Bible Commentaries

Matthew 1:11 — Jeconiah. It was noted and made a ground of reproach to Christians by Porphyry. Maldonatus, pressed by the difficulty, proposed to substitute for Jeconiah, Jehoiakim, the second of four sons ascribed to Josiah in the genealogist’s source (1 Chronicles 3:14 ), whereby the expression τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ would retain its natural sense. But, while the two names are perhaps similar enough to be mistaken for each other, it is against the hypothesis as a solution of the difficulty that Jehoiakim did not share

Matthew 1:11 — notado y convertido en motivo de reproche para los cristianos por Porfirio. Maldonato, presionado por la dificultad, propuso sustituir a Jeconías por Joacim, el segundo de los cuatro hijos atribuidos a Josías en la fuente del genealogista ( 1 Crónicas 3:14 ), por lo que la expresión τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ conservaría su sentido natural. Pero, si bien los dos nombres son quizás lo suficientemente similares como para confundirse entre sí, va en contra de la hipótesis como solución a la dificultad de que

Matthew 1:3 — Matthew 1:3 . τὸν φαρὲς καὶ τὸν Ζαρὰ : Zerah added to Perez the continuator of the line, to suggest that it was by a special providence that the latter was first born (Genesis 38:27-30 ). The evangelist is on the outlook for the unusual or preternatural in history

Matthew 10:25 — Matthew 10:25 . ἀρκετὸν , not as in Matthew 6:34 a neuter adjective used as a noun, but a predicate qualifying the clause ἵνα γεν ., etc., as noun to verb ἐστι understood. ἵνα γένηται instead of the infinitive; ὁ δοῦλος instead of τῷ δούλῳ dependent like τῷ μαθητῇ on ἀρκετὸν , by attraction of the

Matthew 2:11 — θυμιώμενον = λιβανωτός , vide Phryn. ed. Lobeck, p. 187. The gifts were of three kinds, hence the inference that the Magi were three in number. That they were kings was deduced from texts in Psalms and Prophecies ( e.g. , Psalms 72:10 , Isaiah 60:3 ), predicting that kings would come doing homage and bringing gifts to Messiah. The legend of the three kings dates as far back as Origen, and is beautiful but baseless. It grew with time; by-and-by the kings were furnished with names. The legendary

Matthew 3:1 — ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις: el momento en que se indica más vagamente. La narración de Lucas aquí ( Mateo 3:1 ) presenta un gran contraste, como si tuviera la intención consciente de suplir una necesidad. El ministerio de Juan está fechado allí con referencia a la historia general del mundo, y se da la edad de Cristo en Su bautismo. El método de Lucas es

Matthew 3:14 — Matthew 3:14 . διεκώλυεν : imperfect, pointing to a persistent (note the διὰ ) but unsuccessful attempt to prevent. His reason was a feeling that if either was to be baptised the relation ought to be inverted. To understand this feeling it is not necessary to

Matthew 5:45-47 — and define by discriminating use. ὅτι , not = ὅς , but meaning “because”: for so your Father acts, and not otherwise can ye be His sons. ἀνατέλλει , sometimes intransitive, as in Matthew 4:16 , Luke 12:54 , here transitive, also in Sept [34] , Genesis 3:18 , etc., and in some Greek authors (Pindar. Isth. vi., 110, e.g. ) to cause to rise. The use of καίειν (Matthew 5:15 ) and ἀνατέλλειν in an active sense is a revival of an old poetic use in later Greek (exx. of the former in Elsner).

Mark 1:1 — sense being: the beginning of the Gospel (was) as it is written = was in accordance with the prophetic oracle predicting the introduction of Messiah by a forerunner, the story of the Baptist then following as the fulfilment of the prophecy; or Mark 1:2-3 may be bracketed as a parenthesis, and Mark 1:1 connected with Mark 1:4 , yielding this sense: the beginning of the Gospel was or became ( ἐγένετο ) John the Baptist. All three ways give a perfectly good meaning. In favour of the first view is the absence

John 1:5 — describe the world’s condition. Thus Lucian: ἐν σκότῳ πλανωμένοις πάντες ἐοίκαμεν . Cf. Lucretius: “Qualibus in tenebris vitae, quantisque periclis, Degitur hoc aevi quodcunque est”. καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν . The A. V [23] renders this “and the darkness comprehended it not”; the R. V [24] has “apprehended” and in the margin “overcame”. The Greek interpreters understood the clause to mean that the darkness did not conquer the light.

