Bible Commentaries

Genesis 6:9 — thought this was due to his position as head of the Messianic line. It really makes little difference. "Noah was a righteous man" This does not refer to the intrinsic righteousness of Noah but to his status in the eyes of God. In Hebrews we learn that "by faith" he obeyed God and became the heir to the righteousness which is according to faith (Hebrews 11:7). (See more on this under The Covenant, below.) "Perfect in his generations" The last clause is limitive, conveying the sense of relativity regarding

Mark 4:39 — favorite. Dummelow has recorded the following: Augustine (400 A.D.) says, "We are sailing in this life as through a sea, and the wind rises, and storms of temptation are not wanting. Whence is this, save because Jesus is sleeping in thee, i.e., thy faith in Jesus is slumbering in thy heart? Rouse him, and say, Master, we perish. He will awaken, that is, thy faith will return to thee, and the danger will be over." Tertullian (200 A.D.) says, "But that little ship presented a figure of the

Mark 9:36-37 — was an acted parable teaching the same lesson which the Lord stated verbally in Matthew 18:4-6. True greatness is not a matter of position and power but in the child-like qualities of innocence, trustfulness, humility, lack of prejudice, lovableness, faith and teachableness. Receiving a little child in Jesus' name includes the unselfish care and support given for little children and also the quality of receiving an humble believer on the basis of his simple trust in the Lord, and without regard to

John 11:25-26 — doctrine with a belief in himself. Martha found little comfort in the thought of a resurrection at the last day; but Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." Without disparaging Christian doctrine in any sense, we may say that it is faith in a Person, even in Jesus, that makes all the difference. II.    This means Jesus is God in human form, a truth he promptly proved by raising Lazarus. Jesus had claimed Godhood as Light of the world, the Good Shepherd, the giver

John 4:48 — extraordinary; but the same deed, viewed in the light shed upon the person of Jesus, is a sign of the Lord's deity. If the nobleman had indeed been in Jerusalem and had witnessed Jesus' mighty wonders there, the rebuke would have reference to the weakness of his faith in the light of the evidence he had witnessed. The rebuke, however, was so stated as to encourage the nobleman to believe more fully.

Acts 10:40-41 — of God, even to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. This is the heart of Christianity. If this is not relevant to every man on earth, then nothing is relevant. The facts in view here are the cornerstone and foundation of all faith and doctrine in Christ. This is the essential theme that both launched and sustained the triumph of Christianity over the pagan religions of antiquity. The apostles did not preach what they had merely heard, but what they had heard and seen. Hervey

Acts 16:29-30 — of Tarsus was already a believer and had been in penitent prayer for three days and nights; therefore, the inspired preacher told him to fulfill (c), "Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, etc." (Acts 22:16). The advocates of "faith only" as God's plan of redemption for alien sinners take their stand upon the filmsiest of foundations when they attempt to make Paul's instructions to this jailer as to what he should do first a statement of ALL that he was commanded to do.

Acts 2:38 — in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As long as this verse remains in the sacred New Testament, the terms of admission into Christ's kingdom shall continue to be understood as faith (those were already believers), repentance and baptism unto the remission of sins. The cavils and controversies of the post-Reformation period have not altered in the slightest particular what is so evident here. Space does not permit any exhaustive

Acts 20:28 — No verse in the New Testament, nor any other statement that could be imagined, could possibly exceed the power of this in declaring the eternal importance and necessity of the church Christ established. Here the heretical notion of salvation "by faith alone" is shattered and countermanded forever. By any definition, salvation by "faith alone" means salvation without the church of Jesus Christ; and in such a view the crucifixion of our Lord is reduced to the status of a senseless

Acts 26:6 — the promise of God unto our fathers. The promise … Without any doubt this refers to the Messiah, the promised Saviour who would take away the sin of the world. The relationship of the coming of the Holy One to the Pharisees' belief lay in their faith in the resurrection of the dead. That belief in the resurrection was the foundation upon which the primitive church received the resurrection of Christ, the same event being that which declared him "Son of God with power" (Romans 1:4).

Acts 28:20 — For this cause therefore did I entreat you to see and to speak with me: for because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. For the hope of Israel … "By this, Paul meant that the Christian faith was the true fulfillment of the hope of God's people." Everett F. Harrison, op. cit., p. 488. Throughout his speeches and epistles, Paul ever insisted upon the identity of the New Covenant with all that had been prophesied and typified in the

Acts 5:25-27 — brought them, but without violence; for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them. Lest they should be stoned … The popularity of the new faith was such, at the moment, that the Sadducean priests simply did not dare to arouse the anger of the Jerusalem mob. It is not to be thought that the Christians would have stoned the officers, although some of the new converts might have joined in

Acts 8:1 — Stephen almost demands that the relation between that martyrdom and the conversion of Saul should be observed. As J.S. Howson said: We cannot dissociate the martyrdom of Stephen from the conversion of Paul. The spectacle of so much constancy, so much faith, so much love, could not be lost. It is hardly too much to say with Augustine that "the church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen." J. S. Howson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1966),

Romans 15:13 — 1:78-79); and the joy having been announced by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds: Behold I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people (Luke 2:10). Such a glorious peace and joy are available from no other source than the life of faith in Jesus Christ. These priceless endowments of the soul are the Christian's badge of eternal inheritance, his true credentials of heavenly citizenship, and his impregnable defense against all the tribulations and temptations of life. Having peace

Romans 8:1 — Christ upon Calvary is reduced to futility. No condemnation … refers to man's justification, defined negatively as a state wherein is no condemnation. The ground of justification is the perfect righteousness in Christ; and it includes the perfect faith and obedience of Christ, in whom the righteousness of God truly exists; and the availability of that righteousness of Christ for the salvation of sinners does not derive from some magical transfer of Christ's righteousness to them in consequence

2 Corinthians 7:10 — said that God had granted the Gentiles repentance "unto life"; Mark noted that repentance was "unto the remission of sins" (Mark 1:4); and in Acts 20:21, it is declared that "Both to Jews and to Greeks repentance TOWARD God and faith TOWARD our Lord Jesus Christ" constituted a part of the Pauline testimony to all people. The direction impact of these references cannot be overlooked. Of all the primary steps of obeying the gospel, i.e., faith, repentance, confession and

1 Thessalonians 3:12 — and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you: In 1 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul had mentioned what might be lacking in their faith, and here is a hint of one area in which they were not perfect. They no doubt loved one another, but Paul prayed that they might "abound and increase, but Paul prayed that they might "abound and increase" in that mutual love; and

James 1:26 — to self-deceived people who in some manner had accepted the proposition that they were saved without reference to the practice of true Christianity. What was their fallacy? It could well have been that of imagining that they were "saved through faith only." That they were indeed believers is perfectly clear from the fact that they thought they were religious and were deceived into thinking that their conduct was unrelated to their salvation. Harper quoted an interesting paraphrase of this

James 1:4 — Christ." See Colossians 1:28. It is certain that James understood this; and his entire letter is directed to the admonition that the Christian should not presume that Christ's perfection would be bestowed upon Christians who trusted a subjective trust/faith alone to procure such a status, or who might fail in any manner of doing everything within their power to honor "the perfection in Christ" through their constant imitation of it. The testing of the Christian's faith by various external

Revelation 2:5 — to understanding what had happened. What were those first works which the Ephesians had stopped doing? They were the commandments of the Lord. Oh, to be sure, they were carrying on an extensive program of works, but such things were not the work of faith. The interpretation that fills many of the commentaries with the view that the Ephesians had all the works they needed misses this point altogether. It was not a question of their having discharged their full obligation regarding works, but a case