Bible Commentaries

Genesis 1:14-19 — The fourth day 1:14-19 The luminaries served four purposes. 1.    They distinguished day from night. 2.    They provided signs. 3.    They distinguished the seasons. 4.    They illuminated

Genesis 1:2 — associate the Spirit with God Himself. They thought of the Spirit as a power or influence of God. However there are several indications in the Old Testament that informed Israelites identified the Spirit as God (cf. Genesis 1:2; 2 Kings 2:9; Psalms 104:30; Ezekiel 3:12-14; Ezekiel 11:1; Zechariah 4:6). [Note: See Leon J. Wood, The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, and idem, The Prophets of Israel, pp. 85-87.] "Waters" is also capable of being interpreted the same way as "deep."

Genesis 11:9 — heaven (E[numa]E[lish] 6:50-80): Babel does not mean gate of God, but ’confusion’ and ’folly.’ Far from its temple’s top reaching up to heaven, it is so low that God has to descend from heaven just to see it! (Genesis 11:4-9)." [Note: Wenham, Genesis 1-15, pp. xlviii-xlix.] This was the original Babylon that forever after was the city most characterized by rebellion against God’s authority. It stands as a symbol of organized rebellion against God elsewhere

Genesis 15:18 — salvation from ’Babylon,’ just as Exodus 20:2 grounds the Sinai covenant in an act of divine salvation from Egypt. The coming of God’s presence in the awesome fire and darkness of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:18; Deuteronomy 4:11) appears to be intentionally reflected in Abraham’s pyrotechnic vision (Genesis 15:12; Genesis 15:17). In the Lord’s words to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-16) the connection between Abraham’s covenant and the Sinai covenant is explicitly

Genesis 22:1-8 — discipline." [Note: Thomas, p. 195.] God was testing Abraham’s love for Himself as well as his faith (Genesis 22:2). Such testing (Heb. nsh) shows what someone is really like, and it usually involves difficulty or hardship (cf. Exodus 15:25; Exodus 16:4; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:16; Deuteronomy 13:3; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1; Judges 3:4; 1 Kings 10:1; Daniel 1:12; Daniel 1:14). "This scene presents the radical nature of true faith: tremendous demands and incredible blessings."

Exodus 15:22-26 — Israelites to go a three-day journey into the wilderness (Exodus 3:18; Exodus 5:3; Exodus 8:27), but now, having gone three days, the people found no water suitable for drinking. The water at the oasis later called Marah was brackish (Exodus 15:23-24). This condition made the people complain again (cf. Exodus 14:11-12). In three days they had forgotten God’s miracles at the Red Sea, much less the plagues. This should prove that miracles do not result in great faith. Rather great faith comes

Nehemiah 2:9-20 — 4. The return to Jerusalem 2:9-20 Because of the opposition of the Jews’ neighbors, Artaxerxes sent a military escort to accompany Nehemiah to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:9). It is not certain how many Jews traveled with Nehemiah on this occasion. The

Proverbs 10:1-16 — a man should conduct his life from day to day. This logical topical order appears in many New Testament epistles, where the saved person is first identified, and then the daily life he should live is described [e.g., Romans 1-5, 6-8; Ephesians 1-3, 4-6]." [Note: Irving L. Jensen, Proverbs, p. 64.] "The main thought is that moral goodness and industry bring prosperity, and wickedness and indolence adversity . . ." [Note: Toy, p. 196.] There are 184 maxims in chapters 10-15 and 191

Leviticus 1:1-17 — what the worshipper does and what the priest does. The worshipper brings the animal, kills it, skins it or guts it, and chops it up. The priest sprinkles the blood on the altar and places the dismembered carcass on the fire." [Note: Wenham, p. 49.] "The sense of God’s presence, which permeates the entire book, is indicated forty-two times by the expression ’before the LORD [Leviticus 1:3, passim].’" [Note: Schultz, p. 30.] With this offering the worshiper was seeking

Deuteronomy 22:13-30 — first case (Deuteronomy 22:13-19) is of a man who marries a woman and then falsely charges her with being a harlot (not being a virgin when he married her). If the girl could prove her virginity, her husband would have to pay a large fine (cf. 2 Samuel 24:24) to her father and remain married to the girl. Note that his law clarifies that God permitted divorce among the Israelites in some situations (because of the hardness of their hearts; cf. Deuteronomy 22:28-29; Deuteronomy 21:14; Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

