Luke 12:1-12

Butler's Comments

SECTION 1

Arguments for Alertness (Luke 12:1-12)

12 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his disciples first, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

4 I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him! 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 And I tell you, every one who -acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

Luke 12:1-3 Deceptions: Having faced down the hostile opposition of many enemies, Jesus takes occasion to warn His disciples that they must be alert since they will face the same attacks upon their spirituality. Having just denounced the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and lawyers, He warns His own disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Months earlier He had warned of the same thing (cf. Matthew 16:4-12; Mark 8:13-21). The Pharisaic way of life was especially deceptive. The seductive unbelief which appears outwardly to be religious, while hiding inner rebellion and wickedness is the leaven Jesus was talking about. Hypocritical self-deception is the most insidious form of evil. It works like leavenunseen by the one upon whom it is working, but permeating the whole lump (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8). Even disciples of Jesus may be leavened with hypocrisy if they do not remain spiritually alert!

Jesus warns the day would come when everyone would see that His evaluation of the Pharisees was correct. The day did come when the hidden hypocrisy of the Pharisaic religion was exposed. The judgment upon their way as false was plainly confirmed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Furthermore, it was the fanatical hypocrisy of the Pharisees which agitated the Jewish rebellion against Rome and resulted in the destruction of Pharisaic Judaism. The whole world saw that happen and knew their hypocrisy caused it. On the other hand, what the disciples of Jesus had to learn from Him in the dark (whispered secretly in privacy) would be common knowledge (proclaimed upon housetops) throughout the world. Two thousand years of history since Jesus made this warning have confirmed His predictions time and again. Hypocrisy like that of the Pharisees continues to be exposed over and over (1 Corinthians 1:20. where is the scribe?). No man can long play-act at religion until he is found out. Truth cannot long be forced into hidingit will always have to come out into the open and be acknowledged. Truth will always win out! So, let the disciple of Jesus be spiritually alert and always on the side of truth.

Luke 12:4-7 Dangers: The call to spiritual alertness is a serious matter. Jesus warns that the time will come when His disciples will be declaring the truth from the housetops and they will be threatened with death. The truth of Christ's way forever exposes the hypocritical way of self-righteousness. This is precisely what happened to Christ's disciples in the first century (cf. Acts 4:5-22; Acts 5:27-41, et al). Jesus warns His followers that even when they are threatened with their lives (as they shall surely be in every generation) they had better not pretend something they are not. No pressure is great enough that the Christian should cave in to fear and play the part of a hypocrite.

Enemies of the truth may kill human bodies, but they cannot kill the soul, the eternal person. So, be spiritually alert and remember that only God has the power to punish with eternal death. If the Christian is to fear, let him fear God! To fear God is spiritual watchfulness! The Greek word geennan is translated hell in the RSV, but it is really the name of a valley to the south of the city of Jerusalem (the Valley of Hinnom). It was in this valley the ancient Jews practiced the worship of Moloch (which involved human sacrifice). King Josiah expressed his abhorrence of idolatry by throwing corpses of dead idolaters into this valley. The valley also became a city dump (cf. 2 Kings 23:4 ff) where pagan idols and other paraphernalia were burned along with the bodies of dead people, It became such a good illustration of hell in the minds of the Jews that rabbinical tradition used it to symbolize the place of eternal punishment, Hobbs says, In Jesus-' day this valley was the garbage dump of the city. Into it were thrown the dead bodies of animals and of executed criminals whose bodies were unclaimed. Maggots worked ceaselessly in the garbage. To consume it, fires burned day and night. At night wild dogs snarled and gnashed their teeth as they ate edible portions of the garbage. Eternal hell will be infinitely worse than the valley of Hinnom, for there the smoke of man's torment will go up forever and ever (Revelation 14:9-11).

