Bible Commentaries

Matthew 11:12 — περισσότερον (Matthew 11:9 ). The apostle Paul adduced as one argument for his apostleship, called in question by Judaists, success , which in his view was not an accident but God-given, and due to fitness for the work (2 Corinthians 2:14 ; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 ). So Christ here in effect proves John’s fitness for the position of forerunner by the success of his ministry. He had actually made the kingdom come. That was the true basis of his title to the honourable appellation, “preparer of

Matthew 3:4 — Matthew 3:4 . αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ἰ . The story returns to the historical person, John, and identifies him with the herald of prophecy. “This same John.” Then follows a description of his way of life his clothing and his food, the details conveying a life-like

John 2:12 — Calvin says, “transit Evangelista ad novam historiam”. This new section runs to the end of the fourth chapter, and gives an account of the first great series of public manifestations on the part of Christ (1) in Jerusalem, (2) in Judaea, (3) in Samaria, (4) in Galilee. These are introduced by the note of time, μετὰ τοῦτο , commonly used by John when he wishes merely to denote sequence without definitely marking the length of the interval. The interval in the present case was probably long

Acts 17:10 — hand-to-hand work at Thessalonica. For it was not only in the synagogue that St. Paul laboured, as in the message of the Gospel was formal and official, but amongst them who were working like himself for their daily bread, 1 Thessalonians 2:9 , 2 Thessalonians 3:8 , see Ramsay’s note, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 85, on St. Paul’s work at Thessalonica. The phrase “night and day,” 1 Thessalonians 2:9 , need not imply, as the Speaker’s Commentary , that Paul had only the Sundays

Acts 20:11 — partaking of the Agape or common meal which followed. If so, it certainly appears as if St. Paul had soon taken steps to prevent the scandals which occurred in Corinth from the Holy Communion being celebrated during or after a common meal, 1 Corinthians 9:23 , since here the Eucharist precedes, Luckock, Footprints of the Apostles as traced by St. Luke , ii., 199. Wendt, who still identifies the breaking of the bread with the Agape (so Holtzmann, Weiss), protests against the view of Kuinoel and others

Acts 4:10 — possible that the words from Psalms 118:22 were already regarded as Messianic, from the fact that the people had welcomed Jesus at His public entry into Jerusalem with part of a verse of the same Psalm, Acts 4:26 , Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah , ii., 368. Moreover, the passage, Isaiah 28:16 , which forms the connecting link between the Psalm and St. Peter’s words, both here and in his First Epistle (1 Peter 2:7 , cf. Romans 9:33 ; Romans 10:11 ), was interpreted as Messianic, apparently by

Acts 4:17 — Acts 4:17 . ἐπὶ πλεῖον may be taken as = latius (2 Timothy 2:16 ; 2 Timothy 3:9 ) or = diutius (Acts 20:9 ; Acts 24:4 ), but the context favours the former. The phrase is quite classical, and it occurs several times in LXX, cf. Wis 8:12 ; 3Ma 5:18 . διανεμηθῇ : only here in N.T. but frequently used in classical writers in active

Acts 5:40 — Others however see in his words a mere laisser-aller view of matters, or a timid caution which betokened a mere waiter upon Providence. But at the same time there are occasions when Gamaliel’s advice may not be out of place, see Bengel on Acts 5:38 , and Farrar, St. Paul , i., 110 ff. δείραντες , Deuteronomy 25:3 , 2 Corinthians 11:24 : the punishment was for minor offences, and it was now inflicted upon the Apostles because they had trangressed the command enjoined upon them previously, Acts

Acts 8:33 — Acts 8:33 . ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει κ . τ . λ ., cf. Isaiah 53:7-8 , “in his humiliation his judgment was taken away” (LXX), so A. and R.V., generally taken to mean by his humbling himself his judgment was cancelled, cf. Philippians 2:6-7 , so Wendt in

Acts 9:10 — had his statements with regard to Ananias been incorrect. It is evident that the supernatural element in the narrative is what really lay at the root of Zeller’s objections. ὁ Κύριος , i.e. , Jesus, as is evident from a comparison of Acts 9:13-14 ; Acts 9:17 . ἐν ὁράματι : critical objections have been raised by Baur and others against the double vision narrated here of Saul and Ananias, as against the double vision of Cornelius and St. Peter in Acts 10:3 ; Acts 10:11 , but see Lumby’s

Romans 5:20 — in”. ἵνα πλεονάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα : the purpose expressed by ἵνα is God’s: Winer, p. 575. The offence is multiplied because the law, encountering the flesh, evokes its natural antagonism to God, and so stimulates it into disobedience. Cf. Galatians 3:19 ff., and the development of this idea in chap. Romans 7:7 ff. As the offence multiplied, the need of redemption, and the sense of that need were intensified. οὗ δὲ ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία : ἁμαρτία seems used here, not παράπτωμα , because more proper

