Bible Commentaries

Matthew 26:38 — Matthew 26:38 . τοτὲ λέγει αὐτ .: He confides to the three His state of mind without reserve, as if He wished it to be known. Cf. the use made in the epistle to the Hebrews of this frank manifestation of weakness as showing that Christ could not have usurped the

Matthew 27:3 — matter of course in a “two-souled” man, partly at sight of the grim reality: his Master led to death by his assistance ( ὅτι κατεκρίθη ). μεταμεληθεὶς , regretting, rueing what he had done: wishing it were undone. ἀπέστρεψε ( ἔστρεψε W.H [148] as in Isaiah 38:8 ), returned the thirty pieces of silver, a sign in such a nature that the repentance as far as it went was very real. [148] Westcott and Hort.

Matthew 4:8-10 — Matthew 4:8-10 . Third temptation . εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν : a mountain high enough for the purpose. There is no such mountain in the world, not even in the highest ranges, “not to be sought for in terrestrial geography,” says De Wette. The vision of

Matthew 9:8 — Matthew 9:8 . ἰδόντες οἱ ὄχλοι . The people are free from the petty jealousies and pedantic theories of the professional class; broad facts settle the matter for them. They probably had no scruples about the forgiving, but if they, had the miracle would put an

Mark 13:8 — Mark 13:8 . ἔσονται σεισμοὶ , etc., there will be earthquakes in places; there will be famines. Here again the briefest reading without connecting particles ( καὶ , καὶ ) is to be preferred, as suiting the abrupt style congenial to the prophetic mood. The καὶ

Mark 14:36 — Mark 14:36 . Ἀββᾶ ὁ πατήρ : in the parallels simply πάτερ . In the Apostolic Church the use of the double appellation among Gentile Christians was common ( vide Romans 8:15 , Galatians 4:6 ), Ἀββά having become a proper name and πατὴρ being added as its interpretation = God our Father. Mk. imparts into the prayer of our Lord this apostolic usage. Jesus doubtless would use only one of the names, probably the Aramaic.

Mark 16:9-11 — time of the resurrection, or with ἐφάνη , indicating the time of the first appearance, cannot be decided ( vide Meyer). πρῶτον Μαρίᾳ τ . Μ ., first to Mary of Magdala, as in John (John 20:14 ). παρʼ ἧς , etc.: this bit of information, taken from Luke 8:2 , is added as if this woman were a stranger never mentioned before in this Gospel, a sure sign of another hand. ἐφάνη , in this verse = appeared to, does not elsewhere occur in this sense.

Mark 8:10 — Mark 8:10 . Here as in case of first feeding there is a crossing of the lake immediately after ( εὐθὺς , which has an obvious reason in first case). This time Jesus and the Twelve enter the boat together, at least in Mark’s narrative ( μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν

Luke 2:22 — word used by Lk. and St. Paul (Romans 12:1 ), in the sense of dedication. This act was performed in accordance with the legal conception that the first-born belonged to God, His priestly servants before the institution of the Levitical order (Numbers 8:18-19 ). J. Weiss suggests that the narrative is modelled on the story of the dedication of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:21-28 ).

Luke 5:8 — Luke 5:8 . Πέτρος : here for first time introduced without explanation, presumably in connection with the great crisis in his history. ἀνὴρ ἁμαρτωλός : a natural exclamation especially for an impulsive nature in the circumstances. But the utterance, though real,

Luke 8:26 — Luke 8:26 . κατέπλευσαν εἰς τὴν χώραν , “they sailed down from the deep sea to the land, put in,” Grimm; appulerunt ad regionem , Raphel, who gives numerous examples of the use of this verb (here only in N. T.) in Greek authors. τ . Γερασηνῶν

John 5:8 — John 5:8 . The impotent man having declared his helplessness, Jesus says to him, Ἔγειρε , a command to be obeyed on the moment by faith in Him who gave it. Cf. John 6:63 , and Augustine’s “Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis”. ἆρον τὸν κράββατόν

