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The Word of God is the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord is the Word of God. The Bible does not tell any difference between the two terms. So we believe THE WORD OF GOD = THE WORD OF THE LORD. They are one and the same. BECAUSE God is the Lord, and the Lord is God. The Word of God explains its nature, function and power. If a statement of an American president can cause European stock market a deep dip, you can imagine how much power the Word of God has.
In the past, usually the Word of God or the Word of the Lord came upon a prophet. A prophet was a spokesman of God. The Word of God came to a prophet became a prophecy. Prophecy always deals with the future. When prophecy was fulfilled it became history.
The Word of God came to a prophet can deal in many subjects, from individual to a city like Jerusalem, to a king or kingdom, or to a city state like Nineveh.
When king David sinned, the prophet Nathan; 2Sa 12:7-14, “Nathan then said to David, “You yourself are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘It is I who anointed you as king over Israel, and it is I who rescued you from the hand of Saul.
‘I also gave you your master’s house and put your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been
too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! ‘Why have you despised the Word of the LORD, by doing evil in His sight? You have struck and killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife as your wife, and you have slaughtered him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ‘Now then, the sword shall never leave your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am going to raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.‘Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in open daylight.’ ”Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has allowed your sin to pass; you shall not die. “However, since by this deed you have shown utter disrespect for the LORD, the child
himself who is born to you shall certainly die.”
To make a long story short, the child died as the Lord said.
2 Samuel 12:7. Nathan said to David, Thou art the man — Though he took such a mild, gentle, and prudent manner to bring David to a proper view and just sense of his sin, yet he deals faithfully with him at the last, and sets his iniquity before him in all its aggravations. Thus, in a similar way, by most appropriate and striking parables, our Lord set the sin which the Jews were about to commit in crucifying him before them in so clear a light, and showed it to be so inexcusable, that they were led, before they were aware, to pass an equally severe sentence against themselves. See Matthew 21:28-46. The Jews, however, when they perceived that Christ referred to them in his parables, were only exasperated the more, and sought the sooner to lay hands on him. But David being, although greatly fallen, of a different spirit, was brought by Nathan’s words to deep and lasting repentance. O, how did Nathan’s application of his parable, Thou art the man, pronounced in all the dignity and authority of the prophetic character, sink into David’s soul! especially when he proceeded to a further explication of the greatness of his iniquity, which he does in the following words. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel — Nathan now speaks, not as a petitioner from a poor man, but as an ambassador from the great Jehovah, I anointed thee king over Israel, &c. — Thus he aggravates David’s sin, from the obligations he was under to God, who had raised him to the highest dignity from a very low condition, and had extricated him from the greatest dangers and distresses.
Samuel was dealing with a bad king Saul. 1Sa 9:27,
“As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Speak to the servant and have him go on ahead of us and pass by; but you stand here now, so that I may proclaim the Word of God to you.” A true prophet always proclaims the Word of God. Proclaim in Hebrew is šāmaʿ which means to declare; tell; publish; report; announce; — which occurs 1,165 times in the Old Testament. The Word of God was exclusive, the servant of Saul must not hear it. The Word of God was so urgent that Samuel must proclaim to Saul now.
| href=”https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/1_samuel/9.htm” Gill’s Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd as they were going down to the end of the city,…. That end of it that led the way to the place where Saul was going. As this city was built on an hill, going to the end of it was a declivity, a descent:Samuel said to Saul, bid the servant pass on before us; being another man’s servant, he did not choose of himself to bid him go on, but desired his master to order him to go before them, that he might not hear what Samuel had to say to Saul, or see what he did unto him; for as the choice of Saul to be king was to be declared by lot, as coming from the Lord, all those precautions were taken of rising early, and going abroad, and sending the servant before them, that it might not be thought that Samuel did this of himself: and he passed on; his master bidding him: but stand thou still a while; that he might hear the better, and more attentively than in walking; such a posture was most fitting also for what was to be done, anointing him with oil:that I may show thee the word of God: tell him more of the mind of God concerning his being king, and declare more fully the word, will, and decree of God about that matter, by an action which would put it out of all doubt that he was the man God designed to be king, as in the following chapter.” |
Elijah was a powerful prophet, 1Ki 21:17-21,”Then the Word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. “And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: “Have you murdered and also taken
possession?”’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘The LORD says this: “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours as well.” Then Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, enemy of mine?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have given yourself over to do evil in the sight of the LORD.
“Behold, I am bringing disaster upon you, and I will utterly sweep you away, and will eliminate from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel.”
Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament
But when Ahab went down to Jezreel to take possession of the vineyard of Naboth, Elijah came to meet him by the command of God, with the word of the Lord, “Hast thou murdered and also taken possession?” The question served to sharpen his conscience, since Ahab was obliged to admit the fact. בּשׁמרון אשׁר means “who lives at Samaria,” for when Elijah came to meet him, Ahab was in Jezreel, Elijah then said to him still further: “Thus saith the Lord: In the place where the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, will they also lick thine, yea, thy blood.” אתּה גּם serves as an emphatic repetition of the suffix (cf. Ges. 121, 3). This threat was only so far fulfilled upon Ahab, from the compassion of God, and in consequence of his humbling himself under the divine judgment (1 Kings 21:27-29), that dogs licked his blood at Samaria when the carriage was washed in which he had died (1 Kings 22:38); but it was literally fulfilled in the case of his son Joram, whose corpse was cast into Naboth’s piece of ground (2 Kings 9:25-26).”
What about false prophets and false prophecies?
Deu 18:22, “When the prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
22. The falseness of such a prophet is exposed by the non-fulfilment of his predictions. Jeremiah states the converse: if any prophet prophesy peace (which in the seventh century the false prophets usually did) and his word come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him (Jeremiah 28:9).
It is true that ‘this test is explicitly rejected for the prophets of other gods (Deuteronomy 13:1-5); nor is the higher Hebrew prophecy nearly so much predictive as interpretative’ (Wheeler Robinson in loco). Yet we must remember that though the main burden of the prophets consisted of truths of morality and religion (the unity and righteousness of God and the ethical character of His demands) they were also concerned with the vindication of these in the actual experience of the people. To them truth was never merely abstract, they looked for its fulfilment by God in history. Prof. A. B. Davidson once said to the present writer: ‘The prophets were terribly one-idea’d men. Yet their one idea was the greatest of all, that God was going to do something.’ So Amos 3:4-8. The two most spiritual of the prophets staked their credit as the bearers of God’s word on certain historical issues. Isaiah was sure of the inviolableness of Jerusalem and the survival of a remnant of the people (on this see Rev. of Theol. & Phil. iii. 7 by the present writer in answer to Guthe’s Jesaia in Religionsgeschichtlicke Volksbücher); and Jeremiah was content to wait on events for the decision whether he or Hananiah had the word of the LORD (Jeremiah 28 esp. 11b, see Duhm’s fine remarks on this chapter in the Kurzer Hand-Commentar). Again after reporting the word of the LORD, that his uncle should come to him asking him to buy his field, he adds when the uncle came and did so, then knew I that this was the word of the LORD (Deuteronomy 32:6 ff.). Of course, behind all this was the faith that God had a future for Israel in the land, though the Babylonians had overrun it and Jerusalem must fall to them. If then Jeremiah himself so much depended for the proof of his message upon the issue of events, we cannot be surprised that D proposes to the popular mind the same test of a prophet’s word.—Though beyond our immediate subject we may note that the word of the Lord by the true prophet was not always fulfilled. This is explained in Jeremiah 18 and Jonah 4 as due to a change in the moral situation. Such, however, is not a full explanation. Sometimes, as in the case of the non-fulfilment of Jeremiah’s own early predictions about the Scythians, and his slow arrival (only after the battle of Carchemish) at the conviction that Babylon was to be the executioner of God’s judgements on Israel, the change in the prophet’s word was due to altered political circumstances.
