Luke 24:31

24:31 their eyes were opened: This is another example of the “divine passive” (see study note on 24:16); God opened their eyes at the breaking of the bread. • at that moment he disappeared! In his resurrected and transformed body, Jesus had abilities not realized before the resurrection (see 24:36; 1 Cor 15:20-23, 35-57).

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

Luk 24:31. Ἄφαντος ἐγένετο) He vanished out of their sight. This too showed that it was He. The former appearances of Jesus after His resurrection were of shorter continuance, in order that the move room (scope) might be left for faith.

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

Luk_24:31. Αὐτῶν δὲ διηνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί] is the opposite of οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν ἐκρατοῦντο, Luk_24:16. As the latter, so also the former, according to Luke, is to be referred to extraordinary divine causation. This is opposed to the view (Paulus, Kuinoel, and others) that the disciples, only by means of the accustomed breaking of bread and giving of thanks by Jesus, wherein they had more attentively considered Him and had seen His pierced hands, arrived at the recognition of Him who until then had been unknown to them. Comp. on Luk_24:30.

αὐτῶν] with lively emphasis placed first. What Jesus did is previously described.

ἀνοίγειν] (more strongly διανοίγειν) τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, which is often used of the healing of blind people (Mat_9:30; Mat_20:33; Joh_9:10; Joh_9:14; Joh_9:17; Joh_10:21; Joh_11:37), describes in a picturesque manner the endowing with a capacity, bodily or spiritual, of recognising what before was unknown, Gen_3:5; Gen_3:7; Gen_21:19; 2Ki_6:17; 2Ki_6:20; comp. Act_26:8

ἄφαντος ἐγένετο ἀπʼ αὐτῶν] He passed away from them invisibly. Comp. on γίνεσθαι ἀπό τινος, to withdraw from any one, Xen. Mem. i. 2. 25; Bar_3:21. Luke intends manifestly to narrate a sudden invisible withdrawal effected through divine agency; hence those do wrong to his intention and to the expression who, like Kuinoel, make out of it only a subito ah iis discessit, so that this departure would not have been observed till it occurred (Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 474). Beza well says that Luke has not said αὐτοῖς, but ἀπʼ αὐτῶν; ne quis existimet praesentem quidem Christum cum ipsis mansisse, sed corpore, quod cerni non posset. The Ubiquists supported the doctrine of the invisible presence of Christs body by the passage before us. Comp. Calovius.

On the word ἄφαντοςwhich is very frequent in the poets, but only rarely used in prose, and that of a late period, and, moreover, is not found in the LXX. and the Apocryphainstead of the classical prose word ἀφανής, see Wesseling, ad Diod. iv. 65.

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 24:31 . διηνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφ ., their eyes were at length opened, a Divine effect, but having its psychological causes. Euthy. suggests the use of the well-known blessing by Jesus as aiding recognition. The opening of the mind to the prophetic teaching concerning Messiah’s suffering was the main preparation for the opening of the eyes. The wonder is they did not recognise Jesus sooner. ἄφαντος : an early poetical and late prose word = ἀφανής , not in Sept [207] , here only in N.T. After being recognised Jesus became invisible, ἀπʼ αὐτῶν , not to them ( αὐτοῖς ) but from them, implying departure from the house. Some take ἄφαντος adverbially as qualifying the departure = He departed from them in an invisible manner.

[207] Septuagint.

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

Suddenly taken away, and therefore we may not imagine that he was there in such a body as could not be seen, but believe indeed that he changed his place.

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

Verse 31. Their eyes were opened] But we are not to imagine that he administered the holy eucharist at this time; there is not the most distant evidence of this. It was a mere family meal, and ended before it was well begun.

They knew him] His acting as father of the family, in taking, blessing, and distributing the bread among them, caused them to recollect those lips which they had often heard speak, and those hands by which they had often been fed. Perhaps he also threw off the disguise which he had before assumed; and now appeared in his own person.

He vanished out of their sight.] Probably, during their surprise, he took the opportunity of withdrawing from the place; leaving them to reflect and meditate on what they had heard and seen.

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

(31) And he vanished out of their sight.—Literally, He became invisible. The adjective does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. In the order of time this is the first example of the new conditions of our Lord’s risen life. It was not that He rose and left the room in which they sat. In a moment they knew Him with all the fulness of recognition; and then they saw Him no more. The work for which He had come to them was done. He had imparted comfort and insight, and had brought them into communion with Himself, and then they were to be taught that that communion was no longer to depend, as before, on a visible and localised presence. (Comp. Luk_24:36, Joh_20:19; Joh_20:26.)

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

31. he vanished] See on Luk_24:16.

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 they rose up the same hour,.... Though it was now evening, and the day was spent and gone; and notwithstanding what business they might have to do at Emmaus, about which they came, and even might not have made an end of eating, or sufficiently refreshed themselves; and though they had had a walk of sixty furlongs that afternoon, yet being big with this appearance of Christ to them, and in haste to impart the joyful news to their fellow disciples, they immediately rose up from table:

and returned to Jerusalem; the same night, from whence they had come that day:

and found the eleven gathered together; at a certain house known to these two, and who met together in the night season, for the sake of privacy, and for fear of the Jews, and who were now up, though it was late: these are called "eleven", because Judas was now gone from them, and dead; and this being their whole number, it is used, though every one might not be present, as particularly Thomas was not; see Joh 20:19

and them that were with them; the seventy disciples, and other believers, both men and women; see Act 1:15.

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

31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

Ver. 31. Their eyes were opened] The free and entire use of their inward and outward senses was restored unto them.

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.

