Luke Chapter 1

From The Open Bible Project

1:1 Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,

(1) Luke commends the witnesses that saw this present account.
(a) Many took it in hand, but did not perform: Luke wrote his gospel before Matthew and Mark.

1:2 even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,

(b) Luke was not any eye witness, and therefore it was not he to whom the Lord appeared when Cleopas saw him: and he was taught not only by Paul, but by others of the apostles also.

1:3 it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;

(c) Luke began his gospel a great deal further in the past than the others did.
(d) It is "most mighty", and therefore Theophilus was a very honourable man, and in a place of great dignity.

1:4 that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.

(e) Have fuller knowledge of those things which you know only partially.

1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

(2) John, who was another Elias and appointed to be the herald of Christ, coming from the family of Aaron, and of two famous and blameless parents, has shown in his conception (which was against the course of nature) a double miracle, to the end that men should be more readily prepared for the hearing of his preaching, according to the forewarning of the prophets.
(f) This is a Hebrew idiom which shows us how short and frail a thing the power of princes is.
(g) Herod the great.
(h) For the posterity of Aaron was divided into courses.

1:6 They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

(i) The true mark of righteousness is demonstrated when one is liked and accepted in the judgment of God.
(k) Lived, as the Hebrews say, for our life is as a way in which we must walk until we come to the mark.
(l) In all the moral and ceremonial law.
(m) Whom no man could justly reprove: now so it is that the fruits of justification are set forth here, and not the cause, which is faith only, and nothing else.

1:7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.

1:8 Now it happened, while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his division,

1:9 according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

(n) The temple was one, and the court another, for Zacharias went out of the court (or outward room) where all the people were (and therefore they are said to be without) and into the temple.

1:10 The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.

1:11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

1:12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

1:13 But the angel said to him, "Don't be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

1:14 You will have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth.

1:15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

(o) So the Hebrews say when a rare kind of excellency is signified: so it is said of Nimrod in (Genesis 10:9), "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD".

(p) Any drink that might make someone drunk.

1:16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God.

(q) Shall be a means to bring many to repentance, and they will turn themselves to the Lord, from whom they fell.

1:17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, 'to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,' and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

(r) As they used to go before kings, and when you see them, you know the king is not far off.
(s) This is spoken by the figure of speech metonymy, taking the spirit for the gift of the spirit; as you would say, the cause of that which comes from the cause.
(t) By the figure of speech synecdoche he shows that he will take away all types of enmities which used to breed great troubles and turmoils among men.
(u) Wisdom and goodness are two of the main causes which make men revere and honour their fathers.

1:18 Zacharias said to the angel, "How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years."

1:19 The angel answered him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.

(x) That appears, for so the Hebrews use this saying "to stand" to mean that they are ready to do his commandment.

1:20 Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things will happen, because you didn't believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time."

1:21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple.

1:22 When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.

1:23 It happened, when the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house.

1:24 After these days Elizabeth, his wife, conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying,

1:25 "Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men."

1:26 Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

(3) The angel, serving the Lord who would be born, is sent to the virgin Mary, in whom the son of the most high promised to David is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1:27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

(y) The same can be said of Mary, otherwise Christ would not have been of the stock of David, nor his son.

1:28 Having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!"

(z) It might be literally rendered, "full of favour and grace", and he shows immediately after, laying out plainly unto us, what that favour is in that he says, "The Lord is with thee".
(a) Of God.

1:29 But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.

(b) Moved at the strangeness of the matter.

1:30 The angel said to her, "Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

1:31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and will call his name 'Jesus.'

1:32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,

(d) He will be declared to be so, for he was the Son of God from everlasting, but was made manifest in the flesh in his time.

1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom."

1:34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?"

(e) The greatness of the matter causes the virgin to ask this question, not that she distrusted by any means at all, for she asks only of the manner of the conceiving, so that it is plain she believed all the rest.
(f) So speak the Hebrews, signifying by this modest kind of speech the company of man and wife together, and this is the meaning of it: how will this be, for as I will be Christ�s mother I am very sure I will not know any man: for the godly virgin had learned by the prophets that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.

1:35 The angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.

(g) That is, the Holy Spirit will cause thee to conceive by his mighty power.
(h) That thing which is pure and void of all spot of uncleanliness: for he that was to take away sin must of necessity be void of sin.
(i) Declared and shown to the world to be the Son of God.

