Bible Commentaries

Matthew 16:18 — Weiss) κλειδούχου ἔργον τὸ εἰσάγειν , Euthy. Observe it is not the keys of the church but of the kingdom . The meaning is: Peter-like faith in Jesus as the Christ admits into the Kingdom of Heaven. A society of men so believing = the kingdom realised. (3) In the new society the righteousness of the kingdom will find approximate embodiment. This is the import of Matthew 16:19 , second clause. Binding and loosing, in Rabbinical dialect, meant forbidding and permitting to be done. The judgment of the

Luke 9:51 — on the Godward, theological side, or perhaps it would be more correct to say on the side of fulfilment of O. T. prophecy. The necessity of Christ’s death, the δεῖ (Luke 9:22 ) = the demand of O. T. Scripture for fulfilment, vide Luke 24:26 . 3. In the long narrative contained in the next eight chapters, Jesus does not seem to be constantly thinking of the end. In Mk. and Mt. it is otherwise. From the period at which Jesus began to speak plainly of His death He appears constantly preoccupied

Acts 1:20 — the quotation is verbatim from Psalms 108:8 (109), called by the ancients the Iscariot Psalm. With the exception of Psalms 22:0 , no Psalm is more frequently quoted in the N.T. than 69; cf. Psalms 108:9 with John 2:17 ; Psa 108:21 with Matthew 27:34 , and with John 19:28 ; Psa 108:22-23 with Romans 11:9-10 ; and Psalms 108:9 with Romans 15:3 . In these Psalms, as in the twenty-second Psalm, we see how the history of prophets and holy men of old, of a David or a Jeremiah, was typical of the history

Acts 13:39 — Acts 13:39 . So far the words represent the entire harmony between the preaching of St. Peter and St. Paul, and there is no reason to attribute this verse, as also Acts 10:43 , with Jüngst, to any reviser; δικαιοῦσθαι ἀπό only elsewhere in Romans 6:7 . But

Acts 17:31 — Acts 17:31 . διότι καθότι , R.V., see critical note, only found in St. Luke = quia (Blass) in Luke 1:7 ; Luke 19:9 , Acts 2:24 ; Acts 2:45 ; Acts 4:35 = according as: see Plummer on Luke 1:7 , and Blass, Gram. , p. 268. ἔστησεν ἡμέραν : hence the command to

Acts 2:38 — Acts 2:38 . βαπτισθήτω : “Non satis est Christocredere, sed oportet et Christianum profiteri, Romans 10:10 , quod Christus per baptismum fieri voluit,” Grotius. John’s baptism had been a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, but

Acts 4:35 — Acts 4:35 . The statement marks, it is true, an advance upon the former narrative, Acts 2:44 , but one which was perfectly natural and intelligible. Here for the first time we read that the money is brought and laid at the Apostles’ feet. As the community

Acts 5:32 — Acts 5:32 . “And we are witnesses of these things,” R.V. (W.H [183] ), but in margin, “witnesses in Him,” ἐν αὐτῷ ( cf. Luke 24:47 ); “nos in eo testes sumus,” Iren., see also above critical notes. For an explanation of the

Ephesians 2:10 — spiritual creature by Him when His grace made us Christians. This new creation was in Christ , so that except by union between Him and us it could not have taken place (Ephesians 2:15 ; Ephesians 4:24 ; 2 Corinthians 5:17 ; Galatians 6:15 ; Colossians 3:10 ). Also it was with a view to good works, ἐπί being used here (much as in Galatians 5:13 ; 1 Thessalonians 4:7 ; 2 Timothy 2:14 ) to express object; cf. Win.-Moult., p. 492. We ourselves then having been created anew by God, and good works being

Ephesians 2:16 — context, and they are the less appropriate because Christ Himself is the subject of the ἀποκαταλλάξῃ . The reference is to the Jews and Gentiles now making one body; cf. the ἒν σῶμα in 1 Corinthians 10:17 ; Ephesians 4:4 ; and especially in Colossians 3:15 . His object was to bring the two long-sundered and antagonistic parties as one whole, one great body, into right relation to God by His cross. The διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ belongs rather to the ἀποκαταλλάξῃ than to the following ἀποκτείνας (von Soden). ἀποκτείνας

Ephesians 3:5 — Ephesians 3:5 . ὃ ἐν ἑτέραις γενεαῖς οὐκ ἐγνωρίσθη τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων : which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men . The TR inserts ἐν before ἑτέραις , as in Syr.-Phil. and Copt. But the insertion is due probably to the double dative,

