Bible Commentaries

Genesis 6:1 — Peter 3:5-6: "This they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Hebrews 11:7: "By faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith." Matthew 24:37-39:

1 Kings 19:9-14 — Elijah's answer (1 Kings 19:14) was identical with the answer he gave to the same question in 1 Kings 19:10. It appeared to be that he had difficulty accepting the reality of his failure to do what he had hoped to do in bringing Israel back to the true faith, and there seemed to be, on his part, a resignation to the fact of its utter impossibility. However, the Lord would shock him out of his state of idleness.

Job 1:6-12 — raises the question, "Why do we serve God? Is it merely for what we can get out of it"?The Bible Speaks Today (Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1976), Job, p. 21. Some of the comments on this are quite inadequate. It is true that genuine faith does not serve God merely for the temporal blessings that most certainly do accompany it, and which Satan himself freely admitted in the next verse. But in spite of this, it is a profound fact that the ultimate reward in heaven, after the present

Isaiah 11:11-16 — and "They are here taken as types of the enemies of God's church; and the victory over those enemies promised in Isaiah 11:14,"The Pulpit Commentary, p. 205. is a reference to the spiritual victories in Christ over all of the obstacles in the way of faith. "There shall be a highway" This subject will come up again in Isaiah, the meaning being that God will open the way for honest and good hearts to come unto him in Christ Jesus. The reference here to smiting such barriers as the Red Sea and the Euphrates

Isaiah 12:1-6 — alleged. However, the advance beyond those radical denials so characteristic of the first half of this century is illustrated by this quotation from Payne: "The prophet seeks to reassure the inhabitants of Zion and instill into his fellow citizens his own confident faith in the Holy One of Israel. With this phrase, so characteristic of Isaiah, the section is brought to an end."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 1780. Marvelous! Payne writing only recently did not even mention the former position of critics, but

Isaiah 9:1-7 — and of the Lord Jesus Christ." James had heard the Master say that no man can serve two masters; and could he have meant here that he was indeed serving "two masters"? Did he not rather mean that Christ and God were one? 2 Peter 1:1 - "A like precious faith with us with the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." Here we took out the italics word "the," the italics indicating that it is not in the Greek, leaving the correct reading here as, "Our God and Saviour." 1 John 5:20 - "And we know

Jeremiah 21:1-2 — army and lifted the siege against Jerusalem in the days of Isaiah. The ancient Jews never learned the lesson that God's promises are all conditional, even those of his everlasting love and blessing. They were the ancient practitioners of salvation by faith only. Sure, they believed all right; but they did not propose to do any of the things God commanded. Notice how the status of Jeremiah has changed. Ten years earlier, those terrible warnings Jeremiah had been prophesying throughout his ministry

Jeremiah 31:34 — Christian, hence no infants in the true sense are Christians. "Ye must be born again," Jesus said; and all infants have been born only once. Infant membership allows many unregenerated people to grow up in various churches without regard either to their faith or obedience, opening the gate for many outright unbelievers to gain and exercise power in some so-called Christian communions. Another tremendous untruth sometimes imported into the doctrine of the New Covenant was announced by Payne Smith, as

Amos 5:19-20 — There was only one flaw in the people's thinking; they had made a mistake about who were the true Israel, that not being themselves at all with their stubborn and impenitent wickedness, but the spiritual seed of Abraham, those of Abraham's obedient faith and righteous disposition! Butler is correct in viewing Amos' words here as typical and prophetic of the final Day, the Great Assize, at which time God through Jesus Christ shall judge the whole word in righteousness. "The truth of the matter was,

Matthew 11:2-3 — the disciples of John, who performed no miracles (John 10:41)J. R. Dummelow, One Volume Commentary (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 664. It should be noted that in times of personal misfortune, suffering, hardship, or persecution, one's faith is inclined to waver; and those things which seemed so positive and certain under more favorable circumstances and in brighter days tend to be dimmed and obscured. Any sufferer who struggles with life's tribulations and feels that his prayers have

