{ "genesis": { "id": 1, "totalChapters": 50, "label": "Genesis", "verseCounts": [ 31, 25, 24, 26, 32, 22, 24, 22, 29, 32, 32, 20, 18, 24, 21, 16, 27, 33, 38, 18, 34, 24, 20, 67, 34, 35, 46, 22, 35, 43, 55, 32, 20, 31, 29, 43, 36, 30, 23, 23, 57, 38, 34, 34, 28, 34, 31, 22, 33, 26 ] }, "exodus": { "id": 2, "totalChapters": 40, "label": "Exodus", "verseCounts": [ 22, 25, 22, 31, 23, 30, 25, 32, 35, 29, 10, 51, 22, 31, 27, 36, 16, 27, 25, 26, 36, 31, 33, 18, 40, 37, 21, 43, 46, 38, 18, 35, 23, 35, 35, 38, 29, 31, 43, 38 ] }, "leviticus": { "id": 3, "totalChapters": 27, "label": "Leviticus", "verseCounts": [ 17, 16, 17, 35, 19, 30, 38, 36, 24, 20, 47, 8, 59, 57, 33, 34, 16, 30, 37, 27, 24, 33, 44, 23, 55, 46, 34 ] }, "numbers": { "id": 4, "totalChapters": 36, "label": "Numbers", "verseCounts": [ 54, 34, 51, 49, 31, 27, 89, 26, 23, 36, 35, 16, 33, 45, 41, 50, 13, 32, 22, 29, 35, 41, 30, 25, 18, 65, 23, 31, 40, 16, 54, 42, 56, 29, 34, 13 ] }, "deuteronomy": { "id": 5, "totalChapters": 34, "label": "Deuteronomy", "verseCounts": [ 46, 37, 29, 49, 33, 25, 26, 20, 29, 22, 32, 32, 18, 29, 23, 22, 20, 22, 21, 20, 23, 30, 25, 22, 19, 19, 26, 68, 29, 20, 30, 52, 29, 12 ] }, "joshua": { "id": 6, "totalChapters": 24, "label": "Joshua", "verseCounts": [ 18, 24, 17, 24, 15, 27, 26, 35, 27, 43, 23, 24, 33, 15, 63, 10, 18, 28, 51, 9, 45, 34, 16, 33 ] }, "judges": { "id": 7, "totalChapters": 21, "label": "Judges", "verseCounts": [ 36, 23, 31, 24, 31, 40, 25, 35, 57, 18, 40, 15, 25, 20, 20, 31, 13, 31, 30, 48, 25 ] }, "ruth": { "id": 8, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "Ruth", "verseCounts": [ 22, 23, 18, 22 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title", "parts": [ "The book of Ruth forms an appendix to the book of Judges, and an introduction to the following two historical books of Samuel.", "It receives its title from the name of the person whose story it tells.", "Hebrew proper names have meanings.", "These are lost to the reader of the English translation of the Bible, because the translators have simply transliterated the proper names without attempting to give their meanings.", "Ruth was a Moabitish woman, and naturally her name is not Hebrew.", "The derivation and meaning of the name are uncertain, though some think it may be related to the verb ra'ah, \"to associate with,\" and thus mean \"friend,\" or \"friendship.\"", "The book of Ruth gives us, not the story of romantic love, but of the reverential love of a young widow for the mother of her deceased husband.", "The love portrayed in the character of Ruth is of the purest, most unselfish, and extraordinary kind.", "Though a Moabitess, Ruth accepted Naomi's faith as her own, and was rewarded by marriage to a Jewish nobleman, Boaz, by whom she became the ancestress of David, and thus, eventually, of Christ." ] }, { "title": "Theme", "parts": [ "There is narrative that is historic, and narrative that is epic.", "The word epic is applied to narrative whose appeal is not primarily to our sense of information but to our creative imagination and to the emotions.", "An epic is usually written in poetic form.", "A peculiarity of Hebrew poetry, however, is that its verse system is based on parallelism of thought rather than on exact meter and rhyme.", "This characteristic also appears, to a lesser extent, in Hebrew prose.", "Thus, in Hebrew, the classification of literature depends more on the nature of the thought than on the form of expression.", "Hebrew epics are portions of the national history fitted into their proper place in the narrative.", "Appreciation of the Bible as literature calls for a recognition of the different forms of narrative used by Bible writers.", "The chief purpose of the book of Ruth is to give information concerning the immediate ancestors of David, the greatest of the kings of Israel, the one in whose line was to come the Messiah.", "Christ is to be the eventual ruler of the kingdom of Israel after the spirit, the leader of the eternal theocracy.", "Christ spoke of His kingdom as the kingdom of heaven, to distinguish it from the kingdoms of this present world.", "The book of Ruth thus provides a cheering link in the inspired narrative of the kingdom Christ came to establish.", "At the same time Ruth presents a most appealing picture of the blessings of the ideal home.", "There are two institutions that have come down to us from before the fall of man—the Sabbath and the home.", "The home was established by God Himself on the sixth day of the first week of time, and the Sabbath on the seventh day of the same week.", "The Sabbath is not Jewish, for, as the Creator Himself said, \"The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath\" (Mark 2:27).", "Both the Sabbath and the home have become the special objects of Satan's attacks.", "The relationship of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is a subject of amusement to many.", "But not so that of Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi.", "After a sojourn of ten years in the land of Moab, Naomi, whose husband and two sons had died, learned that a condition of plenty again prevailed in the land of Judah, and decided to return.", "Ruth, with a devotion that speaks almost as much for Naomi as it does for Ruth herself, broke all ties of home and kindred to accompany her.", "With