Luke 11 - Introduction
CHAPTER 11. LESSON ON PRAYER. DISCOURSES IN SELF-DEFENCE.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 11. LESSON ON PRAYER. DISCOURSES IN SELF-DEFENCE.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord's Prayer with a historical introduction_ (Matthew 6:7-15). ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ : neither the _place_ nor the time of this incident is indicated with even approximate exactness. It is simply stated that it happened when Jesus was at a certain place, and when He was _praying_ (προσευχόμενον). Why t... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 11:1-13 contain a lesson on prayer, consisting of two parts: _first_, a form of prayer suggesting the chief objects of desire (Luke 11:1-4); _second_, an argument enforcing perseverance in prayer (Luke 11:5-13). Whether the whole was spoken at one time or not cannot be ascertained; all one can... [ Continue Reading ]
λέγετε, say, but not implying obligation to repeat regularly the _ipsissima verba_. The divergence of Lk.'s form from that of Mt., as given in critical editions of the N. T., is sufficient evidence that the Apostolic Church did not so understand their Lord's will, and use the prayer bearing His name... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν, daily, for Mt.'s σήμερον, this day, is an alteration corresponding to the καθʼ ἡμέραν in the _Logion_ concerning cross-bearing (Luke 9:23). δίδου, for δὸς, is a change necessitated by the other.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἁμαρτίας : for Mt.'s ὀφειλήματα, but it is noticeable that the idea of sins is not introduced into the second clause. Lk. avoids making our forgiving and God's parallel: we forgive debts, God _sins_. Whether the debts are viewed as moral or as material is not indicated, possibly both. On the whole,... [ Continue Reading ]
εἶπεν : the story is not _called_ a parable, as the similar one in chap. 18 is, but it _is_ one. God's ways in the spiritual world are illustrated by men's ways in everyday life. τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν, etc.: the whole parable, Luke 11:5-8, is really one long sentence in which accordingly the construction come... [ Continue Reading ]
_The selfish neighbour_. This parable and that of the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8) form a couplet teaching the same lesson with reference to distinct spheres of life or experience: that men ought always to pray, and not grow faint-hearted when the answer to prayer is long delayed. They _imply_ that we... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔχω : this does not necessarily imply poverty: bread for the day was baked every morning. It is rather to be wondered at that a man with a family of children (Luke 11:7) had any over.... [ Continue Reading ]
μή μοι, etc.: similar phrase in Luke 18:5. _Cf._ Matthew 26:10; Mark 14:6. Here = don't bother me! κέκλεισται, has been barred for the night, a thing done and not to be undone for a trifling cause. εἰς τὴν κοίτην : they have gone to bed and are now sleeping in bed, and he does not want to risk wakin... [ Continue Reading ]
λέγω ὑμῖν : introducing a confident assertion. διά γε τ. ἀν., yet _at least_ on account of, etc. He may give or not give for friendship's sake, but he must give for his own sake. ἀναίδειαν (here only in N.T.), the total disregard of domestic privacy and comfort shown by persistent knocking; very ind... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 11:9-10 correspond almost exactly with Matthew 7:7-8. _Vide_ notes there.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The moral of the story_ (_cf._ Matthew 7:7-11). κἀγὼ ὑμῖν, etc., and _I_ (the same speaker as in Luke 11:8) say to _you_, with equal confidence. What Jesus says is in brief: you also will get what you want from God, as certainly as the man in my tale got what he wanted; therefore pray on, imitating... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνα δὲ : δὲ introduces a new parabolic saying: which of you, as a father, shall his son ask? etc. In the T.R. Lk. gives _three_ examples of possible requests Mt.'s two: a loaf, and a fish, and a third, an egg. Cod. B omits the first (W.H [103] put it on the margin). ᾠόν, σκορπίον : in the two first... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ π. ὁ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, this epithet is attached to πατὴρ here though not in the Lord's Prayer. Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον instead of Mt.'s ἀγαθὰ. The Holy Spirit is mentioned here as the _summum donum_, and the supreme object of desire for all true disciples. In some forms of the Lord's Prayer (Marcion, Greg. Nys.) a... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 11:14-15 answer to Matthew 9:33-34; Matthew 12:22-24, and Luke 11:16 to Matthew 12:38. The reproduction of these passages here is very summary: the reference to _Israel_, Matthew 9:33, and the question “is not this the Son of David?” Luke 12:23, _e.g._, being omitted. Then, further, it is notic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brief historical statement introducing certain defensive utterances of Jesus_.... [ Continue Reading ]
