Lukechapter 12
59 verses · Luke · about AD 62 · The Gospels
And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Introduction
Luke, The Gospels, Luke Overview.
Luke wrote this chapter for readers who owned property and who might one day stand before a magistrate for their faith. It gathers teaching given to a vast crowd, turning from the disciples to the people and back again. The subjects are the ones that press on an ordinary life: fear, money, worry, work and the future. Listen for the two voices of the chapter, one speaking warnings and one speaking comfort. Listen also for the questions about readiness, and for the images drawn from farms, households and the sky. The chapter asks the reader where his security truly rests.
Context
- Who
- A prosperous Greek reader hearing hard things about property
- What
- Teaching on fear, greed, anxiety and readiness, given to the disciples within hearing of a crowd of thousands.
- Where
- On the road toward Jerusalem, before a crowd so large that people trampled one another; no town is named.
- When
- On the road to Jerusalem, about AD 29 to 30.
- Why
- To free disciples from fear of men and from trust in possessions, and to keep them ready for the Master's return.
Historical context
The man asking Jesus to divide the inheritance was making an ordinary request. Rabbis routinely arbitrated family property disputes, and inheritance law was one of the standard subjects a teacher was consulted on. Refusing the role is the unusual part.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The rich fool's problem is a good harvest, which was read in that culture as God's blessing. Tearing down barns to build larger ones was prudent estate management. Luke's point is not that the man was a criminal but that the whole plan is spoken in the first person singular, my crops, my barns, my grain, my soul, and there is no other person in it.
Sparrows were the cheapest food in the market, sold five for two small copper coins, and Luke uses that price to make his point about being valued.
The weather sayings are the local forecast. A cloud rising in the west comes off the Mediterranean and brings rain; a wind from the south comes off the desert and brings scorching heat. Every farmer read those two signs correctly every day of his life.
The advice about settling with your accuser on the way to the magistrate describes Roman legal practice, where a creditor could physically haul a debtor before the court and imprisonment for debt was real.
Significance
Luke's Gospel is the one that presses hardest on possessions, and this chapter is its centre: sell your possessions and give to the needy, and where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
But the chapter opens and closes on pressure rather than money. Do not fear those who kill the body; when they bring you before rulers and authorities, do not worry how to answer. Luke's readers would face exactly that, and the promise given is that the Spirit will teach them in that very hour what to say.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Nothing Covered: Fear God, Not Men
a crowd of many thousands had gathered: Jesus began to speak first to His disciples, so the warning is theirs before it is the crowd's. Luke names the leaven outright, which is hypocrisy, where Mark 8 leaves the figure unexplained.
Luke 12:1
“The words which begin this chapter are very striking, when we consider its contents. We are told that "a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another." And what does our Lord do? In the hearing of this multitude He delivers warnings against false teachers, and denounces the sins of the times in which he lived unsparingly, unflinchingly, and without partiality. This was true charity. This was doing the work of a physician. This was the pattern which all His ministers were intended to follow.”
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Luke 12:1
“Besides, there was a Judas among them, who was a hypocrite, and Christ knew it, and would hereby startle him, or leave him inexcusable. Christ's disciples were, for aught we know, the best men then in the world, yet they needed to be cautioned against hypocrisy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 12:1
“Our Lord has introduced a most forcible argument for preserving simplicity, and being zealous for the faith, that we should not after the manner of faithless Jews put one thing in practice, while in words we pretend another, namely, that at the last day the hidden thoughts accusing or else excusing one another, shall be seen to reveal the secrets of our mind. Whence it is added, There is nothing hid which shall not be revealed.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:1
“In the mean time - While he was discoursing with the scribes and Pharisees, as recorded in the last chapter. An innumerable multitude - The original word is “myriad’s,” or ten thousands. It is used here to signify that there was a great crowd or collection of people, who were anxious to hear him. Multitudes were attracted to the Saviour’s ministry, and it is worthy of remark that he never had more to hear him than when he was most faithful and severe in his reproofs of sinners.”
Luke 12:2-3
There is nothing concealed: that will not be disclosed answers the hidden hypocrisy of verse 1, since every pretense will come to light. The housetops were the flat roofs from which public criers made announcements.
Luke 12:2
“Since, then, He had censured their hypocrisy, which covered the secrets of the heart, and obscured with superficial offices the mysteries of unbelief, because (while holding the key of knowledge) it would neither enter in itself, nor permit others to enter in, He therefore adds, "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, which shall not be known," in order that no one should suppose that He was attempting the revelation and the recognition of an hitherto unknown and hidden god.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:2
“Nothing covered - See the notes at Mat 10:26-32. Luk 12:3 Shall be proclaimed upon the housetops - See the notes at Mat 10:27. The custom of making proclamation from the tops or roofs of houses still prevails in the East. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 51, 52) says: “At the present day, local governors in country districts cause their commands thus to be published. Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the people have returned from their labors in the field.”
proclaimed from the housetops: Theophylact reads the verse as spoken to the Pharisees, whose secret plots to tempt Jesus would come to light. Bede reads it of the apostles, whose words spoken in prison and oppression were later proclaimed through the whole world by the Church. Both readings are old.
Luke 12:3
“The Gnostic, then, is impressed with the closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples and to the prudent. Comprehending this, as He who taught wished, and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily "on the housetops" those capable of being built to a lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance with the example of life. For He enjoined what is possible. And, in truth, the kingly man and Christian ought to be ruler and leader.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 6patristic
Luke 12:4-5
I tell you, My friends: Jesus calls the disciples My friends, a rare term of intimacy. The fear He commands is for the One with authority to throw you into hell, which points to God, since Satan holds no such authority.
Luke 12:4
“Since unbelief springs from two causes, either from a deeply-seated malice or a sudden fear; lest any one from terror should be compelled to deny the God whom he acknowledges in his heart, He well adds, And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, &c. He tells us also, that that death is not terrible for which at a far more costly rate of interest immortality is to be purchased.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
has authority to throw you into hell: Matthew Henry weighs the two fears, of men who kill the body and of God who has authority over hell. He cites the martyr Bishop Hooper, who said that life is sweet and death bitter, and eternal life sweeter and eternal death more bitter.