Philemon 1:17 — Philemon 1:17 . ἔχεις …: for this use of ἔχω cf. Luke 14:18 , Philippians 2:29 . κοινωνόν : for the idea see Romans 12:13 ; Romans 15:26 f., 2Co 8:4 ; 2 Corinthians 9:13 , Galatians 6:6 , Philippians 4:15 , 1 Timothy 6:18 , Hebrews 13:16 . προσλαβοῦ αὐτὸν ὡς ἐμέ : cf. τὰ ἐμὰ σπλάγχνα in Philemon 1:12 . An interesting

1 Peter 4:17 — marked with Tau, is ordained by the Glory of the God of Israel; the Lord said, ἀπὸ τῶν ἁγίων μου ἄρξασθε and the men began at ( ἀπό ) the elders who were within in the house. The new Israel has precedence like the old even in condemnation; cf. Romans 2:8 f., τοῖς … ἀπειθοῦσι τῇ ἀληθεία … ὀργὴ ἐπὶ … ψυχὴν … Ἰουδαίου τε πρῶτον . τῷ … εὐαγγελίῳ , cf. Mark 1:14 . The Gospel or Word, which God spake in a Son , succeeds to the law as the expression of the will against which all but the remnant ( Ez. l.c.

2 Peter 3:2 — Peter 3:2 . Borrowed from Jude 1:17 . μνησθῆναι : epexegetical infinitive. See grammatical note. καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀποστόλων , κ . τ . λ . Double possessive genitive “of the Lord’s command delivered by your apostles”. Chase ( op. cit. p. 811 a) suggests that διά should be inserted after τῆς , and compares the title of the Didache, διδαχὴ κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν . ἐντολή = teaching of our Lord on the fulfilment of the moral law, cf. 2 Peter 2:21 , John 12:50 . ἀποστόλων

3 John 1:4 — formaverunt adulta subito vident?” Ev. sec. Heb. (quoted by Jerome on Ephesians 5:4 ): “Et numquam, inquit (Dominus), læti sitis nisi cum fratrem vestrum videritis in caritate”. μειζοτέραν , a double compar.; cf. ἐλαχιστοτέρῳ (Ephesians 3:8 ); our “lesser”; Germ. mehrere . τούτων : this use of the plur. ( ταῦτα ) rather than the sing ( τοῦτο ) is common. See Moulton’s Winer , p. 201. ἵνα , epexegetic of τούτων . Cf. Luke 1:43 and 1 John 3:11 . τέκνα implies that Ganius

3 John 1:5-8 — 3 John 1:5-8 . The Duty of Entertaining Itinerant Preachers. “Beloved, it is a work of faith that thou art doing in thy treatment of the brethren, strangers withal. They testified to thy love before the Church; and thou wilt do well in speeding them on their

Revelation 14:16 — harvest of the earth is ripe and dry,” but this ripeness of paganism for judgment (Jeremiah 51:33 ) is re-stated dramatically (Revelation 14:17-20 ) in a parallel O.T. symbol from the wine-press. The angelic mise-en-scène recalls that of Revelation 8:3-5 . Unlike the harvest-symbol, the vintage-symbol is worked out vividly ( cf. Genesis 49:11 ; Isaiah 63:1 f.).

Revelation 2:21 — Revelation 2:21 . The immorality was flagrant; more flagrant still was the obstinate persistence in it, despite admonitions and forbearance ( cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11 ; Bar. Ap. xxi. 20; 2 Peter 3:9 ). This allusion to an abuse of God’s patience and to a warning given already (hardly in some writing like Jude 1:2 Peter, Spitta) is left quite indefinite; it was probably familiar enough to the first readers

Revelation 7:15 — as shepherd was an ancient and familiar conception. This verse is partly adapted from Enoch 45:4 6. Unlike John 1:14 , it reflects a Christian fulfilment of the Jewish anticipation ( cf. Revelation 13:6 , Revelation 21:3 ; Zechariah 2:10 f.; Sir 24:8 f.) that the Shekinah would return in the era of final bliss.