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For his merciful kindness is great toward us - His kindness; his compassion; his love. All nations - all people - may say this, and therefore the psalm is adapted to universal praise. Especially may this be said in view of the love of God to mankind in the gift of a Saviour - a Saviour not for any one people especially or exclusively, but for the world, John 3:16.

And the truth of the Lord endureth for ever - All that God has said: his declarations; his promises; his assurances of mercy. They are the same in all lands where they are made known, and they are the same in all ages of the world. Truth is a representation of things as they are; and truth, therefore, must be ever the same. What was true in the first ages of the world in regard to the relation of the sum of the squares on the two sides of a right-angled triangle to the square of the hypothenuse is true now, and will always be true; and so, what God has affirmed at any one time will always remain the same in all ages and in all lands. What was truth to Abraham is truth to us; what was truth to Paul is truth to us; what was truth to the martyrs is truth to us; what is truth to us will be truth to all generations of the world in all lands, and will be truth forever. This fact, too, is a just foundation for universal praise, and therefore the psalm is so adapted to be used in all lands and among all people. How often in our own language has this psalm been the medium of the utterances of praise in Christian sanctuaries:

"From all that dwell below the skies,

Let the Creator's praise arise;

Let the Redeemer's name be sung,

Through every land, by every tongue.

Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;

Eternal truth attends thy word;

Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore, till suns shall rise and set no more.

2. ) Isa 29:24, “Those who err in mind will know

the truth, and those who criticize will accept

instruction.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - They also that erred in spirit; i.e. those who were blind and deaf (ver. 18). Shall come to understanding; literally, shall know understanding; i.e. recover their power of spiritual discernment. They that murmured. The reference cannot be to the "murmuring" in Egypt, though the verb used occurs only elsewhere in Deuteronomy 1:27 and Psalm 106:25, where that murmuring is spoken cf. We must look for some later discontent, which we may find in quite recent "murmuring resistance to the admonitions of Jehovah" (Delitzsch), without going back so far as the time of the Exodus. Shall learn doctrine; i.e. "shall willingly receive the teaching, of God's prophets, and profit by it."

It is a terrible thing that those who err in mind will not accept the truth.

3.) Jhn 8:32, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” This is what Jesus says.

(32) And ye shall know the truth.—In the great Intercessory Prayer of John 17, Jesus prays for His disciples: “Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth” (John 8:17). In the answer to the question of Thomas in John 14, He declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 8:6). It is this thought that is present in the connection between continuance in His word and knowledge of the truth here. These Jews professed to know the truth, and to be the official expounders of it. They had yet to learn that truth was not only a system, but also a power; not only something to be written or spoken, but also something to be felt and lived. If they abide in His word they will indeed be His disciples; living the life of truth, they will gain perception of truth. “Being true,” they will “in love grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

And the truth shall make you free.—Here, as in John 17:17, truth and holiness are spoken of as correlative. The light of truth dispels the darkness in which lies the stronghold of evil. Sin is the bondage of the powers of the soul, and this bondage is willed because the soul does not see its fearful evil. When it perceives the truth, there comes to it a power which rouses it from its stupor, and strengthens it to break the fetters by which it has been bound. Freedom from the Roman rule was one of the national hopes bound up with Messiah’s Advent. There is indeed a freedom from a more crushing foe than the legions of Rome. (Comp. Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30.)”

There are saddest things: people who do not want to know the truth. They enjoy the bondage of ignorance and slavery of sin.

4.) Jhn 8:40, “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”

The world wants to kill the Man who has told you the truth.

40. ‘On the contrary, ye seek to commit murder, and a murder of the most heinous kind. Ye would kill One who hath spoken unto you the truth, truth which He learnt from God.’
a man that hath told you] This pointed insertion of ‘man’ possibly looks forward to John 8:44, where they are called the children of the great man-slayer, lusting like him for blood. The Lord nowhere else uses this term of Himself.
this did not Abraham] A litotes or understatement of the truth. Abraham’s life was utterly unlike the whole tenour of theirs. What could there be in common between ‘the Friend of God’ (James 2:23) and the enemies of God’s Son?”

5.) Jhn 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”

The Bible makes it clear: there are children of God who love the truth. There are children of the devil who do not stand in the truth.

6.) Jhn 8:45, “But because I say the truth, you do not believe Me.”

Saddest, there are people who do not believe the truth.

