Bible Commentaries

Matthew 10:24 — 24. ] This proverb is used in different senses in Luk 6:40 and John 13:16 . The view here is, that disciples must not expect a better lot than their Master, but be well satisfied if they have no worse. The threefold relation of our Lord and His followers

Matthew 11:19 — 19. ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων ] Alluding to our Lord’s practice of frequenting entertainments and feasts, e.g. the marriage at Cana, the feast in Levi’s house, &c. See also ch. Matthew 9:14 . καί = and yet; see John 16:32 . ἡ σοφία , the divine wisdom which hath ordered these things. ἐδικ . was justified the same tense as ἦλθεν both times refers to the event , q. d., ‘they were events in which wisdom was justified, &c.’ The force of the aorist is not

Matthew 16:1 — 1. σημεῖον ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ] see notes at ch. Matthew 12:38 . There is no ground for supposing that this narrative refers to the same event as that. What can be more natural than that the adversaries of our Lord should have met His miracles again and again with this demand of a sign from heaven? For in the

Matthew 25:34 — shall come to salvation, whether belonging to those who shall be found worthy to share the first resurrection or not. The Scripture assures us of two resurrections : the first , of the dead in Christ , to meet Him and reign with Him, and hold ( 1Co 6:2 ) judgment over the world; the second , of all the dead , to be judged according to their works. And to what purpose would be a judgment, if all were to be condemned? And if any escape condemnation, to them might the words of this verse be used:

Matthew 25:37-40 — they are not to be understood as being the covenanted servants of Christ. Such an answer it would be impossible for them to make, who had done all distinctly with reference to Christ , and for his sake, and with his declaration of ch. Mat 10:40-42 before them. Such a supposition would remove all reality, as indeed it has generally done, from our Lord’s description. See the remarkable difference in the answer of the faithful servants, Matthew 25:20 ; Matthew 25:22 . The saints are already

Matthew 26:13 — We may notice (1) that this announcement is a distinct prophetic recognition by our Lord of the existence of written records , in which the deed should be related; for in no other conceivable way could the universality of mention be brought about: (2) that we have here (if indeed we needed it) a convincing argument against that view of our three first Gospels which supposes them to have been compiled from an original document: for if there had been such a document, it must have contained this narrative,

Matthew 26:18 — and Luke, where he is to be found by the turning in of a man with a pitcher of water . The Lord spoke not from any previous arrangement, as some have thought, but in virtue of His knowledge, and command of circumstances. Compare the command ch. Mat 21:2 sq., and that in ch. Matthew 17:27 . In the words πρὸς τὸν δεῖνα here must be involved the additional circumstance mentioned by Mark and Luke, but perhaps unknown to our narrator: see note on Luke 22:10 , where the fullest account is found. The

Matthew 26:45-46 — imperative construction. (1) Either it was said bonafide , ‘since ye are not able to watch with Me, now ye may sleep on for my hour is come, and I am about to be taken from you’ which sense however is precluded by the ἐγείρεσθε ἄγωμεν below: or (2) it was said with an understanding of ‘ if you can ’ as Bengel; ‘si me excitantem non auditis, brevi aderunt alii qui vos excitent. Interea dormite, si vacat.’ (Only let us beware of the so-called “deeper sense,”

Matthew 4:15 — situated, but of a different tract. The later meaning of מֵעֵבֶר לַיַּרְדֵּן , as signifying the tract to the west of the Jordan, and which naturally sprung up during the captivity, is not to be thought of in Isaiah, who wrote before that event. See 1Ch 26:30 in the Hebrew, where, however, the E. V. renders ‘on this side Jordan westward.’ Meyer [in edd. 1, 2; in edd. 3, 4, 5 he renders ὁδ . θαλ . ‘ seawards .’ See Moulton’s Winer, p. 289, note 4] strangely makes ὁδὸν θαλ

Matthew 4:4 — their God: but now the second Adam is come, the true Israel, by whose obedience the way of life is again made known and opened ‘that man truly liveth on and in the eternal word of God.’ ” Stier’s Reden Jesu, vol. i. p. 16 (edn. 2). Observe also how our Lord resists Satan in His humanity; at once here numbering Himself with men , by adducing ὁ ἄνθρωπος as including His own case; and not only so, but thus speaking out the mystery of his humiliation, in which He had foregone