a last look at the fertile fields of her homeland, Moab, and with an impassioned outburst to Naomi, \"Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God,\" she entered a strange land, united with God's true people, and became a worshiper of the God of heaven.", "This devotion to her mother-in-law resulted, finally, in her becoming one of the progenitors of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel; Solomon, the wisest of the sons of men; Zerubbabel, the later Moses; and the Messiah, the son of David.", "Finally the story is replete with superb examples of faith, piety, humility, industry, and loving-kindness revealed in the ordinary occurrences of life.", "Thus we have in the story of Ruth, not only a charming gem of Hebrew literature, but also a significant comment on a part of the genealogy of Christ (see on Matt. 1:4–6).", "Israel should have been prepared by a study of this narrative to understand God's plan for the salvation of individuals of all nations who would do as Ruth the Moabitess did—accept the God whose character had been represented to them by His servants.", "It was God's plan that many would thus be so transformed in character as to be prepared individually to become citizens of the eternal kingdom of Christ (see COL 290)." ] } ] }, "1samuel": { "id": 9, "totalChapters": 31, "label": "1 Samuel", "verseCounts": [ 28, 36, 21, 22, 12, 21, 17, 22, 27, 27, 15, 25, 23, 52, 35, 23, 58, 30, 24, 43, 15, 23, 29, 22, 44, 25, 12, 25, 11, 31, 13 ] }, "2samuel": { "id": 10, "totalChapters": 24, "label": "2 Samuel", "verseCounts": [ 27, 32, 39, 12, 25, 23, 29, 18, 13, 19, 27, 31, 39, 33, 37, 23, 29, 33, 43, 26, 22, 51, 39, 25 ] }, "1kings": { "id": 11, "totalChapters": 22, "label": "1 Kings", "verseCounts": [ 53, 46, 28, 34, 18, 38, 51, 66, 28, 29, 43, 33, 34, 31, 34, 34, 24, 46, 21, 43, 29, 54 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title", "parts": [ "The present two books of Kings were originally one, known in Hebrew as Melakim, \"Kings.\"", "In the Hebrew Bible, Kings continued undivided until the time of the printed edition of Daniel Bomberg, 1516–17.", "The Greek translators of the LXX, who divided the \"book of Samuel\" into two books, also divided the \"book of Kings\" into two books, and treated the four as parts 1 to 4 of \"Kingdoms.\"", "The title \"Kings\" indicates the contents of the books; our present first book of Kings gives the history of the Hebrew monarchs beginning with the death of David and the reign of Solomon and closing with the accession of Jehoram in Judah and Ahaziah in Israel.", "Second Kings begins with a continuation of the account of Ahaziah's reign and closes with the end of the kingdom of Judah." ] }, { "title": "Theme", "parts": [ "Though the books of Kings present the history of the Hebrew rulers from the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the final destruction of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the primary purpose is not to present the facts of history for the sake of history.", "There is history, but it is presented with a purpose—to show how the experiences of the Hebrews relate to the plans and purposes of God.", "The object was not so much to write a detailed chronicle of the bald facts of history as to present the lessons of history.", "The compiler of these books had a deep religious motive and a very practical aim.", "The children of Israel were the people of God, and it was their task to fulfill the divine purpose and live out on earth the principles of the kingdom of heaven.", "Righteousness was to be the foundation for national prosperity.", "Sin could end only in ruin.", "If true to its divine mission, the nation would grow in strength and greatness.", "If kings and rulers failed to live up to the divine purpose, Israel as a people would perish.", "The nation could not exist without righteousness and without God.", "The amazing thing is that when the Israelites had failed as a nation and were face with utter and seemingly irretrievable ruin, someone found in the dark history of Israel's sorrows and defeats something worth recording for generations to come.", "The lessons of Israel's failure were to bring light and hope to the world.", "Upon the ashes of defeat there must yet be reared a new structure of success and victory.", "Israel might perish, but righteousness must not perish.", "If the lessons of Israel's failure were learned, the world would yet find hope in God.", "The age when the book of Kings came into being was the age of the prophets.", "In the pronouncements of this book are to be found the courage and spiritual insight of the prophets, bringing home to the hearts of men lessons from God.", "The record of Kings begins with the glorious reign of Solomon, and the building of the Temple, with the nation virile and strong.", "It ends with the reign of a weak and infamous king, the Temple destroyed, and the land of Judah a desolate ruin.", "Yet this lesson of ruin was to rouse a new spirit of hope, and to focus attention upon a new and better age to come, with Israel ruled by its eternal King.", "\"Lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it\" (Jer. 30:3).", "\"They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them\" (v. 9).", "\"Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid\" (v. 10).", "\"I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: and I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good.