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
Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
“Then laid they their hands ... - This was an act of “prayer,” expressing an invocation to God that he would impart the blessing to “them.” On “how many” they laid their hands is not said.”
You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
“Neither part - You have no “portion” of the grace of God; that is, you are destitute of it altogether. This word commonly denotes the “part” of an inheritance which falls to one when it is divided.”
For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”
“For I perceive - That is, by the act which he had done. His offer had shown a state of mind that was wholly inconsistent with true religion.”
And after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many of the Samaritan villages.
“In many villages ... - They went at first directly to the “city” of Samaria. On their return to Jerusalem they travelled more at leisure, and preached in the villages also - a good example for the ministers of the gospel, and for all Christians…”
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.
“A man of Ethiopia - Gaza was near the confines between Palestine and Egypt. It was in the direct road from Jerusalem to Egypt. “Ethiopia” was one of the great kingdoms of Africa, part of which is now called Abyssinia.”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
“And he said ... - This was a general acknowledgment of his need of direction. It evinced a humble state of mind. It was an acknowledgment, also, originating probably from this particular passage which he was reading.”
The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not…
“The place ... - Isa 53:7-8. He was led ... - This quotation is taken literally from the Septuagint. It varies very little from the Hebrew.”
In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.”
“In his humiliation - This varies from the Hebrew, but is copied exactly from the Septuagint, showing that he was reading the Septuagint. The Hebrew text is: “He was taken from prison and from judgment.””
Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
“Opened his mouth - See Mat 5:2. At the same scripture - Taking this as a “text” to be illustrated. Preached unto him Jesus - Showed him that Jesus of Nazareth exactly corresponded to the description of the prophet, and that therefore he referred to…”
“And Philip said ... - This was stated by Philip as the proper qualification for making a profession of religion.”
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.
“Out of the water - ἐκ ek. This preposition stands opposed to εἰς eis, “into”; and as that may mean to, so this may mean From; if that means into, this means here out of. The Spirit of the Lord - See Act 8:29.”
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest
“And Saul - See the notes on Act 7:58; Act 8:3. He had been engaged be fore in persecuting the Christians, but he now sought opportunity to gratify his insatiable desire on a larger scale.”
As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
“And as he journeyed - On his way, or while he was traveling. The place where this occurred is not known. Irby and Mangles say it is “outside the eastern gate.””
“Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.
“And he said, Who art thou, Lord? - The word “Lord” here, as is frequently the case in the New Testament, means no more than “sir,” Joh 4:19. It is evident that Saul did not as yet know that this was the Lord Jesus.”
The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.
“And the men which journeyed with him - Why these men attended him is unknown. They might have been appointed to aid him, or they may have been travelers with whom Saul had accidentally fallen in.”
For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.
“And neither did eat nor drink - Probably because he was overwhelmed with a view of his sins, and was thus indisposed to eat. All the circumstances would contribute to this.”
“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
“Into the street which is called Straight - This street extends now from the eastern to the western gate, about three miles, crossing the whole city and suburbs in a direct line.”
But Ananias answered, “Lord, many people have told me about this man and all the harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem.
“I have heard by many ... - This was in the vision, Act 9:10. The passage of such a train of thoughts through the mind was perfectly natural at the command to go and search out Saul.”
So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul.
“Putting his hands on him - This was not “ordination,” but was the usual mode of imparting or communicating blessings. See the notes on Mat 19:13; Mat 9:18. Brother Saul - An expression recognizing him as a fellow-Christian.”
and after taking some food, he regained his strength. And he spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.
“Had received meat - Food. The word “meat” has undergone a change since our translation was made. It then meant, as the original does, food of all kinds. With the disciples - With Christians, compare Act 2:42. Order? certain days with the disciples?”
All who heard him were astounded and asked, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem on those who call on this name?
“Were amazed - Amazed at his sudden and remarkable change. That destroyed - That opposed; laid waste; persecuted. Compare Gal 1:13. For that intent - With that design, that he might destroy the church at Damascus.”
After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
“And after that many days ... - How long a time elapsed before this is not recorded in this place, but it is evident that the writer means to signify that a considerable time intervened.”
One night, however, his disciples took him and lowered him in a basket through a window in the wall.
“Took him by night ... - This was done through a window in the wall, 2Co 11:33. In a basket - This word is used to denote commonly “the basket in which food was carried,” Mat 15:37; Mar 8:8, Mar 8:20.”
Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who spoke to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly…
“But Barnabas - See the notes on Act 4:36. Barnabas was of Cyprus, not far from Tarsus, and it is not improbable that he had been before acquainted with Saul. To the apostles - To Peter and James, Gal 1:18-19.”
He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.
“And spake boldly - He openly defended the doctrine that Jesus was the Messiah. In the name ... - By the authority of the Lord Jesus. Against the Grecians - See the word “Grecians” explained in the notes on Act 6:1.”