Luke 12:5
"But I will show you whom ye shall fear: fear Him who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell" (meaning, of course, the Creator); "yea, I say unto you, fear Him." Now, it would here be enough for my purpose that He forbids offence being given to Him whom He orders to be feared; and that He orders Him to be respected whom He forbids to be offended; and that He who gives these commands belongs to that very God for whom He procures this fear, this absence of offence, and this respect.
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:5
“But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, I will be your monitor, and direct you to the proper object of fear and reverence, and whom you should be careful to displease and offend: fear him, which after he hath killed; your body, as the Persic version adds; hath taken away the life of it, by separating soul and body asunder, by sending one disease or another, or death in one shape or another: hath power to cast into hell; your soul, as the above version also adds; yea, to destroy both body and soul in hell, as in…”
Luke 12:6-7
five sparrows sold for two pennies?: are the cheapest birds in the market, yet not one of them is forgotten by God. The God who forgets no sparrow forgets no disciple facing the persecution just named.
Luke 12:6
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? - See this explained on Mat 10:29 (note), from which place we learn that two sparrows were sold for one farthing, and here; that five were sold for two farthings: thus we find a certain proportion - for one farthing you could get but two, while for two farthings you could get five.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
you are worth more than many sparrows: Augustine used the numbered hairs in City of God 22.19 to argue that the resurrection body keeps what belonged to it by nature. The same providence counts sparrows and hairs. The fear of verse 5 and the comfort of verse 7 come from one God.
Luke 12:7
“It is His care then diligently to know the life of the saints. Whence it follows, But the hairs of your heads are all numbered; by which He means, that of all things which relate to them He has most accurate knowledge, for the numbering manifests the minuteness of the care exercised. Now mystically, indeed, the head of a man is his understanding, but his hairs the thoughts, which are open to the eye of God.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:7
“Fear not therefore - Want of faith in the providence and goodness of God is the source of all human inquietudes and fears. He has undertaken to save and defend those to the uttermost who trust in him. His wisdom cannot be surprised, his power cannot be forced, his love cannot forget itself. Man distrusts God, and fears that he is forgotten by him, because he judges of God by himself; and he knows that he is apt to forget his Maker, and be unfaithful to him. See on Mat 10:29-31 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:8-9
everyone who confesses Me before men: Confession and denial before men are answered in kind before the angels of God, in the courtroom language of the persecution warnings. The confession in view is public testimony under pressure, the setting verses 11 and 12 make explicit.
Luke 12:8
“We are taught, firstly, in these verses—that we must confess Christ upon earth, if we expect Him to own us as His saved people at the last day. We must not be ashamed to let all men see that we believe in Christ, and serve Christ, and love Christ, and care more for the praise of Christ than for the praise of man. The duty of confessing Christ is incumbent on all Christians in every age of the Church. Let us never forget that. It is not for martyrs only—but for all believers, in every rank of life.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:8
“He has also well introduced faith, stimulating us to its confession, and to faith itself He has placed virtue as a foundation. For as faith is the incentive to fortitude, so is fortitude the strong support of faith.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
will be denied before the angels of God: Eusebius notes the order: Jesus first confirms His disciples with the promise of verse 8, then rouses them with this threat. Tertullian reads the forewarning about those who kill the body as the ground for this clause on confessing Him. Peter denied Him at Luke 22:57.
Luke 12:9
“But the rest, those who denied and despised him, shall be denied: when the Judge shall say to them that, as it were, which was spoken by the holy prophets to certain of old; "As you have done, it shall be done unto you; and your requital shall be requited upon yours own head;" and shall deny them in these words: "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I know you not." And who then are they that shall be denied? First of all, those who when persecution was pressing upon them, and tribulation had overtaken them, deserted the faith.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 88patristic
everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man: will be forgiven, a startling mercy. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit names a fixed state. A reader troubled by having committed it has shown by that concern that he has not.
Luke 12:10
“And whosoever shall speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him,.... These words, though introduced by Luke among the sayings of Christ, recorded in Matt. 10 yet were said by Christ, on occasion of the Pharisees, ascribing his works to diabolical influence and assistance; see Gill on Mat 12:32. but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost; as the Pharisees did, by charging the miracles of Christ with being done by the help of the devil, when they were wrought by the finger of the Spirit: it shall not be forgiven.”
Luke 12:11-12
When you are brought before synagogues: The hearing before synagogues, rulers, and authorities is the setting the confession of verse 8 anticipated. The Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say, help given in the hour of need for defense under persecution.
Luke 12:11
“On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in different places we bring together. "But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before the angels." "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with His angels.”
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 4patristic
4 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:11
“When they bring you into the synagogues, and to the rulers, and authorities. For He had said before: I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute.”
Bede · written before 735 · On the Gospel of Lukepatristic
Luke 12:11
“Unto magistrates and powers - See Mat 10:17-20. Take ye no thought - See Mat 6:25; Mat 10:19.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:11
“When "brought before magistrates," and examined, He forbids them "to take thought how they shall answer; ""for," says He, "the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say." If such an injunction as this comes from the Creator, the precept will only be His by whom an example was previously given.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
Luke 12:11
“You must also know that the Holy Spirit empowers the martyrs to bear witness.… A person cannot testify as a martyr for Christ's sake except through the Holy Spirit. If "no man can say 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit," will any man give his life for Jesus' sake except through the Holy Spirit?”
Cyril of Jerusalem · written before 386 · Catechetical Lecture 16:21patristic
Theophylact sees the fear of bodily harm answered in verses 4 to 7, and here the fear of being simple in speech. Acts 4:8 shows Peter speaking so.
Luke 12:12
“For the Holy Ghost shall teach you,.... Shall give both words and matter: in the same hour; instantly, immediately: what ye ought to say; what will be proper to be said, for the honour of Christ, the defence of the Gospel, and the confusion of enemies; See Gill on Mat 10:20.”