διαμερισθεῖσα. Lk. has a preference for compounds; μερισθεῖσα in Mt. καὶ οἶκος ἐπὶ οἶκον πίπτει, and house falls against house, one tumbling house knocking down its neighbour, a graphic picture of what happens when a kingdom is divided against itself. In Mt. kingdom and city are two co-ordinate illu... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Beelzebub theory_ (Matthew 12:25-30; Mark 3:23-27).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ : instead of Mt.'s ἐν πνεύματι Θεοῦ, which is doubtless the original expression, being more appropriate to the connection of thought. Lk.'s expression emphasises the immediateness of the Divine action through Jesus, in accordance with his habit of giving prominence to the miraculousn... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅταν : introducing the parable of the strong man subdued by a stronger, symbolising the true state of the case as between Beelzebub and Jesus, probably more original in Lk. than in Mt. (Matthew 12:29). καθωπλισμένος, fully armed, here only, in N.T. αὐλήν, _court_, whose entrance is guarded, accordin... [ Continue Reading ]
πανοπλίαν, panoply, a Pauline word (Ephesians 6:11; Ephesians 6:13). διαδίδωσιν, distributes the spoils among his friends with the generosity and the display of victory, referring probably to the extensive scale of Christ's healing ministry among demoniacs.... [ Continue Reading ]
= Matthew 12:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The parable of the unclean spirit cast out and returning_ : given by Mt. in connection with the demand for a sign (Luke 12:43 ff.). Lk.'s version differs from Mt.'s chiefly in minute literary variations. Two omissions are noticeable: (1) the epithet σχολάζοντα in the description of the deserted hou... [ Continue Reading ]
κοιλία, μαστοὶ : “Mulier bene sentit sed muliebriter loquitur” (Bengel).... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman in the crowd_. In Lk. only, though reminding one of Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:32-35. It reports an honest matron's blessing on the, to her probably unknown, mother of Jesus, who in this case, as in an earlier instance (Luke 8:19-21), treats the felicity of natural motherhood as entirely su... [ Continue Reading ]
μενοῦν might be confirmatory (_utique_) or corrective (_imo vero_), or a little of both; the tone of voice would show which of the two the speaker meant to be the more prominent. Correction probably was uppermost in Christ's thoughts. Under the appearance of approval the woman was taught that she wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sign of Jonah_ (Matthew 12:38-42). Τ. ὄ. ἐπαθροιζομένων, the crowds thronging to Him. The heading for the following discourse has been anticipated in Luke 11:16; ἕτεροι πειράζοντες, instead of Mt.'s scribes and Pharisees, asking a sign. In Lk.'s narrative Jesus answers their question in presenc... [ Continue Reading ]
The sign of Jonah is not further explained as in Mt. (Matthew 12:40), and it might seem that the meaning intended was that Jonah, as a prophet and through his preaching, was a sign to the Ninevites, and that in like manner so was Jesus to His generation. But in reference to Jesus Lk. does not say “i... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 11:31-32 = Matthew 12:41; Matthew 12:22, only that the men of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba change places. Mt.'s order seems the more natural, the discourse so passing from the sign of Jonah to the Ninevites, who had the benefit of it.... [ Continue Reading ]
repeats Luke 8:16 in slightly varied language, and Luke 11:34-36 reproduce what Mt. gives in his version of the Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:22-23). The connection with what goes before is not apparent. Luke 11:33. κρύπτην, a hidden place: crypt, vault, cellar, or press, to put a lamp in which is to... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 11:33-36 contain parabolic utterances concerning the placing of a light, and the conditions under which the eye sees the light.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ λύχνος, etc., the lamp of the body is thine eye. This thought in connection with the foregoing one might lead us to expect some remark on the proper placing of the body's lamp, but the discourse proceeds to speak of the _single_ (ἁπλοῦς) and the _evil_ (πονηρὸς) eye. The connection lies in the _ef... [ Continue Reading ]
A counsel to take care lest the light in us become darkness, answering to that suggested in the parable: see that the lamp be properly placed.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is very puzzling both critically and exegetically. As it stands in T.R. (and in W.H [105]) it appears tautological (De Wette), a fault which some have tried to surmount by punctuation, and some by properly placed emphasis on ὅλον in the protasis and on φωτεινόν in the apodosis, giving thi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῷ λαλῆσαι, while He was speaking, as if it had been ἐ. τ. λαλεῖν. ἐν goes most naturally with the present infinitive, but Lk., who uses ἐν with infinitive much more frequently than any other N.T. writer, has ἐν with the aorist nine times. _Vide_ Burton (M. and T., § 109), who remarks in referenc... