Luke 1:75

Luk_1:75

All the days of our life

The holy and their heavenly prospects

True, all our lives long we shall be bound to refrain our soul and keep it low; but what then?

For the books we now forbear to read, we shall one day be endued with wisdom and knowledge. For the music we will not listen to, we shall join in the song of the redeemed. For the pictures from which we turn, we shall gaze unabashed on the beatific vision. For the companionship we shun, we shall be welcomed into angelic society and the communion of triumphant saints. For the pleasures we miss, we shall abide, and evermore abide, in the rapture of heaven. It cannot be much of a hardship to dress modestly, and at small cost, rather than richly and fashionably, if, with a vivid conviction, we are awaiting the white robes of the redeemed. And, indeed, this anticipation of pure and simple white robes for eternal wear may fairly shake belief in the genuine beauty of elaborate showiness, even for such clothes as befitted in the present distress. (Christina G. Rossetti.)

Holiness

What is the base line of the Bible? It is sin. And it is not one of the chief reasons why the Bible is made so little of that men do not realize what sin is--how dreadful and how fatal it is? What is the horizontal line of the Bible? It is holiness. That is where earth and heaven meet. But on that horizon line there is only one point of sight, it is where God and man meet in Christ, in whom alone holiness can be found. (John Munro Gibson.)

Ambition to excel in holiness

There is nothing, it might have seemed when the first settlers of Massachusetts established the English race on the cheerless shores, the barren rocks, the trackless forests of this continent. Yet there was everything; there was the hope of a new world; there were the elements of a mighty nation, if only those who followed after sustained the high spirit and great resolves of those who had gone before. It was but two days ago that I read in the close of a volume written by the founder of the venerable village of Concord, a sentence which ought to bring at once the noblest encouragement and the sternest rebuke to every citizen of this Commonwealth. There is no people, says Peter Bulkley, in his Gospel Covenant, in the year 1646, to his little flock of exiles, There is no people but will strive to excel in something. What can we excel in if not in holiness? If we look to numbers, we are the fewest; if to strength, we are the weakest; if to wealth and riches, we are the poorest of all, the people of God throughout the whole world. We cannot excel, nor so much as equal, other people in these things; and, if we come short in grace and holiness, we are also the most despicable people under heaven. Strive we therefore to excel, and suffer not this crown to be taken away from us, (Dean Stanley.)

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

Luk 1:75. Ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ, in holiness and righteousness) The same combination of words occurs, Eph 4:24; 1Th 2:10. Righteousness expresses conformity to the law: holiness, conformity to nature.—πάσας) on every day [all the several days]: Heb 2:15.

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

Luk 1:75 . ὁσιότητι : the Godward, religious aspect of conduct (Eph 4:24 ). δικαιοσύνῃ : the manward, ethical aspect.

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

To God’s good liking.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(75) In holiness and righteousness.—The same combination is found, though in an inverted order, in Eph_4:24. “Holiness” has special reference to man’s relations to God; “justice” to those which connect him with his fellow men; but, like all such words, they more or less overlap.

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

75. In holiness] towards God,

and righteousness] towards men. We have the same words contrasted in 1Th_2:10, “how holily and righteously;” Eph_4:24, “in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ὅσιος, ‘holy,’ is the Hebrew Châsîd, whence the ‘Chasidîm’ (Pharisees); and δίκαιος the Hebrew Tsaddik, whence ‘Sadducees.’

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.

In holiness and righteousness,...., Not in mere outward rites and legal ceremonies but as the saints serve, from principles of righteousness and true holiness; in which the new man is created, and of which the kingdom of God, or spiritual and internal religion consists; so in acts of piety and devotion towards God, and justice among men, which is the substance of the perfect and acceptable will of God:

before him; it is one thing to serve the Lord with an outward appearance of holiness and righteousness before men, and another thing to be righteous before God, and to walk in all his commandments and ordinances, as in his sight: all the days of our life; which denotes the constancy and continuance of this service; it is not for a day or two, or only on festivals and sabbath days, such as were under the Jewish dispensation, but every day we live. In the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and in two copies of Beza's, and two of Stephens's, and in the Alexandrian copy, it is only read, "all our days"; but the Arabic version reads, as the generality of copies, and as we render it.

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

75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

Ver. 75. Before him] The sense of God’s presence makes men conscientiously obedient to both tables of the law. Cave spectat Cato, was a watchword among the Romans. Noli peccare, Deus videt, Angeli astant, &c. Take heed what thou doest, God beholds thee, angels observe thee, &c.

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.

In holiness ... - In piety and strict justice.

Before him - In the presence of God. Performed as in his presence, and with the full consciousness that he sees the heart. The “holiness” was not to be merely external, but spiritual, internal, pure, such as “God” would see and approve.

All the days of our life - To death. True religion increases and expands until death.

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

It is possible, we here see, to have true justice, not only in the sight of man, or by the imputation of God, but in his sight; and the coming of Christ was to give men such justice.

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).

75. In holiness—Towards God.

And righteousness—Towards man.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

75. πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἡμῶν ‘all our days’ R. V[16] omits τῆς ζωῆς with all the best MSS.

[16] R. V. Revised Version.

75. ἐν ὁσιότητι. Towards God.

καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ. Towards men. We have the same words contrasted in 1Th 2:10, “how holily and righteously;” Eph 4:24, “in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ὅσιος, ‘holy,’ is the Hebrew Châsîd, whence the ‘Chasidîm’ (Pharisees); and δίκαιος is the Hebrew Tsaddîk, whence some derive the name ‘Sadducees.’

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.

75.] The attempts to remove the Jewish worship by Antiochus Epiphanes and by the Romans, had been most calamitous to the people.

This ἐν ὁσι. κ. δικαιοσ. sufficiently refutes the idea of some, that the whole subject of this song is the temporal theocratic greatness of the Messiah.

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

75. λατρεύειν αὐτῷ. Comp. λατρεύσετε τῷ Θεῷ ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ (Exo 3:12). We must take ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ with λατρεύειν αὐτῷ. The service of the redeemed and delivered people is to be a priestly service, like that of Zacharias (ver. 8). For ἐνώπιον see on ver. 15, and for λατρεύειν on 4:8. The combination ὁσιότης καὶ δικαιοσύνη becomes common; but perhaps the earliest instance is Wisd. 9:3. We have it Eph 4:24 and Clem Rom. 48.: comp. Tit 1:8 and 1Th 2:10.

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

Holiness and righteousness [οσιοτητι και δικαιοσυνη] . The adjective osiov, holy, is properly what is confirmed by ancient sanction and precept.

Osia, is used in classical Greek to denote the everlasting principles of right, not constituted by the laws or customs of men, but antedating them; such as the paying of the proper rites of sepulture. Compare the fine passage in the "Antigone" of Sophocles (453 - 55) :

"Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough, That thou, a mortal man, shouldst overpass The unwritten laws of God that know not change. They are not of today nor yesterday, But live forever, nor can man assign When first they sprang to being."

Hence oJsiothv is concerned primarily with the eternal laws of God. It is "the divine consecration and inner truth of righteousness" (Meyer). Throughout the New Testament its look is godward. In no case is it used of moral excellence as related to men, though it is to be carefully noted that dikaiosunh, righteousness, is not restricted to rightness toward men. Compare Eph 4:24; true holiness; literally, holiness of the truth.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.