Deuteronomy 18:22.”
Now almost all the prophecies about the second coming of Jesus Christ have been fulfilled. Many do not realize the second coming of Jesus Christ is more than one event, it is a series of process. The process begins with the Rapture, the Great Tribution, the Appearing of Jesus Christ, the Millennium, the Armegedon, Judgment at the Throne of God, and finally the Kingdom of Heaven when Christ will reign forever and ever.
Eschatology is the special branch of theology in studying the last things. Before Jesus Christ returns, the Rapture has to take place. The Rapture which is taking up of believers in secret to meet the Lord in the space has not taken place. We believe the second coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, it means it could take place any time now. But one thing is sure, for Jesus says, Mat 24:42, “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”
Among the wrong predictions of the end of the world was Maya Apocalypse, December 21, 2012. Of course, the world did not end on 12-21-2012. Let me repeat it agains, all dates to predict the second coming of Christ will fail like others. The Lord knows when He is coming. Christians must be alert.
Matthew 24:42. Γρηγορεῖτε, watch[1068]) This was the reason, no doubt, that the names Gregory and Vigilantius were so common in the ancient Church. You may ask why those who were so far distant from the last day were exhorted to watchfulness on that ground? I answer—(1.) The remoteness of the event had not been indicated to them. (2.) Those who are alive at any particular time represent those who will be alive at the end of the world; see Gnomon on 1 Thessalonians 4:15. (3.) The principle of the Divine judgments, and of the uncertainty of the hour of death, resembles in every age that of the last day; and the hour of death is equivalent to the hour of resurrection and judgment, as though no time had been interposed. (4.) The feeling of the godly, which stretches forward to meet the Lord, is the same, whether with the longest or the shortest expectation. (5.) If every one had had to watch, from the time of the Apostles to the Lord’s coming, it would have been well worth the trouble of so doing.—ὁ κύριος ὑμῶν, your Lord) called in Matthew 24:44 the Son of Man.
[1068] Latin, “vigilate,” from which verb (vigilo) the name Vigilantius is derived; as Gregorius from the Greek verb employed in this passage.—(I. B.)”
Luk 8:11, “Now this is the parable: the seed is the Word of God.”
Figuratively and significantly, the Word of God is like the seed.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11. It has been granted you to grasp these mysteries unveiled; to the rest it has been only given to grasp them under the veil of parables.
that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand] These words are difficult, and (without dwelling on the fact that the particle ἵνα loses in later Greek some of its final force) must not be pressed with unreasonable and extravagant literalism to mean that the express object of teaching by parables was to conceal the message of the kingdom from all but the disciples. This would have been to put the kindled lamp under a couch or a bushel. On the contrary they were addressed to the multitudes, and deeply impressed them, as they have impressed the world in all ages, and have had the effect, not of darkening truth but of bringing it into brighter light. The varying phrase of St Matthew, “because seeing they see not, &c.,” will help us to understand it. Our Lord wished and meant the multitudes to hearken and understand, and this method awoke their interest and deepened their attention; but the resultant profit depended solely on the degree of their faithfulness. The Parables resembled the Pillar of Fire, which was to others a Pillar of Cloud. If they listened with mere intellectual curiosity or hardened prejudice they would only carry away the parable itself, or some complete misapplication of its least essential details; to get at its real meaning required self-examination and earnest thought. Hence parables had a blinding and hardening effect on the false and the proud and the wilful, just as prophecy had in old days (Isaiah 6:9-10, quoted in this connexion in Matthew 13:14, comp. Acts 28:26-27; Romans 11:8). But the Prophecy and the Parable did not create the hardness or stolidity, but only educed it when it existed—as all misused blessings and privileges do. It was only unwillingness to see which was punished by incapacity of seeing. The natural punishment of spiritual perversity is spiritual blindness.
Nothing can be better than the profound remark of Lord Bacon, that “a Parable has a double use; it tends to vail, and it tends to illustrate a truth; in the latter case it seems designed to teach, in the former to conceal.”
“Though truths in manhood darkly join,
Deep seated in our mystic frame,
We yield all blessing to the name
Of Him who made them current coin.
For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers,
Where truth in closest words shall fail,
When truth embodied in a tale
Shall enter in at lowly doors.”
11. The seed is the word of God] We have the same metaphor in Colossians 1:5-6; 1 Corinthians 3:6; and a similar one in James 1:21, “the engrafted word;” 2Es 9:31; 2Es 9:33, “Behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you…yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.”
Luk 8:21, “But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it.”
Jesus stresses the importance of doing the Word of God that those who hear the Word of God and do it are like His mother and brothers.
Luk 11:28, “But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and follow it.”Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
A certain woman – One of the crowd.
Blessed is the womb … – She thought that the “mother” of such a person must be especially happy in having such a son. Yea, rather blessed … – Jesus admits that she was happy – that it was an honor to be his mother, but he says that the chief happiness, the highest honor, was to obey the word of God. Compared with this, all earthly distinctions and honors are as nothing. Man’s greatest dignity is in keeping the holy commandments of God, and in being prepared for heaven. See the notes at Luke 10:20.”
Luk 10:39, “And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His Word.”
Luk 10:42, “but only one thing is necessary; for Mary has chosen the
good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
If you have money and gold, thieves and robbers can take them away from you. If like Mary you have chosen the good part which is the Word of God, it shall not be taken away from you.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(42) But one thing is needful.—Some of the better MSS. present a singular various-reading, There is need of few things, or of one only. It is obvious that this might be taken either literally or spiritually. They might mean (1) that He who spoke, and the others who were coming, needed not the many things about which Martha was troubled, but a few only, or even but a single dish, to supply their wants; or (2) that the true life of men needed but a few things, such as faith, obedience, the fear of God, or even but one only, the devout and intent love which Mary was then showing. The latter interpretation is clearly most in harmony with our Lord’s usual teaching, though the former has something like a parallel in the teaching of Luke 10:7 of this very chapter. It is not improbable that our Lord designedly used words which had an outer and an inner meaning, the latter intended chiefly for those who “had ears to hear.” There is a singular coincidence between the words here spoken to Martha and those addressed to the young ruler (“one thing thou lackest”), whom we have seen reason to identify with her brother. (See Note on Matthew 19:16.) The omission of “few things” in the received text, may have originated in the wish to give an exclusive prominence to the higher meaning.