(45) And because I tell you the truth.—The pronoun is full of emphatic meaning. And I, as contrary to him, because 1 tell you the truth, as contrary to the lie which is his characteristic.

Ye believe me not—i.e., ye believe not what I say. It does not mean, Ye believe not on Me, but Ye accept not the truth which I speak. There is something startling in this sharp opposition of truth and unbelief. To speak the truth is commonly to command belief. The mind of man is so constituted that truth is the first object of its search. Here was perfect truth presented to men, and they refused to accept it, because it was the truth, and they were themselves children of him who was a liar.”

7.) Jhn 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the

Father except through Me.”

I call this the Manafesto of Jesus Christ. JESUS is the Way, this is the Truth. If you believe the Truth, you will have Life, eternal Life.

6. I am the way] The pronoun is emphatic; I and no other: Ego sum Via, Veritas, Vita. S. Thomas had wished rather to know about the goal; Christ shews that for him, and therefore for us, it is more important to know the way. Hence the order; although Christ is the Truth and the Life before He is the Way. The Word is the Truth and the Life from all eternity with the Father: He becomes the Way for us by taking our nature. He is the Way to the many abodes in His Father’s home, the Way to the Father Himself; and that by His doctrine and example, by His Death and Resurrection. In harmony with this passage ‘the Way’ soon became a recognised name for Christianity; Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:22 (comp. Acts 24:14; 2 Peter 2:2). But this is obscured in our version by the common inaccuracy ‘this way’ or ‘that way’ for ‘the Way.’ (See on John 1:21; John 1:25, John 6:48.)
the truth] Better, and the Truth, being from all eternity in the form of God, Who cannot lie (Php 2:6; Hebrews 6:18), and being the representative on earth of a Sender Who is true (John 8:26). To know the Truth is also to know the Way to God, Who must be approached and worshipped in truth (John 4:23). Comp. Hebrews 11:6; 1 John 5:20.
and the life] Comp. John 11:25. He is the Life, being one with the living Father and being sent by Him (John 6:57, John 10:30). See on John 1:4, John 6:50-51, and comp. 1 John 5:12; Galatians 2:20. Here again to know the Life is to know the Way to God.
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me] Christ continues to insist that the Way is of the first importance to know. ‘Through Him we have access unto the Father’ (Ephesians 2:18). Comp. Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 Peter 3:18.”

8.) Jhn 16:13, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

13. the Spirit of truth] See on John 14:17.
he will guide you] ‘He and no other will be your guide.’ Christ is the Way and the Truth. The Spirit leads men into the Way and thus to the Truth. But He does no more than guide: He does not compel, He does not carry. They may refuse to follow, and if they follow they must exert themselves. Contrast Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39; Acts 8:31.
into all truth] Better, into all the truth, i.e. the truth in its entirety: this is very clearly expressed in the Greek.
he shall not speak of himself] This does not mean ‘shall not speak about Himself’ but ‘from Himself.’ The Spirit, like the Son, cannot speak what proceeds from Himself as distinct from what proceeds from the Father: He is the Source of Divine energy and truth. Comp. John 5:19 and John 7:18. This expression ‘from himself, from itself’ (ἀπό) is peculiar to S. John: comp. John 11:51, John 15:4.
he will shew you things to come] Better, He shall declare to you the things that are coming. The Greek verb means ‘to announce, proclaim, declare’ rather than ‘shew.’ Note the thrice repeated ‘He shall declare to you.’ The phrase ‘the things that are coming’ is identical in form with ‘He that cometh’ (Luke 7:19): among these things we may place the constitution of the Church and the revelation respecting the Last Judgment and its results.”

A man who has the Holy Spirit will not lie, a man devoid of the Holy Spirit will tell faslehood.

9.) Jhn 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth.”

This is what Jesus says, the Word of God is truth. I do not want to quarrel with the world or anyone. Strangest thing, many who claim to be Christians but do not obey the truth of the Word of God.

17. Sanctify] Or, consecrate. The word expresses God’s destination of them for their work and His endowment of them with the powers necessary for their work. The word is used of God’s consecration of Jeremiah, Moses, and the chosen people (Jeremiah 1:5; Sir 49:7; Sir 45:4; 2Ma 1:25). This prayer has been called “the Prayer of Consecration.”
through thy truth] Rather, in the truth. ‘Thy’ is a gloss, rightly explaining the text, but wanting in all the best MSS. The Truth is the whole Christian revelation, the new environment in which believers are placed, and which helps to work their sanctification; just as a sickly wild plant is strengthened and changed by transplanting it to a garden.
thy word] Literally, the word that is Thine, a mode of expression which gives prominence to the adjective. Comp. ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me,’ John 7:16. The Greek for ‘word’ is logos, God’s revelation as a whole, not any single utterance or collection of utterances. See on John 5:47.”