The persecuted disciple of Jesus might be tempted to think that the God who created such a vast universe would hardly have time to notice should he die a martyr's death. Furthermore a weak faith might see the soon-coming holocaust of paganism upon Christianity as evidence that God was unaware or indifferent. What is the death of one single Christian to a God who must be extremely busy running this infinitely huge and complicated universe? Christians were a minority religious group, swallowed up in a vast, powerful Roman empire where the major concern was politics. Temptation for Christians to view the Roman empire (the beast) as invincible was strong (Revelation 13:4). Some might anticipate obliteration of the church. But the Heavenly Father knows their danger; He is aware. Believers are to trust their souls to His care (1 Peter 2:25; 1 Peter 4:19). Jesus illustrates: While five sparrows are worth only two pennies in the eyes of man, God does not forget a one of them. In fact, God probably has each sparrow named, just as He does the stars (Psalms 147:4). Now if God is so intimately related to each sparrow, how much more intimately will He guard the crown of His creationman (cf. Matthew 6:26; Matthew 12:12)! God is interested and involved in every minute detail of man's existence. He has every hair of every human head numbered (cf. 1 Samuel 14:45; 2 Samuel 14:11; Luke 21:18). The Greek word for numbered is arithemeo from which we get the English word, arithmetic. Jesus used an interesting Greek word for value here: the normal word for value is time, but Jesus used diapherete which literally means, carry through. God does more than simply place a price tag on manHe takes man up into His bosom to carry as a precious son, (cf. Isaiah 46:3-4; Isaiah 49:14-18; Hosea 11:3-4, etc.). So, when danger comes, let the believer give reverence to God and not man.

Luke 12:8-12 Denials: Another argument Jesus has for spiritual alertness is the temptation to deny the historical fact of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. Everyone who acknowledges Jesus as the incarnate God before men, the Son of man will acknowledge in the presence of God. The Greek word translated acknowledge is homologese which literally means, say the same as. Everyone who says the same as God and Jesus say about Jesus, will have Jesus say the same as the Father and Son say about believers. To say the same as God says about Jesus is to say He is the Messiah, the Son of God, God in the flesh and Lord of all. To say that Jesus is not God in the flesh is to be anti-Christ (cf. 1 John 2:22-25; 1 John 3:2-3). The Greek word for deny is arnesamenos, and means, to contradict, disown, renounce. Whoever contradicts what Jesus has said about Himself, or what the Word of God says about Him, will be disowned by Jesus in the presence of God and His angels.

Why does Jesus interject what appears to be such an ambiguous statement (Luke 12:10) in the midst of this exhortation? Why would He warn against denying Him and then promise forgiveness to everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man? The earlier teaching of Jesus on this point must be studied here (cf. Matthew 12:22-32 and Mark 3:22-30). Earlier Jesus said, ... every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Apparently Jesus means to warn that the time would soon come when God's redemptive plan would be so unquestionably validated and the deity of His Son so unequivocally confirmed, that to deliberately refuse Him would be to commit the unpardonable sin. While Jesus walked the earth in a human body the completed revelation of His deity had not been fully and undeniably demonstrated. That demonstration waited upon His resurrection. Before the resurrection, men might say a word against the Son of man and stumble at the idea of God dwelling in flesh. They might continue to have doubts about Jesus that would even lead many of them to crucify Him in their ignorance and unbelief (cf. Acts 3:17; Luke 23:34; Acts 13:27; Acts 17:30). This would be forgiven if, after the Holy Spirit came in His ministry of validating testimony, they should believe and repent, But to sin against the Holy Spirit's complete, final, unquestionable testimony is the sin that cannot be forgiven.

To sin against God's Spirit is apparently a deliberate, willful, intentional perversion of truth. It is calling good evil and evil good (cf. Isaiah 5:20). The Pharisees were apparently involving themselves in such calculated malice aforethought when they accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the devil. To say that something which is unquestionably good and righteous is evil is to blaspheme the Spirit of Truth. Perverse, reckless, malicious rejection of the truth makes the intellectual and moral nature of a person entirely incapable of dealing honestly with any truth (cf. Isaiah 30:9-11; Jeremiah 6:16). Men may intentionally and deliberately reject truth and choose to believe a lie (cf. Micah 2:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Romans 1:22-28; John 8:45; 2 Peter 3:5, etc.). Men may choose to reject the blood atonement of Christ in favor of another hope, but the Bible says that makes it impossible for them to repent (Hebrews 6:1-8; Hebrews 10:19-31) because God accepts repentance only through faith in Christ. To seek justification before God through any religious system other than New Testament Christianity is to call evil what God has demonstrated is the only good. It takes an unforgivably wicked heart to ascribe evil to the One whose work and teaching stand only on the side of righteousness and merciful helpfulness to sinful, suffering humanity. To reject the perfect goodness and righteousness God has offered in Christ, now that it is finally demonstrated in the Cross and the Resurrection, is to sin against the ultimate best the Holy Spirit of God offers to the world. This is the eternal sin (Mark 3:29) and the sin unto death (1 John 5:16). To have stumbled at the Incarnation while the Son was still in the flesh was forgivable, but to contradict and deny the complete and perfect testimony of the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. Wm. Barclay wrote, If a man for long enough shuts his eyes and ears to God's way. and takes his own way. He comes to a stage when his own evil seems good. and God's good seems to him evil. Neither in this world (Jewish dispensation) nor in that to come (Christian dispensation) will that be forgiven (cf. Luke 16:26; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 9:27; Galatians 6:7). Even Moses-' law distinguished between unintentional sin and deliberate (high-handed) sin (Numbers 15:22-30; 1 Samuel 2:25; 1 Samuel 3:14; Isaiah 22:14). Paul told Timothy that in the Christian age some would turn away from listening to the truth and. never be able to come to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7; 2 Timothy 4:3-4). Fowler writes of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: It becomes a deliberate insult to God for men to claim to be unable to distinguish His work from that vileness and rottenness produced by that vile, unclean spirit-being who is the antithesis of all that God stands for. (Matthew, Vol. II. College Press, pg. 681). Examples of such blasphemy are contemporary. Bertrand Russell, late philosopher and mathematician wrote in his book, Why I Am Not A Christian, pg. 24, speaking of religion and Christianity, I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. A contemporary, self-appointed female leader of atheism in the United States said of God: A crutch like LSD, alcohol or marijuana; of the church of Christ: It has never contributed anything to anybody, and place, at any time; of the Bible: The. inconsistencies, wretched history, sordid sex, sadism in it. shocked me profoundly, This woman said in an interview on one of America's campuses, I-'d rather go to hell!

