Alford, Henry Exerpts
Henry Alford
(c.1810-c.1871)
Dean of Canterbury
From His 1868 Work, The New Testament
For English Readers
(On Matthew 25 confounding His partial Preterist "Double Fulfillment Theory")
'I think it proper to state, in this third edition, that, having now entered upon the deeper study of the prophetic portions of the New Testament, I do not feel by any means that full confidence which I once did in the exegesis, quoad prophetical interpretation, here given of the three portions of (Matthew) chap. xxv. But I have no other system to substitute, and some of the points here dwelt on seem to me as weighty as ever. I very much question whether the thorough study of Scripture prophecy will not make me more and more distrustful of all human systematising, and less willing to hazard strong assertion on any portion of the subject.' (July 1855.) (in location)
(On Matthew 21:33-46, The Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen; Significance of A.D. 70; Nature of Christ's Return) 'We may observe that our Lord makes "when the Lord cometh" coincide with the destruction of Jerusalem, which is incontestably the overthrow of the wicked husbandmen. This passage therefore forms an important key to our Lord's prophecies, and a decisive justification for those who, like myself, firmly hold that the coming of the Lord is, in many places, to be identified, primarily, with that overthrow." (in location)
(On Matthew 3:7)
"John is now speaking in the true character of a prophet foretelling the wrath soon to be poured on the Jewish nation.' (in location)
(On Matthew 16:27-28)
(This refers) "to the destruction of Jerusalem and the full manifestation of the kingdom of Christ by the annihilation of the Jewish polity." (in loc.)
(On Luke 13:9)
"the force of which is lost in the English version "likewise," should be rendered "in like manner," as indeed the Jewish people did perish by the sword of the Romans." (Greek Test. in loc)
(On Romans 13:11)
"A fair exegesis of this passage can hardly fail to recognise the fact that the apostle here, as well as elsewhere (1 Thess. 4:17; 1 Cor. xv. 51), speaks of the coming of the Lord as rapidly approaching. To reason, as Stuart does, that because Paul correct in the Thessalonicans the mistake of imagining it to be immediately at hand (or even actually come), therefore he did not himself expect it soon, is surely quite beside the purpose." (in loc)
(On I Corinthians 7:29-31)
"the time is shortened henceforth, i.e. the interval between now and the coming of the Lord has arrived at an extremely contracted period." (in loc)
(On I Corinthians 16:22)
"A weighty watchword tending to recall them to the nearness of His coming, and the duty of them being found ready for it." (in loc)
(On Philippians 3:20,21)
"The words assume, as St. Paul always does when speaking incidentally, his surviving to witness the coming of the Lord. The change from the dust of death in the resurrection, however we may accommodate the expression to it, was not originally contemplated by it."(in loc)
(On I Thessalonians 4:15)
"Then, beyond question, he himself expected to be alive, together with the majority of those to whom he was writing, at the Lord's coming. For we cannot for a moment accept the evasion of Theodoret and the majority of ancient commentators (viz. that the apostle does not speak of himself personally, but of those who should be living at the period), but we must take the words in their only plain grammatical meaning, that "we which are alive and remain" are a class distinguished from "they that sleep" by being yet in the flesh when Christ comes, in which class by prefixing "we" he includes his readers and himself. That this was his expectation we know from other passages, especially from 2 Cor. 5." (Greek Testament, in loc)
(On II Thessalonians 2:2)
"The day of the Lord is present (not is at hand). enestemi occurs six times besides in the New Testament, and always in the sense of being present. Besides which, St. Paul could not have so written, nor could the Spirit have so spoken by him." (vol. iii. p.274)(in loc)
(On Hebrews 3:6,14,6:11 and "The End")
"The end thought of, is not the death of each individual, but the coming of the Lord, which is constantly called by this name." (in loc)
(On Hebrews 13:14)
"This verse comes with a solemn tone on the reader, considering how short a time the abiding city did actually remain, and how soon the destruction of Jerusalem put an end to the Jewish polity, which was supposed to be so enduring." (in loc)
(On James 5:1,3)
"That such does not here appear is owing chiefly to the close proximity of judgment which the writer has before him.. 'Howl' is a word in the Old Testament confined to the prophets, and used, as here, with reference to the near approach of God's judgments. These miseries are not to be thought of as the natural and determined end of all world riches, but are the judgments connected with the coming of the Lord: cf. ver. 8, - "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." It may be that this prospect was as yet intimately bound up with the approaching destruction of the Jewish city and polity, for it must be remembered that they are Jews who are here addressed."(in loc)
(On I Peter 1:13)
(On the 'being brought' - feromenhn) feromenhn) "the near impending of the event spoken of; q.d. which is even now bearing down on you." (in loc)
(On I Peter 5:1)
"It would not be clear from this passage alone whether St. Peter regarded the coming of the Lord as likely to occur in the life of these his readers or not; but as interpreted by the analogy of his other expressions on the same subject, it would appear that he did." (in loc)
(On the Papal Antichrist Theory)
"In the characteristic of 2 Thess. ii. 4, the Pope does not, and never did, fulfill the prophecy. Allowing all the striking coincidences with the latter part of the verse which have been so abundantly adduced, it never can be shown that he fulfills the former part.. The second objection, of an external and historical character, is even more decisive. If the papacy be Antichrist, then has the manifestation been made, and endured now for nearly fifteen hundred years, and yet that day of the Lord is not come which, by the terms of our prophecy, such manifestation is immediately to precede." (Proleg. 2 Thess. vi. sec. 5, p.66) (in loc)
(On Revelation 10:6)
"that time should no longer be, i.e. should no more intervene; in allusion to the answer given to the cry of the souls of martyrs, chap vi.11, kai edoqh autoij ina anapauswntai eti cronon mikro,n. This whole series of trumpet judgments has been an answer to the prayers of the saints, and now the vengeance is about to receive its entire fulfillment; cronon o.uketi e[stai: the appointed delay is at an end. That this is the meaning is shown by (that) which follows." (in loc)
(On Revelation 12:14)
"I own that, considering the analogies and the language used, I am much more disposed to interpret the persecution of the woman by the dragon of the various persecutions of the Jews which followed the ascension, and her flight into the wilderness of the gradual withdrawl of the church and her agency from Jerusalem and Judea, finally consummated by the flight to the mountains on the approaching siege, commanded by our Lord Himself." (Greek Test. Notes on Revelation 12:14)
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