Luke 7:30

And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things. For the circumstances of the Baptist's imprisonment, see the notes at Mark 6:17. He had now lain in prison probably a full year, far away from the scene of his Master's labours. But his faithful disciples appear from time to time to have kept him informed of them. At length the tidings they brought him, including no doubt those of the resurrection of the widow of Nain's son from the dead, appear to have determined the lonely prisoner to take a step which probably he had often thought of, but until now shrunk from. Verse 18. AND THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN SHOWED HIM OF ALL THESE THINGS. Verse 19. AND JOHN CALLING UNTO HIM TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES, [ duo (G1417)...

30._Despised the counsel of God within themselves. The counsel of God _is mentioned by way of respect, as contrasted with the wicked pride of the scribes; for the term _counsel _carries along with it a dignity, which protects the doctrine of God against the contempt of men. Literally, Luke says, that they _despised _Against Themselves : and indeed I do not disapprove of the meaning which is preferred by some, that the scribes were rebellious to their own destruction. But as Luke’s narrative is simple, and as the preposition εἰς is often used in the sense of ἐν I have chosen rather to translate it, _within themselves; _as meaning, that although they did not openly and expressly contradict, yet as they inwardly swelled with hidden pride, they _despised within themselves _...

19-35 To his miracles in the kingdom of nature, Christ adds this in the kingdom of grace, To the poor the gospel is preached. It clearly pointed out the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, that the messenger he sent before him to prepare his way, did it by preaching repentance and reformation of heart and life. We have here the just blame of those who were not wrought upon by the ministry of John Baptist or of Jesus Christ himself. They made a jest of the methods God took to do them good. This is the ruin of multitudes; they are not serious in the concerns of their souls. Let us study to prove ourselves children of Wisdom, by attending the instructions of God's word, and adoring those mysteries and glad tidings which infidels and Pharisees deride and blaspheme....

Verse 30. _REJECTED THE COUNSEL OF GOD_] Or, _frustrated the will _ _of God _- την βουλην του Θεου ηθετησαν. _Kypke_ says the verb αθετειν has two meanings: - 1, to _disbelieve_; 2, _despise_, or _disobey_: and that both senses may be properly conjoined here. The will of God was that all the inhabitants of Judea should _repent_ at the preaching of John, be _baptized_, and _believe_ in Christ Jesus. Now as they did _not repent_, c., at John's preaching, so they did _not believe_ his testimony concerning Christ: thus the _will_, gracious _counsel_, or _design_ of God, relative to their salvation, was _annulled_ or _frustrated_. They _disbelieved_ his promises, _despised_ the Messiah, and _disobeyed_ his precepts....

See this passage explained in Matthew 11:2. Luke 7:29 THE PEOPLE - The common people. THAT HEARD HIM - That heard “John.” THE PUBLICANS - The tax-gatherers, the worst kind of people, who had, however, been converted. JUSTIFIED GOD - Considered God as “just” or “right” in the counsel which he gave by John - to wit, in calling people to repentance, and in denouncing future wrath on the impenitent. Compare Matthew 11:19. BEING BAPTIZED ... - They “showed” that they approved of the me

EXPOSITION LUKE 7:1 The _servant _(_or slave_)_ of the centurion of Capernaum is healed._ LUKE 7:1 NOW WHEN HE HAD ENDED ALL HIS SAYINGS. This clearly refers to the sermon on the mount. That great discourse evidently occupied a position of its own in the public ministry of the Lord. Its great length, its definite announcement of the kind of reign he was inaugurating over the hearts of men, its stern rebuke of the dominant religious teaching of the day, its grave prophetic onlooks,—all marked it out as the great manifesto of the new Master, and as such it seems to have been generally received. HE ENTERED INTO CAPERNAUM. The residence of Jesus, as we have before pointed out, during the greater part of hi

BUT THE PHARISEES AND LAWYERS,.... Or Scribes, as the Syriac and Persic versions read; for the Scribes and lawyers were the same sort of persons. The Ethiopic version calls them, "the Scribes of the city": these "rejected the counsel of God against themselves"; against their own advantage, to their hurt and detriment; since by their impenitence and unbelief, and through their rejection of Christ and his forerunner, and the Gospel and the ordinances of it, they brought ruin and destruction, both temporal and eternal, upon themselves: or "towards themselves", or "unto them"; that is, they "rejected the command of God unto them", as the Arabic version renders it: for by "the counsel of God" here, is not meant his purpose, intention, and design, with respect to these persons, which was not, nor never is frustrated; but the precept of God, and so the Ethiopic version renders it, THEY DESPISE...

Luke 7:18. _And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things._ John was in prison, and, possibly, troubled in spirit. Luke 7:19. _And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus saying, art thou he that should come? or look we for another?_ Did John doubt, then? Perhaps not. It may be that he saw that his disciples doubted, and that he wished their fears to be removed. It is possible, however, that he did himself have doubts. It is no unusual thing for the bravest hearts to be subject to fits of doubt. Elijah, you remember sat under a juniper tree in the wilderness, «and he requested for himself that he might die,» though he was the man who never was to die. And John, the Elijah of the Christian dispensation, though a man of iron, was but a man, so he se

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The Centurion's Servant Healed. (Luke 7:1 .)_ 2. The Widow's Son Raised from the Dead. (Luke 7:11) 3. John's Questions and the Answer. (Luke 7:18) 4. The Testimony Concerning John. (Luke 7:24) 5. The Unreasonableness of Unbelief. (Luke 7:30 .) 6. The Woman With the Alabaster Box. (Luke 7:36) 7. The Parable of the Two Debtors. (Luke 7:41 .)...

JOHN THE BAPTIST (Matthew 11:1 *). According to Lk., John's disciples have access to him, and Jesus is engaged in works of healing in the very hour of the embassy. Luke 7:21 looks as if Lk. were bent on making the answer of Jesus (which may have referred to His moral and spiritual activities) into a definite reference to material signs. In Luke 7:26 the text may have been accommodated to Mt.; it has been suggested that we should read. Yea, I say unto you: among them that are born of woman there is no greater [prophet (Syr. Sin.)] than John, yet he that is less [than he (Codex Bezæ)] is in the Kingdom of God greater than he. Lk. postpones Matthew