Mary hath chosen that good part.—The Greek noun is very nearly the same as that which the younger son, in Luke 15:12, uses for “the portion of goods,” the good part or portion here being nothing less than the eternal life which is the gift of God. Here too we may trace something approaching to a half-playful mingling of the higher and lower meanings of the word which was used in the Greek version of the Old Testament at once for Benjamin’s mess, i.e., portion of food (Genesis 43:34), and for God as the “portion” of His people (Psalm 73:26). Even on the assumption that our Lord spoke in Aramaic, and not in Greek, a like play upon the word would have been equally possible.
The two sisters have come to be regarded as the representatives respectively of the active and the contemplative forms of the religious life, and there is, of course, a certain measure of truth in this view. On the other hand, however, it must be remembered that Martha’s activity, with its manifold distractions, was not Christian activity, and that Mary’s contemplation passed, when the time came for it, as in John 12:3, into full and intense activity. The contrast is rather that between singleness of heart and the character which St. James describes as “double-minded” (James 1:8), i.e., divided in its affections.”
You will never regret the time you spent on studying the Word of God. Do it while you are alive. Even better if you do deep study of the Word of God while young.
Jhn 10:35, ““If he called them gods, to whom the Word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be nullified).”
The Word of God is the Scripture which cannot be nulified.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
35. If he called them gods] More probably, If it called them gods, viz. the Law. ‘Them’ is left unexplained; a Jewish audience would at once know who were meant. But how incredible that any but a Jew should think of such an argument, or put it in this brief way! These last eight verses alone are sufficient to discredit the theory that this Gospel is the work of Greek Gnostic in the second century.
the word of God] Practically the same as ‘the Scripture;’ i.e. the word of God in these passages of Scripture. The Word in the theological sense for the Son is not meant: this term appears nowhere in the narrative part of S. John’s Gospel. But of course it was through the Word, not yet incarnate, that God revealed His will to His people.
cannot be broken] Literally, ‘cannot be undone’ or ‘unloosed.’ The same word is rendered ‘unloose’ (John 1:27), ‘destroy’ (John 2:19), ‘break’ (John 5:18 and John 7:23), ‘loose’ (John 11:44). John 1:27 and John 11:44 are literal, of actual unbinding; the others are figurative, of dissolution or unbinding as a form of destruction. Here either metaphor, dissolution or unbinding, would be appropriate; either, ‘cannot be explained away, made to mean nothing;’ or, ‘cannot be deprived of its binding authority.’ The latter seems better. The clause depends upon ‘if,’ and is not parenthetical; ‘if the Scripture cannot be broken.’ As in John 2:22, John 17:12, John 20:9, ‘the Scripture’ (singular) probably means a definite passage. Comp. John 7:38; John 7:42, John 13:18, John 17:12, John 19:24; John 19:28; John 19:36-37. Scripture as a whole is called ‘the Scriptures’ (plural); John 5:39.”
Act 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the Word of God with boldness.”
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is not to speak in tongues (as the Pentecost denomination erroneously teaches), but to speak the Word of God with boldness and power.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
31. the place was shaken] That they might feel at once that the God of all nature, to whom they had appealed (Acts 4:24), was among them. In their immediate need an immediate answer is vouchsafed, and a token with it that their prayer was heard. Cp. Acts 16:26 of the shaking of the prison at Philippi after the prayers of Paul and Silas.
spake the word of God] i.e. wherever they found occasion and opportunity, neglecting the threats of the council, and endowed with the boldness for which they had prayed.”
Act 6:7, “The Word of God kept spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the Faith.”
And the word of God increased – That is, the gospel was more and more successful, or became more mighty and extensive in its influence. An instance of this success is immediately added.
And a great company of the priests – A great “multitude.” This is recorded justly as a remarkable instance of the power of the gospel. How great this company was is not mentioned, but the number of the priests in Jerusalem was very great; and their conversion was a striking proof of the power of truth. It is probable that they had been opposed to the gospel with quite as much hostility as any other class of the Jews. And it is now mentioned, as worthy of special record, that the gospel was sufficiently mighty to humble even the proud, and haughty, and selfish, and envious priests to the foot of the cross. One design of the gospel is to evince the power of truth in subduing all classes of people; and hence, in the New Testament we have the record of its having actually subdued every class to the obedience of faith. Some mss., however, here instead of “priests” read Jews. This reading is followed in the Syriac version.
Were obedient to the faith – The word “faith” here is evidently put for the “Christian religion.” Faith is one of the main requirements of the gospel Mark 16:16, and by a figure of speech is put for the gospel itself. To become “obedient to the faith,” therefore, is to obey the requirements of the gospel, particularly what requires us to “believe.” Compare Romans 10:16. By the accession of the “priests” also no small part of the reproach would be taken away from the gospel, that it made converts only among the lower classes of the people. Compare John 7:48.”
Act 13:5, “When they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they also had John as their helper.”
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And when they were at Salamis,…. A chief city of Cyprus; and so Herodotus (f) calls it Salamis of Cyprus; and in this island it is placed by Pliny (g) and Ptolomy (h): it was built by Teucer, the son of Telamon, after his return from the Trojan war; and so called by him, from his native country Salamine, in Greece, as is generally agreed by historians (i): it was the birth place of the famous philosopher Solon, who is from thence called Salaminius; he died in the island of Cyprus, in the eightieth year of his age; and before he died, gave orders to carry his bones to Salamis, and being reduced to ashes, to scatter them throughout the province (k): it was also claimed by the Cyprians, as the birth place of Homer, and is said (l) to be prophesied of that it should be; it was afterwards called Constantia, and now Famagusta, and is in the hands of the Turks; of it Jerom (m) thus writes:
Salamis, a city in the island of Cyprus, now called Constantia, which, in the time of the Emperor Trajan, the Jews destroyed, having killed all the inhabitants of it:”
which shows what a multitude of Jews dwelt in this island, and even in this place; hence, in this verse, mention is afterwards made of synagogues of Jews in it, where the apostles preached, and which was the reason of their coming hither. This place, with the whole island, was taken from the Venetians by Mustapha, general to Selimus the Second, emperor of the Turks, in the year 1571, after a siege of eleven months; which, when he was possessed of, contrary to the agreement made, he put all the Christians to death; and having cut off the ears and nose of Bragadinus, the governor of it, took off his skin alive (n). Epiphanius, an ancient writer of the fourth century, famous for his books against heresies, was bishop of this place (o), when it was called Constantia, from Constantins Augustus, the emperor; and before him, we read of Gelasius, bishop of this place, who was in the council of Nice; there was a church here in the fifth century; and mention is made of a presbyter of it, in the sixth century, present at the fifth council at Constantinople; and in the seventh century, a bishop of this church was in the sixth council of Constantinople; and in the Nicene synod, in the “eighth” century, John, bishop of this place, assisted (p):
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; the Jews being in great numbers in these parts, to them the apostles first preached, though they were sent unto the Gentiles; and this they continued to do, till the Jews put away the Gospel, which made their way more clear and open to the Gentiles: and they had also John to their minister: this was John Mark, whom they brought with them from Jerusalem, Acts 12:12 who waited upon them, and provided for them the necessaries of life; for this is not to be understood of the ministry of the word, which is peculiarly ascribed to them, or of his being an assistant to them in it; nor can it be understood of his being the minister in any of the synagogues for them, to bring out the book of the law, and direct public service, where it cannot be thought he should have any such office and authority; but of his ministering in civil and secular things to the apostles, or to the poor by their orders.”
