Bible Commentaries

1 Corinthians 11 overview — problems of Divs. II. and III., and several leading topics of former chaps. reappear in a new connexion e.g ., the Christian relationship of the sexes (common to 5., 6., and 11.), the Lord’s Supper (10 and 11), the superiority of Love to Knowledge (8 and 13). The matters treated in these chaps, are well defined: (1) the unveiling of the head by women in public worship, 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 ; (2) profanation of the Lord’s Table , 17 34; (3) the exercise of spiritual gifts , 1 Corinthians

1 Thessalonians 2:7 — Thessalonian Christians who had won their hearts. To eschew flattery (5) did not mean any indifference to consideration and gentleness, in their case; they were honest without being blunt or masterful. τροφός a nursing mother ( cf. Hor., Ep . i. 4, 8). “In the love of a brave and faithful man there is always a strain of maternal tenderness; he gives out again those beams of protecting fondness which were shed on him as he lay on his mother’s knee” (George Eliot). Rutherford happily

1 Thessalonians 4:13 — concern of the Thessalonians, however, was for their fellow-Christians, in the intermediate state of Hades. As the problem had not arisen during Paul’s stay at Thessalonica, he now offers the church a reasonable solution of the difficulty (13 18). οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν , contrast the οἴδατε of 1 Thessalonians 4:2 , 1 Thessalonians 5:2 , and compare the ordinary epistolary phrases of the papyri ( Expos. , 1908, 55) such as γεινώσκειν σε θέλω (commonly at the beginning of a letter, cf.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 — With such scenic and realistic details, drawn from the heterogeneous eschatology of the later Judaism, Paul seeks to make intelligible to his own mind and to that of his readers, in quite an original fashion ( cf. Stähelin, Jahrb. f. deut. Theol. , 1874, pp. 199 218), the profound truth that neither death nor any cosmic, crisis in the future will make any essential difference to the close relation between the Christian and his Lord. Οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα ( cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ; 2 Corinthians

1 Thessalonians 4:3 — 1 Thessalonians 4:3 . ἁγιασμός (in apposition to τοῦτο , θέλημα without the article being the predicate) = the moral issue of a life related to the Ἅγιος ( cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 ), viewed here in its special and negative aspect of freedom from sexual impurity. The gospel of Jesus, unlike some pagan cults, e.g. , that of the Cabiri at Thessalonica ( cf. Lightfoot’s Biblical Essays , pp. 257 f.), did not tolerate, much

1 Timothy 1:10 — δαιμονίων . It is found four times in the other Pauline Epistles. Of these Romans 12:7 is the nearest approach to the special connotation here. With ὑγιαίνουσα (see reff.) compare ὑγιαίνοντες λόγοι (1 Timothy 6:3 ; 2 Timothy 1:13 ), λόγος ὑγιής (Titus 2:8 ), and ὑγιαίνειν ( ἐν ) τῇ πίστει (Titus 1:13 ; Titus 2:2 ). The image is peculiar to the Pastoral Epistles; but it is not therefore un-Pauline, unless on the assumption that a writer never enlarges his vocabulary or ideas. Healthy, wholesome admirably

1 Timothy 1:12 — 1 Timothy 1:12 . This parenthetical thanksgiving, which is quite in St. Paul’s manner, is suggested by ὃ ἐπιστεύθην ἐγώ . Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:9 sqq. , Ephesians 3:8 . χάριν ἔχω : see note on 2 Timothy 1:3 . ἐνδυναμώσαντι : The aor. is used be cause the writer’s thoughts pass back to the particular time when he received inward strength increasingly, Acts 9:22 . In Philippians 4:13 the present participle is

1 Timothy 4:4 — 7:15 (Acts 10:15 ), also re-echoed in Romans 14:14 , Titus 1:15 . λαμβανόμενον : This verb is used of taking food into one’s hand before eating (in the accounts of the feeding of the multitudes, Matthew 14:19 = Mark 6:41 ; Matthew 15:36 = Mark 8:6 , also Luke 24:30 ; Luke 24:43 ) as well as of eating and drinking. See reff. Perhaps it is not fanciful to note its special use in connexion with the Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:23 ; Matthew 26:26 (bis) 27; Mark 14:22-23 ; Luke 22:19 ). καὶ οὐδὲν

2 Timothy 1:1 — and Col. See note on 1 Timothy 1:1 , where it is pointed out that while the same ἐπιταγή may be said to be issued by God the Father and God the Son, θέλημα is always used of the Father’s eternal purpose as regards the salvation of man (Romans 2:18 ; Romans 12:2 ; 2 Corinthians 8:5 ; Galatians 1:4 ; Ephesians 1:5 ; Ephesians 1:9 ; Ephesians 1:11 ; Colossians 1:9 ; Colossians 4:12 ; 1Th 4:3 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:18 , etc.). St. Paul believed that his own commission as an apostle was a part of God’s