The Rich Fool and His Bigger Barns
Luke 12:13-14
A man asks Jesus to settle his inheritance, bringing a rabbi's ordinary work of settling family disputes into teaching about eternal things. Jesus refuses the role, and the address Man is curt in the Greek, marking the request as an interruption.
Luke 12:13
“The passage we have now read, affords a singular instance of man's readiness to bring the things of this world into the midst of his religion. We are told that a certain hearer of our Lord asked Him to assist him about his temporal affairs. "Master," he said, "speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." He probably had some vague idea that Jesus was going to set up a kingdom in this world, and to reign upon earth. He resolves to make an early application about his own financial matters.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:13
“This whole place is prepared for undergoing the passion of the Lord either with contempt of death, or with hope of reward, or with the declaration of intention to endure punishment, to which no forgiveness will ever be granted. And because greed often tempts virtue, there is also a commandment and example given for the abolishment of this, as the Lord says: Who made me a judge or a divider among you?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.122patristic
Luke 12:13
“One of the company - One of the multitude. This man had probably had a dispute with his brother, supposing that his brother had refused to do him justice. Conceiving that Jesus had power over the people - that what he said must be performed - he endeavored to secure him on his side of the dispute and gain his point. From the parable which follows, it would appear that he had no “just” claim on the inheritance, but was influenced by covetousness.”
Bede, cited by Bonaventure, says Christ is the God of peace and unity, and He declines to take a side in the brothers' quarrel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that religious teachers have shaped outward life most when the effect came indirectly through their teaching. The warning on greed follows.
Luke 12:14
“A judge - Without some judgment given in the case, no division could be made; therefore Jesus added the word judge. Pearce. A minister of Christ ought not to concern himself with secular affairs, any farther than charity and the order of discipline require it. Our Lord could have decided this difference in a moment; but the example of a perfect disengagement from worldly things was more necessary for the ministers of his Church than that of a charity applying itself to temporal concerns.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:14
“Well then does He avoid earthly things who had descended for the sake of divine things, and deigns not to be a judge of strifes and arbiter of laws, having the judgment of the quick and dead and the recompensing of works. You should consider then, not what you seek, but from whom you ask it; and you should not eagerly suppose that the greater are to be disturbed by the less.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:14
“Note, Jesus Christ was no usurper; he took no honour, no power, to himself, but what was given him, Heb. v. 5 . Whatever he did, he could tell by what authority he did it, and who gave him that authority. Now this shows us what is the nature and constitution of Christ's kingdom.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 12:14
“The influence of religious teachers in the external relations of life has ever been immense, when only the INDIRECT effect of their teaching; but whenever they intermeddle DIRECTLY with secular and political matters, the spell of that influence is broken.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Guard yourselves against every form of greed: names the danger behind the declined dispute, and the warning is plural, to every hearer. The principle the coming parable illustrates follows: one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.
Luke 12:15
“But He does not leave us without instruction: for having found, so to speak, a seasonable opportunity, He frames a profitable and saving discourse; and protesting as it were against them, declares, "Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness." He showed us that pitfall of the devil, covetousness, a thing hateful to God, and which the wise Paul even calls idolatry, perhaps as being suitable for those only who know not God, or as being equal in the balance with the defilement of those men who choose to serve stocks and stones.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon LXXXIXpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:15
“The reason of it, or an argument to enforce this caution: For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth; that is, "our happiness and comfort do not depend upon our having a great deal of the wealth of this world." (1.) The life of the soul, undoubtedly, does not depend upon it, and the soul is the man.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 12:16-19
The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance, a harvest in which no wrong is named. His plan to tear down his barns and build bigger ones runs on I and my, while God is never consulted.
Luke 12:16
“He had a whole country to himself, a lordship of his own; he was a little prince. Observe, His wealth lay much in the fruits of the earth, for the king himself is served by the field, Eccl. v. 9 . He had a great deal of ground, and his ground was fruitful; much would have more, and he had more.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:16
“For he gathers wealth in vain who does not know how to use it: just like that person who, when the granaries were bursting with new harvests, was preparing receptacles for himself to collect the overflowing fruits, being ignorant of how to use them. For everything that belongs to the world remains in the world, and whatever is gathered together by heirs passes away from us; for those things are not ours, which we cannot take away with us.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.122patristic
Theophylact hears in the rich man's question the same words a poor man says when he has nothing to eat. Gregory the Great called it adversity born of plenty, a man labouring under a load of goods. Abundance brought him worry.
Luke 12:17
“He thought within himself - He reasoned or inquired. He was anxious and perplexed. Riches increase thought and perplexity. Indeed, this is almost their only effect - to engross the thoughts and steal the heart away from better things, in order to take care of the useless wealth. No room - Everything was full. To bestow - To place, to hoard, to collect. My fruits - Our word “fruits” is not applied to “grain;” but the Greek word is applied to all the produce of the earth - not only “fruit,” but also grain.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:17
“Note, The God of heaven knows and observes whatever we think within ourselves, and we are accountable to him for it. He is both a discerner and judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart. We mistake if we imagine that thoughts are hid and thoughts are free.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 12:17
“What does the rich man do, surrounded by a great supply of many blessings beyond all numbering? In distress and anxiety, he speaks the words of poverty. He says, "What should I do?" … He does not look to the future. He does not raise his eyes to God. He does not count it worth his while to gain for the mind those treasures that are above in heaven. He does not cherish love for the poor or desire the esteem it gains. He does not sympathize with suffering. It gives him no pain nor awakens his pity.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 89patristic
I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones: Basil observes that the man could as easily have opened his barn and called the needy, and he thought only of amassing. Theophylact names the poor as the proper granaries. Every pronoun in the plan is his own.
Luke 12:18
“I will pull down, etc. - The rich are full of designs concerning this life, but in general take no thought about eternity till the time that their goods and their lives are both taken away.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The man speaks to his own soul, and Basil rebukes him for giving the soul the food of the body. Theophylact notes that he also assigns himself many years, as though long life were a crop of his land. Isaiah 22:13 gives the same motto.