\"", "But I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.", "Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land\" (ch. 32:39–41).", "Even though the primary purpose of Kings is not the presentation of history as such, it contains history of great importance and remarkable accuracy.", "There are items concerning the Hebrew rulers such as are never found in the annals of neighboring states.", "Secular annals of Israel's neighbors were written to extol the king, to glorify him as builder, hunter, or statesman, to make public his acts of piety in the service of the gods, and to relate his exploits in war.", "Hebrew records as they have come down to us were to glorify not man but God.", "So we find in these records of Kings not only the outstanding accomplishments of the Israelite rulers but also their foibles and defeats.", "Kings contains items of historical importance not only concerning the kingdoms of Israel and Judah but concerning the nations round about.", "There are items of interest concerning Tyre and Egypt, ships of Tarshish going to Ophir for gold, Solomon's navy at Ezion-geber on the shores of the Red Sea, the queen of Sheba's coming to Jerusalem with a train of camels carrying spices and gold.", "Sennacherib's being slain by his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer while worshiping in the house of his god, Syrian fears of Hittite kings, the tribute to Ahab of 100,000 lambs from Mesha, the sheepmaster king of Moab, the sending of the Egyptian forces of Tirhakah to harass the Assyrian hosts besieging Lachish and Libnah.", "Hiram's importation of almug trees from Ophir to make pillars for the house of the Lord, the offering of the heir apparent as a burnt sacrifice upon a Moabite city wall to purchase the aid of the gods, Assyrian envoys speaking Aramaic and Hebrew in the 8th-7th centuries B.C., Zif and Ethanim and Bul as month names in the early history of Canaan—all interesting and vital ingredients of the basic stuff of which history is made.", "One of the outstanding features of the books of Kings is their basic chronological framework.", "Generally speaking, the kings are introduced in the order of their coming to the throne, regardless of whether they ruled in Israel or Judah.", "Two principal items of chronological information are given for each: (1) a synchronism, dating the beginning of the reign of a king of Judah in a specific year of the contemporary king of Israel, and vice versa, and (2) the length of each reign.", "Sometimes there are other time statements, such as intervals, regnal dates of events, or synchronisms between certain Hebrew reigns and those of other nations (see pp. 135, 145).", "However, there are many difficulties in reconciling the figures given for Israel with those of Judah, and in harmonizing both with non-Biblical chronology.", "Even in a series of reigns beginning and ending together in Israel and Judah, the totals are not the same.", "Such difficulties have led some Biblical scholars to conclude that the chronology of the Hebrew kings has become hopelessly confused, through the centuries, because of copyists' errors.", "The efforts of others to harmonize the data have resulted in numerous theories (though not wide in range), based mostly on varying conjectural revisions of the figures in an effort to reconcile them with non-Biblical chronology (see pp. 140, 143).", "Actually, the seeming discrepancies are due largely, if not altogether, to our lack of information as to the various technical methods of reckoning used in Bible times.", "Our increasing understanding of the basic chronological principles employed by the Hebrew scribes makes possible, through recent studies, the construction of a coherent pattern that aligns the reigns of both Hebrew kingdoms in harmony with practically all of the Biblical data, and with the generally accepted chronology of Assyria and Babylonia (see p. 143).", "The dates employed in this commentary for convenient reference (see tabulation on p. 77) are derived from chronological systems of the kings based on thorough studies, and are chosen as showing the greatest degree of harmony among the Biblical data and as coming nearest to a complete solution of the problem.", "They are presented only as a tentative outline, for it is possible that future discoveries throwing more light on those times may require more or less adjustment of this arrangement as a result of more exact knowledge of the chronology of the period." ] } ] }, "2kings": { "id": 12, "totalChapters": 25, "label": "2 Kings", "verseCounts": [ 18, 25, 27, 44, 27, 33, 20, 29, 37, 36, 21, 21, 25, 29, 38, 20, 41, 37, 37, 21, 26, 20, 37, 20, 30 ] }, "1chronicles": { "id": 13, "totalChapters": 29, "label": "1 Chronicles", "verseCounts": [ 54, 55, 24, 43, 26, 81, 40, 40, 44, 14, 47, 40, 14, 17, 29, 43, 27, 17, 19, 8, 30, 19, 32, 31, 31, 32, 34, 21, 30 ] }, "2chronicles": { "id": 14, "totalChapters": 36, "label": "2 Chronicles", "verseCounts": [ 17, 18, 17, 22, 14, 42, 22, 18, 31, 19, 23, 16, 22, 15, 19, 14, 19, 34, 11, 37, 20, 12, 21, 27, 28, 23, 9, 27, 36, 27, 21, 33, 25, 33, 27, 23 ] }, "ezra": { "id": 15, "totalChapters": 10, "label": "Ezra", "verseCounts": [ 