Voices and influences
Albert Barnes
The Philadelphia pastor who rose at four every morning to write Bible notes for his own Sunday school, and sold a million volumes of them.
Summary
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1798 to 1870.
- Quoted here most in Isaiah: 746 of 8,265.
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Albert Barnes
- Lived
- 1798 to 1870
- Tradition
- Presbyterian
5 of 8,265 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Albert Barnes died in 1870 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts - Interpreters have differed in regard to the connection of this verse with the preceding.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
It is evident, I think, that it is properly connected with the subject of pardon; and the sense must be, that the plans and purposes of God in regard to forgiveness are as far above those of people as the heavens are higher than the earth, Isa 55:
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. BSB
He hath shewed thee - Micah does not tell them now, as for the first time; which would have excused them. He says, “He hath shewed thee;” He, about whose mind and will and pleasure they were pretending to enquire, the Lord their God.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
He had shewn it to them. The law was full of it. He shewed it to them, when He said, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and to serve the Lord, thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deu 10:12-13. They had asked, “with what outward thing shall I come before the Lord;” the prophet tells them, “what thing is good,” the inward man of the heart, righteousness, love, humility. And what doth the Lord require (search, seek) of thee? - The very word implies an earnest search within. He would say (Rup.), “Trouble not thyself as to any of these things, burnt-offerings, rams, calves, without thee. For God seeketh not thine, but thee; not thy substance, but thy spirit; not ram or goat, but thy heart.” : “Thou askest, what thou shouldest offer for thee? Other thyself. For what else doth the Lord seek of thee, but thee? Because, of all earthly creatures, He hath made nothing better than thee, He seeketh thyself from thyself, because thou hadst lost thyself.” To do judgment - are chiefly all acts of equity; “to love mercy,” all deeds of love. Judgment, is what right requires; mercy, what love. Yet, secondarily, “to do judgment” is to pass righteous judgments in all cases; and so, as to others, “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” Joh 7:24; and as to one’s self also. Judge equitably and kindly of others, humbly of thyself. […]
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? BSB
(Compare Exo. 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exo 13:2; Num 3:12-
Exodus 28:1 “Next, have your brother Aaron brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, to serve Me as priests. BSB
The leper was to carry about with him the usual signs of mourning for the dead. Compare Lev 10:6 and margin reference.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
The rest of the quotation
The leper was a living parable in the world of the sin of which death was the wages; not the less so because his suffering might have been in no degree due to his own personal deserts: he bore about with him at once the deadly fruit and the symbol of the sin of his race. Exo 20:
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ BSB
Chambers - (Margin, floors). Rather, a lean-to, which completely surrounded three sides of the building, the north, the west, and the south.
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Undated in the archive this site cites.
1 Kings 6:5 Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Albert Barnes 8,265 times across 66 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
Albert Barnes was born at Rome, New York, on December 1, 1798. He was headed for the law. At Hamilton College he was converted, changed direction, and went to Princeton Theological Seminary instead, graduating in 1824. His first pastorate was Morristown, New Jersey, from 1825 to 1830. In 1830 he was called to the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he preached until 1867 — thirty-seven years in one pulpit. The habit that made him famous was the alarm clock. Barnes rose at four every morning and wrote until nine, before the day's pastoral work began. What he wrote were notes on the Bible for his own Sunday school teachers and Bible class — plain explanations, verse by verse, aimed at people with no Greek and no library. He published them, beginning with the Gospels in 1832. They did not stop. Notes, Explanatory and Practical eventually covered the whole New Testament and much of the Old — Job, the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel — and sold more than a million volumes in his lifetime, an astonishing number for the period. Generations of American laymen learned their Bible out of Barnes. He was also tried for heresy. His 1829 sermon The Way of Salvation, and then his notes on Romans in 1835, were charged with departing from the Westminster Confession on original sin and the atonement; Barnes taught that Christ's death was a provision made for all rather than a payment restricted in advance to the elect. The Presbytery of Philadelphia suspended him from the ministry in 1835, and the General Assembly reversed the suspension in 1836. He was acquitted, but the fight was one of the fuses of the Old School–New School division that split the American Presbyterian church in 1837. Barnes stood on the New School side. He fought slavery hard and early. An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery (1846) took up the biblical arguments the Southern churches used and dismantled them one at a time; The Church and Slavery followed in 1857. The books were read widely in the North during the years the country came apart. His eyesight failed badly in later life, and he kept working with help. He resigned the pulpit in 1867 and died in Philadelphia on December 24, 1870, at seventy-two. What he left is unusual for a scholar. Not a monument — a tool. A working pastor's commentary, written before breakfast for people who had no one else to explain the text, still in print and still free more than a century and a half later. Sources: Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the New Testament and An Inquiry into the Scriptural Views of Slavery; the published minutes of the Presbyterian General Assembly, 1835–1837; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church; George Marsden, The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.