Luke 12:19
“Much goods - Much property. Enough to last a long while, so that there is no need of anxiety or labor. Take thine ease - Be free from care about the future. Have no anxiety about coming to want. Eat, drink, and be merry - This was just the doctrine of the ancient Epicureans and atheists, and it is, alas! too often the doctrine of those who are rich. They think that all that is valuable in life is to eat, and drink, and be cheerful or merry.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:19
“It is the great absurdity which the children of this world are guilty of that they portion their souls in the wealth of the world and the pleasures of sense. (3.) Here is God's sentence upon all this; and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Luke 12:20-21
But God said to him: God, the one voice the man never consulted, answers his monologue: You fool. The demand falls on the very night of his planning. The moral names anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.
Luke 12:20
“But it is night to a worldling, a dark night; he lies down in sorrow. It is this night, this present night, without delay; there is no giving bail, or begging a day. This pleasant night, when thou art promising thyself many years to come, now thou must die, and go to judgment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read rich toward God as the riches of God's favour, set against wealth that ends on self. Theophylact adds that such a man is snatched away at the very time of making plans. Verse 33 names the treasure that lasts.
Luke 12:21
“It is true that a person's life is not from one's possessions or because of having an overabundance. He who is rich toward God is very blessed and has glorious hope. Who is he? Evidently, one who does not love wealth but rather loves virtue, and to whom few things are sufficient. It is one whose hand is open to the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty according to his means and the utmost of his power. He gathers in the storehouses that are above and lays up treasures in heaven.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 89patristic
Ravens, Lilies, and Treasure in Heaven
Luke 12:22-23
Jesus turns from the rich fool's excess to the opposite fear of too little. Food and clothing were the two basic worries of a subsistence economy. The God who gives life itself can be trusted for what sustains it.
Luke 12:22
“And he said unto his disciples,.... Having finished the parable which he spake to the whole audience in common, he directed himself to his disciples, who were poor, and apt to be over anxious about their living in the world: therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat.”
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:22
“Now nothing is more likely to produce conviction in believers that God can give us all things, than the fact, that the ethereal spirit perpetuates the vital union of the soul and body in close fellowship, without our exertion, and the healthgiving use of food does not fail until the last day of death has arrived.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:22
We have in these verses—a collection of striking arguments against over-anxiety about the things of this world. At first sight they may seem to some minds simple and common. But the more they are pondered—the more weighty will they appear. An abiding recollection of them would save many Christians an immense amount of trouble. Christ bids us consider the RAVENS. "They neither sow nor reap. They have neither storehouse nor barn. But God feeds them."
Luke 12:22
“In the foregoing parable he had given us warning against that branch of covetousness of which rich people are most in danger; and that is, a sensual complacency in the abundance of this world's goods.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
life is more than food: The argument runs from greater to lesser: the God who gave life and the body will also give food and clothing. Bede reminds the reader that God gave far more in creating soul and body. The ravens of verse 24 make the case.
Luke 12:23
“We who carry about our very soul, our very body, exposed in this world to injury from all, and exhibit patience under that injury; shall we be hurt at the loss of less important things? Far from a servant of Christ be such a defilement as that the patience which has been prepared for greater temptations should forsake him in frivolous ones.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Of Patiencepatristic
Consider the ravens: , birds unclean under the law, which have no storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them. An unclean scavenger fed by God sets the disciple's worth beyond comparison.
Luke 12:24
“But it is a great thing to follow up this example in faith. For to the birds of the air who have no labour of tilling, no produce from the fruitfulness of crops, Divine Providence grants an unfailing sustenance. It is true then that the cause of our poverty seems to be covetousness. For they have for this reason a toilless and abundant use of food, because they think not of claiming to themselves by any special right fruits given for common food. We have lost what things were common by claiming them as our own.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:25-26
Who of you by worrying: can add a single hour to his life exposes anxiety by its own arithmetic. The Greek word rendered life can mean stature or the span of a lifetime, and either reading leaves worry accomplishing nothing.
Luke 12:25
“And which of you with taking thought,.... In an anxious and distressing manner, for food and raiment, in order to preserve and continue life, add to his stature one cubit? The Persic version reads, "to his stature and height", as if this referred to the height of stature; whereas it seems rather to regard the age of a man, and the continuance of his life; See Gill on Mat 6:27.”
why do you worry about the rest?: Theophylact reasons that the God who grants growth in stature will also provide the rest. Bede, cited by Bonaventure, says to leave the clothing of the body to the One who made it. Worry adds nothing.
Luke 12:26
“And if you cannot add even the least thing, why do you worry about the rest? It is obvious that just as God grants growth in stature, so too will He provide the rest.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on Lukepatristic
Luke 12:27-28
Consider how the lilies grow: moves from the food of the ravens to clothing. Not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these, the wealthiest king Israel remembered outdone by a wildflower.
Luke 12:27
“Nor does it seem of light moment, that a flower is either compared to man, or even almost more than to man is preferred to Solomon, to make us conceive the glory expressed, from the brightness of the colour to be that of the heavenly angels; who are truly the flowers of the other world, since by their brightness the world is adorned, and they breathe forth the pure odour of sanctification, who shackled by no cares, employed in no toilsome task, cherish the grace of the Divine bounty towards them, and the gifts of their heavenly nature.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:27
“Note, Our inordinate cares are owing to the weakness of our faith; for a powerful practical belief of the all-sufficiency of God, his covenant-relation to us as a Father, and especially his precious promises, relating both to this life and that to come, would be mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the strong holds of these disquieting perplexing imaginations.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
O you of little faith!: Ambrose read the lilies' glory as a pledge of the resurrection, when the Lord promises His people an appearance like the angels. He tied the verse to the question of 1 Corinthians 15:35, how the dead are raised. The clothing promised reaches past this life.