11, 70, 13, 24, 17, 22, 28, 36, 15, 44 ] }, "nehemiah": { "id": 16, "totalChapters": 13, "label": "Nehemiah", "verseCounts": [ 11, 20, 32, 23, 19, 19, 73, 18, 38, 39, 36, 47, 31 ] }, "esther": { "id": 17, "totalChapters": 10, "label": "Esther", "verseCounts": [ 22, 23, 15, 17, 14, 14, 10, 17, 32, 3 ] }, "job": { "id": 18, "totalChapters": 42, "label": "Job", "verseCounts": [ 22, 13, 26, 21, 27, 30, 21, 22, 35, 22, 20, 25, 28, 22, 35, 22, 16, 21, 29, 29, 34, 30, 17, 25, 6, 14, 23, 28, 25, 31, 40, 22, 33, 37, 16, 33, 24, 41, 30, 24, 34, 17 ] }, "psalms": { "id": 19, "totalChapters": 150, "label": "Psalms", "verseCounts": [ 6, 12, 8, 8, 12, 10, 17, 9, 20, 18, 7, 8, 6, 7, 5, 11, 15, 50, 14, 9, 13, 31, 6, 10, 22, 12, 14, 9, 11, 12, 24, 11, 22, 22, 28, 12, 40, 22, 13, 17, 13, 11, 5, 26, 17, 11, 9, 14, 20, 23, 19, 9, 6, 7, 23, 13, 11, 11, 17, 12, 8, 12, 11, 10, 13, 20, 7, 35, 36, 5, 24, 20, 28, 23, 10, 12, 20, 72, 13, 19, 16, 8, 18, 12, 13, 17, 7, 18, 52, 17, 16, 15, 5, 23, 11, 13, 12, 9, 9, 5, 8, 28, 22, 35, 45, 48, 43, 13, 31, 7, 10, 10, 9, 8, 18, 19, 2, 29, 176, 7, 8, 9, 4, 8, 5, 6, 5, 6, 8, 8, 3, 18, 3, 3, 21, 26, 9, 8, 24, 13, 10, 7, 12, 15, 21, 10, 20, 14, 9, 6 ] }, "proverbs": { "id": 20, "totalChapters": 31, "label": "Proverbs", "verseCounts": [ 33, 22, 35, 27, 23, 35, 27, 36, 18, 32, 31, 28, 25, 35, 33, 33, 28, 24, 29, 30, 31, 29, 35, 34, 28, 28, 27, 28, 27, 33, 31 ] }, "ecclesiastes": { "id": 21, "totalChapters": 12, "label": "Ecclesiastes", "verseCounts": [ 18, 26, 22, 16, 20, 12, 29, 17, 18, 20, 10, 14 ] }, "songofsolomon": { "id": 22, "totalChapters": 8, "label": "Song of Solomon", "verseCounts": [ 17, 17, 11, 16, 16, 13, 13, 14 ] }, "isaiah": { "id": 23, "totalChapters": 66, "label": "Isaiah", "verseCounts": [ 31, 22, 26, 6, 30, 13, 25, 22, 21, 34, 16, 6, 22, 32, 9, 14, 14, 7, 25, 6, 17, 25, 18, 23, 12, 21, 13, 29, 24, 33, 9, 20, 24, 17, 10, 22, 38, 22, 8, 31, 29, 25, 28, 28, 25, 13, 15, 22, 26, 11, 23, 15, 12, 17, 13, 12, 21, 22, 22, 11, 12, 19, 12, 25, 24 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title and Authorship", "parts": [ "The superscription in Isaiah 1:1 gives the identity of the seer (Isaiah, son of Amoz), the mode of revelation (vision), the main topic of the book (Judah and Jerusalem), and the approximate time in which the revelations were received." ] }, { "title": "Date", "parts": [ "Isaiah's commission in the year that King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1) occurred sometime in 740 B.C.", "The final form of the book may be assigned to the first half of Manasseh's reign." ] }, { "title": "Backgrounds", "parts": [ "Isaiah's commission as prophet coincided with Assyria's rise to sovereignty.", "It brought disorder, upheavals, and destruction, and it forced the mixing of peoples and their cultural practices.", "The resultant religious syncretism and lack of faith in the God of their ancestors was especially problematic for Israel and Judah.", "Isaiah addressed these threats, teaching faith by revealing God's plan for Israel, His elected people, and for Zion-Jerusalem, His elect city." ] }, { "title": "Theology and Purpose", "parts": [ "Against mounting doubts in the Lord's power and will to save His people, the book of Isaiah points to His sovereignty as Creator and Lord of history and of nations and kings.", "God is the Other, completely different from any human or other part of His creation.", "Israel's God was intimately connected with Zion, which was His dwelling and resting place, His throne, and His place of worship.", "In Isaiah, the theological foundation for seeing God as the God of the nations is the everlasting covenant between the Creator and human beings, which established the fundamental order of the world of creation.", "The hope proclaimed by Isaiah was based on God's claim that there is no other god besides Him.", "God's plan would not fail in spite of the sins of His people because He would preserve for Himself a remnant.", "Isaiah assigned a distinct value to the preserved, written prophecy as evidence of the power of the word of the Lord.", "It was to be a preserved record that could be seen and verified by its historical fulfillment." ] } ] }, "jeremiah": { "id": 24, "totalChapters": 52, "label": "Jeremiah", "verseCounts": [ 19, 37, 25, 31, 31, 30, 34, 22, 26, 25, 23, 17, 27, 22, 21, 21, 27, 23, 15, 18, 14, 30, 40, 10, 38, 24, 22, 17, 32, 24, 40, 44, 26, 22, 19, 32, 21, 28, 18, 16, 18, 22, 13, 30, 5, 28, 7, 47, 39, 46, 64, 34 ] }, "lamentations": { "id": 25, "totalChapters": 5, "label": "Lamentations", "verseCounts": [ 22, 22, 66, 22, 22 ] }, "ezekiel": { "id": 26, "totalChapters": 48, "label": "Ezekiel", "verseCounts": [ 28, 10, 27, 17, 17, 14, 27, 18, 11, 22, 25, 28, 23, 23, 8, 63, 24, 32, 14, 49, 32, 31, 49, 27, 17, 21, 36, 26, 21, 26, 18, 32, 33, 31, 15, 38, 28, 23, 29, 49, 26, 20, 27, 31, 25, 24, 23, 35 ] }, "daniel": { "id": 27, "totalChapters": 12, "label": "Daniel", "verseCounts": [ 21, 49, 30, 37, 31, 28, 28, 27, 27, 21, 45, 13 ] }, "hosea": { "id": 28, "totalChapters": 14, "label": "Hosea", "verseCounts": [ 11, 23, 5, 19, 15, 11, 16, 14, 17, 15, 12, 14, 16, 9 ] }, "joel": { "id": 29, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "Joel", "verseCounts": [ 20, 32, 21 ] }, "amos": { "id": 30, "totalChapters": 9, "label": "Amos", "verseCounts": [ 15, 