Luke 10:9

Luk_10:9

The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you

Nearness to the kingdom

This is a part of the discourse which Christ gave to His disciples when they were going forth to preach under His ministration.

Their message was, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. They were Jews in Jewry. They were preaching to their own countrymen--especially in Galilee; and this was a part of their message: the approach of the kingdom of God to all those that heard. Nothing more striking than the spiritual insight of our Lord. What is spiritual insight? As it existed in our Master, it was a perception of developed and perfect forms of morality and religion as constituent elements of human life in the broadest statement. It included--

1. A far more exalted idea of right and wrong than has been developed by human society.

2. A perception of character and conduct far more exalted than any that ordinary life develops.

3. A perception of the whole sphere of man. To Him life was a unit, and the life beyond was a part of it. Beyond all darkness He saw life and man in their higher relations, and in their possibilities. This higher spiritual condition, this perfectness of human nature in its aggregate emotions, now and hereafter, He called The kingdom; The new kingdom; The kingdom of heaven; The kingdom of God; and it was this that He told His disciples to preach when they went abroad. Whenever outward circumstances brought men to a place where the influences that acted upon them tended to develop their higher nature, and carry them forward along the path of perfectibility, or where their state of mind tended to make them perceptive of truths which at other times had little power with them, or where they were by outward things made sensible to things insensible, lifting them to the relation of the heavenly life, then He spoke of them as being near the kingdom of God. They were in a condition out of which should easily and naturally come spiritual development. What were some of those times?

What may we gather in regard to them from a general inspection of Christs ministry, and of His teachings to the people, and from our own experiences?

1. Times of general religious interest in communities bring the kingdom of God very near to men.

2. Any revelation to a mans consciousness of his exceeding need of change, of development, of exaltation; any influence which shall strike through a man, giving him a discriminating power by which he can separate between right and wrong, between better and worse, between good and better--any such revelation or influence brings him near to the kingdom of heaven.

3. Anything that brings to the personal consciousness and experience of a man a sense of his degraded condition may be said to bring the kingdom of God near to him.

4. Anything that reveals to a man the reality of his whole estate, and shows him a higher and supernal life, and gives him a consciousness of the stern, terrific danger that threatens him, is bringing him to the border of Gods kingdom.

5. All the perceptions of concrete goodness which men gain, and which strike into their mind, bring them near to the kingdom of heaven.

6. All experiences of the unsatisfying condition of earthly life, are, or may be, instruments of bringing men to the very border of the kingdom of God.

7. Any cause of thought in ourselves, or any cause of thought in others brought to bear upon us, which opens clearly the nature of manhood, or the possibilities of the future endless development of human life, brings men not far from the kingdom of God. (H. W. Beecher.)

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

10:9 The same mission was given to the Twelve (see 9:1). • Heal the sick: Healing was a sign of salvation (Isa 29:18-19; 35:5); it was physical evidence that the Kingdom of God was present (see study note on Luke 7:22).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 10:9. Ἐν αὐτῇ, in it) viz. in the city. So all the sick in a whole region might be healed.—ἤγγικεν, is come nigh) See Luk 10:1, at the end.

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

Luk 10:9 . The functions of the missionaries briefly indicated = heal the sick, and announce that the kingdom is at their doors ( ἤγγικεν ).

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

Verse 9. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.] εφ υμας, is just upon you. This was the general text on which they were to preach all their sermons. See it explained, Mt 3:2.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(9) The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.—Here again the form of the words is peculiar to St. Luke. This was to be the burden of those who, as preachers, were, in the strictest sense, the heralds of the great King.

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

9. The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you] So that our Lord’s last messages resembled His first preaching, Mat_4:17.

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.

And heal the sick that are therein,.... Of all their bodily diseases, which would not only show their power and warrant, theft mission and commission, but also their goodness and beneficence to men; and would be a sufficient return for what they ate and drank:

and say unto them; not only to the sick that are healed, and those in the house in which they were, but to all the inhabitants of the city;

the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you: the Gospel dispensation, the kingdom of the Messiah, and even the Messiah himself, as might be concluded from the miracles they wrought; and thus by their ministry and works, were they to go before Christ, and prepare his way.

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

9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Ver. 9. See Mat 3:2; Mat 4:17.

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.

And heal the sick that are therein. These were strangely great powers to confer upon poor weak men men, too, only in the very dawn of faith and their naive surprise and joy (see ver. 17) show how little they believed in their possession of such powers, even after their Master"s words announcing to them the gift. But this prodigality of miraculous energy was needful then. The first beginning of so stupendous a work as laying securely the ground stories of Christianity what Renan, with all his enmity to revealed religion, calls "l"evenement capital de l"histoire du monde required this special aid from another sphere.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. ἤγγικεν ἐφ’ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ. So that our Lord’s last messages resembled His first preaching, Mat 4:17.

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.

9.] ἤγγικεν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς ἡ β. τ. θ. is a later announcement than generally ἤγγ. ἡ βασ. τ. οὐρ., Mat 10:7.

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

9. καὶ λέγετε αὐτοῖς. “And continue saying to them”; i.e. to the inhabitants generally, not merely to the sick.

Ἤγγικεν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ. So that the last preaching resembled the first: Mat 3:2, Mat 3:4:17; Mar 1:15. The Kingdom of Heaven is naturally thought of as coming “upon” men, down from above. For ἐγγίζειν ἐπί τινα see Psa 26:2; Psa_1 Mac. 5:40, 42. Comp. Mat 12:28. Note Lk.s favourite ἐγγίζειν.

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