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Commentary New Testament | - 53 items found in your search |
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Achtemeier, Paul J. Romans Interpretation Bible Commentary Paul Achtemeier New Testament Homiletics
0804231370 / 9780804231374 Westminster John Knox Press 1985 Hardcover Used: Acceptable Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1985 by the Westminster John Knox Press with 256 pages. The text contains 60 pages with scattered underlining, notes and notations in pencil. The binding is sound. The dust jacket is moderately worn around the edges with several closed tears including one large tear that has been repaired with tape. Previous owners name present. The hardboard edges are moderately rubbed. The corners are rubbed. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.
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13.00 USD
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Arno Clemens Gaebelein The Revelation by Gaebelein An Analysis & Exposition of the Last Book of the Bible
Pickering/Inglis 1915 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1915 by Pickering & Inglis with 225 pages. About 35% of the text is underlined in pencil, especially in the first half of the book. Previous owners name present. The binding is sound but is weakening along the hinges. The pages are toned. The pages are moderately toned. No dust jacket. Excerpt from Chapter One: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him." This is the first sentence with which this last book in God's Word begins. The best title therefore is, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." Our Lord received, according to this opening statement, a revelation from God. This must be understood in connection with Himself as the Son of Man. As the Only Begotten He had no need of a revelation; in His Deity He is acquainted with all the eternal purposes. One with God He knows the end from the beginning. But He, who is very God, took on in incarnation the form of a servant, and thus being in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself (Phil, ii: 7-8). And as the Man who had passed through death, whom God raised from the dead, and exalted at His own right hand, God gave Him this revelation concerning the judgment of the earth and the glory of Himself. "God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory" (i Peter i:2i). What this Glory is which He received from God is fully and blessedly revealed in this book. It is the revelation of His acquired Glory and how this Glory is to be manifested in connection with the earth. And this revelation He makes known to His servants, because His own are sharers with Him in all He received from God.
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20.00 USD
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Barrett, C. K. Essays on John CK Barrett Johannine NT Criticism Theology Christology Background
0664213898 / 9780664213893 Westminster John Knox Pr 1982-09-01 First Edition Hardcover Used: Good Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This FIRST EDITION hardcover book was published in 1982 by the Westminster John Knox Press with 176 pages. Ex-library from a minister's study. The only library marking is a spine label with call letters. The text contains 10 pages with scattered yellow highlighting. The binding is tight. The dust jacket is unclipped but moderately worn around the edges with several small closed tears. In this outstanding collection, eminent New Testament scholar C. K. Barrett considers various dimensions of the fourth gospel. As a foundation for greater understanding, he discusses the theological method inherent in John's writings. He includes an important chapter on Christology that deals with Jesus' relationship to God and the nature of his humanness. Particularly revealing is the comparison of the theological vocabulary of the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Truth. Four vital aspects of Johannine literature are discussed: symbolism, sacraments, paradox-dualism, and history. One essay is devoted to Ignatius of Antioch, whose thought is related to John's.
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11.00 USD
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Blackwood, Jr., Andrew W.; Cary N. Weisiger III. The Epistles to the Galatians Ephesians & Peter Proclaiming the New Testament v2
Baker, 1962 1962-01-01 Hardcover Used: Good Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1962 by the Baker Book House with 351 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is sound. The dust jacket is moderately worn around the edges with several small closed tears, small chips and some creasing. The page edges are lightly toned. Previous owners name present. The inside bottom corner of the dust jacket states Book Club Edition. Full Title: The Epistles to the Galatians and Ephesians. The Epistles of Peter. Proclaiming the New Testament, Vol. II. THE EPISTLES TO THE GALATIANS AND THE EPHESIANS by ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD, JR.This is another outstanding volume in the Proclaiming the New Testament series. The pattern and plan of procedure is the same as that of the other books in the series: 1. Historical Setting, 2. Expository Meaning, 3. Doctrinal Value, 4. Practical Aim, and 5. Homiletic Form. This book, however, presents an exposition of the full text of the Epistles treated, rather than of the key verses. The sermons are in Blackwood's characteristic scintillating style. The book is packed with homiletic aids and suggestions to preachers and students of preaching.The author is pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in West Palm Beach, Florida...... THE EPISTLES OF PETER by GARY N. WEISIGER III.....Following the pattern adopted for the Proclaiming the New Testament series, Dr. Weisiger here presents rich and suggestive sermonic material on the Epistles of I and II Peter......The Epistles of Peter are not as frequently used as bases for sermons as some other books of the New Testament. Yet they are unusually rich in material applicable to our day and age. The author of this volume states that Peter presents "a noble call to the best kind of Christian living . . . heavily accents the glorious hope of believers while setting forth the privileges and responsibilities of Christians.".....Dr. Weisiger is pastor of the Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh.
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15.00 USD
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Buttrick, George A. Parables of Jesus George Buttrick Interpretation Commentary & Application
0801005973 / 9780801005978 Baker Publishing Group 1979 Paperback Used: Acceptable Paperback Trade Paperback
This paperback book was published in 1979 by the Baker Publishing Group with 304 pages. The text contains 65 pages with underlining and notations in black pen. The binding is sound. The cover is moderately worn around the edges. The spine has a reading crease. The pages are toned with some light soiling. The rear cover is toned with a few small soil spots. Previous owners name present. The parables of Jesus are always a favorite and fruitful subject for sermons or study. This book is designed to be an introduction to a serious study of the parables. The author traces the parables back to Jesus' daily life in Galilee, presents an interpretation of these incomparable stories, and seeks to discover their relevance to life in the twentieth century. In the interpretation of the parables he has used the approved findings of reverent and competent critics of Scripture. Details of exegesis have been relegated to footnotes where they will not hamper the reader.
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16.00 USD
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C. L. Rawlins The Daily Study Bible Index: Index A Companion to William Barclays New Testament Commentary
0664213707 / 9780664213701 Westminster John Knox Pr 1978 Hardcover Used: Very Good Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1978 by the Westminster John Knox Press with 223 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is tight. There is normal shelf and edge wear. The dust jacket is unclipped but has a couple small closed tears and some creasing along the edges. Now it is possible for all who own a set of William Barclay's Daily Study Bible to have a complete New Testament reference library in their own home or office......Actually five indexes in one:...... Scripture References Subjects and Places Personal NamesForeign Words, Terms, and Phrases Ancient Writings.....This new index will enable the user to follow one subject, person, or place throughout the series with ease and accuracy.
