Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Jesus' deliverance of a demoniac in Gadara 8:28-34 (cf. Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39)
  The central theme of this incident is Jesus' authority over evil spirits.8:28 Gadara was the regional capital of the Decapolis area that lay southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Its population was strongly Gentile. This may accou...
• Jesus' reply in view of the response 12:25-37
  12:25-26 Probably Jesus' knew His critics' thoughts as anyone else who had suffered such an attack would (cf. 9:4). Alternatively this may be a statement of Jesus' omniscience. Any kingdom, city, or household that experiences...
• Jesus' appearance to the Eleven 16:14-18 (cf. Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-23)
  Mark said that Jesus appeared to the Eleven on this occasion. However, John qualified that statement by explaining that Thomas was absent (John 20:24). Mark was speaking of the Eleven as a group.16:14 This event evidently hap...
• The healing of the woman with a hemorrhage 8:42b-48 (cf. Matt. 9:20-22; Mark 5:24-34)
  8:42b-43 The crowd that Luke described graphically as pressing against Jesus and almost crushing Him created the scene in which the woman approached Jesus. The exact reason for her continual bleeding is unknown and unimportan...
• 1. The mission of the Twelve to Israel 9:1-6 (cf. Matt. 9:35-11:1; Mark 6:6b-13)
  This is another "sandwich"or chiastic section in design (cf. 8:40-56). This structural device usually gives unity to the whole section and focuses attention on the central part of it. First, Jesus sent the Twelve on an evange...
• 1. The Beelzebul controversy 11:14-26 (cf. Matt. 12:22-37; Mark 3:19-30)
  The placement of these events in Luke's Gospel again raises the question of whether Luke recorded the same incident as Matthew and Mark or whether this was a similar but different one. I, along with many other students of the...
• 1. The importance of fearless confession 12:1-12 (cf. Matt. 10:19-20, 26-33)
  Jesus used His condemnation of the Pharisees' hypocrisy as an occasion to warn His disciples against being hypocritical. The context of this teaching in Matthew's Gospel is Jesus' instruction of the Twelve before He sent them...
• Place of Writing
  Eusebius wrote that John ministered to the church in Ephesus, which Paul had founded (Acts 19:1-20), for many years.6The Isle of Patmos where John spent some time in exile is close to Ephesus (cf. Rev. 1:9-11). As previously ...
• 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 descent of the Spirit 2:1-4
  Luke introduced the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry with His baptism with the Spirit (Luke 3:21-22). He paralleled this with the beginning of Jesus' heavenly ministry with the Spirit baptism of His disciples (Acts 2:1-4)...
• 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 expanding influence of the apostles 5:12-16
  This pericope is another of Luke's summaries of conditions in the church that introduces what follows (cf. 2:42-47; 4:32-35). It also explains why the Sadducees became so jealous that they arrested not only Peter and John but...
• 4. Internal conflict 6:1-7
  The scene shifts back to life within the church (cf. 4:32-5:11). Luke wrote this pericope to explain some administrative changes that the growth of the church made necessary. He also wanted to introduce the Hellenistic Jews w...
• 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...
• 3. The church at peace 9:31
  Notice that "church"is in the singular here. This is probably a reference to the Christians throughout Palestine--in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria--not just in one local congregation but in the body of Christ. Saul's departure ...
• 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...
• 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...
• 1. The call to Macedonia 16:6-10
  Luke recorded Paul's vision of the Macedonian man to explain God's initiative in encouraging Paul and his companions to carry the gospel farther west into Europe.". . . this section [6:6-10] makes it overwhelmingly clear that...
• Ministry in Philippi 16:11-40
  Luke devoted more space to Paul's evangelizing in Philippi than he did to the apostle's activities in any other city on the second and third journeys even though Paul was there only briefly. It was the first European city in ...
• 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...
• 4. The beginning of ministry in Asia 18:18-22
  Paul had attempted to reach the province of Asia earlier (16:6). Now the Lord permitted him to go there but from the west rather than from the east. Luke recorded his initial contact in Ephesus in this section to set the scen...
• The disciples of John the Baptist 19:1-7
  This is the first of two incidents taken from Paul's ministry in Ephesus that bracket Luke's description of his general ministry there.19:1-2 Two roads led into Ephesus from the east, and Paul travelled the northern, more dir...
• Paul's general approach to ministry in Ephesus 19:8-12
  19:8 Paul followed his standard procedure of preaching to the Jews in the synagogue at Ephesus as long as possible. Here the Jews were more tolerant than they had been in some other towns that Paul had evangelized, and he was...
• The seven sons of Sceva 19:13-20
  The following incident throws more light on the spiritual darkness that enveloped Ephesus as well as the power of Jesus Christ and the gospel.19:13 "But"introduces a contrast to the good miracles that "God was performing . . ...
• The riot in Ephesus 19:23-41
  This incident reveals more about the effects of the gospel on Ephesian society and religion (cf. vv. 13-20)."Luke's purpose in presenting this vignette is clearly apologetic, in line with his argument for the religio licitast...
• Paul's visit to Macedonia and Achaia 20:1-6
  "This report of Paul's return visit to Macedonia and Achaia is the briefest account of an extended ministry in all of Acts--even more so than the summary of the ministry at Ephesus (cf. 19:8-12). Nevertheless, it can be fille...
• Gentile response to the gospel 28:30-31
  Paul's innocence of anything worthy of punishment is clear from his living a relatively comfortable life in Rome for the following two years (60-62 A.D.).977Paul was able to preach (Gr. kerysso, to proclaim as a herald) the k...
• 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...
• 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...
• Historical background
  Almost all Christians believed in the Pauline authorship of Ephesians until the nineteenth century when destructive biblical criticism gained influence (cf. 1:1; 3:1). The critics built a case against Pauline authorship from ...
• 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)

• Two Fruitful Years
  And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2. He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And...
• Would-Be Exorcists
  Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? '--Acts 19:15.THESE exorcists had no personal union with Jesus. To them He was only Jesus whom Paul preached.' They spoke His name tentatively, as an experiment, and imitatively....