Colossians 1:18 — false relation to the Church. Hence Paul passes from the pre-eminence of the Son in the universe to speak of Him as Head of the Body. He is thus supreme alike in the universe and the Church. ἡ κεφαλὴ τ . σώματος ( cf. Colossians 2:19 , Ephesians 1:22-23 ; Ephesians 4:15-16 ; Ephesians 5:23 ). For Christ as Head simply, cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3 . For the Church as the body of Christ, Colossians 1:24 , Eph 4:2 , 1 Corinthians 12:27 , Romans 12:5 . For Christians as the members of Christ’s body,

1 Timothy 6:13 — 1 Timothy 6:13 . παραγγέλλω σοι : St. Paul passes in thought from the past epoch in Timothy’s life, with its human witnesses, among whom was the apostle himself, to the present probation of Timothy, St. Paul far away; and he feels impelled to remind his lieutenant

1 Timothy 6:14 — “the law of the Gospel ( cf. ἡ παραγγελία , 1 Timothy 1:5 ), the Gospel viewed as a rule of life” (so Ell. and Alf.). St. Paul would not have distinguished this from the charge given to Timothy at his baptism. Cyril Jer. ( Cat . 1 Timothy 6:13 ), in quoting this passage, substitutes ταύτην τὴν παραδεδομένην πίστιν for ἐντολήν . This interpretation is permissible so long as we do not divorce creed from character. ἄσπιλον ἀνεπίλημπτον : These epithets present a difficulty somewhat similar

Hebrews 6:2 — was normally accompanied by prayer. Prayer was the essential element in the transaction, the laying on of hands designating the person to whom the prayer was to be answered and for whom the gift was designed. Cf. Acts 19:1-6 ; Acts 8:14-17 ; Acts 13:3 ; Acts 6:6 ; and Lepine’s The Ministers of Jesus Christ , p. 141 4. In Apostolic times baptism apparently meant that the baptised believed in and gave himself to Christ, while the laying on of hands meant that the Holy Ghost was conferred upon

Hebrews 9:7 — law is given in Leviticus 16:0 , both negatively and positively; negatively in Leviticus 16:2 μὴ εἰσπορευέσθω πᾶσαν ὥραν εἰς τὸ ἅγιον ἐσώτερον τ . καταπετάσματος promiscuous or continuous, daily entrance was forbidden; and positively, in Leviticus 16:34 ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ , i.e. , one day each year, viz. , on the day of Atonement, the tenth of the seventh month the High Priest is to enter. On that day the High Priest was to enter the Holiest at least thrice , first with the incense, then with the

James 1:2 — in the still more extended meaning of kinship generally, e.g. , of tribal membership, Numbers 16:10 ; as belonging to the same people, e.g. , Exodus 2:11 ; Leviticus 19:7 , and even of a stranger ( גֵּר ) sojourning among the people, Leviticus 19:34 ; it is also used of those who have made a covenant together, Amos 1:9 ; and, generally, of friends, 2 Samuel 1:26 , etc.; in its widest sense it was taken over by the Christian communities, whose members were both friends and bound by the same covenant

James 2:23 — James 2:23 . There is some little looseness in the way the O.T. is used in these verses; in James 2:21 mention is made of the work of offering up Isaac, whereby, it is said (James 2:22 ), faith is perfected; then it goes straight on (James 2:23 ) to say that

James 2:7 — James 2:7 . βλασφημοῦσιν : for the force of the word cf. Sir 3:16 , ὡς βλάσφημος ὁ ἐγκαταλιπὼν (the Greek is certainly wrong here, the Hebrew has בוזה , “he that despiseth”) πατέρα . Cf. Romans 2:24 , τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ διʼ ὑμᾶς βλασφημεῖται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν (Isaiah 52:5 ); the word in the N.T. is sometimes

2 Peter 2:1 — pagan practices, such as spiritualism, ventriloquism, professional soothsaying, became common ( e.g. Jeremiah 27:9 ; Isaiah 8:19 ). The cardinal distinction between the true and the false prophet lay in the moral character of their teaching (Jeremiah 23:21-22 ). ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι . The characteristics of their teaching are well-marked in this Epistle. See Introduction, pp. 115 ff. Compare Philippians 3:18 f., “enemies of the Cross,” who brought tears of shame to the eyes of the Apostle; the