Bible Commentaries

Matthew 10:5 — discourse of our Lord was delivered at one time , and that, the first sending of the Twelve . How often its solemn injunctions may have been repeated on similar occasions we cannot say: many of them reappear at the sending of the Seventy in Luke 10:2 ff. Its primary reference is to the then Mission of the Apostles to prepare His way; but it includes, in the germ, instructions prophetically delivered for the ministers and missionaries of the Gospel to the end of time . It may be divided into THREE

Matthew 13:19 — especially meant of the word preached , though the word written is not excluded: nor the word unwritten the providences and judgments, and even the creation, of God. (See Romans 10:17-18 .) The similitude in this parable is alluded to in 1 Peter 1:23 ; James 1:21 . The sower is first the Son of Man ( Mat 13:37 ), then His ministers and servants ( 1Co 3:6 ) to the end. He sows over all the field, unlikely as well as likely places; and commands His sowers to do the same, Mark 16:15 . Some, Stier

Matthew 24:3 — the sign, of these things happening, viz. the overthrow of the temple and desolation of Judæa, with which, in the then idea of the Apostles, our Lord’s coming and the end of the world were connected. Against this mistake He warns them, Matthew 24:6 ; Matthew 24:14 , Luke 21:24 , and also in the two first parables in our ch. 25. For the understanding of this necessarily difficult prophetic discourse, it must be borne in mind that the whole is spoken in the pregnant language of prophecy, in

Matthew 3:12 — 12. οὗ τὸ πτύον ] οὗ … αὐτοῦ , a very common redundancy. See reff. οὗ is not ‘ whose ,’ which is implied in τό : it belongs (against Meyer) to χειρί , not to πτύον , and the sense is just as if it had stood, οὗ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ πτύον

Matthew 5:21 — 21. ἠκούσατε ] viz. by the reading of the law in the synagogues, and the exposition of the Scribes. τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ] has been rendered, as in E. V., ‘ by the ancients;’ in which case, Moses and his traditional expounders are classed together;

Matthew 6:7 — the name of this Battus seems to have been given from the circumstance; παῖς ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ τραυλός , τῷ οὔνομα ἐτέθη Βάττος . We have βατταρίζω and its derivatives with the same signification; and Æschines called Demosthenes βάταλος ( περὶ στ . p. 288. 17 Bekker). Hence the sense has generally been held to be, ‘ do not make unmeaning repetitions .’ But most of the Fathers (see the passages in Thol., and in Suicer sub voce) understand by βαττ ., the praying περὶ τὰ ἀνωφελῆ τε καὶ μάταια

Luke 10:37 — of the scoffs which are sure to beset such an interpretation, from the superficial school of critics) give up the interpretation of the Fathers and other divines, who see in this poor traveller, going from the heavenly to the accursed city (Joshua 6:26 ; 1Ki 16:34 ), the race of man, the Adam who fell; in the robbers and murderers, him who was a murderer from the beginning ( Joh 8:44 ); in the treatment of the traveller, the deep wounds and despoilment which we have inherited from the fall; in

Luke 2:14 — trifling. As to whether ἐστιν or ἔστω should be supplied, the same question might be raised of every proclamation which was ever uttered. The sense of both these is included . It is both There is, and Let there be, glory, &c. The song in the re [21] . is in three clauses , forming a Hebrew parallelism, in which the third clause is subordinate to and an amplification of the second, and so is without a copula to it. [21] The Textus Receptus or received text of the Greek Testament. Used in this

John 3:31 — first, I by no means grant this, in the sense which is here meant. It will be seen by the reff. that the Evangelist does not so frequently repeat himself as in most other passages of equal length. And even were this so, the remark made above on John 3:16-21 , would apply here also; that the Evangelist’s peculiar style of theological expression was formed on some model; and on what more likely than in the first place the discourses of his Divine Master, and then such sententious and striking testimonies

Romans 10:4-13 — simply to take in the idea of Christ being the end, i.e. aim of the law, as borne out by the following citations, in which nothing is said of the transitoriness of the law, but much of the notices which it contains of righteousness by faith in Christ. (2) Clem [92] Alex., πλήραμα γὰρ ν . χρ . εἰς δικ . π . τῷ πιστ ., De Div. Serv. § 9, p. 940 P. Theodoret, Calv., Grot., al., take τέλος for ‘ accomplishment ,’ a sense included in the general meaning, but not especially treated here, the

