Luke 11:28

11:28 even more blessed: Jesus again affirmed that our spiritual life and our relationship with God are more important than physical ancestry and family relationships (cp. 8:21).

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

Luk 11:28. Μενοῦνγε) The mother of One who teaches so well is pronounced ‘blessed:’ but in truth rather blessed are they who follow the Teacher. So μενοῦνγε, [Nay but, O man, etc.] Rom 9:20; Rom 10:18 [μενοῦνγε εἰς πάσαν τὴν γῆν, etc.: “Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth”].—οἱ ἀκούοντες, they who hear) including even that pious woman herself.—φυλάσσοντες, who keep it) viz. they who bear Christ and His word in their heart, as His mother had borne the Saviour Himself in her womb. [She however was one who herself also kept the word, being on that very account ‘blessed.’ Luk 1:45 (Luk 2:19).—V. g.]

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

Luk 11:28 . μενοῦν might be confirmatory ( utique ) or corrective ( imo vero ), or a little of both; the tone of voice would show which of the two the speaker meant to be the more prominent. Correction probably was uppermost in Christ’s thoughts. Under the appearance of approval the woman was taught that she was mistaken in thinking that merely to be the mother of an illustrious son constituted felicity (Schanz). Viger (Ed. Hermann), p. 541, quotes this text as illustrating the use of μενοῦν in the sense of imo vero, rendering: “Quin imo, vel imo vero, beati qui audiunt verbum Dei”. Its position at the beginning of the sentence is contrary to Attic use: “reperitur apud solos Scriptores Macedonicos,” Sturz, De Dial. Mac. el Alex. , p. 203. τὸν λόγον τ . Θ ., those who hear and keep the word of God , the truly blessed. Cf. “His word” in Luk 10:39 ; an established phrase.

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

(28) Blessed are they that hear the word of God.—The term thus used clearly designates here the message of the Kingdom spoken by our Lord Himself, as in the parable of the Sower (Mat_13:20). In its wider application, it of course includes, though it must not be confined to it, the record of that spoken Word, or of subsequent revelations of the Truth in what we know as Scripture.

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

28. Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it] See Luk_8:21. Our Lord invariably and systematically discouraged all attempt to exalt the merely human relationship or intercourse with Him, and taught that the Presence of His Spirit was to be a nearer and more blessed thing than knowledge of Him “after the flesh” (Joh_14:16; 2Co_5:16).

and keep it] Hearing without obedience was more than valueless, Mat_7:21; Mat_12:50; Rom_2:13.

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.

For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninevites,.... As he was by lying three days and three nights in the whale's belly, and then cast on shore alive; which sign, or miracle was wrought to confirm his mission and message, and to engage the Ninevites to give credit to him, and repent, or they might assure themselves they would be utterly destroyed;

so shall also the son of man be to this generation; by lying three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and then rising again from the dead the third day; and which should be done to confirm the truth of his Messiahship, and to declare him to be the Son of God with power, and to engage persons to believe in him; and to assure that wicked generation, that in case they remained, after such a sign, impenitent and unbelieving, wrath would come upon them to the uttermost; see Mat 12:40.

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

28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Ver. 28. Yea, rather, blessed] His disciples were more blessed in hearing Christ than his mother in bearing him.

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.

Greek: Menounge, imo vero, yes indeed. Our Saviour does not here wish to deny what the woman had said, but rather to confirm it: indeed how could he deny, as Calvin impiously maintained, that his mother was blessed? By these words, he only wishes to tell his auditors what great advantage they might obtain by attending to his words. For the blessed Virgin, as St. Augustine says, was more happy in having our Saviour in her heart and affections, than in having conceived him in her womb. (Tirinus)

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).

28. Yea—Jesus accepts the mother’s blessing upon his mother. His mother is blessed in being his mother, as she herself had predicted. Luk_1:48. Yea, she was blessed with the maternity of the Messiah because she heard the word of God and kept it. The blessedness of such a doing is thus superior to the bodily blessing of being mother to even such a son. And how repeatedly does Jesus pronounce the securement of our own salvation to be superior to every other interest. It is superior to gaming the whole world, superior to subjecting devils unto us, superior even to being the parent of the Saviour! Truly, whatever man may think, in God’s esteem the salvation of the soul is precious.

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

But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it. As was invariably his practice, he declines to enter into any discussion respecting the peculiar blessedness which earthly relationship to him might bring. It was not for public discussion. The Lord, in his reply, tells her? however, that there was something even more blessed than that earthly relationship to which she was alluding, and to that something all, if they pleased, might attain.

