The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (346 page)

* 
Jn 8:41
: They mean, "We are not idolaters," and protest their fidelity to God their Father; see notes on
Rev 14:4
and
17:2
.

* 
Jn 8:56
,
he saw it
either in prophetic vision while on earth or by some special privilege after death.

* 
Jn 8:58
: The present tense indicates Christ's eternal existence as God.

* 
Jn 9:3
: Jesus explains in advance the purpose of the miracle.

* 
Jn 10:14
,
the good shepherd
: The name has Messianic significance; cf. Ezek 34.

* 
Jn 10:18
: Throughout the Gospel, Jesus insists that he is master of his own life and no one takes it from him; cf.
18:6
(at his arrest);
19:11
(before Pilate);
19:30
(on the cross).

* 
Jn 11:6
,
stayed two days longer
: This is explained in
verse 15
.

* 
Jn 11:50
: Caiaphas agreed that, as Jesus was not (in their opinion) the Messiah, any popular insurrection now could end only in disaster; so it was better, he argued, to do away with him. He was unconscious of the deeper meaning of his words, namely that Jesus must die for the salvation of man.

* 
Jn 12:1
: Here begins the last week of Jesus' public life. This is described in great detail, as was the first week in chapter 1.

* 
Jn 12:32
,
lifted up
: i.e., on the cross; but the words also contain a reference to his going up into heaven. The two mysteries are inseparable.

* 
Jn 13:1
: John begins here to unfold the mystery of the love of Jesus for "his own." Note the solemn introduction to the "hour" of his passion and death.

* 
Jn 13:34
,
new commandment
: Jesus gives a new depth to the familiar commandment of the Old Testament. The standard now is, "as I have loved you."

* 
Jn 14:26
,
all things
: After Jesus has gone to his Father, the Holy Spirit will complete his revelation to the world.

* 
Jn 15:18
: Jesus contrasts the love his disciples have with the hatred the world bears them.

* 
Jn 16:10
: Jesus is taken from them because they did not receive him.

* 
Jn 17:1-26
: The priestly prayer of Jesus, before his sacrifice.

* 
Jn 17:5
declares his pre-existence.

* 
Jn 18:13
: According to Jewish law the high-priesthood was for life. The Romans had deposed Annas, the legal holder, in
A.D.
15, and appointed another in his place, but many Jews continued to recognize Annas.

* 
Jn 18:28
: They would have contracted a legal impurity by entering the house of a pagan.

* 
Jn 18:29
: See note on
Lk 23:2
.

* 
Jn 18:31
: Crucifixion was a Roman, not a Jewish, punishment.

* 
Jn 19:7
: At last, because of Pilate's reluctance, they produce the real charge.

* 
Jn 19:8-9
: Pilate is afraid and asks Jesus where he comes from—not his country, but his mysterious origins, as implied in the charge.

* 
Jn 19:27
,
took her to his own home
: Joseph must now have been dead.

* 
Jn 20:17
: The death and resurrection of Jesus had put an end to the ordinary familiar relationships of human life, and the time of lasting companionship had not yet come.

* 
Jn 21:1-25
: This chapter was added later, either by the evangelist or by a disciple; cf.
20:3-31
and
21:24
.

* 
Jn 21:7
: John remembered a similar miracle before; cf.
Lk 5:6
.

* 
Jn 21:15-17
: The threefold question addressed to Peter alone corresponds to the threefold denial. Jesus gives Peter charge over his flock.

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

* 
Acts 1:1
,
the first book
: i.e., St. Luke's Gospel.

* 
Acts 1:14
,
brethren
: See note on
Mt 12:46
.

* 
Acts 1:22
: An apostle must be a witness to Christ's resurrection.

* 
Acts 2:14
: Peter assumes the leadership in public. In this discourse we have the earliest form of the apostolic preaching.

* 
Acts 3:1
: In the early days, the first Christians observed the prescriptions of the Jewish law.

* 
Acts 4:2
: The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead.

