{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"LUK","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Luke","commonName":"Luke","introduction":"THE writer of this Gospel is universally allowed to have been Lucas (an abbreviated form of Lucanus, as Silas of Silvanus), though he is not expressly named either in the Gospel or in the Acts. From Col 4:14 we learn that he was a \"physician\"; and by comparing that verse with Col 4:10-11 --in which the apostle enumerates all those of the circumcision who were then with him, but does not mention Luke, though he immediately afterwards sends a salutation from him--we gather that Luke was not a born Jew. Some have thought he was a freed-man (libertinus), as the Romans devolved the healing art on persons of this class and on their slaves, as an occupation beneath themselves. His intimate acquaintance with Jewish customs, and his facility in Hebraic Greek, seem to show that he was an early convert to the Jewish faith; and this is curiously confirmed by Act 21:27-29, where we find the Jews enraged at Paul's supposed introduction of Greeks into the temple, because they had seen \"Trophimus the Ephesian\" with him; and as we know that Luke was with Paul on that occasion, it would seem that they had taken him for a Jew, as they made no mention of him. On the other hand, his fluency in classical Greek confirms his Gentile origin. The time when he joined Paul's company is clearly indicated in the Acts by his changing (at Act 16:10) from the third person singular (\"he\") to the first person plural (\"we\"). From that time he hardly ever left the apostle till near the period of his martyrdom (Ti2 4:11). EUSEBIUS makes him a native of Antioch. If so, he would have every advantage for cultivating the literature of Greece and such medical knowledge as was then possessed. That he died a natural death is generally agreed among the ancients; GREGORY NAZIANZEN alone affirming that he died a martyr.\n\nThe time and place of the publication of his Gospel are alike uncertain. But we can approximate to it. It must at any rate have been issued before the Acts, for there the 'Gospel' is expressly referred to as the same author's \"former treatise\" (Act 1:1). Now the Book of the Acts was not published for two whole years after Paul's arrival as a prisoner at Rome, for it concludes with a reference to this period; but probably it was published soon after that, which would appear to have been early in the year 63. Before that time, then, we have reason to believe that the Gospel of Luke was in circulation, though the majority of critics make it later. If we date it somewhere between A.D. 50 and 60, we shall probably be near the truth; but nearer it we cannot with any certainty come. Conjectures as to the place of publication are too uncertain to be mentioned here.\n\nThat it was addressed, in the first instance, to Gentile readers, is beyond doubt. This is no more, as DAVIDSON remarks [Introduction to the New Testament, p. 186], than was to have been expected from the companion of an \"apostle of the Gentiles,\" who had witnessed marvellous changes in the condition of many heathens by the reception of the Gospel. But the explanations in his Gospel of things known to every Jew, and which could only be intended for Gentile readers, make this quite plain--see Luk 1:26; Luk 4:31; Luk 8:26; Luk 21:37; Luk 22:1; Luk 24:13. A number of other minute particulars, both of things inserted and of things omitted, confirm the conclusion that it was Gentiles whom this Evangelist had in the first instance in view.\n\nWe have already adverted to the classical style of Greek which this Evangelist writes--just what might have been expected from an educated Greek and travelled physician. But we have also observed that along with this he shows a wonderful flexibility of style, so much so, that when he comes to relate transactions wholly Jewish, where the speakers and actors and incidents are all Jewish, he writes in such Jewish Greek as one would do who had never been out of Palestine or mixed with any but Jews. In DA COSTA'S'S Four Witnesses will be found some traces of \"the beloved physician\" in this Gospel. But far more striking and important are the traces in it of his intimate connection with the apostle of the Gentiles. That one who was so long and so constantly in the society of that master mind has in such a work as this shown no traces of that connection, no stamp of that mind, is hardly to be believed. Writers of Introductions seem not to see it, and take no notice of it. But those who look into the interior of it will soon discover evidences enough in it of a Pauline cast of mind. Referring for a number of details to DA COSTA, we notice here only two examples: In Co1 11:23, Paul ascribes to an express revelation from Christ Himself the account of the Institution of the Lord's Supper which he there gives. Now, if we find this account differing in small yet striking particulars from the accounts given by Matthew and Mark, but agreeing to the letter with Luke's account, it can hardly admit of a doubt that the one had it from the other; and in that case, of course, it was Luke that had it from Paul. Now Matthew and Mark both say of the Cup, \"This is my blood of the New Testament\"; while Paul and Luke say, in identical terms, \"This cup is the New Testament in My blood\" (Co1 11:25; Luk 22:20). Further, Luke