Bible Commentaries

Luke 23:39 — other. . . . It is only the grace of God in the cross of Christ that can instantly transform a reviling sinner into an attitude of saving faith and confession. The repentant thief began to see (1) the justice of his own punishment (Luke 23:41); (2) the sinless character of Christ (Luke 23:41); (3) the Deity of Christ (Luke 23:42); (4) a living Christ beyond the grave (Luke 23:42); and (5) a kingdom beyond the cross, with Jesus as its coming King (Luke 23:42)." [Note: The New Scofield

Luke 24:13-14 — Luke described the two men as "two of them." The antecedent seems to be the apostles (Luke 24:10). Luke used this word in its broad meaning rather than as a synonym for the Eleven (cf. Luke 24:33; Acts 14:4; Acts 14:14; et al.). These apostles were going somewhere, but they had no good news. The day in view was Sunday, the day of the Resurrection,

John 10:1-6 — evidently chose the figure of a good shepherd to contrast Himself with the bad shepherds who were misleading God’s sheep. Many Old Testament passages castigated Israel’s shepherds who failed in their duty (cf. Isaiah 56:9-12; Jeremiah 23:1-4; Jeremiah 25:32-38; Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 11). God was Israel’s Shepherd (cf. Psalms 23:1; Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 40:10-11). The shepherd metaphor also was a good one to picture Jesus’ voluntary self-sacrifice for His people. "The shepherd

John 13:30 — would be redundant if all he wanted to do was give a time reference. In view of his light and darkness motif, it seems that he wanted to point out the spiritual significance of Judas’ departure both for Judas and for Jesus (cf. Luke 22:53; John 1:4-5; et al.). "As the Light of the world was about to depart and return to the Father, the darkness had come at last (cf. Luke 22:53). Again the contrast in imagery is clear. For John, Jesus is the Light of the world, and those who believe in Him

John 15:8 — believers glorifies the Father. Answered prayer is one form of fruitfulness. All fruitfulness springs ultimately from the Son, the vine. Therefore it is really the Son who is bringing glory to the Father through His abiding disciples (cf. John 13:31; John 14:13; John 17:4). The believer’s fruitfulness is one means by which the Son glorifies the Father. Fruit-bearing demonstrates that a believer is one of Jesus’ disciples (cf. Matthew 7:20; Luke 6:43-44). Notice that Jesus did not say that a

John 16:12-13 — These verses begin the fifth and final paraclete passage in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 15:26-27; John 16:7-15). The passage focuses on the completion of the revelation that Jesus brought from the Father (cf. John 1:1; John 1:14; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:1-4). The New Testament consistently views the revelation

John 20:24-25 — Thomas’ initial unbelief 20:24-25 John gave his readers the Aramaic and Greek names of this member of the Twelve, now the Eleven: "Thomas" and "Didymus" respectively (cf. John 11:16; John 14:5). John’s previous pictures of this disciple present him as a

John 9:3 — as an indication of divine displeasure, but Jesus saw it as an opportunity for divine grace. There is no punctuation in the Greek text, so it may help to understand Jesus’ meaning to omit the period at the end of John 9:3 and to read John 9:3-4 as follows. "But that the works of God might be displayed in him, we must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day."

Acts 18:14-16 — spiritual matters. That may have been true, but it is not what the text means. Really he was absolutely impartial and refused to involve himself in a dispute over which he had no jurisdiction. He refused to mix church and state matters. [Note: See McGee, 4:594.] Gallio’s verdict effectively made Christianity legitimate in the Roman Empire. However it is going too far to say that Gallio’s decision made Christianity an officially recognized religion in the Roman Empire. [Note: Witherington,

Acts 19:9 — Tyrannus. Tyrannus (lit. Tyrant, probably a nickname of this teacher and or landlord) made his auditorium available to Paul during the afternoons. The Western text (i.e., Codex Beza), one of the ancient copies of Acts, added that this was from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Normally this was siesta time when people rested before resuming work after the heat of the day had subsided. "The old sequence of events unfolded, monotonously true to form. It was not lack of sad experience which led Paul in chapters

