Luke 7:22

7:22 the blind see, the lame walk: A series of allusions to Isaiah (Isa 26:19; 29:18-19; 35:5-6; 61:1-2) defines God’s salvation as the restoration of fallen creation. Jesus did not come to overthrow Roman rule over Judea (so he omits “captives . . . will be freed” from his quotation of Isa 61:2); he came for the greater purpose of reversing the effects of sin and death.

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

Luk 7:22 contains the verbal answer, pointing the moral = go and tell your master what ye saw and heard (aorist, past at the time of reporting), and leave him to draw his own conclusion. νεκροὶ ἐγείρονται : this refers to the son of the widow of Nain; raisings from the dead are not included in the list of marvels given in the previous verse. Lk. omits throughout the connecting καὶ with which Mt. binds the marvels into couplets. On the motive of John’s message, vide notes of Mt., ad loc.

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

Verse 22. - 28. See these verses explained at large on Mt 11:4-15.

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

(22) Go your way.—The exact agreement of the answer as reported in the two Gospels is significant as to the impression which they made at the time on those who heard them.

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

22. what things ye have seen] Our Lord wished His answer to be the announcement of facts not the explanation of difficulties. His enumeration of the miracles involves an obvious reference to Isa_29:18; Isa_35:4-6; Isa_60:1-3 (see Luk_4:17-19), which would be instantly caught by one so familiar with the language of “the Evangelical Prophet” as the Baptist had shewn himself to be.

to the poor the Gospel is preached] Thus the spiritual miracle is placed as the most convincing climax. The arrogant ignorance and hard theology of the Rabbis treated all the poor as mere peasants and nobodies. The Talmud is full of the two contemptuous names applied to them—‘people of the earth’ and ‘laics;’ and one of the charges brought against the Pharisees by our Lord was their attempt to secure the monopoly of knowledge, Luk_11:52.

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 blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. The Arabic version renders it, "blessed is he that doubts not of me". The Persic and Ethiopic versions both add to the text, the former rendering the words thus, "blessed is he that is not brought into offence and doubt concerning me"; and the latter thus, "blessed are they who do not deny me, and are not offended in me": particular regard is had to the disciples of John, who both doubted of Christ as the Messiah, and were offended at his popularity and success; See Gill on Mat 11:6.

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Luke 7:24

luk 7:24

luk 7:24

luk 7:24And when the messengers of John were departed,.... The Syriac and Persic versions read, "the disciples of John"; and the Arabic version, "the two disciples of John"; the two that he sent, when they were gone back with the answer of Christ;

he, "Jesus", as the Persic version expresses it,

began to speak unto the people concerning John; not caring to say any thing about him to the messengers, or whilst they were present, lest he should be charged with flattery; See Gill on Mat 11:7.

What went ye into the wilderness for to see? a reed shaken with the wind? an inconsistent, wavering, and unstable man? if so, they were greatly mistaken; or the motions and gesture of the man? See Gill on Mat 11:7.

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

22 Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

Ver. 22. {See Trapp on "Mat 11:4"} {See Trapp on "Mat 11:5"}

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.

Then addressing himself to these disciples of John the Baptist, he ordered them to go and relate to their master all they had seen and heard; and to tell him, that he declared all those to be happy, who, strong in faith, should not take occasion to doubt of his divine power, (the proofs of which they had so recently seen) from the weakness of his flesh, which he had taken upon himself for the love of man. --- Jesus Christ alludes to the known and full testimonies that had been given of him by the prophets. The Lord giveth food to the hungry, the Lord looseth them that are in fetters, the Lord enlighteneth the blind, he lifteth up them that are cast down, ... and he who does these things, shall reign for ever thy God, O Sion, from generation to generation. (Psalm cxlv.) (St. Ambrose) --- The words of the prophet Isaias are not less descriptive of the promised Messias: God himself will come, and will save you. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free. (Isaias xxxv. 4, 5, 6.) (Theophylactus)

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).

Tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. These miracles which the messengers witnessed that day, striking though they were, were no novel ones in the work of our Lord. They were, too, precisely similar to those which had already been reported to him in his prison (ver. 18). But Jesus, pointing to these signs, bade the friends of the Baptist return and tell their master what they had seen in these words. The great Messianic prophet, whose writings were so well known to John, had said that Messiah"s advent would be heralded by these very acts. John would in a moment catch the meaning of the reply. The passages in question are Isa_29:18 and Isa_35:4, Isa_35:6. Wordsworth, on these works wrought by the great Physician, very beautifully writes, "One of the most consolatory reflections produced by these mighty and merciful works of Christ on earth is the assurance they give that at the great day of resurrection he will remove all infirmities and blemishes from the bodies of his servants, and clothe them in immortal health, beauty, and glory, so as to be like his own glorious body, once marred on the cross, but raised by himself from the dead, and now reigning for ever in glory" (Bishop Wordsworth). To the poor the gospel is preached. John would be able to draw his inference, too, from this feature in Jesus" work. His messengers would have heard the Teacher"s words, and would have marked from what class especially his hearers were drawn. It was a new experience in the world"s story, this tender care for the poor. No heathen teacher of Rome or Athens, of Alexandria or the far East, had ever cared to make this vast class of unprofitable hearers the objects of their teaching. The rabbis of Israel cared nothing for them. In the Talmud we often find them spoken of with contempt. But John knew that this speaking to and consorting with the poor would be one of the marked characteristics of Messiah when he came.

The leprosy of sin.

Why specify the fact that the lepers were cleansed? Why single out this disease from others that might have been named? Because it was peculiarly desirable that, when the Messiah came and gave credentials of his heavenly origin, he should exercise his power in this direction. For leprosy was the chosen type of sin. All disease is pictorial of sin; it is to our bodily frame what sin is to the soul it is inward disorder showing itself in outward manifestation. But leprosy was that peculiar form of sickness which the Divine Lawgiver selected as the type of sin. And surely it was perfectly fitted to be so regarded. We look at

I ITS LOATHSOMENESS. Why was the leper so rigidly excluded from society? We have no convincing evidence that this was a dangerous, contagious disorder. But the extreme loathsomeness of the leper"s appearance fully accounted for the decree. It was not fitting that anything so terribly repulsive and shocking should be seen in the homes and in the streets. Sin is the most odious of all things; it is "that abominable thing which God hates." God "cannot look" upon it. In its fouler forms it is infinitely offensive to the pure of heart.

II ITS DIFFUSIVENESS. Leprosy was eminently diffusive. It was communicated from parent to child; it spread from limb to limb, from organ to organ, until it covered the entire body. Sin is a thing which spreads. It, too, is communicable by heredity, and it also spreads from faculty to faculty. Sin leads to sin. "There"s not a crime but takes its change out still in crime." Theft leads to violence, drunkenness to falsehood, impurity to deceit. Sin also spreads from man to man, from child to child, from friend to friend. You cannot circumscribe it; it passes all bounds that may be set up.

III ITS PITIFULNESS. Who could regard the leper, doomed to a long, perhaps a lifelong separation from his family and his business and all favourite pursuits, without heartfelt pity? Life was worth nothing to him. Sin is condemnable enough; but it is pitiable also. Blame the erring, reproach the faulty, remonstrate with the foolish, but do not fail to pity those whom sin is shutting out from all that is best below, and from all that is bright above. Pity these with a profound compassion, and help them with an uplifting hand.

IV ITS SEPARATING INFLUENCE. As the leper was exiled from mankind and banished to a severe isolation, so does sin come in as a separating power.

1. It separates a man from God, opening the wide, deep gulf of conscious guilt.

2. It separates man from man. It is not high walls, or broad acres, or unmeasured seas, that divide man from man: it is folly, hatred, malice, jealousy, sin.

V ITS DEATHFULNESS. In the leper the springs of health were poisoned; there was a process of dissolution going on; it was death in life. Sin is death. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth," wrote Paul. And our Lord"s words imply the same: "Whoso believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." A man living apart from God and. in rebellion against him is so far from answering the end of human life that he may be rightly regarded as dead while he lives.

