Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 17 overview — the worst of times. For a nation with a bad king, God sent them a good prophet, Elijah."The Teachers' Bible Commentary, p. 202. "It was the very darkest hour in the spiritual history of Israel when a determined effort was being made to stamp out the faith of God's elect."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 5a, p. 279. At certain religious observances of the Jews until this day, an empty chair is provided for the projected return of Elijah, as prophesied in Malachi 4:5, but Jesus Christ himself identified

Nehemiah 4:7-14 — afraid of them… Remember the Lord who is great and terrible" (Nehemiah 4:14). (9) He commanded the people to be ready to fight (Nehemiah 4:14). (10) And he ordered the work to go on full speed ahead! What a leader he proved to be! "Nehemiah with faith in God, skillfully arming and arranging his men, drove straight ahead with the work; and in spite of all obstacles, the Wall was finished in 52 days; and Jerusalem was again a fortified city, 142 years after its destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in

Leviticus 1:1-2 — Almighty God in the gates of Paradise and that Cain and Abel were divinely instructed regarding the manner, material, and occasion of their offerings. We find no other way to understand the Biblical precept that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice "by faith." The near certainty that the sacrifice commanded was a lamb appears in the Sacred Word that the Lamb was slain from the "foundation of the world." Noah offered sacrifices upon coming down out of the ark. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all offered sacrifices.

Leviticus 1:14-17 — the provision here for an oblation of birds was also an accommodation to the poverty of some who would not have been able to bring a sheep or bullock. As Unger noted, "Whether he brought much or little, in God's sight it was acceptable if brought in faith, in dependence on divine grace."Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Commentary on the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, Reprint, 1981), p. 151. Even in the matter of the smaller offering allowed for the poor, not just any kind of bird would do. Pigeons

Leviticus 25:47-55 — for the beneficiaries of his blood-bought redemption. The Jubilee itself is a vivid foreshadowing of the whole Messianic Age, a fact stressed by Jesus Christ in the very beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-19). In one's acceptance of the Christian faith and obedience of the gospel, there are five "R's": Remission of all sins. Restoration to our Fellowship with God. Reunion with the Society of the Redeemed. Repossession of our Forfeited Inheritance. Rejoicing in the Soul's True Jubilee.

John 6:20-21 — so laborious is easy, and the toiling rowers are anon at the haven where they would be.Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943), p. 300. Be not afraid … is the constant admonition of faith. This was the word of angels to the shepherds the night our Lord was born; it was the repeated word of our Saviour's ministry; and in John's final vision of the Christ, it was the word that led all the rest (Revelation 1:17-18). Timidly, and with

John 6:30 — The Holy Bible, the history of Israel, the great commemorative festivals of Judaism and Christianity, the sweep of the religion of Christ through history and the collateral enlightenment and civilization which invariably attended it, and the lives of faith in all ages these the unbeliever will not see. The thundering voice of history, the testimony of the calendar, and the witness of all that is highest and best in art, literature, music, architecture, government, and psychology — all are rejected

John 9:7 — believe in you and will just take my eyesight right here where I stand; and, after I am able to see clearly, then I will go and wash, like you said, just to show I trust you. Certainly, water cannot cure eyesight; so I'll just take it here and now by faith only! Of course, I'll go and wash later to show I trust you." What would have resulted from such an attitude? Can anyone doubt that he would have died as blind as he was born, if he had responded with any such proposal? To his honor and exceedingly

Acts 19:6 — Dictionary (Old Tappan, New Jersey.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1962), p. 97. That passage makes it absolutely clear that the convert must consciously, and of his own will, submit to Christian baptism. If infant baptism is adequate, then baptism without faith, confession, or repentance is valid; and this we hold to be absolutely impossible of acceptance. (2) Those whose baptism was by some action other than the immersion submitted to by Christ, taught by the apostles, and practiced by the apostolic church,

Acts 21:22-24 — to insist on Gentiles keeping such things (the apostolic edict still stood against it, as in next verse), nevertheless, it is all too evident that they would soon have gotten around to that, or else have made Gentile Christianity an inferior brand of faith. As Adam Clarke appropriately said: However we may consider this subject, it is exceedingly difficult to account for the conduct of James and the elders, and of Paul on this occasion. There seems to be something in this transaction which we do not

