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 tenth commandment 5:21
  Coveting means inordinately desiring to possess what belongs to another person. This commandment deals with motivation rather than deed, with attitude rather than action. It gets at the spirit that often leads to the sins for...
• The town 13:12-18
  The closest example of this ever happening in Israel that Scripture records occurs in Judges 20 in the case of Gibeah, a city in Benjamin. The circumstances were not exactly the same, but the other Israelites did discipline t...
• 5. The treaty with the Gibeonites ch. 9
  The residents of the town of Gibeon decided that if they could not defeat the Israelites they would join them. This has been a strategy that enemies of believers have employed for centuries (cf. Num. 25:1-2).9:1-2 Israel is t...
• The response of the people 8:9-12
  Conviction of their departure from God's will fell on the people as they heard the Law read. Their initial reaction was to mourn and weep (v. 9). However the Law specified that the Feast of Trumpets was to be a joyous occasio...
• The lifelong prosperity of some wicked 21:27-34
  By urging them to ask travelers (v. 29) Job was accusing his friends of holding a provincial viewpoint, one formed out of limited exposure to life. Though some writers have taken verse 31 as a quotation of the view of Job's f...
• The fruit of peace 3:1-10
  The trust of the wise son (vv. 5-6) comes from heeding sound teaching (vv. 1-4), and it leads to confident obedience (vv. 7-9)."Teaching"(v. 1, Heb. torah) means "law"or, more fundamentally, "direction."Here the context sugge...
• The Servant's confidence 50:4-9
  This is the third Servant Song (cf. 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 52:13-53:12). Like the second song, this one is autobiographical, but unlike the first and second songs it contains no reference to the Servant. That it is the Servant who i...
• The nations drawn to Israel 60:1-9
  Light would dawn on Israel, and as a result the Gentiles would seek her out.60:1 God had called Israel to be a light to the nations (43:10), but presently she was darkness (56:9-57:13; 59:1-15a). The Lord had promised that He...
• The second answer 12:9-13
  12:9 The angel reminded Daniel that much of what he had received would remain obscure until the end time (cf. v. 4). Then people will be able to look back, marvel at the total fulfillment of prophecy, and glorify the sovereig...
• Message6
  The Book of Joel contains a threefold vision.The first part of Joel's vision concerned a locust plague that had recently swept over the Promised Land. Joel prophesied about this plague because of the desolation that it had pr...
• 3. The indictment of Israel's leaders 3:9-12
  3:9 Micah proceeded to carry out his ministry (cf. v. 8). He called on all Israel's leaders to pay attention to what he had to say to them, they who despised (lit. utterly abhorred) justice and perverted right ways (cf. Isa. ...
• B. The King's birth 1:18-25
  The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's...
• Their condition 5:3-10 (cf. Luke 6:20-26)
  This pericope describes the character of the kingdom's subjects and their rewards in the kingdom.236"Looked at as a whole . . . the Beatitudes become a moral sketch of the type of person who is ready to possess, or rule over,...
• 3. Jesus' general description of the future 24:7-14 (cf. Mark 13:8-13; Luke 21:10-19)
  Jesus proceeded to give His disciples a general picture of conditions just before He will return to end the present age and inaugurate His kingdom.24:7-8 Wars, famines, and earthquakes will anticipate the end of the present a...
• 4. The coming crisis 13:14-23 (cf. Matt. 24:14-28)
  Having clarified what the sign of the coming destruction would not be, Jesus now explained what it would be. Matthew and Mark both described the destruction preceding Jesus' second coming. Luke recorded Jesus' teaching about ...
• 6. Jesus' attitude toward the Sabbath 6:6-11 (cf. Matt. 12: 9-14; Mark 3:1-6)
  This incident happened on a different Sabbath from the one in the preceding incident (v. 6). Note the similar terms Luke used to introduce both events. He evidently placed it here in his narrative because it builds on the ide...
