{"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":23,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["some miracle--Fine sport thou expectedst, as the Philistines with Samson (Jdg 16:25), O coarse, crafty, cruel tyrant! But thou hast been baulked before (see on Luk 13:31-33), and shalt be again.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["answered . . . nothing--(See Mat 7:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["stood and vehemently accused him--no doubt both of treason before the king, and of blasphemy, for the king was a Jew.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["his men of war--his bodyguard. \n\nset him at naught, &c.--stung with disappointment at His refusal to amuse him with miracles or answer any of his questions. \n\ngorgeous robe--bright robe. If this mean (as sometimes) of shining white, this being the royal color among the Jews, it may have been in derision of His claim to be \"King of the Jews.\" But if so, \"He in reality honored Him, as did Pilate with His true title blazoned on the cross\" [BENGEL]. \n\nsent him again to Pilate--instead of releasing him as he ought, having established nothing against Him (Luk 23:14-15). \"Thus he implicated himself with Pilate in all the guilt of His condemnation, and with him accordingly he is classed\" (Act 4:27) [BENGEL]. \n\nat enmity--perhaps about some point of disputed jurisdiction, which this exchange of the Prisoner might tend to heal.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["JESUS AGAIN BEFORE PILATE--DELIVERED UP--LED AWAY TO BE CRUCIFIED. (Luke 23:13-38)\n\nCyrenian--of Cyrene, in Libya, on the north coast of Africa, where were many Jews who had a synagogue at Jerusalem (Act 6:9, and see Act 2:10). He was \"the father of Alexander and Rufus\" (Mar 15:21), probably better known afterwards than himself, as disciples. (See Rom 16:13). \n\nout of the country--and casually drawn into that part of the crowd. \n\nlaid the cross--\"Him they compel to bear His cross,\" (Mat 27:32) --sweet compulsion, if it issued in him or his sons voluntarily \"taking up their cross!\" It would appear that our Lord had first to bear His own cross (Joh 19:17), but being from exhaustion unable to proceed, it was laid on another to bear it \"after Him.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["women--not the precious Galilean women (Luk 23:49), but part of the crowd.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["not for me, &c.--noble spirit of compassion, rising above His own dread endurances, in tender commiseration of sufferings yet in the distance and far lighter, but without His supports and consolations!\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["mountains . . . hills, &c.-- (Hos 10:8), flying hither and thither as they did in despair for shelter, during the siege; a very slight premonition of cries of another and more awful kind (Isa 2:10, Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21; Rev 6:16-17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["green tree--that naturally resists the fire. \n\nthe dry--that attracts the fire, being its proper fuel. The proverb here plainly means: \"If such sufferings alight upon the innocent One, the very Lamb of God, what must be in store for those who are provoking the flames?\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":39,"content":["THE TWO THIEVES. (Luk 23:39-43)\n\nrailed on him--catching up the universal derision, but with a turn of his own. Jesus, \"reviled, reviles not again\"; but another voice from the cross shall nobly wipe out this dishonor and turn it to the unspeakable glory of the dying Redeemer.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":40,"content":["Dost not thou--\"thou\" is emphatic: \"Let others jeer, but dost thou?\" \n\nfear God--Hast thou no fear of meeting Him so soon as thy righteous Judge? Thou art within an hour or two of eternity, and dost thou spend it in reckless disregard of coming judgment? \n\nin the same condemnation--He has been condemned to die, but is it better with thee? Doth even a common lot kindle no sympathy in thy breast?\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":41,"content":["we . . . justly, &c.--He owns the worst of his crimes and deserts, and would fain shame his fellow into the same. \n\nnothing amiss--literally, \"out of place\"; hence \"unnatural\"; a striking term here. Our Lord was not charged with ordinary crime, but only with laying claim to office and honors which amounted to blasphemy. The charge of treason had not even a show of truth, as Pilate told His enemies. In this defense then there seems more than meets the eye. \"He made Himself the promised Messiah, the Son of God; but in this He 'did nothing amiss'; He ate with publicans and sinners, and bade all the weary and heavy laden come and rest under His wing; but in this He 'did nothing amiss': He claimed to be Lord of the Kingdom of God, to shut it at will, but also to open it at pleasure even to such as we are; but in this He 'did nothing amiss!'\" Does His next speech imply less than this? Observe: (1) His frank confession and genuine self-condemnation. (2) His astonishment and horror at the very different state of his fellow's mind. (3) His anxiety to bring him to a better mind while yet there was hope. (4) His noble testimony, not only to the innocence of Jesus, but to all that this implied of the rightfulness of His claims.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":42,"content":["said unto Jesus, &c.--Observe here (1) The \"kingdom\" referred to was one beyond the grave; for it is inconceivable that he should have expected Him to come down from the cross to erect any temporal kingdom. (2) This he calls Christ's own (Thy) kingdom. (3) As such, he sees in Christ the absolute right to dispose of that kingdom to whom He pleased. (4) He does not presume to ask a place in that kingdom, though that is what he means, but with a humility quite affecting, just says, \"Lord, remember me when,\" &c. Yet was there mighty faith in that word. If Christ will but \"think upon him\" (Neh 5:19), at that august moment when He \"cometh into His kingdom,\" it will do. \"Only assure me that then Thou wilt not forget such a wretch as I, that once hung by Thy side, and I am content.\" Now contrast with this bright act of faith the darkness even of the apostles' minds, who could hardly be got to believe that their Master would die at all, who now were almost despairing of Him, and who when dead had almost buried their hopes in His grave. Consider, too, the man's previous disadvantages and bad life. And then mark how his faith comes out--not in protestations, \"Lord, I cannot doubt, I am firmly persuaded that Thou art Lord of a kingdom, that death cannot disannul Thy title nor impede the assumption of it in due time,\" &c.--but as having no shadow of doubt, and rising above it as a question altogether, he just says, \"Lord, remember me when Thou comest,\" &c. Was ever faith like this exhibited upon earth? It looks as if the brightest crown had been reserved for the Saviour's head at His darkest moment!\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":43,"content":["Jesus said, &c.--The dying Redeemer speaks as if He Himself viewed it in this light. It was a \"song in the night.\" It ministered cheer to His spirit in the midnight gloom that now enwrapt it. \n\nVerily I say unto thee--\"Since thou speakest as to the king, with kingly authority speak I to thee.\" \n\nTo-day--\"Thou art prepared for a long delay before I come into My kingdom, but not a day's delay shall there be for thee; thou shalt not be parted from Me even for a moment, but together we shall go, and with Me, ere this day expire, shalt thou be in Paradise\" (future bliss, Co2 12:4; Rev 2:7). Learn (1) How \"One is taken and another left\"; (2) How easily divine teaching can raise the rudest and worst above the best instructed and most devoted servants of Christ; (3) How presumption and despair on a death hour are equally discountenanced here, the one in the impenitent thief, the other in his penitent fellow.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Luke Chapter 24\n\n"]}],"introduction":"JESUS BEFORE HEROD. (Luk 23:6-12)\n\nsent him to Herod--hoping thus to escape the dilemma of an unjust condemnation or an unpopular release. \n\nat Jerusalem . . . at that time--to keep the passover.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/23.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":23},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/24.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":24},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/LUK/22.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"LUK","chapter":22},"numberOfVerses":14}