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10.00 USD
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Daniel, Orville E. Harmony of the Four Gospels NIV Orville Daniel 2nd ED PBED
080105642X / 9780801056420 Baker Books 2008 Used: Very Good Trade Paperback
This paperback book was published in 2008 by Baker Books with 224 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is tight. There is normal shelf and edge wear. The cover is moderately rubbed with some surface scratching. The corners of the covers are lightly creased. "Several features of Dr. Daniel's meticulous work will commend it to a wide reading audience. First, the use of the NIV text makes it appealing to our present generation. Second, the incorporation of the Gospel of John into the story is consistent with the latest New Testament scholarship which recognizes the value of John's contribution to the Gospel tradition. Third, the inclusion of one main story line in bold type allows the reader the freedom to consider and compare story variations without losing the Gospel continuity." Robert Muse Professor of Biblical Studies, Ontario Bible College...."I will look forward to putting this harmony in the hands both of new Christians and established believers. The new Christians will be helped to see how the story of Jesus comes together. The established believers will have a tool for Bible study that will intrigue them and send them back to the original Gospels for further study and clarification." Roy Bell Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Calgary, Alberta....."The great advantage is that the story line is in bold print... a real harmony of the Gospels. The Gospel passages are still printed in a parallel arrangement. . . but the boldface text presents a smooth, connected account through the four Gospels."
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12.00 USD
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David Chilton The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation David Chilton Non-Dispensational Dominion Theology
0930462092 / 9780930462093 Dominion Press 1990 Third Printing Hardcover Used: Good Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This Third Printing hardcover book was published in 1990 by the Dominion Press with 756 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is sound. There is normal shelf and edge wear. The dust jacket is unclipped but has some creasing and a couple small closed tears along the edges. From the very beginning, cranks and crackpots have attempted to use Revelation to advocate some new twist on the Chicken Little Doctrine: "The Sky Is Falling!" But, as David Chilton shows in this careful, detailed exposition, St. John's Apocalypse teaches instead that Christians will overcome all opposition through the work of Jesus Christ. Most of the confusion over the meaning of the prophecy has resulted from a failure to apply five crucial interpretive keys to the Book of Revelation:1.Revelation is the most "Biblical" book in theBible. St. John quotes hundreds of passages fromthe Old Testament, often with subtle allusions tolittle-known rituals of the Ancient Near East Inorder to understand Revelation, we need to knowour Bibles backward and forward (or, at least, owna commentary that explains it!)...2.Revelation is a prophecy about imminentevents— events that were about to break loose onthe world of the first century. Revelation is notabout nuclear warfare, space travel, or the end ofthe world. Again and again it specifically warnsthat "the time is near!" Revelation cannot beunderstood unless this fundamental fact is takenseriously...3.Revelation has a system of symbolism.Everyone recognizes that St. John wrote hismessage in symbols. But the meaning of thosesymbols is not up for grabs. There is a systematicstructure in Biblical symbolism In order tounderstand Revelation properly, we must becomefamiliar with the "language" in which it is written...4.Revelation is a worship service. St. John didnot write a textbook on prophecy. Instead, herecorded a heavenly worship service in progress.One of his major concerns, in fact, is that theworship of God is central to everything in life. It isthe most important thing we do.... 5. Revelation is a book about dominion.Revelation is not a book about how terrible the Antichrist is, or how powerful the devil is. It is, the very first verse says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ" It tells us about His lordship over all; it tells us about our salvation and victory in the New Covenant, God's "wonderful plan for our life , tells us that the kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our God, and of His Christ; and it tells us that He shall reign forever and ever.
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35.00 USD
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David John Williams Acts A Good news Commentary New Testament David John Williams
0060694513 / 9780060694517 Harper & Row 1985 Paperback Used: Good Paperback
This paperback book was published in 1985 by Harper & Row with 508 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is sound. The cover is moderately worn around the edges. The Understanding the Bible Commentary Series helps readers navigate the strange and sometimes intimidating literary terrain of the Bible. These accessible volumes break down the barriers between the ancient and modern worlds so that the power and meaning of the biblical texts become transparent to contemporary readers. The contributors tackle the task of interpretation using the full range of critical methodologies and practices, yet they do so as people of faith who hold the text in the highest regard. Pastors, teachers, and lay people alike will cherish the truth found in this commentary series.
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8.00 USD
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Fields, Wilbur Thinking Through Thessalonians Wibur Fields New Testament Bible Study Commentary HB ED
College Press 1963-01-01 Hardcover Used: Good Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1963 by the College Press with 260 pages. The text contains 25 pages with faded yellow highlighting and some notations in black and red pen. The binding is sound. The dust jacket is corner clipped at the front inside flap along with moderate wear around the edges with several small closed tears, chips and some creasing. HELP FOR YOU-FIVE LAYERS DEEP!.....To help you to know and understand God's word, this book: offers five layers of help.(1)"Thinking Through Thessalonians," At the beginning of the study of each chapter is a group of questions called "Thinking Through Thessalonians." These are designed to help the person who has little or no knowledge of the Bible text to get acquainted with it. All the blanks in these sections can be filled in with no help but a common King James Bible.(2)Outlines — Outlines of both of the Thessalonian letters, and all of the chapters are given.(3)Translation and Paraphrase— A translation from Nestle's Greek New Testament is given. This is as accurate and literal as we can make it. With the translation we have included a paraphrase, other words to make the meaning of the verses as clear and complete as possible. The words in parentheses are the paraphrase. Usually reading the translation and paraphrase alone will make Paul's thoughts quite clear.(4)Notes—Notes on every verse are given. Most notes are practical comments on the message of the verses. Some notes are technical, but wherever possible, we have tried to make all of them understandable to the general reader.(5)"Did You Learn?"— The study of each chapter concludes with a section of review questions entitled "Did You Learn?" (The Introductory Sections also have questions of this type.)Besides these five layers of help, there are some useful Introductory Sections at the beginning of both epistles, and some special studies in the back of the book.
