Bible Commentaries

Matthew 21:23 — Jesus taught in the temple courtyard or perhaps under one of the colonnades that surrounded it. The chief priests were high officials in the temple. At this time in Israel’s history the Roman authorities appointed these leaders (cf. Matthew 2:4). They constituted part of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Judaism. The elders were evidently non-priests who represented leading families in Israel. They also had representation on the Sanhedrin. [Note: Jeremias, Jerusalem in . . ., pp. 222-32.]

Matthew 27:51 — The inner veil of the temple is probably in view here, the one separating the holy place from the temple courtyard (cf. Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 6:19-20; Hebrews 9:11-28; Hebrews 10:19-22). [Note: France, The Gospel . . ., pp. 1079-80.] "According to Jewish Tradition, there were, indeed, two Veils before the entrance to the Most Holy Place (Yoma Matthew 27:1). . . .

Mark 6:2-3 — to use the father’s name, whether he were alive or dead. A man was called the son of his mother only when his father was unknown." [Note: Hiebert, p. 139.] Formerly the people of Nazareth had referred to Jesus as Joseph’s son (Luke 4:22). Evidently they now called Him Mary’s son as a deliberate insult implying that He was an illegitimate child (cf. Judges 11:1-2; John 8:41; John 9:29). The Jews did not speak insultingly about such a person’s birth if they believed he

Luke 19:1-10 — should use what wealth they have. The section closes with a summary of Jesus’ ministry that is really the key verse in this Gospel. Zaccheus displayed traits of the tax collector in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). They shared the same despised occupation, the same sense of personal need, and the same childlike humility and receptivity toward God. He also resembles the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23). He, too, had wealth, but his response to Jesus was precisely

Luke 22:43-44 — Only Luke mentioned the angel who strengthened Jesus (cf. Luke 9:26; Luke 12:8-9; Luke 15:10; Luke 16:22; Matthew 4:11; Mark 1:13). Probably he did this to help his readers realize the supernatural strength that praying brings (cf. 1 Kings 19:5-6; Daniel 10:17-18). However the angel’s presence did not remove the agony that Jesus felt as He prayed. The implication

Luke 24:49 — Having explained the disciples’ responsibility, Jesus next announced what He would do. The promise of the Father refers to the Holy Spirit that God promised in the Old Testament to pour out on His people (Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:3; Ezekiel 39:29; Joel 2:28-29; cf. John 14:16-17). These Old Testament prophecies are of an outpouring of the Spirit in the kingdom, as the contexts indicate, but a similar outpouring of the same Spirit came on Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5; Acts 2:16). It

Luke 5:25-26 — to glorify God and to encourage his readers to do the same in this Gospel and in Acts (cf. Luke 2:20). The amazed reaction of the crowd recalls the same response of the people on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:11-12; cf. Luke 7:16; Luke 13:17; Luke 18:43; Acts 3:9; Acts 8:8). Perhaps Luke meant to draw the reader’s attention to "today," the last word that is also the first word Jesus spoke when He announced the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2 a (Luke 4:21). The "day" of the Messiah’s

John 13:23 — This is John’s first reference to himself as the beloved disciple (cf. John 19:26-27; John 20:2-9; John 21:1; John 21:20-25; Mark 14:47; Mark 14:51). He enjoyed an intimate relationship with Jesus similar to the one Jesus enjoyed with His Father (cf. John 1:18). John was not claiming that Jesus loved him more than the other disciples by describing himself this way. Rather the description

John 15:16 — Again Jesus stressed that the initiative in the relationship between Him and His disciples lay with Himself, not them (cf. John 1:39; John 1:42-43; John 6:70; John 10:27). He probably did this because of their tendency to think too highly of themselves and since in their culture it was common for disciples to choose their rabbi. Even today students love to seek out the teacher of their choice

John 3:2 — avoid unnecessary conflict with his brethren. Nighttime probably promised a greater chance for uninterrupted conversation as well. Whenever else John referred to night in his Gospel the word has moral and spiritual connotations of darkness (cf. John 9:4; John 11:10; John 13:30). Nicodemus was in spiritual and intellectual darkness as well as natural darkness when he came to Jesus (cf. John 3:10). [Note: E. W. Hengstenberg, Commentary on the Gospel of John , 1:157-58; R. H. Lightfoot, St. John’s