10.) Jhn 19:35, “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.”

(35) And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true.—Comp. John 1:7. It may be better to render the word here, as elsewhere, by “witness,” in order that we may get the full force of its frequent recurrence. The writer speaks of himself in the third person (comp. Introduction, p. 375), laying stress upon the specially important fact that it was an eye-witness—“he that saw it”—who testified to the fact, and one who therefore knew it to be true. The word rendered “true” in this clause is the emphatic word for “ideally true,” which is familiar to the readers of this Gospel. (Comp. Note on John 1:9.) It answers to the idea of what evidence should be, because it is the evidence of one who himself saw what he witnesses.

And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.—The witness was ideally true, and therefore the things witnessed were actually true. He cannot doubt this, and he testifies it in order that others may find in these truths ground for, and the confirmation of, their faith.

11.) Rom 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

(18) As a preliminary stage to this revelation of justification and of faith, there is another, which is its opposite—a revelation and disclosure of divine wrath. The proof is seen in the present condition both of the Gentile and Jewish world. And first of the Gentile world, Romans 1:18-32.

Revealed.—The revelation of righteousness is, while the Apostle writes, being made in the Person of Christ and in the salvation offered by Him. The revelation of wrath is to be inferred from the actual condition—the degradation doubly degraded—in which sin leaves its votaries.

From heaven.—The wrath of God is revealed “from heaven,” inasmuch as the state of things in which it is exhibited is the divinely-inflicted penalty for previous guilt. Against that guilt, shown in outrage against all religion and all morality, it is directed.

Ungodliness and unrighteousness.—These two words stand respectively for offences against religion and offences against morality.

Who hold the truth in unrighteousness.—Rather, who suppress and thwart the truth—the light of conscience that is in them—by unrighteousness. Conscience tells them what is right, but the will, actuated by wicked motives, prevents them from obeying its dictates. “The truth” is their knowledge of right, from whatever source derived, which finds expression in conscience. “Hold” is the word which we find translated “hinder” in 2Thessalonians 2:6-7—having the force of to hold down, or suppress.”

There are people who claim to be Christians, yet they hold the truth in unrighteousness, who suppress and thwart the truh.

12.) Rom 1:25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the

creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed

forever. Amen.”

Watch out there are people who claim to be Christians, yet they exchanged the thruth of God for falsehood. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. who changed] The Greek relative pronoun implies that this was the cause of the special turn taken by the judicial hardening: seeing they had changed, &c.
the truth of God] i.e. that which is true of Him alone, and revealed by Him; Omnipotence and Deity. Cp. Romans 1:18.
into a lie] Lit. in falsehood; they degraded it so that it was lost in falsehood; falsehood took its place. This “falsehood” is, of course, the grand error—Idolatry.
more than the Creator] Lit. Him that created [it]. The idolater reverenced and did ritual service to his idol “more,” or “rather” than to the Creator, whether he wholly ignored the Eternal, or recognized Him as a shadow or mystery in the background only.
who is blessed] Benedictus here, not Beatus. The glorious epithet indicates the Creature’s right attitude toward the Creator; that of adoring praise and love. (The same phrase occurs Romans 9:5; an important doctrinal parallel.)

13.) Rom 2:8, “but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation.”

There are people who claim to be Christians but they are self-serving and do not obey the truth.

(8) But unto them . . .—The scholar will observe that in the original Greek the construction is changed. At the end of Romans 2:7 is an accusative “(he will render) eternal life;” here we have the nominative, “(there shall be) tribulation and anguish.”

That are contentious.—An error in the Authorised version through a wrong derivation of the word. Strictly, To those who act in the spirit of a hireling; hence, according to the secondary meaning of the word, “to those who act in a spirit of factiousness and self-seeking.” It is, however, quite possible that the mistaken derivation may have been current in St. Paul’s time, as it was, no doubt, somewhat later, from Origen downwards. St. Paul, it is true, distinguishes between the proper word for “contention” and that used here (e.g., in 2Corinthians 12:20; Galatians 5:20), but this would not exclude, it would rather seem to imply, not indeed a formal derivation, but some association of ideas. The shade of meaning will, perhaps, be expressed if we translate by some such word as “factiousness.” So in Philippians 1:16 (properly Philippians 1:17, the order of the clauses being reversed), “the one (the other) preach Christ of factiousness.”