Act 13:46, “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the Word of God be spoken to you first. Since you repudiate it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(46) It was necessary.—The preachers recognised the necessity of following what they looked on as the divine plan in the education of mankind, and so they preached “to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Romans 2:9-10). The former were offered, as the fulfilment of the promise made to Abraham, the high privilege of being the channel through which “all families of the earth should be blessed” by the knowledge of Christ (Genesis 22:18). When they rejected that offer, it was made, without their intervention, to the Gentiles.
Judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life.—There is a touch of righteous indignation, perhaps something like irony, in the words. The preacher had thought them “worthy” of the highest of all blessings, the life eternal which was in Christ Jesus, but they, in their boastful and envious pride, took what was really a lower estimate of themselves, and showed that they were “unworthy.” They passed sentence, ipso facto, on themselves.
Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.—We have to remember (1) that the words were as an echo of those which the Apostle had heard in his trance in the Temple at Jerusalem (Acts 22:21); (2) that they would be heard, on the one hand, by the Gentiles with a joy hitherto unknown, and, on the other, by the Jews as a new cause of irritation.”
Chronologically, the Gospel must be preached “to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.”
Rom 9:6, “But it is not as though the Word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.”
Romans 9:6-8. Not as though — The original expression, ουχ οιον δε οτι, is rather obscure; but Erasmus supplying, after the Greek scholiast, the words τουτο ου λεγω, seems to have given the sense of it thus; I do not say this, that the word of God hath fallen, namely, to the ground, without effect. The apostle’s meaning is, that nothing he had now said concerning the rejection of the greater part of the Jews, drew any such consequence after it, as that the word of God (that is, his promises made to Abraham and his seed) should miscarry, or fall to the ground; the Jews imagining that the word of God must fail, if all their nation were not saved. This sentiment Paul now refutes, showing, 1st, That the word itself had foretold their rejection: and, 2d, That though the body of the nation was rejected, God’s promises were already fulfilled to the true Israelites, and hereafter all Israel should be saved: which is the sum of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters. For — Here he enters upon the proof of it; they are not all Israel — True spiritual Israelites, to whom the promises belong; which are of Israel — The natural posterity of Jacob, and Israelites by birth, and so visible members of the church. The Jews vehemently maintained the contrary; namely, that all who were born Israelites, and they only, were the people of God. The former part of this assertion is refuted here, the latter, Romans 9:24, &c. The sum is, God accepts all believers, and them only; and this is no way contrary to his word. Nay, he hath declared in his word, both by types and by express testimonies, that believers are accepted as the children of the promise, while unbelievers are rejected, though they are children after the flesh. It is true the great promise, that Jehovah would be their God, was delivered to all the posterity of Israel without exception; but it was intended to be understood in a conditional sense, as what would not be fulfilled to them, unless they imitated the faith of Abraham. And in this sense it was made to the Gentiles, and to the whole world, as well as to the Jews. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham — According to the flesh; will it follow, that they are all children of God. This did not hold even in Abraham’s own family, and much less in his remote descendants. But, God then said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called — Isaac’s posterity, not Ishmael’s, shall be spoken of as thy seed, by way of eminence; that seed to which the promises are made. That is, they who are the children of the flesh — The carnal seed of Abraham; are not — Purely upon that account; the children of God — In the true sense; namely, spiritual children. But the children of the promise — Those whom God hath promised to acknowledge for his children; namely, such as are born again by the supernatural power of God’s Spirit, (as Isaac was conceived and born by a power above the course of nature,) and who by faith lay hold on the promise of salvation made in Christ; these are they who are intended in the covenant with Abraham, the persons whose God Jehovah promised to be, and to whom the spiritual blessings and the inheritance belong. In quoting these words, in Isaac shall thy seed be called, and inferring therefrom that the children of the promise shall be counted for the seed, the apostle does not intend to give the literal sense of the words, but the typical only; and by his interpretation signifies that they were spoken by God in a typical and allegorical, as well as in a literal sense, and that God there declared his counsel concerning those persons whom he purposed to own as his children, and make partakers of the blessings of righteousness and salvation. As if he had said, This is a clear type of things to come; showing us, that in all succeeding generations, not the lineal descendants of Abraham, but they to whom the promise is made, that is, believers, are the true children of God.”
2Co 2:17, “For we are not like the many, peddling
the Word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”
I want you to know, my parents were missionaries though poor, for that reason I had known many preachers (Chinese and foreign) who stayed and ate at our home, many I believe were not servants of God. I also discovered “Evangelical Monopoly” — a group of people who called themselves “evangelicals or fundamentalists” – who are bent on to promote themselves in every way and their interests in preaching and publishing. They exclude others who are not ingroups. If you visit the Internet, you can find hundreds if not thousands of individuals or organizations who peddle or merchandise the Word of God by subscription and donation. I think IRS should investigate all so-called tax free individuals or organizations who make big bucks in subscription and donation.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17. For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God] The original makes ‘many’ definite with the article, thus clearly pointing out the false teachers, against whom so much of this and the former Epistle is directed. The word of God may be corrupted (1) by the admixture of foreign doctrines, e. g. those of the Judaizers, who grafted on Christianity the alien doctrine of the universal obligation of the Jewish law, (2) by degrading the doctrine of Christ into a system of argument and disputation (1 Corinthians 1:17-31; 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; 1 Corinthians 2:14), and (3) by the introduction of personal objects, such as influence, authority, the praise of men (1 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 10:12; 2 Corinthians 11:18; Galatians 4:17). The word here translated corrupt occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is derived from a substantive equivalent in meaning to our higgler or huckster, especially a dealer in wine (See the LXX. of Isaiah 1:22. The word is not in the Hebrew), and hence from the dishonest practices of these small dealers it has come, by a process somewhat similar to that of our reproachful terms ‘higgling’ or ‘huckstering,’ to mean adulterate, i.e. to mix what should be pure with worthless or even deleterious substances.
but as of sincerity, but as of God] See note on 2 Corinthians 1:12. The word is here opposed to the idea of corrupting by admixture. The Apostle does not lose sight even here of the truth to which he returns in ch. 2 Corinthians 3:5, that his purity of heart is a supernatural gift. If he preaches Christ of sincerity, it is because the power to do so comes from God, Who gave the mission.
in the sight of God] A task imposed by God, and performed with the consciousness that His All-seeing Eye is upon those whom He has sent.
speak we in Christ] St Paul, throughout the whole of this chapter, has had in view the vindication of himself from any ulterior motives or lower principles of action in preaching Christ. His sole object is to minister Him. He desires nothing for himself. If he rebukes, it is for the offender’s sake. If he tests the obedience of the Church, it is because he is set over it for its benefit, not for his. If he preaches the word of God, it is by virtue of an inspiration from Him, whereby he preaches simply and faithfully the words put in his mouth by Christ. His doctrine is of God, delivered as in His sight, and spoken in Christ.”