16, 15, 13, 27, 14, 17, 14, 15 ] }, "obadiah": { "id": 31, "totalChapters": 1, "label": "Obadiah", "verseCounts": [ 21 ] }, "jonah": { "id": 32, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "Jonah", "verseCounts": [ 17, 10, 10, 11 ] }, "micah": { "id": 33, "totalChapters": 7, "label": "Micah", "verseCounts": [ 16, 13, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20 ] }, "nahum": { "id": 34, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "Nahum", "verseCounts": [ 15, 13, 19 ] }, "habakkuk": { "id": 35, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "Habakkuk", "verseCounts": [ 17, 20, 19 ] }, "zephaniah": { "id": 36, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "Zephaniah", "verseCounts": [ 18, 15, 20 ] }, "haggai": { "id": 37, "totalChapters": 2, "label": "Haggai", "verseCounts": [ 15, 23 ] }, "zechariah": { "id": 38, "totalChapters": 14, "label": "Zechariah", "verseCounts": [ 21, 13, 10, 14, 11, 15, 14, 23, 17, 12, 17, 14, 9, 21 ] }, "malachi": { "id": 39, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "Malachi", "verseCounts": [ 14, 17, 18, 6 ] }, "matthew": { "id": 40, "totalChapters": 28, "label": "Matthew", "verseCounts": [ 25, 22, 17, 25, 48, 34, 29, 34, 38, 42, 30, 50, 58, 36, 39, 28, 27, 35, 30, 34, 46, 45, 39, 51, 46, 74, 66, 20 ] }, "mark": { "id": 41, "totalChapters": 16, "label": "Mark", "verseCounts": [ 45, 28, 35, 40, 43, 56, 36, 37, 50, 52, 33, 44, 37, 72, 47, 20 ] }, "luke": { "id": 42, "totalChapters": 24, "label": "Luke", "verseCounts": [ 80, 52, 38, 44, 39, 49, 50, 56, 62, 42, 54, 59, 35, 35, 32, 31, 37, 43, 48, 47, 38, 71, 56, 53 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title", "parts": [ "The earliest manuscripts having the title of this Gospel read, \"According to Luke.\"", "Later manuscripts read, \"The Gospel According to Luke,\" or, \"The Holy Gospel According to Luke.\"" ] }, { "title": "Authorship", "parts": [ "The ancient and unanimous consensus of Christian Tradition points to Luke as the author of the Gospel that bears his name.", "In his Ecclesiastical History (iii. 4. 6) Eusebius (died c. 340) specifically designates Luke as the author of this gospel.", "A Century earlier Tertullian (died c. 230) spoke of Paul as the \"illuminator\" of Luke, that is, the one who encourage Luke and provided him with much of the information contained in Luke's writings.", "About the year A.D. 185 Iraneous wrote: \"Luke, the follower of Paul, put in a book the gospel that was preached by him.\"", "The famous Muratorian Fragment, a portion of a document written toward the close of the 2nd century, agrees with Iraneous, stating that the third Gospel was written by Luke the physician, a companion of Paul.", "Early tradition thus unanimously favors Luke as the author of the Gospel that bears his name.", "There is no evidence that points to anyone other than Luke as the author.", "Luke and the Acts may be considered as volumes 1 and 2 of a work that might appropriately be entitled \"The Origin and Early Development of Christianity.\"", "The introduction to the book of Acts (ch. 1:1) clearly points to the common authorship of the two books.", "Literary style and diction are manifestly the same in both.", "Both are dedicated to the same man, Theophilus (see Luke 1:3).", "The section in the book of Acts where the author uses personal pronoun \"we\" indicate that he was a close companion of Paul, particularly during his closing years of ministry.", "From Troas, it appears that the author was associated with Paul during the pioneer days of the gospel in Greece (Acts 16:10-18).", "He was with Paul on his final visit to Palestine (chs. 20:5 to 21:18).", "He accompanied Paul on his voyage to Rome (chs. 27:1 o 28:16).", "In Col 4:14 and Philemon 23, 24, Luke, as a colaborer with Paul, sends greetings to those to whom these epistles are addressed.", "Toward the close of his final imprisonment in Rome, Paul wrote Timothy, \"Only Luke is with me\" (2 Timothy 4:11).", "The apostle's other companions had either been dispatched on missions to one or another of the churches or had forsaken him.", "Amid the gathering shadows of his last days, Paul must have felt a profound appreciation for the tender and competent ministry of a man such as the \"beloved physician.\"", "This man, it seems clear was the author of Acts and the Gospel that bears his name.", "The context of Col. 4:11-14 seems to imply Luke was not a Jew but a Gentile, for he is listed not among men of the circumcision, but with others who are known to have been gentiles.", "The book of Luke is generally considered to be the one of the literary of the NT, and in many respects most nearly like the style of the Greek writers.", "This is particularly true of the introduction to Luke (vs. 1-4).", "Eusebius (ibid) describes Luke as \"by race an Antiochian and a physician by profession.