Indignation and wrath.—The Greek equivalents for these two words are distinguished as the settled angry feeling from the passionate outbreak of anger.

The truth.—Here used in a moral sense, as almost equivalent to “rectitude,” “that which is right.” There is a tendency towards this meaning in Romans 1:18, “Who hold down the truth in unrighteousness,” though there “the truth” appears to mean rather “natural religion” in general. The ethical sense comes out clearly in John 3:21, “he that doeth truth,” opposed to “he that doeth evil.” These phrases, “obey the truth,” “obey unrighteousness,” in a plainer style, would be simply “do good,” “do evil.” It may be noted that St. Paul is fond of these quasi-personifications.”

14.) Rom 9:1, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit.”

All these years I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit. People who are devoid of the Holy Spirit sanction and attack me.

Ch. Romans 9:1-6. The problem of Jewish unbelief: Paul’s distress in view of it
1. I say the truth in Christ, &c.] The discussion of the case of Israel occupies tins chapter and the next two. On the general subject thus introduced, we offer a few remarks. (See also Introduction, I. § 26.)
(1) The dedication of this large section to this special case is not out of proportion. Israel not only was immensely important as the Depositary of Revelation for ages past and the possessor as such of inestimable privileges, (Romans 9:4-5,) but at the time of St Paul it formed the vast majority of all professed believers in the God of Revelation. The unbelief of the great majority of Israel was therefore not only a distress to the Christian’s heart, but a perplexity to his mind, and so needed very special treatment and explanation.
(2) He distinctly foretells a future of grace and mercy for Israel, on a grand scale of conversion. A time is to come when “blindness in part” is no longer to characterize Israel as a people; that is to say, a time when unbelief, if existing still at all, shall be the exception, not the rule.
(3) He does not touch on any other than the spiritual aspects of that future. As to the question of a political, or local, restoration of Israel, or both, he is entirely silent whether to affirm or deny; and so in all his Epistles. So it is also in all the N. T. Epistles. St Paul’s great object here is (1) to explain the spiritual alienation of the mass of Israelites, and (2) to open the prospect of its blessed reversal.
in Christ] As a “member of Christ,” and so bound to inviolable truthfulness; and as speaking to other “members.” (Ephesians 4:25.)
I lie not] On this and similar appeals see on Romans 1:9.—The special reason for such words here is, perhaps, the thought that both Gentile Christians and unbelieving Jews (for different reasons) might think him now regardless of his earthly kindred, because so resolute in teaching the entire spiritual equality of all believers, Jew or Gentile. The Epistle might possibly be heard or read by unconverted Jews; and such words as these might reach their hearts.
my conscience also bearing me witness] Paul, as a man speaking to men, was corroborated (in his own consciousness) by Paul speaking to himself. Word and conscience coincided in statement.
in the Holy Ghost] Who, as the Sanctifier, pervades the conscience with new and intense light and sensibility. The reference is not to inspiration but to spirituality, of which he has said so much in ch. 8.”

15.) 1Co 13:6, “it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.”

You wonder why people who claim to be Christians and yet rejoice in unrighteousness and do not rejoice with the truth.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Rejoiceth not in iniquity; rather, at unrighteousness. The rejoicing at sin, the taking pleasure in them that commit sin, the exultation over the fall of others into sin, are among the worst forms of malignity (Romans 1:32; 2 Thessalonians 2:12). The Greeks had a word, ἐπιχαιρεκακία, to describe "rejoicing at the evil" (whether sin or misfortune) of others (Proverbs 24:17); Schadenfreude, "malignant joy" (Arist., 'Eth.,' 2:7, 15). It is the detestable feeling indicated by the remark of La Rochefoucald, "that there is something not altogether disagreeable to us in the misfortunes of our best friends." Rejoiceth in the truth; rather, with the truth. There are many who "resist the truth" (2 Timothy 3:8); or who "hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18); but love accepts it, keeps it pure, exults in all its triumphs (Acts 11:23 2John 4). 1 Corinthians 13:6.”

16.) 2Co 4:2, “but we have renounced the things

hidden because of shame, not walking in trickery nor distorting the Word of God, but by

the open proclamation of the truth commending

ourselves to every person's conscience in

the sight of God.”

