Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Directions for the Passover 12:1-14
  The Jews called their first month Abib (v. 2). After the Babylonian captivity they renamed it Nisan (Neh. 2:1; Esth. 3:7). It corresponds to our March-April. Abib means "ear-month"referring to the month when the grain was in ...
• 3. The peace offering ch. 3
  The peace (fellowship, NIV) offering was the third sacrifice of worship. It represented the fellowship between God and man that resulted from the relationship that God had established with the redeemed individual. Peace and f...
• The celebration of Passover, Firstfruits, and Tabernacles 16:1-17
  The point of connection of this section with what precedes is the sacrificial meals. Moses repeated here the instructions regarding those important feasts that included sacrificial meals that the people would eat at the taber...
• Message10
  Joshua reveals that God hates sin because He loves people. (This is the message statement.) Of course He also hates sin because it offends His holiness. However in Joshua I believe the emphasis is on God's concern for the Isr...
• Samson's weakness and strength at Gaza 16:1-3
  Gaza lay on the sunny Mediterranean coast in the heart of Philistine territory. It was probably a popular vacation site for compromising Israelites as well as the Philistines. Perhaps Samson went there to enjoy the amusements...
• Nabal's response to the news of Abigail's appeal 25:36-38
  When she returned home, Abigail discovered that her foolish husband was drunk from celebrating. He was totally oblivious to his mortal danger. He was feasting rather than fasting. He was behaving like a king, the ultimate aut...
• Elijah's announcement of God's judgment 17:1-7
  Again God raised up a prophet to announce what He would do. Evidently Ahab's apostasy had been going on for 14 years before God raised up His prophetic challenge.173Normally God gives sinners an opportunity to judge themselve...
• 4. Assurance of recovery 6:8-10
  Apparently David received an answer to his petition. It may have come through a prophet or just the inner conviction that he would recover. In any case he closed the psalm with a warning to his adversaries (v. 7) to get out o...
• 4. Description of justice 7:10-17
  7:10-11 David counted on God to defend him as a shield since God saves the upright in heart, and David was upright. His confidence lay also in God's righteous character. God would judge justly, and injustice touches His heart...
• The Servant's ministry 49:8-13
  Isaiah now announced more about the work of the Servant (cf. 42:5-9). He will enable people around the world to return to God, similarly to how the Israelites would return to Jerusalem after the Exile. The response to God's s...
• The New Covenant 31:31-34
  Many commentators believe that Jeremiah's revelation of the New Covenant was his greatest theological contribution. They view it as the high point of the book, the climax of the prophet's teaching."The prophecy of Jeremiah ma...
• The appeal 18:30-32
  18:30 In closing, God promised to judge each Israelite according to his or her own conduct. He urged His people to turn from their transgressions of His law so their sins would not prove to be what tripped them up as they jou...
• The rooms and implements used for preparing sacrifices 40:38-43
  40:38-41 Ezekiel also saw a room outside each of the three inner gate complexes close to its doorway. There priests would rinse animals brought as burnt offerings.519Within each inner gate complex, in the vestibules, there we...
• Message9
  The story that Nahum told is a story of the utter and irrevocable destruction of a great city and a great people. Nahum told the story as prophecy, but what he predicted is now history. Nahum lived when Assyria was threatenin...
• Judgment for rapacity 2:15-17
  2:15 God would judge Babylon because the Babylonians had deceived their neighbor nations with the result that they were able to take advantage of them. The Babylonians had behaved like a man who gets a woman drunk so she will...
• The disciple's relationship to brethren 7:1-5 (cf. Luke 6:37-42)
  Jesus first laid down a principle (v. 1). Then He justified this principle theologically (v. 2). Finally He provided an illustration (vv. 3-5).7:1 Jesus taught His disciples not to be judgmental or censorious of one another i...
• Jesus' institution of the Lord's Supper 26:26-30 (cf. Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)
  26:26 "And"introduces the second thing Matthew recorded that happened as Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover meal, the first being Jesus' announcement about His betrayer (v. 21). Jesus took bread (Gr. artos, 4:4;...
• 2. The institution of the Lord's Supper 22:19-20 (cf. Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; 1 Cor. 11:23-26)
  Luke's account stresses Jesus' linking of His self-giving with the bread and His giving Himself for the disciples specifically, instead of for the "many"generally (Matt. 24:28; Mark 14:24; cf. Jer. 31:31-34; 32:37-40). Accord...
• 2. The antagonism of the Jewish authorities 5:10-18
  More than once Jesus used His Sabbath activities to make the Jews consider who He was (cf. Matt. 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6). Here He wanted them to realize that He had the right to work on the Sabbath as H...
• 1. The new commandment 13:31-35
  Jesus began His instructions with His disciples' most important responsibility.13:31-32 Judas' departure to meet with the chief priests signalled the beginning of the Son of Man's glorification, which John recorded Jesus as c...
• 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 death of Ananias 5:1-6
  5:1-2 "But"introduces another sacrificial act that looked just as generous as Barnabas' (4:37). However in this case the motive was quite different. Ananias' Jewish name means "Yahweh is gracious,"and Sapphira's Aramaic name ...
