Luke 9:50

9:50 Anyone who is not against you is for you: Though not one of the Twelve, the man who was casting out demons was not to be discouraged since he, too, was proclaiming the message of the Kingdom. The statement was proverbial, however, and not an absolute truth, as Jesus made the inverse statement in 11:23. Wisdom is needed to apply a proverb properly in a given situation.

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

Luk 9:50. Ὃς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι καθʼ ὑμῶν, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐστιν, for he who is not against you is for you) So too Mar 9:40, although some Greek MSS. in Mark, and most of them in Luke, have written ἡμῶν for ὑμῶν. To such a degree were the Greek transcribers indifferent in their confounding these pronouns, that the true reading must be decided not so much by the number of Greek MSS., as by the ancient versions, which translate and present these pronouns with greater accuracy of distinction, and also especially by a comparison of the context. The more or the less different is the condition of these concerning whom the expression we and you is used, the more or the less weight in proportion the variety of reading has. And in this passage the variety of reading is not a matter of indifference. For when He is speaking of external association and mode of procedure (conversatione), the Lord used the first person Plural, “Let us pass over to the other side; Lo, we go up to Jerusalem,” etc. But when matters of a more internal character were concerned, He made an appropriate distinction in His language, and did not say, we, but, I, or else, you. “I ascend,” saith He, “to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God,” not, “to our Father and God.” Therefore He does not here say, “He who is not against us, is for us,” but, “he who is not against you, is for you;” and in another passage, “He who is not with Me, is against Me.”[87]

[87] ABCDabc Vulg. have καθʼ ὑμῶν. BCDabc Vulg. have also ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν. But AΔ have ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. Rec. Text has καθʼ ἡμῶν—ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. In Mar 9:40, ADabc Vulg. read ὑμῶν twice. But BCΔ Memph. later Syr. in marg. read ἡμῶν.—ED. and TRANSL.

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

50. Μὴ κωλύετε. “Cease to forbid,” not only the person in question, but any such. Comp. 7:13 and the reply of Moses to the demand of Joshua, Κύριε Μωυσῆ, κώλυσον αὐτούς (Num 11:29).

ὃς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν καθʼ ὑμῶν ὑπὲρ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐστίν . The reading ἡμῶν for ὑμῶν in one or both of these places comes from Mk. The saying, “He that is not with Me is against Me” (11:23, where see note; Mat 12:30) should be compared with this. There Christ gives a test by which His disciple is to try himself: if he cannot see that he is on Christ’s side, he is against Him. Here He gives a test by which His disciple is to try others: if he cannot see that they are against Christ’s cause, he is to consider them as for it. Renan hastily pronounces the two sayings to be tout à fait opposées (V. de J. p. 229, ed. 1863).

Here the fourth and last division (9:1-50) of the section which treats of the Ministry in Galilee (4:14-9:50) comes to an end, and with it the first main portion of the Third Gospel. The solemn maxim stated in ver. 50 makes a good conclusion to the Galilean ministry, and the narrative manifestly makes a new beginning in ver. 51.

9:51-19:28. THE JOURNEYINGS TOWARDS JERUSALEM

We may regard this as a narrative of the second main period of Christs ministry. Galilee, with Capernaum as a centre, ceases the almost exclusive sphere of His teaching, and we may say that henceforward He has no centre. Although this period is only one-third as long as the preceding one, it is described with much greater minuteness, and the narrative of it is nearly one third longer. It is manifest that Lk. is here employing material which was not used by Mk. or Mt., and we know neither its source or its character. A great deal of it must have been either in writing or stereotyped in an oral form; and a great deal of it would seem to have had an Aramaic original, the translation of which abounds in marks of Lk.’s own style. From 9:51 to 18:14 he is almost alone, and he gives us information which we obtain from no other source. Hence this large tract is sometimes called the “great interpolation” or “intercalation.” It is also the “Peræan section” or “Samaritan section” (comp. 9:51-56, 10:30-37, 17:11-19). An analysis, showing the parallels in Mt., is given in Birks, Horæ Evang pp. 132 ff. Jn. gives us several important incidents belonging to the same period, viz. that which lies between the end of the Galilean ministry and the Passion; but we cannot be certain as to the way in which his narrative is to be fitted into that of Lk. See Hastings, D.B. i. p. 406.