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13.00 USD
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Freideiric Louis Godet Studies on the New Testament Freideiric Louis Godet 1876 Edition
Hodder and Stoughton 1876 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1876 by Hodder and Stoughton with 416 pages including prelims and ads. Ex-library. The text has a couple sparsely scattered undelines and notations in the text. The binding is cracking along the rear hinge. Previous owners bookplate and card pocket have been removed. The covers, especially along the spine panel have some cloth erosion and heavier rubbing. The corners are bumped and the tips are rubbed through. The top and the bottom of the spine panel have a few small chips. PREFACE.The collection of sacred books which make up our Holy Scriptures may be compared to an edifice containing sixty-six rooms, in each of which there shines a ray of the celestial light. Most Christians are contented to gaze upon it from with¬out, as mere tourists. Are they prevented from entering by the fear of finding within it only closed doors ? Such is, no doubt, the feeling of many. We now come forward to offer them the key to some of these mysterious chambers. If they are willing to make use of it, they will soon extend their visits to all the rooms in this Divine abode, and take up as their own the prayer of David : " One thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will require, even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit His temple " (Ps. xxvii. 4)...The first volume of these studies has been so kindly received, that I venture to hope for a not less favourable reception of the second. Not that I am not keenly sensible of its defects. But its readers may perhaps be moved to extend to it some degree of indulgence, when they remember what a time of struggle and of anguish the summer which gave birth to it was for the author. But the dedi-cation will also remind them how rich an autumn succeeded to the storms of the summer.1Two only of the five essays in this volume h&d been previously published (The Earliest Traditions respecting our four Gospels, and the Essay on the Apocalypse: Revue Chreticnne, January, 1864, and March, 1869). They have been entirely recast.May the Lord render efficacious to the hearts of my readers everything in this work that is truly His!
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30.00 USD
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Green, Michael To Corinth With Love Michael Green New Testament Commentary & Criticism History
084993110X / 9780849931109 W Pub Group 1988-03-01 First Edition Paperback Used: Good Paperback Trade Paperback
This paperback book is the FIRST EDITION that was published in 1988 by the Word Books with 189 pages. This is Ex-library Copy from a Minister's Library. The only library marking is a spine label with call letters. The text is unmarked. The binding is tight. The covers show normal shelf and edge wear. The pages are toned. Previous owners name present. At times we feel as if we face problems that have no precedents; there are no solutions to which we can look back. This book shows, however, that problems such as ours have been around since the beginning, and the clearest voice offering courage, rebuke, direction, and hope for us belongs to Paul, the firebrand of earliest Christianity. In particular, his letters to Corinth shed light on a cluster of today's most difficult issues:.....Problems for the Church—our sense of mission; baptism and the Lord's Supper; interdependence; and teachings on love,worship, and prophecy Problems for Individual Christians—attitudes toward knowledge, personal freedom, giving, sex, suffering, and death Problems of Authority—leaders and their responsibilities; roles for women; and the nature of apostleship....."This excellent exposition—based on good scholarship—is pastoral and at the same time searching. It holds good things for private study, groups, and preachers."—The Expository Times
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7.00 USD
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Hufton, Rick James Faith in Action Rick Hufton Grace World Outreach Church Pentecostal PB ED
0933643039 / 9780933643031 Grace World Outreach Center 1984-01-01 Paperback Used: Good Paperback Trade Paperback
This paperback book was published in 1984 by the Grace World Outreach Center with 146 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is sound. The cover is moderately worn around the edges and is creased at the corners. Previous owners name present though it has been marked out with a black Sharpie. The page edges are toned. The bottom page edges near the spine have a small dampstain. The epistle of James is one of the most practical books of the New Testament. It is filled with pragmatic exhortations about Christian living. James didn't take the time to establish fundamental Christian doctrines, as did Paul in his epistles to the Romans or Ephesians. He wrote this letter to help believers in the practical aspects of the Christian walk......For this reason, his letter lacks some of the cohesive style that characterizes most of Paul and John's writings. James moves quickly from one practical subject to the next, without always tying those subjects together.......But what James lacks in cohesiveness, he makes up in power. As we study this great epistle carefully, we'll find that it's full of commands, rebukes and exhortations, all written to teach us how to live the Christian life.James has been called "the Jeremiah of the New Testament," because of this forceful style and because of his emphasis on practical application of the truth.......James was so practical that some have dismissed his epistle as being of little or no value.......Martin Luther called it "the epistle of straw." Luther was particularly disturbed with James' discussion of faith and works. Being the one who rediscovered the doctrine of salvation by grace, Luther believed that James' teaching on this subject flew in the face of all that Paul said about grace and faith.......Careful examination of the context of this epistle, who wrote it and to whom it was written, will show that James and Paul do not contradict one another. They both were firm believers that only faith in Jesus Christ could make a man righteous before God.......In fact, there is nothing in James that is inconsistent with the rest of scripture. Indeed, James gives us a perspective on Christian living that isn't found in any other New Testament writing......James' epistle doesn't lay the kind of doctrinal foundation that Paul does in most of his epistles. But it can't be considered of any less value. We need the kind of practical exhortations and rebukes that are found in the book of James, just as much as we need the sound foundations of doctrine that Paul gives us.
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15.00 USD
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Humphrey, Hugh He is Risen A New Reading of Marks Gospel Hugh Humphrey New Testament Commentary
0809133024 / 9780809133024 Paulist Press 1992-01-01 Paperback Used: Good Paperback Trade Paperback
This paperback book was published in 1992 by the Paulist Press with 190 pages. Ex-library copy from a Minister's Study. The only library mark is a spine label with call letters. The text is unmarked. The binding is tight. The covers are moderately worn around the edges. The rear cover is creased. The covers are creased. HE IS RISEN! A NEW READING OF MARK'S GOSPEL breaks new ground in the study of Mark's gospel. There are actually two frameworks that govern its thought: one is the "good news" of and about Jesus, the second is the compelling images and motifs of the wisdom tradition to show Jesus as God's wisdom. Together they fully express the central reality of Christianity: that Jesus' resurrection is the ideal and the model of how all men and women are to live before God......Despite the simple appearances that the gospel of Mark is the historical story of Jesus' life, message and meaning, the gospel writer expected his readers to recognize all the references and allusions to the wisdom literature of the Bible and understand the theology behind Mark's presentation......Dr. Humphrey provides one of the clearest and most comprehensive presentations of Mark's gospel, and keeps the focus on the central message of the resurrection. It is promise both of new life and of wisdom for life. The author reveals Mark's profound theology behind the story of Jesus. This is highly recommended for anyone interested in a deeper knowledge of the gospel of Mark. It challenges many of the contemporary views and will be an excellent book for teaching the gospel courses from a fresh standpoint.