• The death of Sapphira 5:7-11
  5:7 The answers to questions such as whether someone tried to find Sapphira to tell her of Ananias' death lay outside Luke's purpose in writing. He stressed that she was as guilty as her husband and so experienced the same fa...
• The application of the believer's condition 8:12-13
  8:12 Because of what God has done for us (vv. 1-11), believers have an obligation to respond appropriately. However we can only do so with the Spirit's help. Paul stated only the negative side of our responsibility here. He c...
• 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...
• Message10
  A phrase in 1:2 suggests the theme of this great epistle. That phrase is "the church of God which is at Corinth."Two entities are in view in this phrase and these are the two entities with which the whole epistle deals. They ...
• 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...
• 3. The Spirit's ministry of revealing God's wisdom 2:6-16
  Paul's reference to the Holy Spirit's power (vv. 4-5) led him to elaborate on the Spirit's ministry in enlightening the minds of believers and unbelievers alike. The Corinthians needed to view ministry differently. The key to...
• Paul's judgment of this case 5:1-5
  5:1 "Immorality"is a general translation of the Greek word porneia, which means fornication, specifically sexual relations with a forbidden mate. The precise offense in this case was sexual union with the woman who had marrie...
• 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...
• C. Propriety in worship 11:2-16
  This section and the next (11:17-34) deal with subjects different from meat offered to idols, but Paul did not introduce them with the phrase "now concerning."These were additional subjects about which he wanted to give the C...
• 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...
• Abuse of the Lord 11:23-26
  There was an even more serious dimension to this problem. The Corinthians were sinning against the Lord as well as one another.11:23 What Paul taught here came ultimately from the Lord Jesus Himself. This reminder stresses th...
• Discerning the body 11:27-32
  The Lord's Supper is more than a personal, introspective remembering, Paul went on to explain. It has implications for the church because in His death Jesus Christ laid the foundation for a new community of believers who bear...
• Waiting for one another 11:33-34
  Practical application now follows theological explanation.11:33 Rather than disregarding the members of the congregation who had little or no food to bring to the love feasts, those who had plenty should share what they had. ...
• 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...
• The application of the figure 12:15-26
  Paul proceeded to elaborate his analogy.12:15-16 Perhaps Paul chose the feet, hands, ears, and eyes as examples because of their prominence in the body. Even though they are prominent and important they cannot stand alone. Th...
• l. The resurrection of Jesus Christ 15:1-11
  Paul began by reaffirming their commonly held belief: Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. In this section the apostle stressed the objective reality of both Jesus Christ's death and resurrection.15:1 The Corinthians and al...
• 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 old and new covenants 3:4-11
  3:4 Jesus Christ had given Paul confidence that the changes that the gospel had produced in the Corinthians validated his apostolic credentials. That confidence was not merely the product of Paul's imagination.3:5 Paul did no...
• A. The exhortation 13:11-12
  13:11 Obedience to five commands would result in one condition that Paul wanted his readers to express in a particular practice.1. They were to rejoice, probably because they had the opportunity to judge themselves before God...
• The antinomian danger 3:18-19
  Another threat to the joy and spiritual development of the Philippians was people who advocated lawless living. This is, of course, the opposite extreme from what the Judaizers taught (v. 2). Paul warned his readers of this d...
• I. Woman at Creation
  A. Woman has personal equality with man as an image-bearer of God (Gen. 1:27-28; 5:1).Allowing for biological distinctives a woman has the same human nature, qualities and abilities as a man. Maleness and femaleness, though d...
• VI. Women in the Ministry and Teaching of Paul and Peter
  A. Paul affirms the personal equality of man and woman in the new creation by stating that in Christ there is "neither male nor female"(Gal. 3:28).A woman obtains salvation by faith exactly as a man does (Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Pet. 1...
• Titus' responsibility 3:9-11
  3:9 On the other hand Titus should shun what was worthless and unprofitable. In view of the context Paul especially meant those things the false teachers were promoting (1:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:23). Examples of thes...
• The better covenant 8:6-13
  The writer proceeded to explain the superiority of the New Covenant that Jesus Christ ratified with His blood that is better than the Old Mosaic Covenant that He terminated when He died. He first explained the reason for the ...
• 2. The essential response 1:21
  The filthiness in view seems to be all kinds of unclean behavior that lies outside the will of God including anger and wrath. The "remains of wickedness"are those evil habits of life we carry over from the unredeemed world (c...
• A. Confidence in action: prayer 5:14-17
  5:14-15 Prayer is another expression of the believer's trust in Jesus Christ and confidence toward God (cf. 3:21)."Prayer is not a battle, but a response; its power consists in lifting our wills to God, not in trying to bring...
• 4. Exhortation 2:16
  If the erring believers would not judge themselves and repent they could anticipate God's judgment (cf. 1 Cor. 11:31)."Unwillingness to repent shows that a person is not a faithful believer."118They would die by the sword pro...
• 3. Rebuke 2:20-23
  Evidently a woman claiming to be a prophetess (cf. Luke 2:36; Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:5) had been influencing some in this church to join the local trade guilds without which a tradesman could not work in Thyatira. This meant pa...