* 
Acts 4:32
,
everything in common
: They freely shared what was theirs individually; cf.
Acts 5:4
.

* 
Acts 5:11
,
Church
: i.e., the Christian and Messianic community; a term borrowed from the Old Testament.

* 
Acts 5:20
,
Life
: cf.
Acts 9:2
, "the Way." These terms recall the words of Jesus, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (
 
Jn 14:6
).

* 
Acts 5:34
,
Gamaliel
: Teacher of St. Paul; cf.
Acts 22:3
.

* 
Acts 6:1
,
Hellenists
: Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion, who had their own synagogues in Jerusalem and read the Scriptures in Greek.

* 
Acts 8:20
: Hence the word "simony," meaning "buying and selling spiritual powers and privileges."

* 
Acts 9:5
: Jesus identifies himself with his followers.

* 
Acts 9:13
,
saints
: i.e., Christians, made holy by baptism.

* 
Acts 10:16
: The vision was to prepare Peter for his reception of Cornelius the Gentile and his household into the Church; cf. also
Acts 15
.

* 
Acts 12:1
: The second wave of persecution: cf.
Acts 8:1
.

* 
Acts 13:16-41
: This first recorded sermon of Paul is similar to that of Peter in
Acts 2:14-36
.

* 
Acts 16:10
: This is the first of the passages in Acts in which the story is told in the first person plural, indicating that Luke, the author, was there. The manuscript Codex Bezae, however, has a "we" passage in 11:28.

* 
Acts 16:13
: Being a Roman colony, Philippi had no synagogue within its walls.

* 
Acts 19:35
,
the sacred stone
or statue of the goddess which, according to legend, came down from heaven. Possibly a meteorite.

* 
Acts 20:7
: Celebration of the Eucharist on the Lord's day, i.e., Saturday evening, according to the Jewish way of reckoning a day from sunset to sunset.

* 
Acts 20:34
: Paul insisted on working for his living, though recognizing the apostle's right to support by the faithful; cf.
1 Cor 9:4-7
.

* 
Acts 21:4
,
told Paul not to go
: This was not a command. The Holy Spirit enlightened them about what lay before Paul and they naturally wished to spare him; cf.
verse 11
.

* 
Acts 22:20
,
your witness
: Greek, "martyr." Witnessing by one's death (i.e., martyrdom) is the supreme example.

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS

* 
Rom 1:1-7
: The opening address and salutation are very much in the style of contemporary letter-writing, giving the name of the sender and recipient, and following this with greetings.

* 
Rom 1:10
: Paul did not found the church at Rome.

* 
Rom 1:13
,
harvest
: Perhaps those who founded the church at Rome had confined themselves largely to Jews and had not made much headway with Gentiles.

* 
Rom 3:27
: Above all, it is faith, not works alone, that will justify both Jew and Gentile, and (as is made clear later) faith in Jesus.

* 
Rom 5:12
: Physical death is a sign of spiritual death; though physical death remains after justification.

* 
Rom 5:15
: The
felix culpa
praised in the
Exsultet
at the Easter Vigil.

* 
Rom 6:4
,
buried
: Immersed in the water of baptism.

* 
Rom 6:15
: As before, in the case of the law (
Rom 2:17-29
), so now, in the case of grace, Paul says it is not a license to sin.

* 
Rom 7:13-25
: Man under the law of Moses and perhaps man under the natural law too.

* 
Rom 8:19
: Material creation, too, shares man's destiny, made as it was for him. Many ancient philosophers thought matter to be evil and that the spirit should be freed from it.

* 
Rom 9:19-24
: Paul's words here, taken by themselves, seem to leave no room for moral responsibility, but they must be taken in conjunction with other passages; see chapters
1
and
2
.

* 
Rom 10:1
: Paul is afraid he has spoken too strongly of their sins, so he declares his love for Israel.

* 
Rom 14:1—15:13
: Paul is tolerant of the Jewish Christians' reluctance to abandon the ritual prescriptions of the law of Moses, while being equally insistent that these shall not be forced on Gentile Christians.

