Voices and influences
Adam Clarke
The self-taught Irish Methodist orientalist who rode preaching circuits for fifty years and spent forty of them writing a commentary on the whole Bible.
Summary
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1762 to 1832.
- Quoted here most in Genesis: 673 of 9,015.
Adam Clarke
- Lived
- 1762 to 1832
- Tradition
- Methodist
5 of 9,015 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because Adam Clarke died in 1832 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.
The earth was without form and void - The original term תהו tohu and בהו bohu, which we translate without form and void, are of uncertain etymology; but in this place, and wherever else they are used, they convey the idea of confusion and disorder.
The rest of the quotation
From these terms it is probable that the ancient Syrians and Egyptians borrowed their gods, Theuth and Bau, and the Greeks their Chaos.
Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. BSB
Even a fool - He is counted wise as to that particular. He may know that he cannot speak well, and he has sense enough to keep from speaking. He is, as to that particular, a wise fool.
The rest of the quotation
A man may be golden-mouthed and silver-tongued in eloquence; but to know when and where to speak and to be silent, is better than diamonds. But who that thinks he can speak well can refrain from speaking? His tongue has no rest.
Proverbs 17:28 Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue. BSB
Thoughts of peace - Here God gives them to understand, 1. That his love was moved towards them. 2. That he would perform his good word, his promises often repeated, to them. 3. That for the fulfillment of these they must pray, seek, and search.
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4. That he would hearken, and they should find him; provided, 5. They sought him with their whole heart, Jer 29:10-13.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. BSB
Let your light so shine - Or more literally, Thus let your light shine, Ουτω λαμψατω το φως.
The rest of the quotation
As the sun is lighted up in the firmament of heaven to diffuse its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the lamp is not set under the bushel, but placed upon the lamp-stand that it may give light to all in the house; Thus let every follower of Christ, and especially every preacher of the Gospel, diffuse the light of heavenly knowledge, and the warmth of Divine love through the whole circle of their acquaintance.
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. BSB
A bruised reed shall he not break - A reed is, in Scripture, the emblem of weakness, Eze 29:6; and a bruised reed must signify that state of weakness that borders on dissolution and death. And smoking flax shall he not quench - Λινον τυφομενον.
The rest of the quotation
Λινος means the wick of a lamp, and τυφομενον is intended to point out its expiring state, when the oil has been all burnt away from it, and nothing is left but a mere snuff, emitting smoke.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes Adam Clarke 9,015 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
Adam Clarke was born at Moybeg, in County Londonderry, Ireland, about 1760 — his father said 1762, and the exact year has never been settled. His father was a schoolmaster; the family was poor. As a boy Clarke was thought slow. He learned to read late, and then read everything he could reach. He was converted among the Methodists in 1778, and in 1782 John Wesley himself sent him to the Bradford circuit in England. He was about twenty-two, with almost no formal schooling and a horse. He spent the rest of his life as a travelling preacher, moving circuits every few years as Methodist rules required — Bradford, Norwich, the Channel Islands, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, London. He was elected president of the British Methodist Conference three times, in 1806, 1814, and 1822, an honor almost never repeated in that era. And all along he studied. Clarke taught himself Hebrew, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Persian, Samaritan, Coptic, and more, and became one of the finest oriental scholars in Britain without ever holding a university chair. The government hired him: for years he worked for the Records Commission on Rymer's Foedera, the great collection of English state papers, and he catalogued manuscripts for private libraries. He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy and the Society of Antiquaries. The work he is known for took forty years. The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes was published in eight volumes between 1810 and 1826. It is enormous, digressive, and packed with material nobody else was supplying to English readers — Hebrew and Arabic parallels, ancient customs, natural history, textual notes, and long excursions on whatever caught his eye. It became the standard theological resource of Methodism for the better part of two centuries, and it is still consulted. He was open about where he broke ranks. Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ: he held the Son to be fully and eternally divine, but taught that the title "Son" describes the incarnation rather than an eternal relation. Methodists argued with him about it in his lifetime and long after, and Methodist doctrine did not follow him there. He also read the tempter of Genesis 3 as a creature more like an ape than a serpent — a reading nearly everyone else rejected. The commentary carries these views plainly, and readers have always had to weigh them. He gave himself away in other directions too. He worked for the early Bible society movement, championed the Sunday school, organized mission work in the Shetland Isles, and gave away most of what he earned. He died of cholera in London on August 26, 1832, during the epidemic that swept Britain that year, still working. Sources: Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible... with a Commentary and Critical Notes; J. B. B. Clarke, ed., An Account of the Infancy, Religious and Literary Life of Adam Clarke, LL.D.; Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley; the Dictionary of National Biography (1887), "Clarke, Adam."