Phl 1:14, “and that most of the brothers and sisters,
trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the Word of God without fear.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14. many] Better, most. It is noticeable that the Apostle should imply that there were exceptions. Possibly, he refers here to what comes out more clearly below, the difference between friendly and unfriendly sections among the Roman Christians. We can scarcely doubt (in view of Romans 16 and Acts 28) that the friendly were the majority. If so, St Paul may here practically say that a majority of the brethren were energized into fresh efforts, by his imprisonment, while a minority, also stirred into new activity, were acting on less worthy motives. In view of the context, this seems more likely than that he should merely imply by this phrase that the revival of activity was not universal.
In any case, this verse implies that a spirit of languor and timidity had recently infected the believing community at Rome.
the brethren in the Lord] So also R.V. Bps Ellicott and Lightfoot connect the words here otherwise; “the brethren, having in the Lord confidence, &c.” Grammatically, either is possible. But to us the “rhythm of the sentence,” a sort of evidence not easy to define and explain, but a real item for decision, seems to plead for the connexion in the text. It is true that the precise phrase “brethren in the Lord” is not found elsewhere. But a near parallel is Romans 16:13, “Rufus, the chosen one in the Lord”; for there too the words “in the Lord” are in a certain sense superfluous. See too Romans 16:8; Romans 16:10.
waxing confident] More strictly and simply (for the Greek participle is practically, though not in form, a present), being confident, confiding.—The idea is that of a sense of rest and reassurance after misgivings.
by my bonds] More closely, perhaps, in my bonds. The “confidence was, in a sense, reposed “in,” or on, Paul’s chains, his captivity, just so far as that captivity vividly reminded the Roman believers of the sacredness and goodness of the cause, and of the Person, for whose sake the Apostle unflinchingly incurred it and willingly bore it. The heart is the best interpreter of such words.
For the construction in the Greek, cp. Philemon 1:21, the only exact N.T. parallel. It is found, but rarely, in the LXX.
are much more bold] Lit., and better, more abundantly venture. They “venture” more often, more habitually, than of late.—On the bearing of such statements on the date of the Epistle see Introduction, p. 16.
to speak the word] “The word of the cross” (1 Corinthians 1:18); “of truth” (Ephesians 1:13); “of life” (below, Php 2:16); “of Christ” (Colossians 3:16); “of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 4:15); &c.—It is the revealed and delivered account of what Christ is, has wrought, &c.—It is observable that St Paul regards such “speaking” as the work, not only of the class of ordained Christians, but of Christians in general. See further on Php 2:16.”
2Ti 2:9, “for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the Word of God is not imprisoned.”
Verse 9. – Hardship for trouble, A.V.; unto for even unto, A.V.; as a malefactor for as an evil doer, A.V.; transposition of clause, unto bonds. Wherein (ἐν ῷ); i.e. in which gospel, in the preaching of which. Suffer hardship (κακοπαθῶ); as ver. 3, T.R. Unto bonds (μέχρι δεσμῶν). So μέχρι θανάτου, Philippians 2:8; μέχρις αἵματος, Hebrews 12:4; but most frequently of time, “until,” as Matthew 11:23; Matthew 13:30; Acts 10:30, etc. A malefactor (κακοῦργος); as Luke 23:32, 33, 39; common in classical Greek. Bonds (δεσμῶν); as Acts 26:29; Philippians 1:7, 13, etc.; Colossians 4:18. So St. Paul calls himself δέσμιος, in respect of these bonds (Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:8; Philemon 1:9). The Word of God is not bound. A beautiful reflection of an utterly unselfish mind! The thought of his own bonds, likely soon to be exchanged for the bonds of a martyr’s death, awakens the comforting thought, Though they bind me with an iron chain, they cannot bind the gospel. While I am here, shut up in prison, the Word of God, preached by a thousand tongues, is giving life and liberty to myriads of my brethren of the human race. The tyrant can silence my voice and confine it within the walls of my dungeon; but all the while the sound of the gospel is going through all the earth, its saving words to the ends of the world; and I therein rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; and not all the lemons of Rome can take this joy from me.” 2 Timothy 2:9.”
Heb 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
For the word of God – The design of this and the following verse is obvious. It is to show that we cannot escape the notice of God; that all insincerity, unbelief, hypocrisy, will be detected by him; and that since our hearts are perfectly open before him, we should be sincere and should not attempt to deceive him. The sense is, that the truth of God is all-penetrating and searching, and that the real thoughts and intents of the heart will be brought to light, and that if there is insincerity and self-deception there can be no hope of escape. There has been a great variety of opinion here about the meaning of the phrase “the Word of God.” Some have supposed that it means the Lord Jesus; others, the whole of the divine revelation; others the gospel; others the particular threatening referred to here. The “Word of God” is “what God speaks” – whether it be a promise or a threatening; whether it be Law or gospel; whether it be a simple declaration or a statement of a doctrine. The idea here is, that what “God had said” is suited to detect hypocrisy and to lay open the true nature of the feelings of the soul, so that there can be no escape for the guilty. His “truth” is adapted to bring out the real feelings, and to show man exactly what he is. Truth always has this power – whether preached, or read, or communicated by conversation, or impressed upon the memory and conscience by the Holy Spirit. There can be no escape from the penetrating, searching application of the Word of God. That truth has power to show what man is, and is like a penetrating sword that lays open the whole man; compare Isaiah 49:2. The phrase “the Word of God” here may be applied, therefore, to the “truth” of God, however made known to the mind. In some way it will bring out the real feelings, and show what man is.
Is quick – Greek ζῶν zōn – “living.” It is not dead, inert, and powerless. It has a “living” power, and is energetic and active. It is “adapted” to produce this effect.
And powerful – Mighty. Its power is seen in awakening the conscience; alarming the fears; laying bare the secret feelings of the heart, and causing the sinner to tremble with the apprehension of the coming judgment. All the great changes in the moral world for the better, have been caused by the power of truth. They are such as the truth in its own nature is suited to effect, and if we may judge of its power by the greatness of the revolutions produced, no words can over-estimate the might of the truth which God has revealed.
Sharper than any two-edged sword – Literally, “two-mouthed” sword – δίστομον distomon. The word “mouth” was given to the sword because it seemed to “devour” all before it. It consumed or destroyed as a wild beast does. The comparison of the Word of God to a sword or to an arrow, is designed to show its power of penetrating the heart; Ecclesiastes 12:11, “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies;” compare Isaiah 49:2. “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;” Revelation 1:16, “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword;” Revelation 2:12, Revelation 2:16; Revelation 19:15. The comparison is common in the classics, and in Arabic poetry; see Gesenius, on Isaiah 49:2. The idea is that of piercing, or penetrating; and the meaning here is, that the Word of God reaches the “heart” – the very center of action, and lays open the motives and feelings of the man. It was common among the ancients to have a sword with two edges. The Roman sword was commonly made in this manner. The fact that it had two edges made it more easy to penetrate, as well as to cut with every way.
Piercing even to the dividing asunder – Penetrating so as to divide.