Romans 8:11 — been appealed to, its origin cannot be assigned to any falsification by either of the then disputant parties. As to how far the Holy Spirit is the direct Agent in the resurrection of the body, see note on πνεῦμα ζωοπ ., 1 Corinthians 15:45 , and on 2 Corinthians 5:5 . Here, His direct agency cannot be in any way surprising, for it is the whole process of bringing from death to life, extending even to the mortal body , which is here spoken of and unquestionably, ‘the Lord and Giver of Life’

Romans 9:28 — 28 .] The reference of this latter part of the citation is not very plain. It is almost verbatim from the LXX, the γάρ (which is found in A [89] but not in B) being perhaps adopted by the Apostle as continuing the testimony, = ‘for the prophet proceeds,’

Romans 9:3 — in every schoolboy’s reading): the act is unfinished, an obstacle intervening. So in Latin, ‘faciebam, ni …,’ the completed sentence being, ‘faciebam, et perfecissem, ni …’) that I myself (on αὐτὸς ἐγώ see ch. Romans 7:25 ; it gives emphasis, as ἐγὼ Παῦλος , [ 2Co 10:1 ] Galatians 5:2 ; ‘I, the very person who write this and whom ye know’) were a curse (a thing accursed, ἀνάθεμα in the LXX = חֵרֶם , an irrevocable devotion to God, or, a thing or person

Ephesians 2:19 — 19 .] So then ( ἄρα οὖν is said by Hermann (Viger, art. 292) not to be classical Greek. It is frequent in St. Paul, but confined to him: see reff. Cf. on Gal 6:10 ) ye no longer are strangers and sojourners (see ref. Acts, where certainly this is the sense. “ πάροικος is here simply the same as the

Hebrews 8:10 — ἐκείνας seems to point immediately to the time indicated by the aorist ἠμέλησα : and thus μετὰ τὰς ἡμ . ἐκ . will be, after the end of that dispensation, when those days of disregard are over), saith ( φησί LXX) the Lord; giving (the LXX- [41] [42] have διδοὺς δώσω : the Heb. נָתַתִּי . But A agrees with the text: and by the Writer repeating the same in ch. Hebrews 10:16 , it is probable that he had this reading in his copy of the LXX. The participle, as it stands, is best joined, as Œc., with

Hebrews 8:8 — 8 .] For (there is an ellipsis of ζητεῖται δέ , and the γάρ introduces the substantiation of the assertion) blaming them (so ref. 2 Macc., μεμψάμενος αὐτοῖς εἶπεν . The dative after μέμφομαι is common in Greek: see Herod. iii. 4; iv. 180: Xen. Cyr. i. 4. 6, and many other examples in Bleek. But seeing that it appears difficult, after the word ἄμεμπτος has been used of the covenant

1 Peter 3:18 — not only render a reason , but lays down the reason why Christian suffering for well-doing is blessed) Christ also (as well as yourselves if ye be so called as to suffer) suffered for sins (the thought is somewhat similar to that in ch. 1 Peter 2:21 , but the intent of it different: there, it was as an example to us that the sufferings of Christ were adduced: here, it is as a proof of the blessedness and advantage of suffering for well-doing, that proof being closely applied to us by the fact

1 John 3:9-10 — precludes the development of the old sinful nature. So the majority of the better expositors, defining somewhat differently, when they come to explain in detail this germ of spiritual life: Œc., ἤτοι (1) τὸ πνεῦμα ὃ διὰ τοῦ χαρίσματος ἐλάβομεν , … ἢ (2) καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ χριστὸς , ὃς ἐνοικῶν ἐν τοῖς πιστοὶς ποιεῖ αὐτοὺς υἱοὺς θεοῦ : Severus in Cramer’s Catena, ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησις δι ʼ ἧς ἀνεγεννήθημεν : so (1) Lücke, Düsterd.; “Spiritus sanctus et virtus ejus” Calvin, Beza;

Revelation 6:1-2 — 1, 2 .] And I saw when the Lamb opened one from among the seven seals, and I heard one from among the four living-beings saying, as the voice (a pendent nominative; the regular construction would be dative) of thunder (which is to be taken not as peculiarly

Revelation 6:5-6 — the mournful nature of the employment of the rider: see below), and he that sat on him having a balance (the symbol of scarcity, during which the bread is doled out by weight: see Ezekiel 4:16 , φάγονται ἄρτον ἐν σταθμῷ καὶ ἐν ἐνδείᾳ : and Leviticus 26:26 , ἀποδώσουσι τοὺς ἄρτους ὑμῶν ἐν σταθμῷ , καὶ φάγεσθε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐμπλησθῆτε . Some, as e. g. Woodhouse, have defended the meaning “ yoke ” for ζυγόν . But surely the question is here decided for us by ref. Ezek., ζυγὸς δίκαιος , καὶ