Bible Commentaries

Romans 14:15 — selfish man who so uses his Christian liberty as to lead a weak brother to tamper with his conscience is art and part in that ruin. The wanton contempt such liberty shows for the spirit and example of Christ is emphasised both here and in 1 Corinthians 8:11 f. Ne pluris feceris tuum cibum quam Christus vitam suam .

1 Corinthians 14:2-3 — short of disclosure, tantalizing the Church, which hears and hears not. πνεύματι , dat [2021] of manner or instr., “with the spirit,” but without the “understanding” ( νοῦς : 1 Corinthians 14:14 ff.; cf. note to 1 Corinthians 12:8 ). “But he who prophesies does speak to men edification and exhortation and comfort.” παράκλησις and παραμυθία are distinct from οἰκοδομή : prophetic speech serves for ( a ) “the further upbuilding of the Christian life, ( b ) the

1 Corinthians 15:25 — say: “ Every one of the foes proscribed in the Messiah’s charter must submit, before He can present to His Father a perfect kingdom”; see parls., for other applications of this cardinal O.T. dictum. On δεῖ , see note to 1 Corinthians 8:2 . ἄχρις οὗ radically “up to,” rather than “until, (the time at) which” in later Gr [2377] takes sbj [2378] of future contingency dispensing with ἄν (Wr [2379] , p. 371) .The words of Psalms 110:0 . are freely adapted: θῇ gets

2 Corinthians 10:5 — interpretation, and hence as possessed of a certainty to which the demonstrations of philosophy, however cogent, could not attain. All Truth must be loyal to “the obedience of Christ,” who was Himself “the Truth” ( cf. 2 Corinthians 13:8 ).

2 Corinthians 11:31 — Corinthians 11:31 . ὁ Θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ κ . τ . λ .: the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed for evermore (see on 2 Corinthians 1:3 , and for ὁ ὤν as applied to God, “the self-existent one,” cf. Exodus 3:14 , Wis 13:1 , Revelation 1:8 ), knoweth that I lie not ( cf. 2 Corinthians 12:6 ). This solemn asseveration belongs (see reff.) to what follows , and not to the statements which precede it. If the text is not corrupt, it would seem that the Apostle intended now to illustrate

2 Corinthians 11:32 — could not have been before A.D. 34, for coins of Tiberius prove Damascus to have been under direct Roman administration in that year. Tiberius was unlikely to have handed Damascus over to Aretas (fourth of the name), the hereditary chief ( cf. 2Ma 5:8 ) of the Nabathæan Arabs; for up to the close of the reign of Tiberius military operations were being carried on against Aretas by the legate of Syria. Hence Damascus was probably not ceded to Aretas until the reign of Caligula, and consequently this

2 Corinthians 5:14 — supreme motive of the Christian life; but however true this is in itself, it is not the meaning of the Apostle here. The genitive of the person after ἀγάπη is in St. Paul’s Epistles always subjective ( cf. ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ , Romans 5:5 ; Romans 8:39 , chap. 2 Corinthians 13:13 , 2 Thessalonians 3:5 , and cf. also Romans 15:30 , Ephesians 2:4 , Colossians 1:13 , and for ἡ ἀγ . τοῦ Χρ . reff. above); i.e. , “the Love of God” and “the Love of Christ” signify with him the

Galatians 5:13 — Galatians 2:10 and 2 Thessalonians 2:7 ; and the ellipsis of the verb after μή is common in rhetorical passages. ἀφορμήν . This term was applied in military language to a base of operations, and generally to any starting-point for action. In Romans 7:8 ; Romans 7:11 , 2 Corinthians 11:12 it denotes an opening for sin, as it does here. δουλεύετε . This injunction contains an instructive paradox. Christians are freed from the trammels of outward Law, not that they may please themselves, but that they

1 Thessalonians 4:17 — on his arrival. What further functions are assigned to the saints, thus incorporated in the retinue of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 3:13 ; cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 ), whether, e.g. , they are to sit as assessors at the judgment (Sap. 1 Thessalonians 3:8 ; 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 ; Luke 22:30 ) Paul does not stop to state here. His aim is to reassure the Thessalonians about the prospects of their dead in relation to the Lord, not to give any complete programme of the future (so Matthew 24:31 ; Did. x.,

1 Timothy 1:13 — Corinthians 7:25 ; 1 Corinthians 15:10 , 2 Corinthians 4:1 . ἀγνοῶν ἐποίησα : A possible echo of the Saying from the Cross recorded in Luke 23:34 , οὐ γὰρ οἴδασιν τί ποιοῦσιν . See also John 15:21 ; John 16:3 , Acts 3:17 ; Acts 13:27 , 1 Corinthians 2:8 . There is a remarkable parallel in The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Judah xix. 3, ἠλέησέ με ὅτι ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ τοῦτο ἐποίησα ) dated by Charles between 109 106 B.C. ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ does not so much qualify ἀγνοῶν , as correct a possible notion that

1 Timothy 6:19 — to the condensation of language does not distress those who read in a devout rather than in a critical spirit. For the sentiment cf. Matthew 6:19-20 . There is some support given to the conjecture of Lamb-Bos, θέμα λίαν , by the parallel from Tob 4:8 sq . cited by Bengel, μὴ φοβοῦ ποιεῖν ἐλεημοσύνην · θέμα γὰρ ἀγαθὸν θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ εἰς ἡμέραν ἀνάγκης . See, on the other hand, what Sir 1:15 says of Wisdom, μετὰ ἀνθρώπων θεμέλιον αἰῶνος ἐνόσσευσεν . θεμέλιος is used metaphorically also in reff.