In the sight of God I had never distort the Word of God but by the open proclamation of the truth.

(2) But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.—Better, the hidden things of shame. We fail at first to see the connection of the self-vindication which follows with what has gone before, and have once more to go below the surface. He has defended himself against the charge of “fickleness” (2Corinthians 1:17), but another charge, more disturbing still, had also been brought against him. Men had talked, so he had been told, of his “craftiness” (comp. 2Corinthians 12:16), and to that imputation, perhaps also to another covered by the same general term (see Ephesians 5:12, and Notes on 2Corinthians 7:1-2), he now addresses himself. The English word “dishonesty” is used in its older and wider sense. So in Wiclif we have “honest” members of the body in 1Corinthians 12:23, and in Shakespeare and old English writers generally, and in popular usage even now, “honesty” in a woman is equivalent to chastity. The context shows, however, that St. Paul speaks chiefly not of sensual vices, nor yet of dishonesty in the modern sense of the word, but of subtlety, underhand practices, and the like. Men seem to have tried to fasten his reputation on the two horns of a dilemma. Either his change of plan indicated a discreditable fickleness, or if not that, something more discreditable still.

Nor handling the word of God deceitfully.—The word is nearly equivalent to the “corrupting” or “adulterating” of 2Corinthians 2:17. In “commending ourselves” we trace a return to the topic of 2Corinthians 3:1. Yes, he acknowledged that he did “commend himself,” but it was by the manifestation of truth as the only means that he adopted; and he appealed not to men’s tastes, or prejudices, or humours, but to that in them which was highest—their conscience, their sense of right and wrong; and in doing this he felt that he was speaking and acting in the presence of the great Judge, who is also the searcher of hearts.”

17.) 2Co 13:8, “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.”

Some call themselves Christians , what they do are against the truth.

For we - That is, we the apostles.

Can do nothing against the truth ... - That is, we who are under the influence of the Spirit of God; who have been commissioned by him as apostles, can do nothing that shall be against the great system of truth which we are appointed to promulgate and defend. You need, therefore, apprehend no partial or severe discipline from us; no unjust construction of your conduct. Our aim is to promote the truth, and to do what is right; and we cannot, therefore, by any regard to our own reputation, or to any personal advantage, do what is wrong, or countenance, or desire what is wrong in others. We must wish that which is right to be done by others, whatever may be the effect on us - whether we are regarded as apostles or deceivers. I suppose, therefore, that this verse is designed to qualify and confirm the sentiment in the previous verse, that Paul meant to do only right; that he wished all others to do right; and that whatever might be the effect on his own reputation, or however he might be regarded, he could not go against the great system of gospel truth which he preached, or even desire that others should ever do wrong, though it might in any way be for his advantage. It was a fixed principle with him to act only in accordance with truth; to do what was right.”

18.) Gal 4:16, “So have I become your enemy by

telling you the truth.”