• 2. Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees for their greed 16:14-31
  The Pharisees who where listening to Jesus' instructions to His disciples scoffed at Him because they tried to serve both God and mammon (v. 13). They tried to appear pious and at the same time accumulate all the wealth they ...
• Original recipients
  The preceding quotation implies that John wrote primarily for Christians. This implication may seem to be contrary to John's stated purpose (20:30-31). Probably John wrote both to convince unbelievers that Jesus was the Son o...
• The challenge to professing believers 8:31-47
  Jesus next addressed those in His audience who had expressed some faith Him (v. 30).8:31 The mark of a true disciple is continuation in the instructions of his or her teacher. A disciple is by definition a learner, not necess...
• The choice of Matthias 1:15-26
  1:15 In view of Peter's leadership gifts, so obvious in the Gospels, it is no surprise that he is the one who took the initiative on this occasion."Undoubtedly, the key disciple in Luke's writings is Peter. He was the represe...
• The church's reaction 4:23-31
  4:23-28 After hearing the apostle's report, the Christians sought the Lord (Gr. Despota, sovereign ruler) in prayer."Three movements may be discerned in this prayer of the early church: (1) God is sovereign (v. 24). (2) God's...
• The return trip to Syrian Antioch 14:21b-28
  14:21b-22 The missionaries confined their labors to the Galatian province on this trip. They did not move farther east into the kingdom of Antiochus or the province Cilicia that Paul may have evangelized previously during his...
• The churches of Galatia 16:1-5
  16:1 Paul and Silas probably crossed the Taurus Mountains at a pass called the Cilician Gates (modern Gülek Bogaz). Alexander the Great had marched east through this pass to conquer the vast Persian Empire four centuries...
• Paul's address to the Ephesian elders 20:17-35
  "Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders is the nearest approximation to the Pauline letters in Acts. Its general content recalls how in his letters Paul encouraged, warned, and exhorted his converts. Moreover, its the...
• The advantage of the single state 7:25-28
  In view of the verses in this section it seems that the question the Corinthians had asked Paul was whether an engaged girl should get married or remain single. One might understand verses 17-24 as saying no unmarried person ...
• 3. Paul's service and sufferings 11:16-33
  To answer his critics and prove the extent of his own service and sufferings for Christ, Paul related many of his painful experiences as an apostle.11:16 Paul apologized again for having to resort to mentioning these experien...
• The curse of works 3:10-14
  "In vv. 6-9 Paul set forth a positive argument for justification by faith. In vv. 10-14 he turned the tables and argued negatively against the possibility of justification by works."933:10 Living under the Mosaic Law did not ...
• 2. Living without license 5:13-15
  Paul urged his readers to live unbound to the Law of Moses (5:1-12). He also warned them against using their liberty as a license to sin to prevent them from overreacting."The theme of love . . . informs all of Paul's exhorta...
• The duty of fathers 6:4
  Paul addressed fathers because they are God's ordained family heads on whom the primary responsibility for child training rests. When a father is absent in a family, the mother usually assumes this responsibility. In Greco-Ro...
• A. The beginning of the day of the Lord 2:1-5
  2:1-2 Paul introduced his teaching by urging his readers not to be shaken from their adherence to the truth he had taught them by what they were hearing from others. The issue centered on Paul's instructions concerning the Ra...
• B. The primary responsibilities of the men and the women in church meetings 2:8-15
  "In this paragraph Paul continues his instructions on prayers' begun in verse 1. But now the concern is for proper demeanor on the part of the pray-ers.' But whythese concerns, and why in this way? And why the inordinate amou...
• 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...
• A. The leader's personal life and public ministry 4:6-16
  Paul wrote these positive directions to enable Timothy to overcome the influences of the ascetic apostates that threatened the church at Ephesus. He also wrote to remind him of the importance of his personal life and public m...
• 1. Provisions for widows 5:3-16
  Paul gave instructions concerning the church's responsibility for its widows to clarify how and for whom the church should provide special care. Widows have been and still are specially vulnerable individuals. As such God has...
• 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...
