Bible Commentaries

Genesis 15:6-7 — righteous) because of his faith. Abram’s normal response to God’s words to him was to believe them. Abram had trusted the person of God previously, but he evidently had not realized that God would give him an heir from his own body (Genesis 15:4). Now he accepted this promise of God also (cf. Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). Perhaps he believed the "counting" promises of Genesis 13:16 and Genesis 15:4-5 regarding numerous descendants, and the result was that the Lord "counted"

Exodus 1:1-21 — I. THE LIBERATION OF ISRAEL 1:1-15:21 "The story of the first half of Exodus, in broad summary, is Rescue. The story of the second half, in equally broad summary, is Response, both immediate response and continuing response. And binding together and undergirding both Rescue and Response is Presence, the Presence of Yahweh from whom both Rescue and Response ultimately derive." [Note: Durham, p. xxiii.] A. God’s preparation of Israel and Moses chs. 1-4

Psalms 90:1-17 — IV. BOOK 4: CHS. 90-106 Moses composed one of the psalms in this section of the Psalter (Psalms 90), and David wrote two of them (Psalms 101, 103). The remaining 14 are anonymous. Book 4 opens with a psalm attributed to Moses, and it closes with one in which Moses

Isaiah 53:5 — and the rest of humankind. He would not only experience affliction for us but injury as well. "Pierced through" and "crushed" describe extreme distress resulting in death (cf. Isaiah 51:9; Job 26:13; Psalms 109:22; Lamentations 3:34). The Hebrew words behind these terms are the strongest ones in that language for violent and excruciating death. [Note: Delitzsch, 2:318.] Transgressions are willful and rebellious sins, and iniquities are sins that result from the perverted quality

Isaiah 6:1 — Nevertheless, during the last part of his reign he suffered from leprosy, a judgment from the Lord for his pride (2 Kings 15:5; 2 Chronicles 26:16-23). In this respect, his life foreshadowed the history of the nation he ruled. King Uzziah died about 740 B.C., after reigning for 52 years (2 Kings 15:2; 2 Chronicles 26:3). When Uzziah died, most people in the nation would have felt a great loss. Who would lead them next, and would he provide for them all that Uzziah had? Assyria was growing in power

Zechariah 6:9-15 — manifestation of Christ in His kingdom glory (Zechariah 6:9-15) typified by the crowning of Joshua the high priest. This is the usual prophetic order: first, the judgments of the day of the Lord; then full kingdom blessing (Psalms 2:5, cf. Psalms 2:6; Isaiah 3:24-26; cf. Isaiah 4:2-6; Isaiah 10:33-34; cf. Isaiah 11:1-10; Revelation 19:19-21; cf. Revelation 20:4-6). "The eight night visions have ended, but the coronation of Joshua is closely connected with these revelations which extend in scope from Zechariah’s

Matthew 11:14-15 — would accept it. In the Greek text the conditional particle (ei) assumes for the sake of the argument that they would receive it. Assuming they would, John would fulfill Malachi’s prophecy about Elijah being Messiah’s forerunner (Malachi 4:5-6). "There is scarcely a passage in Scripture which shows more clearly that the kingdom was being offered to Israel at this time." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 153.] All amillenarians and some premillenarians, namely, covenant

Matthew 4:8-10 — affirmed that all ’authority’ in heaven and on earth had been granted to Him (Matthew 28:18)." [Note: Garlington, pp. 301-2.] Luke’s wording suggests that Satan presented all the kingdoms of the world to Jesus in a vision (Luke 4:5). It is hard to tell if Jesus’ temptations involved physical transportation or visionary transportation, but my preference is visionary transportation. This temptation would have universal significance, not just personal and national significance,

Matthew 5:1-2 — 1. The setting of the Sermon on the Mount 5:1-2 (cf. Luke 6:17-19) The "multitudes" or "crowds" consisted of the people Matthew just mentioned in Matthew 4:23-25. They comprised a larger group than the "disciples." The disciples were not just the Twelve but many others who followed Jesus and sought to learn from Him. Essentially "disciple" means learner. They did not all continue to

2 Corinthians 1:3 — in Paul’s writings. It always occurs with the person of God. It expresses both gratitude and adoration (cf. Ephesians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3). "Adored be God! is the expression of the highest veneration and thankfulness." [Note: Hodge, p. 4.] To Jesus Christ, God is both God and Father (cf. John 20:17). In His humiliation as a man, Jesus related to God as His God (cf. Mark 15:34). However within the Godhead, God was Jesus’ Father (cf. Hebrews 10:7). In other words, God was the God

