Bible Commentaries

Matthew 27:52 — 52. καὶ τὰ μν … to end of Matthew 27:53 . ] The first clause, as following on an earthquake which splits the rocks, is by the modern Commentators received as genuine, and thrown into the same probability as the earthquake itself: but the following

Luke 17:18 — 18. ὁ ἀλλογ . οὗτ . ] The Samaritans were Gentiles; not a mixed race , as is sometimes erroneously supposed. They had a mixed religion , but were themselves originally from other countries: see 2 Kings 17:24-41 . There may have been a reason for the nine Jews not returning, that they held the ceremonial duty imposed on them to be paramount, which the Samaritan might not rate so highly. That he was going to Mount Gerizim does not appear: from

John 2:23 — 23. ] As analogous with ἐν τῷ πάσχα ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ , see ch. John 6:4 . θεωρ . αὐτ . τὰ σημ . ἅ ἐπ . ] ἐπίστευον εἰς αὐτόν , ἀλλ ʼ οὐ βεβαίως . ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ ἀκριβέστερον ἐπίστευον , ὅσοι μὴ διὰ τὰ σημεῖα μόνον , ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν

Acts 11:19-30 — BEING THEREUPON SENT BY THE APOSTLES FROM JERUSALEM, FETCHES SAUL FROM TARSUS TO ANTIOCH. THEY CONTINUE THERE A YEAR, AND, ON OCCASION OF A FAMINE, CARRY UP ALMS TO THE BRETHREN AT JERUSALEM. Our present section takes up the narrative at ch. Acts 8:2 ; Acts 8:4 . In Act 11:19-21 it traverses rapidly the time occupied by ch. Acts 9:1-30 , and that (undefined) of Saul’s stay at Tarsus, and brings it down to the famine under Claudius.

Acts 13:3 — 3. νηστ . κ . προσευξ . ] not, ‘ jejunio et precibus (viz. of Act 13:2 ) peractis ,’ Kuin.: this was a new fasting and special prayer for Barnabas and Saul. Fasting and prayer have ever been connected with the solemn times of ordination by the Christian church; but the ‘jejunia quatuor temporum,’ or

Acts 16:21 — 21. ἔθη … ] “Dio Cassius tells us that Mæcenas gave the following advice to Augustus: τὸ μὲν θεῖον πάντη πάντως αὐτός τε σέβου κατὰ τὰ πάτρια , καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τιμᾷν ἀνάγκαζε · τοὺς δὲ ξενίζοντάς τι περὶ αὐτὸ καὶ μίσει καὶ κόλαζε · and the reason

Acts 16:3 — one by birth a Jew, but uncircumcised. There was here no concession in doctrine at all, and no reference whatever to the duty of Timotheus himself in the matter. In the case of Titus, a Greek , he dealt otherwise, no such reason existing: Galatians 2:3 .

Acts 17:4 — 4. προσεκληρώθ . ] were added (as if by lot, that being determined by God, who gave them the Holy Spirit of adoption: ὃς καὶ ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν , 1Th 2:13 ) to the great family of which Paul and Silas were members. The sense is passive, not middle. The word is not uncommon in Philo. σεβ . Ἑλλ . ] See reff. The aptitude of women for the reception of the Gospel several times appears in this book, see above, ch. Acts 16:13 ff., and below, Acts 17:12 ; Acts 17:34 .

Acts 20:15 — 15. παρεβάλ ] we put in : so Charon, in the Frogs, to his boatman, ὠόπ , παραβαλοῦ , 180; and 271, παραβαλοῦ τῷ κωπίῳ : see many examples in Wetst. Then they made a short run in the evening to Trogylium, a cape and town on the Ionian coast, only forty stadia distant, where they spent the night. He had passed in front of the bay of Ephesus, and was now but a short distance from it. Μίλητον ] The ancient capital of Ionia (Herod, i. 142). See 2 Timothy 4:20 , and note.

