Bible Commentaries

Genesis 19:27-28 — "And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Jehovah: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as a furnace." Nowhere in the

Psalms 1:4-5 — only will the wicked be unable to stand in the judgment of the Last Day, but they will also be unable to maintain themselves as stable members of the believing children of God through Christ. Here is the explanation of why so many fall away from their faith and "drop out" of established congregations of the faithful.

Psalms 116:15 — Yahweh's help; and He needs their service."W. E. Addis, p. 392. Delitzsch tells us that one of the oldest documents of Christendom, "The `Apostolic Constitutions' recommends the singing of these words at the funerals of those who have departed in the faith, and that `The Bishop of Antioch, full of blessed hope, met death singing these words, `during the reign of the Emperor Decius.'"F. Delitzsch, op. cit., p. 219.

Psalms 140:12-13 — presumption regarding the wicked rich and the righteous poor; but Barnes' discerning words on this seem to be correct, "There is no reason why a wicked poor man should enjoy God's favor… It is neither poverty nor riches that commend men to God; it is faith, holiness, love and obedience of God's word, in whatever condition of life it may be our lot to live, whether in a cottage or a palace."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), op.

Psalms 94:1-3 — indicated by this expression. "Lift up thyself" This is a plea for, "God to rouse himself from inaction, and to come and visit the earth as Judge."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8-B, p. 300. "How long shall the wicked triumph?" Although there is an element of faith in such a cry, "It is a cry of weakness and impatience."Ibid. It also fails to heed Amos' warning. "This appeal has no sense of malice about it. It is a simple cry for recompense and a plea that ungodly deeds should recoil upon the perpetrators."The

Isaiah 26:20 — power of God."Robert Lowth's Commentary, p. 271. This might be an indirect reference to that night of the Passover when God's children were told to enter their houses and not to go out of them until morning (Exodus 12:22). The message is eternal, that faith is a private and personal matter. It stands totally within the periphery of the inner and private life of true believers. There are times when every Christian should shut his doors to the noises and distractions of the world and to pursue privately

Luke 1:1-4 — Harmony of the Gospels in Two Volumes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1950), Vol. I, p. 34. Matters which have been fulfilled among us … By these words, Luke affirmed that his record dealt with nothing that was new or novel in the faith of the very extensive Christian community already established throughout the Mediterranean world. The word for "fulfilled" in this clause means "fully established" (English Revised Version (1885) margin); and this means that

John 10:40 — hostility, goes back to the place where the Baptist had baptized and borne witness to Jesus (John 1:28). If the Jerusalem Jews have rejected their Messiah, here in Transjordan, humble folk acknowledge the truth of what John had said and confess their faith in Jesus.William Hendriksen, op. cit., II, p. 130. He went away again … This does not mean that Jesus had made another journey to the district in Transjordan. As Hendriksen noted: It must be interpreted in the light of what immediately follows,

John 7:45-46 — is a necessary inference here in these words that Jesus was more than a man. Otherwise, their words would have been, "No OTHER man ever so spake." This implication was not lost on the Pharisees. Having detected such a tender little bud of faith in the officers, they moved against it with all the savage ferocity of a wild boar.

Romans 10:5 — Christ ever kept it perfectly. Even the ascription of righteousness to Zacharias and Elizabeth, cited above, must be understood in a relative, not an absolute, sense. The mountain fact concerning Christ is that he indeed kept the law perfectly, his faith and obedience reaching a state of absolute perfection for every second of his total life on earth. That is what God requires to save any man. That is the righteousness which alone can save; and it is available to people "in Christ"; the

Romans 4 overview — be a type of the alien sinner's conversion. He is no such thing, as will be shown in the notes below. Regarding the so-called contradiction between the inspired authors, James and Paul, it simply does not exist. Paul wrote of justification "by faith," and James of justification "by works." So what? Justification is obviously by both! It would require a statement by one of them to the effect that salvation is by one or the other "only," in order for there to be a contradiction

Romans 9:14 — phase of the rectitude of God that Paul had in mind here, and that is the fact that God has mercy upon some, and not upon others. Upon the uniformly wicked populations of earth, God has decided to show mercy to those who have accepted through obedient faith the mercy which is freely offered to all; but the salvation of those thus receiving God's grace does no injustice to the wicked who never obey the truth and are therefore lost. Paul explained why in the next verse.

Romans 9:32 — Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling. For the true meaning of "as it were by works" see under Romans 9:11, where it means "not of fleshly descent" just as it certainly does here. That is the very

Colossians 3 overview — "carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14). Paul classified everything that was "contrary to sound doctrine" as being sinful in the same degree as fornication, falsehood and murder (1 Timothy 1:10). "The words of faith and of good doctrine" were to be proclaimed by Timothy in order for him to be "a good minister of Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 4:6). Paul commanded him to give heed and attendance to "doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:13; 1 Timothy 4:16),

1 Thessalonians 3:5 — For this cause I also, when I could no longer forbear, sent that I might know your faith, lest by any means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor should be in vain. The tempter … "Only in one other passage (Matthew 4:3) is Satan thus designated in the New Testament." Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 69. Paul's usual

1 Thessalonians 5:4 — state of rebellion against God (darkness) and to the state of obedience (light). Wesley's paraphrase of this is: But ye members of the church, living in the light, expecting the coming of your Lord (Matthew 25:10) cannot be surprised. Your knowledge and faith lead you to be always ready. John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco. The ASV in this place follows the rendition in KJV and this is good. As Morris said, "The KJV has better

Hebrews 12:11 — and its purpose being the ennoblement of spiritual life, the strengthening of character, and the enhancing of the prospect of eternal life. The most wonderful people on earth are those who have passed through the chastening experiences of life, whose faith, love, and understanding and sympathy are grounded in the true love of God and man; and whose lives, as a result, have been expanded and beautified. 'Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up, Whose golden rounds are our calamities, Whereon our firm

1 John 5:2 — proceeds from love to God, and leads us to obey all his commandments."James Macknight, Macknight on the Epistles, Vol. VI (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, reprint, 1969), p. 103. Both with regard to love, as here, and with regard to faith, John's usage of either term always carried inherently the concept of obedience.

Jude 1:18 — wrote here, it may be inferred that all of the apostles gave the same teaching. In the last time … Carl Henry, writing in Christianity Today, understood the New Testament to teach that in the years immediately before the Second Advent, the true faith, "once for all delivered" will be "boycotted as if it were heresy, and the sole surviving heresy at that."Carl F. H. Henry, The Decline of Theology (Christianity Today) (Washington, D.C., 1966), Vol. X, p. 428. Rose stressed

Revelation 11:10 — drunkenness, fraud, deception, falsehood, and violence. The church of our day, in the larger reference, has perverted, changed, or forsaken the great doctrinal foundations upon which her life is constructed. These are listed in Hebrews 6 as: repentance, faith, baptism, laying on hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the eternal judgment. What are the odds, really, that one could hear even one sermon on any one of these fundamentals on a given Sunday morning in any great city in America? Oh to be sure