2 Timothy 1:10 — because of the absence of an article before the participles, safely translate, when he brought to nought , rather than, who brought to nought. Abolished does not express the truth. Christians all “taste of death” as their Master did (John 8:52 , Hebrews 2:9 ), though they do not “see” it; and they are confident that they too will be “saved out of death” (Hebrews 5:7 ). Death for them has lost its sting (Hebrews 2:14-15 ). It need not cause any difficulty that here

2 Timothy 2:14 — Christi , i. 3). ὑπομίμνησκε : sc . αὐτους , as in Titus 3:1 . διαμαρτυρόμενος : See on 1 Timothy 5:21 . ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ : It is an argument in favour of this reading that ἐνώπιον Κυρίου only occurs once in Paul (in a quotation), in 2 Corinthians 8:21 . λογομαχεῖν : See on 1 Timothy 6:4 . ἐπʼ οὐδὲν χρήσιμον and ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων are coordinate, and describe the negative and the positive results of λογομαχία . The subject of this λογομαχία is probably identical with that of the μάχαι

Hebrews 11:20 — to things future,” as is recorded in the well-known passage, Genesis 27:0 . Isaac thus in his turn exhibited a faith which could be described as ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις . “By faith Jacob when dying ( ἀποθνήσκων cf. καλούμενος , Hebrews 11:8 , and πειραζόμενος , Hebrews 11:17 : the participle illustrates Hebrews 11:13 and also reminds the reader that Jacob before he died saw his children’s children inheriting the promise (“thy two sons are mine,” Genesis 48:5 ) blessed

Hebrews 7:6 — “der die Verheissungen hatte,” not “hat”; so Vaughan correctly, “The possessor of”. “Him who owned the promises.” Cf. Burton, 124 and 126. εὐλόγηκε , on the perfects of this verse and of this Epistle (Hebrews 8:5 , Hebrews 11:5 , etc.), Mr. J. H. Moulton asks, “Has anyone noticed the beautiful parallel in Plato, Apol. , 28 c., for the characteristic perfect in Hebrews, describing what stands written in Scripture? ὅσοι ἐν Τροίᾳ τετελευτήκασι (as is

Hebrews 8:3 — Hebrews 8:3 . πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερεὺς .… “For every High Priest is appointed for the offering of gifts and sacrifices, and therefore it was necessary that this man also have something to offer”. That Christ is in heaven as a λειτουργός , as an active minister

Hebrews 9:15 — mediator of a new covenant”. The old covenant with sacrifices which could only cleanse the flesh allowed sins to accumulate. But Christ, as above stated, obtained cleansing from sins, and so laid the essential foundation of a new covenant, Hebrews 8:12 . ὅπως θανάτου γενομένου … “that a death having taken place for deliverance from the transgressions [committed] under the first covenant, those who have been called might receive the promised eternal inheritance”. Even under the old covenant

2 Peter 1:17 — the participle here. It is at least certain that the subject is Jesus. Dietlein, Schott, Ewald, and Mayor agree that the writer intended to go on, ἐβεβαίωσεν τὸν προφητικὸν λόγον for which he substitutes καὶ ἔχομεν βεβαιότερον , after the parenthetic 18th verse. παρὰ Θεοῦ πατρός . See Hort’s note, 1 Peter 1:2 . The usage (without the article) indicates the growth of a special Christian terminology. The two words are treated as one proper name. τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν . A frequent combination, cf. Psalms

1 John 3:2 — present faculties we cannot conceive it. It must be experienced to be understood. Jesus simply assures us of the felicity of the Father’s House, and bids us take His word for it ( cf. John 14:2 ). ἐὰν φανερωθῇ , “if ( cf. note on 1 John 2:28 ) it may be manifested,” taking up οὔπω ἐφανερώθη . This obvious connection is decisive against the rendering “if He shall be manifested” ( cf. 1 John 2:28 ; Colossians 3:4 ). ὅτι , κ . τ . λ .: What we shall be was not manifested,

Jude 1:21 — 1:2 the writer invokes the divine love and mercy on those to whom he writes: here they are bidden to take steps to secure these. Compare Romans 5:5 , ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκέχυται ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου τοῦ δοθέντος ἡμῖν , ib. Romans 8:39 , πέπεισμαι ὄτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ … οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ , John 15:9 . καθὼς ἠγάπησέν με ὁ πατὴρ κἀγὼ ὑμᾶς ἠγάπησα , μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῆ ἐμῇ . ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσητε , μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ

Revelation 3:7 — favourite Johannine term ἀληθινός (=“true,” in the wider sense of “genuine,” opposed to unreal rather than to untruthtul, cf. Justin’s Dial . xcvi., Athen. vi. 253 100: no pseudo-messiah, as local Jews asserted, cf. 8 c and 9) is here grouped with ἅγιος ( i.e. , not merely = legitimately messianic as in John 10:36 , Clem. Rom. xxiii. 5, but freed from creaturely weakness and imperfection, his nature in intimate touch with the divine fulness, Issel: der Begriff

Revelation 8:6 — Revelation 8:6 In the scheme of the trumpet-visions, as of the seal-visions, the first four are differentiated from the next three; the fifth and sixth in both cases stand by themselves and are separated by a considerable interlude from the closing seventh. It is