1:36 Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

(k) Though Elizabeth was of the tribe of Levi, yet it was possible for her to be Mary's cousin: for whereas it was forbidden by the Law for maidens to be married to men of other tribes, there was an exception among the Levites, who could take for themselves wives out of any tribe: for the Levites had no portion allotted to them when the land was divided among the people.
(l) This is now the sixth month from the time when she conceived.

1:37 For everything spoken by God is possible."

1:38 Mary said, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word." The angel departed from her.

1:39 Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah,

(4) Elizabeth being many months pregnant with John, and Mary being pregnant with Christ, do rejoice for each other by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
(m) Which is on the south side of Jerusalem.
(n) That is to say, Hebron: which was in times past called Kirjatharba: which was one of the towns that were given to the Levites in the tribe of Judah, and is said to be in the mountains of Judah; (Joshua 14:15; Joshua 21:11).

1:40 and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

1:41 It happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

(o) This was no ordinary or usual type of moving.

1:42 She called out with a loud voice, and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

(p) Christ is blessed with respect to his humanity.

1:43 Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

1:44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy!

1:45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!"

1:46 Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord.

(5) Christ, the redeemer of the afflicted and revenger of the proud, promised long ago to the fathers, is now finally exhibited indeed.

1:47 My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

1:48 for he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

(q) Has freely and graciously loved.
(r) Literally, "My baseness", that is, my base estate: so that the virgin did not boast of her deserts, but the grace of God.

1:49 For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.

1:50 His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear him.

(s) To those that live godly and religiously, as the Hebrews say.

1:51 He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

(t) Here many more words than necessary are used, which the Hebrews use very much: and "arm" here is taken for strength.
(u) Even as the wind does to the chaff.
(x) He has scattered them, and the imagination of their hearts; or, by and through the imagination of their own hearts; so that their wicked counsel turned to their own destruction.

1:52 He has put down princes from their thrones. And has exalted the lowly.

(y) The mighty and rich men.
(z) Those of no account, who are vile in men�s eyes, who are indeed the poor in spirit, that is, those who claim nothing of themselves in the sight of God.

1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things. He has sent the rich away empty.

(a) Those that are brought to extreme poverty.

1:54 He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

(b) He has helped Israel up with his arm, who had been completely cast down.

1:55 As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever."

1:56 Mary stayed with her about three months, and then returned to her house.

1:57 Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she brought forth a son.

(6) John's birth is accompanied by new miracles.

1:58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.

1:59 It happened on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father.

1:60 His mother answered, "Not so; but he will be called John."

1:61 They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name."

1:62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

1:63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." They all marveled.

1:64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

1:65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

(d) All this which was said and done.

1:66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, "What then will this child be?" The hand of the Lord was with him.

(e) Thought upon them diligently and earnestly, and as it were, printed them in their hearts.
(f) That is, the present favour of God, and a singular type of virtue appeared in him.

1:67 His father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,

(7) John, having just been born, by the authority of the Holy Spirit is appointed to his office.

1:68 "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people;

(g) That he has shown himself mindful of his people, to the extent that he came down from heaven himself to visit us in person, and to redeem us.
(h) Has paid the ransom, that is to say, the price of our redemption.

1:69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David

(i) This word "horn", in the Hebrew language, signifies strength, and it is a metaphor taken from beasts that fight with their horns: And by raising up the might of Israel is meant that the kingdom of Israel was defended, and the enemies of it laid on the ground, even then when the strength of Israel seemed to be utterly gone.

1:70 (as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been from of old),

1:71 salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us;

1:72 to show mercy towards our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,

(k) Declare indeed that he was mindful.

1:73 the oath which he spoke to Abraham, our father,

1:74 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,

1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

(l) To God's good liking.

1:76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to make ready his ways,

(m) Though you be at this present time ever so little.

1:77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

(n) Open the way.
(o) Forgiveness of sins is the means by which God saves us; (Romans 4:7)

1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us,

(p) Or "bud", or "branch"; he alludes to (Jeremiah 23:5) (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12); and he is called a bud from on high, that is, sent from God unto us, and not as other buds which bud out of the earth.

1:79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace."

(q) Into the way which leads us to true happiness.

1:80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

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Categories: Luke

Luke Chapter 1

From The Open Bible Project

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