Luke 7:10

Luk 7:10. Ὑγιαίνοντα) not merely whole and sound (ὑγιῆ), but using the health and soundness given him [ὑγιαίνοντα].

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

Verse 10. Found the servant whole] This cure was the effect of the faith, prayer, and humility of the centurion, through which the almighty energy of Jesus Christ was conveyed to the sick man. But these very graces in the centurion were the products of grace. It is God himself who, by the gifts of his mercy, disposes the soul to receive its cure; and nothing can contribute to the reception of his grace but what is the fruit of grace itself. The apostle says, The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, Tit 2:11. It should therefore be our concern, not to resist the operations of this grace: for though we cannot endue ourselves with by gracious disposition, yet we can quench the Spirit, by whose agency these are produced in the soul. The centurion had not received the grace of God in vain.

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

(10) Found the servant whole.—Note St. Luke’s characteristic use, as in Luk_5:31, of a technical term for “healthy” or “convalescent.”

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

10. found the servant whole] Rather, convalescent, a medical word which is found also in Luk_15:27 (and in a metaphorical sense in Tit_1:13; 1Ti_1:10; 1Ti_6:3; 2Ti_1:13; 2Ti_4:3).

that had been sick] These words should probably be omitted.

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 that were sent,.... Both the elders of the Jews, and the friends of the centurion:

returning to the house; of the centurion, where his servant lay, and from whence they came:

found the servant whole that had been sick; for he was healed directly, as soon as the centurion had expressed his faith, and Christ had declared that it should be according to it, Mat 8:13.

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

10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.

Ver. 10. See Mat 8:13.

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.

Returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. Farrar suggests "convalescent" as a more accurate rendering than "whole." The Greek equivalent is one of the medical words we find in this Gospel of St. Luke. The words, "that had been sick," do not occur in the other authorities. They are omitted in the Revised Version.

Vers. 18-35. The deputation from John.

Jesus pursued a policy of mercy and of salvation. He healed all who asked for healing or were brought to him; he raised the dead; he was a Philanthropist rather than a Judge. The fame of his miracles was spread abroad, and made its way to the castle and its keep, where John the Baptist was now Herod"s prisoner. The result is a deputation of two disciples sent by the illustrious prisoner to Jesus. We are to study the interview and the subsequent panegyric on John.

I CONSIDER JOHN"S DIFFICULTY. John had preached about a coming One, according to such prophecies as that of Malachi. He had preached that Jesus was coming to judgment. His fan was to be in his hand; he was throughly to purge his floor; he was to gather the wheat into his garner; and he was to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Luk_3:17) And in the spirit of the Old Testament, which was largely a dispensation of judgment, John looked for Messiah to be mainly a Messiah of judgment. The kingdom of Messiah was to be set up, John thought, like all world-kingdoms, by "the thunder of the captains and the shouting," by some remarkable series of judgments; but now that Jesus is devoting himself to philanthropy pure and simple, John thinks that perhaps another messenger is to be looked for, who will make judgment his role. John"s difficulty is what we all experience when we imagine that a more impressive and decisive method of advancing God"s cause might be adopted. Human nature has great faith in blows!

II OUR LORD"S RESPONSE. (Vers. 21-23) This consisted of:

1. Miracles of mercy. All that needed healing in the crowd received it in presence of John"s disciples. He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and many blind ones received their sight. The Healer was there; philanthropy was in full swing.

2. He preached the gospel to the poor. He backed up the miracles by a message; he made his mercies to the body the texts from which he preached deliverance to the souls of men.

3. He directed the disciples to report to John what they had seem and heard, with the additional warning, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me." His policy was one of love, of disinterestedness; and John was to study it more thoroughly and come to a better conclusion. We thus learn that the best defence of a suspected work is the patient performance of it. It will vindicate itself in due season, if it be good and genuine. Christ came not to wade through seas of blood to a temporal throne, but by persevering love to win men"s hearts and rule over their lives from within!

III HIS PANEGYRIC UPON JOHN. (Vers. 24-28) It was after the deputation had departed that Jesus pronounced John"s panegyric. Most people would have pronounced it in their hearing, that they might carry it to John; but Jesus says the good and noble things behind John"s back, having given all the warning he needed before, so to speak, his face. It partakes, as Godet remarks, of the nature of a funeral oration. Like Jesus himself, John is anointed with considerate praise before his burial. And here we have to notice the order of the panegyric.

1. Christ describes John negatively. Borrowing his simile from the desert, where the reeds bow before the breeze and do not break, he insists that John was not like one of these. In other words, he was a man of unflinching integrity, who would break rather than bend before the breeze of opposition. He preferred to be Herod"s prisoner in the dungeon rather than his fawning sycophant in the palace. Nor, again, was John a courtier gaily and silkenly clad. The Camel"s hair garment was a perpetual protest in the castle, before he was thrust down into the dungeon, against the effeminacy of the court. If he had come to be "court preacher" to Herod, he had come to be one in earnest.