• Message2
  Paul had previously written to Timothy explaining that the local church is a supporting pedestal for God's truth (1 Tim. 3:15). He had said that the purpose of the local church is the proclamation of God's truth in the world....
• Outline
  I. Salutation 1:1-2II. Thanksgiving for faithful fellow workers 1:3-18A. Timothy's past faithfulness 1:3-7B. Charges to remain loyal 1:8-141. Exhortation to be courageous 1:8-122. Exhortation to guard the gospel 1:13-14C. Exa...
• 1. Evidences of faithlessness 3:1-7
  3:1 Paul had given Timothy some instruction concerning the apostasy of the last days in his first epistle (4:1-3). Now he gave much more. The "last days"refers to the days preceding the Lord's return for His own (i.e., the Ra...
• 2. Negative and positive illustrations 3:8-13
  3:8-9 Paul used the Egyptian magicians who opposed Moses in the plagues (Exod. 7:11; 9:11) to illustrate the fate of these false teachers. Jewish oral or written tradition preserved their names even though the Old Testament d...
• 1. Adherence to the truth 3:14-17
  3:14-15 In his personal life Timothy should continue living as he had rather than turning aside to follow the example of the evil men Paul just mentioned. Timothy's conduct grew out of what he had learned that gave him person...
• 2. Proclamation of the truth 4:1-5
  4:1 Paul wanted Timothy to proclaim the truth in his public ministry as well as to adhere to it in his personal life. He introduced the command in verse 2 with a very solemn preamble in verse 1 (cf. 1 Tim. 5:21; 6:13). He rem...
• Bibliography
  Bailey, Mark L. "A Biblical Theology of Paul's Pastoral Epistles."in A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, pp. 333-67. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.Barclay, William. The Letters to Timothy, Titus and ...
• A. The Agent of God's Final Revelation 1:1-4
  The writer began his epistle with an affirmation of Jesus Christ's greatness to introduce his readers to his subject. This section is one sentence in the Greek text. It contrasts God's old revelation with the new, specificall...
• Doxology 13:20-21
  These verses express the writer's prayerful wish for his readers.13:20 Elsewhere John and Peter called Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd (John 10:14) and the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4). Here He is the Great Shepherd, greater th...
• 6. The implication of our own judgment 2:12-13
  2:12 The law of liberty (1:25) is the law of God that liberates us now. It is the same as the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) in contrast to the Mosaic Law. As free as we are under the law of Christ, we need to remember that God wil...
• 2. Slaves' respect for their masters 2:18-25
  Peter proceeded to address the situation of Christians working under the authority of others."The unusual fact, unnoticed by most Bible readers, is that he [Peter], along with Paul (1 Cor. 7:21; Eph. 6:5-8; Col. 3:22-25; 1 Ti...
• 4. The importance of resisting the devil 5:8-11
  5:8 Trust in God is not all that we need, however. We also need to practice self-control and to keep alert (cf. 1:13; 4:7) because Satan is on the prowl (cf. Job 1:7; Matt. 26:41; 1 Cor. 16:13). Peter's readers were in danger...
• C. The Divine Origin of Scripture 1:19-21
  Peter proceeded to emphasize that the witness of the apostles, as well as the witness of Scripture, came from God. He did this to help his readers see that their choice boiled down to accepting God's Word or the word of men w...
• B. Scoffing in the Last Days 3:3-6
  Peter warned his readers about the activity of mockers preceding the Lord's return to enable them to deal with this test of their faith."Peter finally brings together two of the most important issues in the letter: the false ...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• A Veteran's Counsels To A Young Soldier
  Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, 2. To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. ...
• III. The Second Exhortation In 2 Tim. 3:14-17,
  Like the first,presupposes Timothy's previous Christian character, and draws some of its persuasive force from his home and the dear ones there--an argument which, no doubt, Paul knew would tell on such a clinging, affectiona...
• Form And Power
  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.'--2 Tim. 3:5.IN this, his last letter and legacy, the Apostle Paul is much occupied with the anticipation of coming evils. It is most natural that the faithful watchm...