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

Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it - For if even she that bare him had not done this, she would have forfeited all her blessedness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

28. μενοῦν μακάριοι οἱ ἀκούοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ φυλάσσοντες. ‘Yea truly, but &c.’ In classical Greek μὲν οὖν (or μενοῦνγε, immo vero) never begins a sentence, as it does here and in Rom 9:20; Rom 10:18. With the thought compare Luk 8:21. Our Lord invariably and systematically discouraged all attempt to exalt the merely human relationship or intercourse with Him, and taught that the Presence of His Spirit was to be a nearer and more blessed thing than knowledge of Him “after the flesh” (Joh 14:16; 2Co 5:16).

καὶ φυλάσσοντες. Hearing without obedience was more than valueless, Mat 7:21; Mat 12:50; Rom 2:13.

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.

28.] This little but most instructive incident, here interposed, serves to shew the originality of Luke’s account, and that, whatever its position may be, it is itself of the highest authority. The woman apparently was influenced by nothing but common-place and unintelligent wonder at the sayings and doings of Jesus:—and she broke out, with true womanly feeling, into a blessing of the mother who bare such a wonderful Teacher. Such seems to be the account of the incident itself.

Our Lord’s reply is indeed wonderful:—(1) In reproof. He corrects in her the un-apprehensiveness of his word, which had caused her to go no further into the meaning of it than this ordinary eulogy imported,—and gives her an admonition how to profit better by it in future.

(2) In humility. He disclaims all this kind of admiration for his humanity: and says not ‘my word,’ but the word of God, which is in fact the same, but takes the view off from Him in his abasement, unto the Father who sent Him.

(3) In truth. He does not deny the honour hereby pronounced upon his mother, but beautifully turns it to its true side—viz. that which was given her long since—μακαρία ἡ πιστεύσασα, ch. 1:45.

Her blessedness consisted not so much in being His mother, as in her lowly and faithful observance of the word of the Lord spoken to her: see ch. 2:19, 51. Nor again does He deny that to have borne Him was an honour—μὲν οὖν is ‘imo vero’—‘yes, indeed, but.’

(4) In prophetic discernment. It will be seen that this answer cuts at the root of all Mariolatry, and shews us in what the true honour of that holy woman consisted,—in faith and obedience. As the mother of the Lord, she represents our human race, unto whom a child is born, a son is given; no individual exclusive honour is due to her, any more than to Cornelius, who was singled out from the Gentile world, and honoured by an angelic message relative to the divine purposes:—if she were, as there is every reason to conclude she was, a believer in her Son, the Son of man, she bore Christ in a far higher and more blessed sense than by being His mother in His humanity. And this honour may all believers in Him partake of with her; therefore the Lord says not ἡ ἀκούουσα τ. λ.… but οἱ ἀκούοντες. The last and boldest perversion of these words of our Lord by Father Newman, viz. that He thus does but still further exalt her honour, in that, besides being His mother, she heard His word, and kept it, need only be mentioned, to shew the follies to which able men are abandoned, who once desert truth and simplicity.

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

28. Μενοῦν. This compound particle same times confirms what is stated, “yea, verily”; sometimes adds to what is said, with or without confirming it, but virtually correcting it: “yea rather,” or “that may be true, but” Here Jesus does not deny the woman’s statement, but He points out how inadequate it is. She has missed the main point To be the Mother of Jesus implies no more than a share in His humanity. To hear and keep the word of God implies communion with what is Divine. The saying is similar to 8:21. The relationship with Christ which brings blessedness is the spiritual one. For τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ see on 8:11.

Here and Php 3:8 some authorities have μενοῦνγε (Rom 9:20, Rom 10:18); but in N.T. μὲν οὖν is more common (Act 1:18, Act 5:41, Act 13:4, Act 17:30, Act 23:22, Act 26:9). In class Grk. neither form ever comes first in a sentence. Of the Lat. text Wordsworth says, Codices hie tantum variant quantum vix alibi in evangeMs in una saltem vocabulo (Vulg. P. 388). Among the renderings are quippe enim, quippini, quinimmo, immo, manifestissime, etiam. Many omit the word. See Blass, Gr. p. 264.

καὶ φυλάσσοντες. Comp. Jas 1:22-25. S. James may have been present and heard this reply. He also says μακάριος is the man who hears and does τὸν λόγον.

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