Luke 12:28
“If then God so clothe the grass,.... lilies and tulips; for they are no other than grass, weak, frail, fading, short lived flowers, which have all their gaiety and beauty from the great Creator of them: which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven: the grass is one day in the field, in all its verdure, glory, and beauty; and being cut down before evening, the next day it is withered and dried, and made fit to put into an oven, or under a furnace to heat them with: how much more will he clothe…”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:28
“Therefore, if lilies or angels are clothed with glory surpassing that of humans, we must not despair of God's mercy in us, to whom the Lord promises a similar appearance of angels through the grace of resurrection. In this passage, it also seems to address that question, which even the Apostle did not overlook; for the peoples of this world inquire how the dead rise again and with what kind of body they come.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.129patristic
Luke 12:29-31
do not be concerned about what you will eat: The command against anxiety comes a third time, and the Greek behind it pictures a mind kept restlessly aloft. Anxious pursuit marks the Gentiles of the world, who strive after all these things with no Father to trust.
Luke 12:29
“Neither be ye of doubtful mind - Or, in anxious suspense, μη μετεωριζεσθε. Raphelius gives several examples to prove that the meaning of the word is, to have the mind agitated with useless thoughts, and vain imaginations concerning food, raiment, and riches, accompanied with perpetual uncertainty.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
your Father knows that you need them: Theophylact notes that anxiety over these things draws a man away from God and never stops at what is necessary. The Gentiles strive after them with no Father to trust. The disciples have one who knows.
Luke 12:30
“The nations of the world seek after - Or, earnestly seek, επιζητει from επι above, over, and ζητεω, I seek; to seek one thing after another, to be continually and eagerly coveting. This is the employment of the nations of this world, utterly regardless of God and eternity! It is the essence of heathenism to live only for this life; and it is the property of Christianity to lead men to live here in reference to another and better world. Reader! how art thou living?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:30
“But it ill becomes you to do so. You, who are called out of the world, ought not to be thus conformed to the world, and to walk in the way of this people, " Isa. viii. When inordinate cares prevail over us, we should think, "What am I, a Christian or a heathen?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
But seek His kingdom: Ambrose held that grace will fail the faithful neither now nor hereafter, if they seek heavenly things. Bonaventure calls the added things provisions for the way. Matthew 6:33 adds the word first.
Luke 12:31
“For when he says, Seek the kingdom of God: and all these things shall be added unto you; he shows that grace will not be lacking to the faithful, neither in the present nor in the future, if only those who desire divine things do not seek after earthly things. For it is inappropriate for men to be concerned with food, who are soldiers for the kingdom. The king knows how to provide for, nourish, and clothe his household; and therefore he said: Cast your care upon God, and he himself will nourish you.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.130patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:31
“But rather seek ye the kingdom of God,.... The Vulgate Latin version adds, "first", as also, "and his righteousness", as in Mat 6:33 and the Ethiopic version reads, "seek his kingdom and righteousness" meaning either the grace of God, which is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom 14:17 or the heavenly glory; unless the Gospel, and the dispensation of it, which is the Messiah's kingdom, and which was then just ushering in, should rather be intended.”
Do not be afraid, little flock: answers the fear named at the chapter's opening with tenderness, picturing a small and vulnerable company. The verse gathers the sparrows, the ravens, and the lilies into one assurance about the kingdom itself.
Luke 12:32
“Therefore fear not, little flock, but hope to the end; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. This comfortable word we had not in Matthew. Note, [1.] Christ's flock in this world is a little flock; his sheep are but few and feeble.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:32
“Fear not, little flock - Or, very little flock, το μικρον ποιμνιον. This is what some term a double diminutive, and, literally translated, is, little little flock. Though this refers solely to the apostles and first believers, of whom it was literally true, yet we may say that the number of genuine believers has been, and is still, small, in comparison of heathens and false Christians. It is your Father’s good pleasure - Ευδοκησεν, It hath pleased, etc., though this tense joined with an infinitive has often the force of the present.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:32
“It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom - How much more food and raiment? And since ye have such an inheritance, regard not your earthly possessions.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 12:33-34
Sell your possessions and give to the poor: turns the teaching on anxiety into a command, generosity in place of the rich fool's hoarding. Purses that will not wear out give a security no barn could offer.
Luke 12:33
“Sell what ye have - This is a direction, not given to all the multitude: (much less is it a standing rule for all Christians:) neither to the apostles; for they had nothing to sell, having left all before: but to his other disciples, (mentioned chap. xii, 22, and Acts i, 15, ) especially to the seventy, that they might be free from all worldly entanglements.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
there your heart will be also: Theophylact calls this the reason that admits no objection. Even if no moth or thief touches the treasure, the heart goes where the treasure is kept. The rich fool kept his heart in his barns.
Luke 12:34
Where your treasure is - Men fix their hearts on their treasures, and often resort to the place where they have deposited them, to see that all is safe and secure. Let God be the treasure of your soul, and let your heart go frequently to the place where his honor dwelleth. There is a curious parallel passage to this in Plautus, quoted by Bishop Pearce on Mat 6:21. Nam ego sum hic; animus domi est, sc. cum argento meo. “I am here; but my heart is at home, i.e. with my money.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:34
“For every man naturally dwells upon that which is the object of his desire, and thither he directs all his thoughts, where he supposes his whole interest to rest. If any one then has his whole mind and affections, which he calls the heart, set on things of this present life, he lives in earthly things. But if he has given his mind to heavenly things, there will his mind be; so that he seems with his body only to live with men, but with his mind to have already reached the heavenly mansion.”
Eusebius of Caesarea · written before 339 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Servants Watching for the Master's Return
Luke 12:35-36
Be dressed for service: pictures a household staff with robes tucked up and lamps lit, ready at any hour. The master sets the hour of his return, so they stand ready to open the door the moment he knocks.
