Luke 3
Luke 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journeys. It contains an account of the preaching of John the Baptist as well as a genealogy of Jesus. From the start of this chapter until Luke 9:50, the "shape and outlook" of Luke's Gospel follow closely those of the other synoptic gospels, Matthew and Mark. The Expositor's Greek Testament states that in this chapter "the ministry of the new era opens".
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek and is divided into 38 verses.Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:- Papyrus 4
- Papyrus 75
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Washingtonianus
- Codex Alexandrinus
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
Old Testament references
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John the Baptist
Verses 1–2
Tiberius' fifteenth year of rule was AD 29 or 30, so one can date the start of John's preaching to then. New Testament scholar William Ramsay suggests that the year was AD 26, calculated from the time Tiberius was appointed as co-Princeps with Augustus in AD 12. Ramsay notes that this manner of calculation could be "made under an Emperor whose years were reckoned from his association as colleague", such as employed by Titus, whose reign began from his association with his father on July 1, AD 71.The rule of Pontius Pilate in Judea during the reign of Tiberius is well attested in history. Saint Gregory suggested that the reference to Roman and Jewish rulers anticipated the salvation of "some from among the Jews and many among the gentiles". Reference to the high priesthoods of Annas and Caiaphas creates a difficulty in that a joint high priesthood was not permitted under Jewish law.
Verse 3
Although the message from God had come to John "in the wilderness", he may have preached nearer to Jericho, cf: Luke 1:80: "he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel". Eric Franklin states that the connection between John's baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins is that baptism "issues in" forgiveness. Luke connects the same concepts in Acts 2:38 and 22:16.Verse 4
- Citing Isaiah 40:3; also cited in Matthew 3:3, Mark 1:3, and John 1:23.
- "Wilderness": or "desert"; the syntactic position of the phrase "in the wilderness" could be with "Prepare a way", suggesting the place where the preparation should be done, while the Greek Septuagint connects it to "a voice shouting" indicating the place from where John’s ministry went forth. Jewish documents separately support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19–20 support the MT version while some rabbinic texts support the LXX version, but in the final analysis, the 'net effect between the two choices may be minimal'.
Verse 5
This verse cites Isaiah 40:4, which the King James Version translates as "every valley shall be exalted". The writer Frederic Farrar notes "a remarkable parallel" in Josephus' description of the march of Vespasian in the Wars of the Jews:Verse 6
This verse cites Isaiah 40:5: see note above on [|verse 4].Verses 7–17
John first exhorts the listeners to prove their repentance by the way they lived. Their sincerity was being called into question. As John continues to preach a baptism of repentance, he then tells the crowds that their descent from Abraham will not save them from "the wrath to come", that "...out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."The people ask what they should do and John speaks of sharing. Specifically to tax collectors, and to soldiers he says that they should not abuse their positions, adding that soldiers should be "content with their pay". Heinrich Meyer is confident that Jewish soldiers are referred to here, rather than occupying Roman forces. They ask him if he is the Christ, and he replies "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." also found in Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:7-8 and John 1:26–27. John is then locked up by Herod for rebuking him about his wife Herodias, Herod adding this "crowning iniquity" to all his other misdeeds.
Verse 16
Textual variants are found in a few manuscripts which have εἰς μετάνοιαν, eis metanoian, "for repentance", after the phrase "baptize you with water". This addition may be intended for clarification and was probably an attempt to harmonize with Matthew 3:11.Jesus's baptism
Luke then tells us that Jesus was one of the many who were baptised by John. Meyer reads the text as meaning that whilst the assembled people were being baptised, Jesus was also baptised. Nicoll argues that use of the aorist "ought to imply that the bulk of the people had already been baptised before Jesus appeared on the scene, i.e., that John's ministry was drawing to its close", cf. the wording of the Good News Translation, After all the people had been baptized, Jesus also was baptized.The Holy Spirit appears in bodily form like a dove and tells him "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased".
Verse 23
The King James Version's wording is "ungrammatical, a strange expression". Many translations insert reference to his "work" or his "ministry". Luke does not state how many years John baptised for, but this is when most date the start of Jesus's ministry, 29 or 30. He had to be more than thirty years old, as he was born about six months before Jesus was born, as noted in Luke 1. Most probably John was born in 4 BC.The ancestry of Jesus
Verses 23b–38
Luke sets out here, like Matthew in his opening chapter, a genealogy of Jesus. Luke starts with his legal father Joseph and lists 73 people between Joseph and Adam, who Luke says is "...the Son of God", thus having 75 people between God and Jesus. This genealogy is longer than Matthew's, works retrospectively from Jesus back to Adam,, and has a number of other differences. Luke names Joseph's father and thus Jesus's grandfather as Heli, which could be Mary's father, as noted in the Talmud. On the other hand, Matthew records the name of Joseph's father was Jacob. They then say that Jesus's great grandfather was named Matthat or Matthan, who could be the same person or, as first suggested by Julius Africanus, brothers. The lists then diverge from there, coming together again at David. The list in Luke also differs from, which says that Arphaxad was Selah's father, not his grandfather through Cainan.
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