Romans 1:4 — thing as the resurrection, would of necessity apply to some more powerful phase of his Sonship, rather than marking the absolute initiation of it. (3) The resurrection here mentioned, whatever was intended, is indeed one of the centers of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Christ, particularly, is the cornerstone and foundation of the Christian religion. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives credibility to the Gospels, explains the virgin birth, thrills the heart with the conviction that

Romans 6:2 — City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1969), p. 128. Barth expressed the thought in these words: What is forgiveness of sins, however we understand it, if it is not directly accompanied by an actual liberation from the committal of sin? … What is faith without obedience? Karl Barth, Church Dogmatism (Napierville, Illinois: Alec R. Allenson, Inc., 1958), Vol. IV, part 2, p. 505.

Galatians 5:22-23 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. Most of these wonderful virtues are subjective, lying within the hearts of Christians, but kindness, goodness and faithfulness are, at least in their manifestation, objective qualities. Faithfulness

Ephesians 5:19 — antithetical, by nature, to spiritual religion. From times immemorial, many centuries before Christ came, instruments of music were conspicuously associated with pagan worship (Daniel 3:7); and for the first six and one-half centuries of the Christian faith on earth, they were just as conspicuously omitted from Christian worship. Although Paul did not have such things in mind when he declared that "God is not worshipped with men's hands," the text truly applies to this question (Acts 17:25,

Joshua 17:14-18 — as regards the second option, "They saw only the chariots of iron, not the lush pastures and farmlands of the valley of Jezreel (Esdraelon), which was theirs by right of promise and which Joshua urged them to take. What a contrast was their lack of faith to the bold, intrepid spirit of Caleb (Numbers 13:30, Joshua 14:6-15)."Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Commentary on the Old Testament, Joshua (Chicago: Moody Press: 1981), p. 303. Plummer was correct in the affirmation that the only reason the Josephites

Hebrews 10:19 — specifically honors the command of the Lord for his disciples to exhibit boldness, the means of acquiring which are given earlier by our author (Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 3:13), and which include a constant glorying in our hope through repeated affirmations of our faith, not merely for the personal benefit of ourselves in so doing, but also for the benefit of others, also included is a constant and energetic campaign of exhorting close associates in family, business, recreation, or wherever in the private sector

Hebrews 9:16-17 — upon the death of the person making it; and they do not limit or impede in any way the free use of the testator's property BEFORE his death. This sublime fact is precisely the reason why no person may claim forgiveness of his sins through a mere act of faith, as did a certain woman (Luke 7:50), or like the thief on the cross, for example. The testator had not then died; and the conditions under which it was prescribed how all people might inherit were not announced as yet. The value of this in understanding

1 Peter 3:18 — Testament word from the Greek [@hapax], meaning "once for all." W. E. Vine, op. cit., p. 137 (vol. iii). It is used of: (1) Christ's coming in human form (Hebrews 9:26); (2) Christ's death (Hebrews 9:28); (3) the deliverance to mankind of the faith (Judges 1:3); (4) the offering of Christ's blood in heaven (Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:26); (5) the appointment to die (Hebrews 9:27); (6) God's shaking the earth and the heavens so as to remove them (Hebrews 12:27); and (7) the suffering of Christ

Judges 3:1-6 — supplementary. It was God's displeasure with Israel that was the causal factor in Benjamin's inability to dislodge the Jebusites. As Dalglish noted, "The nations of Canaan were left by Jehovah as a chastisement of Israel as well as a trial of their faith."Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 399. The new situation brought about by Israel's disobedience also triggered the necessity for the nation to be schooled in the prosecution of wars which would inevitably follow their apostasy. "These reasons

Revelation 22:17 — mystical implication than by using one word that gathered up multiple meanings in itself, maranatha? The late great Christian scholar, J. W. Roberts, left us this priceless comment: At the table (of the Lord's Supper) they saw his presence with the eye of faith and took it as a pledge of his ultimate manifestation at the parousia … (John) knows that the church will join in saying of Christ, Come. J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 201. The double meaning here extends even further than this, for the saying