Bible Commentaries

Matthew 11:12 — 12. ] The sense of this verse has been much disputed. (1) βιάζεται has been taken in a middle sense; ‘forcibly introduces itself,’ ‘breaks in with violence ,’ as in the similar passage Luke 16:16 , πᾶς εἰς αὐτὴν βιάζεται . Certainly

Matthew 11:27 — 27. ] In two other places only in the three first Gospels (besides the similar passage, Luk 10:22 ) does the expression ὁ υἱός occur: see reff. The spirit of this verse, and its form of expression, are quite those of the Gospel of John; and it serves

Matthew 15:32 — 32. ] The modern German interpreters assume the identity of this miracle with that narrated in ch. Matthew 14:14 ff. If this be so, then our Evangelists must have forged the speech attributed to our Lord in ch. Matthew 16:9-10 . But, as Ebrard justly

Matthew 6:9 — veritable reports of continuous utterances. That the request related in Luke should afterwards have been made, and similarly answered, is by no means improbable. (That he should have thus related it with this Gospel before him , is more than improbable.) 2. It has been questioned whether the prayer was regarded in the very earliest times as a set form delivered for liturgical use by our Lord. The variations in Luke have been regarded as fatal to the supposition of its being used liturgically at the time

Matthew 9:9-17 — 9 17. ] THE CALLING OF MATTHEW: THE FEAST CONSEQUENT ON IT: ENQUIRY OF JOHN’S DISCIPLES RESPECTING FASTING: AND OUR LORD’S ANSWER. Mark 2:13-22 .Luke 5:27-39; Luke 5:27-39 . Our Lord was going out to the sea to teach, Mark 2:13 . All three Evangelists connect this calling with the preceding miracle, and the subsequent entertainment. The real difficulty of the narrative is the question

Luke 7:36-38 — a different rendering from ‘a woman in the city which was a sinner.’ We must either render, ‘which was a sinner in the city,’ i.e. known as such in the place by public repute, carrying on a sinful occupation in the place, or (2) regard ἥτ . ἦν ἐν τ . πόλ . as parenthetic, ‘a woman which was in the city, a sinner.’ The latter seems preferable. ἁμαρτωλός , in the sense usually understood a prostitute: but, by the context, penitent . ἦν is not however

John 16:11 — destructive it is, and what a bondage they have been under; shall detect to them the Prince of this world reigning in the children of disobedience, and give them a better judgment , by which they shall “not be ignorant of his devices” ( 2Co 2:11 ). But this better judgment itself is that very truth of God manifested in the Lord Jesus, by which (ch. Joh 12:31 ) the Prince of this world is cast out; by which the follower of Christ is enabled to say, “Get thee behind me, Satan;”

John 18:31 — , i.e. to hold a court of judgment in capital cases. Some have thought that this power was reserved to them in religious matters, as of blasphemy and sacrilege; but no proof has been adduced of this; the passages commonly alleged Jos. Antt. xiv. 10. 2: B. J. vi. 2. 4, and Acts 7:58 , not applying (see note on Acts ut supra). The Talmud relates that this had taken place forty years (or more, see Lücke, ii. 737 note) before the destruction of Jerusalem. Biscoe, on the Acts, pp. 134 167, argues at

Romans 1:17 — and ‘piety’ which men possess or strive after, sometimes imputatively, for ‘freedom from blame’ or ‘justification,’ The latter meaning is most usual with Paul: δικ . is that which is so in the sight of God (ch. Rom 2:13 ), the result of His justifying forensic Judgment, or of ‘ Imputation ’ (ch. Rom 4:5 ). It may certainly be imagined, that a man might obtain justification by fulfilling the law : in that case his righteousness is an ἰδία ( δικαιοσύνη

Colossians 2:13-15 — assertion of the antiquation of the law, and subjection of all secondary powers to Christ . And you, who were (or perhaps more strictly, when you were ) dead (allusion to ἐκ [ τῶν ] νεκρῶν immediately preceding) in your trespasses (see Ephesians 2:1 , notes) and ( in ) the uncircumcision of (i.e. which consisted in: this is better than, with Ellic., to regard the gen. as simply possessive) your flesh (i.e. having on you still your fleshly sinful nature, the carnal præputium which now, as

2 Timothy 4:7 — is hardly correct to confine ἀγών to the sense of ‘fight:’ that it may be , but its reference is much wider, to any contest , see note on ref. 1 Tim.: and here probably to that which is specified in the next clause: see especially Heb 12:1 ), I have finished my race (see reff.: the image belongs peculiarly to St. Paul. In Philippians 3:12 ff. he follows it out in detail. See also 1 Corinthians 9:24 ff.: Hebrews 12:1-2 . Wetst. quotes Virg. Æn. iv. 653, “Vixi, et quem dederat