I had not used intentionally unrighteousness as a truth to become your enemy. I have become enemy of some by telling the truth.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? [ὥστε ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν;]; so then, am I become your enemy, because I deal with you according to truth? This is a wailing remonstrance against an apprehended incipient state of alienation. "So then," ὥστε (see note on ver. 7), occurs repeatedly before an imperative; as 1 Corinthians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 10:12; Philippians 2:12; Philippians 4:1; James 1:19; here only before a question. Its consecutive import here lies in the essential identification between their attachment to St. Paul and their allegiance to the pure gospel. If they forsook the gospel, their heart was gone from him. Naturally also their incipient defection from the truth was accompanied by a jealousy on their part hew he would regard them, and by a preparedness to listen to those who spoke of him, as Judaizers everywhere did, with disparagement and dislike. No doubt the accounts which had just reached him of the symptoms showing themselves among them of defection from the gospel, and which prompted the immediate despatch of this Epistle, had informed him also of symptoms of a commencing aversation from himself. The construction of γέγονα with ἀληθεύων is similar to that of γέγονα ἄφρων with καυχώμενος in the Textus Receptus of 2 Corinthians 12:11, which is perfectly good Greek, even though the word καυχώμενος must be removed from the text as not genuine. The verb "I am become" describes the now produced result of the action expressed by the participle ἀληθεύων, "dealing according to truth" - an action which has been continuous to the present hour and is still going on. If the apostle were referring only to something which had taken place at his second visit, he would have probably used different tenses; either, perhaps, ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν ἐγευόμην ἀληθεύων - compare φανῃ... κατεργαζομένη in Romans 7:13 (or with a contemporaneous aorist participle, ἀληθεύσας); or, ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύσας, like εϊναι μοιχαλίδα γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ in Romans 7:3. As it stands, "dealing with you according to truth" (ἀλήθεύων ὑμῖν) expresses the apostle's continuous declaration of the gospel, and his never-flinching ins]stance upon the mortal danger of defection from it (see Galatians 1:9, προειρήκαμεν); and "I am become your enemy" points to the result now manifesting itself from this steadfast attitude of his, in consequence of their consciousness of meriting his disapproval. The verb ἀληθεύω occurs only once in the Septuagint - in Genesis 42:16, Αἰ ἀληθεύετε η} οὐ, "Whether there be any truth in you" (Authorized Version and Hebrew); and once besides in the New Testament - in Ephesians 4:15, Ἀληθεύοντες ἐν ἀγάπῃ, where the verb denotes, apparently, not merely being truthful in speech, but the whole habit of addiction both to uprightness and to God's known truth; for we can hardly leave out of our view this latter idea, when we consider how frequently the apostle designates the gospel by the term "the truth" (2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 13:8; Galatians 3:1; Ephesians 1:13; 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12, 13; 1 Timothy 2:4). "Enemy" is either one regarded as adopting a hostile position to them, or one viewed with hostile feeling by them, which latter is its sense in Romans 11:28; 2 Thessalonians 3:15. The above exposition of the import of this verse is confirmed by the consideration that the Epistle affords no trace of the apostle's relations with the Galatian converts having been other than mutually friendly at even his second visit to them. This fact is implied in ver. 12, and Galatians 1:9 furnishes no evidence to the contrary; for those warnings may have been uttered in his first visit as well as in his second, without occasioning or being occasioned by any want of mutual confidence. This view of their mutual relations is confirmed likewise by the feelings of indignant astonishment with which evidently the apostle took up his pen to address them in this letter: the tidings which had just reached him had been a painful surprise to him. Galatians 4:16.”

19.) 2Th 2:10, “and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved.”

(9) And with all deceivableness.—“Deceivableness” does not mean “readiness to be deceived,” but, according to old English usage, has an active meaning; the words include and expand the list just given “in all sham power and signs and wonders, and, in fact, in every iniquitous fraud.”

In them that perish.—Rather, for them. These are not the persons who exercise the fraud, but the objects of it. The word depends not only on “deceivableness,” but on the whole sentence:” his coming (for them) is,” &c. St. Paul adds the words as a consolation to “them that are saved”: it will not be possible to seduce the elect (Mark 13:22). “They that perish” (1Corinthians 1:18; 2Corinthians 2:15; 2Corinthians 4:3; comp. also Acts 2:47) is a phrase which contains no reference whatever to the doctrine of predestination, but merely describes the class; the men who let themselves be thus duped are, as a plain matter of fact, in course of perishing.

Because.—Here does come in the question of God’s decree. The phrase rendered “because” means “in requital of the fact that,” which at once implies that their being duped by Antichrist’s coming is a judicial visitation. (See next verse.) “They did not receive,” i.e., it was offered them, and they refused it; not, as Calvinism would teach, because it was not given them. The grace of love of the truth is offered us along with every new presentment of truth; if we are too indolent to examine whether it be truth, we are rejecting the love of the truth. This is a worse thing than not accepting the truth itself: if they had only aspired to know what was the truth they would have been saved, even if, in fact, they had been in error.

20.) 2Th 2:12, “in order that they all may be

judged who did not believe the truth, but took

pleasure in wickedness.”

People who did not believe the truth because they took pleasure in wickedness. Those who took pleasure in wickedness will not believe the truth.

(12) That they all.—This is God’s purpose in making them believe the lie—“in order that, one and all, they might be judged.” He who desireth not the death of a sinner, now is said actually to lay plans with the intention of judging him: such are the bold self-contradictions of the Bible! It must not, however, be forgotten for a moment that God did not begin to will the sinner’s judgment till after He had offered him freely the love of His own blessed truth, and had been rejected. When once the sinner is incurable, the only way to vindicate truth and righteousness is by hastening on his condemnation, whatever that condemnation may mean.

