Bible Commentaries

Genesis 4:17-26 — 3. The spread of civilization and sin 4:17-26 Cain prospered even though he rebelled against God. This is another indication of God’s grace. Cain’s descendants took the lead in building cities, developing music, advancing agriculture, creating weapons, and spreading civilization. However the descendants of Seth made an even more important advance, the worship of God.

Job 11:1-6 — Zophar’s rebuke of Job 11:1-6 Four things about Job bothered Zophar: his loquacity (Job 11:2), his boasting (Job 11:3), his self-righteousness (Job 11:4), and his ignorance (Job 11:5). Job 11:5-6 are full of sarcasm. Zophar believed Job deserved much worse punishment than God was giving him (Job 11:6 b).

Psalms 19:9 — The special revelation of God in Scripture is also free from any mixture of truth and error; it is consistent with reality. Consequently it is enduring and completely righteous. The word "fear" refers to the whole of divine law. Knowledge of God’s law puts the fear (reverential trust) of God in people’s hearts (cf. Deuteronomy 4:10 AV).

Psalms 26:1-12 — Psalms 26 In this individual lament psalm, which is similar to Psalms 25 but does not contain confession, David asked for God’s vindication because of his personal integrity. Psalms 26 (Psalms 26:6-8), 27 (Psalms 26:4-7), and 28 (Psalms 26:2) all reveal David’s love for God’s sanctuary and so uncover his love for the Lord.

Deuteronomy 24:8-4 — 9. Laws arising from the ninth commandment 24:8-25:4 The ninth commandment is, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Deuteronomy 5:20). There may be a deliberate descending order of hierarchy in the list of offended parties in this section beginning with the highest to the lowest. [Note: Kaufman, pp. 141-42.]

Luke 5:33 — The religious leaders (Luke 5:30; Mark 2:18) and John’s disciples (Matthew 9:14; Mark 2:18) raised the question of fasting. They did so because it was another practice, besides eating with sinners, that marked Jesus and His disciples as unusual (cf. Luke 7:34). Since Jesus preached repentance (Luke 5:32), why did He not expect

John 14:17 — Jesus now identified the Helper as the Spirit of truth (cf. John 15:26; John 16:13), that is, the truthful Spirit who would bear witness to and communicate the truth (cf. John 14:6; John 1:32-33; John 3:5-8; John 4:23-24; John 6:63; John 7:37-39). "To be filled with the Spirit is the same as to be controlled by the Word. The Spirit of Truth uses the Word of truth to guide us into the will and the work of God." [Note:

John 14:21 — Jesus was describing the believer’s obedience results in God expressing His love for him or her without restraint. When there is disobedience, God does not express His love as fully because He chooses to discipline the believer (cf. Hebrews 12:4-13). In the context (John 14:18-20), this was a promise that Jesus would disclose Himself to the Eleven after His resurrection and an encouragement for them to continue obeying Him and loving Him. However that disclosure was only typical of many others

John 8:24 — claiming to be God (cf. John 8:59). The NIV "the one I claim to be" is an interpretation of Jesus’ meaning that is perhaps more misleading than helpful. Jesus was alluding to the title that God gave Himself in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14; Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 43:13; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 48:12). Essentially "I am" means the eternally self-existent being. [Note: See Charles Gianotti, "The Meaning of the Divine Name YHWH,"

John 8:56 — father. The occasion of Abraham’s rejoicing, to which Jesus referred, is unclear. The commentators have suggested various incidents in his life that Moses recorded (i.e., Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 15:17-21; Genesis 17:17; Genesis 21:6; Genesis 22:5-14). I think the most likely possibility is Genesis 12:3, the prediction that God would bless the whole world through Abraham. In any case, Jesus said that Abraham anticipated His day. Jesus was claiming that He fulfilled what Abraham looked forward to.

