Bible Commentaries

Mark 10:35 — James and John had in this incident. This was not to "spare the Twelve" as the Markan theorists allege; for Matthew did not spare the Twelve at all, even relating the indignation of the group against "the brethren," not against their mother (Matthew 20:24). Of course, this request was childish in that they supposed Jesus would agree to their request even before they had stated it. The request itself, stated immediately afterward, had all kinds of things wrong with it: (1) It showed a lack of faith

Mark 13:20 — prophetic, speaking of that which God has decreed for the future as being already done. How this shortening was accomplished is not exactly known. Sanner wrote, "Impelled by matters of pressing personal concern, the Roman generals hastened back to Italy."[42] Some of the events that might have entered into their breaking off of the Jewish war without the total destruction of the whole nation were: (1) disturbances in Gaul that interfered with the campaign of Vespasian; (2) the death of Nero plunged Rome

Mark 14:9 — for a memorial of her. This verse requires important deductions: (1) Christ did not believe that the end of all things would occur at some near time in the future, this verse envisaging a worldwide proclamation of the gospel throughout the ages. (2) That this memorial "of her" intrinsically demanded the publication of her name is evident; and therefore the silence of the synoptics regarding it must be accounted for by supposing that it was deliberately concealed for a long while afterward, perhaps

Mark 15:16 — call together the whole band. THE MOCKERY The mockery about to begin was not the only mockery of Jesus, there being in fact no less than six, as pointed out by Major: The Evangelists record six mockings of Jesus by: (1) the High Priest's servants; (2) Herod Antipas and his soldiers; (3) the soldiers of the Roman garrison; (4) the general public; (5) priests and scribes; and (6) the two crucified brigands.[7] The Praetorium ... was the name of the area where soldiers were quartered at Caesar's official

Mark 6:29 — Galilee (Matthew 14:13); and we cannot agree with Cranfield who thought "Matthew misunderstood Mark,"[30] as if there had to be only one reason why Jesus withdrew. The reasons for Christ's withdrawal were complex: (1) He and his disciples needed rest. (2) Jesus needed an opportunity to instruct the Twelve privately. (3) Herod was showing interest in Jesus, and that could have meant nothing but bad for the Lord. (4) And the murder of John made it an appropriate time to change the scene of his ministry.

Luke 11:47 — Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. This is Woe 2. Gilmour thought "the argument here is obscure";[47] but it is actually quite clear. The hypocritical conduct of lawyers in building impressive tombs to the honor of God's prophets whose words they themselves despised and were in the process of violating

Luke 14:11 — or powerful in any eternal sense. Man's life is ephemeral; his days are few and full of trouble; at his best, man is above only a few of his contemporaries, and that only for a brief moment in time. "O why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" (2) They can look at the lives and achievements of others which exceed their own in excellence and glory. As Barclay suggested, "Many a man has decided to burn his clubs after watching the Golf Open Championship."[15] For further comment on the grace

Luke 8:45 — forth from me. Who touched me ...? Here, to be sure, are the grounds of cavil. Did not Christ know all things? Why the perplexity here? Of course, there was no perplexity. Mark said, "He looked round to see her that had done this thing" (Mark 5:32); and it is certain that Jesus knew, not merely that some woman had touched him, but which woman had done so, as well. As Trench observed: Elisha said, "Whence cometh thou, Gehazi?" (2 Kings 5:25); and God said, "Adam, where art thou?" (Genesis

John 14:2 — if it were not so, I would have told you: for I go to prepare a place for you. Hunter has a very perceptive comment on this, thus: The day before, Jesus had sent two of his disciples to secure a "large room upstairs" for the Last Supper (Mark 14:12f). They did not know the way but had to follow the owner. Arriving, they found everything "prepared." It looks as if Jesus here made the disciples' journey of the day before a parable of eternity, in which the upper room foreshadows the home of God

John 18:28 — They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium: and it was early; and they themselves entered not into the Praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the passover. This and John 18:24 are John's only reference to the formal trial in the Sanhedrin. He also omitted the all-night examination before Caiaphas, and the trial before Herod. Of the six trials before: (1) Annas, (2) Caiaphas, (3) the Sanhedrin, (4) Pilate, (5) Herod, and