John 3:13 — John 3:13 . καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν … καταβάς . The connection is: You have not believed earthly things, much less will you believe those which are heavenly; for not only are they in their own nature more difficult to understand, but there is none to testify

John 3:21 — John 3:21 . ὁ δὲ ποιῶν … “On the other hand, he who does the truth” … This is one of John’s comprehensive phrases which perhaps lose by definition. “To do the truth” is at any rate to live up to what one knows; to live an honest,

John 4:54 — note that as the former miracle had called forth the faith of the disciples, so this elicited faith from a wider circle. Not only Strauss, Baur, and Keim but also Weiss and Sanday suppose that this is the same healing as is recorded in Matthew 8:5-13 . But the differences are too great. In the one it is a Gentile centurion whose servant is paralysed; in the other it is the son of a (probably Jewish) court official who is at the point of death from fever. In the one the centurion insists that Jesus

Acts 16:22 — Acts 16:22 . συνεπέστη : only here in N.T., cf. Acts 18:12 , not in LXX, but cf. Numbers 16:3 , used in classical Greek, but not in same sense. No reason is given, but the ὄχλος would have been easily swayed by hatred of the Jews, and further incensed perhaps at finding an end put to their love of the revelations of fortune-telling. περιῤῥήξ

Acts 2:39 — Acts 2:39 . ὑμῖν γὰρ : the promise was made to the very men who had invoked upon themselves and upon their children, St. Matthew 27:25 , the blood of the Crucified. See Psalms of Solomon , Acts 8:39 (Ryle and James’ edition, p. 88). πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς μακράν

Acts 5:37 — Acts 5:37 . ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς ἀπογ ., see Blass, in loco , on St. Luke’s accuracy. We must be careful to distinguish this from Luke 2:1 . The tribal method of numbering which forms an essential part of St. Luke’s story in the Gospel may explain

Acts 9:18 — Acts 9:18 . καὶ εὐθέως : as the immediate result of the laying on of hands the recovery of sight is given, but the baptism follows for the reception of the Holy Ghost, cf. Acts 22:13 ff. ἀπέπεσον … ὡσεὶ λ .: the words cannot be taken as merely figurative with Weiss or Zöckler, or with Blass as merely indicating the speediness of the cure some scaly substance had formed over the eyes, probably as the result of the dazzling brightness

Revelation 2:20 — in the early church, and false prophetesses were as likely to exist as false prophets. This “Jezebel of a woman, alleging herself to be a prophetess,” seems to have been some influential female (as the definite imagery of Revelation 2:21-23 indicates); her lax principles or tendencies made for a connexion with foreign and compromising associations which evidently exerted a dangerous charm upon some weaker Christians in the city. The moral issue corresponds to that produced by the Nikolaitan

Revelation 4:2 — Spirit-consciousness, every new access of ecstasy, was considered to be the result of a fresh inspiration; so the O.T. prophets ( e.g. , Ezekiel 11:1 καὶ ἀνέλαβέν με πνεῦμα κ . τ . λ ., followed by Ezekiel 11:5 καὶ ἔπεσεν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ πνεῦμα , Ezekiel 2:2 and Ezekiel 3:24 ; cf. Enoch xiv. 9 καὶ ἄνεμοι ἐν τῇ ὁράσει μου … εἰσήνεγκάν με εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν followed by ver 14 ἐθεώρουν ἐν τ . ὁ . μ . καὶ ἰδοὺ κ . τ . λ ., lxxi. 1 and 5, etc.). The primitive Christian conception of the Spirit was that of a sudden and repeated

Revelation 6:1 — figures; hearing the summons, John looked to see its meaning and result. The panorama of these four dragoons (“ad significandum iter properum cum potentia”) is partly sketched from Semitic folk-lore, where apparitions of horsemen ( cf. 2Ma 3:25 , etc.: “the Beduins always granted me that none living had seen the angel visions … the meleika are seen in the air like horsemen, tilting to and fro,” Doughty, Arab. Deserta , i. 449) have been a frequent omen of the end ( cf. Jos.