Acts 3:19-21 — the Messiah. Now they needed to change their minds and believe He is the Messiah. "True repentance is admitting that what God says is true, and because it is true, to change our mind about our sins and about the Saviour." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:413.] The Greek verb metanoeo, translated "repent," does not mean to be sorry for sin or to turn from sin. These are the results or fruits of repentance. "The conclusive evidence that repentance does not mean to be sorry for sin or to

Philippians 1:1 — 1:1; Judges 1:1; Revelation 1:1). It stressed the strong commitment of the Christian to his or her Lord. The Septuagint translators of the Old Testament used doulos (singular) to describe Moses and other dedicated prophets (Psalms 105:26; Jeremiah 25:4; Amos 3:7) as did John when he described Moses (Revelation 15:3). "Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery,

Colossians 2:8 — Corinthians 15:1-58; Acts 17:22-30]. . . . "I take the word, then, to be limited by the context; the Colossian philosophy is in mind, as well as any other, of course, which is not in harmony with divine revelation." [Note: Johnson, 476:302-03, 307. See David L. Mosher, "St. Paul and Philosophy," Crux 8:1 (November 1970):3-9.] "Empty deception" describes "philosophy." This is clear from the fact that the two nouns are the objects of one preposition,

1 Timothy 5:17-18 — 3:1-7) and now he described them as ruling, preaching, and teaching. From this verse we learn that the overall duty of the elders was ruling the church in the sense of directing its affairs and giving oversight to all its activities (cf. 1 Peter 5:1-4). What were the single and double honor to which Paul referred? The single honor most likely alludes to the respect that came to the elder for being an elder. Paul had previously commanded that widows be given honor (1 Timothy 5:3-16). Now he commands

James 2 overview — PARTIALITY AND VITAL FAITH CH. 2 "In the epistle of James, the Holy Spirit has given the church a commentary on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Sermon on the Plain, a commentary that is rich in applications for daily life." [Note: Stulac, p. 34. Cf. Davids, pp. 47-50.] The similarities appear both in subject matter and in structure. Note the parallels between Matthew 7:1-27 and James 2:1-26 below. [Note: Stulac, p. 92.] Matthew 7James 2Matthew 7:1-2Prohibition against judgingJames 2:1Prohibition

1 Peter 1:2 — elect because He knew beforehand they would believe the gospel (the Arminian position). God chose them because He determined beforehand that they would believe the gospel (the Calvinist position; cf. Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 1 Peter 5:13). [Note: For further explanation of the Calvinist position, see L. S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, 7:158-60.] "When applied to God’s knowledge of persons (whether of Jesus or his people), ’foreknowledge’ is more

1 John 2:22-23 — 1957 ed., s.v. "Gnosticism," by John Rutherford; or for a summary of Gnostic teaching, see Dillow, pp. 158-61; and Barclay, pp. 8-15.] They considered Jesus and Christ as two distinct entities. [Note: Ryrie, "The First . . .," p. 1471.] Docetists taught that Jesus was not truly a man and therefore not our Savior. Followers of Cerinthus believed that Jesus was not fully God but that God only came upon Him at His baptism and departed from Him before His crucifixion. [Note: See Barker,

Jude overview — Him while He was ministering (Joh_7:5). James became a believer after Jesus’ resurrection (1Co_15:7), and we may assume that Jude did too. Jesus’ brothers were part of the praying group that awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit (Act_1:14). They were well known in the early church (1Co_9:5). Jude’s many allusions to the Old Testament suggest that his original readers were very familiar with it. While this could have been true of any Christians, it would have been particularly true

1 Samuel 2:1-10 — Hannah articulated her belief that God rewards trust with blessing. He turns barrenness into fertility, not just in her case but universally. Mary, the mother of Jesus, incorporated some of Hannah’s song in her own "Magnificat" (Luke 1:46-55). "The Song of Hannah appears near the beginning of 1 Samuel, and the Song of David appears near the end of 2 Samuel. These two remarkably similar hymns of praise thus constitute a kind of inclusio, framing the main contents of the books and

2 Samuel 19:9-43 — David’s return to Jerusalem 19:9-43 The only thing the people could do after Absalom had fallen was to return to their former king (2 Samuel 19:11-12). Absalom had found his strongest support among the people of Judah. David did not want the Judahites to conclude that by supporting Absalom