Bible Commentaries

Exodus 18 overview — with him Moses' wife and two sons who had turned back from the journey to Egypt upon the occasion of the circumcision of Eliezer. He joyfully received the marvelous news of what Jehovah had done in the delivery of Israel from bondage, confessed his faith in Jehovah, offered burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and enjoyed a meal of religious fellowship with the leaders of Israel. Both the Midianites and the Amalekites were descended from Abraham, therefore kinsmen of Israel; and those two peoples in

Exodus 33:18-23 — he, in any sense, merit it. Yet, in keeping with God's sovereign will, He gave it to Moses. Nor is it at all to be concluded that such action on God's part was capricious, or that who Moses was, his love of God, and his love of God's people, and his faithfulness as a servant "in God's house," had nothing to do with God's favor. God's blessings throughout history have always been related to and consistent with the lives and character of those whom He blessed. "I will put thee in a cleft of the rock,

Psalms 57 overview — PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE AND THANKSGIVING TO GOD The Superscription: For the Chief Musician;Set to Altasheth. A Psalm of David. Michtam; When he fled from Saul in the cave. Set to Altasheth. This, or course, was the tune to which the psalm was to be sung;

Daniel 6:10-15 — such a complete success of their diabolical plot. They had calculated everything perfectly (so they thought). The king, unaware of their hatred and of their evil purpose had signed the decree. True to what they knew would happen, Daniel went on in the faithful exercise of his holy religion without regard to human legislation. They were able to catch Daniel "in the act." Daniel did not even bother to deny the charges. The king was caught in the cruel vice of his own stupid law; and these enemies of

John 19:32 — not mentioned in the Greek New Testament and are therefore excluded from apostolic Christianity. I am poured out like water … from Psalms 22:14 was also fulfilled by the event mentioned in this verse. As noted above, the great ordinances of the faith, baptism and the Lord's supper, typified by this issue from the side of Jesus, made it appropriate to observe that, in a sense, the church itself thus came forth from Jesus' side, as Eve, the type of the church, came from Adam's side; and, as the

John 2:11 — his disciples believed on him. Far from being presented as a mere parable, Jesus' action in changing water into wine is here denominated the first of his mighty miracles, a positive manifestation of the Lord's glory, and the event which issued in the faith of his disciples. As the first of those mighty deeds which proved him to be God in the flesh, this sign of Jesus has a breadth of meaning and depth of importance fully compatible with its priority in the time sequence. Compared with the first great

Acts 8:15-17 — the last man died upon whom the apostles had laid hands, the age of miracles expired by limitation. This commentator has no patience with the rejection of conclusions of this kind because "they are merely deductions." As a matter of fact all faith and holy religion are matters of "deduction," the great deduction being that the apostles delivered the truth to mankind. It is simply unbelievable that if Philip could have conveyed such a gift, Simon would not have tried to buy it of

Romans 1:21 — that part of his brain with which he should honor and glorify God becomes atrophied, hardened, insensible. This accounts for the otherwise incredible blindness which is the chief characteristic of many so-called intellectuals who have turned away from faith in Christ. Having closed the eyes of their minds with which they might have seen the invisible things of God, such persons eventually find themselves in a state of total disability in the perception of spiritual realities. How profoundly sad is

Romans 11:15 — wonderful than the "reconciling of the world," and, pray tell, what could that be? The scriptures do not teach any such thing, but quite the contrary, Jesus himself asking plaintively, Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8). It's too bad that Jesus didn't know about all that wholesale conversion of Jews out of fleshly Israel that our translators boldly said, "shall be"! How could people have done such a thing as importing such fantastic

Romans 11:30-31 — mean? It meant that whatever remnant of the fleshly Israel were of the "spiritual seed" were totally reliant upon Gentile preaching for their salvation. Certainly, the old fleshly Israel, the establishment intent on destroying the Christian faith, would never have preached it to them in a thousand years. But the disobedience of hardened Israel triggered the extension of the gospel to Gentiles, whose preaching of it was then available to the "spiritual seed," making it a fact that

