Albert Barnes' Notes on the Old and New Testaments

Notes, Explanatory and Practical is the commentary of Albert Barnes (1798–1870), pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia for nearly forty years. Barnes wrote the notes for the people of his own congregation and for Sunday school teachers, not for scholars, and that is why they have lasted.

Barnes worked through the entire New Testament, publishing his notes from 1832 onward. In the Old Testament he wrote on Job, Psalms, Isaiah, and Daniel. The set commonly published as Barnes' Notes fills in the remaining Old Testament books with notes from other conservative commentators of the same era, among them James G. Murphy on Genesis and E. B. Pusey on the Minor Prophets. The SwordSearcher module follows that complete set, so there is a note for every book of the Bible, with more than 20,000 entries in all. Each book opens with an introduction, and most chapters begin with a short summary.

The method is the same throughout. Barnes takes a phrase from the verse, explains what it means in plain English, and draws out the practical point. He does not assume the reader knows Greek or Hebrew, though he consulted both. His note on John 3:16:

For God so loved. This does not mean that God approved the conduct of men, but that he had benevolent feelings toward them, or was earnestly desirous of their happiness. God hates wickedness, but he still desires the happiness of those who are sinful. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. A parent may love his child and desire his welfare, and yet be strongly opposed to the conduct of that child.... The world. All mankind. It does not mean any particular part of the world, but man as man—the race that had rebelled and that deserved to die.

Barnes belonged to the New School wing of the Presbyterian church and was tried for heresy, and acquitted, over his notes on Romans. He held that Christ died for all men and that the gospel is to be freely offered to every sinner, and he says so wherever the text gives him occasion. Readers of a stricter Calvinistic persuasion will notice this. Readers who simply want a clear explanation of what a verse says will find him consistently helpful.

In SwordSearcher the notes are a click away in the Bible margin as you read. For briefer notes to use during daily reading, see Abbott's New Testament Commentary or Family Bible Notes.