Buy a commentary or not buy a commentary, is that the question?

Many times we have people who will ask for a good commentary on the Bible. There are several out there that are excellent but they are not the Bible. Commentaries are great for finding the background of the day, culture, social climate, geography, and much more.

Some would even ask what a good “easy to read” version of the Bible they could get. 2Tim 2:15 says to study to show ourselves approved … not get an easy to read version to show ourselves approved of God. No, I am not saying Commentaries are wrong or bad, but they are not inspired. Good thorough study is they key to unlocking the Word of God.

First of all to understand Scripture, you must be transformed by the Holy Spirit and be a child of God. 2 Cor 2:14. Otherwise even the easy to read version will not open up.

Here are 5 helps that may help you in your search for Biblical timeless truth in our “modern day” of study guides. These are old but really do work.

Five Principals of Interpretation

1. The Literal Principle means understanding Scripture in its natural, normal sense.

     If it does not make sense, keep reading until it does. Read the passage at least five times before you begin recording you findings.

2. The Historical & Cultural Principle is also basic when interpreting Scripture.

     This plays a big part in finding truth. What does it really mean to “…heap coals if fire…” on you ornery neighbor.

3. The Grammatical Principle is also necessary. 

    Answers – What does the passage say in terms of words and grammar?

    (Remember the 5w’s & h, fit here in your study)

Ask these questions in your reading to find answers.

   Who. What, When, Where, why, How

4. The Synthesis Principle

    Old reformers used to call this analogia Scriptura or “the analogy of Scripture.”

    The Synthesis Principle is based on the idea that no part of the Bible contradicts any other part. One “Author”-the Holy Spirit inspired the whole Bible and He will help you find truth if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. The Practical Principle is what we should use to apply the Bible to our own lives.

    This always asks the final question – “So what?

As we take on passage or verse at a time to study this way, the Word of God opens up to us in ways we may not have seen before.

Try it, you WILL like it. The Bible is the best commentary you will ever own.

God bless and be blest in your study,

Dr. James L. McIntosh

Are you tired? Got too much on your plate? Are you loosing sight of the end-goal? Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 15:58 to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Surely Paul had plenty of reasons for being tired. Surely he had plenty of reasons to give up. And yet he is the one telling us not to give up. Why?

As always the proof is in the context of the verse. You see Paul had just gotten through telling the Corinthian believers about their hope in the resurrection. “We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed!” (15:51) What a great promise of the possibility of being raptured when Christ comes for His church! But the even greater promise that we will all receive incorruptible resurrected bodies. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality” (53) I can’t wait for that new flesh that does not tire, does not go hungry, does not sleep, will not be injured, and will not sin.

Paul goes on to say that because of this hope of future immortality, “O death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory?” (55) These words are more than just mere hope of future victory they are words of a present victorious battle cry against this world and its futile, sinful system that only leads to death. “The sting of death is sin.” (56) It is faith in Jesus Christ that gives us this great present victory over death. Why should we grow weary when the finish line is so close in sight? “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (57)

The “therefore” of verse 58 refers the reader back to these words of victory. Because of this victory that has been won on our behalf, we must press on be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. This is how we know that our labors are not in vain. This is how we know that we are not working for an earthly prize. This is how we know that everything else that we are doing (outside the work of the Lord) is in vain. These are the things causing us to be tired and want to give up, not the work of the Lord. I don’t think Winston Churchill had this verse in mind when he gave his famous speech, but it is worth concluding with: “Never give up, Never give up, Never give up!”

Eph 5:18

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

The wording in the above verse has been under debate for as long as I can remember. One person even told me that is was an approval to drink alcohol. This is not the case.

When we examine the passage, it seems in context this is only a contrast of how a believer should be under the control of the Holy Spirit as opposed to the way any person is under the control of other “spirits”.

The wording “filled” is best said, to “make full”. When a believer is born again, they are permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit and sealed until the day of redemption. The “filling” of the Spirit is a command for the believer and then Paul writes what that looks like. It is indicated that this is an action we participate in and are responsible to perform. In other words, God does the indwelling and we are to do the filling out of our obedience to the Lord.