Matthew 5:28 — 28. πᾶς ὁ βλέπων ] The precise meaning should in this verse be kept in mind, as the neglect of it may lead into error. Our Lord is speaking of the sin of adultery , and therefore, however the saying may undoubtedly apply by implication to cases where

Matthew 5:48 — . ὑμεῖς is emphatic. No countenance is given by this verse to the ancient Pelagian or the modern heresy of perfectibility in this life. Such a sense of the words would be utterly at variance with the whole of the discourse. See especially Matthew 5:22 ; Matthew 5:29 ; Matthew 5:32 , in which the imperfections and conflicts of the Christian are fully recognized. Nor, if we consider this verse as a solemn conclusion of the second part of the Sermon, does it any the more admit of this view, asserting

1 Timothy 4:4-5 — that which rests on a patent fact, as here on a Scripture quotation, γάρ , that which is in the writer’s mind, and forms part of his own reasoning) every thing which God has made is good (in allusion to ref. Gen. See also Romans 14:14 ; Rom 14:20 ); and nothing (which God has made) is to be rejected (Wetst. cites Hom. Il. γ . 65, οὔτοι ἀπόβλητ ʼ ἑστὶ θεῶν ἐρικυδέα δῶρα on which the Schol., ἀπόβλητα , ἀποβολῆς ἄξια · τὰ ὑπὸ θεῶν , φησί , δεδομένα δῶρα οὐκ ἔστι μὲν ἀρνήσασθαι ) if received

2 Timothy 3:2 — 2 .] for (reason for χαλεποί ) men ( οἱ generic: the men who shall live in those times) shall be selfish ( οἱ πάντα πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὠφέλειαν ποιοῦντες , Theod-Mops. Aristotle, in his chapter περὶ φιλαυτίας , Eth. Nicom. ix. 8, while he maintains that

Hebrews 10:26 — 26 .] For if we willingly sin (contrast to ἀκουσίως ἁμαρτάνειν , in reff. and the ἑκουσίως ἁμαρτάνοντες to the ἀγνοοῦντες κ . πλανώμενοι , ch. Hebrews 5:2 . The sin meant by ἁμαρτάνειν is sufficiently defined by the connexion ( γάρ ) with the preceding

Hebrews 10:27 — 27 .] but (there is left remaining: ἀπολείπεται is common to both clauses) a certain (this attaching of τις to an adjective is an elegance belonging to the more polished style of our Writer, and often found in the classics: e. g. ἐπίπονόν τινα βίον

James 1:13 — in four forms, ἀπείρᾶτος , ἀπείρᾶτος , ἀπείρητος (Ion.), and ἀπείραστος ; and in all of them seems to have but two meanings: 1. that has not been tried : so οὐδὲν ἀπείρατόν ἐστί τινι , Dem. p. 310; πόντος ἀπείρατος ὢν τοῖς Ἕλλησι , Luc. Tox. James 3:2 . that has not tried : so οὐκ ἀπείρατος καλῶν , Pind. Ol. 10 (11). 18; ἀλλοδαπῶν οὐκ ἀπείρατοι δόμοι , id. Nem. 1. 33; κακῶν ἀπείρατος (that has never experienced adversity), Plut. παῤῥησίας , ἔρωτος ἀπείρατος , unversed in free speaking, in love,

1 Peter 1:2 — 2 .] according to (i. e. in pursuance of . The local meaning of κατά with an accus., ‘along (down) the direction of,’ gives at once the derived meaning here. κατὰ πρόγ . κ . τ . λ . follows ἐκλεκτοῖς , the emphatic position of the predicative

1 John 3:16 — 16 .] Example of true love in Christ, and enforcement of it on us . In this (on ἐν τούτῳ , see above, 1 John 3:10 , and note, ch. 1Jn 2:3 ) we have the knowledge of ( ἐγνώκαμεν , “we have arrived at and possess the apprehension of:” γινώσκειν implying knowledge as an act of the understanding proceeding on intellectual grounds. Here however it is used entirely within the

2 John 1:1-3 — Epistle”) to the (not, an : see prolegg. “whom the Epistle was written”) elect lady (see prolegg. ibid.), and to her children whom ( οὕς , masc., probably embraces the whole, mother and children of both sexes: see 3 John 1:1 . 2Jn 1:4 is no reason why we should regard the masc. relative as applying to sons only: when proceeding to single out some for praise, as there, he naturally speaks in the masculine) I love in truth (not merely, in reality, as Œc., ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἐπιπλάστως