Bible Commentaries

Genesis 19:23-25 — the entire world, and we receive God's promises as sure and certain of fulfillment. There are visible a number of purposes behind God's judgmental action against those wicked cities: (1)    It was a great strengthening of Abraham's faith. (2)    It warned Lot. (3)    "It gave moral and religious instruction for all to come."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 28.

Genesis 22:11-12 — corollary for all people is simply this: God tests every person who would receive eternal life. If God compelled Abraham to withstand such a test as this, how could it ever be imagined that God today saves people merely upon the glib assertion of their faith? The test for all people now was announced by Christ himself: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16).

Genesis 38:15-18 — completely outwitted him. Little could Judah have realized that he had just become the father of a great multitude through Tamar, including the Christ himself. Why did God permit such a thing? Simply because Tamar was a convert from the paganism to the true faith, and, by her, God would cut off the fountain head of paganism in the Chosen People, an influence which had already entrenched itself in the household of Judah through the Canaanite daughter of Shua. It is useless to inquire about the exact nature

Exodus 4:20 — took the rod of God in his hand" Incredibly, Harford and others find this to be in conflict with the rod Moses already possessed. See comment under Exodus 4:9, above. In God's use of Moses' shepherd's staff, not merely for more firmly establishing his faith, but also for use in future "signs" (plural) to be wrought against Egypt, God had clearly made the rod, His rod, God's instrument in the hands of God's instrument (Moses). Indeed it was the rod of God!

Psalms 56:1-4 — "Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: All the day long he fighting oppresseth me. Mine enemies would swallow me up all the day long; For they are many that fight proudly against me. What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee.

Isaiah 55 overview — Kidner stated that, in Christian terms, "The Calvary of Isaiah 53 is followed by the growing church of Isaiah 54, and the gospel call of Isaiah 55."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 619. We can find no agreement whatever with commentators who try

Matthew 13:53 — inauguration of his kingdom, appointment of its officers, enunciation of its principles, and statement of its laws. The last seven parables, recorded in this chapter, constitute a remarkably comprehensive and detailed presentation of the guidelines of faith; and there is a strong temptation to find in these seven parables some mystical or secret meaning. The efforts of men to do this, however, are far from convincing. Unity and harmony do indeed appear in the group taken as a whole. THE SOWER stresses

Mark 12:26-27 — live so much in a world of relativism, of a "tolerance" which is really indifference — not breadth of spirit at all! — that we become tentative and apologetic rather than affirmative, even about things which are the very axis of faith.Halford E. Luccock, Interpreter's Bible (New York: Abingdon Press, 1951), p. 845.

Luke 18:1 — listed the lessons from this parable, thus: (1) The duty of continual prayer; (2) the answer to prayer, persisted in, is certain; (3) in the end, God will maintain the cause of his elect against their adversaries; and (4) a warning against the failure of faith in times of seeming abandonment by God.J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 763. And he spake a parable … is literally, "And he spake also a parable …"Charles L. Childers,

Luke 8:45-46 — moral purpose in the question.Richard Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1953), p. 208. So, there was a moral purpose of the question here. Jesus would not permit this woman of such commendable faith to receive in secrecy, and by stealth, in a sense, the blessing which he willed that she should receive. Moreover, following her confession, he would extend the blessing to include salvation itself. Also, there would be the tangential benefit of

John 2:25 — that "something more" always required. That fatal lack was the thing Jesus discerned. These were doubtless some of the same people who shouted, "Crucify him!" when the Lord stood before Pilate. One additional thing, over and beyond faith only, required of all who would enter the kingdom of God is the new birth; and, appropriately, John next recorded Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus.

John 5:18 — Christ are identical, and that Jesus was not God come in the flesh. As Trench wrote: Other passages may contain as important witness against Arian, other against the Sabellian, departure from the truth; but this upon both sides plants the pillars of the faith.Ibid., p. 280. This open break between Jesus and the ruling hierarchy was sharp and irrevocable; and, fittingly, Jesus spoke upon this occasion at some length to his enemies in a vain effort to persuade them of the truth of his words and of his

Acts 24:24 — But after certain days, Felix came with Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. The character of Felix was noted under Acts 23:24; and some further attention is due to the woman who sat beside him as his wife. DRUSILLA Drusilla was a sensuously beautiful person, one of the ten descendants of Herod the Great

Romans 1:2 — the recurrence of the phrase, "according to the scriptures." Bruce's definition of the gospel is: (It is) his joyful proclamation of the victory and exaltation of his Son, and the consequent amnesty and liberation which we may enjoy through faith in him. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1963), p. 7.

Romans 11:33 — (and, in the very nature of things, people can never FULLY understand them), God is in control. Nothing else really matters. God's ways cannot be fully known to mortals; and in the degree that they are known they are not fully comprehended; but true faith receives all that God does in full trust and confidence. He who gave his Son to die for people will grant eternal happiness to every possible recipient of it, provided only that people believe and obey him.

Romans 14:14 — unclean. See under Romans 14:2 and Romans 14:5, regarding clean meats and the power of conscience to make even an innocent action wrong. Paul did not here place himself upon either side of such a question and refrained utterly from making it a matter of faith. It was all a question of knowledge, and the weak brother simply did not have sufficient information, a deficiency that Paul sought to supply, not through any arrogant pronouncements of his own, but by humbly calling attention to the things he had

1 Timothy 1:16 — apostle does not here overestimate the significance of his conversion is discernible throughout history. Paul's conversion, along with the resurrection of Christ, is part of the incontrovertible evidence of the integrity and authenticity of the Christian faith. Believe on him unto eternal life … This strongly suggests Romans 10:10-11; and significantly "believing on" Christ in both passages is "unto" eternal life, and salvation, as is ever the case in the New Testament. The

1 Timothy 3:13 — For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. As Lipscomb remarked, "Through service of the deaconship a man grows into the qualifications and fitness for the work of an elder." David Lipscomb, Commentary on 1 Timothy (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company,

2 Timothy 2:7 — light that goes through the window is not. Henry Ward Beecher, The Biblical Illustrator (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 153. Therefore, let men take heed how they consider and reflect. Consideration is the bottom layer of all true faith and worship.

1 Peter 1:17 — work." According to each man's work … This teaching is not peculiar to Peter; Paul declared that "God will render to every man according to his works" (Romans 2:6). The notion that being under the grace of God, and being saved by grace through faith, nullifies Scriptures such as these is extremely erroneous. Pass the time of your sojourning in fear … Another strand of the epistle's thought surfaces again here, as in 1 Peter 1:1. Some have alleged a contradiction between this and John's