Luke 12:35
“Let your loins be girded about,.... With the girdle of truth, Eph 6:14 keeping close to the doctrines of the Gospel, abiding faithfully by them, even unto death: the allusion is either to the eating of the first passover, Exo 12:11 or rather to servants, who, in these eastern countries, wore long garments; and therefore, when in business, used to gather them up, and gird them about them, that they might perform their service with greater strength, more ease, quicker dispatch, and less hinderance: the phrase denotes readiness for business: and your lights burning.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:35
For this reason the Lord also said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." And, "Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares." And, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning, and ye like unto men that wait for their Lord, when He returns from the wedding, that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall find so doing."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 4patristic
Luke 12:35
“Let your loins ... - This alludes to the ancient manner of dress. They wore a long flowing robe as their outer garment. See the notes at Mat 5:38-41. When they labored, or walked, or ran, it was necessary to “gird” or tie this up by a “sash” or girdle about the body, that it might not impede their progress. Hence, to gird up the loins means to be “ready,” to be active, to be diligent. Compare 2Ki 4:29; 2Ki 9:1; Jer 1:17; Act 12:8. Your lights burning - This expresses the same meaning.”
waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet: Theophylact reads the master as Christ, who took human nature as a bride and united it with Himself. Bonaventure reads the return from the wedding as His coming to judgment from heaven. Revelation 3:20 pictures the same knock.
Luke 12:36
“We should look for Christ's coming again from heaven. He will come in the glory of the Father with the holy angels. He has taught us saying that we must be like those who wait for their lord to return from the banqueting house, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open the door to him immediately. For Christ will return as from a feast. This plainly shows that God always dwells in festivals that are fitting for him. In heaven above, there is no sadness whatsoever since nothing can occasion grief.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 92patristic
Luke 12:37-38
Blessed are those servants: Household order is reversed: the master will dress himself to serve and have them recline at the table. The master takes the servant's part, an image of the Lord's own service to His people seen in the foot washing of John 13.
Luke 12:37
“Shall gird himself - Shall take the place of the servant himself. Servants who waited on the table were girded in the manner described above. Shall make them sit ... - Shall place them at his table and feast them. This evidently means that if we are faithful to Christ, and are ready to meet him when he returns, he will receive us into heaven - will admit us to all its blessings, and make us happy there - as if “he” should serve us and minister to our wants.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:37
"The pain of the stroke" means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: "And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of Jacob thy father." This is what the Lord declared: "Happy are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching.
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5patristic
in the second or third watch of the night: The second and third watches are the middle of the night, when sleep is heaviest. Theophylact reads them as the hours of life that lull men to sleep, such as the seizing of a man's goods. Waking then brings the blessing.
Luke 12:38
“Our Lord knew the proneness of human infirmity to sin, but because He is merciful, He docs not allow us to despair, but rather has compassion, and gives us repentance as a saving remedy. And therefore He adds, And if he shall come in the second watch, &c. For they who keep watch on the walls of cities, or observe the attacks of the enemy, divide the night into three or four watches.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:38
“A too common case this with Christians. But if the servant have himself and all under his charge in such a state that at any hour when his master knocks, he can open to him "immediately," and hail his "return"--that is the most enviable, "blessed" servant of all.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Luke 12:39-40
If the homeowner had known: The thief adds an edge of danger to the call to readiness. Whether the one coming is pictured as master or thief, the withheld timing of the Son of Man is the point of both pictures.
Luke 12:39
“In the next parable also he makes a flagrant mistake, when he assigns to the person of the Creator that "thief, whose hour, if the father of the family had only known, he would not have suffered his house to be broken through." How can the Creator wear in any way the aspect of a thief, Lord as He is of all mankind? No one pilfers or plunders his own property, but he rather acts the part of one who swoops down on the things of another, and alienates man from his Lord.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
Gregory the Great taught that the Lord kept the last hour unknown, so that men would always expect it and be ready without ceasing. Theophylact reads the Son of Man here as the thief of verse 39, who comes to the house at an hour no one knows.
Luke 12:40
“What is the mark of a Christian? It is to watch daily and hourly and to stand prepared in that state of total responsiveness pleasing to God, knowing that the Lord will come at an hour that he does not expect.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · The Morals 22patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:40
“Be ye therefore ready also,.... Not habitually, but actually, in the exercise of grace, and the discharge of duty, with loins girt, and lights burning.”
Luke 12:40
“Be ye therefore ready also - It is pretty evident that what is related here, from Luk 12:35 to Luk 12:49, was spoken by our Lord at another time. See Mat 24:42 (note), etc., and the notes there.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:41-42
Peter asks, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well. The parable weighs most on those given charge of others, the apostles first, and its call to readiness still reaches every disciple.
Luke 12:41
“Then Peter said unto him, Lord,.... The Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "our Lord": speakest thou this parable: of the master at the wedding, and his servants waiting for him, or of the housekeeper watching that his house be not broken up, or both: unto us, or unto all?”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:41
“Or else, the form of the first command is a general one adapted to all, but the following example seems to be proposed to the stewards, that is, the priests; and therefore it follows, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give, them their portion of meat in due season?”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:41
“We learn firstly from these verses—the importance of doing , in our Christianity. Our Lord is speaking of His own second coming. He is comparing His disciples to servants waiting for their master's return, who have each their own work to do during His absence. "Blessed," He says, "is that servant, whom his master, when he comes, shall find so doing ." The warning has doubtless a primary reference to ministers of the Gospel. They are the stewards of God's mysteries, who are specially bound to be found "doing" when Christ comes again.”
the faithful and wise manager: Jesus answers Peter's question with a question of His own. Theophylact reads it as turned to the apostles and teachers, the parable before it belonging to all the faithful. He asks where a steward with both faithfulness and wisdom is to be found.
Luke 12:42
“And the Lord said, who then is that faithful and wise steward,.... Christ does not directly, and in express words, answer to Peter's question, but suggests, that though he intended it as a caution to all his people, and in it spoke to them all to be upon their watch and guard, Mar 13:37 yet that he had a special regard to them, his apostles, and succeeding ministers of the Gospel, whose characters, office, work, dignity, and honour, are here described.”
3 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:42
“Now to the courageous rightly belong the great and difficult of God's holy commandments, but to those who have not yet attained to such virtue, belong those things from which all difficulty is excluded. Our Lord therefore uses a very obvious example, to show that the above-mentioned command is suited to those who have been admitted into the rank of disciples, for it follows, And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful steward?”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
Luke 12:42
“Faithful and wise steward - See on Mat 24:45 (note); where the several parts of the steward’s office are mentioned and explained. Those appear to have been stewards among the Jews, whose business it was to provide all the members of a family, not only with food, but with raiment.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:42
“Who is that faithful and wise steward - Our Lord's answer manifestly implies, that he had spoken this parable primarily (though not wholly) to the ministers of his word: Whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household - For his wisdom and faithfulness.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 12:43-44
Blessed is that servant: repeats the blessing on the watching servants, now for the manager found at his task. Faithfulness in a lesser charge is answered with a greater one, the principle that returns in the parable of Luke 19.