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8.00 USD
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J. B. Lightfoot The Epistles of St. Paul to the Colossians and to Philemon
MacMillan 1876 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover
This hardcover book is the second edition that was published in 1876 by MacMillan and Comany with 437 pages including the prelims. This voulme has been rebound at some point with the spine panel and covers glued to the new hardboards. There are scattered notations throughout the text (mainly in the margins). Previous owners names on the half-title page. The front hinge is cracking. The covers and edges are heavily worn. Despite the condition issues this is still a very useable copy of an early edition of Lightfoot's exegetical treatment of these two Pauline letters. Here is the completion of another volume of my commentary, I wish again to renew my thanks for the assistance received from previous labourers in the same field. Such obligations must always be great; but it is not easy in a few words to apportion them fairly, and I shall not make the attempt. I have not consciously neglected any aid which might render this volume more complete; but at the same time I venture to hope that my previous commentaries have established my claim to be regarded as an independent worker, and in the present instance more especially I have found myself obliged to diverge widely from the treatment of my predecessors, and to draw largely from other materials than those which they have collected.In the preface to a previous volume I expressed an in¬tention of appending to my commentary on the Colossian Epistle an essay on 'Christianity and Gnosis.' This intention has not been fulfilled in the letter; but the subject enters largely into the investigation of the Colossian heresy, where it receives as much attention as, at all events for the pre¬sent, it seems to require. It will necessarily come under dis¬cussion again, when the Pastoral Epistles are taken in hand. The question of the genuineness of the two epistles con¬tained in this volume has been deliberately deferred. It could not be discussed with any advantage apart from the Epistle to the Ephesians., for the three letters are inseparably bound together. Meanwhile however the doctrinal and his¬torical discussions will, if I mistake not, have furnished answers to the main objections which have been urged; while the commentary will have shown how thoroughly natural the language and thoughts are, if conceived as arising out of an immediate emergency. More especially it will have been made apparent that the Epistle to the Colossians hangs together as a whole, and that the phenomena are altogether adverse to any theory of interpolation such as that recently put forward by Professor Holtzmann.In the commentary, as well as in the introduction, it has been a chief aim to illustrate and develope the theological conception of the Person of Christ, which underlies the Epistle to the Colossians. The Colossian heresy for instance owes its importance mainly to the fact that it throws out this conception into bolder relief. To this portion of the subject therefore I venture to direct special attention.I cannot conclude without offering my thanks to Mr A. A. VanSittart who, as on former occasions, has given his aid in correcting the proof sheets of this volume; and to the Rev. J. J. Scott, of Trinity College, who has prepared the index. I wish also to express my obligations to Dr Schiller-Szinessy, of whose talmudical learning I have freely availed myself in verifying Frank el's quotations and in other ways. I should add however that he is not in any degree responsible for my conclusions, and has not even seen what I have written.
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25.00 USD
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J. Frank Norris Practical Lectures on Romans Dr J Frank Norris First Baptist Fort Worth Texas Fundamentalist
By the Author 1946-01-01 First Edition Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This FIRST EDITION hardcover book was published circa 1946 (though a publishing date is not provided) by the Author with 195 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is sound though the hinges are weakening. The pages are toned. The corners are bumped. No dust jacket. Random Excerpt from Pages 72-73:We baptize about four times as many people—I shall say it this way—four to one people that join Temple Church in Detroit come by baptism. Last spring we had counted over five hundred Roman Cath-olics. The last time I baptized up there, there were four women seventy and eighty years of age. In the year 1936 I baptized over three hun-dred Presbyterians and Methodists who joined Temple Baptist Church.Here is what happened. A very distinguished minister who used to come here to this church from the North—he would say,"You can't build a great church in the North like you do down South." He said, "Now they will be converted and go and join other denominations, but they won't join the Baptists."And so now we have found out we baptized last year, I think the exact figures were 1039, of the approximately 1400 members that joined the church.We had a deacon there, a good man—he used to think he knew more than the pastor—he has had some doubts about that recently. He came to me and said, "Now you can't preach on baptism up here in the North like you do down South.""Well," I said, "that is strange. I didn't know God Almighty had one Bible for the South and another for the North."That puzzled me. And the next Sunday I got up and told what the deacon had said. I followed the Scripture which says, "What the dea-cons tell the preacher in private, go before the whole congregation and repeat it publicly."What happened ?Well, I went to work and preached on it.Now we have come tonight to the close of the fifth chapter.For the first five chapters the theme has been the great truth of "Justification by faith." As a matter of review who will tell me where that occurs in the Old Testament ?VOICE: Habakkuk2:4.It is quoted three times in the New Testament. It is mentioned first in Romans 1:17—Galatians 3:11—Hebrews 10:38.Now who will find that quotation in Habakkuk 2:4? It is very significant. Now that was the text of the world's greatest revival since Pentecost.Union With ChristI say, for the first five chapters we have been talking on "Justification by faith"—sin and justification.Now then, we come to the second great truth, "Union with Christ."It is not enough that a soul is free from sin. But he is given something. He is given righteousness, as we saw.And then he is not only given righteousness—he cannot have righteousness without having a close, vital relationship to Jesus Christ.Define it ? We can't define it. If we could define it, it would cease to be union with Christ."What shall we say then?"—remember I told you last night,question after question—that was the method Paul used—"Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"—we counted five times the word "abound" is used in the fifth chapter."God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"Now I am going to have you read the first ten verses yourselves. I am trying to help all the teachers of the Sunday School to quit preach-ing and go to teaching. One way is to let your class have some part in the lesson.Now the finest art in the world is the fine art of reading the Scriptures publicly, which is so poorly done by most people I hang my head in shame. And so I want us now to read these first ten verses, and we will never teach our people to read the Scriptures until we our-selves know how to read the Scriptures. Speak out loud and not too fast, and let's all stay together:Romans 6:1-10, "What shall we say then? Shall we con-tinue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us-as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."There is not one sctintilla of Scripture on baptism in the Old Testament.Baptism is a New Testament ordinance that began with a man who had his credentials from on high, who was sent from God, whose name was John.Incidentally I will stop here and help you on this