Just as Jesus had been threatened and blasphemed by His evil opposers so His disciples would be brought before wicked rulers and threatened and hear the name of their Lord blasphemed. They may stand against these threats, however, and they will have the assistance of the Holy Spirit to do so. They need not fear; they must not deny Him. The Holy Spirit was promised as a miraculous Guide for the Apostles (John 16:13-14; John 20:30-31), but not for every believer. The Holy Spirit guided the Apostles infallibly into all the truth God wished man to know for salvation and the Apostles left this complete truth in a written record. Any believer now who faces falsehood, unbelief, temptations, and persecutions may know the truth and speak the truth by knowing and speaking what the New Testament says. Jesus-' promise (Luke 12:11-12) was fulfilled a number of times in the first century (cf. Acts 4:8; Acts 4:13; Acts 4:19-20).

Applebury's Comments

The Leaven of the Pharisees
Scripture

Luke 12:1-12 In the meantime, when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 But there is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 3 Wherefore whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. 4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, 5 But I will warn you whom ye shall fear; Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pence? and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. 7 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not: ye are of more value than many sparrows. 8 And I say unto you, Every one who shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: 9 but he that denieth me in the presence of men shall be denied in the presence of the angels of God. 10 And every one who shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the authorities, be not anxious how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: 12 for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say.

Comments

In the meantime.This warning followed the incident of the Pharisees and lawyers confronting Jesus as He came out of the house where He had been a guest of a Pharisee. His disciples could expect the same kind of treatment, for He had not called them to an easy task.

the many thousands.Many things had attracted the crowds to Jesus, but the thing that caused them to gather at this time seems to have been the open discussion that was going on between Jesus and the Pharisees. One wonders if they really saw through the hypocrisy of the Pharisees? Perhaps not. See Luke 12:57.

he began to say unto his disciples first of all.The lessons recorded in this chapter were primarily directed to the disciples, but the multitudes overheard what He was saying. At the close of the lesson, Jesus directed a warning to the crowds about interpreting the times.

the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.Leaven is nearly always used in the Scriptures as a symbol of evil. At the time of the Passover, all leaven was excluded from the homes of the faithful people of Israel. Paul used this fact to teach that the whole Christian life was to be observed not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

But leaven is also used in the parable of the Leaven to indicate the effective working of the gospel message. The reason it can be used in both ways is seen in the manner in which it works. It has the power to transform whatever it touches. To expose oneself to the hypocritical teaching of the Pharisee was to run the risk of becoming like the Pharisees. On the other hand, to come in contact with the message of Christ is to come under the transforming power of the Gospel with the hope of becoming like Him (2 Corinthians 3:18).

nothing covered up.The leaven of the Pharisees, said Jesus, is hypocrisy. When they spoke, it was as if they were speaking from under a mask of pretense at speaking the truth. They spoke falsehood under the guise of truth. But there was nothing that they covered up that would not be uncovered. Jesus had unmasked the Pharisees and the lawyers at the luncheon when He pointed out what they really were. See Luke 11:37-52. Just so, hypocrisy was to be unmasked whenever it was confronted with the truth of Christ.