Luke 12:43
“Thus the faithful and wise servant prudently giving out in due season the servants' food, that is, their spiritual meat, will be blessed according to the Saviour's word, in that he will obtain still greater things, and will be thought worthy of the rewards which are duo to friends. Hence it follows, Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
he will put him in charge of all his possessions: Faithful service is rewarded with a larger charge. Bonaventure, citing the Gloss, reads all his possessions as the joys of the heavenly kingdom. Luke 19:17 gives the same reward in the parable of the minas.
Luke 12:44
“Of a truth I say unto you,.... This, with Christ, was a strong way of asserting the truth of any thing; and the sense is, you may assure yourselves of it, this will certainly be the happy case of such servant: that he will make him ruler over all that he hath; as Joseph was made by Pharaoh. Such an one shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years, and then in heaven with him to all eternity, where he shall enjoy all things; See Gill on Mat 24:47.”
Luke 12:45-46
that servant says in his heart: The failure starts as a quiet assumption, when that servant says in his heart, My master will be a long time in coming. The assumption becomes conduct, abusing authority and the household's goods. The coming is delayed yet real.
Luke 12:45
“Those, however, who are believed to be presbyters by many, but serve their own lusts, and, do not place the fear of God supreme in their hearts, but conduct themselves with contempt towards others, and are puffed up with the pride of holding the chief seat, and work evil deeds in secret, saying, "No man sees us," shall be convicted by the Word, who does not judge after outward appearance (secundum gloriam), nor looks upon the countenance, but the heart; and they shall hear those words, to be found in Daniel the prophet: "O thou seed of Canaan, and not…”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IVpatristic
assign him a place with the unbelievers: Theophylact says the unfaithful steward rightly shares the lot of unbelievers, having lacked true faith himself. He reads cut him to pieces as the loss of the gift of teaching. Matthew 24:51 names hypocrites in the same place.
Luke 12:46
“With the unbelievers - Or, rather, the unfaithful; των σπιϚων. Persons who had the light and knowledge of God’s word, but made an improper use of the privileges they received. The persons mentioned here differ widely from unbelievers or infidels, viz. those who were in a state of heathenism, because they had not the revelation of the Most High: the latter knew not the will of God, Luk 12:48, and, though they acted against it, did not do it in obstinacy; the former knew that will, and daringly opposed it. They were unfaithful, and therefore heavily punished.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:47-48
who knows his master’s will: Knowledge of the master’s will raises the servant's responsibility, so the one who knew is beaten with many blows. The one who did not know is beaten with few, a lesser accountability that is still punishment.
Luke 12:47
“Which knew his lord’s will - Who knew what his master wished him to do. He that knows what God commands and requires. Many stripes - Shall be severely and justly punished. They who have many privileges, who are often warned, who have the gospel, and do not repent and believe, shall be far more severely punished than others. They who are early taught in Sunday schools, or by pious parents, or in other ways, and who grow up in sin and impenitence, will have much more to answer for than those who have no such privileges.”
From everyone who has been given much, much will be required: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that even the servant who knew nothing knew something. He bears the name servant, and so can be punished at all. Much given means much required.
Luke 12:48
“Shall be beaten with few - For petty offenses the Jews in many cases inflicted so few as four, five, and six stripes. See examples in Lightfoot. From this and the preceding verse we find that it is a crime to be ignorant of God’s will; because to every one God has given less or more of the means of instruction. Those who have had much light, or the opportunity of receiving much, and have not improved it to their own salvation, and the good of others, shall have punishment proportioned to the light they have abused.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Fire on the Earth; Discerning the Time
Luke 12:49-50
I have come to ignite a fire on the earth: turns to Jesus' own mission. I have a baptism to undergo names the cross by a second figure, an immersion into suffering toward which He presses.
Luke 12:49
“OUR Lord was here certainly alluding to the opposition and persecution which the Gospel would excite. This is clear from the context, in which He declares that He is not come to send peace on the earth but a sword, and from the parallel passages in the other Gospels, where our Lord is forewarning His disciples that they must look for persecution.”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:49
“The sayings of the Lord Jesus in these five verses are particularly weighty and suggestive. They unfold truths which every true Christian would do well to mark and digest. They explain things in the Church, and in the world—which at first sight, are hard to be understood. We learn for one thing from these verses—how thoroughly the heart of Christ was set on finishing the work which He came into the world to do. He says, "I have a baptism to undergo"—a baptism of suffering, of wounds, of agony, of blood, and of death!”
I have a baptism to undergo: Theophylact reads the baptism as His death, which had to come before the fire of verse 49 could be kindled. Tertullian calls His blood a second font, spoken of after He had already been baptized in water. Mark 10:38 uses the same word for His cup.
Luke 12:50
“They maintain that those who have attained to perfect knowledge must of necessity be regenerated into that power which is above all. For it is otherwise impossible to find admittance within the Pleroma, since this [regeneration] it is which leads them down into the depths of Bythus. For the baptism instituted by the visible Jesus was for the remission of sins, but the redemption brought in by that Christ who descended upon Him, was for perfection; and they allege that the former is animal, but the latter spiritual.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Ipatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:50
“But I have a baptism - The fire, though already kindled, cannot burn up till after the Jews have put me to death: then the Roman sword shall come, and the Spirit of judgment, burning, and purification shall be poured out.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Luke 12:51-53
Do you think that I have come to bring peace: Jesus corrects the hope of an untroubled messianic peace, for His claim forces a household to choose. The list runs through the closest ties, father against son, to prepare disciples for the cost of allegiance at home.
Luke 12:51
“Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?.... To set up a temporal kingdom, in great pomp, and outward peace and tranquility?”