VI ITS INCURABLENESS BY MAN. The Jews did not bring the leper to the physician; they regarded him as incurable by the art of man. Sin is incurable by human methods. Regulations for conduct, vows of abstinence, parliamentary statutes, legal penalties, do not cure. They may be very valuable as accessories, but they will not heal. Only the Divine hand can accomplish that for the human heart. One there is who offers himself as the Divine Physician; he who sent back to John in prison the convincing message, "The lepers are cleansed." In him is all-forgiving grace and all-cleansing power. A living faith in him will lead to pardon and to purity. Instead of loathsomeness, there will be spiritual beauty; instead of isolation, communion; instead of a living death, eternal life. C.

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

To the poor the Gospel is preached - Which is the greatest mercy, and the greatest miracle of all.

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

The poor hear and receive the gospel. Mat 11:5

Note, that all along, in our Saviour’s time and since, the poor of the world have been more disposed to hear and embrace the gospel than other men; and the reasons of it are these:

1. Because the poor have no worldly interest to engage them to reject Christ and his gospel. The high-priest, the scribes and Pharisees, had a plain worldly interest to engage them to oppose Christ and his doctrine; but the poor were free from these incumbrances and temptations. They had nothing to lose; therefore our Saviour’s doctrine went down more easily with them, because it did not contradict their interest, as it did the interest of those who had great possessions.

Those that are poor, and enjoy little of the good things of this life, are willing to entertain the glad tidings of happiness in another life. Such as are in a state of misery here, are glad to understand that it shall be well with them hereafter, and are willing to listen to the good news of a future happiness; wheras the rich, who have had their consolation here, are not much concerned what will become of them afterwards.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

22. ἃ εἴδετε. Our Lord wished His answer to be the announcement of facts, not the explanation of difficulties. His enumeration of the miracles involves an obvious reference to Isa 29:18; Isa 35:4-6; Isa 60:1-3 (see Luk 4:17-19), which would be instantly caught by one so familiar with the language of “the Evangelical Prophet” as the Baptist had shewn himself to be.

πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται. With this construction compare πεπίστευμαι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, Gal 2:7. When a verb governing the dative is used in the passive, the noun denoting the person becomes the nominative. See Winer, p. 326. Thus the spiritual miracle is placed as the most convincing climax. The arrogant ignorance and hard theology of the Rabbis treated all the poor as mere peasants and nobodies. The Talmud is full of the two contemptuous names applied to them—‘people of the earth’ and ‘laics.’ One of the charges brought against the Pharisees by our Lord was their attempt to secure the monopoly of knowledge, Luk 11:52.

ὃς ἐὰν for ὅστις ἄν. In late writers and in Hellenistic Greek ἐὰν is used in exactly the same sense as ἂν after relative pronouns and conjunctions. The peculiarity may have been derived from popular usage.

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.

22. ἀπαγγείλατε Ἰωάνει. See on 8:20. The answer is expressly sent to John: there is no intimation that it is for the instruction of his disciples, who are sent back, “like the messenger from Gabii to Sextus Tarquinius,” to relate a symbolical narrative, which their master is to interpret. That they can understand it is it her stated nor implied.

τυφλοὶ ἀναβλέπουσιν, κ.τ.λ. There is probably a direct reference to Isa 35:5, Isa 35:6, 61:1. It is clear, not only that Lk. and Mt. understand Jesus to refer to bodily and not spiritual healings, but that they are right in doing so. John’s messengers had not “seen and heard” Christ healing the spiritually blind and the morally leprous. Moreover, what need to add πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται, if all that precedes refers to the preaching of the good tidings? It is unnatural to express the same fact, first by a series of metaphors, and then literally. All the clauses should be taken literally. They seem to be arranged in two groups, which are connected by καί, and in each group there is a climax, the strongest item of evidence being placed last.

πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται. This was the clearest sign of His being the Cbrist (Isa 61:1), as He Himself had declared at Nazareth (4:18-21). His miracles need not mean more than that He was “a great Prophet”; moreover, the Baptist had already heard of them. But it was a new thing that the poor, whom the Greek despised and the Roman trampled on, and whom the priest and the Levite left on one side, should be invited into the Kingdom of God (6:20).For the passive sense of εὐαγγελίζεσθαι comp. Heb 4:2, Heb 4:6, and see Win. xxxix. 1. a, p. 326, and Fritzsche on Mat 6:4. For εὐαγγέλλιον see on Rom 1:1.

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

The blind receive, etc. Better, are receiving, are walking, even while Jesus is speaking and John is in doubt.

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