Romans 8:29 — the problems involved in the relation of the human will to the Divine. He comes upon these in chap. 9, but not here. Yet we may be sure that προέγνω has the pregnant sense that γιγνώσκω ( יָדַע ) often has in Scripture: e.g. , in Psalms 1:6 , Amos 3:2 : hence we may render, “those of whom God took knowledge from eternity” (Ephesians 1:4 ). καὶ προώρισεν κ . τ . λ ., “he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son”. This conformity is the last stage in salvation,

Romans 9:23 — Romans 9:23 f. The sentence beginning with εἰ δὲ θέλων is not grammatically completed, but Romans 9:23 is an irregular parallel to Romans 9:22 . God’s purpose is regarded as twofold. It is on the one hand to show His wrath and make known His power; it is

1 Corinthians 11:14-15 — etc.?” For ἡ φύσις , see Romans 2:14 ; in this connexion it points to man’s moral constitution rather than to external regulations; Hf. and El [1654] however, taking φύσις in the latter sense, reverse the order of thought in 1 Corinthians 11:13 f., seeing in the former ver. individual instinct (they render ἐν ἑαυτοῖς within yourselves ), and in this ver. social rule. Hf [1655] and Hn [1656] , by a strained constr. of διδάσκει , render ὅτι “because,” and draw the obj. of “teach”

1 Corinthians 15:37-38 — 1 Corinthians 15:37-38 make answer to the second branch of the question of 1 Corinthians 15:35 , by the aid of the same profound analogy. καὶ ὃ σπείρεις , οὐ τὸ σῶμα τὸ γενησόμενον σπείρεις , “And what thou sowest not the body that will come to be dost thou sow”.

1 Corinthians 4:17 — imitate me as your father “I sent to you Timothy, who is a beloved child of mine, and faithful in the Lord”. Timothy had left P. before this letter was written, having been sent forward along with Erastus (possibly a Cor [767] , Romans 16:23 ) to Macedonia (Acts 19:22 ), but with instructions, as it now appears, to go forward to Cor [768] ; respecting his visit, see notes to 1 Corinthians 16:10 f. The Cor [769] had heard already (through Erastus?) of Timothy’s coming; P. does not

Galatians 2:16 — offender. The clause ἐξ ἔργων νόμου defines an acquittal on the merits of the case alone, based on a life of holy obedience, while διὰ πίστεως Ἰ . Χρ . points to faith in Christ as the appointed channel of God’s mercy. ἐπιστεύσαμεν . Here, as in Romans 13:11 , this verb denotes the act of embracing the faith. Jewish Christians had by their conversion declared the hopelessness of their position under the Law without Christ. Faith in him was (they saw) the only means of obtaining justification. διότι …

2 Timothy 1:16 — 2 Timothy 1:16 . δῴη ἔλεος , κ . τ . λ .: δίδωμι ἔλεος , like εὑρίσκω ἔλεος , is a Hebraism. See reff. The correlative, λαμβάνω ἔλεος occurs Hebrews 4:6 . ποιεῖν ἔλεος μετά τινος (Luke 1:72 ; Luke 10:37 ; James 2:13 ) is a similar phrase. Here, we should say, May God bless so and so . ἔλεος does not correspond to any special sin. τῷ Ὀν . οἴκῳ : This household is saluted in 2 Timothy 4:19 . It is most natural to suppose that Onesiphorus himself was

James 5:5 — he did not adopt it; the English “to revel” comes nearest to it, and this is the R.V. rendering of the word in the Sir. passage referred to. τρυφᾶν with its compounds is used in a good as well as in a bad sense; for the former see Psalms 37:4 ; Psalms 37:11 ; Isaiah 55:2 ; Isaiah 66:11 ; Nehemiah 9:25 . ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς : the contrast is between their enjoyment of the good things of the earth and what their lot is to be hereafter; cf. Luke 16:25 , “Remember that thou in thy lifetime

Revelation 1:18 — (not ὡς ; really dead), his experience assuring men of sympathy and understanding; καὶ ἰδοὺ , κ . τ . λ ., his victory and authority over death = an assurance of his power to rescue his own people from the grim prison of the underworld (Hades, cf. 3Ma 5:50 , the intermediate abode of the dead, being as usual personified in connexion with death). A background for this conception lies in the primitive idea of Janus, originally an Italian sun-god, as the key-holder ( cf. Ovid’s Fasti , i.