Bible Commentaries

1 Chronicles 21:2 — THE IMPOTENCE OF NUMBERS ‘And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.’ 1 Chronicles 21:2 What was it that made David’s deed ungodly?

Psalms 117:1 — THE CRY OF FAITH AND JOY ‘I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.’ Psalms 117:1 We shall never, I suppose, know from whose lips and hearts this cry of faith and joy first sprang. One thing is clear—there has been a great danger

Jeremiah 22:21 — THE PERILS OF PROSPERITY ‘I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not My voice.’ Jeremiah 22:21 Nine centuries after Moses’ day the prophet of the broken

Lamentations 3:38-40 — THROUGH REPENTANCE TO FAITH Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.’ Lamentations 3:38-40

Matthew 4:18 — THE CALL OF ST. ANDREW ‘Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother.’ Matthew 4:18 Of St. Andrew’s life and doings next to nothing is known. After the day of the Ascension we read no more of

Luke 23:43 — THE SECOND WORD FROM THE CROSS ‘Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.’ Luke 23:43 The dying thief desired to be near the Lord. I. His is no fragment of repentance; it is the full conversion of the whole man to God.—The

Luke 9:62 — LESSONS FROM THE PLOUGH ‘And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’ Luke 9:62 The point of view from which the Lord regards nature is often novel and unlooked for, producing

John 12:24 — DEATH THE FULFILMENT OF LIFE ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.’ John 12:24 The universal and inexorable doom of all life is here pronounced by Him Who abolished death. Jesus Christ abolished death in the only

John 9:39 — FOR JUDGMENT ‘And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.’ John 9:39 That is the comment which presents itself to Jesus, as He thinks over this episode

Acts 16:31 — PAUL’S ADVICE TO THE JAILER ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt he saved, and thy house.’ Acts 16:31 Some assert that this heathen jailer could know nothing about salvation through Jesus Christ, and that therefore the question he

Romans 5:5 — THE GIVER AND THE GIFT ‘Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.’ Romans 5:5 All the various writers of the New Testament are agreed upon this one point. From whatever standpoint the writer

Romans 8:14 — FAITH IN THE HOLY GHOST ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.’ Romans 8:14 The miracles of nature prepare for the miracles of grace. The miracle of the human spirit prepares for the miracle (or is the beginning

Romans 8:20-21 — THE HOPE OF CREATION ‘For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him Who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty

2 Corinthians 1:19 — ‘IN HIM WAS YEA’ ‘In Him was yea.’ 2 Corinthians 1:19 This is an uncommon passage of Scripture; there is not another quite like it in the whole range of the New Testament. Apparently it came to be written in this way: Certain Corinthian Christians

1 Peter 3:22 — THE ASCENDED LORD ‘Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God.’ 1 Peter 3:22 Let us revisit the Ascension hill. Again we will climb to the crown of Olivet, and walk over field and knoll towards that summit above Bethany; or we will

1 John 5:4 — SONSHIP AND VICTORY ‘For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.’ 1 John 5:4 Our first inquiry will naturally be, What is meant by overcoming the world? And in no better