Acts 4:6 — 6 .] On Annas and Caiaphas, both called high priests, Luke 3:2 , see note there. Of John and Alexander nothing is known. Lightfoot supposes John to be identical with the Jochanan ben Zacchai of the Talmud, who however (De W.) was not of the high -priestly, but only of the priestly race: and Pearson, Wolf, Krebs,

Acts 4:7 — condition, the deed was wrought? ἐν ποίῳ ὀνόματι not ‘ in what name ,’ i.e. ‘ by whose authority ,’ but by (‘ in ,’ see above) what (manner of) name , spoken: see ch. Acts 3:6 ; Acts 3:16 ; Jos. Antt. viii. 2. 5. τοῦτο , not the teaching (Olshaus., &c.), nor both the miracle and the teaching (Heinr.), but the miracle : and that only.

Romans 11:35 — 35. ] or who hath previously given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him ? from Job 41:3 (11 E. V.), where the LXX ( Job 41:2 ) have τίς (add ἐστιν ὃς Α) ἀντιστήσεταί μοι , κ . ὑπομενεῖ ; But the Heb. is מִי הִקְדִּימַנִי וַאֲשַׁלִּם , ‘ who hath anticipated (i.e. by the context, conferred a benefit on) me, that I may repay him ?’ And to this the Apostle alludes,

Romans 14:2 — 2. ] The ὃς μέν , the strong in faith, so indicated by what follows, is opposed to ὁ δὲ ἀσθενῶν (not to be taken ὁ δὲ , ἀσθενῶν , κ . τ . λ .), by which τὸν ἀσθενοῦντα of Rom 14:1 is resumed. πιστεύει φαγεῖν , either believes that he may ( ἐξεῖναι

Romans 4:24 — 24. ] ἐκ νεκρῶν is almost (see Colossians 2:12 ; 1Th 1:10 ) always anarthrous, as indeed νεκροί sometimes is (for ‘the dead’) in classic writers, e.g. Thucyd. iv. 14; Romans 4:10 , end: and see Winer, edn. 6, § 19. 1. The omission may in

2 Corinthians 1:21 — 21. ] ὁ δὲ βεβ .… ἡμᾶς is the (prefixed) predicate, and θεός the subject., βεβ . εἰς χριστόν = βεβ . τῇ πίστει εἰς χριστόν , confirmeth us (in believing) on Christ. χρίσας ἡμᾶς , after ἡμ . σὺν ὑμῖν and the καί , cannot refer (as Meyer, al.)

2 Corinthians 8:2 — 2. ] how that (depends on γνωρίζομεν ) in much proof of tribulation (though they were put to the proof by much tribulation) ( was ) the abundance of their joy (i.e. their joy abounded), and their deep poverty ( κατὰ βάθους , lit. ‘down into

Galatians 5:24 — 24 .] Further confirmation of this last result, and transition to the exhortations of Galatians 5:25-26 . But (contrast, the one universal choice of Christians, in distinction from the two catalogues) they who are Christ’s crucified (when they

1 Thessalonians 5:18 — 18 . ἐν παντί ] in every thing, every circumstance : see reff., and cf. ὑπὲρ πάντων , Ephesians 5:20 ; κατὰ πάντα , Colossians 3:22-23 . Chrys., al., explain it ‘ on every occasion ’ ( καιρῷ ); but 2 Corinthians 9:8 , ἐν παντὶ πάντοτε , precludes this. τοῦτο perhaps refers back to the three χαίρ ., προσεύχ ., εὐχαρ ., or perhaps, as Ellic.

2 Thessalonians 3:4 — 4 .] forms a transition to the exhortations which are to follow, 2 Thessalonians 3:6 ff. ἐν κυρίῳ , as the element in which his confidence is exercised, shews it to be one assuming that they will act consistently with their Christian profession: and so gives the expectation the force of an exhortation, but at the

2 Peter 1:13 — 13 .] But (notwithstanding this previously conceded fact, that you know and stand firm in the truth) I think it right ( why , follows, 2Pe 1:14 ) as long as ( ἐφ ʼ ὅσον , scil. χρόνον , see Rom 7:1 al.) I am in this tabernacle (see for the sense 2 Corinthians 5:1 ff.: and below), to stir you up in (not, “ by :” in , as the medium in which I strive towards the stirring up, and in using which it has place) reminding (the same phrase occurs in ch. 2Pe 3:1 ):