Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 3. The attestation of Moses and Aaron's divine mission 7:8-13
  Pharaoh requested that Moses and Aaron perform a miracle to prove their divine authority since they claimed that God had sent them (vv. 9-10)."What we refer to as the ten plagues' were actually judgments designed to authentic...
• The first commandment 20:3
  This was a call to monotheism and faithfulness to the Lord. Israel was to have no other gods besides Yahweh. He was not just to be the first among several but the only One (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 14:15; James 2:19...
• 1. Holiness of food ch. 17
  We move from public regulations in chapter 16 to intimate regulations in chapter 18 with chapter 17 providing the transition. In contrast to the first sixteen chapters, chapter 17 says very little about the role of the priest...
• The first commandment 5:7
  Because God had initiated love toward Israel by redeeming the nation (v. 6) the people were to respond appropriately by loving Him in return. This is the essence of God's grace. He initiates love, and the only reasonable resp...
• 3. Re-establishment of proper worship 31:2-21
  The king organized the priests and Levites again into the divisions David had specified. Evidently Hezekiah's predecessors had not observed these divisions. He also instituted tithing again as the Mosaic Law commanded (cf. Le...
• 1. The Judge of the judges 82:1
  The writer envisioned God sitting as Judge over a gathering of human judges, the judges that lived in every town in Israel. The human judges in Israel served as God's judicial representatives among His people. The Hebrew word...
• 2. The record of Israel's unfaithfulness to God 106:6-46
  106:6 The psalmist confessed that Israel had been unfaithful to God. This was true of his own generation as it had been true of former generations. This confession introduced a review of specific iniquities and wickedness.106...
• Consistent faithfulness 65:8-16
  The Lord proceeded to explain that even though He would destroy the ungodly, He would also spare the truly godly among His people (cf. Gen. 18:23-25).65:8 Yahweh promised not to destroy the whole nation (cluster of grapes) bu...
• 5. The revelation of Israel's future in 70 sevens 9:24-27
  "In the concluding four verses of Daniel 9, one of the most important prophecies of the Old Testament is contained. The prophecy as a whole is presented in verse 24. The first sixty-nine sevens is described in verse 25. The e...
• Jesus' preaching and teaching about man's heart 15:10-20
  15:10-11 Jesus had been responding to the question of His critics so far. Now He taught the assembled crowds the same lesson and at the same time gave a direct answer to the Pharisees and scribes. He responded with a parable ...
• Jesus' expansion of the figure 10:7-18
  The difference between this teaching and Jesus' parables in the Synoptics now becomes clearer. Jesus proceeded to compare Himself to the pen gate as well as to the Shepherd. He also described Himself leading His sheep into th...
• The request to reveal the Father 14:8-14
  14:8 The Eleven regarded Jesus very highly. Notwithstanding they did not yet realize that He was such an accurate and full revelation of God the Father that to see Jesus was to see the Father. Philip asked for a clear revelat...
• 6. The early state of the church 2:42-47
  Luke now moved from describing what took place on a particular day to a more general description of the life of the early Jerusalem church (cf. 4:32-5:11; 6:1-6). Interestingly he gave comparatively little attention to the in...
• The spiritual initiative of the Antioch church 11:19-26
  11:19 Luke's reference back to the persecution resulting from Stephen's martyrdom (7:60) is significant. It suggests that he was now beginning to record another mission of the Christians that ran parallel logically and chrono...
• James' testimony 15:13-21
  15:13-14 James was Jesus' half brother, the writer of the Epistle of James, and the leading figure in the Jerusalem church (12:17; Gal. 1:19; 2:9, 12).612"Simeon"was Peter's older Jewish name. James' use of it would have emph...
• VI. THE PRACTICE OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS 12:1--15:13
  In contrasting chapters 1-11 with chapters 12-16 of Romans, perhaps the most important distinction is that the first part deals primarily with God's actions for humanity, and the last part deals with people's actions in respo...
• Historical Background
  Corinth had a long history stretching back into the Bronze Age (before 1200 B.C.).1In Paul's day it was a Roman colony and the capital of the province of Achaia. The population consisted of Roman citizens who had migrated fro...
• Outline
  I. Introduction 1:1-9A. Salutation 1:1-3B. Thanksgiving 1:4-9II. Conditions reported to Paul 1:10-6:20A. Divisions in the church 1:10-4:211. The manifestation of the problem 1:10-172. The gospel as a contradiction to human wi...
• The analogy of the Passover 5:6-8
  Paul argued for the man's removal from the church with this analogy. It was primarily for the sake of the church that they should remove him, not for the man's sake.5:6 It was not good for the Corinthians to feel proud of the...
• Refutation of the Corinthians' false premises 6:12-14
  Paul began by arguing against his recipients' distortion of Christian freedom and their misunderstanding of the nature of the body.6:12 Paul was and is famous as the apostle of Christian liberty. He saw early in his Christian...
• The legitimacy of marriage 7:36-40
  This section concludes Paul's entire teaching on marriage in this chapter. However it contains problems related to the meaning of "virgin"as is clear from the three different interpretations in the NASB, the NIV, and the NEB....
• B. Food offered to idols 8:1-11:1
  The Corinthians had asked Paul another question, evidently in a combative spirit judging by the apostle's response. It involved a practice common in their culture.The commentators understand the situation that Paul addressed ...