says, \"Likewise also the cup after supper, saying,\" &c.; while Paul says, \"After the same manner He took the cup when He had supped, saying,\" &c.; whereas neither Matthew nor Mark mention that this was after supper. But still more striking is another point of coincidence in this case. Matthew and Mark both say of the Bread merely this: \"Take, eat; this is My body\" (Mat 26:26; Mar 14:22); whereas Paul says, \"Take, eat, this is My body, which is broken for you\" (Co1 11:24), and Luke, \"This is My body, which is given for you\" (Luk 22:19). And while Paul adds the precious clause, \"This do in remembrance of Me,\" Luke does the same, in identical terms. How can one who reflects on this resist the conviction of a Pauline stamp in this Gospel? The other proof of this to which we ask the reader's attention is in the fact that Paul, in enumerating the parties by whom Christ was seen after His resurrection, begins, singularly enough, with Peter--\"And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve\" (Co1 15:4-5) --coupled with the remarkable fact, that Luke is the only one of the Evangelists who mentions that Christ appeared to Peter at all. When the disciples had returned from Emmaus to tell their brethren how the Lord had appeared to them in the way, and how He had made Himself known to them in the breaking of bread, they were met, as Luke relates, ere they had time to utter a word, with this wonderful piece of news, \"The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon\" (Luk 24:34).\n\nOther points connected with this Gospel will be adverted to in the Commentary. \n\n\n\nNext: Luke Chapter 1\n\n","order":42,"numberOfChapters":24,"sha256":"204b6ad5a3007ae03d59f0a3f250dc1a4fed154e78ef885292075f6de0b65757","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":24,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/24.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":24},"totalNumberOfVerses":596},"chapter":{"number":17,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["(See on Mat 18:15-17; Mat 18:21-22).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["seven times--not a lower measure of the forgiving spirit than the \"seventy times seven\" enjoined on Peter, which was occasioned by his asking if he was to stop at seven times. \"No,\" is the virtual answer, \"though it come to seventy times that number, if only he ask forgiveness in sincerity.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Lord--(See on Luk 10:1). \n\nincrease our faith--moved by the difficulty of avoiding and forgiving \"offenses.\" This is the only instance in which a spiritual operation upon their souls was solicited of Christ by the Twelve; but a kindred and higher prayer had been offered before, by one with far fewer opportunities. (See on Mar 9:24.)\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["sycamine--mulberry. (See on Mar 11:22-24.)\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["say unto him by and by--The \"by and by\" (or rather \"directly\") should be joined not to the saying but the going: \"Go directly.\" The connection here is: \"But when your faith has been so increased as both to avoid and forgive offenses, and do things impossible to all but faith, be not puffed up as though you had laid the Lord under any obligations to you.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["I trow not--or, as we say, when much more is meant, \"I should think not.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["unprofitable--a word which, though usually denoting the opposite of profit, is here used simply in its negative sense. \"We have not, as his servants, profited or benefited God at all.\" (Compare Job 22:2-3; Rom 11:35.)\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["TEN LEPERS CLEANSED. (Luk 17:11-19)\n\nthrough the midst of Samaria and Galilee--probably on the confines of both.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["stood afar off--(Compare Lev 13:45-46).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["they lifted up--their common misery drawing these poor outcasts together (Kg2 7:3), nay, making them forget the fierce national antipathy of Jew and Samaritan [TRENCH]. \n\nJesus, &c.--(Compare Mat 20:30-33). How quick a teacher is felt misery, even though as here the teaching may be soon forgotten!\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["show yourselves--as cleansed persons. (See on Mat 8:4.) Thus too would the Samaritan be taught that \"salvation is of the Jews\" (Joh 4:22). \n\nas they went, were cleansed--In how many different ways were our Lord's cures wrought, and this different from all the rest.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Were there not ten cleansed--rather, were not the ten cleansed? that is, the whole of them--an example (by the way) of Christ's omniscience [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["this stranger--\"this alien\" (literally, \"of another race\"). The language is that of wonder and admiration, as is expressly said of another exhibition of Gentile faith (Mat 8:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["Arise--for he had \"fallen down on his face at His feet\" (Luk 17:16) and there lain prostrate. \n\nfaith made thee whole--not as the others, merely in body, but in that higher spiritual sense with which His constant language has so familiarized us.