Bible Commentaries

Acts 11:27 — Official prophets were still active in the church apparently until the completion of the New Testament canon. A prophet was a person to whom God had given ability to speak for Him (forth-telling, cf. 1 Corinthians 14:1-5), which in some cases included the ability to receive and announce new revelation (fore-telling). Prophesying also equaled praising God (1 Chronicles 25:1). "The Jews believed that with the last of the [Old Testament] writing prophets, the

Acts 13:13 — Pamphylia 13:13 Pamphylia was a Roman province that lay west of the kingdom of Antiochus, which was west of Cilicia, Paul’s home province. Perga (modern Perge) stood 12 miles inland from the major seaport of Attalia (modern Antalya, cf. Acts 14:25-26), but it had an inland harbor on the Cestrus River. In Perga, John Mark left Paul and Barnabas to return to Jerusalem. Paul did not approve of his decision (Acts 15:38), but Luke did not record Mark’s motives. The commentators have deduced

Acts 16:16 — their way to the prayer meeting (Acts 16:13) was a tool of her masters who used her to make money through fortunetelling. The demon (Gr. pneuma pythona) within her knew of Paul and announced through her who he was and what he was doing (cf. Mark 1:24; Mark 3:11; Mark 5:7; Luke 4:34; Luke 8:28). "The Python was a mythical serpent or dragon that guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo, located on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus to the north of the Gulf of Corinth. It was supposed to have

Acts 16:9 — This time God gave positive direction to Paul, and Luke recorded that He did it in a vision (cf. Acts 9:10; Acts 10:3; Acts 10:17; Acts 10:19; Acts 11:5; Acts 12:9; Acts 13:4). "Paul could have recognized the man in his dream as a Macedonian from what he said; but it has been conjectured that the man might have been Luke himself, who indicates his presence at this point by changing the narrative from ’they’

Acts 19:31 — dealt principally with organizing the games and with ceremonial matters connected with Emperor-worship. During his term of office, the Asiarch was styled ’high-priest’ of the imperial cult." [Note: Neil, p. 208. See Longenecker, pp. 503-4; and Lily Ross Taylor, "The Asiarchs," in Foakes-Jackson and Lake, 5:252-62, for fuller descriptions of them.] Some of these men were friends of Paul. This shows again that the attitude of many leaders was friendly to Christianity at this

Acts 19:40-41 — for their rioting they could impose penalties on the city. Furthermore this riot was unjustified. This line of argument proved effective and the crowd disbursed. This may have been the time Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for Paul (Romans 16:4). This event may have been in Paul’s mind when he wrote of fighting wild beasts at Ephesus (1 Corinthians 15:32) and of despairing of life as he faced a deadly foe (2 Corinthians 1:8-11). One wonders if the cooling of the Ephesian Christians’

Acts 25:24-27 — In reviewing the reasons for conducting this hearing, Festus acknowledged that Paul had done nothing worthy of death as the Jews had charged (Acts 25:25). Pilate had made a similar observation about Jesus’ innocence (Luke 23:4; Luke 23:14; Luke 23:22). Festus referred to the emperor (Gr. sebastos, cf. Acts 25:21) as his lord (kyrios, definitely majesty, [Note: Werner Foerster, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "kyrios," 3:1054-58.] and perhaps deity,

Romans 1:18-20 — Romans 1:17 in Romans 3:21 . . . Some think that the ’revelation of God’s wrath’ is a product of the preaching of the gospel, so that Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:20 is as much ’gospel’ as is Romans 3:21 to Romans 4:25 . . . But, although Paul clearly considers warning about judgment to come to be related to his preaching of the gospel (Romans 2:16), his generally positive use of ’gospel’ language forbids us from considering God’s wrath

Romans 14:17 — which that kingdom is founded, and which are already exhibited in this world (cf. I Cor. iv. 20)." [Note: Sanday and Headlam, p. 391. See also Robert L. Saucy, "The Presence of the Kingdom and the Life of the Church," Bibliotheca Sacra 145:577 (January-March 1988):42.] The emphasis in this reference is on the authority of God over His own. The primary issues in the lives of dedicated Christians should not be external amoral practices but the great spiritual qualities that the Holy Spirit

Romans 3:5-6 — The third question connects with David’s situation (Romans 3:4). Since the Jews’ failings set off God’s righteousness more sharply by contrast, might not God deal more graciously with the Jews in His judgment of them? Surely He would not be unrighteous in failing to take that into consideration, would