If we had only Mt. and Mk., we might suppose that the journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem for the last Passover occupied at most one or two weeks. Few incidents are mentioned; and, where distances are indicated, not much time is required for traversing them. Lk. lets us see that the time occupied must have been several months. We are constantly reminded that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem (9:51, 53, 13:22, 33, 17:11, 18:31, 19:11, 28) but the progress is slow, because Jesus frequently stops to preach in different places. The direction of the journeying is only indirectly intimated, first eastwards along the southern part of Galilee, and then southwards through Peræa; but, however long the time, and however circuitous the route, it is a journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem. Jesus seems never to have returned to the neighbourhood of the lake until after His death. Jn. lets us know that during this interval Jesus was twice in Jerusalem; once at the latter part of the Feast of Tabernacles, after which He healed the man born blind; and again at the Feast of the Dedication; besides which there is the visit to Bethany for the raising of Lazarus; but, although there is room in Lk.’s narrative for what Jn. tells, we do not know where to place it. We cannot with any certainty show the correspondence between the two Gospels until Jerusalem is entered for the last Passover. It seems best, therefore, not to follow Wieseler (Chron. Syn. 4., Eng. tr. pp. 289-303), Ellicott (Hulsean Lectures for 1859, pp. 242-343), and in the main Caspari (Chron. Einl. § 126-143, Eng. tr. pp. 167-189), in making Lk. narrate three distinct journeys to Jerusalem, beginning respectively at 9:51, 13:22, and 17:11, but to take his narrative with the indistinctness which he has left. That the journeyings which Jn. has so clearly given really took place, we need not doubt; and nothing in Lk. contradicts Jn.’s narrative; but all interweaving of the two Gospels must be taken as merely tentative arrangement. The thoroughness of Lk. s investigation is once more shown by his giving us eight or nine long chapters of material which is given by no one else; while his honesty is conspicuous in the fact of his not attempting a precision which he did not find in his sources. The whole is largely didactic.

The proposal of Halcombe, to transfer the whole of Luk 11:14, Luk 11:21 from the place which it occupies in all MSS. and Versions to the break between 8:21 and 22, is too violent a method of arriving at harmony (Gospel Difficulties, or the Displaced Section of S. Luke, Camb. 1886). The amount of harmony obtained in this way is trifling (Luk 9:14-26 with Mat 12:22-30 and Mar 3:22-30, and perhaps Luk 13:18, Luk 13:19 with Mat 13:31, Mat 13:32 and Mar 4:30-32), and it is simpler to suppose that Luk 11:14-26 and 13:18, 19 are given out of their chronological order, or that the sayings of Christ there recorded were uttered more than once. Mackinlay’s theory is no help.

The historical truth of this independent portion of Lk’s Gospel is guaranteed (1) by the absence of discrepancy with the other Gospels, but chiefly (2) by the fact that it consists almost entirely of discourses which it would have been altogether beyond Lk.’s powers to invent. For convenience we may divide this long section into three parts: 9:51-13, 35, 14:1-17:10, 17:11-19:28. See Herzog, Pro_2 art. Jesus Christ, p. 659.

9:51-13:35. The Departure from Galilee and First Period of the Journey

This section begins, as the previous one ends, with a lesson of toleration. In the one case the Apostles were taught that they were not to take upon themselves to hinder the work of an apparent outsider who seemed to be friendly. Here they are taught not to take upon themselves to punish professed outsiders who are manifestly unfriendly. Moreover, as the ministry in Galilee is made to begin with a typical rejection of Christ at Nazareth; (4:16-30), so this ministry outside Galilee begins with a rejection of Him by Samaritans.

