Interpret → Preach
For the service
John Wesley’s own Explanatory Notes Upon the Old and New Testament on the day’s readings — his verse-by-verse commentary, not a summary of it. Read the full edition ↗
first Acts 3:12-19
- v.12Peter answered the people — Who were running together, and inquiring into the circumstances of the fact.
- v.13The God of our fathers — This was wisely introduced in the beginning of his discourse, that it might appear they taught no new religion, inconsistent with that of Moses, and were far from having the least design to divert their regards from the God of Israel. Hath glorified his Son - By this miracle, whom ye delivered up - When God had given him to you, and when ye ought to have received him as a most precious treasure, and to have preserved him with all your power.
- v.14Ye renounced the Holy One — Whom God had marked out as such; and the Just One - Even in the judgment of Pilate.
- v.16His name — Himself: his power and love. The faith which is by him - Of which he is the giver, as well as the object.
- v.17And now, brethren -- a word full of courtesy and compassion, I know — He speaks to their heart, that through ignorance ye did it - which lessened, though it could not take away, the guilt. As did also your rulers - The prejudice lying from the authority of the chief priests and elders, he here removes, but with great tenderness. He does not call them our, but your rulers. For as the Jewish dispensation ceased at the death of Christ, consequently so did the authority of its rulers.
- v.18But God — Who was not ignorant, permitted this which he had foretold, to bring good out of it.
- v.19Be converted — Be turned from sin and Satan unto God. See chap. xxvi, 20. But this term, so common in modern writings, very rarely occurs in Scripture: perhaps not once in the sense we now use it, for an entire change from vice to holiness. That the times of refreshing - Wherein God largely bestows his refreshing grace, may come - To you also. To others they will assuredly come, whether ye repent or no.
psalm Psalm 4
- v.1O God — The witness and defender of my righteous cause.
- v.2My glory — By his glory probably he means that honour which God had conferred upon him. Vanity - Wickedness. Lying - Those calumnies which they raised against him, to make him odious to all the people.
- v.3Godly — Me, whom, though you traduce as an hypocrite, God hath pronounced to be a man after his own heart, 1 Sam. xiii, 14. For himself - In his stead, or to be his vicegerent, as all kings are, and especially the kings of God's own people.
- v.4In awe — Be afraid, if not of me, yet of God, who hath engaged in my cause. Sin not - By prosecuting your rebellion against God's authority. On your bed - Calmly consider these things in the silent night, when you are at leisure from distracting business. Be still - Compose your tumultuous minds.
- v.5Offer — Unto God, that he may be reconciled to you. Righteousness - Righteous sacrifices; which requires that the persons offering them be righteous and do righteous things, and offer them with an honest mind, with faith and true repentance. Without which, he intimates, that all their sacrifices were of no esteem with God, and would be wholly unprofitable to them.
- v.6Many — Of my followers, who are weary of waiting upon God. Who - Who will put an end to our troubles, and give us tranquility. Lift up - Upon me and my friends. Give us an assurance of thy love, and evidence it by thy powerful assistance.
- v.7Thou hast — Whatsoever thou shalt do with me for the future, I have at present unspeakable satisfaction in the testimonies of thy love to my soul; more than worldly persons have in the time of a plentiful harvest.
- v.8In peace — In tranquility of mind, resting securely upon God's promises. David beseeches God to hear his prayer, ver. 1-3. Assures himself of God's justice against his enemies, ver. 4-6. Declares his resolution: to serve God, ver. 7. Prays for himself and the people of God, and against his enemies, ver. 8-12. To the chief musician upon Nehiloth, A psalm of David. Title of the psalm. Nehiloth - This is no where else used in scripture. It is thought to signify a wind-instrument, as Neginoth signified stringed instruments.
second 1 John 3:1-7
- v.1That we should be called — That is, should be, the children of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not - They know not what to make of us. We are a mystery to them.
- v.2It doth not yet appear — Even to ourselves. What we shall be - It is something ineffable, which will raise the children of God to be, in a manner, as God himself. But we know, in general, that when he, the Son of God, shall appear, we shall be like him - The glory of God penetrating our inmost substance. For we shall see him as he is - Manifestly, without a veil. And that sight will transform us into the same likeness.
- v.3And every one that hath this hope in him — In God.
- v.4Whosoever committeth sin — Thereby transgresseth the holy, just, and good law of God, and so sets his authority at nought; for this is implied in the very nature of sin.
- v.5And ye know that he — Christ. Was manifested - That he came into the world for this very purpose. To take away our sins - To destroy them all, root and branch, and leave none remaining. And in him is no sin - So that he could not suffer on his own account, but to make us as himself.
- v.6Whosoever abideth in communion with him, by loving faith, sinneth not — While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth him not - The loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he then experimentally know him - Whatever he did in time past.
- v.7Let no one deceive you — Let none persuade you that any man is righteous but he that uniformly practices righteousness; he alone is righteous, after the example of his Lord.
gospel Luke 24:36b-48
- v.36Jesus stood in the midst of them — It was just as easy to his Divine power to open a door undiscernibly, as it was to come in at a door opened by some other hand. Mark xvi, 14, 19; John xx, 19.
- v.40He showed them his hands and his feet — That they might either see or feel the prints of the nails.
- v.41While they believed not for joy — They did in some sense believe: otherwise they would not have rejoiced. But their excess of joy prevented a clear, rational belief.
- v.43He took it and ate before them — Not that he had any need of food; but to give them still further evidence.
- v.44And he said — On the day of his ascension. In the law, and the prophets, and the Psalms - The prophecies as well as types, relating to the Messiah, are contained either in the books of Moses (usually called the law) in the Psalms, or in the writings of the prophets; little being said directly concerning him in the historical books.
- v.45Then opened he their understanding, to understand the Scriptures — He had explained them before to the two as they went to Emmaus. But still they understood them not, till he took off the veil from their hearts, by the illumination of his Spirit.
- v.47Beginning at Jerusalem — This was appointed most graciously and wisely: graciously, as it encouraged the, greatest sinners to repent, when they saw that even the murderers of Christ were not excepted from mercy: and wisely, as hereby Christianity was more abundantly attested; the facts being published first on the very spot where they happened.