Hebrews 11:3 — of intellectual perception, τὰ ἀόρατα of God being the νοούμενα . The world itself, and the things therein, καθορᾶται by us: but the fact of its creation by God νοεῖται , with our rational or spiritual faculties) the ages (see note on ch. Hebrews 1:2 , where I have maintained that the expression οἱ αἰῶνες includes in it all that exists under the conditions of time and space, together with those conditions of time and space themselves, conditions which do not bind God, and did not exist independently

Hebrews 9:4 — burnt. The latter meaning is found in Demosth. p. 617. 3, ἐκπώματα δὲ ἢ θυμιατήρια , ἂν μὲν ὑπερβάλλῃ τῷ πλήθει κ . τ . λ .: Thuc. vi. 46, ἐπέδειξαν τὰ ἀναθήματα , φιάλας τε καὶ οἰνοχόας καὶ θυμιατήρια κ . τ . λ .: and so LXX, reff.:Josephus, Antt. iv. 2. 4, κομίζων ἕκαστος θυμιατήριον οἴκοθεν σὺν θυμιάμασι . The former, in Herod. iv. 162, Εὐέλθων , ὃς τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖσι θυμιητήριον ἐὸν ἀξιοθέητον ἀνέθηκεν : Ælian, V. H. xii. 51, καὶ κατακλιθέντι ( Μενεκράτει ) θυμιατήριον παρέθηκε ( Φιλίππος ), καὶ ἐθυμιᾶτο

James 2:16 — put in this form to bring the inference nearer home to themselves) say (rather, ‘ shall have said ,’ not λέγῃ : but the force of the aor. cannot be given in English without overdoing it), Go in peace (see, besides reff., Judges 18:6 ; 2Ki 15:9 LXX. The words would imply, that the wants were satisfied), be warmed (as being γυμνοί ) and filled (both are in the present, as indicating the state in which), but ye (answering to the τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν , and now applying the hypothesis to all)

James 2:17 — the quasi-identification of the πίστις with the man, and ascription of the ἔργα to it as a possession, shew in what relative places the two stand in the Apostle’s estimate) works, is dead (so Plautus in a remarkably similar passage, Epidic. i. 2. 13, “Nam quid te igitur retulit Beneficum esse orations, si ad rem auxilium emortuum est?”) in itself (not as E.V., “being alone,” καθ ʼ ἑαυτὴν οὖσα : nor, “against itself” = καθ ʼ ἑαυτῆς , as Möller, al.; nor is

1 Peter 4:13 — as ( καθό , not “ in that ,” “ inasmuch as ,” E. V., nor quando , Pott: see reff.) ye are partakers with the sufferings of Christ (i. e. have a share, in your own persons, of those sufferings which He personally bare: cf. 2 Corinthians 4:10 ; Philippians 3:10 ; Hebrews 13:13 &c. It is not the sufferings of Christ mystical in His Body the church (cf. Col 1:24 ) which are meant: in these the readers might bear their part, but could hardly be said κοινωνεῖν ), rejoice, that

2 Peter 3:17 — beforehand (viz. the whole announcement of which this chapter has been full; the certainty that such false teachers will arise, and the course which they will take), take heed (be on your guard) lest ( ἵνα μή aft. φυλάσσομαι , here only. In Xen. Mem. i. 2. 37, we have, in Charicles’s famous answer to Socrates, φυλάττου ὅπως μὴ καὶ σὺ ἐλάττους τοὺς βοῦς ποιήσῃς ) being led away together with (it is a remarkable coincidence, that St. Peter, well acquainted as he was with St. Paul’s writings,

2 Peter 3:7 — by, against a certain time: see especially ref. Rom. Dietlein fancies that the idea of θησαυρός must be kept hold of, the οὐρανοὶ κ . γῆ being the stored-up material for wrath to be exercised on: but this is mere fancy, and is contradicted by Romans 2:5 , where the reference is the same), being kept (present, denoting that it is only God’s constantly watchful Providence which holds together the present state of things till His time for ending it) for fire ( πυρί , dat. commodi) against

1 John 5:6 — God is he &c.:” making the proposition assert the identity of the Son of God with the historical Jesus, not the converse. This Huther supports on two grounds: 1) that the fact that Jesus came by water and blood needed no proof even to Heretics: 2) that on the ordinary interpretation the following words, Ἰης . ( ὁ ) χριστός , become altogether superfluous. But to these it is easily replied, 1) that although the fact might be confessed, that was not confessed to which the fact bore testimony,

Revelation 20:1-10 — 1 10 .] THE VICTORY OVER SATAN. The next enemy now remaining is the Arch-fiend himself, who had given his might and his throne and great power (ch. Rev 13:2 ) to the beast: whose instruments the other enemies were. The blow given to him by their overthrow is followed by his binding and incarceration for 1000 years ( Rev 20:1-3 ): during which period the Saints live and reign with Christ, and judge the world,