The thoroughly Hebrew cast of the opening sentence seems to show that the source here used was either an Aramaic original which Lk. translated, or a translation from the Aramaic which he modified.

As marks of his style note ἐγένετο, ἐν τῷ c. infin., συμπληροῦσθαι, τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναλήμψεως, καὶ αὐτός, τους, c. infin. (ver. 51); ἐδέξαντο, ἧν πορευόμενον (ver. 53).

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

50. he that is not against us is for us] Cf. Php_1:18. The complementary but not contradictory truth to this, is “He who is not with me is against me,” Mat_12:30. Both are true in different circumstances. Neutrality is sometimes as deadly as opposition (Jdg_5:23); it is sometimes as effectual as aid (Sueton., Jul. Caes. 75). See Vinet, La tolerance et I’intolerance de I’Evangile (Discours, p. 268). Renan calls these “two irreconcilable rules of proselytism, and a contradiction evoked by a passionate struggle.” Guizot expresses his astonishment at so frivolous a criticism, and calls them two contrasted facts which every one must have noticed in the course of an active life. “Les deux assertions, loin de se contredire, peuvent etre egalement vraies, et Jesus- Christ en les exprimant a parle en observateur sagace, non en moraliste qui donne les preceptes.” Miditations, p. 229.

It is a great pity that the chapter does not end at this verse; since it closes another great section in our Lord’s ministry—the epoch of opposition and flight. A new phase of the ministry begins at Luk_9:51.

Luk_9:51 to Luk_18:31. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance.

This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, Joh_10:22) which is partially Luk_9:51-56. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he touched upon in Mat_18:1 to Mat_20:16 and Mar_10:1-31. It contains many incidents recorded by this Evangelist alone, and though the recorded identifications of time and place are vague, yet they all point (Luk_9:51, Luk_13:22, Luk_17:11, Luk_10:38) to a slow, solemn, and public progress from Galilee to Jerusalem, of which the events themselves are often grouped by subjective considerations. So little certain is the order of the separate incidents, that one writer (Rev. W. Stewart) has made an ingenious attempt to shew that it is determined by the alphabetic arrangement of the leading Greek verbs (ἀγαπᾶν, Luk_10:25-42; αἰτεῖν, Luk_11:1-5; Luk_11:8-13, &c.). Canon Westcott arranges the order thus: The Rejection of the Jews foreshewn; preparation, Luk_9:43 to Luk_11:13; Lessons of Warning, Luk_11:14 to Luk_13:9; Lessons of Progress, Luk_13:10 to Luk_14:24; Lessons of Discipleship, Luk_14:25—xvii. 10; the Coming End, Luk_17:10 to Luk_18:30.

The order of events after ‘the Galilaean spring’ of our Lord’s ministry on the plain of Gennesareth seems to have been this: After the period of flight among the heathen or in countries which were only semi-Jewish, of which almost the sole recorded incident is the healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman (Mat_15:21-28). He returned to Peraea and fed the four thousand. He then sailed back to Gennesareth, but left it in deep sorrow on being met by the Pharisees with insolent demands for a sign from heaven. Turning His back once more on Galilee, He again travelled northwards; healed a blind man at Bethsaida Julias; received St Peter’s great confession on the way to Caesarea Philippi; was transfigured; healed the demoniac boy; rebuked the ambition of the disciples by the example of the little child; returned for a brief rest in Capernaum, during which occurred the incident of the Temple Tax; then journeyed to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which occurred the incidents so fully narrated by St John (Joh_7:1 to Joh_10:21). The events and teachings in this great section of St Luke seem to belong mainly, if not entirely, to the two months between the hasty return of Jesus to Galilee and His arrival in Jerusalem, two months afterwards, at the Feast of Dedication;—a period respecting which St Luke must have had access to special sources of information.

