Article July 30, 1938 Issue

Bible Notes

"My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (I Cor. 2:4)—The Greek term here rendered "enticing" means literally "persuasive" (Souter: Greek Lexicon, p. 197). Moffatt suggests: "What I said, what I preached, did not rest on the plausible arguments of 'wisdom' but on the proof supplied by the Spirit and its power;" and Goodspeed: "My teaching and message were not put in plausible, philosophical language, but they were attended with convincing spiritual power."

"That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (I Cor. 2:5)—The Greek word here rendered "should ... stand" means more literally "should ... be" (cf. the margin of the American Standard Version). Goodspeed suggests: "so that your faith might rest, not on human philosophy, but on the power of God;" and Weymouth: "so that your trust might rest not on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God."

"If I make my bed in hell" (Ps. 139:8)—The Hebrew word rendered "hell" is "sheol," which did not of necessity imply "an abode of punishment." The Jews used the term "sheol" in a general sense to designate the "realm of the dead" or "the underworld" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 982); and it appears that in Old English the word "hell" possessed the same neutral meaning. (Cf. Hastings' Bible Dictionary: Vol. II, p. 343.)

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