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Theophylact of Ohrid

Medieval · AD 800–1500 · d. AD 1107 · 1,244 passages across 17 books

Commentary

1,201–1,220 of 1,244
Philemon 1:9

Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

If dear, he will forgive; if a fellow-worker, he will not retain the slave, but will send him back for the ministry of preaching.

James 1:5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

James is referring here to spiritual wisdom, not the human kind. Spiritual wisdom is the cause of all perfect action. This is the heavenly wisdom, and when we have been strengthened by it we can do anything perfectly.

Commentary on James

James 1:9

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

Humility is the distributor of all good things, and apart from it there is nothing which is good.

Commentary on James

James 1:27

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

In this verse the “world” refers to the common and ungodly people who are led astray by their lusts and errors.

Commentary on James

James 2:4

Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

The word and often occurs here, where we would expect subordinate clauses instead. This was the older way of speaking, which James records for us.

Commentary on James

James 2:24

Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

The works of which James speaks are not those of the law but those of righteousness and the other virtues.

Commentary on James

James 4:12

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Who would endure having to live under a law which he despises? Therefore do not be a despiser of the law, says James, and do not look for some other legislator, who will prescribe the opposite. For there is only one lawgiver, God, who can both condemn and deliver sinners.

Commentary on James

James 5:4

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

This accusation is a digression directed against the Jewish leaders who robbed the poor and covered themselves with all manner of riches. But they were being prepared for destruction at the hands of the Romans, not least because they condemned our Lord to death.

Commentary on James

James 5:6

Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

It cannot be denied that this verse refers to Christ, especially since James adds that there was no resistance. Nevertheless it also includes others who suffered at the hands of the Jews, and he may even have been speaking prophetically about his own approaching death.

Commentary on James

James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The prayer of a righteous man is effective as long as the person who is being prayed for cooperates with his intentions. For if other people are praying for us while we are wasting our time in idleness and debauchery, their prayers will be useless.

Commentary on James

1 Peter 1:14

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

To be conformed to the things of this world means to be surrounded by them. Even today there are some weak-willed people who say that when they are in Rome, they have to do as the Romans do. But whether they do this knowingly or in ignorance, the message here is clear. We are to abandon this world and be conformed to the One who alone is truly holy.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 2:14

Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

Peter calls those magistrates who are appointed by kings “human creatures.” Sometimes Scripture describes appointments as creations [as in Ephesians 2:15]: “God’s purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two.”

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 3:20

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Someone might easily ask: Who preached salvation before Christ, so that those who did not believe in him should be condemned? The answer to this, which Paul also adopted, is that those who lived before Christ had enough light given to them to enable them to distinguish good from evil. Because of this, if they chose to do evil, they are worthy of condemnation. Therefore Peter reminds us that they were rebellious, not merely from the time of the prophets but long before that, virtually from the creation of the world in fact. As he demonstrates, the way of salvation was proclaimed to them from the beginning, but they spurned it and preferred to go after vanities of one kind or another. The result was that of all the millions of people who lived at that time, only eight were saved, because they alone believed the message which they heard.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:2

That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Compare this with what Paul wrote: “If we are dead with Christ, we shall also live with him” and “dead therefore to sin but alive to God.”

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:3

For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

This is ironic, as if Peter were saying: “Have you not had enough of the pleasures which you once indulged in? Or do you still hanker after the Gentile life which you used to live?” It is in connection with this that he notes the various types of debauchery.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:6

For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

It was the habit of the Fathers to take this verse completely out of context. They therefore said that the word dead has two different meanings in Scripture, referring either to those who are dead in their sins and who never lived at all or to those who have been made conformable to the death of Christ, as Paul said: “The life that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God.” But if they had paid the slightest attention to the context, they would have seen that here the “dead” are those who have been shut up in hell, to whom Christ went to preach after his death on the cross.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:9

Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

Note that when Peter mentions love he immediately goes on to talk about offering hospitality without grumbling. That is a sure sign of what love is.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:12

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

Many Christians found afflictions hard to bear because they had read in the law that a prosperous and secure life was promised to those who serve God. Peter therefore approaches the subject by telling them that they are greatly beloved. He then goes on to warn them not to be surprised at their sufferings, which come to them as tests from God.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 4:15

But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.

A meddler is someone who loves to mind other people’s business in order to find reasons for attacking them. This is the mentality of a wicked and treacherous person who is prepared to engage in any kind of evil.

Commentary on 1 Peter

1 Peter 5:14

Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

This is no ordinary peace, for it is the same peace that Christ left his disciples when he went to be crucified. “My peace I leave with you, not as the world gives,” for you are not meant to pursue peace by natural affection for one another but by being joined in a holy fellowship, thereby avoiding the blows of enemies.

Commentary on 1 Peter

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