Soul and spirit – The animal life from the immortal soul. The former word here – ψυχή psuchē – “soul” – is evidently used to denote the “animal life,” as distinguished from the mind or soul. The latter word – πνεῦμα pneuma – “spirit” – means the soul; the immaterial and immortal part; what lives when the animal life is extinct. This distinction occurs in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “your whole spirit, and soul, and body;” and it is a distinction which we are constantly in the habit of making. There is the body in man – the animal life – and the immortal part that leaves the body when life is extinct. Mysteriously united, they constitute one man. When the animal life is separated from the soul, or when the soul leaves the animated body, the body dies, and life is extinct. To separate the one from the other is, therefore, the same as to take life – and this is the idea here, that the Word of God is like a sharp sword that inflicts deadly wounds. The sinner “dies;” that is, he becomes dead to his former hopes, or is “slain” by the Law; Romans 7:9, “I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” This is the power referred to here – the power of destroying the hopes of the sinner; cutting him down under conviction; and prostrating him as if a sword had pierced his heart.
And of the joints and marrow – The figure is still continued of the sword that takes life. Such a sword would seem to penetrate even the joints and marrow of the body. It would separate the joints, and pierce through the very bones to the marrow. A similar effect, Paul says, is produced by truth. It seems to penetrate the very essence of the soul, and lay it all open to the view.
And is a discerner of the thoughts – It shows what the thoughts and intentions are. Prof. Stuart, Bloomfield, and some others, suppose that the reference here is to “God” speaking by his word. But the more natural construction certainly is, to refer it to the Word or truth of God. It is true that God searches the heart, and knows the thoughts, but that is not the truth which is prominent here. It is, that the thoughts and intents of the heart are brought out to view by the Word of God. And can anyone doubt this? see Romans 7:7. Is it not true that people are made to see their real character under the exhibition of the truth of God? That in the light of the Law they see their past lives to be sinful? That the exhibition of truth calls to their recollection many long-forgotten sins? And that their real feelings are brought out when the truth of God is proclaimed? Men then are made to look upon their motives as they had never done before, and to see in their hearts feelings whose existence they would not have suspected if it had not been for the exhibition of the truth. The exhibition of the truth is like pouring down the beams of the sun at midnight on a dark world; and the truth lays open the real feelings of the sinner as that sun would disclose the clouds of wickedness that are now performed under cover of the night. Many a man has a deep and fixed hostility to God and to his gospel who might never be sensible of it if the truth was not faithfully proclaimed. The particular idea here is, that the truth of God will detect the feelings of the hypocrite and self-deceiver. They cannot always conceal their emotions, and the time will come when truth, like light poured into the soul, will reveal their unbelief and their secret sins. They who are cherishing a hope of salvation, therefore, should be on their guard lest they mistake the name for the reality. Let us learn from this verse:
(1) The power of truth. It is “suited” to lay open the secret feelings of the soul. There is not an effect produced in awakening a sinner; or in his conviction, conversion, and sanctification, which the truth is not “adapted” to produce. The truth of God is not dead; nor suited to make people “worse;” nor designed merely to show its own “weakness,” and to be a mere occasion on which the Holy Spirit acts on the mind; it is in its own nature Fitted to produce just the effects which are produced when it awakens, convicts, converts, and sanctifies the soul.
(2) the truth should be preached with the feeling that it is adapted to this end. Men who preach should endeavor to understand the nature of the mind and of the moral feelings, as really as he who would inflict a deadly wound should endeavor to understand enough about anatomy to know where the heart is, or he who administers medicine should endeavor to know what is adapted to remove certain diseases. And he who has no belief in the efficacy of truth to produce any effect, resembles one who should suppose that all knowledge of the human system was needless to him who wished to perform a surgical operation, and who should cut at random – piously leaving it with God to direct the knife; or he who should go into a hospital of patients and administer medicines indiscriminately – devoutly saying that all healing must come from God, and that the use of medicine was only to show its own weakness! Thus, many men seem to preach. Yet for aught that appears, truth is just as wisely adapted to save the soul as medicine is to heal the sick; and why then should not a preacher be as careful to study the nature of truth and its adaptedness to a particular end, as a student of the healing art is to understand the adaptedness of medicine to cure disease? The true way of preaching is, to feel that truth is adapted to the end in view; to select what is best suited for that end; to preach as if the whole result depended on getting that truth before the mind and into the heart – and then to leave the whole result with God – as a physician with right feelings will exert all his skill to save his patient, and then commit the whole question of life and health to God. He will be more likely to praise God intelligently who believes that he has wisely adapted a plan to the end in view, than he who believes that God works only at random.”
1Jo 2:14, “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
14. because ye are strong] Strong in the spiritual warfare in which they have already won the victory: comp. Hebrews 11:34, where, however, ‘strong in war’ probably refers to actual warfare between the Jews and other nations.
the word of God abideth in you] An echo of John 15:7. This is the secret of their strength and the source of their victory. They conquer because they are strong, and they are strong because God’s word is ever in their hearts. They have God’s will, especially as revealed in Scripture, and in particular in the Gospel, as a permanent power within them: hence the permanence of their victory. So long as they trust in this and not in themselves, and remember that their victory is not yet final, they may rejoice in the confidence which the consciousness of strength and of victory gives them.
It is plain from the context and from John 5:38; John 10:35; John 17:6; John 17:14; Revelation 1:9; Revelation 6:9, that ‘the word of God’ here does not mean the Word, the Son of God. S. John never uses the term ‘Word’ in this sense in the body either of his Gospel or of his Epistle, but only in the theological Introductions to each.”
Act 20:32, “And now I entrust you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among
all those who are sanctified.” The Word of God is the Word of His grace WHICH is able to build you up.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
32. And now, brethren, I commend … his grace] The oldest authorities omit “brethren.” I am to leave you, but I commend you to One who will help you as He has helped me, and who will not leave you. “The word of His grace” means the gracious promises of the Gospel, such as those which Christ gave to His disciples when He foretold the mission of the Comforter (John 17:7-12), and which the Christian preachers might repeat as His words to the converts who believed on His name.
which, &c.] This must refer to God, and not to the intervening explanatory clause concerning the “word of God’s grace.” It is God who can build up His people, and give them their heavenly inheritance.
and to give you an inheritance] The oldest texts give “the inheritance.” The figure is taken from the apportionment of the promised land among the Israelites. The part of each of God’s servants in the heavenly Canaan is to be regarded as definitely as were the possessions of the chosen people in the earthly Canaan.
among … sanctified] The tense is literally “that have been sanctified.” But just as the Apostle uses “saints” frequently in his Epistles to mean those who have been called to be such, so here his words do not indicate that those of whom he speaks have attained the perfection of holiness. When they reach their inheritance, then they will have been perfected in Christ.”
1Co 1:18, “For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The Word of God is the Word of the Cross, it is the power of God.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
18–31. God’s Message not intended to flatter the pride of man
18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God] Literally, to them that are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the (or a) power of God. The connection of this verse with the preceding is not quite clear. It may, however, be thus explained: The doctrine of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, because they conceive of some inherent excellence in humanity, whereas the Cross proclaims and justifies God’s sentence of death against the human race. The same doctrine is the power of God to those who are in the way of salvation, because it is through faith in Christ’s Blood alone that man can be justified from sin, crucified to the old man, and united to the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness. To preach the Gospel, then, with wisdom of words, to exalt, that is, the human element, is to take away the power of the Gospel, and to make it in reality the folly which it is deemed to be by unspiritual men. Cf. Romans 1:16; Romans 3:22; Ephesians 4:22-23; Colossians 3:9-10.’