For fuller discussion of the question I must refer to my Life of Christ, ii. 89-150.

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 did not receive him,.... The Ethiopic version reads "them", the messengers; but it should rather seem that they did receive the messengers, and promised them lodging and entertainment; being glad that so great a person would honour them with his presence, hoping that miracles would be done by him, among them; and that he would stay with them, and show some approbation of them, and their worship; but when Christ came in person, with his disciples and the multitude, they would not admit him; the reason follows,

because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem: by all circumstances, by his words and looks, and gestures; by all that they could see and hear, and learn from him, his determination was to make no stay with them, but proceed on to Jerusalem, after he had took a night's lodging with them, and had refreshed himself and company and therefore they would not receive him: it had been of a long time a controversy between the Jews and Samaritans, which was the right place of worship; whether at the temple at Jerusalem, or whether at their temple on Mount Gerizzim? Now if Christ would have interested himself in this contest, in favour of them, and would have staid with them, and worshipped where they did, they would have gladly received him; but they perceived he was going to Jerusalem, either to keep the feast of "tabernacles" there, or the feast of the dedication of the temple; and if the latter, it must be still more provoking to them, because it showed, that he preferred that temple to theirs: and however, it seems to be on this account that they would not admit him, because he favoured the temple worship at Jerusalem; otherwise his bare going thither, could not give the offence.

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

Forbid him not. Our Lord is not moved by this event, to teach us that perfect virtue entertains no thoughts of revenge, and that anger cannot be found where the fulness of charity reigns. The weak must not be driven away, but assisted. Let the breast of the religious man be ever unmoved by passion, and the mind of the generous undisturbed by desires of revenge. (St. Ambrose)

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).

And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us. The older authorities, manuscripts, and the more venerable versions here read for the last clause, "He that is not against you is for you." Exegetically as well as critically this amended reading is to be preferred. The offence of the stranger, if it were an offence, was not against Jesus, whose Name had evidently been used reverently and with faith, but against the disciples, whose rights and privileges were presumably infringed upon. The Master"s reply contained a broad and far-reaching truth. No earthly society, however holy, would be able exclusively to claim the Divine powers inseparably connected with a true and faithful use of his Name. This is the grand and massive answer which stretches over a history of eighteen centuries, and which will possibly extend over many yet to come; the answer which gives an ample reason why noble Christian work is done whether emanating from Churches bearing the name of Protestant, or Roman, or Greek.

THE SO-CALLED JOURNEYINGS TOWARDS JERUSALEM. The great characteristic feature in St. Luke"s Gospel, distinguishing it especially from the other two synoptical Gospels of SS. Matthew and Mark, are the events in the public ministry of Jesus dwelt on in the next ten chapters of this Gospel. Many incidents in the succeeding chapters are recorded by this evangelist alone. Two questions suggest themselves.

1. To what period of the Lord"s public work does this large and important section of our Gospel refer?

2. (1) Why is this period, comparatively speaking, so little dwelt on by the other two synoptists SS. Matthew and Mark?

(2) Where did St. Luke probably derive his information here?

1. Commentators frequently, and with some accuracy, speak of this great section of St. Luke"s work as "the journeyings towards Jerusalem." Three times does this writer especially tell us that this was the object and end of the journeys he was describing; in Luk_9:51, "He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem;" in Luk_13:22, "He went through the cities and villages... journeying toward Jerusalem;" in Luk_17:11, "And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem.

These journeyings to Jerusalem were evidently just before the end. They were the close of the public life. They immediately preceded the last Passover Feast, which all the four evangelists tell us the Lord kept at Jerusalem, and in the course of which he was crucified. They fill up, then, the last six or seven months of his earth-life that period, roughly speaking, from the Feast of Tabernacles (alluded to in John 7), which falls in October, until the Passover Feast in the following spring. These last months were occupied by the Master in a slow progress from Capernaum, through those parts of Galilee hitherto generally unvisited by him, gradually making his way toward the capital, which we know he reached in time for the Passover Feast, during which he was crucified.