\"", "He was, presumably, a native of Antioch, and some have thought that it was there that he wrote.", "Others have suggested Rome as the place of writing.", "Luke and Paul are the two most voluminous contributors to the NT.", "The place and manner of Luke's death are unknown, though tradition states that Luke was martyred in Greece, explaining that he was nailed to a living olive tree.", "Conservative scholars generally date the book of Luke not later than the year A.D. 63, for the following reason: the book of Luke was apparently written before the book of Acts (see Acts 1:1).", "The abrupt ending of the book of Acts is generally considered to be the evidence that the book was written during the time Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, about A.D. 61-63, probably soon after his arrival in that city.", "The simplest explanation for the abrupt ending is that Luke told no more in the book of Acts because, at the time, there was no more to tell.", "It is extremely unlikely the trial, release, rearrest, conviction and execution of Paul would have been omitted from the record of Acts had these events already taken place at the time of the composition of the book.", "There is no evidence that these events were part of the original text of Acts or that they were lost from it at some later time.", "In view of these facts it is safe to assume that the book of Acts was written about A.D. 63 and the Gospel of Luke even earlier (see Acts 1:1)—how much earlier cannot be said.", "For a further discussion on the chronology of the writing of the Gospels see pp. 178, 179.", "For various theories on the origin of the Gospels see pp. 175-177." ] }, { "title": "Historical Setting", "parts": [ "For a brief outline of the historical background of the life and mission of Jesus see p. 272.", "For a more complete discussion see pp. 41-67." ] }, { "title": "Theme", "parts": [ "Matthew presents Jesus as the great Teacher, the exponent of divine truth.", "Mark presents Him as the Man of action, and gives emphasis in His miracles as a manifestation of divine power attesting His Messiahship.", "Luke brings Jesus into close contact with human needs, emphasizing His human side of His nature, and presents Him as the Friend of humanity.", "John presents Jesus as the Divine Son of God.", "As Matthew is believed to have written primarily for readers of Jewish birth, and Mark for those of a Latin background, so Luke is thought to have written especially for Greek readers.", "His diction suggests that he addressed himself to the cultured and educated men of his day.", "He was evidently a man of intelligence and culture, acquainted with contemporary literary style.", "This is evident from his prefaces of Luke and Acts, his dating of events in terms of the tenure of various officials, and his use of, and references to, the sources of information on which he relied.", "As Matthew, writing primarily for men of Jewish ancestry, traces the genealogy of Jesus back to the founder of their nation, so Luke, writing for men of all races, traces the ancestry of Jesus back to Adam, the father of all mankind.", "More than any other evangelist, Luke takes note of incidents that reveal Jesus interest in, and ministry for, Gentiles.", "More than any other gospel writer he refers to Roman centurions, and always in a favorable light.", "The world view of Luke is also evident in his record of Paul's appeals to the Gentiles (see Acts 14:15-17; 17:22-31).", "In Luke there is scarcely a trace of Jewish exclusiveness, which may be detected occasionally in Mathew and Mark.", "Further evidence that Luke was the writer of the Gospel that bears his name is to be found in the medical terms appearing frequently in the book (Luke 4:38; 5:12; 8:43; etc.).", "These are thought to indicate that the author was a physician (see Col. 4:14)." ] } ] }, "john": { "id": 43, "totalChapters": 21, "label": "John", "verseCounts": [ 51, 25, 36, 54, 47, 71, 53, 59, 41, 42, 57, 50, 38, 31, 27, 33, 26, 40, 42, 31, 25 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title and Authorship", "parts": [ "The title of the book, \"The Gospel According to John,\" is consistently found in the earliest Greek manuscripts, in the writings of the second- and third-century church fathers, and in the earliest translations.", "Although some variation of title exists, there is no evidence that this Gospel ever circulated without John's name attached to it.", "This indicates that a title naming John as the author must have been attached to it as soon as it was written.", "According to Christian tradition, the \"John\" mentioned in the title of the Fourth Gospel has always been identified as the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee (see Mark 1:19–20; 3:17; 10:35) and the brother James (Acts 12:2).", "The identification, however, is not explicitly stated in the text of the Gospel itself.", "The Gospel says only that the author was \"the disciple whom Jesus loved\" (John 21:20), indicating he was a well-known figure within the apostolic and post-apostolic church.", "He is presented as an eyewitness of the things he wrote, and his testimony was confirmed to be true by those who knew him (21:24)." ] }, { "title": "Date and Backgrounds", "parts": [ "Determining when the Fourth Gospel was written is difficult because there is little information from which a definitive conclusion can be drawn.", "The Gospel seems to suggest that John was already advanced in years when he wrote it.", "According to church tradition, John left Judea shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.", "He is said to have settled in Ephesus, where he ministered to the churches and eventually wrote his Gospel.", "Evidence that John wrote after the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 