Bible Commentaries

Matthew 24:29 — 29. εὐθέως ] All the difficulty which this word has been supposed to involve has arisen from confounding the partial fulfilment of the prophecy with its ultimate one. The important insertion in Luke ( Luk 21:23-24 ) shews us that the θλῖψις includes

Mark 1:24 — 24. Ναζ . ] We may observe that this epithet often occurs under strong contrast to His Majesty and glory; as here, and ch. Mark 16:6 , and Acts 2:22-24 ; Acts 22:8 ; and, we may add, John 19:19 . ἡμᾶς , generic: “communem inter se causam habent dæmonia,” Bengel.

Luke 4:6 — 6. ] Satan is set forth to us in Scripture as the prince , or god of this world , by our Lord Himself, John 12:31 ; John 14:30 ; John 16:11 : by Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:4 ( Eph 6:12 ). On the signification of this temptation, see notes on Matt.

John 6:71 — 71. ] On the name Ἰσκαριώτης (here applied to Simon, Judas’s father), see on Matthew 10:4 . ἔμελλεν , not, ‘ intended ,’ see ch. John 13:2 : but simply future , = ἦν ὁ παραδώσων αὐτόν , see John 6:64 ; ch. John 7:39 ; Joh 11:51 alli [97] . [97] alli = some cursive mss.

Acts 26:14 — 14. τῇ Ἑβρ . διαλ . ] These words are expressed here only. In ch. 9 (see note) we have the fact remarkably preserved by the Hebrew form Σαούλ ; in ch. 22 he was speaking in Hebrew (Syro-Chald.), and the notice was not required. (Beware again of the supposed emphatic με of Wordsworth.) σκληρ . σοι πρ . κ . λ . ] This is found here only; in ch. 9 the words are spurious, having been inserted

Acts 28:1 — , Μελίτην ταύτην προσαγορεύων . It has been adopted by our own countrymen, Bryant and Dr. Falconer, and abroad by Giorgi, Rhoer, and more recently Paulus. It rests principally on three mistakes: 1. the meaning of the name Adria (see above on ch. Act 27:27 ), 2. the fancy that there are no poisonous serpents in Malta ( Act 28:3 ), 3. the notion that the Maltese would not have been called βάρβαροι . The idea itself, when compared with the facts, is preposterous enough. Its supporters are obliged to

Romans 12:2 — 2. ] συνσχηματίζεσθαι is not Imperative in sense, but dependent on παρακαλῶ . (Of course, in all such questions betwen ε and αι , the confusing element of itacism comes in: but in no case where both forms are equally admissible in the text, can the mere

Romans 9:33 — of Christ to a stone of stumbling. The citation is gathered from two places in Isaiah. The ‘stone of stumbling and rock of offence,’ mentioned Isaiah 8:14 , is substituted for the ‘corner-stone elect, precious,’ of ch. Isaiah 28:16 . The solution of this is very simple. Isa 8:14 was evidently interpreted by the Jews themselves of the Messiah: for Simeon, Luke 2:34 , when speaking of the child Jesus as the Messiah, expressly adduces the prophecy as about to be fulfilled. Similarly

1 Corinthians 1:1 — identical with the ruler of the synagogue in Acts 18:17 ; see note there. He must have been some Christian well known to the church at Corinth. Thus Paul associates with himself Silvanus and Timotheus in the Epistles to the Thessalonians; and Timotheus in 2 Cor. Chrysostom attributes it to modesty: μετριάζει , συντάττων ἑαυτῷ τὸν ἐλάττονα πολλῷ . Some have supposed Sosthenes to be the writer of the Epistle, see Romans 16:22 . Possibly he may have been one τῶν Χλόης ( 1Co 1:11 ) by whom the intelligence

2 Corinthians 4:7-18 — 7 18. ] This glorious ministry is fulfilled by weak, afflicted, persecuted, and decaying vessels, which are moreover worn out in the work (7 12). Yet the spirit of faith, the hope of the resurrection, and of being presented with them, for whom he has laboured, bears him up against the decay of the outer man, and all present tribulation (13 18). We are not justified in assuming with Calvin,

