New Testament

Commentary on 2 Peter and Jude by E.H. Plumptre

Edward Hayes Plumptre [1821-1891], St. Peter & St. Jude with Notes and IntroductionEdward Hayes Plumptre was Dean of Wells Cathedral. Wikipedia notes, Plumptre:

…wrote much on the interpretation of scripture, endeavouring to combine and popularise, in no superficial fashion, the results attained by labourers in special sections of the subject. He contributed to the commentaries known respectively as the Cambridge Bible, the Speaker’s Commentary, that edited by Bishop Ellicott, and the Bible Educator. He also wrote Biblical Studies, 1870 (3rd edit. 1885), St. Paul in Asia (1877), a Popular Exposition of the Epistles to the Seven Churches (1877 and 1879), Movements in Religious Thought: Romanism, Protestantism, Agnosticism (1879), and Theology and Life (1884). His most remarkable theological work was The Spirits in Prison, and other studies on Life after Death (1884 and 1885). The book comprises a review of previous teaching on the subject of eschatology. His characteristic sympathy with ‘the larger hope’ is moderated throughout by a characteristic caution. He had passed beyond the influence of Maurice, and, though his loyal admiration for his earlier teacher remained unchanged, he had rejected his conclusions.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

Edward Hayes Plumptre [1821-1891], St. Peter & St. Jude with Notes and Introduction. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1893. Hbk pp.220. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Text and Notes
  3. Index

Introduction. The Training of the Disciple

The early years of the Apostle whose writings are now before us appear to have been passed in the village of Bethsaida (=Fishtown, or more literally Home of Fish), on the West coast of the Sea of Galilee, not far from Chorazin and Capernaum (John i. 44). Its exact position cannot be determined with any certainty, but it has been identified with the modern ‘Ain et Tabi’galt, and must be distinguished from the town of the same name on the North-Eastern shore of the Lake, which, after it had been enlarged and rebuilt by Philip the Tetrarch, was known as Bethsaida Julias, the latter name having been 1 given to it in honour of the daughter of the Emperor Augustus.

Among the fishermen from whose occupation the town derived its name was one who bore the name either of Jona (John i. 42; Matt. xvi. 17) or Joannes (in the best MSS. of John xxi. 15-17)…

Theology of the Letter to the Hebrews by George Milligan

George Milligan [1860-1934], The Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews with a Critical IntroductionThe fact that George Milligan’s book on the theology of Hebrews is still being reprinted 119 years after it was published is a good indicator of its enduring value to Bible students.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

George Milligan [1860-1934], The Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews with a Critical Introduction. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1899. Hbk. pp.233. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  • Preface
  1. The History and Authorship of the Epistle
  2. Internal Evidence as to Authorship
  3. The Destination, Date, and Place of Writing of the Epistle
  4. The Readers, Aim, Characteristics, and Analysis of the Epistle
  5. The Covenant-Idea and the Person of the Son
  6. The Son as High Priest
  7. The High-Priestly Work of the Son
  8. The New Covenant
  9. The Relation of the Epistle to Other Systems of Thought
  10. The Present-Day Significance of the Epistle
  • Indexes

Preface

The increasing interest that is being taken in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the ever-deepening feeling of its vital relation to some of the most pressing questions of our own time, must be pleaded in justification of the addition of another to the many books that have recently appeared dealing with it. And at the same time the author ventures to express the hope that the present volume will be found to fill a place hitherto unoccupied at least by any English writer on the subject. For while there are Critical Commentaries on the Epistle in abundance, and Expositions, both scholarly and popular, dealing with its teaching as a whole, he is not aware of any other book in English presenting that teaching in systematic form. He is painfully conscious how far short his own attempt comes of what such a study in Biblical Theology ought to be….

Commentary on the Epistles of John by Alfred Plummer

Commentary on the Epistles of John by Alfred Plummer 1Alfred Plummer, master of University College Durham, was a prolific writer of biblical commentaries. He wrote the volumes on Luke, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians in the International Critical Commentary (ICC) old series, as well as four of the The Cambridge Bible for Schools series.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of his commentary on John’s letters for digitisation. This volume is in the public domain.

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], The Epistles of John. The Cambridge Bible for Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1892. Hbk. pp.220. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Text and Notes
  3. Appendices
  4. Indices

The Last Years of S. John

A sketch of the life of S. John as a whole has been given in the Introduction to the Fourth Gospel. Here it will not be necessary to do more than retouch and somewhat enlarge what was there said respecting the closing years of his life, in which period, according to all probability, whether derived from direct or indirect evidence, our three Epistles were written. In order to understand the motive and ton,e of the Epistles, it is requisite to have some clear idea of the circumstances, local, moral, and intellectual, in the midst of which they were written.

(i) The Local Surroundings-Ephesus

Unless the whole history of the century which followed upon the destruction of Jerusalem is to be abandoned as chimerical and untrustworthy, we must continue to believe the almost universally accepted statement that S. John spent the last portion of his life in Asia Minor, and chiefly at Ephesus. The sceptical spirit which insists upon the truism that well-attested facts have nevertheless not been demonstrated with all the certainty of a proposition in Euclid, and contends that it is therefore right to doubt them, and lawful to dispute them, renders history impossible. The evidence of S. John’s residence at Ephesus is too , strong to be shaken by conjectures. It will be worth while to state the main elements of it.