Matthew 27:66 — call unto him" (Acts 2:39). Furthermore, all efforts to disassociate oneself from the commandments and obligations of the Christian gospel, on the basis of the robber's salvation, arise from a total disregard of the truly remarkable exhibition of faith on his part. Any thought that the robber was saved in some easy and perfunctory fashion disappears in the contemplation of what he actually did: (1) He believed on the Lord at a time when even his staunchest disciples had forsaken him and fled.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 — Canaan. Cousins warned against the tendency of men to look with favor and appreciation upon the religious practices that God has not authorized, saying, "God's people in all ages have created appalling problems for themselves and distorted their own faith by incorporating alien practices and concepts."Peter E. Cousins, op. cit., p. 296. "Take heed to thyself" It seems incredible to us that an intelligent people like the Israelites would have been seduced to wallow in the debaucheries of the pagan

Deuteronomy 20:5-9 — debilitate and destroy any army, and by thus eliminating the fearful, the army would be protected from a mass infection of cowardice. As pointed out above, no other army in human history was constituted in such a manner as this. Faith in God and His faithful guidance could alone prevent fear from entering the hearts of those truly committed to God. In the light of this, it is safe to conclude that the fearful were those not fully committed to the Lord and to His work. Fear is still a deadly enemy

Mark 5:20 — within a time limit of not over forty years before Mark wrote make it absolutely impossible that any fictitious element could have been injected into this historical event without bringing a deluge of criticism and refutation. The rapidly spreading faith was opposed by countless powerful and determined enemies who would have seized upon any excuse to charge the apostles and gospel writers with fraud; but it is a singular fact that history has produced no such denials. It must be assumed that Jairus'

Luke 17:7-10 — lesson designed to teach humility, obedience, and a sense of lacking any merit in the sight of God. The apparent connection in context is this: the apostles contemplating the marvelous spiritual attainments indicated by Jesus' promise that they had the faith to move trees into the sea would naturally be tempted to pride and vainglory by such envisioned achievements. This parable was to show that no man can merit salvation. This parable is hailed by Trench as one of "great difficulty";Richard

Joshua 1:12-18 — here; and when Joshua confronted the trans-Jordanic group with their obligation, they accepted it. Of course, the hardship and the struggle had not at that time begun. "Obedience is easy when all goes well with us, and when it makes no demand upon our faith."Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 23. It does not appear that those trans-Jordanic tribes fully lived up to their promises. (See a full discussion of this in Vol. 3 of my commentary (Leviticus and Numbers) at Numbers 32.) "Ye shall pass over before

Hebrews 12:1 — achieved a marvelous urgency in his words and argument. The great exhortations exhibit his purpose in writing; and of all the considerations called forth from their history and from their scriptures had only one design, namely, to keep them in the holy faith. The success of the inspired author is evident in the fact that for nearly two thousand years it has been practically impossible for Christians to be proselyted to Judaism; and yet that was the big problem confronted by the author of Hebrews. True,

Judges 7:9-14 — Commentary, Vol. 3-C, p. 78. God Himself caused the dream, having determined beforehand both the dream and its inspired interpretation, and He caused Gideon to descend into the Midianite camp in order to hear it, thus greatly strengthening Gideon's faith and determination. GIDEON ANNOUNCES THE STRATEGY OF ATTACK The text does not state that God commanded Gideon exactly what to do, but he obviously did so. It is simply inconceivable that any mortal commander could have devised such a strategy from

Revelation 18 overview — worldwide Christianity, imperfect and apostate though it is; and there is not a church of any name on earth today that does not in some degree stand indebted to her accomplishments, which have been providentially used for the protection of the truly faithful. Nevertheless, "the true followers of Christ" on earth today are a dwindling minority with reference to the whole of mankind; and when the Apostate Christianity is destroyed, as it will be, that minority will either go underground or

1 Samuel 14:6-15 — land. And there was a panic in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison and even the raiders trembled; the earth quaked; and it became a very great panic." "Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few" The remarkable faith of Jonathan is evident throughout this chapter. Some have supposed that he might have been inspired by the Spirit of God which is not at all unlikely. If they say, `Come up to us,' then we will go up (1 Samuel 14:8). Keil explained this sign as