Excerpt from Critical Commentary and Paraphrase, Vol. 1 of 6: On the Old and New Testament and the Apocrypha Having been persuaded to put together some scattered notes, which I long ago made upon several places of Holy Scripture, I began the last year to consider some texts in the Book of Genesis. Where I soon found there would be a necessity of making an entire commentary, upon a good part of it: and therefore I resolved to go through the whole, in the same manner as I had done the three first chapters. After I had finished the better half of my work, I was informed that Mons. le Clere had published a Critical Commentary upon the same Book: but whether I have concurred in any thing with him, or contradicted him, I am not able to say; having wanted leisure to peruse his work, by reason of the public business, which came upon me in the end of the year: when I likewise understood, that a very learned friend and brother had put into the press. Annotations upon all the five books of Moses. But by communicating some of our papers to each other, we found there would be no reason that either of us should lay aside our design; but go on, in our several ways, to make the Scriptures better understood, by all sorts of persons: for all helps are little enough in this age; which seems to take pleasure in being ignorant of the most important truths. In which we are so particularly instructed by Moses, as by no other author, nor by all the authors that are, or have been known to be, extant in the world. For to him we owe the knowledge of the beginning of the world; of the first parents of mankind; the inventors of arts; the original of nations; the founders of kingdoms and empires; the institution of laws; the fountain of religious rites; yea, of all the ancient mythology; and, which is most considerable, the means of propagating that sense of God and of religion, which mankind brought into the world with them; and how it came to be corrupted. There have been those who have taken the liberty to say, that it is impossible to give any tolerable account of the creation of the world, in six days; of the situation of Paradise; the fall of our first parents, by the seduction of a serpent, &c. But I hope I have made it appear, there is no ground for such presumptuous words: but very good reason to believe every thing that Moses hath related: without Vol. I. forsaking the literal sense, and betaking ourselves to, I know not what, allegorical interpretations. Particularly, I find the truth of what I have noted concerning Paradise very much confirmed by a learned and judicious discourse of Mons. Huetius;which I did not meet withal till I had made an end of these Commentaries: but then took a review of what I had written, and found cause to correct what 1 had noted out of Mr. Carver, concerning the spring of Tigris and Euphrates. I might also have given a clearer account of the deluge, if I had observed some things which are come to my notice since these papers went to the press: but I hope I have said enough to evince that it is not so incredible, as some have pretended. For, having made the largest concessions concerning the height of the highest mountains, which, according to the old opinion, I have allowed may be thirty miles high. Gen. vii. 19. (whereas if, instead of thirty, I had said not above three perpendicular, I had had the best of the modern philosophers to defend me), it appears there might be water enough to cover the loftiest of them; as Moses hath related. Whose account of the families by whom the earth was peopled after the flood, is so surprisingly agreeable to all the records that remain in any language, of the several nations of the earth; that it carries with it an uncontrollable evidence of his sincerity and truth, as well as of his admirable universal knowledge. For, as there is no writer that hath given us an account of so many nations, and so remote, as he hath done: so he hath not satisfie.

For over one hundred years International Critical Commentaries have had a special place among works on the Bible. They bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments. The new commentaries continue this tradition. All new evidence now available is incorporated and new methods of study are applied. The authors are of the highest international standing. No attempt has been made to secure a uniform theological or critical approach to the biblical text: contributors have been invited for their scholarly distinction, not for their adherence to any one school of thought.

The Apostle John tells his readers, he has an important message to tell them. It is about a person who was already there before the beginning of the world. We heard him speak. We’ve seen Him with our own eyes. We watched Him and we touched Him. He is the Word that gives us life with God. This is the message: God is completely good and pure. He is like light. There is nothing dark about Him. Amazingly, John tells us that one of the things Jesus wanted us to understand is that by loving others we love God. Yes, we do make mistakes and so do other believers but we are not to hold that against them because just as we were given forgiveness by God’s mercy and grace since we are in union with His Son, so can they. What we are not to do is claim access to this privilege but then live like those in the world. Our goal is not just life, but eternal life. After all, we are God’s children and no child of God keeps on sinning after they are born again through Jesus the Anointed One.

For over years, International Critical Commentaries have had a special place among works on the Bible. They bring together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the meaning of the books of the Old and New Testaments.