Bible Commentaries

Hosea 12:14 — Broadman Press, 1972), p. 54: Nobody ever trusted any more completely in God's promises than did Ephraim; but he made the mistake of supposing that they were unconditional, a mistake exactly like that of people today who fancy that they are "saved by faith alone." Ask Ephraim! God had promised Ephraim that he would give the land of Canaan (Genesis 30:13-15) to them; and Ephraim, like the Pharisees long afterward, concluded that this promise on God's part was theirs, no matter what they did, how they

Matthew 17:20-21 — And he said unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. The reasons for the apostles' failure were (1)

Luke 12:29-31 — is a demotion of even such basic things as food and drink to a lesser priority than that of seeking the kingdom of God. That such basic things are indeed legitimate needs is indicated in the last clause. "Christ was by no means suggesting that faith makes work for a living unnecessary."Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 524. Believers are not expected to be drones. "Honest toil and the fulfillment of one's temporal obligations are not only consistent with faith; they are prerequisite

Luke 17:5-6 — And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you. This is the third of the four pronouncements. The apostle's reaction

Acts 14:27 — And when they had come and gathered the church together, they rehearsed all things that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith unto the Gentiles. Opened a door of faith to the Gentiles … Yes indeed, the mission had been a success. There were now a number of Gentile churches holding forth the truth of God in pagan Gentile territory; and the evangelization of the "uttermost parts of the earth" was firmly under way.

Acts 20:21 — Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance … and faith … are not mentioned here in the chronological sequence of their occurrence in sinners' hearts. Faith always comes from hearing God's word before repentance can appear in any heart. Our

Acts 20:32-33 — now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give to you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified. The word of his grace … appears here as the great means of building one up in the holy faith. The philosophies, speculations, and theories of men provide no power at all in this sector. Only the word of God, received, studied, obeyed, loved, preached, and honored by men can effect any true spirituality or in any manner build up the followers

Romans 10:9 — mentioned in only one, confession in only one, and baptism in two; but all alike are commanded, all alike are necessary; and all alike are prerequisite to justification. Confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord … is a reference to the confession of faith preceding one's baptism into Christ, as in the case of the eunuch (Acts 8:37 margin). David Lipscomb rejected this understanding of this clause on the ground that a formal confession of faith is left out of all the precepts and examples concerning

Romans 14:23 — But he that doubteth is condemned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: and whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Once again, Paul affirmed the supremacy of a good conscience. Doubters who, through a desire to be popular, or other insufficient reasons, might override their own consciences, stand condemned. If one has

Romans 15:17-18 — labored in the conversion of Gentiles, but he would speak only of the things God had accomplished through himself. Obedience of the Gentiles … in word and deed … brings into view the true definition of Paul's doctrine of justification by faith. It certainly was not the "faith only" of Protestant theology, but the "obedience of faith" as affirmed at the beginning and the end of this epistle (Rom. 15:1:5; Romans 16:26). If Paul had entertained any part of the theory

Romans 5:19 — that these effects were wrought by means of Christ's obedience, the exact contrast of Adam's disobedience. Griffith Thomas, op. cit., p. 158. Fittingly, in view of all that Paul had written, touching upon justification through the "obedience of faith," he brought dramatically to the foreground in this, the climax of his thoughts in that connection, the obedience of Jesus Christ. Implicit in this is the great fact that only by a perfect faith and a perfect obedience is it possible to attain

Romans 5:9 — and in such a manner providing a way of escape from the judgment of wrath against sin. Thus Paul was still pursuing his master theme of God's righteous character. Griffith Thomas observed that: It is very striking that after Romans 5:1, all mention of faith is suddenly dropped until Romans 9:30 (Romans 6:8 does not really apply). This omission is all the more remarkable because of the prominence of faith up to this time, the verb having appeared at least five times and the substantive twenty-seven.

1 Corinthians 12:12 — the saved being members of it, the body itself being identified as "Christ," and therefore partaking of the perfect righteousness of the Son of God himself. God saves people, not by injecting righteousness into them (on the grounds of their faith and/or obedience), but by transferring them "into Christ," identifying them "as Christ," and making them, in fact, to be Christ. By this heavenly device, man becomes truly righteous and thus saved, not as John Doe, but as Christ.

Galatians 1:7 — See note regarding "Another Gospel" at end of this chapter. A sample of the erroneous and irresponsible comment foisted upon this passage is the following: (The false teaching) was surely a teaching according to which men are saved through faith plus law-works, a perversion of the true gospel which proclaims the glad tidings of salvation (by grace) through faith alone. William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 40. Such a view is untrue, misleading, and anti-Scriptural. A New Testament writer flatly

Galatians 3:23 — But before faith came, we were kept in ward under the Law, shut up unto faith which should afterwards be revealed. The figure of speech here is that of a jailer keeping his prisoners shut up. The Law could not save people, and the hope of deliverance from the sin which the Law could not forgive could be realized only by the coming of the Holy One.

Colossians 1:5 — Because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Because of the hope … This clause makes "hope" the pinnacle and summit of the famed triad of faith, hope and love, just as love is designated in 1 Corinthians 13:13. Of course, such a cavalier treatment of "faith" is deplored by the scholars. As Hendriksen put it: Some have experienced difficulty with the fact that Paul here in Colossians

Hebrews 11:6 — And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him. Westcott noted that the faith described here has two elements: (1) the belief that God is, and

1 Peter 1:9 — receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. End of your faith … This means the goal or purpose of faith, that which is the ultimate result of the obedience of faith. Paine, basing his conclusion on the construction of the Greek, says, "This is

Revelation 2:13 — I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth. I know where thou dwellest … Repeatedly, this affirmation of the omniscience of the Master emphasizes the truth that all things are

Revelation 2:19 — I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first. Such a glowing tribute as this leads one to wonder what could be wrong with a church like that. But despite their faith, love and works, increased and expanded, a cancer was gnawing away at the vitals of the congregation, and that problem would lead to the burden of the message.