Jesus-' own teaching was not intended to be made a secret thing, for it was to be shouted from the house tops that everyone might know what He taught (Matthew 10:26-27).

Be not afraid of them that kill the body.The conversation had arisen out of the attack of the enemies of Jesus who were trying desperately to find an excuse for killing Him. His disciple also would face persecution. But they were not to fear those who might kill the body, but rather fear God for He alone could punish the wicked by casting them into eternal punishment. That this is a reference to God and not the devil seems evident from the remarks that follow encouraging the disciples to remember God's tender care for them. The devil, of course, can afflict the saints of God. He can bring trials upon them to prove their faith, but the genuine thing in their faith enables them to endure the trial (James 1:2-3; James 1:12). Jesus did two things to encourage at this point: (1) He called them friends and (2) He reminded them that God was watching over them.

five sparrows sold for two pence?On another occasion Jesus used the same thought and spoke of two sparrows that were sold for a penny (Matthew 10:29). Jesus repeated His lessons with variations from time to time. If we carefully note the context when such variations occur, it will avoid the supposition that mistakes were made in reporting the incidents of the teaching ministry of Jesus.

The point of the lesson is this: the disciples of Jesus are of much more value than many sparrows. Not a single sparrow is forgotten in God's sight; He won-'t forget the friends of His Son.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.This indicates the meticulous care exercised by the Father over the friends of Jesus. Why, then, should they fear those who would destroy the body?

Every one who shall confess me before men.If they were to be known as friends of Jesus, they would have to acknowledge their allegiance to Him in the face of threats from those who might even kill the body. In his second letter to Theophilus, Luke reports instances in which that very thing was done (Acts 4:19-21; Acts 5:33-42).

The disciples were to acknowledge Him as the Christ of God (Luke 9:20). The Son of Man acknowledges them as His friends. But to disown Christ before men would mean that He will disown them before the angels of God. Did Peter remember this when he disowned Jesus at the trial? Did the remorseful Judas think of it as he was about to take his own life after he had betrayed his Friend into the hands of the enemy?

And every one who shall speak a word against the Son of man.Even the heinous sin of speaking against the Son of Man can be forgiven. But forgiveness involves repentance which is produced by responding to the Spirit-breathed Word of God. But there is one sin that cannot be forgiven.

blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven.Were the Pharisees and lawyers whom Jesus had just reproved guilty of this sin? Jesus spoke by the Spirit, a fact that cannot be overlooked without failing to see why He mentions blasphemy of the Spirit in connection with forgiving those who speak against the Son of Man. Forgiveness depends on hearing and obeying the words He spoke by the Spirit (Acts 1:3; Luke 10:21-22). Rejecting this message constitutes an eternal sin when the rejection is final and complete. It is a sin that can be committed in this life, for Jesus said that it has no forgiveness in this life or in the life to come (Mark 3:28-30; Matthew 12:31-32). The reason is plain: Forgiveness depends on faith and repentance that must issue in obedience to the Word. The mind can be closed to the truth about Christ; the will can reach the place where it can no longer respond to the appeal of God's love. Such a person is past feeling. It is impossible to renew such a one to repentance. See Ephesians 4:17-19; Hebrews 6:4-6.

Since it was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to attribute the miracles of Jesus to the power of the devil, some say that the sin cannot be committed today. But this overlooks the fact that the miracles He performed by the finger of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, were done to prove that He was speaking the truth of God. Rejecting this evidence was the fatal step. Jesus, of course, knew that these hardhearted men had completely and finally closed their minds to the truth.

when they bring you before the synagogues.Just as Jesus had been put on trial by His oppressors so His disciples were to be brought before the authorities in the synagogues. But they did not need to fear such experiences, for the Holy Spirit was to enable them to speak the necessary words of truth in that hour (Acts 4:8; Acts 4:13; Acts 4:19-20). This promise was made to the apostles and not to the people in general. The Holy Spirit did guide the apostles into all the truth and enable them to leave the written record of it in the Bible (John 16:13-14; John 20:30-31). When we face difficulties and trials, we can speak the truth by correctly using the message God gave us in the Bible.

To take this specific promise which Jesus made to the apostles and attempt to make it apply to believers in general is to disregard the fact that Jesus exercised special control over the apostles through the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained the function of the Holy Spirit to the apostles when He said, He shall not speak for himself; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak; and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall take of mine and shall declare it unto you (John 16:13-14).

The Bible is the guidebook which we are expected to follow today (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 3:14-17).