Luke 1:73

Luk_1:73

The oath which He sware

The purpose of Gods oath

God doth not give it to make His word or promise sure and steadfast, but to give assurance and security to us of their accomplishment.

Every word of God is sure and certain truth itself, because it is His; and He might justly require of us the belief of it, without any further attestation. But yet, knowing what great objections Satan and our own unbelieving hearts will raise against His promises, at least as to our own concerns in them, to confirm our minds, and to take away all pretences of unbelief, He interposes His oath in this matter. (John Owen.)

Gods covenants

A covenant is a contract, or a compact, between two agreeing parties, that, on certain conditions being observed by one party, the other will do as specified. God made a covenant of works with our first parents, that if they obeyed His commands they should enjoy His favour and blessings. Since the fall, God has made a covenant of grace by faith with mankind, that, trusting in Him, through atonement, they should be saved and blessed. God entered into covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Gen_17:2-14). God covenants with us that He will answer our believing prayers; that He will teach and guide those who are willing and obedient; that He will fulfil to us all His exceeding great and precious promises, if we perform the simple, easy, reasonable conditions attached to them. Then God will ever be faithful to His engagements. Suppose, said one, God were not to fulfil His promises to you. Then, was the reply of the Christian lady addressed, He would lose more than I should. This would be the fact, for in such a case God would lose the glory of His Divine faithfulness, truth, holiness, justice, mercy, love, &e. But this is an utter impossibility. God cannot lie, therefore we may each say, with David, He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. (H. R. Burton.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 1:73. Ὅρκον, ὃν) That is ὅρκου, ὃν, [ὅρκου in apposition to διαθήκης, Luk 1:72.] It depends on μνησθῆναι, [to remember] in remembrance of.—τοῦ δοῦναι) On this depends ῥυσθέντας λατρεύειν, i.e. δοῦναι, ἵνα ῥυσθέντες λατρεύσωμεν. The article indicates that the preceding infinitive, ποιῆσαι, is explained by this subsequent infinitive.[22] So also Luk 1:77 compared with the preceding words [ἑτοιμάσαι ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ, τοῦ δοῦναι]: and also Luk 1:79, and ch. Luk 2:22; Luk 2:24.

[22] The Genitive (τοῦ δοῦναι) is often used to express the reference in which a thing is taken: as here, “to perform His mercy, viz. in respect to His granting to us.”—ED. and TRANSL.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_1:73-75. Ὅρκον] neither accusative of more precise definition (Calvin, Beza, L. Bos, Rosenmüller), nor governed by μνησθῆναι (Euthymius Zigabenus, Olshausen, Bleek[33]), but climactic apposition to διαθήκης ἁγ. αὐτοῦ, in which the accusative is attracted by ὍΝ, Mat_21:42; 1Co_10:16; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 247 [E. T. 288]; Bornemann, Schol. p. 16 f.

πρός] denotes the swearing to. Comp. Horn. Od. xiv. 331, xix. 288. The expression with the dative is more usual. See the oath itself in Gen_22:16-18.

τοῦ δοῦναι κ.τ.λ.] in order to grant to us, the purpose, on account of which God swore the oath.

ἐκ χειρὸς κ.τ.λ.] more precisely defines the previous ἈΦΌΒΩς, and that as regards its objective relation. On the accusative ῥυσθέντας (not dative), see Bornemann, l.c.; Pflugk, ad Eur. Med. 815; Krüger, Gramm. Unters. III. § 148.

Luk_1:75. Religious-moral restoration of the people of God. As to the distinction between ὁσιότης and ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗ (Plat. Prot. p. 329 C), see on Eph_4:24. Holiness is the divine consecration and inner truth of righteousness, so that the latter without the former would be only external or seeming; both together constitute the justitia spiritualis.

[33] Μιμνήσκεσθαι is not seldom joined with an accusative by the classical writers (Hom. Il. vi. 222; Herod. vii. 18; Soph. O. R. 1057), but never in the N. T., although it is so in the LXX. and Apocrypha.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 1:73 . ὅρκον for ὅρκου , depending on μνησθῆναι , a case of inverse attraction, the noun by the relative ( ὃν , object of ὤμοσεν ) instead of the relative by the noun. Cf. Luk 20:17 . Examples from Greek authors in Bornemann, Scholia .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the oath . . . to . . . Abraham--The whole work and kingdom of Messiah is represented as a mercy pledged on oath to Abraham and his seed, to be realized at an appointed period; and at length, in "the fulness of the time," gloriously made good. Hence, not only "grace," or the thing promised; but "truth," or fidelity to the promise, are said to "come by Jesus Christ" (Joh 1:17).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(73) The oath.—The noun is in apposition to the “covenant” of the preceding verse, though not grammatically in the same case with it.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

73. The oath which he sware] Gen_12:3; Gen_17:4; Gen_22:16-17; comp. Heb_7:13-14; Heb_7:17.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The oath which he swore to our father Abraham. When he swore by himself, because he could swear by no greater, that in blessing he would bless him; that his seed should possess the gates of his enemies, and in it all the nations of the earth should be blessed: all which have been fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah; see Gen 22:16.