John 7:38 — Testament. These two verses (John 7:37-38) refer to Christians receiving the Holy Spirit (John 7:39); and when this promise was fulfilled, they received the Spirit "after they believed" (Ephesians 1:13), and after they repented and were baptized (Acts 2:38ff and Galatians 4:6). Therefore these two verses are a reference to the future giving of the Holy Spirit to Christians in consequence of and subsequently to their believing in Christ and obeying the gospel, obedience being the meaning of "come

Acts 17:18 — encountered him. And some said, What would this babbler say? others, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. Epicurean and Stoic philosophers ... In Athens there were: (1) the Academy of Plato, (2) the Lyceum of Aristotle, (3) the Porch of Zeno, and (4) the Garden of Epicurus. Followers of Zeno, called Stoics, took their name from "Stoa," the Greek name of the painted porch where he taught. The groups mentioned here by Luke were the most powerful

Acts 17:31 — refers to the final judgment of all men, sometimes called the "Great White Throne Judgment," but, in any case, the one and only judgment day mentioned in the New Testament. This is not the day of death, for "after this" cometh judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Christ will preside over the Great Assize, rewarding all men according to the deeds done in the body. For more on the judgment, see my Commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 6:2; also my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 12:41-42 and Matthew 25:30. The

Acts 20:2 — this work on Acts has led the writer to a conviction that the earlier date is correct. Blaiklock's placement of the Ephesian riot in 54 A.D. (see under Acts 19:38), as well as the Delphi fragment regarding Gallio's proconsulship (see under Acts 18:12), are key facts tending to establish 55 or 56 A.D. as the more likely date when Romans was written. Also, J.R. Dummelow advocated exactly those dates.[2] Prior to these three months in Corinth, however, and while he was in Macedonia, Paul had written

Acts 21:32 — their unbelief and accept the Savior. Only about a decade from the uproar in this chapter would elapse before Vespasian and Titus would unknowingly implement the Lord's great prophecy of the temple's utter ruin. See my Commentary on Mark under Mark 32:2 for ten reasons why God destroyed it.

Acts 25:21 — kept until I could send him to Caesar. The emperor ... Caesar ... Two titles given here to Nero should be noted. The first of these is actually "Augustus" (English Revised Version margin), which was the title given by the Roman Senate on January 17,27 B.C. to Gaius Caesar Octavianus (63 B.C. to A.D. 14).[14] "Augustus" also translates "Sebastos," and sometimes emperor, as in this verse. It was later applied as a title to any head of the Roman state. The same is true of "Caesar." Still a third

Acts 25:22 — hearing was arranged somewhat as a form of entertainment. In this scene, there began to be fulfilled the promise of the Lord that Paul would bear testimony and "his name" before the "Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15 and Isaiah 62:2). The setting of this scene was Caesarea, where some thirteen years earlier Herod Agrippa I, the father of this King Agrippa, Bernice and Drusilla, suffered a divine judgment in a sudden and horrible death.

Acts 28:11 — by sailors. The constellation Gemini is named for them, being one of the twelve sectors of the sky identified with the signs of the zodiac. Two coincidences of interest in this section are (1) both ships carrying Paul were ships of Alexandria, and (2) The Twin Brothers was the name and figurehead not only of the new ship, but also of Rhegium, their second port of call on the way to Rome.[13] This prevalence of the evidence in which the old pagan deities appeared still to dominate the hearts of

1 Corinthians 12:4 — SPIRITUAL GIFTS ENUMERATED "Here the apostle called the supernatural endowments of the first Christians GIFTS, because they were foretold under that name (Psalms 68:18; Ephesians 4:8)."[9] They are also referred to in the several terms of Hebrews 2:4 as "signs and wonders, and manifold powers, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will." All such supernatural wonders were scheduled to disappear (1 Corinthians 13:8); and their unique purpose was that of "confirming" the word

Galatians 6:16 — Israel of God ... It is surprising that any could misunderstand this, as if Paul were, in any manner, invoking a blessing upon racial Jews. "Israel of God," in the true sense, with Paul, was never racial Israel, but the spiritual Israel. See Romans 2:28,29; Romans 4:13-16 and Romans 9:6-8. This meaning of "spiritual Israel," of course, included all of every race, including Jews, who accepted Christ. "Israel of God," according to Wesley, means "the church of God, which consists of all those,