Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Fasting 6:16-18
  6:16 Fasting in Israel involved going without food to engage in a spiritual exercise, usually prayer, with greater concentration. Fasting fostered and indicated self-humiliation before God, and confession often accompanied it...
• The question of fasting 9:14-17 (cf. Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39)
  The Pharisees criticized Jesus' conduct in the previous pericope. Now John's disciples criticized the conduct of Jesus' disciples and, by implication, Jesus.9:14 The people who questioned Jesus here were disciples of John the...
• 1. The selection of 12 disciples 6:12-16 (cf. Mark 3:13-19)
  Luke prefaced Jesus' teaching of His followers with an introduction of His most important disciples."It is clear that for Luke an important stage in the founding of the church is to be seen here, the choice of those from amon...
• 3. The feeding of the 5,000 9:10-17 (cf. Matt. 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; John 6:1-13)
  This is the only miracle that all four evangelists recorded. It is important because it is the climax of Jesus' miracles that authenticated His person as divine (cf. Ps. 146:7). It was perhaps the most forceful demonstration ...
• Structure
  Longenecker identified five phenomena about the structure of Acts that the reader needs to recognize to appreciate what Luke sought to communicate."1. It begins, like the [Third] Gospel, with an introductory section of distin...
• Outline
  I. The witness in Jerusalem 1:1-6:7A. The founding of the church 1:1-2:461. The resumptive preface to the book 1:1-52. The command to witness 1:6-83. The ascension of Jesus 1:9-114. Jesus' appointment of a twelfth apostle 1:1...
• 2. The command to witness 1:6-8
  The key to the apostles' successful fulfillment of Jesus' commission was their baptism with and consequent indwelling by the Holy Spirit. Without this divine enablement they would only have been able to follow Jesus' example,...
• 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...
• Peter's exhortation 2:37-41
  2:37 The Holy Spirit used Peter's sermon to bring conviction, as Jesus had predicted (John 16:8-11). He convicted Peter's hearers of the truth of what he said and of their guilt in rejecting Jesus. Their question arose from t...
• The generosity of Barnabas 4:36-37
  Luke now gave a specific instance of what he had just described in verses 34 and 35. This reference to Barnabas is significant because it introduces him to the reader. Barnabas becomes a major character in Acts later. Further...
• Saul's calling from the Lord 9:10-19a
  9:10-12 Evidently Ananias was not a refugee from Jerusalem (22:12) but a resident of Damascus. He, too, received a vision of the Lord Jesus (v. 17) to whom he submitted willingly (cf. 1 Sam. 3:4, 10). Jesus gave Ananias speci...
• Saul's reception in Jerusalem 9:26-30
  Luke concluded each of his narratives of the Samaritans' conversion (8:4-25), Saul's conversion (9:1-31), and Cornelius' conversion (10:1-11:18) with references to the mother church in Jerusalem. He evidently wanted to stress...
• B. The extension of the church to Cyprus and Asia Minor 12:25-16:5
  Luke recorded that Jesus came to bring deliverance to the Jews and to the whole world (Luke 4:14-30). In his Gospel, Luke told the story of Jesus' personal ministry, primarily to the Jews. In Acts the emphasis is mainly on Je...
• 1. The divine appointment of Barnabas and Saul 12:25-13:3
  Luke recorded these verses to set the stage for the account of Barnabas and Saul's first missionary journey that follows."The world ministry which thus began was destined to change the history of Europe and the world."51512:2...
• 2. The mission to Cyprus 13:4-12
  Luke recorded the events of Paul's first missionary journey to document the extension of the church into new territory and to illustrate the principles and methods by which the church grew. He also did so to show God's supern...
• Arrival in Pamphylia 13:13
  Pamphylia was a Roman province that lay west of the kingdom of Antiochus, which was west of Cilicia, Paul's home province. Perga (modern Perge) stood 10 miles inland from the major seaport of Attalia (modern Antalya, cf. 14:2...
• The consequences Paul's message 13:42-52
  13:42-43 Paul's message created great interest in the hearts of many people who listened to him. He and Barnabas continued clarifying the gospel for their inquirers during the following week.565Here "the grace of God"refers t...
• 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...
• Paul and Barnabas' return to Jerusalem 15:1-5
  15:1 The men from Judea who came down to Antioch appear to have been Jewish Christians who took the former view of Christianity described above. They believed a person could not become a Christian without first becoming a Jew...
• 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...
• The response to Paul's preaching 17:32-34
  Most Greeks rejected the possibility of physical resurrection.721Many of them believed that the most desirable condition lay beyond the grave where the soul would finally be free of the body (e.g., Platonists). The response o...
• The beginning of Paul's third missionary journey 18:23
  Luke did not record Paul's activities in Antioch, but we may safely assume he gave another report to the church as he had done when he returned from his first journey (14:27-28). Paul probably remained in Antioch from the spr...
• The advice of James and the elders 21:17-26
  21:17-19 As he had done before, Paul related to a group of elders what God had done on his missionary journeys among the Gentiles (14:27; cf. 18:23). This undoubtedly helped the Jerusalem church accept the gift that Paul had ...
• Appendix 2
  Sequence of Paul's ActivitiesDateEventReferenceBirth in TarsusActs 22:3Early life and theological education in Jerusalem under GamalielActs 22:334Participation in Stephen's stoning outside JerusalemActs 7:57-8:134Leadership i...
• Bibliography
  Albright, William Foxwell. The Archaeology of Palestine. 1949. Revised ed. Pelican Archaeology series. Harmondswroth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1956.Alexander, Joseph Addison. Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. ...
• Appendix
  Sequence of Paul's ActivitiesDateEventReferenceBirth in TarsusActs 22:3Early life and theological education in Jerusalem under GamalielActs 22:334Participation in Stephen's stoning outside JerusalemActs 7:57-8:134Leadership i...
• A. Salutation 1:1-2
  This salutation contains the three elements common in all of Paul's epistles and other correspondence of his day: the writer, the addressees, and a greeting."This salutation exhibits undoubted resemblances in form to secular ...
• 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...
• B. Denunciation 1:6-10
  In these opening words Paul rebuked his readers for turning away from the gospel that he had preached to them and for turning toward a different "gospel."He accused them of being religious turncoats. He did so to impress them...
• I. Salutation 1:1-2
  Paul began this epistle by identifying himself and his companion and by wishing God's richest blessings on his readers."Almost all letters from the Greco-Roman period began with a threefold salutation: The Writer, to the Addr...
• I. SALUTATION AND GREETING 1:1
  Paul wrote this first sentence to identify himself, his companions, and his addressees, and to convey a formal word of greeting.At the time he wrote this epistle Silas and Timothy were with Paul. "Silvanus"was the Roman form ...
• Historical background
  Timothy apparently became a Christian as a result of Paul's missionary work in Lystra (Acts 14:6-23). He joined Paul on the second missionary journey when the apostle's evangelistic team passed through that area where Timothy...
• 1. Qualifications for elders 3:1-7
  The Ephesian church already had elders long before Paul wrote this letter (Acts 20:17-35)."If our identification of the false teachers as elders is correct, then Paul's reason for this set of instructions is that Timothy must...
• 2. Personal Explanations 13:22-25
  The closing verses of Hebrews are an addendum to the body of the homily. The writer added them because he felt concern for his addressees and wanted to add a few personal remarks.13:22 The writer urged his readers again to ac...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• The Door Of Faith'
  And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.'--Acts 14:27.THERE are many instances of the occurrence...