question. Quite often people come to me and say, "Well, I have been immersed. Why don't you take my immersion ? I am satisfied with it." I always ask this question:Was the man who baptized you immersed or sprinkled ? If the man who baptized you was sprinkled, then the man that baptized you has no credentials for baptizing you, and certainly he has no right.Brief Biography from the J Frank Norris internet site: Dr. Norris was constantly embroiled in religious and political battles and was known as "The Fighting Parson" and "The Texas Cyclone." He met opposition head-on and did not fear any man. He once said, "When I die, let it be carved on my tombstone 'Here lies a man who never turned his back in the day of battle or feared to face a foe.'" Dr. Norris was a preacher, pastor, educator, world-traveler, revivalist, builder, fund-raiser, author, and the editor of his own newspaper. His friends loved him and admired him, but his enemies hated and feared him. A newspaper reporter once wrote, "There is an eleventh commandment in Fort Worth - Thou shalt not mess with J. Frank Norris." He fearlessly exposed the social evils of society. He aggressively probed issues, investigated improprieties, and publicly exposed and castigated the offenders. His life is filled with stories of adventure, courage, faith and danger - the stuff from which legends are made. He helped to cause the resignation of the president of Baylor University, and fought liberalism throughout the Southern Baptist Convention. He almost single-handedly stopped gambling at the Dallas Fair and horse race gambling in Texas for over eighty years. He was shot at, his life was threatened, and three thousand men, led by the mayor of Fort Worth, drank to his being run out of town, or to his hanging. He closed down the infamous "Hell's Half-Acre," that housed the notorious "Hole-in-the-Wall Gang." Twice he was charged with burning down his home and his church. Both times the juries declared him "Not Guilty." Many people believe that the fires were started by his enemies. He was tried for murder in a nationally reported trial in Austin, Texas. The jury deliberated only one hour and fifteen minutes, and declared him "Not Guilty" on the first ballot. Thus, Dr. Norris was found "Not Guilty" of first degree murder, which the dictionary defines as "murder committed premeditatively and with malice." The jury found Dr. Norris "Not Guilty" because they were convinced that the shooting of D. E. Chipps was not premeditated, and was done without malice. The jury was convinced that Dr. Norris shot Chipps because he felt his life was threatened. Dr. Norris was also involved in politics. He helped to defeat a Democratic Presidential candidate in Texas and helped to elect two Republican candidates to the Presidency. He was a friend of several world leaders such as the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He burned the Nazi flag before a huge audience in Madison Square Garden. On another occasion he burned the Communist flag before a gigantic audience in Detroit, Michigan. He strongly and continuously opposed religious and political liberalism, Roman Catholicism, the Ku Klux Klan, the National Council of Churches, and liberalism in the Northern and Southern Baptist Conventions. He simultaneously pastored two of the largest churches in America, 1,300 miles apart, for thirteen years.
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J.P. Lange,DD; Langes Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Schmoller Braune
Charles Scribner's & Sons 1897 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
Full Title: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical, with special references to Ministers and Students. By John Peter Lange, D.D., in connection with a number of eminent European Divines. Translated from the German, and edited with additions, original and selected, by Philip Schaff, D.D., in connection with American scholars of various Evangelical Denominations. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians by Otto Schmoller. The Epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians by Karl Braune. This hardcover book was published 1897 by Charles Scribner's Sons with 574 pages. The text contain about 25 pages with underlining in pencil. The binding is sound though the front hinge is cracked. The pages are toned. The corners are bumped and the tips are rubbed through. The foredge and bottom page edges are dampstained near the corner. No dust jacket. Previous owners name stamp is present. This copy came from noted American Christian Apologist Josh McDowell's library.This hardcover book was published in. The text is unmarked. The binding is tight. There is normal shelf and edge wear. The dust jacket is unclipped and untorn. From the original preface to Schaff's edition (please excuse any OCR recognition errors):.....Among the many noble contributions of German learning and industry to this end. Dr. Lange's Commentary — which is here presented, with many additions, in an English dress— will occupy an honorable and useful position. It appeared first in 1665, and in a second edition in 1668, in a small but closely-printed volume of 886 pages, as part of his Biblework. It is evidently the result of much earnest labor and profound research, and presents many new and striking views. These, however, are not always expressed with that clearness demanded by the practical common sense of the English reader ; hence the difficult labor of translation has been occasionally supplemented by the delicate task of explanation...... Dr. Lange prepared the Exegetical and Doctrinal parts, the Rev. F. R. Fay, his son-in- law, and pastor at Crefeld, Prussia, the Homiletical sections...... The English edition is the result of the combined labor of the Rev. Dr. Hurst, the Rev. M. B. Riddle, and the General Editor. Dr. Hurst is responsible for the translation (which was an unusually difficult task), and for the valuable Homiletical selections from the best English sources. The General Editor and the Rev. M. B. Riddle, besides carefully comparing the translation with the original, prepared the text, with the Critical notes, and the additions to the Exegetical and Doctrinal sections. The initials indicate the authorship of the various additions in brackets, which increase the volume of the German edition nearly one half. Upon no other book, except Matthew and Genesis, has so much original labor been bestowed...... I am responsible for the General and Special Introduction, and the first six chapters (exclusive of the last few verses of chap, vi), which cover about one half of the volume. I examined nearly all the authorities quoted by Dr. Lange, from Chrysostom down to the later editions of Tholuck and Meyer, and also the principal English commentators, as Stuart, Hodge, Alford, Wordsworth, Jowett, Forbes, &c., who are sublimely ignored by continental commentators, as if exegesis had never crossed the English Channel, much leas the Atlantic Ocean. The length of some of my annotations (e. g., on chaps. L, iiL, and v.) may be justified by the defects of the original, and the great importance of the topics for the English and American mind...... I had a strong desire to complete the work, and to incorporate portions of a German Commentary on Romans which I prepared years ago in connection with my lectures as professor of theology, as well as the results of more recent studies. But a multiplicity of engagements, and a due regard for my health, compelled me to intrust the remaining chapters, together with my whole apparatus, including my notes in manuscript and a printed essay on the ninth chapter, to my Mend, the Rev. M. B. Riddle. As an excellent German and Biblical scholar, and as editor of the Commentaries on Galatians and Colossians in the Biblework, Mr. Riddle has all the qualifications and experience, as well as that rare and noble enthusiasm which is indispensable for the successful completion of such a difficult and responsible task...... It is hoped that, by this combination of talent and labor, the Commentary on Roman has gained in variety, richness, and adaptation to the use of English students...... PHILIP SCHAFF.
