Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 1:18 — 18. God deigns to argue the case with us, that all may see the just, nay, loving principle of His dealings with men (Isaiah 43:26). scarlet—the color of Jesus Christ's robe when bearing our "sins" (Isaiah 43:26- :). So Rahab's thread (Isaiah 43:26- :; compare Leviticus 14:4). The rabbins say that when the lot used to be taken, a scarlet fillet was bound on the scapegoat's

Isaiah 11:11 — Jews is to be distinct from that after the Babylonish captivity, and yet to resemble it. The first restoration was literal, therefore so shall the second be; the latter, however, it is implied here, shall be much more universal than the former (Isaiah 43:5-7; Isaiah 49:12; Isaiah 49:17; Isaiah 49:18; Ezekiel 37:21; Hosea 3:5; Amos 9:14; Amos 9:15; Micah 4:6; Micah 4:7; Zephaniah 3:19; Zephaniah 3:20; Zechariah 10:10; Jeremiah 23:8). As to the "remnant" destined by God to survive the judgments on the

Joel 1:4 — 4. This verse states the subject on which he afterwards expands. Four species or stages of locusts, rather than four different insects, are meant (compare :-). Literally, (1) the gnawing locust; (2) the swarming locust; (3) the licking locust; (4) the consuming

Acts 13:1 — disciple of the Lord Jesus and prophet of the Church at Antioch! But this is only what may be seen in every age: "Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight.' If the courtier, whose son, at the point of death, was healed by our Lord (John 4:46) was of Herod's establishment, while Susanna's husband was his steward (John 4:46- :), his foster brother's becoming a Christian and a prophet is something remarkable. and Saul—last of all, but soon to become first. Henceforward this book is almost exclusively

1 Corinthians 11:1 — 1. Rather belonging to the end of the tenth chapter, than to this chapter. followers—Greek, "imitators." of Christ—who did not please Himself (Romans 15:3); but gave Himself, at the cost of laying aside His divine glory, and dying as man, for us (Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 2:4; Philippians 2:5). We are to follow Christ first, and earthly teachers only so far as they follow Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:4 — 4. buried . . . rose again—His burial is more closely connected with His resurrection than His death. At the moment of His death, the power of His inextinguishable life exerted itself (Matthew 27:52). The grave was to Him not the destined receptacle of corruption, but an apartment fitted for entering into life (Matthew 27:52- :) [BENGEL]. rose again—Greek, "hath risen": the state thus begun, and its consequences, still continue.

1 Corinthians 3:16 — therefore the Holy Spirit is God. No literal "temple" is recognized by the New Testament in the Christian Church. The only one is the spiritual temple, the whole body of believing worshippers in which the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19; John 4:23; John 4:24). The synagogue, not the temple, was the model of the Christian house of worship. The temple was the house of sacrifice, rather than of prayer. Prayers in the temple were silent and individual (Luke 1:10; Luke 18:10-13), not joint and

1 Corinthians 4:1 — ministers of Christ—not heads of the Church in whom ye are severally to glory ( :-); the headship belongs to Christ alone; we are but His servants ministering to you (1 Corinthians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 3:22). stewards— (Luke 12:42; 1 Peter 4:10). Not the depositories of grace, but dispensers of it ("rightly dividing" or dispensing it), so far as God gives us it, to others. The chazan, or "overseer," in the synagogue answered to the bishop or "angel" of the Church, who called seven

1 Corinthians 5:6 — 6. Your glorying in your own attainments and those of your favorite teachers (1 Corinthians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 4:19; 1 Corinthians 5:2), while all the while ye connive at such a scandal, is quite unseemly. a little leaven leaveth . . . whole lump— (Galatians 5:9), namely, with present complicity in the guilt, and the danger of future contagion (1 Corinthians 15:33; 2 Timothy 2:17).

2 Corinthians 1:16 — 16. This intention of visiting them on the way to Macedonia, as well as after having passed through it, must have reached the ears of the Corinthians in some way or other—perhaps in the lost Epistle (1 Corinthians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 5:9). The sense comes out more clearly in the Greek order, "By you to pass into Macedonia, and from Macedonia to come again unto you."