Acts 20:8-9 — (Gr. lampades hikani, lit. many torches) suggests that it was the combination of a long message and lack of oxygen that caused Eutychus to fall asleep. The Greek word translated "young man" (meanias) elsewhere describes a boy of eight to 14 years old. However, his name suggests that he may have been a slave, in which case he could have been in his thirties. [Note: Witherington, p. 607.] Doctor Luke pronounced Eutychus (lit. fortunate) dead. "The length of Paul’s preaching may

Acts 21:15-16 — ministry to a close and opened another. His return to Jerusalem was an essential part of God’s plan to send Paul to Rome. This plan unfolds in the rest of chapter 21. In all, Paul traveled about 2,700 miles on his third missionary journey (cf. Acts 14:28; Acts 18:22). [Note: Beitzel, p. 177.] "Jesus too journeyed to Jerusalem, and during his journey prophesied concerning his impending sufferings; he was arrested and tried, appearing before the Jews and the Romans . . ." [Note:

Acts 21:31-32 — the 1,000 soldiers stationed there. When he saw the riot, he summoned soldiers and centurions (commanders of 100 soldiers each) and ran down the steps of the fortress and into the court of the Gentiles. Levites constituted the Temple police (cf. Acts 4:1), but these Roman troops were responsible to keep peace in the whole city. [Note: Ibid., pp. 211-12.] The Jews stopped beating Paul when they saw the commander and the other soldiers. "One thing Rome insisted on-civil order. A riot was an unforgivable

Acts 23:2 — Ananias, who was a Sadducee, had already made up his mind that Paul, who had been a Pharisee, was guilty. An officer of the high priest had also struck Jesus as he testified before the Sanhedrin (cf. John 18:20-23). Ananias became high priest in A.D. 47. The Jewish high priesthood was a political appointment during Rome’s occupation of Palestine. Josephus painted Ananias as a despicable person. He seized for his own use tithes that should have gone to the ordinary priests and gave large bribes

Acts 7:13-14 — On their second visit, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, who could not believe he was their ruler, and he revealed his family’s identity to Pharaoh (Genesis 45:1-4). In the future Israel will finally recognize Jesus as her Messiah (Zechariah 12:10-14). Joseph then invited Jacob and his family, who numbered 75, to move to Egypt (Genesis 45:9-10). I take it that this was the number of people invited to Egypt.

Romans 1:5 — lays down what a man must do; the gospel lays down what God has done." [Note: Barclay, p. 3.]   "Some one has truly said that the Gospel is ’good news’ not ’good advice,’ . . ." [Note: Thomas, p. 43.] Faith is obedience to God because God commands everyone to believe in Christ (cf. John 6:29; Acts 17:30-31). This verse is not teaching that saving faith always results in ongoing obedience to God, though that is normally its effect. [Note: See

Romans 8:5 — Here Paul began to elaborate the difference between "flesh" and "Spirit." This distinction is difficult to grasp because both terms have more than one meaning. To "walk according to the flesh" (Romans 8:4) means to carry out in conduct what the human nature desires. To "be according to the flesh" (Romans 8:5) means to allow the human nature to dominate one’s life. To "be in the flesh" (Romans 8:8) is to be unregenerate, to be

1 Corinthians 10:10 — dissatisfactions with God’s provisions for them come out in this epistle. Not the least of these was their rejection of some of the Lord’s servants who had come to minister to them because they preferred some others (1 Corinthians 1:10 to 1 Corinthians 4:21). They did not appreciate Paul’s earlier instruction to break off company with idolaters and the sexually immoral (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). Another example is the impatience of the "strong" in the church with the "weak" (1

1 Corinthians 11:1 — Paul recommended that his readers follow his example of exercising and limiting their Christian liberty, glorifying God, and giving no offense, as well as in other areas of their lives (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:16). [Note: See Robert L. Plummer, "Imitation of Paul and the Church’s Missionary Role in 1 Corinthians," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44:2 (June 2001):219-35.] All of chapters 8, 9, and 10, including 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 7:26 — Lord’s return for us could end them at any time. If this is correct, we live in the same present distress as the Corinthian believers did. It is a time of distress because of the hostility of unbelievers and increasing apostasy (cf. 1 Timothy 4; 2 Timothy 3). Committed Christians constantly face opposition, antagonism, and stress because we hold values, morals, and priorities that the world rejects. The Apostle Paul consistently viewed the inter-advent age as a time of crisis and distress. The