In the course of this period it seems, however, likely that, in St. Luke"s account of Mary and Martha, (Luk_10:38-42) we have an allusion to a short visit to Jerusalem of the Lord, undertaken in the course of these journeyings, at the Dedication Feast. (Joh_10:22)

2. (1) In these last journeyings it appears that the Lord was in the habit of constantly sending out by themselves small companies of his disciples as missionaries in the neighbouring districts, thus accustoming his followers, in view of his own approaching death, to act alone and to think alone. It is, therefore, extremely probable that SS. Matthew and Peter (the real author of St. Mark"s Gospel) were, during this period of our Lord"s work, constantly absent from their Master"s immediate neighbourhood. These apostles would naturally choose, as the special subjects of their own teaching and preaching, those events at which they personally had been present. Much of what was done and said by the Master during these last six months was done during the temporary absence, on special mission duty, of these two evangelists.

(2) When we consider the probable sources whence St. Luke derived his detailed information concerning this period, we are, of course, landed in conjecture. We know, however, that the whole of his narrative was composed after careful research into well-sifted evidence, supplied generally by eyewitnesses, of the events described.

Thus, in the earlier chapters, we have already discussed the high probability of the Virgin-mother herself having furnished the information; so here there is little doubt that SS. Paul and Luke, in their researches during the composition of the Third Gospel, met with men and women who had formed part of that larger company which had been with Jesus, we know, during those last months of his ministry among us. Nor is it, surely, an unreasonable thought for us to see, in connection with this important portion of our Gospel, the hand of the Holy Spirit, who, unseen, guided the pen of the four evangelists, especially throwing Luke and his master, Paul, into the society of men who had watched the great Teacher closely during that period of his work, when the other two synoptists, SS. Matthew and Peter (Mark), were frequently absent.

From the language employed in this portion of the Gospel, there seems a high probability that many of the notes or documents supplied to St. Luke and Paul were written or dictated in Aramaic (Hebrew).

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

50. μὴ κωλύετε. The present-imperfect tense, ‘Do not be for hindering him.’

ὃς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν καθ’ ὑμῶν, ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐστίν. Cf. Php 1:18. The complementary but not contradictory truth to this is, “He who is not with me is against me,” Mat 12:30. Both are true in different circumstances. Neutrality is sometimes as deadly as opposition (Jdg 5:23); it is sometimes as effectual as aid (Sueton. Jul. Caes. 75). See Vinet, La tolérance et l’intolérance de l’Evangile (Discours, p. 268). Renan calls these “two irreconcilable rules of proselytism, and a contradiction evoked by a passionate struggle.” Guizot expresses his astonishment at so frivolous a criticism, and calls them two contrasted facts which everyone must have noticed in the course of an active life. “Les deux assertions, loin de se contredire, peuvent être également vraies, et Jésus-Christ en les exprimant a parlé en observateur sagace, non en moraliste qui donne les préceptes.” Méditations, p. 229.

It is a great pity that the chapter does not end at this verse; since it closes another great section in our Lord’s ministry—the epoch of opposition and flight. A new phase of the ministry begins at Luk 9:51.

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.

50.] On the connexion of this answer with the preceding, see on Mark. It is even more strikingly brought out here. Our Lord had declared the absolute equality of all sent in His name—and that if there were any difference, it was to be made by a deeper self-renouncing. Then arises the thought in the mind of the ardent son of Zebedee, of the exclusive and peculiar dignity of those who were thus sent, the ἀπόστολοι: and he relates what they had done, as a proof of his fully appreciating this exclusive dignity. The link to what has preceded, is in the words ἐπὶ τῷ ὀν. σου … see the rest in Mark.

51—Chap.

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