Who believed not the truth. . . .—Once more the offence for which they are condemned is insisted upon. Theirs is no fancy sin. What God wanted them to believe was not some fantastical dogma, some fiction between which and the fictions of the Man of Sin there was nothing morally to choose, but the inviolable truth by which God Himself is bound. But had pleasure in the unrighteousness (so runs the Greek): i.e., consciously gave their moral consent to the unrighteousness of 2Thessalonians 2:10, the unrighteousness which sought to impose itself upon them, and which they would never have been led into had they loved the truth.”

21.) 1Ti 2:4, “who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. People who do not want to come to the knowledge of the truth cannot be saved.

(3) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.—Here St. Paul gives some explanation of his exhortation, that “the congregation should pray for all men.” Our prayers after all—for those far off, as well as for those near—will be in strict harmony with the will of God. “Imitate God,” writes St. Chrysostom;” if He wills that all men should be saved, it is surely natural that prayer should be offered for all; if He willed that all should be saved, do thou will it now; and if in earnest thou wiliest it, then pray.”

One or two points must ever be held in mind when this great statement of St. Paul’s is used as a proof of “Universal Redemption.” We must remember the position it occupies in the argument, it being only introduced as a reason for the exhortation to pray for all. Then the words must be looked at very carefully. God’s-will is not to save (sōsai) all—if that had been His sovereign will He would have saved all; but His will is that all should be saved—all should come to the knowledge of the truth; not to the knowledge of the mere theoretical, but of the practical and saving truth as revealed in the gospel. “In other words, through the sacrifice and the death of Christ all are rendered capable of salvation (salvabiles); that some are indisputably not saved, is not due to any outward circumscription or inefficacy of the divine will, but to man’s rejection of the special means of salvation which God has been pleased to appoint, and to which it is His divine will that man’s salvation should be limited. Redemption is universal, yet conditional—all may be saved, yet all will not be saved, because all will not conform to God’s appointed condition.”—Bishop Ellicott.”

22.) 2Ti 3:7, “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

It is traggic that one is always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Ever learning - That is, these "silly women;" for so the Greek demands. The idea is, that they seeM to be disciples. They put themselves wholly under the care of these professedly religious teachers, but they never acquire the true knowledge of the way of salvation.

And never able to come to the knowledge of the truth - They may learn many things, but the true nature of religion they do not learn. There are many such persons in the world, who, whatever attention they may pay to religion, never understand its nature. Many obtain much speculative acquaintance with the "doctrines" of Christianity, but never become savingly acquainted with the system; many study the constitution and government of the church, but remain strangers to practical piety; many become familiar with the various philosophical theories of religion, but never become truly acquainted with what religion is; and many embrace visionary theories, who never show that they are influenced by the spirit of the gospel. Nothing is more common than for persons to be very busy and active in religion, and even to "learn" many things about it, who still remain strangers to the saving power of the gospel.”

23.) 2Ti 3:8, “Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith.”

Men of depraved mind oppose the truth.

(8) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses.—To one brought up, like Timothy, by a pious Jewish mother, and who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures and all the history and ancient traditions connected with the early history of the people, such a comparison would be very striking. No child of Israel could hear the name of Moses, the loved hero of the chosen people, unmoved; and to be told that these false teachers of Ephesus stood in the same relation to him and the Church of Christ as, in old days—in the never-to-be-forgotten Egyptian episode—those famous magicians Jannes and Jambres stood to Moses, would throw for Timothy a new light on all the words and works of these wicked and ambitious men. We can well imagine the comparison being repeated in many an assembly of the faithful, long after the great Apostle’s death: how St. Paul had likened these early Heresiarchs to those evil men who before Pharaoh had dared to resist God and His servant Moses. These magicians, also termed wise men and sorcerers (Exodus 7:11-22) at the court of Pharaoh, appear as the enemies of Moses. The names “Jannes” and “Jambres,” though not given in the sacred text, are preserved in the oral tradition of Israel. The names are found in the Targum of Jonathan on Exodus 7:11; Exodus 22:22. These traditions relate how these men were sons of Balaam, and in the first instance were the instructors of Moses, though subsequently his enemies and opponents. One legend mentions them as perishing in the catastrophe when the waves of the Red Sea overwhelmed the armies of Egypt; another tradition speaks of their having met their death in the slaughter after the worship of the golden calf, the making of which they advised. It was their prophetic words, so say these legendary histories, which, foretelling the birth of Moses, induced Pharaoh to give this order for the destruction of the Jewish children. The later Jews distorted the names into John and Ambrose.