2Co 5:19, “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the Word of reconciliation.”
The Word of God is the Word of reconciliation.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
20. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ] Literally, we undertake an embassy (legatione fungimur, Vulgate; usen message, Wiclif). Tyndale, followed by Cranmer and the Geneva Version, render, are messengers in the roume of. The Rhemish characteristically renders by legates. The signification ‘in the room of,’ for ὑπέρ, is doubtful. It is perhaps better to render ‘for’ with the A.V. (Vulgate, pro). Cf. Ephesians 6:20. An ambassador represents the monarch from whom he is sent, in all matters relating to his mission. What the nature of the mission was, and what the powers of the ambassadors, is stated in the remaining words of the verse.
as though God did beseech you by us] See notes on ch. 2 Corinthians 1:3. God may be said rather to exhort or encourage than to beseech (as if God monestith bi us, Wiclif). This, then, was the object for which the full powers of the ambassadors were given, an object still more clearly defined in what follows. Cf. Malachi 2:7; Galatians 4:14.
we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God] Rather, we intreat on behalf of Christ (sec above). First there was the encouraging tidings that there was ‘henceforth no condemnation’ to those who accepted the reconciliation offered through Christ (or perhaps the exhortation to accept it, see last note), and next the still more urgent entreaty on Christ’s behalf that they would accept it.”
2Co 6:7, “in the Word of truth, and in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left.”
The Word of God is the Word of truth.
By the word of truth; living up to and keeping our eye upon the word of God, which is the word of truth: this seems to be the sense, rather than speaking truth to every one, as some have thought.
By the power of God; by the efficacious working of the Spirit of God upon our hearts, enabling us to live up to the doctrine we preach. Some understand here, by the power of God, that extraordinary power of working miracles, which God gave the apostles; others, the gospel, which the apostle calls the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16. It may be understood of the first and the last joined together; for the gospel is no otherwise the power of God to salvation, than as it is attended to the souls of those to whom it is so made powerful, with the inward, powerful, efficacious working of the Holy Spirit.
By the armour of righteousness; he means a good conscience, (which cannot be without a universal rectitude, or uprightness of life), which is a defence against all temptations, either from prosperity or from adversity. In which sense that of Solomon is true: He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely, Proverbs 10:9: and David prayeth, Psalm 25:21: Let integrity and uprightness preserve me.”
Col 3:16,“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all
wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
The Word of Christ is also the Word of God.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) The word of Christ.—Here again the definite phrase, “the word of Christ,” takes the place of the commoner phrase, “the word of the Lord,” “the word of God.” It is to “dwell in their hearts.” Hence it is the engrafted word” (James 1:21)—the truth of Christ conceived in the heart, striking root into it, and making it its dwelling-place. It will be observed how all such phrases prepare for the full conception of Him as Himself “the Word of God.”
In all wisdom.—The symmetry of the original, “in all wisdom teaching . . . in grace singing,” suggests the connection of the words with those following, not, as in our version, with those going before. The indwelling Word of God is described as manifesting itself, first, in the wisdom of mutual teaching, next, in the grace of hearty thanksgiving.
Teaching and admonishing . . .—Here again we have at once general identity and special distinction between this and the parallel passage in Ephesians 5:19-20. There, as here, we have the “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” “the singing in the hearts to the Lord,” and the spirit of “thankfulness.” But there the whole is described as a consequence of “being filled with the Spirit,” and, as an outburst of that spiritual enthusiasm, of which the spurious excitement of drunkenness is the morbid caricature. Here the thought starts from “the word of Christ in the soul,” realised through the gift of the Spirit by all our faculties; and it divides itself accordingly into the function of teaching, which bears on the mind; “the singing in grace” of thankfulness, which comes from and goes to the heart; and the “doing all in the name of Christ,” which belongs to the outer sphere of action.
Psalms and hymns.—The ascription to those of an office of “teaching and admonition” describes what is their real, though indirect, effect. In the Church, as in the world, he who “makes a people’s songs” really guides their minds as well as their hearts. For good and for evil the hymns of the Christian Church have largely influenced her theology.”
2Ti 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker
who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.”
The Word of God is the Word of truth.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.—Timothy, and those in the position of Timothy, were to show themselves approved unto God, by turning others, over whom they possessed influence, from the pursuit of vain and unprofitable things. Then their work would be the work of workmen tested by trial, and would be found to have stood the test. (Comp. here 1Corinthians 3:10-15, where the final testing of the work done by God’s workmen, such as Timothy, is spoken of in very clear, heart-searching language.) His own words in the First Epistle to the Corinthians were evidently in St. Paul’s mind when he wrote down this direction to Timothy.
Rightly dividing the word of truth.—Better rendered rightly laying out the word of truth. The Greek word translated in the English version “rightly dividing,” literally signifies “cutting a straight line.” It seems most correct to regard it as a metaphor from laying out a road (see Proverbs 3:6, in the LXX. rendering, where the word is so used), “or drawing a furrow, the merit of which consists in the straightness with which the work of cutting, or laying out, is performed. The word of truth is, as it were, a road which is to be laid out straightly and truly.” So Ellicott. To affirm (see Alford and Huther-Meyer) that the notion of “cutting” had been gradually lost, and that the word already in the time of St. Paul signified simply “to manage rightly,” “to treat truthfully without falsifying,” and that the exact opposite is to corrupt or adulterate the Word of God (2Corinthians 2:17), seems premature. (Comp. Eur. Rhesus, 422, ed. Dindorf.)
In the third century, Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, 7), for instance, certainly uses the word in a sense in which the idea of “cutting” has been lost, when he writes orthotomia (a substantive) as an equivalent for orthodoxia—orthodoxy. It is not improbable that the use of the word here by St. Paul gave the word a fresh starting-point, and that gradually the original meaning passed out of sight.”
Heb 6:5, “and have tasted the good Word of God
and the powers of the age to come.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5. and have tasted the good word of God] Rather, “that the word of God is good.” The verb “taste,” which in the previous verse is constructed with the genitive (as in classical Greek), is here followed by an accusative, as is more common in Hellenistic Greek. It is difficult to establish any difference in meaning between the constructions, though the latter may imply something which is more habitual—“feeding on.” But possibly the accusative is only used to avoid any entanglement with the genitive “of God” which follows it. There is however no excuse for the attempt of Calvin and others, in the interests of their dogmatic bias, to make “taste of” mean only “have an inkling of” without any deep or real participation; and to make the preciousness of the “word of God” in this place only imply its contrast to the rigour of the Mosaic Law. The metaphor means “to partake of,” and “enjoy,” as in Philo, who speaks of one “who has quaffed much pure wine of God’s benevolent power, and banqueted upon sacred words and doctrines” (De proem. et poen. Opp. i. 428). Philo also speaks of the utterance (rhema) of God, and God, and of its nourishing the soul like manna (Opp. i. 120, 564). The references to Philo are always to Mangey’s edition. The names of the special tracts and chapters may be found in my Early Days of Christianity, 11. 541–543, and passim.
the powers of the world to come] Here again it is not easy to see what is exactly intended by “the powers of the Future Age.” If the Future Age be the Olam habba of the Jews, i.e. the Messianic Age, then its “powers” may be as St Chrysostom said, “the earnest of the Spirit,” or the powers mentioned in Hebrews 2:4; Galatians 3:5. If on the other hand it mean “the world to come” its “powers” bring the foretaste of its glorious fruition.