Acts 19:23 — Christianity, the Way (cf. Acts 19:9; Acts 9:2; Acts 16:17; Acts 18:25-26; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:14; Acts 24:22), had such an influence in Ephesian society that the local pagan worship suffered. "Cassidy has rightly pointed out that the use of the phrase ’the Way’ ’identifies the disciples as constituting a socially

Acts 5:9-10 — question to her means virtually the same thing as his "why" question to Ananias (Acts 5:3). Putting God to the test means seeing how far one can go in disobeying God-in this case lying to Him-before He will judge (cf. Deuteronomy 6:16; Matthew 4:7). This is very risky business. Some readers of Acts have criticized Peter for dealing with Sapphira and Ananias so harshly. Nevertheless the text clearly indicates that in these matters Peter was under the Holy Spirit’s control (Acts 4:31) even

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 — Satan had blinded their minds. It was not because Paul had sought to deceive his hearers by making the gospel obscure. The gospel is obscure to the lost until the Spirit enlightens their minds (2 Corinthians 3:16-17; cf. John 16:8-11; 1 Corinthians 2:14-16). "Apparently, Paul is responding to criticism that, to some, his gospel is no revelation at all, in other words, it is ’veiled.’ . . . From whom, according to them, would his gospel be ’veiled’? Their reply

Galatians 4:12-14 — experience, we must first become one with them in Christian compassion." [Note: John R. W. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians, p. 113.] Evidently Paul suffered with some physical ailment or handicap when he preached in Galatia (Galatians 4:13). The Galatians had put up with some bodily affliction Paul had without despising him when he had evangelized them because they so valued the good news that he brought them. The commentators have suggested many different ailments that might have

1 Thessalonians 1:10 — return. "To the extent that the Thessalonians accepted the resurrection as an act of God, it would give them confidence in the prospect of Christ’s coming in power." [Note: Ibid., p. 87.] "Believers live anticipating a coronation (2 Timothy 4:8) rather than a condemnation." [Note: Martin, p. 66.] "Wrath is the holy revulsion of God’s being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness." [Note: John Murray, The Epistle to the Romans , 1:35.] When Paul spoke

Hebrews 2:1-4 — C. The Danger of Negligence (The First Warning) 2:1-4 Having just encouraged his readers with a reminder of God’s help for the faithful (Hebrews 1:14), the writer next urged his readers to be faithful. He did so to warn them of the possibility of retrogressing spiritually and consequently losing

1 John 4:15 — God’s Son is not the only condition for abiding in God. It is one evidence that one is abiding. One not abiding may or may not make this confession. Confession is the last step, the step of bearing witness (cf. 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:23; 1 John 4:3; Romans 10:9-10). "The notion of God ’abiding’ in someone has rich associations with John’s Gospel, where meno occurs more than three dozen times. The word can mean simply to dwell somewhere; one’s domicile is where one

1 John 4:7-16 — 3. God’s Indwelling Recognized 4:7-16 John now left behind his warning about false spirits that his readers might mistake as the Holy Spirit, spirits that lure believers onto worldly paths. He returned to one of his central themes, namely, love for the brethren. As 1 Corinthians 13

Revelation 1:10 — The Holy Spirit appears to have caught John up and projected him in his spirit to a future time in a vision (cf. Revelation 4:2; Revelation 17:3; Revelation 21:10; Ezekiel 3:12; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:1; Ezekiel 11:24; Ezekiel 43:5). [Note: See F. J. A. Hort, The Apocalypse of St. John, p. 15.] The "Lord’s day" probably refers to Sunday. [Note:

Revelation 14:7 — called earth-dwellers to fear God (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:13; Luke 12:5), to acknowledge their accountability to Him (cf. Romans 1:32). To give God glory means to repent having acknowledged His attributes (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 4:10; Acts 14:15-17). [Note: Swete, p. 182; Lenski, p. 430.] The positive response to this invitation appears in Revelation 15:4 and the negative response in Revelation 16:9; Revelation 16:11; Revelation 16:21. The reason for fearing God is that the hour