Their eyes were opened - The obscurity was removed. They saw him to be the Messiah. Their doubts were gone, and they saw clearly that he was risen, and was truly, as they had long hoped, the Saviour of people. It is not meant that they were before “blind,” but that they did not know until then who he was.

He vanished out of their sight - He suddenly departed. It does not appear that there was anything miraculous in this, but, during their surprise, he took the opportunity suddenly to withdraw from them.

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

31. And their eyes were opened—Utterly shallow and rationalistic is the interpretation of Alford, making these disciples discover Jesus by his mode of breaking bread! If neither voice, nor form, nor person, revealed the Lord, how absurd to suppose that his manner of breaking bread should accomplish the discovery. These two were not apostles, nor is it probable they were specially familiar with his style of breaking bread.

And they knew him—There he stood, this very Messiah, of whom all Scripture was the harbinger; the sufferer, the heir of glory, the judge of the earth. Before this moment he could not reveal himself without disturbing their minds so as to unfit their understanding of the Scripture. And now he could reveal himself, to show that his exposition was authoritative and divine, being his own.

He vanished—This finished the demonstration. He did not merely step out of the door. As they were beholding him, the place he occupied became at once vacant space. Then they knew that it was their Lord, and that their Lord was truly divine. Not Mary Magdalene, nor Peter, nor John, nor the whole college of apostles had as yet received such a favour as this vouchsafed to these two disciples, the one to us unnamed, and the other but a name!

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

He vanished out of their sight. Not here, not now, can we hope to understand the nature of the resurrection-body of the Lord; it is and must remain to us, in our present condition, a mystery. Certain facts have, however, been revealed to us:

(1) The Resurrection was a reality, not an appearance; for on more than one occasion the Lord permitted the test of touch. He also ate before his disciples of their ordinary food.

(2) Yet there was a manifest exemption flora the common conditions of bodily (corporeal) existence; for he comes through a closed door; he could withdraw himself when he would from touch as well as from sight; he could vanish in a moment from those looking on him; he could, as men gazed on him, rise by the exertion of his own will into the clouds of heaven.

(3) He was known just as he pleased and when he pleased; for at times during the "forty days" men and women looked on him without a gleam of recognition, at times they gazed at him, knowing well that it was the Lord. On the words, "he vanished out of their sight," Godet writes, "It must be remembered that Jesus, strictly speaking, was already no more with them (ver. 44), and that the miracle consisted rather in his appearing than in his disappearing." Dr. Westcott expresses the same truth in different language, "What was natural to him before was now miraculous, what was before miraculous is now natural."

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

Their eyes were opened - That is, the supernatural cloud was removed: And he vanished - Went away insensibly.

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

31. ἄφαντος ἐγένετο. See on Luk 24:16. ἄφαντος is a poetic word for the Attic prose word ἀφανής. It does not occur in the LXX[421], Apocrypha, or elsewhere in the N. T.

[421] LXX. Septuagint.

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.

31.] ἄφαντος, not αὐτοῖς, which would imply His Body to have remained, but invisible to them: but ἀπʼ αὐτῶν, implying, besides the supernatural disappearance, a real objective removal from them.

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

31. διηνοίχθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί. This must be explained in harmony with ver. 16. If the one implies Divine interposition, so also does the other. These two had not been present at the Last Supper, but they had probably often seen Jesus preside at meals; and something in His manner of taking and breaking the bread, and of uttering the benediction, may have been the means employed to restore their power of recognizing Him. Wright’s conjecture that the eucharist was instituted long before the Last Supper is unnecessary. Comp. Gen 21:19; 2Ki 6:20 ; Gen 3:5, Gen 3:7.

For the augment see WH. 2. App. p.161, All three forms, ἠνοίχθην ἐνεῴχθην and ἠνεῴχθην, are found well attested in N.T. Gregory, prolegom, p.121. Syr-Cur. and Syr-Sin. add “immediately” to “were opened.”

ἀφαντος ἐγένετο.“He vanished, became invisible”: comp. ver 37, 6:36, 12:40, 16:11, 12, 19:17. It is very unnatural to take ἐγέετο with ἀπʼ αὐτῶν and make ἄφαντος adverbial: “He departed from them without being seen.” Something more than a sudden departure, or a departure which they did not notice until He was gone, is intended. We are to understand disappearance without physical locomotion: but we know too little about the properties of Christ’s risen body to say whether this was super natural or not. Nowhere else in bibl. Grk. does ἄφαντος occur: in class. Grk. it is poetical. In 2 Mac. 3:34 ἀφανεῖς ἐγένοντο is used of Angels ceasing to be visible. The ἀπʼ αὐτῶν implies no more than withdrawal from their sight: to what extent His presence was withdrawn we have no means of knowing. But His object was accomplished; viz. to convince them that He was the Messiah and still alive, and that their hopes had not been in vain. To abide with them in the old manner was not His object.

The Latin versions vary much, but none of them suggest a mere quiet withdrawal : nusquam comparit ab eis (c e ff2, ) non comparuit ab eis (dr),invisus factus est eis (bf),non apparens factus est ab eis (δevanuit ex oculis eorum (Vulg.). Syr-Sin. has “He was lifted away from them”: so also Syr-Cur. Respecting Jos. Ant. 20:8, 6 see p. 30.

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

They knew [επεγνωσαν] . Clearly recognized.

And he vanished out of their sight [αυτος αφαντος εγενετο απ αυτων] . Lit., he, invisible, became away from them. It is not simply, he suddenly departed from them, but he passed away from them invisibly. The ejgeneto, became, is construed with ajp' aujtwn, from them. 10

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