those who deny this miracle as a historical event, such denials being satanic in origin, unsustained by historical refutation, and so contrary to all reason as to require greater faith in believing the denials than is required for believing the gospel record. The resurrection of Lazarus is omitted from the synoptics; but if that is a reason for denying it, then the omission by John of the other two instances of Jesus' raising

John 4:25 — The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ): when he is come, he will declare unto us all things. What a priceless jewel of faith lay at the bottom of this poor beleaguered woman's heart. How glorious the conviction. "I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ)." All the sins and mistakes of her life had not effaced her knowledge of the essential truth

John 4:51 — And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived. The reward of the nobleman's faith did not wait for his complete return but was brought by his servants who set out with the good news as soon as they could, which was the next morning, due to the lateness of the hour when the son was healed. Both the nobleman and the servants waited

Acts 2:42 — Campbell, ibid. The figure of speech thus used is synecdoche, and the Protestant world have little complaint against Catholics for missing the synecdoche here in view of the fact that they themselves have missed it so spectacularly in reading salvation by faith as salvation by "faith alone." The errors are one and the same. And the prayers … Whereas in Judaism, prayers were offered at stated times of the day, the Christians offered prayers at any and all times, and in any and all places.

Acts 8:22-24 — me. Repent … and pray … In this instance, the apostle Peter, using the keys of the kingdom of God promised him by the Saviour (Matthew 16:19), opened the way for a backslider to return to God. If Simon had not been a backslider from the faith, but had been an alien hypocrite pretending a faith and submitting to a baptism which were worthless, Peter would never have commanded him to repent and pray, these very commandments standing here as an apostolic confirmation of the fact that Simon

Romans 4:13 — For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of faith. The law … is here a reference to Moses' law; but, since that was the best ever given, it includes, by extension, every other kind of legal system. The promise … is the new element under consideration in this verse. Previously, in

Galatians 1:6 — no effect. It should be constantly borne in mind that the error Galatians was designed to correct was that of grafting Judaism into Christianity. There is absolutely nothing in this letter which may legitimately be construed as the stressing of "faith only" as opposed to "faith and obedience" as proclaimed in the Christian gospel from the beginning. Paul was not here giving a revised Christian doctrine, but defending the true doctrine already known and preached, from the encroachments

Ephesians 3:17 — That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love. Christ dwelling in Christian hearts is one and the same thing as the Spirit's dwelling in them. The first fruit of the Spirit is love (Galatians 5:23); and here the great result of the "indwelling

Philippians 2:12 — So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. To be sure this verse gives the lie to the heresy of being saved by faith alone; and the somewhat humorous efforts of those holders of the heresy to diminish the impact of this place is discernible in the following comments: Salvation (in this verse) has emphasis on that aspect of salvation which is called sanctification.

2 Timothy 1:3 — is my remembrance of thee in my supplications, night and day Commentators make a lot of this reference to his forefathers; but it would appear that the thing in the back of Paul's mind here is the fact of Christianity actually being no new, upstart faith, but the culmination of the legal faith (Judaism) so long recognized as vital, historical, legitimate, and absolutely unopposed to any legitimate government. In worshipping God through Christ, Paul was only doing the same thing which (in a sense)

Hebrews 11:36-38 — Maccabees are the accounts of many such things that doubtless happened; and it is possible that the author of Hebrews here has reference to such things which were so well known among all the Jews. There were terrible atrocities practiced against many faithful Jews during the long centuries between the Old Testament and New Testament; and through the apocryphal writings, the Jews who received Hebrews doubtless had great familiarity with all of them. Zechariah was stoned (2 Chronicles 24:20); Isaiah

James 2:4 — judges with evil thoughts? An alternative reading for the first clause is given in the ASV margin thus, "Are ye not divided?" The same word is translated "doubt"; and as Ward said: The distinctions (doubt) consist in the fact that faith is manifested by attendance of the assembly and worldliness by contempt of the poor. The inconsistency is analogous to that of the doubter. Ronald A. Ward, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

James 4:15 — He laid down the law that "Ye ought to say, if the Lord will!" There's not a word in that to the effect that the right attitude is all that matters; that is not all that matters, and it is highly important that Christians witness to their faith in Jesus Christ and to the sovereignty of God by saying, "If the Lord will," not in an irreverent and flippant manner, of course, but sincerely and truly. In the Arab world, "There is constantly heard the expression, `Imsh' Allah,

James 4:7 — Testament for conversion, or primary obedience to the gospel. Be subject therefore unto God … That primary Christian obedience is inherent in this admonition is apparent from McNab's comment: Herein are blended perfectly the true activities of faith and works. By faith we submit to God in a fuller, deeper surrender to his will … in our act of submission, we are prepared for conflict with the evil one? McNab, as quoted by A. F. Harper, op. cit., p. 232. Of course, if men submit to God,

Revelation 6:10 — were Old Testament Jews. Such views miss the mark. "This is not the language of private revenge but of public justice." G. B. Caird. op. cit.. p. 85. One grows a little weary of commentators who fancy that they are in possession of such a faith that a prayer of this kind must be repudiated as non-Christian; but let those who were martyred for their testimony speak; they are entitled to be heard. Furthermore, their invocation is in full harmony with what the Son of God himself said: Will