2 Corinthians 10:5 — we receive nothing hurtful. But "high thing" is not so much "height" as something made high, and belongs to those regions of air where the powers of darkness ::exalt themselves" against Christ and us (Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). exalteth itself— 2 Thessalonians 2:4- : supports English Version rather than the translation of ELLICOTT, c., "is lifted up." Such were the high towers of Judaic self-righteousness, philosophic speculations, and rhetorical sophistries, the "knowledge"

2 Corinthians 4:10 — my body exposed to being put to death in the cause of Jesus (the oldest manuscripts omit "the Lord"), and having in it the marks of such sufferings, I thus bear about wheresoever I go, an image of the suffering Saviour in my own person (2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 1:5; compare 2 Corinthians 1:5- :). Doubtless, Paul was exposed to more dangers than are recorded in Acts (compare 2 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 11:26). The Greek for "the dying" is literally, "the being made a corpse," such Paul

Ephesians 3:9 — 9. to make all men see—Greek, "to enlighten all" (Ephesians 1:18; Psalms 18:28; Hebrews 6:4). "All" (compare Colossians 1:28). fellowship—The oldest manuscripts read, "economy," or "dispensation" (compare Colossians 1:25; Colossians 1:26; and see on Ephesians 1:10, above). "To make all see how it hath seemed good to God at this time to dispense

Ephesians 4:10 — 10. all heavens—Greek, "all the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 4:14), Greek, "passed through the heavens" to the throne of God itself. might fill—In Greek, the action is continued to the present time, both "might" and "may fill," namely, with His divine presence and Spirit, not with His glorified body. "Christ, as God, is present everywhere; as glorified man, He can be present anywhere" [ELLICOTT].

1 Thessalonians 3:8 — 8. now—as the case is; seeing ye stand fast. we live—we flourish. It revives us in our affliction to hear of your steadfastness (Psalms 22:26; 2 John 1:3). if—implying that the vivid joy which the missionaries "now" feel, will continue if the Thessalonians continue steadfast. They still needed exhortation, 1 Thessalonians 3:10; therefore he subjoins the conditional clause, "if ye," &c. (Philippians 4:1).

2 Thessalonians 3:11 — 11. busy bodies—In the Greek the similarity of sound marks the antithesis, "Doing none of their own business, yet overdoing in the business of others." Busy about everyone's business but their own. "Nature abhors a vacuum"; so if not doing one's own business, one is apt to meddle with his neighbor's business. Idleness is the parent of busybodies (1 Timothy 5:13). Contrast 1 Thessalonians 4:11.

2 Thessalonians 3:4 — 4. we have confidence in the Lord—as "faithful" (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Have confidence in no man when left to himself [BENGEL]. that ye both do—Some of the oldest manuscripts insert a clause, "that ye both have done" before, "and are doing, and will do." He means the majority by "ye," not all of them (compare 2 Thessalonians 3:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:6).

2 Thessalonians 3:8 — and travail—"toil and hardship" (see on 1 Thessalonians 2:9- :). night and day—scarcely allowing time for repose. chargeable—Greek, "a burden," or "burdensome." The Philippians did not regard it as a burden to contribute to his support (Philippians 4:15; Philippians 4:16), sending to him while he was in this very Thessalonica (Acts 16:15; Acts 16:34; Acts 16:40). Many Thessalonians, doubtless, would have felt it a privilege to contribute, but as he saw some idlers among them who would have made a

2 Timothy 2:4 — 4. "No one while serving as a soldier." the affairs of (this) life—"the businesses of life" [ALFORD]; mercantile, or other than military. him who hath chosen him—the general who at the first enlisted him as a soldier. Paul himself worked at tent-making (Acts 18:3). Therefore what is prohibited here is, not all other save religious occupation, but the becoming entangled, or over-engrossed therewith.

1 John 5:11 — 11. hath given—Greek, aorist: "gave" once for all. Not only "promised" it. life is in his Son—essentially (John 1:4; John 11:25; John 14:6); bodily (Colossians 2:9); operatively (2 Timothy 1:10) [LANGE in ALFORD]. It is in the second Adam, the Son of God, that this life is secured to us, which, if left to depend on us, we should lose, like the first Adam.