seems to be implied in the way Jesus is presented in the Fourth Gospel as fulfilling some of the temple's functions and as the one to whom the Jewish festivals connected to the temple pointed.", "Most scholars are, therefore, of the opinion that John was written between A.D. 80 and 100, the latter date being around the time of John's death.", "Determining the specific situation that prompted John to write his Gospel is no less difficult than attempting to figure out when it was written.", "Broadly speaking, John's Gospel was written to encourage faith in Jesus." ] }, { "title": "John and the Synoptics", "parts": [ "John is different from the other Gospels in many respects.", "Though sharing the basic outline of Jesus's ministry, as well as some sayings and incidents, the Gospel of John emphasizes Jesus's ministry in Judea, not in Galilee, reports at least three Passovers (2:13; 6:4; 11:55; cf. 5:1), instead of only one, and omits several important episodes of Jesus's life, including His birth, baptism, transfiguration, casting out of demons, and agony in Gethsemane.", "The Last Supper and the prophetic discourse (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21) are also missing.", "Another difference is the portrait of Jesus Himself.", "Central emphases in John, such as Jesus's full divinity and preexistence, are virtually absent from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the miracles performed by Jesus are more extraordinary than those reported by the other Evangelists.", "In the Gospel of John, the Evangelist does not record Jesus's parables or short sayings but instead emphasizes His long and thoughtful discourses.", "John also constantly uses words that are scarcely used in the other gospels (e.g., love, truth, know, world, abide, judge, send witness), and he records Jesus speaking of Himself metaphorically as the Bread of Heaven, the True Vine, the Good Shepherd, the Door, and the Light of the World.", "How do we account for such differences?", "On one hand, there is no question that Jesus was too great of a teacher to limit Himself to only one teaching style or vocabulary.", "It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that John offers more theological insights than do the Synoptics.", "This is why, comparatively speaking, John has much less biographical material than the other Gospels—roughly, 40 percent less than Mark, 50 percent less than Matthew, and 60 percent less than Luke—despite being much longer than Mark, and almost as long as Matthew and Luke.", "John does contain biographical information but follows a stricter chronological framework in his account.", "Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13–14) he both remembers and retells the gospel episodes that were more congenial to the situation in which he found himself at the time of his writing." ] }, { "title": "Theology", "parts": [ "Although all four Gospels are theological, in John's Gospel theology plays a more central role than the others, so much so that the Synoptics could be defined as theological biographies.", "John is perhaps best viewed as biographical theology—his Gospel is a masterpiece of early Christian theology.", "Behind its simplicity of language and style, there lies a profound, well-crafted, and stimulating theological presentation of Jesus and His ministry that has proven to be vital for the Christian understanding of the person and work of Jesus.", "Some of the main theological emphases include the following: (1) Jesus Christ; (2) Holy Spirit; (3) Eternal Life; (4) Sabbath; (5) Sanctuary; (6) God's People; (7) Two Worlds; (8) Last Events; and (9) Hope." ] } ] }, "acts": { "id": 44, "totalChapters": 28, "label": "Acts", "verseCounts": [ 26, 47, 26, 37, 42, 15, 60, 40, 43, 48, 30, 25, 52, 28, 41, 40, 34, 28, 41, 38, 40, 30, 35, 27, 27, 32, 44, 31 ] }, "romans": { "id": 45, "totalChapters": 16, "label": "Romans", "verseCounts": [ 32, 29, 31, 25, 21, 23, 25, 39, 33, 21, 36, 21, 14, 23, 33, 27 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title and Authorship", "parts": [ "Romans claims to have been written by Paul, and no serious scholar doubts that he was in fact the author." ] }, { "title": "Date", "parts": [ "The letter was written in Corinth, which helps with the date of writing (Acts 20:1–3)." ] }, { "title": "Backgrounds", "parts": [ "The Christian believers in Rome were a mixed lot of Jews and Gentiles.", "A close look at Paul's long list of people he greeted in chapter 16 reveals many names typically bestowed on slaves.", "This suggests that the message of the risen and soon-returning Christ resonated particularly with slaves and freed slaves.", "Paul's greeting by name twenty-six people in a city he had never visited demonstrates the mobility of early Christians throughout the Roman Empire." ] }, { "title": "Theology and Purpose", "parts": [ "Romans is a letter of introduction to believers in Rome that displays Paul's understanding of the gospel as well as its implications for their communal life.", "Two fundamental realities frame Paul's argument in Romans 1 to 8.", "The first is the righteousness of God; the essential character of God is revealed in His response to the unrighteousness of humanity.", "The second is faith—a faith that acknowledges God's righteous condemnation and accepts