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James Everett Frame International Critical Commentary on Thessalonians by James Frame Exegetical HC
Charles Scribner's Sons 1912 Hardcover Used: Acceptable Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1912 by Charles Scribner's Sons with 357 pages (including advertisements and prelims). Ex-Library. The text is unmarked. The binding is weakened as the front hinge is loosed and the rear hinge is starting to crack. . No dust jacket. The corners are bumped and the tips are rubbed through. The pages are toned. The top and the bottom of the spine panel are chipped. Library markings include call letters on the spine, card pocket, check in sheet and several library stamps scattered throughout the the textblock in the margins. (1)From Antioch to Philippi -It was seventeen years afterGod had been pleased to reveal his Son in him, and shortly after the momentous scene in Antioch (Gal. 211) that Paul in company with Silas, a Roman citizen who had known the early Christian movement both in Antioch and in Jerusalem, and with Timothy, a younger man, son of a Gentile father and a Jewish mother, set forth to revisit the Christian communities previously established in the province of Galatia by Paul, Barnabas, and their helper John Mark..... Intending to preach the gospel in Western Asia, they made but a brief stay in Galatia and headed westward presumably for Ephesus, only to be forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and again endeavouring :o go into Bithynia were prevented by the Spirit of Jesus. Having come down to Troas, Paul was inspired by a vision to undertake missionary work in Europe; and accordingly set sail, along with the author of the "we"-sections, from Troas and made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi (Acts 15:40-16). The experiences in that city narrated by Acts 16:12-40), Paul nowhere counts in detail; but the persecutions and particularly the insult offered to the Roman citizenship of himself and Silas (Acts 1637) affected him so deeply that he could not refrain from telling the Thessalonians about the matter and from mentioning it again when he wrote his first letter to them (I 22)...(2)From Philippi to Thessalonica -Forced by reason of persecution to leave Philippi prematurely (I 22 Acts 16:39-40), Paul Silas with Timothy (I 22; he is assumed also by Acts to be present, though he is not expressly named between 16:3 and 17:11), but without the author of the "we"-sections, took the Via Egnatia which connected Rome with the East, travelled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and arrived, early in the year 50 A.D., at Thessalonica, a city placed in gremio imperil nostri, as Cicero has it (de prov. consul. 2), and a business and trade centre as important then to the Roman Empire as it is now to the Turkish Empire, Saloniki today being next after Constantinople the leading metropolis in European Turkey.....Thessalonica had been in existence about three hundred and sixty-five years and a free city for about a century when Paul first saw it. According to Strabo (33O21.24, ed. Meineke), an older contemporary of the Apostle, it was founded by Cassander who merged into one the inhabitants of the adjacent towns on the Thermaic gulf and gave the new foundation the name Thessalonica after his wife, a sister of Alexander the Great. "During the first civil war, it was the headquarters of the Pompeian party and the Senate..... During the second, it took the side of Octavius, whence apparently it reached the honour and advantage of being made a 'free city' (Pliny, H. N. IV10), a privilege which is commemorated on some of its coins" (Howson). That it was a free city (liberae conditionis) meant that it had its own (Greek characters not recognized) (Acts 175?), and also its own magis-trates, who, as Luke accurately states, were called politarchs (Acts ly6)......Howson had already noted the inscription on the Vardar gate (destroyed in 1867) from which it appeared that "the number of politarchs was seven." Burton, in an exhaustive essay (AJT. 1898, 598-632), demonstrated, on the basis of seventeen inscriptions, that in Thessalonica there were five politarchs in the time of Augustus and six in the time of Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius......On Thessalonica in general, see Howson in Smith's DB. and Dickson in HDB where the literature, including the dissertation of Tafel, is amply listed. On Roads and Travel, see Ramsay in HDB. V, 375 ff......(3) Founding of the Church. -In the time of Paul, Thessalonica was important, populous, and wicked (Strabo 323, 33O21; Lucian, Lucius 46, ed. Jacobitz). .....
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James Moffatt Love in the New Testament James Moffatt Early Church Gospels Paul John Writings
Richard R. Smith Inc. 1930 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1930 by Richard R. Smith with 349 pages. The text has 40 pages with scattered underlining and notations in the margins. The binding is sound. The pages are toned and the page edges, pastedowns, endpapers and several pages into the textblock are foxed. The corners are bumped. The top and botton edges of the spine panel have a few small closed tears. The top corner of 40 pages is creased. No dust jacket. Previous owners name present. MEN speak of Christianity as the religion of love, commonly without feeling any need of examining their terms. Yet the phrase may become inaccurate and even misleading by its very vagueness. ' Love ' is a great dictionary word, and in the religious vocabulary of the world Christianity has been identified with it so loosely that it is well to ask what this definition or description really means, and how far it is true. We require to scrutinize the received opinions about love. For example, God is love, in the NT, is a religious conviction, though this is often forgotten. It may stir moral and metaphysical problems for the philosophy of religion, problems which either shake and upset the conviction or on the other hand uphold it in the minds of thoughtful worshippers; but the conviction does not rise out of such considerations. The love of God, like His holiness, is revealed not in His being but in His purpose, in His , attitude and action towards men ; in religion all depends on what the God is to whom the term ' love ' is thus applied, and for the NT, in the wake of the OT religion, it is what God does that reveals what He is.; This God is a God who has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ His Son in self-sacrificing love for the sake of life to His own on earth : God is love, and this is bow the love of God has appeared for us, by God sending his only Son into the world, so that by him we might live. The highest form known to us of self-sacrificing love is thus used to interpret God's love to man, as well as to interpret the supreme form of the human love stirred in response- and, we ought to lay down our lives for the brotherhood. Yet even this is not by itself adequate, for such self-sacrifice, noble as it always is, may not fully bring out what the Christian understands by the divine love. It does not require very much observation to realize that life may be sacrificed, owing to a generous but casual impulse. ..... There are instances of a man laying down his life to save that of another, without acting from love in the sense of conscious, deliberate affection ; a fair example is to be seen in the last chapter of George Meredith's novel The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. Similarly with brotherly love. The term ' love ' may be used of the tie that unites those who share common birth and blood in a nation ; they have affinities which bind them together in a closer bond than they recognize to outsiders. Furthermore, to share common interests or tastes may produce a liking for people which is described as ' love.' Such usages of the term cannot be carried over into religion without misconception. And neither can the love which is romantic and tender, between man and woman, however much this experience throws light upon the divine love. No one can misunderstand the passion which leads a writer like Mark Rutherford1 to describe the affection of a wife for her commonplace, misunderstood husband by comparing it with God's love from which it streamed. " If I were to think that my wife's devotion to me is nothing more than the simple expression of a necessity to love somebody, that there is nothing in me which justifies such devotion, I should be miserable. Rather, I take it, is the love of woman to man a revelation of the relationship in which God stands to him- of what ought to be, in fact. In the love of a woman to a man who is of no account God has provided us with a true testimony of what is in His own heart. . . .