It will then be seen that we cannot attach a definitely certain or exact meaning to the separate expressions; on the other hand nothing can be clearer than the fact that, but for dogmatic prepossessions, no one would have dreamed of explaining them to mean anything less than full conversion.”
1Pe 1:23, “for you have been born again not of seed which is
perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring Word of God.”
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) Being born again.—Rather, Having been begotten again. It is not part of the exhortation, as though they had still to be thus begotten, but assigns the moral grounds for the exhortation. It is logically parallel with “seeing ye have purified,” and might be rendered, seeing that ye have been begotten again. For the meaning of the word, refer back to 1Peter 1:3.
Not of corruptible seed.—That is, not of the seed of Abraham, but of the seed of God. This is the argument: “You must learn not to be selfish, or arrogant, as being of the chosen race, but to have a true brotherly feeling and earnest love for the Gentile converts, and for those who, like St. Paul, are specially working for the Gentiles, because your inheritance of the promised ‘salvation’ is grounded, not on your Abrahamic descent, but on your spiritual regeneration, in which matter the Gentile converts are your equals.” That this was the doctrine of St. Peter is certain from his speech at the Council of Jerusalem, “God put no difference between us and them, having purified their hearts by faith;” and again, “It is only through the favour of the Lord Jesus that we hope to be saved, in precisely the same manner as they” (Acts 15:9; Acts 15:11). (Comp., for the argument, 1John 5:1.)
By the word of God.—“Seed,” in the beginning of the clause, is more literally the act of sowing, or engendering, which sowing is carried on “through the living and abiding word of God,” this “word of God” being the actual seed sown. The “seed” of all existence is the spoken Word of God, the expressed will and meaning of creative thought (Psalm 33:6); and so here, even when spoken mediately, through the lips of men (as explained in 1Peter 1:25), it is that which begets men afresh. God creates afresh, though men speak the creative word for Him, just as “it is He that hath made us,” although He does so through natural laws and human powers. The “Word of God” here is, no doubt, the preaching of the gospel, but especially, as it would seem, the preaching of the Resurrection (1Peter 1:3), or of the sufferings and glories of Messiah (1Peter 1:12), the “truth” of the last verse. The part taken by “the Word” in the sacrament of regeneration may be seen again in Ephesians 5:26 and James 1:18; in connection with the other sacrament we may also refer to John 6:63. “Incorruptible” (i.e., imperishable; see 1Peter 1:4; 1Peter 1:18) finds a more energetic paraphrase here in “living and abiding” (the words “for ever” not being part of the true text). The former epithet is a favourite with St. Peter (1Peter 1:3, 1Peter 2:4-5), and is perhaps borrowed from this place by the author to the Hebrews, in connection with the “word of God” (Hebrews 4:12). The epithets serve to prepare the way for the quotation.”
1Jo 2:5, “but whoever follows His Word, in him the love of God
has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him.”
But whoso keepeth his word – That is, what he has spoken or commanded, The term “word” here will include all that he has made known to us as his will in regard to our conduct.
In him verily is the love of God perfected – He professes to have the love of God in his heart, and that love receives its completion or filling up by obedience to the will of God. That obedience is the proper carrying out, or the exponent of the love which exists in the heart. Love to the Saviour would be defective without that, for it is never complete without obedience. If this be the true interpretation, then the passage does not make any affirmation about sinless perfection, but it only affirms that if true love exists in the heart, it will be carried out in the life; or that love and obedience are parts of the same thing; that one will be manifested by the other; and that where obedience exists, it is the completion or perfecting of love. Besides, the apostle does not say that either the love or the obedience would be in themselves absolutely perfect; but he says that one cannot fully develop itself without the other.
Hereby know we that we are in him – That is, by having in fact such love as shall insure obedience. To be in him, is to be united to him; to be his friends. Compare the John 6:56 note; Romans 13:14 note.”
Act 6:2, “So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples
and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.”
Then the twelve – That is, the apostles. Matthias had been added to them after the apostasy of Judas, which had completed the original number.
The multitude of the disciples – It is not necessary to suppose that all the disciples were convened, which amounted to many thousands, but that the business was laid before a large number; or perhaps “the multitude” here means those merely who were more particularly interested in the matter, and who had been engaged in the complaint.
It is not reason – The original words used here properly denote “it is not pleasing or agreeable”; but the meaning evidently is, it is not “suitable” or “proper.” It would be a departure from the design of their appointment, which was to preach the gospel, and not to attend to the pecuniary affairs of the church.
Leave the word of God – That we should neglect or abandon the preaching of the gospel so much as would be necessary if we attended personally to the distribution of the alms of the church. The “gospel” is here called the “Word of God,” because it is his message; it is what he has spoken, or which he has commanded to be proclaimed to people.
Serve tables – This expression properly denotes “to take care of, or provide for the table, or for the daily needs of a family.” It is an expression that properly applies to a steward or a servant. The word “tables” is, however, sometimes used with reference to “money,” as being the place where money was kept for the purpose of “exchange, etc.,” Matthew 21:12; Matthew 25:27. Here the expression means, therefore, to attend to the pecuniary transactions of the church, and to make the proper distribution for the needs of the poor.”
There are false leaders who want the Chruch to do relief work, to do charity work, to do social work, etc., to forgo the primary work of the Church is to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Church may do the social work, but the Church is not to neglect the Word of God to do any other work.
The churches who do not have the Holy Spirit, use all kinds of gimmicks to attract people such as Christmas plays, concerts, charity, poverty relief, social work, youth programs, and all kinds of outreach in stead of the Word of God. Many local churches have become social clubs. Once a pastor of a Chinese church proudly announced that he just got back from Denmark after learning social work. I had ceased to do anything with that Chinese church because it did not practice the truth of the Gospel. The true mission of the Church of Jesus Christ is, Mat 28:19, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” 1Co 1:17, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not with cleverness of speech, so that the Cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.”
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel] “Even the less earned can baptize perfectly, but perfectly to preach the Gospel is a far more difficult task, and requires qualifications which are far more rare.”—Augustine.
not with wisdom of words] Rather discourse, as in 1 Corinthians 1:5. Here the matter of the discourse as well as its expression is meant, though the latter is probably the predominant idea. For it is impossible to study the philosophy of the Apostolic and post-Apostolic period without seeing how much it consisted of word-play.”
18. Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) Not to baptize.—Preaching was eminently the work of the Apostles. The deacons used to baptise (Acts 10:48). The mention of “the preaching of the glad tidings” affords an opportunity for the Apostle stating in vindication of himself why that, and not philosophy, was the subject of his preaching, “lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” Such, and not inability or ignorance, was the grand cause of his simplicity.”
Where can you find preachers who preach the Gospel with power today?
To receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is to receive the eternal life.
WILLIE WONG THOUGHT
WILLIE WONG
AUGUST 5, 2025
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