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Luke 5:13

in Luke 5

Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And he stretched forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou made clean. And straightway the leprosy departed from him.

KJV

And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

This verse in Luke 5

Commentary

16 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 397.

He heals in the same manner in which He had been entreated to heal, as it follows, And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, &c. The law forbids to touch the leprous man, but He who is the Lord of the law submits not to the law, but makes the law; He did not touch because without touching He was unable to make him clean, but to show that he was neither subject to the law, nor feared the contagion as man; for He could not be contaminated Who delivered others from the pollution.

This site's exposition

full of leprosy

on Luke 5:12-13

A man full of leprosy, Luke's clinical phrase for a case advanced past any hope of natural cure, falls on his face with a request that names the real question, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean, doubting not the power but the willingness. Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, the touch itself an act of compassion crossing a boundary the law had drawn to protect the community from contagion and defilement, and I will, be thou clean answers the man's own wording exactly, will met with will. The bench notes the leprosy departed immediately, and the touch that should have made Jesus unclean by the law instead makes the leper clean, holiness proving stronger than contagion when the two meet in his hand.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 397.

proposed

In the words which follow, I will, be thou clean, you have the will, you have also the result of His mercy.

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 397.

proposed

He says then, I will, for Photinus, He commands, for Arius, He touches, for Manichæus. But there is nothing intervening between God's work and His command, that we may see in the inclination of the healer the power of the work. Hence it follows, And immediately the leprosy departed from him.

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 397.

proposed

But if the word is the healing of leprosy, the contempt of the word is the leprosy of the mind.

A commentator

Gregory of Nyssa

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 395.

proposed

(Orat. 1. in Resur. Christ.) And because the Deity is united with each portion of man, i. e. both soul and body, in each are evident the signs of a heavenly nature. For the body declared the Deity hidden in it, when by touching it afforded a remedy, but the soul, by the mighty power of its will, marked the Divine strength. For as the sense of touch is the property of the body, so the motion of the will of the soul. The soul wills, the body touches.

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 12.21 · Written before 373.

proposed

Go, show yourself. This was for the sake of the priests. For the leper was afraid to touch him lest he defile him. But the Lord touched him to show him that he would not be defiled, he, at whose rebuke the defilement fled from …
9 more voices on this verse

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Cyril of Alexandria

COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12 · Written before 444.

proposed

He accepts his petition and confesses that he is able and says, "I will; be cleansed." He grants him also the touch of his holy and all-powerful hand. Immediately the leprosy departed from him, and his affliction was ended. Join with me, therefore, in adoring Christ, thus exercising at the same time both a divine and a bodily power. For it was a divine act so to will as for all that he willed to be present unto him. To stretch out the hand, however, was a human act. Christ, therefore, is perceived to be One of both, if, as is the case, the Word was made flesh.

The Medieval Church4 voices

A commentator

Bonaventure

Commentary on Luke, Chapter 5 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

Third, the operation of the physician is added, when it says: Extending his hand, he touched him saying etc., which indeed was admirable both by reason of clemency, and by reason of power, and by reason of efficacy. On account of clemency he says: He …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 1107.

proposed

For His sacred flesh has a healing, and life-giving power, as being indeed the flesh of the Word of God.

A commentator

Bede

On the Gospel of Luke · Written before 735.

proposed

And extending his hand, he touched him saying: I am willing; be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. There is nothing between the work of God and the command, because in the command is the work. For he said, and they were made. …

A commentator

Bede

Catena Aurea by Aquinas · Written before 735.

proposed

How typically the leprous man represents the whole race of man, languishing with sins full of leprosy, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; (Rom. 3:23.) that so by the hand put forth, i. e. the word of God partaking of human nature, they might be cleansed from the vanity of their old errors, and offer for cleansing their bodies as a living sacrifice.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

One word, one touch, from Christ, did the business: Immediately the leprosy departed from him. If Christ saith, "I will, be thou justified, be thou sanctified, " it is done; for he has power on earth to forgive sin, and power to give the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. vi. What he requires from those that are cleansed,
And he put forth his hand and touched him,.... Having compassion on him, and commiserating his sad case: saying, I will, be thou clean; and immediately the leprosy departed from him; See Gill on Mat 8:3.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

We see in this passage — our Lord Jesus Christ's POWER over incurable diseases. "A man full of leprosy" applies to Him for relief, and is at once healed. This was a mighty miracle. Of all illnesses which can afflict the body of man — leprosy appears to be the most severe. It affects every part of the constitution at once. It brings sores and decay upon the skin , corruption into the blood , and rottenness into the bones . It is a living death , which no medicine can check or stop. Yet here we read of a leper being made well in a moment. It is but one touch from the hand of the Son of God — and the cure is effected. It is but one single touch of that almighty hand! "And immediately the leprosy departed from him." We have in this wonderful history — a lively emblem of Christ's power to heal our souls. What are we all, but spiritual lepers in the sight of God? Sin is the deadly leprosy by which we are all affected. It has eaten into our vitals. It has infected all our faculties. Heart, conscience, mind, and will — all are diseased by sin. From the sole of our foot, to the crown of our head — there is no soundness in us — only welts and wounds and putrefying sores! (Isaiah 1:6.) Such is the state in which we all are born. Such is the state in which we all naturally live. We are in one sense dead — long before we are laid in the grave. Our bodies may be healthy and active — but our souls are by nature dead in trespasses and sins! Who shall deliver us from this body of death? Let us thank God that Jesus Christ can! He is that divine Physician, who can make old things pass away, and all things become new. In Him is life. He can wash us thoroughly in His own blood — from all the defilement of sin. He can quicken us, and revive us by His own Spirit. He can cleanse our hearts, open the eyes of our understandings, renew our wills, and make us whole!
We see in this passage — our Lord Jesus Christ's POWER over incurable diseases. "A man full of leprosy" applies to Him for relief, and is at once healed. This was a mighty miracle. Of all illnesses which can afflict the body of man — leprosy appears to be the most severe. It affects every part of the constitution at once. It brings sores and decay upon the skin , corruption into the blood , and rottenness into the bones . It is a living death , which no medicine can check or stop.

The words behind it

16 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Kings 5:14

    So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child,…

    it leads to

    • Job 33:25

      then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.

    • Luke 4:27

      And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

    • Zechariah 14:8

      And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the Eastern Sea and the other half toward the Western Sea, in summer and winter alike.

  • Through

    Hosea 14:4

    I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 57:18

      I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

    • Jeremiah 3:22

      “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

    • Isaiah 12:1

      In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.

    • Ephesians 2:4–9

      But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

    • Zephaniah 3:17

      The LORD your God is among you; He is mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love; He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Where this verse is studied

About Luke

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
The Return of the Prodigal Son, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, On the Gospel of Luke; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 5; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 12.21; Gregory of Nyssa, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.