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND OF THE SON OF MAN. (Luke 17:20-37)\n\nwhen, &c.--To meet the erroneous views not only of the Pharisees, but of the disciples themselves, our Lord addresses both, announcing the coming of the kingdom under different aspects. \n\nIt cometh not with observation--with watching or lying in wait, as for something outwardly imposing and at once revealing itself.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["Lo here! . . . lo there!--shut up within this or that sharply defined and visible geographical or ecclesiastical limit. \n\nwithin you--is of an internal and spiritual character (as contrasted with their outside views of it). But it has its external side too.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["The days--rather \"Days.\" \n\nwill come--as in Luk 19:43, when, amidst calamities, &c., you will anxiously look for a deliverer, and deceivers will put themselves forward in this character. \n\none of the days of the Son of man--Himself again among them but for one day; as we say when all seems to be going wrong and the one person who could keep them right is removed [NEANDER in STIER, &c.]. \"This is said to guard against the mistake of supposing that His visible presence would accompany the manifestation and establishment of His kingdom\" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["they shall say, See here . . . go not, &c.--a warning to all so-called expositors of prophecy and their followers, who cry, Lo there and see here, every time that war breaks out or revolutions occur.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["as lightning . . . so . . . the Son of man--that is it will be as manifest. The Lord speaks here of His coming and manifestation in a prophetically indefinite manner, and in these preparatory words blends into one the distinctive epochs [STIER]. When the whole polity of the Jews, civil and ecclesiastical alike, was broken up at once, and its continuance rendered impossible by the destruction of Jerusalem, it became as manifest to all as the lightning of heaven that the kingdom of God had ceased to exist in its old, and had entered on a new and perfectly different form. So it may be again, ere its final and greatest change at the personal coming of Christ, and of which the words in their highest sense are alone true.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["But first . . . suffer, &c.--This shows that the more immediate reference of Luk 17:23 is to an event soon to follow the death of Christ. It was designed to withdraw the attention of \"His disciples\" from the glare in which His foregoing words had invested the approaching establishment of His kingdom.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["eat . . . married . . . planted--all the ordinary occupations and enjoyments of life. Though the antediluvian world and the cities of the plain were awfully wicked, it is not their wickedness, but their worldliness, their unbelief and indifference to the future, their unpreparedness, that is here held up as a warning. Note.--These recorded events of Old Testament history--denied or explained away nowadays by not a few--are referred to here as facts.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["to take it away . . . Remember, &c.--a warning against that lingering reluctance to part with present treasures which induces some to remain in a burning house, in hopes of saving this and that precious article till consumed and buried in its ruins. The cases here supposed, though different, are similar.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["Lot's wife--her \"look back,\" for that is all that is said of her, and her recorded doom. Her heart was in Sodom still, and the \"look\" just said, \"And must I bid it adieu?\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["Whosoever, &c.--(See on Luk 9:23-27).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":34,"content":["two in one bed--the prepared and unprepared mingled in closest intercourse together in the ordinary walks and fellowships of life, when the moment of severance arrives. Awful truth! realized before the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Christians found themselves forced by their Lord's directions (Luk 21:21) at once and for ever away from their old associates; but most of all when the second coming of Christ shall burst upon a heedless world.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":37,"content":["Where--shall this occur? \n\nWheresoever, &c.--\"As birds of prey scent out the carrion, so wherever is found a mass of incurable moral and spiritual corruption, there will be seen alighting the ministers of divine judgment,\" a proverbial saying terrifically verified at the destruction of Jerusalem, and many times since, though its most tremendous illustration will be at the world's final day.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Luke Chapter 18\n\n"]}],"introduction":"OFFENSES--FAITH--HUMILITY. (Luk 17:1-10)\n\n(See Mat 18:6-7).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/17.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":17},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/18.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":18},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/16.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":16},"numberOfVerses":26}