FOURTH NARRATIVE: THE TEMPTATION, LUKE 4:1-13. Every free creature, endowed with various faculties, must pass through a conflict, in which it decides either to use them for its own gratification, or to glorify God by devoting them to His service. The angels have passed through this trial; the first... [ Continue Reading ]
1 _st. Luke 4:1-2_. By these words, _full of the Holy Ghost_, this narrative is brought into close connection with that of the baptism. The genealogy is therefore intercalated. While the other baptized persons, after the ceremony, went away to their own homes, Jesus betook Himself into solitude. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
2 _d. Luke 4:3-4_. First Temptation. The text of Luke is very sober: _The devil said to Him._ The encounter exhibited under this form may be explained as a contact of _mind_ with _mind;_ but in Matthew, the expression _came to Him_ seems to imply a bodily appearance. This, however, is not necessar... [ Continue Reading ]
3 _d. Luke 4:5-8_. Second Temptation. The occasion of this fresh trial is not a physical sensation; it is an aspiration of the soul. Man, created in the image of God, aspires to reign. This instinct, the direction of which is perverted by selfishness, is none the less legitimate in its origin. It r... [ Continue Reading ]
4 _th. Luke 4:9-12_. Third Temptation. This trial belongs to a higher sphere than that of physical or political life. It is of a purely religious character, and touches the deepest and most sacred relations of Jesus with His Father. The dignity of a son of God, with a view to which man was created,... [ Continue Reading ]
5 _th. Luke 4:13_. Historical Conclusion. The expression πάντα πειρασμόν does not signify _all the_ temptation (this would require ὅλον), but _every kind_ of temptation. We have seen that the temptations mentioned refer, one to the person of Jesus, another to the nature of His work, the third to His... [ Continue Reading ]
1 _st. Luke 4:14-15_. The 14th verse is, as we have shown, the complement of Luke 4:1 (see Luke 4:1). The verb, _he returned_, comprehends, according to what precedes, the two returns mentioned John 1:44; John 4:1, and even a third, understood between John 5:6. The words, _in the power of the Spiri... [ Continue Reading ]
1. _Visit to Nazareth: Luke 4:14-30_. This portion opens with a general glance at the commencement of the active labours of Jesus in Galilee: Luke 14:14-15. Then, resting on this foundation, but separable from it, as a particular example, we have the narrative of His preaching at Nazareth: Luke 4:1... [ Continue Reading ]
FIRST CYCLE: VISITS TO NAZARETH AND TO CAPERNAUM, LUKE 4:14-44. The following narratives are grouped around two names _ Nazareth_ (Luke 4:14-30) and _Capernaum_ (Luke 4:31-44).... [ Continue Reading ]
THIRD PART: THE MINISTRY OF JESUS IN GALILEE, LUKE 4:14 TO LUKE 9:50. The three Synoptics all connect the narrative of the Galilaean ministry with the account of the temptation. But the narrations of Matthew and Mark have this peculiarity, that, according to them, the motive for the return of Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Reading._ Luke 4:16. Καί. “And in these itinerancies He came _also._ ” John (John 2:12) and Matthew (Matthew 4:13) refer to this time the transfer of the residence of Jesus (and also, according to John, of that of His mother and brethren) from Nazareth to Capernaum, which naturally implies a vi... [ Continue Reading ]
2 _d. Luke 4:16-30_. Jesus did not begin by preaching at Nazareth. In His view, no doubt, the inhabitants of this city stood in much the same relation to the people of the rest of Galilee as the inhabitants of Galilee to the rest of the Jewish people; He knew that in a certain sense His greatest di... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Preaching._ The description of the assembly, Luke 4:20, is so dramatic, that it appears to have come from an eye-witness. The sense of ἤρξατο, He began (Luke 4:21), is not that these were the _first words_ of His discourse; this expression describes the solemnity of the moment when, in the mi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Colloquy. “And He said to them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself; whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country._ 24 _And He said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country._ 25 _But I tell you of a truth, many wid... [ Continue Reading ]
_Conclusion._ The threat contained in these examples exasperates them: “Thou rejectest us: we reject thee,” was their virtual reply. The term ἐκβάλλειν, _to cast out_, denotes that they set upon Him with violence. About forty minutes distant from Nazareth, to the south-east, they show a wall of ro... [ Continue Reading ]
1 _st. Luke 4:31-32_. The term, _He went down_, refers to the situation of Capernaum on the sea-shore, in opposition to that of Nazareth on the high land. We have to do here with a permanent abode; comp. John 2:12 and Matthew 4:13 (ἐλθὼν κατῴκησεν εἰς Κ.), as well as the term, _His own city_ (Matth... [ Continue Reading ]
2. _Residence at Capernaum: Luke 4:31-44_. Five sections: 1 _st._ A general survey (Luke 4:31-32); 2 _d._ The healing of a demoniac (Luke 4:33-37); 3 _d._ That of Peter's mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39); 4 _th._ Various cures (Luke 4:40-42); 5 _th._ Transition to the evangelization of Galilee generally... [ Continue Reading ]
2 _d. Luke 4:33-37_. Should the possessed mentioned by the evangelists be regarded simply as persons afflicted after the same manner as our lunatics, whose derangement was attributed by Jewish and heathen superstition to supernatural influence? Or did God really permit, at this extraordinary epoch i... [ Continue Reading ]
3 _d. Luke 4:38-39_. Peter, according to our narrative, seems to have lived at Capernaum. According to John 1:45, he was originally of Bethsaida. The two places were very near, and might have had a common synagogue; or, while originally belonging to the one, Peter might have taken up his abode at t... [ Continue Reading ]
4 _th. Luke 4:40-41_. Here we have one of those periods when the miraculous power of Jesus was most abundantly displayed. We shall meet again with some of these culminating points in the course of His ministry. A similar rhythm is found in the career of the apostles. Peter at Jerusalem (Acts 5:15-1... [ Continue Reading ]
5 _th. Luke 4:42-44_. The more a servant of God exerts himself in outward activity, the more need there is that he should renew his inward strength by meditation. Jesus also was subject to this law. Every morning He had to obtain afresh whatever was needed for the day; for _He lived by the Father_ ... [ Continue Reading ]