So do these also resist the truth.—The point of comparison between the depraved teachers of Ephesus and these Egyptian sorcerers consisted in a persistent and deadly enmity to the truth, which existed in both cases. The life of the prophet Balaam, the traditionary father of this Jannes and Jambres, supplies a vivid illustration of this malignant and persistent hatred of what is known and felt to be true. That these Ephesian heretics in like manner availed themselves, or pretended to avail themselves of occult power is just probable, though in the comparison this point is of but little moment. We know, however, that the claim at least to possess mysterious and unearthly powers was often made by covetous and worldly men in these times: as, for instance, by Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24), by Elymas the sorcerer, the false prophet and Jew in Cyprus (Acts 13:6-12). See also the episode of Acts 19:18-20, when “many which used curious arts came to Paul and his companions, and confessed and shewed their deeds.”

Men of corrupt minds.—Literally, corrupted in their minds. Timothy might possibly have been induced to regard these evil men, though erring in some particulars, as still of the flock of Christ, to which they belonged nominally; but he was now instructed that they were simply enemies to the truth: that it was vain to hope that they would ever come to a knowledge of the truth, for their “mind,” the human spirit, the medium of communication with the Holy Spirit of God, was corrupted. There was no common ground of faith, save in the bare name of Christian, between Timothy and these men, for they, in the matter of faith, had been tried and found wanting.”

It is a comfort to know that even Moses there were enemies who oppose him. Who am I incomparison to Moses?

24.) 1Jo 1:6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Watch out people who claim to be Christians and yet walk in the darkness and they do not practice the truth.

6. An inference from the first principle just laid down. God is light, utterly removed from all darkness: therefore to be in darkness is to be cut off from Him.
If we say] With great gentleness he puts the case hypothetically, and with great delicacy he includes himself in the hypothesis. This ‘if we’ continues in almost every verse until 1 John 2:3, after which it is changed into the equivalent ‘he that’, which continues down to 1 John 2:11; after that neither form is used. This is one of several indications that from 1 John 1:6 to 1 John 2:11 is a definite division of the Epistle, based upon the introductory verse, 1 John 1:5. With 1 John 2:12 there is a new departure.
walk in darkness] This ‘walk’ (περιπατεῖν) is the Latin versari and signifies the ordinary course of life. The word in this sense is frequent in S. Paul and in S. John. Comp. 1 John 2:6; 1 John 2:11; 2 John 1:4; 2 John 1:6; 3 John 1:3-4; Revelation 21:24; John 8:12. It expresses not merely action, but habitual action. A life in moral darkness can no more have communion with God, than a life in a coal-pit can have communion with the sun. For ‘what communion hath light with darkness?’ (2 Corinthians 6:4). Light can be shut out, but it cannot be shut in. Some Gnostics taught, not merely that to the illuminated all conduct was alike, but that to reach the highest form of illumination men must experience every kind of action, however abominable, in order to work themselves free from the powers that rule the world (Eus. H. E. IV. vii. 9). ‘In darkness’ should probably be in the darkness: in 1 John 1:6-7, as in 1 John 2:8-9; 1 John 2:11, both light and darkness have the article in the Greek, which is not merely generic but emphatic; that which is light indeed is opposed to that which is darkness indeed. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, ‘What communion hath light with darkness?’, neither word has the article.
we lie, and do not the truth] Antithetic parallelism, as in 1 John 1:5. The negative statement here carries us further than the positive one: it includes conduct as well as speech. See on John 3:21, where ‘doing the truth’ is opposed to ‘practising evil’. It is also the opposite of ‘doing a lie’ (Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:15). In LXX. ‘to do mercy and truth’ is found several times. So also S. Paul opposes truth to iniquity (1 Corinthians 13:6); shewing that neither does he confine truth to truthfulness in words. In this Epistle we find many striking harmonies in thought and language between S. John and S. Paul, quite fatal to the view that there is a fundamental difference in teaching between the two Apostles.”

25.) 1Jo 2:4, “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The Scripture defines wha a liar is. There are many who claim to be Christians are liars, and the truth is not in them.

He that saith, I know Him - He who professes to be acquainted with the Saviour, or who professes to be a Christian.

And keepeth not his commandments - What he has appointed to be observed by his people; that is, he who does not obey him.

Is a liar - Makes a false profession; professes to have that which he really has not. Such a profession is a falsehood, because there can be no true religion where one does not obey the law of God.”

26.) Jhn 4:23, “But the time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”