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Luke 1:74

luk 1:74

luk 1:74

luk 1:74That he would grant unto us,.... What is said in this and the following verse, is the substance of the promised mercy, covenant, and oath:

that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, as before, in Luk 1:71.

might serve him without fear. One principal end of deliverance from spiritual enemies by Christ, is the service of God; and nothing lays a greater obligation on men to serve the Lord, and glorify him, than redemption by Christ; nor is there any thing that makes men more zealous of good works: spiritual and evangelical service, in distinction from the legal service, and worship of God, is here meant; since it is said to be "without fear", which the threatenings and curses of the law filled men with; but being delivered from it, they become free from that spirit of bondage unto fear, it genders to; as being delivered also from sin and Satan, they are without fear of hell and damnation; and from the world, they are without fear of men; and from death, they are without fear of that, through which many under the legal dispensation, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. It is a saying of the Jews (y), that:

"greater is he that serves from love, than he that serves from fear.

But such sort of service is not of a man's self, or performed by his own power and strength, but is a "grant" from God, and owing to the influence of his Spirit and grace,

(y) T. Bab. Sota, fol. 31. 1. Vid. Maimon. Hilch. Teshuva, c. 10, sect. 1, 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,

Ver. 73. The oath which he sware] ορκος quasi ερκος, a hedge, which a man may not break; much less will God.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The oath - This oath is recorded in Gen 22:16-17. It was an oath in which God swore by himself (because he could swear by no greater, Heb 6:13-14) that he would surely bless Abraham and his posterity. That promise was now to be entirely fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

According to the oath which he swore.[11] The words according to, are no addition to the letter of the text: they only barely express what is here signified; to wit, that God swore to Abraham, that he would grant us, or make it come to pass, that being delivered from our enemies, sin and the devil, we should be in a condition to serve him without fear, in holiness, &c. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Jusjurandum quod juravit, Greek: orkon on in the accusative case, for Greek: kat orkon, secundum juramentum. Ibid. daturum se nobis, i.e. se effecturum, &c. Greek: tou dounai emin, &c.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

God first gave Abraham his word, Gen 18:10, then he confirmed it by his oath, Gen 22:16. The apostle, to the Hebrews, saith, Heb 6:13, When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

73. ὅρκον ὃν ὤμοσεν. Gen 12:3; Gen 17:4; Gen 22:16-17; comp. Heb 7:13-14; Heb 7:17. The ὅρκον is attracted into the accus. by the following relative, although we might suppose a double construction, since in the LXX[44] μνησθῆναι takes both a genitive and an accusative.

[44] LXX. Septuagint.

τοῦ δοῦναι. The gen. depends on ὄρκον. The use of the genitive of the article with the infinitive became very frequent in Hellenistic Greek (Act 10:25; Act 27:1; 1Co 2:2).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

73.] ὅρκον ὃν … for ὅρκου, ὃν …: see Gen 22:16-18. Calvin, al., suppose the construction to be κατὰ τὸν ὅρκον ὃν …; Grotius makes the words dependent on ἐλάλησεν above, as also the infin. ποιῆσαι: Bleek thinks that the accusative is directly governed by μνησθῆναι, as well as the preceding genitive. “The Holy Spirit, speaking by Zacharias, seems to refer here to the providential dispensation signified in the names of the Baptist and his parents. The Baptist, by his name John, spake of the ἔλεος or grace of God: Zacharias (from זָכַר, recordatus fuit, and יָהּ, Jah, Jehovah) signifies θεὸς ἐμνήσθη, and Elisabeth (from אֵל, El, Deus, and שָׁבַע, sheba, juravit) is connected with the ὅρκος θεοῦ.” Wordsw. This seems probable in the case before us: but the student must be reminded that it is ground to be very cautiously trodden, and where a morbid or pedantic fancy will be constantly going astray.

74,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

73. ὅρκον ὃν ὤμοσεν πρὸς Ἀβραάμ. Third strophe. The oath is recorded Gen 22:16-18: comp. Ep. of Barnabas, xiv. 1.

It is best to take ὅρκον in app. with διαθήκης, but attracted in case to ὅν: comp. vv. 4, 20, and see on 3:19. It is true that in LXX μνησθῆναι is found with an acc. (Exo 20:8; Gen 9:16). But would Lk. give it first a gen. and then an acc. in the same sentence? For the attraction of the antecedent to the relative comp. 20:17 and perhaps Act 10:36.

ὤμοσεν πρός Ἀ. So also in Hom. (Od. xiv. 331, xix. 288): but see on ver. 13.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.