2. He describes John positively. He was a "prophet." Great honour was it to be recipients and communicators of revelations. John was charged, like other Old Testament prophets, with messages from God. But he was more he was the forerunner of Messiah. In applying to John the prophecy in Malachi, Jesus was asserting his own Messiahship and Divinity. This was a great honour for John to be the immediate predecessor of the Lord. Still further, our Lord asserts that of woman-born there has not been a greater prophet than the Baptist. This is unstinted praise. And it is just. When we consider all John attempted and the means he had at hand, when we consider that he attempted the regeneration of his country and asked no miraculous power to accomplish it, then he comes before us in moral grandeur exceeding that of the first Elias.

3. He describes him candidly. The panegyric is judicious. Our Lord declares that, great though John undoubtedly is, he is surpassed by "the least in the kingdom of God." This may mean that the least Christian has greater insight into the nature of the kingdom than John. Or it may, perhaps, rather mean that he who is consciously the least in the kingdom of God, by whom we must understand the most advanced spiritually, is greater than John. The insight of a Paul, for instance, who felt himself to be less than the least of all saints, was greater than that of John, climax though he was of Old Testament prophecy. Or, finally, may it not mean Jesus himself, who was the meekest and lowliest in the Kingdom of God.

IV THE CHARACTER OF JOHN"S SUCCESS WAS LIKE THAT OF JESUS. (Vers. 29, 30) The evangelist seems to add the significant words that it was among the common people, the publicans and the poor, not among the Pharisees and lawyers, that he secured his penitents. So that John"s revival was really among the humbler classes, where the work of Jesus was being now wisely prosecuted. The self-righteous rejected John"s appeal for repentance; the common people and the publicans embraced it, and "justified God" by repenting before him. For we must acknowledge God"s perfect justice in condemning us for our sins, before we can appreciate his justice and mercy in forgiving us for his Son"s sake. Luke"s observation, then, makes Christ"s panegyric a perfect picture.

V THE TWO ASPECTS OF TRUTH, AND THE GENERAL REJECTION OF BOTH, (Vers. 31-35) Jesus, in these verses, contrasts John"s ministry with his own. Little children at play sometimes find their fellows utterly intractable. Tried by a funeral, they will not join in the mournful procession; tried by a marriage, they will not join in the bridal party. They are too ill-natured to take part in either. Nothing pleases them. So was it with the Pharisees in their attitude to the preaching of John and to the preaching of Jesus. John presented the truth in its severe and mournful aspects. He was unsocial, to lead men to a sense of sin and to repent of it. But the Pharisees would not believe the self-denying preacher from the desert. Jesus presented the truth in all its winsomeness and attractiveness; but they found as much fault with Jesus as they did with John. John had a devil, and Jesus was a glutton and a wine-bibber. Neither could please these prim, self-satisfied ones. But the vindication of wisdom was on its way. The penitents of John and the joyful disciples of Jesus would yet justify the truth which John and Jesus preached. The Pharisees might reject both missions, but the common people who received them justified the truth in both by lives and conversations becoming the gospel. We may in the same way leave our work with confidence to the verdict of the future, if we feel that it is true. Opposition from a self-righteous party is itself a vindication of the truth which we have embodied or declared. R.M.E.

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

10. ἀσθενοῦντα is added by ACD &c., but omitted in אBL, Copt., &c. La[145] Ti[146] W.H[147]

[145] La. Lachmann.

[146] Ti. Tischendorf.

[147] W.H. Westcott and Hort.

10. ὑγιαίνοντα. A medical word which is found also in Luk 15:27 (and in a metaphorical sense in Tit 1:13; 1Ti 1:10; 1Ti 6:3; 2Ti 1:13; 2Ti 4:3).

ἀσθενοῦντα. This word should probably be omitted. It has a certain picturesqueness, for it implies that the friends of the centurion found the slave sound whom they regarded as sick. On the one hand, it may be regarded as an explanatory gloss; on the other hand, it may have been omitted as involving a contradiction.

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.

10.] Here Matt. simply states the fact of the healing, [apparently] not knowing of the οἱ πεμφθ.

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

10. ὑποστρέψαντες . See on 1:56 and 4:14. Lk.’s ὑγιαίνοντα is stronger than the ἰάθη of Mt. The servant was not only cured, but “in good health.” Non modo sanum, sed sanitate utentem (Beng.) Hobart remarks that Lk. “is the only N.T. writer who uses ὑγιαίνειν in this its primary sense, ‘to be in sound health,’ with the exception of S. John, 3 Eph_2. For this meaning it is the regular word in the medical writers” (p. 10). See on 5:31 and comp. 15:27. Here and 5:31 Vulg. has sanus; in 15:27, salvus.

The identification of this miracle with that of the healing of the son of the royal official (βασιλικός) in Joh_4. is not probable: it involves an amount of misinformation or carelessness on one side or the other which would be very startling. Irenæus seems to be in favour of it; but “centurion” with him may be a slip of memory or a misinterpretation of βασιλικός. Origen and Chrysostom contend against the identification. Is there any difficulty in supposing that on more than one occasion Jesus healed without being present? The difficulty is to explain one such instance, without admitting the possession of supernatural powers: this Strauss has shown, and the efforts of Keim and Schenkel to explain it by a combination of moral and psychical causes are not satisfying. There is no parallel to it in O.T., for (as Keim points out) the healing of Naaman is not really analogous.

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

Whole [υγιαινοντα] . See on ch. Luk 5:31. The best texts omit that had been sick.

11 - 17. Peculiar to Luke.

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