Romans 6:22 — Satan's dominion into that of Christ. Therefore, baptism connects with sanctification only in the fact that without it, justification does not exist, and sanctification cannot even begin. The preposterous notion that justification is accomplished through faith ALONE, and that baptism has something to do with sanctification, is unsupported either in the sacred text or in the experience of believers. But isn't baptism the new birth? Yes, of course, in the sense of its being necessary thereunto, and an integral

1 Corinthians 16:1 — (Philadelphia:. Westminster Press, 1954), p. 181. (e) It was a way of stressing giving as a vital doctrine of Christianity. (f) It was an implementation of the principle that Christians are saved to serve. (g) It was a way of strengthening the givers in the faith of Christ. One reason for that collection, as alleged by some, is not valid. Farrar said, "It was the only way the Gentile churches could show their gratitude to the mother church!" F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan:

1 Corinthians 2:2 — indicating that this is another New Testament example of the figure of speech called synecdoche in which a group of related things is denoted by the mention of one or two of them. What a shame it is that Wesley failed to see the same figure in "saved by faith."

Galatians 6:4-5 — at the end of Galatians it is the effective and irrefutable denial of the slander that would make Paul's rejection of the "works" of the Law of Moses as having any connection with salvation, to be in any sense inclusive of the "work of faith" which is required of every Christian (1 Thessalonians 1:3). Hendriksen revealed a shade of meaning accurately in his rendition thus: "Let each one test his own work; then his reason to boast will be in himself alone, and not in (comparing

Hebrews 13:1 — brethren, an awareness of sins in others more than consciousness of our own sins, spiritual pride, vainglory, ambition, love of ease or luxury, and just about every other state or inclination of the natural man; but it is the glory of the Christian faith that love of the brethren will surmount every barrier. Here is the secret of a growing and effective church, and there is none other. If the disciples truly love one another, the resulting fellowship will be such that people shall desire to break

Hebrews 2:14 — namely, that he through death might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. It is regrettable that so many modern scholars make so little of man's ancient and implacable foe, the devil; and although it must be confessed that faith in the devil never saved any person, yet the true believer does not hesitate to accept the things spoken by our Lord and the apostles concerning the person and devices of the evil one. Death was the instrument Christ used to bring Satan to naught,

Hebrews 3:1 — parents, a preponderantly Gentile congregation receiving the same designation (1 Thessalonians 5:26, margin). Partakers of a heavenly calling is a reference to the universal and eternal dimensions of the Christian vocation, which is a heaven-centered faith, its emphasis being emphatically upon the things in heaven, rather than upon the things of earth. This concept pervades the whole book of Hebrews and makes even the most sacred things on earth the mere copies of things in heaven. The heavenly nature

1 John 5:4 — For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. Whatsoever is begotten of God … We might have expected John to write "whosoever" etc., but he was speaking not so much of individuals here, as of the new birth. "It is not the man but his birth from God which conquers."J.

3 John 1:10 — refutation. His works which he doeth … wicked words … It is interesting that "words" here are equated with "works." Words are indeed works, wicked words being works of Satan, and righteous words being a "work of faith." Since it is supposed that Gaius was a member of the same church as Diotrephes, or at least a resident of the same area, some have wondered why it was necessary for John to elaborate the works of Diotrephes, thinking that perhaps Gaius would

Revelation 12:10 — misunderstood this passage to refer to "the song of the glorified martyrs when Satan was cast out of heaven." William Barclay, op. cit., p. 83. This would require the view that Satan was operating in heaven when the martyrs died for their faith in Christ and would also make the achievement of Michael and his angels to be some kind of great victory beyond and in addition to what Christ had already achieved upon the cross; and, to us, such views are absolutely untenable. Such interpretations