Ephesians 4:30 — His Spirit) the Holy Spirit of God (the repetition of the articles gives solemnity and emphasis), in whom (as the element, condition, of the sealing: not by whom; the sealing, both of the Lord and of us His members, is the act of the Fathar, John 6:27 : the Spirit being the seal , ch. Eph 1:13 ) ye were sealed unto (in reservation for) the day of redemption (the day when redemption shall be complete in glory see again ch. Ephesians 1:13 . On the genitive, see Winer, § 30. 2, so ἡμέρα ὀργῆς ,

Philippians 4:6 — 6 .] μηδέν has the emphasis. It is the accusative of the object, as τὸ πολλὰ μεριμνᾷν , Xen. Cyr. viii. 7. 12. ἐν παντί ] in every thing : see ref. 1 Thess. and note. Meyer remarks that the literally correct rendering of the Vulg. ‘ in omni (neut.) oratione ’ led Ambrose wrong, who gives it ‘ per omnem orationem .’ τῇ προσευχῇ

1 Thessalonians 2:19 — Thessalonians (Est., al.), or that their conversion will compensate for his having persecuted the Church before, but from generous desire to be found at that day with the fruits of his labour, and that they might be his boast and he theirs before the Lord: see 2 Corinthians 1:14 ; Philippians 2:16 . On στέφ . καυχ . , see reff. and Soph. Aj. 460. ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ ὑμεῖς ] The ἤ , as Ellic., ‘introduces a second and negative interrogation, explanatory and confirmatory of what is implied in the first:’

1 Thessalonians 5:22 — 22 . ἀπὸ π . εἴδ . πον . ἀπέχ . ] These words cannot by any possibility be rendered as in E. V., ‘ abstain from all appearance of evil .’ For (1) εἶδος never signifies ‘ appearance ’ in this sense: (2) the two members

2 Timothy 1:16 — 16 .] May the Lord give mercy (an expression not found elsewhere in N. T.) to the house of Onesiphorus (from this expression, here and in ch. 2 Timothy 4:19 , and from what follows, 2 Timothy 1:18 , it has been not improbably supposed, that Onesiphorus himself was no longer living at this time. Some indeed, as Thdrt. ( οὐ μόνον αὐτῷ ἀλλὰ καὶ παντὶ τῷ οἴκῳ τὸν θεῖον ἀντέδωκεν ἔλεον ), Calv.

Hebrews 4:15 — causa patientem juvabit, qui quanto major est, quanto a nobis remotior, tanto minore fortassis nostri cura tangetur?” To suppose, as some have done, that a contrast to the Jewish high priests is intended, is to contradict directly ch. Hebrews 5:2 . Rather is our great High Priest in this respect expressly identified with them) we have not a high priest unable (thus better than “who is not able,” τὸν μὴ δυνάμενον ) to sympathize with (“The verb συμπαθέω , immediately from

James 3:8 — εἰ τὰ ἀτίθασσα θηρία ὁ ἄνθρωπος τιθασσεύει καὶ χειροήθη ποιεῖ , ἆρα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γλῶσσαν οὐ δαμάσει ;), is quite out of the question. Observe δαμάσαι , aor., ‘even to tame once,’ not habitually, pres. Now we see fully the meaning of Jam 3:2 ): it is a restless mischief ( ἀκατάστατον expresses both fickleness and restlessness, see above on ch. Jam 1:8 and Dio Chrys. there, who calls a democracy ἄστατον κακόν . The figure here seems to correspond nearly to what is related of Proteus,

1 Peter 2:25 — 25 .] For (justification of the last assertion by another allusion to Isaiah 53:0 ) ye were straying like sheep (so in ref. Isa., πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημεν ): but ye have returned (not, “have been converted:” the 2 aor. pass. ἐπεστράφην

1 Peter 3:3 — ( the adornment ) be (much better so, supplying the word from κόσμος expressed below, than either, 1. as E. V. al. taking the word κόσμος expressed below as the subject, and supplying it after ἔξωθεν , which however comes to the same in sense, or, 2. as Huther, taking ὧν ἔστω as complete in itself, “let whose business be;” which is against not only probable construction, but the analogy of 1 Timothy 5:9 , which see) not the outward adornment ( ὁ ἔξωθεν κόσμος belong together, the

Revelation 3:12 — 12 .] The reward of the conqueror. He that conquereth (for the pendent nom., see ref.), I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God (i. e. he shall have a fixed and important place in the glorified church hereafter. That this, and nothing referring