Matthew Henry was an English Protestant who lived from 1662 to 1714.
St. Cyril's commentary on Luke makes it clear that what many others have said here is so - namely that we do not know the hour, nor would it be good for us to do so. We must, instead, live as though the final hour were upon us.
There have always been Christians who have wanted to have exact knowledge of 'the final hour', and some of the early gnostic sects were obsessed with this. But Christ says that none of us know the hour. Can you imagine what we would be like if we did??
No, God knows what is best for us, and we are called to be faithful to his commands and to love one another. That seems quite hard enough for most of us.
No, not wrong, for he was a Godly man who devoted his life to the service of Our Lord. But he was not grounded in the Orthodox tradition, so whilst we can read him with profit to our souls, we cannot take him as a guide to what the Orthodox Church teaches; we have our priests for that.
There is an Orthodox study Bible, with comments from the Holy Fathers. At the moment this is only for the New Testament, and can be found on Amazon if you can't get it locally. The Old Testament is nearly ready for publication.
As I say, there is nothing incompatible with Orthodoxy in what Matthew Henry writes, and it is good to be able to have such a commentary so easily to hand.
The link I gave in my last post tells us when the Old Testament will be ready, which should be by Spring 2008.
The Orthodox Study Bible is an excellent text; some of the more severe Eastern Orthodox find fault with it, but it is surely better to have an Orthodox commentary than not?
[quote author=Anglican link=topic=4813.msg67396#msg67396 date=1171131746] The Orthodox Study Bible is an excellent text; some of the more severe Eastern Orthodox find fault with it, but it is surely better to have an Orthodox commentary than not?
I think the reason they find fault with it is that there is much about it that is simply not representative of the Orthodox Tradition.
Personally, I've found it very helpful and would highly recommend it for general use. However, it does contain errors and must be used with some discernment.
[quote author=ChristIsMySavior link=topic=4813.msg67438#msg67438 date=1171242631] Oh also I asked my priest and he said there is nothing rong with reading the commentary.
The Bible came out of, and must never be separated from, the living tradition of the Church of Christ.
We must never attempt to remove the Bible from this context or to intepret it appart from the tradition of the Church, as this will undoubtedly lead to erronous teaching, which can be dangerous for many reasons.
Matthew Henry was not an Orthodox Christian, nor does his commentary necessarily reflect an Orthodox understanding of the holy Writ. Provided you bear that in mind, there is nothing wrong as such with reading his commentary. Just be careful.
No it would not be considered lying. God can do and say whatever he wants. The Son knows everything but with respect to His Humanity he says he doesn't know or He has not revealed it to His Humanity. Anyone feel free to correct me if i have said anything wrong
Comments
Matthew Henry was an English Protestant who lived from 1662 to 1714.
St. Cyril's commentary on Luke makes it clear that what many others have said here is so - namely that we do not know the hour, nor would it be good for us to do so. We must, instead, live as though the final hour were upon us.
There have always been Christians who have wanted to have exact knowledge of 'the final hour', and some of the early gnostic sects were obsessed with this. But Christ says that none of us know the hour. Can you imagine what we would be like if we did??
No, God knows what is best for us, and we are called to be faithful to his commands and to love one another. That seems quite hard enough for most of us.
In Christ,
John
No, not wrong, for he was a Godly man who devoted his life to the service of Our Lord. But he was not grounded in the Orthodox tradition, so whilst we can read him with profit to our souls, we cannot take him as a guide to what the Orthodox Church teaches; we have our priests for that.
There is an Orthodox study Bible, with comments from the Holy Fathers. At the moment this is only for the New Testament, and can be found on Amazon if you can't get it locally. The Old Testament is nearly ready for publication.
More details can be found at http://www.lxx.org/
I hope that helps.
In Christ,
John
Also if their is an old testment study bible please tell me about that.
The link I gave in my last post tells us when the Old Testament will be ready, which should be by Spring 2008.
The Orthodox Study Bible is an excellent text; some of the more severe Eastern Orthodox find fault with it, but it is surely better to have an Orthodox commentary than not?
I hope you find it helpful.
In Christ,
John
The Orthodox Study Bible is an excellent text; some of the more severe Eastern Orthodox find fault with it, but it is surely better to have an Orthodox commentary than not?
I think the reason they find fault with it is that there is much about it that is simply not representative of the Orthodox Tradition.
Personally, I've found it very helpful and would highly recommend it for general use. However, it does contain errors and must be used with some discernment.
http://www.anastasis.org.uk/bible_review.htm gives a pretty good outline of some of these errors.
Oh also I asked my priest and he said there is nothing rong with reading the commentary.
The Bible came out of, and must never be separated from, the living tradition of the Church of Christ.
We must never attempt to remove the Bible from this context or to intepret it appart from the tradition of the Church, as this will undoubtedly lead to erronous teaching, which can be dangerous for many reasons.
Matthew Henry was not an Orthodox Christian, nor does his commentary necessarily reflect an Orthodox understanding of the holy Writ. Provided you bear that in mind, there is nothing wrong as such with reading his commentary. Just be careful.
but the son really does know but he just didn't want to tell them
then wouldnt that be considered lying???