8,265 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
“Now as touching - In regard to; in answer to your inquiry whether it is right or not to partake of those things. Things offered unto idols - Sacrifices unto idols.”
But the one who loves God is known by God.
“But if any man love God - If any man is truly attached to God; if he seeks to serve him, and to promote his glory. The sense seems to be this.”
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords),
“That are called gods - Gods so called. The pagans everywhere worshipped multitudes, and gave to them the name of gods. Whether in heaven - Residing in heaven, as a part of the gods were supposed to do.”
Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
“But take heed - This is the reply of Paul to the argument of the Corinthians in 1Co 8:8. “Though all that you say should be admitted to be true, as it must be; though a man is neither morally better nor worse for partaking…”
So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.
“And through thy knowledge - Because you knew that an idol was nothing, and that there could be really no danger of falling into idolatry from partaking of these entertainments. You will thus be the means of deceiving and destroying him.”
Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.
“Wherefore - As the conclusion of the whole matter. If meat ... - Paul here proposes his own views and feelings, or tells them how he would act in order to show them how they should act in these circumstances.”
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?
“Am I not an apostle? - This was the point to be settled; and it is probable that some at Corinth had denied that he could be an apostle, since it was requisite, in order to that, to have seen the Lord Jesus; and since…”
This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:
“Mine answer - Greek Ἡ ἐμὴ ἀπολογία Hē emē apologia. My “apology;” my defense. The same word occurs in Act 22:1; Act 25:16; 2Co 7:11; Php 1:7, Php 1:17; 2Ti 4:16; 1Pe 3:15; see the note at Act 22:1.”
Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?
“Have we not power? - Have we not a right? The objection here seems to have been, that Paul and Barnabas were unmarried, or at least that they traveled without wives.”
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?
“Who goeth a warfare ... - Paul now proceeds to illustrate the right which he knew ministers had to a support 1Co 9:7-14, and then to show the reason why he had not availed himself of that right; 1Co 9:15-23.”
For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
“For it is written - Deu 25:4. In the law of Moses - See the note at Luk 24:44. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth ... - To muzzle means, “to bind the mouth; to fasten the mouth to prevent eating or biting” - Webster.”
If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?
“If we have sown unto you spiritual things - If we have been the means of imparting to you the gospel, and bestowing upon you its high hopes and privileges; see the note at Rom 15:27.”
Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings?
“Do ye not know ... - In this verse Paul illustrates the doctrine that the ministers of religion were, entitled to a support from the fact that those who were appointed to offer sacrifice receive a maintenance in their work.”
But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me.
“But I have used none of these things - I have not urged and enforced this right. I have chosen to support myself by the labor of my own hands.”
If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.
“For if I do this thing willingly - If I preach so as to show that my heart is in it; that I am not compelled, If I pursue such a course as to show that I prefer it to all other employments.”
Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
“For though I be free - I am a freeman. I am under obligation to none. I am not bound to. give them my labors, and at the same time to toil for my own support.”
To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win…
“To them that are without law - To the Gentiles, who have not the law of Moses; see the note at Rom 2:12, note at Rom 2:14. As without law - Not practicing the special rites and ceremonies enjoined in the law of Moses.”
I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
“For the gospel’s sake - That it may be advanced, and may be successful. That I might be partaker thereof with you - You hope to be saved.”
Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.
“And every man that striveth for the mastery - (ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος ho agōnizomenos). That “agonizes;” that is, that is engaged in the exercise of “wrestling, boxing,” or pitching the bar or quoit; compare the note at Luk 13:24.”
No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
“But I keep under my body - (ὑπωπιάζω hupōpiazō). This word occurs in the New Testament only here and in Luk 18:5, “Lest by her continual coming she ‘weary’ me.””
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea.
“Moreover, brethren - But, or now (δε de). This verse, with the following illustrations 1Co 10:1-4, is properly connected in Paul’s argument with the statements which he had made in 1Co 8:8, etc., and is designed to show the danger which would result from their…”
They all ate the same spiritual food
“And did all eat the same spiritual meat - That is, “manna.” Exo 16:15, Exo 16:35; Neh 9:15, Neh 9:20. The word meat here is used in the old English sense of the word, to denote “food” in general. They lived on “manna.””
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
“But with many of them ... - That is, with their conduct. They rebelled and sinned, and were destroyed.”
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”
“Neither be ye idolaters - This caution is evidently given in view of the danger to which they would be exposed if they partook of the feasts that were celebrated in honor of idols in their temples.”
We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
“Neither let us tempt Christ ... - The word “tempt,” when applied to man, means to present motives or inducements to sin; when used with reference to God, it means to try his patience, to provoke his anger, or to act in such a way…”