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the house of a Pharisee; criticism of the religion of Pharisees and scribes_ (Matthew 23). This section contains a selection of the hard sayings of Jesus on the “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,” given with much greater fulness in Mt.'s great antipharisaic discourse, the severity of t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐθαύμασεν : the cause of wonder was that Jesus did not _wash_ (ἐβαπτίσθη) before eating. We have here Lk.'s equivalent for the incident in Matthew 15:1 ff., Mark 7:1 ff., omitted by him. But the secondary character of Lk.'s narrative appears from this, that the ensuing discourse does not, as in Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ Κύριος, once more this title in narrative. νῦν : variously taken as = _igitur_ or = _ecce_, or as a strictly temporal particle = now “a silent contrast with a better πάλαι ” (Meyer). Hahn affirms that νῦν at the beginning of a sentence can mean nothing else than “now”. But Raphel, in support of th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄφρονες, stupid men! not so strong a word as μωροὶ (Matthew 23:17). οὐχ ὁ ποιήσας, etc.: either a question or an assertion. As an assertion = he that makes the outside (as it should be) does not thereby also make the inside: it is one thing to cleanse the outside, another, etc. On this view ποιήσας... [ Continue Reading ]
πλὴν, rather (instead of devoting such attention to the outside). τὰ ἐνόντα, etc., give, as alms, _the things within the dishes_. Others render as if the phrase were κατὰ τ. ἐν.: according to your ability (Pricaeus, Grotius, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
To this criticism of the externalism of the Pharisees, the only thing strictly relevant to the situation as described, are appended three of Mt.'s “woes” directed against their will-worship in tithing (Matthew 23:23), their love of prominence (Matthew 23:6, not formally put as a “woe”), and their hy... [ Continue Reading ]
Pharisaic ostentation is very gently dealt with here compared with the vivid picture in Matthew 23:5-7, partly out of regard to the restraint imposed by the supposed situation, Jesus a guest, partly because some of the details (phylacteries, _e.g._) lacked interest for Gentile readers.... [ Continue Reading ]
This “woe” is evidently adapted for Gentile use. In Mt. the sepulchres are made conspicuous by white-washing to warn passers-by, and the point is the contrast between the fair exterior and the inner foulness. Here the graves become invisible (ἄδηλα, in this sense here only in N.T.; _cf._ 1 Corinthia... [ Continue Reading ]
τις τῶν νομικῶν : a professional man, the Pharisees being laymen; the two classes kindred in spirit, hence the lawyer who speaks felt hit.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Castigation of the scribes present_; severe, but justified by having been invited.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus fearlessly proceeds to say what He thinks of the class. καὶ ὑμῖν, yes! to you lawyers also woes. Three are specified: _heavy burdens_ (Matthew 23:3), _tombs of the prophets_ (Matthew 23:29-31), _key of knowledge_ (Matthew 23:14). φορτίζετε (with two accusatives only in N.T.), ye lade men with... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ οἱ πατέρες ὑ., _and_ your fathers. This reading of [110] [111] is to be preferred on internal grounds to οἱ δὲ, as implying that the two acts were not contrasted but kindred = they killed, you build, worthy sons of such fathers. [110] Codex Sinaiticus (sæc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, publishe... [ Continue Reading ]
points the moral. ἄρα : perhaps with Schleiermacher we should write ἆρα, taking what follows as a question. οἰκοδομεῖτε, ye _build_, absolutely (without object, _vide_ note 3 above). Tomb-building in honour of dead prophets and killing of living prophets have one root: stupid superstitious reverence... [ Continue Reading ]
ἡ σοφία τ. Θ.: _vide_ notes on Matthew 23:34. ἀποστόλους, apostles, instead of wise men and scribes in Mt. ἐκδιώξουσιν, they shall drive out (of the land), in place of Mt.'s σταυρώσετε.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκζητηθῇ, “a Hellenistic verb used in the sense of the Latin _exquiro_,” Farrar (C. G. T.).... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦ ἀπολομένου who perished, in place of the harsher whom ye slew of Mt. τοῦ οἴκου = τοῦ ναοῦ in Mt., the temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
Final woe on the lawyers, a kind of anticlimax. _Cf._ Mt., where the pathetic apostrophe to Jerusalem follows and concludes the discourse. τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς γνώσεως, the key which is knowledge (genitive of apposition) admitting to the Kingdom of God. Many take it = the key to knowledge.... [ Continue Reading ]
The foregoing discourse, though toned down as compared with Mt., was more than the hearers could stand. The result is a more hostile attitude towards the free-spoken Prophet than the classes concerned have yet shown, at least in the narrative of Lk. They began δεινῶς ἐνέχειν, to be sorely nettled at... [ Continue Reading ]
really gives the key to the meaning of ἀποστοματίζειν (here only in N.T.).... [ Continue Reading ]