2 Timothy 3:14 — blunder here, quae … credita sunt tibi . This would be the translation of ἐπιστεύθης . πιστόομαί τι means to have received confirmation of the truth of a thing . Bengel, rendering “fidelis et firmus es redditus,” compares Psalms 77:0 (78):8, οὐκ ἐπιστώθη μετὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῆς , and 37, οὐδὲ ἐπιστώθησαν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ αὐτοῦ . εἰδὼς παρὰ τίνων ἔμαθες : It has to be remembered that St. Paul is speaking of moral, not intellectual, authority. The truths for which St. Paul is contending

2 Timothy 4:12 — absence from that of the others. Demas had forsaken the apostle; and Crescens and Titus had gone , perhaps on their own initiative; Tychicus had been sent away by St. Paul himself. For Tychicus, see Acts 20:4 , Ephesians 6:21-22 , Colossians 4:7-8 , Titus 3:12 ; and the art. in Hastings’ D. B . εἰς Ἔφσον : If the emphasis in the clause lies on ἀπέστειλα , as has been just suggested, the difficulty of harmonising εἰς Ἔφεσον with the common belief that Timothy was himself in chief authority

James 1:10 — James 1:10 . ὁ πλούσιος : equally a “brother”; cf. the whole section James 2:1-13 below. ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου …: these words, together with ἐξήρανεν τὸν χόρτον , etc., in the next verse, are adapted from the Sept. of Isaiah 40:5-8 , … καὶ εἶπα τί βοήσω ; Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος , καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἀνθος χόρτου · ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος καὶ ὁ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν , τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν μένει εὶς τὸν αἰῶνα , which differs somewhat from the Hebrew. It is an interesting instance of the

1 Peter 1:6 — 1 Peter 1:6 . ἐ ν ᾧ . There are four possible antecedents. (1) καιρῷ , (2) Jesus Christ, (3) God, (4) the state of things described in 3 5. (1) would imply that they must live in the future and is least probably right. (2) is supported by 8 but is unlikely at this point. The choice lies between (3), God being hitherto the dominating figure; and (4): cf. Luke 1:47 = 1 Samuel 2:1 α ἀ . with ἐν in LXX as well as ἐπὶ . ἀγαλλιᾶσθε . Indicative (with or without quasi future meaning) rather

1 Peter 2:23 — 1 Peter 2:23 . Combination of the Scripture οὐκ ἀνοίγει τὸ στόμα (Isaiah 43:7 ) with the saying ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν και διώξωσιν (Matthew 5:11 ). For λοιδ . cf. 1 Corinthians 4:12 . λοιδορούμενοι εὐλογοῦμεν of Matt. l.c. ), John 9:28 , the Jews ἐλοιδόρησαν the once blina man as Jesus’ disciple and, for O.T. type Deuteronomy 33:8 , ἐλοιδόρησαν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀντιλογίας (Levi = Christ the Priest, cf. ἀντιλογία , Hebrews 12:3 ). οὐκ ἠπείλει the prophecy ἀπειλήσει τοῖς ἀπειθοῦσιν

1 Peter 2:6 — The formula occurs in Josephus (Ant. xi. 7, βούλομαι γενέσθαι πάντα καθὼς ἐν [ τῇ ἐπιστολῇ ] περιέχει ) and is chosen for its comprehensiveness. περιέχει is intransitive as the simple verb and other compounds often are; cf. περιοχή , contents , Acts 8:32 . γραφῇ . being a technical term, has no article. ἰδοὺ … καταισχυνθῇ , formal quotation of Isaiah 28:16 , preceding quotation from Psalms, as prophets always precede the writings. The LXX has ἰδοὺ ἐμβάλλω ἐγὼ εἰς τὰ θεμέλια (unique expansion of normal

1 Peter 3:1-6 — 1 Peter 3:1-6 . Duty of wives (Ephesians 5:21-24 ; Colossians 3:18 ; Titus 2:4 ) Submissiveness and true adornment. τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀνδράσιν , your own husbands , the motive for submissiveness, Ephesians 5:22 ; Titus 2:4 . St. Peter assumes knowledge of the reason alleged by St. Paul (Eph. l.c. ; 1 Corinthians 9:3 )

Revelation 2:16 — generally regarded pestilence or any physical calamity as a punishment inflicted by the god for some offence against his ritual or some breach of morals. In the Hexateuch, the sword opposes (Numbers 22:23 ; Numbers 22:31 ) and finally slays (Numbers 31:8 ) Balaam. The run of thought in the verse is that if the church does not repent, i.e. , if she does not act on her own initiative and expel the wrongdoers (in the hope of them ultimately coming to a better mind, 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 ), she must submit

Revelation 4:8 — Revelation 4:8 . A description of the sounds and songs of heaven follows the picture of its sights. γέμουσιν , either with τὰ τ . ζ . ( ἔχων for once a real participle) or an asyndeton (if ἔχων here, as elsewhere in the Apocalypse, must be supplied with a copula).