the gracious gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.", "Paul has an extended call for holy living intended to undercut every argument and temptation to fall into the old patterns of sin.", "For believers, there must be a complete change of loyalty from sin to righteousness.", "Paul moves from the tragedy of sin and rebellion, which undermined the ability of humans to live at peace with God, to the restoration of that relationship for all through Christ.", "In Romans 9–11 he also confronts the Jewish rejection of the Messiah.", "Finally, in Romans 12–15, while no sinner can rely on the righteousness of anyone other than Christ, no Christian is expected to advance spiritually apart from the nurture and encouragement of other believers.", "God has distributed gifts and abilities among the believers, who are to use them for one another's benefit." ] } ] }, "1corinthians": { "id": 46, "totalChapters": 16, "label": "1 Corinthians", "verseCounts": [ 31, 16, 23, 21, 13, 20, 40, 13, 27, 33, 34, 31, 13, 40, 58, 24 ], "commentary": [ { "title": "Title and Authorship", "parts": [ "\"To the Corinthians A\" is the title found in the oldest extant manuscript of the epistle.", "Paul identifies himself as the author in the opening verses of the letter along with Sosthenes, a ministerial colleague." ] }, { "title": "Date", "parts": [ "Paul appears to have written 1 Corinthians around A.D. 55 while residing in the city of Ephesus during his third missionary journey." ] }, { "title": "Backgrounds", "parts": [ "The city of Corinth known to Paul was not the fabled city-state of Greek history, but the city that Julius Caesar refounded as a Roman colony.", "As a relatively new city, Corinth was far more welcoming of the presence of foreigners and open to new ideas than most of the much older tradition-conscious cities across the Mediterranean.", "This made Corinth a promising location for the message of the risen Christ to find a receptive audience among the city's population, as is evident in Paul's evangelistic work in the city." ] }, { "title": "Theology and Purpose", "parts": [ "In 1 Corinthians we learn about the experience of a community of Christian believers living in a Roman pagan city under the influence of its idolatry, immorality, and a deep interest in human wisdom.", "The emphasis throughout the letter is on the biblical understanding of the church of Christ.", "The church is the result of the saving activity of God and is His most valuable possession on earth.", "It is the result of the wisdom of God brought to fruition through the work of the Father and the crucified Christ, and it is revealed to believers through the work of the Spirit.", "The unity of the church sets it apart as a unique phenomenon from God in a society characterized by a host of contradictory expressions of human wisdom and false gods—an ideological market of confusion and darkness.", "The Christian hope plays a central role in 1 Corinthians and, as in the rest of the New Testament, it is directly related to the work of Jesus." ] } ] }, "2corinthians": { "id": 47, "totalChapters": 13, "label": "2 Corinthians", "verseCounts": [ 24, 17, 18, 18, 21, 18, 16, 24, 15, 18, 33, 21, 14 ] }, "galatians": { "id": 48, "totalChapters": 6, "label": "Galatians", "verseCounts": [ 24, 21, 29, 31, 26, 18 ] }, "ephesians": { "id": 49, "totalChapters": 6, "label": "Ephesians", "verseCounts": [ 23, 22, 21, 32, 33, 24 ] }, "philippians": { "id": 50, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "Philippians", "verseCounts": [ 30, 30, 21, 23 ] }, "colossians": { "id": 51, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "Colossians", "verseCounts": [ 29, 23, 25, 18 ] }, "1thessalonians": { "id": 52, "totalChapters": 5, "label": "1 Thessalonians", "verseCounts": [ 10, 20, 13, 18, 28 ] }, "2thessalonians": { "id": 53, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "2 Thessalonians", "verseCounts": [ 12, 17, 18 ] }, "1timothy": { "id": 54, "totalChapters": 6, "label": "1 Timothy", "verseCounts": [ 20, 15, 16, 16, 25, 21 ] }, "2timothy": { "id": 55, "totalChapters": 4, "label": "2 Timothy", "verseCounts": [ 18, 26, 17, 22 ] }, "titus": { "id": 56, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "Titus", "verseCounts": [ 16, 15, 15 ] }, "philemon": { "id": 57, "totalChapters": 1, "label": "Philemon", "verseCounts": [ 25 ] }, "hebrews": { "id": 58, "totalChapters": 13, "label": "Hebrews", "verseCounts": [ 14, 18, 19, 16, 14, 20, 28, 13, 28, 39, 40, 29, 25 ] }, "james": { "id": 59, "totalChapters": 5, "label": "James", "verseCounts": [ 27, 26, 18, 17, 20 ] }, "1peter": { "id": 60, "totalChapters": 5, "label": "1 Peter", "verseCounts": [ 25, 25, 22, 19, 14 ] }, "2peter": { "id": 61, "totalChapters": 3, "label": "2 Peter", "verseCounts": [ 21, 22, 18 ] }, "1john": { "id": 62, "totalChapters": 5, "label": "1 John", "verseCounts": [ 10, 29, 24, 21, 21 ] }, "2john": { "id": 63, "totalChapters": 1, "label": "2 John", "verseCounts": [ 13 ] }, "3john": { "id": 64, "totalChapters": 1, "label": "3 John", "verseCounts": [ 14 ] }, "jude": { "id": 65, "totalChapters": 1, "label": "Jude", "verseCounts": [ 25 ] }, "revelation": { "id": 66, "totalChapters": 22, "label": "Revelation", "verseCounts": [ 20, 29, 22, 11, 14, 17, 17, 13, 21, 11, 19, 18, 18, 20, 8, 21, 18, 24, 21, 15, 27, 21 ] } }