Galatians 1:6-7 — purpose in writing. Here he recorded no such praise. Its absence stressed the seriousness of his readers’ error and the urgency of his appeal. The best evidence points to Paul’s writing Galatians before the Jerusalem Council, held in A.D. 49, and after he and Barnabas evangelized Asia Minor on their first missionary journey (Acts 13-14). I am assuming the South Galatia destination of the epistle. Consequently it had been only a few months since his readers had accepted the gospel that

Philippians 3:3 — circumcision. Paul was referring to the circumcision of the heart that happens when a person trusts in Jesus Christ. The alternative is trusting in self and in rite-keeping for salvation (Romans 2:25-29; Colossians 2:11; Colossians 2:13; cf. Leviticus 26:41; Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Ezekiel 44:7). The true circumcision refers to believers in the church, not that the church is the "new Israel." [Note: For refutation of the covenant view that the "true circumcision"

Hebrews 1:14 — more than in any other book of the New Testament. [Note: For a study of salvation in Hebrews, see Brenda B. Colijn, "’Let Us Approach’: Soteriology in the Epistle to the Hebrews," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39:4 (December 1996):571-86.] In some of his other uses of "inheritance" and "inherit" he referred to all Christians as inheriting from God (e.g., Hebrews 9:15; cf. Hebrews 11:8). At other times he apparently meant only faithful Christians

2 Peter overview — former letter by Peter (2Pe_3:1) that appears to be a reference to 1 Peter, though Peter may have been referring to a letter we no longer have. The author’s reference to the fact that Jesus had predicted a certain kind of death for him (2Pe_1:14) ties in with Jesus’ statement to Peter recorded in Joh_21:18. Even so, "most modern scholars do not think that the apostle Peter wrote this letter." [Note: Donald A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, p.

Jude 1:3 — of this subject must sometimes be quite negative. Delivering such a message is not as pleasant a task. The faith delivered to the saints is the special revelation of God that Scripture contains and the apostles preached (cf. Galatians 1:23; 1 Timothy 4:1). Jude’s readers needed to struggle to maintain this faith as a champion athlete labors to dominate and to subdue his or her challengers (cf. 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7-8). "To ’contend earnestly for’ (epagonizesthai) is

Jude 1:4 — importations of an alien creed, but it seems that the heretics themselves have invaded the church, bringing their doctrines with them." [Note: E. M. Sidebottom, James, Jude, 2 Peter, p. 83. Cf. Pentecost, p. 920.] "They slipped in secretly (Judges 1:4; cf. Galatians 2:4) as itinerant preachers, a common part of first-century religious life (cf. Acts 13:15; 2 John 1:7-11; Didache 11.1-12; 13.1-7). Or they arose within the community itself and later quietly brought in heretical teachings from outside

Revelation 20:2 — Four titles make the identity of the bound creature certain. The dragon is his most frequent name in Revelation (Revelation 12:3-4; Revelation 12:7; Revelation 12:13; Revelation 12:16-17; Revelation 13:2; Revelation 13:4; Revelation 13:11; Revelation 16:13). This title alludes to the serpent of old (cf. Genesis 3). This is an anacoluthon or parenthetical reference (cf. Revelation

Revelation 6 overview — understand what will take place in the future (Revelation 1:19). The following diagram places the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgements that begin to unfold here in the context of the earlier revelation concerning Daniel’s seventieth week (Daniel 9:24-27). The failure of scholars to agree on the correlation of events that have happened in church history with these judgments confirms that the events predicted here are still future (cf. Revelation 1:19; Revelation 4:1). Some postribulational interpreters

Revelation 7:5-8 — know from which tribe he or she comes, or even that he or she is an Israelite, God does. God, or His angelic agent, will select each person for sealing. There are at least 19 lists of Jacob’s sons in the Old Testament (Genesis 35:22-26; Genesis 46:8-25; Genesis 49:3-27; Exodus 1:2-5; Numbers 1:5-15; Numbers 2:3-31; Numbers 13:4-15; Numbers 26:4-51; Numbers 34:19-28; Deuteronomy 27:12-13; Deuteronomy 33:6-25; Joshua 13:7-22; Judges 5:12-18; 1 Chronicles 2:1 to 1 Chronicles 8:40; 1 Chronicles

1 Samuel 11:1-11 — 4. Saul’s effective leadership in battle 11:1-11 Israel’s king not only needed to be an admirable individual in his personal conduct, but he also needed to be an effective military commander. The writer pointed out Saul’s abilities in this area in this chapter. The nation consequently united behind him because of his success. This was the third divine indication that God had chosen Saul to lead Israel following his private anointing and his public choice by lot.