9,015 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
“If we say that we have fellowship - Having fellowship, κοινωνια, communion, with God, necessarily implies a partaking of the Divine nature.”
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
“If we say that we have no sin - This is tantamount to 1Jn 1:10: If we say that we have not sinned. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and therefore every man needs a Savior, such as Christ is.”
He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
“And he is the propitiation - ‘Ἱλασμος· The atoning sacrifice for our sins. This is the proper sense of the word as used in the Septuagint, where it often occurs; and is the translation of אשם asham, an oblation for sin, Amo 8:14.”
If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
“He that saith, I know him - This is a severe blow against those false teachers, and against all pretenders to religious knowledge, who live under the power of their sins; and against all Antinomians, and false boasters in the righteousness of Christ as a…”
Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
“Abideth in him - He who not only professes to have known Christ, but also that he has communion with him, and abides in his favor, should prove the truth of his profession by walking as Christ walked; living a life of devotion and obedience…”
Then again, I am also writing to you a new commandment, which is true in Him and also in you.
“Which thing is true in him and in you - It is true that Christ loved the world so well as to lay down his life for it; and it was true in them, in all his faithful followers at that time, who were ready…”
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.
“He that loveth his brother - That is, his neighbor, his fellow creature, whether Jew or Gentile, so as to bear him continual good will, and to be ready to do him every kind office; abideth in the light - not only gives proof that…”
I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.
“The word of God abideth in you - Ye have not only thoroughly known and digested the Divine doctrine, but your hearts are moulded into it; ye know it to be the truth of God from the power and happiness with which it inspires you…”
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
“For all that is in the world - All that it can boast of, all that it can promise, is only sensual, transient gratification, and even this promise it cannot fulfill; so that its warmest votaries can complain loudest of their disappointment.”
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared.
“Little children, it is the last time - This place is variously understood. This is the last dispensation of grace and mercy to mankind; the present age is the conclusion of the Jewish state, as the temple and holy city are shortly to be destroyed.”
You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
“But ye have an unction - The word χρισμα signifies not an unction, but an ointment, the very thing itself by which anointing is effected; and so it was properly rendered in our former translations.”
Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son.
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? - Here we see some of the false doctrines which were then propagated in the world.”
As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father.
“Let that therefore abide in you - Continue in the doctrines concerning the incarnation, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Lord Jesus, which you have heard preached from the beginning by us his apostles.”
I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
“These things have I written - Either meaning the whole epistle, or what is contained in the preceding verses, from the beginning of the 18th to the end of the 25th.”
And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.
“And now, little children - Τεκνια, Beloved children, abide in him - in Christ Jesus. Let his word and spirit continually abide in you, and have communion with the Father and the Son.”
Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.
“Now are we the sons of God - He speaks of those who are begotten of God, and who work righteousness. See the preceding chapter.”
Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness.
“Sin is the transgression of the law - The spirit of the law as well as of the Gospel is, that “we should love God with all our powers, and our neighbor as ourselves.””
No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.
“Whosoever abideth in him - By faith, love, and obedience. Sinneth not - Because his heart is purified by faith, and he is a worker together with God, and consequently does not receive the grace of God in vain. See on 1Jn 3:3 (note).”
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start.
“He that committeth sin is of the devil - Hear this, also, ye who plead for Baal, and cannot bear the thought of that doctrine that states believers are to be saved from all sin in this life!”
By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not…
“In this the children of God are manifest - Here is a fearful text. Who is a child of the devil? He that commits sin. Who is a child of God? He that works righteousness.”
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him?
“Not as Cain - Men should not act to each other as Cain did to his brother Abel. He murdered him because he was better than himself. But who was Cain? Εκ του πονηρου ην, he was of the devil.”
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.
“We know that we have passed from death unto life - Death and life are represented here as two distinct territories, states, or kingdoms, to either of which the inhabitants of either may be removed.”
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
“Hereby perceive we the love of God - This sixteenth verse of this third chapter of John’s first epistle is, in the main, an exact counterpart of the sixteenth verse of the third chapter of St.”
Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.
“My little children - Τεκνια μου, My beloved children, let us not love in word - in merely allowing the general doctrine of love to God and man to be just and right; Neither in tongue - In making professions of love, and of a…”
and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
“Whatsoever we ask - In such a spirit, we receive of him, for he delights to bless the humble, upright, and sincere soul. Because we keep his commandments - Viz., by loving him and loving our neighbor.”