* 
Rom 14:14
: Conscience is the ultimate guide.

* 
Rom 15:15-16
: Paul again justifies his writing to a church he did not found.

* 
Rom 16:16
,
All the churches of Christ greet you
: A remarkable salutation, not used elsewhere.

THE FIRST LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

* 
1 Cor 1:2
,
saints
: A word commonly used for Christians in Paul's letters and in Acts.

* 
1 Cor 1:12
,
Cephas
: i.e., Peter. It does not follow from this that he had even been to Corinth, but it does indicate his authority there.

* 
1 Cor 2:1-2
: Paul's failure at Athens convinced him that lofty words and worldly wisdom were less effective than Jesus crucified.

* 
1 Cor 3:13
,
the Day
: i.e., the day of the Lord, God's searching judgment.

* 
1 Cor 3:16
,
God's temple
: The dignity of the Christians.

* 
1 Cor 5:1
,
father's wife
: Evidently his stepmother.

* 
1 Cor 5:5
,
to Satan
: Not only excommunicated, but in some sense given over to suffering, for his own good.

* 
1 Cor 5:9-10
,
immoral
: Literally, "fornicators."

* 
1 Cor 5:11
,
guilty of immorality
: Literally, "a fornicator."

* 
1 Cor 6:1
,
the unrighteous
: i.e., civil courts in which the judges were, of course, pagan.

* 
1 Cor 6:9
: 
the immoral
: literally, "fornicators."

* 
1 Cor 6:9
: 
homosexuals
: Greek has "effeminate nor sodomites." The apostle condemns, not the inherent tendencies of such, but the indulgence of them.

* 
1 Cor 6:12
: This saying is possibly an exaggeration of the freedom from the Mosaic law that Christians enjoyed. The saying has been applied to sinful practices, as is clear from the following verses.

* 
1 Cor 6:13
,
18
,
immorality
: i.e., sexual immorality.

* 
1 Cor 7:2
: Note Paul's insistence on equality of man and woman in certain aspects of Christian marriage, and his recognition that the unmarried state is also a gift from God.

* 
1 Cor 8:1-13
: Animals sacrificed to pagan gods were often sold as meat in the market. Could Christians buy such meat? Paul allows it so long as scandal is avoided.

* 
1 Cor 9:3
: Paul set great store by the fact that he has earned his living and waived his right to support by the faithful. He used this as an authentication of his apostolate.

* 
1 Cor 9:5
,
wife
: Greek, a "woman," a "sister." This could mean either a woman who is a Christian or a wife who is a Christian. There were pious women who ministered to the apostles (
Lk 8:3
). As many of the apostles must have been married, they may have been ministered to by their wives, though it is possible they had left their wives in answer to the Lord's command to leave all (
Lk 18:28-29
).

* 
1 Cor 9:5
,
brethren
: See note on
Mt 12:46
.

* 
1 Cor 10:20
: Paul appears to forbid partaking in sacrificial meals. In
verse 27
he says they may eat meat offered to idols if it is at an ordinary meal, unless it would cause scandal to anyone present.

* 
1 Cor 11:20
: There was apparently a common meal before the Eucharist at which food and drink were to be shared. Paul condemns the abuses that had crept in.

* 
1 Cor 12:1
: The spiritual gifts here referred to were common in the first age of the Church and helped to establish it on a firm basis.

* 
1 Cor 12:31
: Love, however, is far superior to these gifts.

* 
1 Cor 15:13
: Again, the resurrection of the dead is linked with Christ's resurrection; cf.
Rom 8:11
.

* 
1 Cor 15:29
: Apparently a custom of vicarious baptism for those who had died without it. Paul mentions it without approving it.

* 
1 Cor 16:1
: The collection to be made everywhere for the poor Christians in Jerusalem.

THE SECOND LETTER OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

* 
2 Cor 1:8
,
affliction
: Possibly the disturbance at Ephesus (
Acts 19:23-41
), or perhaps a serious illness.