This obedience is when we:

1. Speak to others in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
2. Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
3. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
4. Submit ourselves one to each other in the fear of God.
5. Wives submitting to their own husbands.
6. Husband loving their wives.
7. Children obeying parents.
8. Fathers not discouraging their children.
9. Bosses treating employees in a Godly manner and
10. Employees treating bosses in a Godly manner.

So it sure looks like to me that the Lord tells us what to do and then how it is to be done to bring Him honor and unity to the body of Christ. All this is bearing Godly Fruit and glory to Him.

May the Lord bless you as you serve Him,

James McIntosh

Proverbs 3

If anyone should know about the lust as it is discussed here it would be Solomon as he had 700 wives and 300 concubines.  Sometimes, we joke about how hard it is to please just our 1 wife.  Solomon had 1,000 women to please.  Although, being king, people were always trying to please him.  Think of it, 1,000 women trying to gain his affection.  Sometimes, we men talk about how great that would be, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.

No wonder Solomon started off this Proverb with “My son, attend to my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding.”  He understood what it was like to lust after a woman and to fulfill that lust.  I wonder how many times he would have enjoyed having only one wife.

Solomon tells his son don’t make the same mistakes I made.  I had good counsel and didn’t listen to it (v.12-13).  His father David instructed him to “keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes…that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest…” I Kings 2:3. 

Solomon’s wives and concubines had much idle time on their hands and Solomon loved many strange women of many different nationalities (I Ki. 11:1).  God had instructed the Israelites not to marry them for surely they will turn away their hearts.  We find in I Kings 11:3, Solomon’s many wives and concubines turned his heart away from God.  He built high places of worship for his wives against the explicit instructions of God in the Mosaic Law.

In verse 14, Solomon states he was almost in complete ruin as God made a spectacle of him before the whole world.  He wasn’t completely ruined because of God’s promise to David concerning his son in II Sam. 7:14-15, “I will chasten him with the rod of men, but my mercy shall not depart from him”.

From verse 15 on, Solomon gives a remedy to be able to forsake lust; the delights of a faithful marriage.  God has provided a wife for you.  Love her, let her satisfy you, and enjoy the joys of sex within the confines of marriage (v. 17-19).  Enjoy your children and delight yourself in them (v.16-17). 

God sees everything; we can hide nothing from him.  Man tries to hide his sin by doing them under the cover of darkness, but the darkness is like day to God (Ps.139:12).  We will be held accountable for our sins and we are held captive by our sins (v. 21-22).

Solomon, considered to be the wisest and wealthiest man who ever lived, was done in by lust.  In all of his wisdom, you think he would have heeded the instruction of his father, David.  He had the knowledge, but didn’t use it wisely.  We need to have our heart in daily communion with God in order to flee sin.  Solomon gradually removed himself from this daily communion.

Lusting after a woman is the topic of this Proverbs, but any lust can lead to our downfall.  We need to keep our eyes on God, looking up, not looking at the things of the earth.

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Have you ever heard of someone that is “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”? This expression has been used to describe people with their heads so far in the clouds that their feet are not firmly planted on the ground. Perhaps they are “off in La La Land.” However, I am finding out that the phrase that I began with could not be further from the truth. Colossians 3:2 tells us to “set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Is it more probable instead to be so earthly minded that we are no heavenly good?

First John 2 describes the things of this world as “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life.” These are the things that we are not to have our affections set on. When we are distracted by the things of this world we will be choked out by the cares of it. Mark 4:19 says that the Word of God would be choked out and it would lose it’s fruitfulness. In other words, ministry is affected when the minister is wrapped up in the cares of this world. He becomes no heavenly good.

On the other hand, Second Corinthians 4 tells us that there are many things we can endure in this world when we have our affections placed in the right place. “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”

You see the remainder of Colossians 3 says “for you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” We can set our affections on things above and things to come and not be discouraged by or get caught up in those things around us because we are dead and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me. (Galatians 2:2) And so I pray that all of you will set your affections on things above and not on things of this earth that you might be so heavenly minded that you are no longer fit for this world, but for the one to come.