• The criterion of care for a brother 8:7-13
  "He [Paul] develops an airtight case based on a solid theological foundation (8:6). But then comes the alla(however' [v. 7]), and the argument moves in an entirely different direction."At issue is the nature of the community....
• The application of Israel's example 10:6-13
  Though idolatry was the cause of Israel's failure and the focus of Paul's warning to this church, four other evil characteristics of Israel also seem to have marked the Corinthians. These characteristics also resulted in the ...
• The incompatibility of Christianity and idolatry 10:14-22
  The apostle proceeded to warn his readers of the danger of idolatry further (cf. v. 7). This paragraph concludes the long argument that Paul began in 8:1 concerning going to temple feasts.10:14 Formerly Paul urged the Corinth...
• 4. The issue of marketplace food 10:23-11:1
  As with the issue of marriage, however, Paul granted that there are some matters connected with idolatry that are not wrong. He next gave his readers some help in making the tough choices needed in view of the amoral nature o...
• D. The Lord's Supper 11:17-34
  Most of the Corinthians had been following Paul's instructions regarding women's head coverings so he commended them (v. 2), but he could not approve their practice at the Lord's Supper. They needed to make some major changes...
• Abuse of the poor 11:17-22
  This aspect of the problem involved showing disregard for the poorer members of the church.11:17 The Corinthians' behavior at the Lord's Supper was so bad that Paul could say they were worse off for observing it as they did r...
• E. Spiritual gifts and spiritual people chs. 12-14
  Paul had been dealing with matters related to worship since 8:1. He had forbidden the Corinthians from participating in temple meals but had allowed eating marketplace meat under certain circumstances (8:1-11:1). Then he deal...
• 1. The test of Spirit control 12:1-3
  The apostle began his discussion by clarifying the indicators that a person is under the control of the indwelling Spirit of God. With this approach, he set the Corinthians' former experience as idolaters in contrast to their...
• The character of love 13:4-7
  The apostle next pointed out the qualities of love that make it so important. He described these in relationship to a person's character that love rules. We see them most clearly in God and in Christ but also in the life of a...
• Other arguments for resurrection 15:29-34
  Paul turned from Christ's career to the Christian's experience to argue ad hominemfor the resurrection.377The Corinthians' actions, and his, bordered on absurdity if the dead will not rise. This paragraph is something of a di...
• 4. The assurance of victory over death 15:50-58
  Paul brought his revelation of the resurrection to a climax in this paragraph by clarifying what all this means for the believer in Christ. Here he also dealt with the exceptional case of living believers' transformation at t...
• Bibliography
  Adams, Jay. Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible. Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1980.Andrews, J. N. "May Women Speak in Meeting?"Review and Herald. January 2, 1879. Reprinted in Advent...
• The new creation 5:16-17
  5:16 Paul now illustrated how Christ's love had changed his viewpoint. Since his conversion, he had stopped making superficial personal judgments based only on external appearances (cf. v. 12). Previously he had looked at peo...
• The counter-balancing caution 6:14-7:1
  The Corinthians had a tendency to respond to Paul's teachings by first resisting them and then going overboard in applying them inappropriately. They had done this in dealing with the incestuous man (1 Cor. 5). Consequently P...
• The conditions of people under Law and faith 3:23-29
  "Continuing the perspective of salvation history introduced in vv. 13f. and developed in vv. 15-22, Paul gives further consideration to the place of the law in the divine economy by showing the relation between law and faith ...
• V. CONCLUSION 6:11-18
  In this section Paul summarized some of his more important points. He also appealed to his readers again to urge them to follow through and to put into practice what he had taught them."Before concluding his letter Paul retur...
• 2. Things to put on 3:12-17
  Paul urged his readers not only to divest themselves of behavior that is inappropriate to their union with Christ but also to clothe themselves with attitudes and actions that are appropriate. He did so to complete their unde...
• E. The problem of apostasy in the church 4:1-5
  In this pericope Paul reminded Timothy of the apostasy that Jesus Christ had foretold to equip him to identify and to deal with it.143"The change that occurs at 4:1 following the hymn of victory, then, is not unexpected. Oppo...
• 2. The joy of our salvation 1:6-9
  "The main thread of Peter's rhetoric [in this pericope] can . . . be expressed in one sentence: Then you will rejoice with inexpressible and glorious delight, when you each receive the outcome of your faith, your final salvat...
• 3. Wives' respect for their husbands 3:1-6
  Having explained before how Christians should conduct themselves in the world, Peter next gave directions about how Christian wives and husbands should behave. He did this to help his readers identify appropriate conduct in f...
• VI. CONCLUSION 3:17-18
  Peter concluded his epistle with a summary of what he had said and a doxology. He did so to condense his teaching for his readers and to redirect their living to glorify God.3:17 Much of what Peter had written was warning tha...
• B. Protecting the Truth vv. 7-11
  Next John moved on to his second purpose. He wrote to encourage his readers to resist the false teachers who were distorting the truth and deceiving some of the believers."The presbyter's attention now moves from the existenc...
• The survivors' response 9:20-21
  9:20 These three severe judgments (fire, smoke, and brimstone, vv. 17-18) will not move the remaining unbelievers as a whole to repent (cf. Exod. 7:13, 23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7, 12, 35; 10:20; 11:10)."In all cases in the apocaly...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• The Limits Of Liberty
  All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. 24. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. 25. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that...