Romans 9:5 — linchpin in Paul’s interpretation of salvation history; see Romans 9:6-13; Romans 11:15; and especially Romans 11:28, which forms with this verse an ’inclusio’ surrounding Paul’s discussion in these chapters." [Note: Moo, pp. 564-65.] The Messiah came from Israel, though He was not exclusively theirs since He is the sovereign eternally blessed God (John 1:1). Here Paul called Jesus "God" (cf. Philippians 2:10-11; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:2). [Note: See Bruce, p. 176;

1 Corinthians 1:21 — through the "foolishness" (in the eyes of the natural man) of the message preached (Gr. kerygma), namely, the gospel. [Note: See Larry J. Waters, "Paradoxes in the Pauline Epistles," Bibliotheca Sacra 167:668 (October-December 2010):430-35.] The true estimation of things, therefore, is that human reasoning is folly. Paul was not saying that all the wisdom that unbelievers have produced is worthless. However, in comparison with what the wisdom that God has revealed about Himself can

1 Corinthians 1:22 — The Jews characteristically asked for signs as demonstrations of God’s power (cf. Matthew 16:1-4; Mark 8:11-12; John 2:18). In contrast, the message of the Cross seemed to be a demonstration of weakness, specifically, Jesus’ inability to save Himself from death. Likewise the Greeks typically respected wisdom, an explanation of things that

1 Corinthians 2:8 — The rulers of this age are probably the intellectual trend-setters Paul mentioned above (1 Corinthians 2:7). Those responsible for the death of Christ were members of this group (cf. Acts 3:17-18; Acts 4:25-28). If they had understood the central place that Jesus Christ occupied in God’s plan, they would not have crucified Him, thus assuring their own doom (cf. Luke 23:34). "The key [to this section of Paul’s argument] is 1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11:7-8 — he said): "or did I commit a sin in humbling myself." This is almost sarcasm. He had written that apostles have the right to refrain from working for a living and to live off the gifts of their audiences (1 Corinthians 9:6; 1 Corinthians 9:14). Yet he had made tents in Corinth and had refused to accept gifts from the Corinthians (cf. Acts 18:3; 1 Corinthians 9:4-15). This indicated to some in Corinth that he did not believe he was an apostle. The other apostles normally accepted support

2 Corinthians 12:14-15 — would remain financially independent of them (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:15; 2 Corinthians 11:9; 2 Corinthians 11:12). He wanted their welfare and their affection more than their money. His concerns were also their spiritual maturity (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:1-4) and their complete devotion to Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2-3). As a general principle, parents (Paul) sacrifice for their children (the Corinthians), not the other way around. However in another sense children do have a responsibility to help their

2 Corinthians 4:13-14 — from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus guarantees the resurrection of believers in Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:23). God’s power would unite Paul with his readers whom God would also resurrect (cf. Ephesians 5:27; Colossians 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:14). Paul’s reference to reunion with the Corinthians in heaven probably implies his genuine love for them.

Ephesians 5:27 — her to Himself in all her glory finally, namely, without any blemishes, effects of sin (wrinkles), or anything that would diminish her glory. Positively God will eventually present the church to His Son as exclusively His and spotless (cf. Ephesians 1:4). This will happen at the Rapture when all Christians will experience full sanctification (i.e., glorification) and will join our Lord forever (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2). "Spots are caused by defilement on the outside, while wrinkles are caused by

Ephesians 5:5 — have "any inheritance," and the NASB has "an inheritance," but the Greek text omits the article: "does not have inheritance." Since Paul had already said that all believers have an inheritance in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14), he was evidently contrasting unbelievers with believers (cf. Ephesians 5:6; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:21; Matthew 19:16; Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18). His point seems to have been that this type of behavior, which marks unbelievers, should not

Philippians 1:27-30 — walk 1:27-30 The first sub-section (Philippians 1:27-30) begins with a topic sentence that expresses Paul’s desire for the Philippians. Then he proceeded to explain and to illustrate what constitutes a worthy walk (Philippians 2:1 to Philippians 4:9). "With this section we come to the heart of matters, the primary reason for having written this letter . . . And here in particular the three-way bond that holds the letter together stands out [i.e., Christ, Paul, and the Philippians].