Commentaries

          We pretty much are bombarded by the media these days in regard to events that are taking place in our world. Unfortunately, much of it is “news commentary.” Everyone wants to give their own opinion of what is going on and so we end up having a lot of news commentary and less news. I guess commentary is acceptable to some degree but too much of begins to cloud what actually happened and we end up with a person's opinion of what took place and not much about the actual event. Edward R. Murrow was a newscaster and he reported the news. Others just tell their opinion of the news. A lot of the same thing goes on in trying to explain what the Bible says about many different categories. You can almost find someone, somewhere, that will agree with your personal view of what the Bible means about any given passage. On my favorite Bible program, there are 32 different commentaries on the Bible that are free. I also have shelves filled with commentaries on the Bible by many famous authors. One might well ask the question, “What did they do before the commentaries were written?” Acts 17:11 says, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” 

         The early church at Berea solved the problem. For some reason, Luke wrote through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians in that they, the Bereans, searched the Scriptures. The Thessalonians took what Paul said as Okay and left it at that while the Bereans checked it all out in what they had at the time, the Old Testament. They literally searched the Scriptures. It is easy for us in this day and age to simply turn to the page discussing a passage to find out the commentator's opinion of that passage. It might be right on or it might be way off, but it is his opinion. As we read and study God's Word, we soon begin to recognize key thoughts and phrases and that they begin to define each other and thus we have the sense of the passage. It is a sad day when a country's leaders have to define marriage or it is a sad day when a court has to decide when life begins for a baby. All you have to do is to “search the Scriptures” and find out what God has already said about the issue. While commentaries are good, they should be the last thing we look at instead of the first thing. Praise God for His Word and for the answers that it has for our lives.