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John Monro Gibson Gospel of St Matthew The Expositors Bible Old Testament Commentary John Gibson
A.C. Armstrong and Son 1905 Hardcover Used: Good Hardcover Standard Hardcover
This hardcover book was published in 1905 by A. C. Armstrong and Son with 458 pages. The text is unmarked. The binding is weakened though the binding is cracked at the first page. The pages are toned. The corners are bumped. The covers are moderately worn around the edges. GENERAL PREFACE TO THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE..... By the Editor. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D...... The Expositor s Bible has been published in a period of exceptionally active work in Biblical criticism. A survey of recent study in the Old Testament and in the New by very competent scholars is supplied in this volume. I confine myself to general considerations. Whatever criticism has accomplished or has not accomplished, we may be sure that the supremacy and the finality of the Bible are as they were, and will con tinue secure and unassailable. The ultimate testimony that the Bible is the Word of God cannot be derived from external witness or from a process of reasoning...... It is in the heart of the believer to whom the voice of God is personal, and it is given by the Holy Spirit that still bears witness in and with the Word. It is and has always been to the Church not a matter of probable evidence, but one of Divine certainty. If we could see the living Church ! It would be much to see the Church Triumphant, and in a sense that privilege is ours. For we are come to Mount Zion where God has set His King, to the festal host and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven. Yet a hush hangs over the everlasting hills, and the light that falls on them now for us is but starlight to the glory that clothes them. But what if we could see the living in Christ, if the sheath of the Church Visible should suddenly fall away and the flower of the Church Invisi ble should unfold itself before our eyes. Those who have heard in His written Word the true voice of God are the Church Invisible, and it is to them and to them only that the conviction of its Divine riches is assured; But even for them and in these days this is specially true there are difficulties about the content, the meaning, and the form of Scripture. Upon these there are great differences, but there is ground on which we may all meet. There are arguments which appeal to every Christian heart for the finality of the Word of God......We are in the first place, confronted by the fact of the permanent and inextinguishable life of the Bible. No engrossment of the general mind with secularities, no change in the methods of thought, no discovery of science, and no achievement of literature puts the Bible out of court. It and it alone ministers to the perma nent and universal cravings of our being. Sir Thomas Browne puts it well : "Men s works have an age like themselves, and though they outlive their authors, yet have they a stint and period to their duration. This only is a work too hard for the teeth of time, and cannot perish but in the general flames when all things will confess their ashes." The words are as true as when they were written, and they will be as true at any future period, however long this frame of things may last. We will not even quarrel with the thought that the Bible itself will come to be no longer needed, for we shall in the end be content to have no Scripture but the Living Word Himself. Now it is this which sharply distinguishes the Bible from every other book..... There are, said one, three classes of books. There isthe book you read once, the book you read twice, and the book you read every year. There is besides the Book which you read constantly, which morning by morning, evening by evening, brings its message of help. Other books, even the greatest, exhaust their message. Take, for example, the sermons of Frederick Robertson. What startling freshness there was in them on a first reading! Go back to them now, and you find that very much of their message has passed into the substance of contemporary thought. The Bible has been and ever is yielding messages, and yet returning to it you ever find, and the generations ever find, that it has more to say. We may, indeed, read it heedlessly and find it old. But who that reads it with a wistful heart will ever have this experience? "I sometimes look back," said one, "to those simple days when my spiritual life was commencing, when I used to go forth to my labours with the New Testament in my pocket, that I might glance over its pages at the next leisure moment. I read it with fresh, unworn, unspeakable interest. It was like Adam s first walk in Paradise." It has been told of some saints whose minds had in their day roamed over the field of knowl edge, that as life drew up to the end they read almost nothing except the Bible, feeling every time that they were only beginning to understand it....... The significance of this is not that the Bible is a great achievement of literature,, not that it is the noblest and sublimest of all books, but that it is the final revelation of God. There is a dangerous form of apologetics which aims at establishing that the Bible is the most remarkable book in the world. That parts of the Bible are of the noblest literary beauty is certain. That some at least of the human authors were transcendently gifted is equally certain. For example, this is eminently true of the unknown author of the Book of Job, a book which, as Froude says, will be found at the last to tower above all the poetry of the world. It is so with the unknown author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who has been truly if quaintly, described as "a man of the first intellectual mark." It is true of St. Paul, whose intellect was very receptive, that even when most receptive, most powerful, an instrument, an organon, not a mere speaking trumpet. For St. Paul the glory of the Cross flooded the world, smote with death its principles and creeds, created new scenery, new horizons, new faiths, new understandings. But we cannot affirm all this about every author of the Bible or every part of it, and we need not do so. What we say is that this book and this book only contains all we know of God, all we shall know till the veil is rent. Let me emphasize this assertion. An American poet has said:..... "Slowly the Bible of the race is writ, Each age, each kindred, adds a text to it."..... This is a statement that we meet with a blank denial. No text has been added to the Bible. No revelation of God has been given or will be given in addition to that within its covers. You say God has revealed Himself by His skill and power in nature. He has revealed Himself by His providence in history. He has revealed Himself in the individual life of believers. He has revealed Himself by His Spirit to His Church. He has in a sense inspired the books of devotion that are the treasures of the world. The Holy Spirit has promised to take of the things of Christ and show them to every believer. Yes ? it is all true. But what has God said in nature, in Providence, in Christian experience, in Christian literature that He has not said first in the Bible? Take the most beautiful thought ever sug gested by the profoundest Christian mind, and you will find it quietly folded in some word of Jesus, in some argument of an Apostle. This was the argument for the inspiration of the Gospel on which my old teacher, Dr. Robertson Smith, was specially wont to dwell. "We mean," he said, "that the Bible contains within itself a perfect picture of God s gracious rela tions to man, and that we have no need to go outside of the Bible history to know anything of God and His saving will toward us, that the whole growth of the true religion up to its perfect fulness is set before us in the record of God s dealings with Israel, culminating in the manifestation of Jesus Christ. History has not taught us that there is anything in true religion to add to the New Testament. We still stand in the nine teenth century where Christ stood in the first, or rather Christ stands as high above us as He did above His disciples, the perfect Master, the