Ps 37:4

Delight thyself also in the LORD;

and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

In the many classes I have been privileged to take part in I find a verse that few commentators will expound on concerning what Psalm 37:4 is saying. That is  It may seem like a small thing to some what I am about to share but maybe we need to consider this.

First I must decide what is means to “Delight thyself also in the LORD”. Is it possible that it is telling us that delighting in the Lord is in fact abiding in Christ Jesus? Walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh? Walking by faith and not by sight? Or even having the attitude of full and total focus on the Lord at all times just as we are to have in prayer?

To delight in the Lord also must mean to delight in the character, will, and ways of God as a means of increasing excellence, usefulness, and enjoyment. The person that delights in the Lord is also one that has a heart of gratitude for what the Lord Jesus Christ has worked through their lives. When a Christian has little gratitude and a lot of criticism and complaining, they obviously are not delightful.

The giving “the desires of the heart” is indeed a confusing area in some circles. What does that really mean? May I suggest that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He then will put the desires in our heart that HE wants there? Are we really willing to give God a blank check to put in our hearts what He wants there? When we apply this it will be life changing.

May we all evaluate our lives and discover if we are in fact in a attitude of delight. May God bless as you delight yourself in Him.

Dr James McIntosh

Psalm 51

I enjoy this Psalm, as it shows God’s forgiveness has no bounds. If we have a repentant heart God will forgive, but there are still consequences to our sin. This is the penitnetial Psalm when David is confronted about his sin with Bathsheba. God forgave him, but immediately after Nathan left when he confronted David about his sin, the child Bathsheba gave birth to became ill and died at only 7 days old (II Sam. 12:15-18). This consequence was one of several which would occur to David because of his adultery.

Immediately, he asks God to have mercy upon him–to blot out his transgression (v 1). According to the Mosaic Law, anyone committint adultery should be put to death. David knew this and asked for mercy, which is withholding something we deserve. David deserved death, but God was merciful towards him.

As we look down this Psalm, there are many action verbs. In v. 2, “wash me”. Sin to God is despicable and odious. David asked God to wash him of his sin and then in v. 3 he states, “For I acknowledge my transgressions…”. David knows he sinned and admists that he sinned against God. There were other people involved, but David has recognized the fact that it was primarily against God.

“Purge me with hyssop…”. He was asking God to make him clean with hyssop. Hyssop was used to cover the doorposts of the Israelites when the Angel of Death was passing through Egypt. Hyssop was, also, used in cleansing the house of a leper and in purification from defilement because of death. David was asking God to make him pure with this cleansing agent.

“Make me to hear joy and gladness…”. He didn’t want to only hear the sounds of death and sorrow. Death makes the bones weary and brittle as a broken spirit can dry the bones (Prov. 17:22). David wanted to hear joyfulness and gladness.

“Hide they face…”. He didn’t want God to see his sins. This is similar to v. 1 in that he wanted his iniquities or transgressions to be blotted out.

“Create in me a clean heart…”. He has asked God to blot out his iniquities and purge him. When you take something out, you need to replace it and he is asking God to renew his spirit in god. God, when you remove my transgressions, replace it with a clean, pure heart. At the same time, he asked God to “Restore unto me the joy of my salvation…”, which goes along with making him to hear joy and gladness. These come from the heart and a clean heart will produce joy and gladness.

“Cast me not away…”. Don’t leave me Lord and don’t take your Spirit away from me. The Spirit here could refer to his being the anointed King of Israel.

“Deliver me from bloodguiltiness…” Deliver him from the penalty of death for the murder of Uriah and his committing adultery. “…open thou my lips…” David will sing the praises of God as God is merciful and forgiving. David will tell of the goodness of God and I’m sure he will tell of God’s justice and judgment.

This Psalm tells me there is no sin God cannot forgive and that a repentant heart is acceptable to Him. If we have as David states in v. 17, a broken and contrite spirit, that is a sacrifice to God. The action verbs tell me the steps I need to take when I have sinned before God–acknowledge my sin, seek mercy, creat a clean heart, purge my sin from me, and cast me not away.

Brother and sisters, we can’t make our sin right ourselves. We need to confess our sin before God and leave it there. There will be consequences for our sin, but God will not leave us and He will deliver us from our just punishment if we come to Him with a repentant heart.