Acts 14:15-18 — By recording the substance of what Paul and Barnabas said here, Luke preserved a sample of their preaching to pagan audiences (cf. Acts 13:16-41; Acts 17:22-31). "With a pagan audience it was necessary to begin a stage further back with the proclamation of the one true God." [Note: Marshall, The Acts . . ., p. 238.] In earlier times God had manifested the knowledge of Himself to

Acts 20:33-35 — 20:35) is not in Scripture. It may have come down to Paul by oral or written tradition, or he may have been summarizing Jesus’ teaching (e.g., Luke 6:38). Paul often related his exhortations to Jesus’ teachings or example (cf. Romans 12-14; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12).

Acts 4:1 — developments in biblical law, and they denied the doctrine of bodily resurrection (Acts 23:8) and so disagreed with Peter’s teaching on that subject (cf. John 12:10). They believed that the messianic age had begun with the Maccabean heroes (168-134 B.C.) and continued under the Sadducees’ supervision, so they rejected Peter’s identification of Jesus as the Messiah. [Note: See Steve Mason, "Chief Priests, Sadducees, Pharisees and Sanhedrin in Acts," in The Book of Acts in

Acts 4:2 — the so-called religious leaders, the liberals, those who claimed to be born again. They actually became enemies of the preaching of the gospel. It was amazing to me to find out how many of them wanted to destroy my radio ministry." [Note: McGee, 4:526.] Having worked with Dr. McGee in his church, I know that he sought to help people physically as well as spiritually. His point here was that spiritual help is more important than physical help.

Acts 7:2-3 — Genesis 15:7; Nehemiah 9:7). Genesis 12:1-3 records God’s instruction for Abraham to leave his homeland to go to a foreign country that God would show him. Stephen was quoting from the Septuagint translation of Genesis 12:1. [Note: Barrett, p. 342.] According to Rackham, this is one of 15 historical problems in Stephen’s speech, but these problems include additions to previous revelation as well as apparent contradictions. [Note: Rackham, pp. 99-102. See Gleason L. Archer, Encyclopedia

Acts 9:30 — rather than forced. Saul remained in the province of Cilicia until Barnabas sought him out and brought him to Syrian Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). This was some six years later. We have no record of Saul’s activities during this period (probably A.D. 37-43) except that many of his experiences that he described in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27; 2 Corinthians 12:1-9 seem to fit into these silent years. If they do, we know that Saul was active in ministry gaining experience that fitted him for what we read he

Acts 9:31 — Saul’s departure from Palestine brought greater peace to the churches there. He was an extremely controversial figure among the Jews because of his conversion. Peaceful conditions are conducive to effective evangelism and church growth (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1-4). The church continued to experience four things: inward strengthening, a proper attitude and relationship to God (in contrast to Judaism), the comfort (encouragement, Gr. paraklesis) provided by the Holy Spirit, and numerical growth. Beside this verse,

Romans 7:7-12 — 2. The law’s activity 7:7-12 Paul wrote that the believer is dead to both sin (Romans 6:2) and the Law (Romans 7:4). Are they in some sense the same? The answer is no (Romans 7:7). The apostle referred to the relationship between sin and the Law in Romans 7:5, but now he developed it more fully. Essentially his argument was that the Law is not sinful simply because

1 Corinthians 3:3 — for the flesh to fulfill its desires rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit. They were not only immature believers but also carnal believers. The carnal, fleshly believer is the fourth type of person Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 2:14 to 1 Corinthians 3:4. Various students of this section of the epistle have understood Paul as describing several different kinds of people. Some believe he saw only a difference between unbelievers (natural) and believers (spiritual). [Note: E.g., John

1 Corinthians 9:27 — Obviously Paul was not speaking of self-discipline in the physical realm alone. He also had in mind moral discipline and discipline in the amoral areas of his life including voluntary curtailment of personal rights and liberties (cf. ch. 8; 1 Timothy 4:8). [Note: See Jerry M. Hullinger, "The Historical Background of Paul’s Athletic Allusions," Bibliotheca Sacra 161:643 July-September 2004):343-59.] We must be careful not to confuse the fear of disqualification with the fear of damnation.