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:51
“Suppose ye that I am come to send peace upon earth - That universal peace will be the immediate effect of my coming? Not so, but quite the contrary. There shall be five in one house, three against two, and two against three - There being an irreconcilable enmity between the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
three against two and two against three: The phrase from now on dates the division from His coming. Bede reads the three as those who believe in the Trinity and the two as the unbelievers who leave the unity of the faith. The split cuts both ways.
Luke 12:52
“Though the connection would seem to be of six persons, father and son, mother and daughter, mother in law and daughter in law, yet are they five, for the mother and the mother in law may be taken as the same, since she who is the mother of the son, is the mother in law of his wife. Now in a mystical sense the one house is one man, but by two we often mean the soul and the body. But if two things meet together, each one has its part; there is one which obeys, another which rules.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
mother-in-law against daughter-in-law: Bede counts six persons in a house of five and takes one woman as both mother and mother-in-law. Micah 7:6 gave these pairs first, and Tertullian points to that prophecy. Wesley saw it in his own day.
Luke 12:53
“He says at last, "The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law." Since this battle among the relatives was sung by the prophet's trumpet in the very words, I fear that Micah must have predicted it to Marcion's Christ!”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:53
“The father against the son - For those who reject me will be implacable toward their very nearest relations who receive me. At this day also is this scripture fulfilled. Now likewise there is no concord between Christ and Belial.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 12:54-56
a cloud rising in the west: Clouds off the Mediterranean reliably brought rain, and the south wind brought heat. You hypocrites turns that skill into an indictment, for they fail to read the messianic moment before them.
Luke 12:54
“See the notes at Mat 16:2-3. South wind - To the south and southwest of Judea were situated Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, all warm or hot regions, and consequently the air that came from those quarters was greatly heated. How is it that ye do not discern this time! - You see a cloud rise, and predict a shower; a south wind, and expect heat. These are regular events.”
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:54
“THESE words were addressed by our Savior to the common people who had gathered around Him. He appealed to their common sense. They were able to foretell the weather from the signs which they saw in the heavens and if they could do this, the signs of His coming were even more clear and manifest, so that if they would but use their eyes they might see that He was the Messiah. That they did not do so was an instance of hypocrisy of heart—they did not see the Savior because they would not.”
Luke 12:54
“The first thing which this passage teaches us—is the duty of noticing the signs of the times. The Jews in our Lord's days neglected this duty. They shut their eyes against events of the most significant character—which were occurring in their own day. They refused to see that prophecies were being fulfilled around them—which were bound up with the coming of Messiah, and that the Messiah Himself must be in the midst of them. The ministry of John the Baptist had excited attention from one end of the land to the other.”
when the south wind blows: John Gill places the south wind's source in the hot lands of Egypt, Ethiopia and Arabia, which lay south of Judea. Bonaventure cites Job 37:17, where garments grow hot under the south wind. The crowd read such signs well.
Luke 12:55
And when you see the south wind blowing, you say: There will be heat, and so it happens: Job thirty-seven: "Are not your garments hot, when the earth has been blown through by the south wind?"
Bonaventure · written before 1257 · Commentary on Luke, Chapter 12patristic
interpret the present time?: Bonaventure reads the weather as a hand leading the mind to the things the crowd neglected. Tertullian ties the charge of hypocrisy to that failure. The present time held the Messiah in their midst.
Luke 12:56
“Since this battle among the relatives was sung by the prophet's trumpet in the very words, I fear that Micah must have predicted it to Marcion's Christ! On this account He pronounced them "hypocrites," because they could "discern the face of the sky and the earth, but could not distinguish this time," when of course He ought to have been recognised, fulfilling (as he was) all things which had been predicted concerning them, and teaching them so.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Marcion Book IVpatristic
Luke 12:57-59
judge for yourselves what is right?: Jesus asks the crowd to use the sense they use on weather to weigh their standing before God. The picture is a debtor still able to settle on the way to the magistrate, so reconciliation is sought now while the way is open.
Luke 12:57
“Why even of yourselves, without any external sign, judge ye not what is right? - Why do ye not discern and acknowledge the intrinsic excellence of my doctrine?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Luke 12:57
“And why - judge ye - Even without the express declarations of the prophets, ye might, from what ye see and hear yourselves, discern that God has now visited his people in such a manner as he never did before.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary: Clement of Alexandria read the command as a ban on hatred and reviling, a friendly settlement sought before court. Bede, cited by Bonaventure, reads the adversary on the way as the word of God, which opposes carnal desires in this life. The road to the magistrate is the present life.
Luke 12:58
“When thou goest with thine adversary - This and the next verse are a part of our Lord’s sermon upon the mount. See them explained Mat 5:25, Mat 5:26 (note). St. Luke is very particular in collecting and relating every word and action of our blessed Lord, but seldom gives them in the order of time in which they were spoken or done. See the Preface to this Gospel. Give diligence - Δος εργασιαν, Give labor, do every thing in thy power to get free before a suit commences.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Luke 12:58
“When thou art going - As if he had said, And ye have not a moment to lose. For the executioners of God's vengeance are at hand. And when he hath once delivered you over to them, ye are undone forever.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Luke 12:58
“When thou goest, &c.--(See on Mt 5:25, 26). The urgency of the case with them, and the necessity, for their own safety, of immediate decision, was the object of these striking words.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Bede reads the last penny as even the smallest sins, and Bonaventure takes until to mean never. Theophylact says the warning is meant to humble the hardened. The penny here is the lepton, the smallest coin.
Luke 12:59
“Till thou hast paid the very last mite - And when can this be, if we understand the text spiritually? Can weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, pay to Divine justice the debt a sinner has contracted? This is impossible: let him who readeth understand. The subject of the 47th and 48th verses has been greatly misunderstood, and has been used in a very dangerous manner. Many have thought that their ignorance of Divine things would be a sufficient excuse for their crimes; and, that they might have but few stripes, they voluntarily continued in ignorance.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Studies9
People and groups1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Luke; Ambrose of Milan; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 22.19; Basil of Caesarea, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 12; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 3; Eusebius of Caesarea, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Luke; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian and Theophylact of Ohrid.