supreme Head of the fellowship of all true religion." Even so, as Christ stands, and forever will stand, infinitely above us, so does the Bible stand, and ever will stand, infinitely above all other books. Consider what this claim of finality means in an age when everything is changing, when our books of history, science, and philosophy last only a few years. Think what it is to say this in the face of the lights that are now streaming in on all sides upon the human soul. Think also that this statement cannot be challenged by any Christian. No Christian knows anything about God but what has been already written in the Word of God. The experience of the saints runs with these words : "I had little thought of its intellectual grandeur or literary beauty. Christ was there. I went to Him for life and found it. I was baptized and absorbed in His dying love." .....But the question may be raised, has been raised, Is it right to describe the Bible as the Word of God ? Is it possible to vindicate such a name for the whole Bible in the face of criticism and its results ? Is it not better to say that the Bible contains the Word of God ? I think it is possible to use the phrase "Word of God" in a sense that is not justified. But the phrase, "the Bible is the .Word of God," expresses a truth which is denied in the other phrase, "the Bible contains the Word of God." I appeal again to Dr. Robertson Smith, whose place among Biblical scholars will not lightly be contested. He says : "People now say that the Scripture contains God s Word, when they mean that part of the Bible is the Word of God and another part is the word of man. That is not the doctrine of our churches, which hold that the substance of all Scripture is God s Word. What is not part of the record of God s Word is no part of Scripture. Only we must distinguish between the record and the Divine communications of God s heart and will which the record conveys." Defining his position still further, the same illustrious scholar said: "We may say that silver is contained in the mould into which it is run. If the silver is only in the leaden ore, the man who has no means of smelting is no richer by having it in his possession. If the Bible only contains the Word of God mixed with man s word, like silver in the leaden ore, then no one could use Scripture for his own religious life who did not possess the requisite scholarship, as in the other case the man could not get silver without having a smelting to separate it from the leaden ore. Therefore that view is untenable. But there is another way in which Scrip ture may contain the Word of God, the pure Word of God as the mould contains the silver seven times tried. The pure silver takes the shape of the mould it may be an imperfect shape but it is pure silver, and the man is enriched thereby at once without any further act."..... Once more, when Biblical criticism has done (its utmost, when every one of its established results is acknowledged to the full, there is still a problem. Grant the furthest claim of the critical analysis. Divide the Bible as you have it into innumerable shreds, painted differently. What then? You have not explained the living combination. How were these innumerable scraps brought together and endowed with this indomitable vitality? It is the same problem as is presented in Christianity. The parts, as an apolo gist has said, may be taken to pieces, and people may persuade themselves that without Divine interposition they can account for all the facts. "Here is something from the Jews, something from the Greeks, an element contributed by this party, another by that, a general coloring by people who held partly of both. You may take down Christianity in this way, and spread it over the centuries. But when the operation is done the living whole draws itself together again, looks you in the face, reclaims its scattered parts from every cen tury back to the first, and reasserts itself to be a great burst of coherent life and light centring in Christ. Just as though you might take a piece of living tissue and say, here is only so much nitrogen, carbon, lime, and so forth, but the energetic peculiarities of life going on before your eyes would refute you by the palpable presence of a mystery unaccounted for." So it is with the Bible. How were these elements put together? Who breathed into the whole the breath of life so that it became a living creature, as Luther says, with eyes and hands and feet? Take the problem of the Gospels. One may say lazily that it is an insoluble problem, and one may say it wisely. In any case, how was it that these writers succeeded in drawing the picture of the Stainless? How was it that the stream was never allowed to become turbid at any moment? One act, one word, one attitude might have been con demned by all generations of the faithful. How were they kept from misunderstandings, these men who were always misunderstanding, when the story came to be written? An artist and poet of great note died some twenty years ago, and quite a number of his friends have put on record their impressions. The most intimate of these friends has refrained. He has contented himself with saying that they have all missed the true man, the heroic, the noble man. Are we not in the presence of the supernatural in dealing with a fact like this, that the sinful should understand the Sinless so perfectly as to record no thought, no deed, no word which bears upon it the mark of their human frailty? Shelley said once: "There are two Italys, one of the green earth, the transparent seas, old ruins, the warm, radiant atmosphere; the other is of the Italians, with their works and ways." There are two Bibles, the Bible cut in pieces by analysis, the Bible as we have it. The time will come when one will pass into the other, but it will not come till the finality and Divinity of the Bible are confessed, just as the moment will come when the spell of Italy will pass into the soul of her people, and the contrast will fade away. What we say about the Bible, when admittingeverything that criticism has secured, is that criticism has only made it clearer than ever that it is a house not made with hands...... Once more, and especially of the Old Testament, we have the witness of Christ. This is a witness which has been misunderstood and overdriven. But in its essence it is a witness which is admitted by believing critics themselves to be absolute. To us it is not enough to say that Jesus Christ is an inspired soul, obedient to the laws of His own nature. It is not enough even to say that He holds a regal rank among souls and an exceptional relation to God. It is not enough to say that He is the Saint of saints. He is more than that, even very God of very God. But take the lower position. Admit everything that can be urged in the circumstances of His humanity, and still it remains true, as Dr. Robertson Smith has said that "there can be no question that Jesus Himself believed that God dealt with Israel in the way of special revela tion, that the Old Testament contains within itself a perfect picture of His gracious relations to His people, and sets forth the whole growth of the true religion up to its perfect fulness." Dr. Robertson Smith added : "We cannot depart from this view without making Jesus an inperfect teacher and an imperfect Saviour." Did He who said, "No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him," did He mistake His Father for another in the pages of the Old Testament? It is incredible, incredi ble upon any theory of the person of Christ that can be held by Christians...... "The Spirit of God maketh the reading, and espe cially the preaching, of the Word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners," says the Shorter Catechism. Is it so certain that the preaching comes before the reading? Human words, when they are best, give the forms of what truth the speakers see, but the brightest forms have neither the lustre nor the grace of the forms of the Spirit. They are at best poor, dull, inharmonious echoes of the heavenly music, and it is through the Word of the Lord pre-eminently that the power of the Lord must spread from heart to heart. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL
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