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The BibleTexts.com Bible Commentary Copyright 1996-2004 Robert Nguyen Cramer LUKE Chapters |
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"Kai <and> eiselthon <having gone in> pros <to> auten <her> eipen <he said>, chaire <Greetings, or Be full of joy>, kecharitomene <one having been favored>, ho <the> kurios <Lord> meta <with> sou <you>."
The NRSV correctly reads:
"And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
It is only the King James Version and other less accurate (and generally older) versions that have the errors in Luk 1:28. They are based upon the so-called Textus Receptus. (For a history of the Textus Receptus, browse: http://www.bibletexts.com/kjv-tr.htm.) Sometime during the transmission of Luk 1:28, copyists added two different phrases that appear translated in the KJV: "the angel" and "blessed art thou among women."
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In accordance with the original Greek text, this change reflects a correction of the errant 16th century Greek text from which the KJV was translated. Bruce Metzger (A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, page 111) comments:
The difference between the AV [KJV], "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men," and the RSV, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" is not merely a matter of exegesis of the meaning of the Greek, but is first of all one of text criticism. Does the Angelic Hymn close with eudokia [nominative] or eudokias [genitive]?
The genitive case, which is the more difficult reading, is supported by the oldest representatives of the Alexandrian and the Western groups of witnesses. The rise of the nominative reading can be explained either as an amelioration of the sense or as a palaeographical oversight...
The meaning seems to be, not that divine peace can be bestowed only where human good will is already present, but that at the birth of the Saviour God's peace rests on those whom he has chosen in accord with his good pleasure...
Luk 2:14 correctly reads:
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!
Bruce Metzger (A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, page 111-112) comments:
In order to safeguard the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus, ho pater [the father] was replace by Ioseph [Joseph] in a variety of witnesses...
Bruce Metzger (A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, page 112) comments:
In the interest of safeguarding the doctrine of the virgin birth a few copyists and translators replaced hoi goneis autou [his parents] with the proper names ho te Ioseph kai he Mariam [Joseph and Mary].
Bruce Metzger (A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition, New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, page 112) comments:
As in verses 33 and 41, in order to safeguard the doctrine of the virgin birth copyists replaced hoi goneis [his parents] with Ioseph kai he meter [Joseph and his mother].
The Interpreter's Bible, Volume 8 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1952, page 68) comments:
About my Father's business cannot be dismissed as an impossible translation, but the RSV alternative in my Father's house is more appropriate after an implied interrogative of place. The early church believed that Jesus stood in a unique relationship to God, and that occasionally he made use of an address to the deity in which this was implied. In an unobtrusive way the christological reflection has left its impress on Luke's story. In his first recorded utterance Jesus spoke of God as "my Father" in a sense that distinguished this relationship from one that was open to all, and his parents did not understand the saying.
Jesus and the New Age According to St. Luke: A Commentary on the Third Gospel (by Frederick W. Danker, St. Louis: Clayton Publishing, 1972, page 40) comments:
Jesus asks his parents: How is it that you sought me? The words echo the language about the search at vs. 44. There is good reason for addressing this and the next question to both parents. They must learn to live with the fact that he, their son, is a stranger and a guest in their house, for he is under orders from Another. I must be in my Father's house. The Greek syntax is ambiguous, and Luke may have intended a double entente: 'In my Father's house' or 'with my Father.' The RSV, however renders correctly a common Greek idiom, and there is no doubt where the emphasis lies.
The Expositor's Greek Testament, Volumes I, (edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, reprinted 1979, page 479) comments:
en pois tou patros mou, in the things of my Father ("about my Father's business," A.V.); therefore in the place or house of my Father (R.V.); the former [in the things of my Father] may be the verbal translation, but the latter [in the place or house of my Father] is the real meaning Jesus wished to suggest. In this latter rendering patristic and modern interpreters in the main concur.
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Following apestalken me [he has sent me], a number of witnesses continue with the words iasasthai tous suntetrimmenous ten kardian [to heal the brokenhearted]. This is an obvious scribal supplement introduced in order to bring the quotation more completely in accord with the Septuagint text of Isa 61:1.
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THE SERMON ON THE PLAIN (Luk 6:20-49)
GB Caird (Saint Luke, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1963, page 103-105) comments on Luk 6:27-38 as follows:
The Greek language has three words for love, which enable us to distinguish Christian love (agape) from passionate devotion (eros) and warm affection (philia). Jesus did not tell his disciples to fall in love with their enemies or to feel for them as they felt for their families and friends. Agape is a gracious, determined, and active interest in the true welfare of others, which is not deterred even by hatred, cursing, and abuse, not limited by calculation of deserts or results, based solely on the nature of God. Love does not retaliate (vv. 27-31), seeks no reward (vv. 32-36), is not censorious (vv. 37-38).
The men who were bidden to love their enemies were living in enemy-occupied territory, where resentment was natural and provocation frequent. They were not just to submit to aggression, but to rob it of its sting by voluntarily going beyond its demands. To those who believe in standing up for their individual or national rights this teaching has always seemed idealistic, if not actually immoral. But those who are concerned with the victory of the kingdom of God over the kingdom of Satan can see that it is the only realism. He who retaliates thinks that he is manfully resisting aggression; in fact, he is making an unconditional surrender to evil. Where before there was one under the control of evil, now there are two. Evil propagates by contagion. It can be contained and defeated only when hatred, insult, and injury are absorbed and neutralized by Love...
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Contrary to subsequent Christian interpretation, reflected in popular belief and recent films, there is no evidence from the Gospels that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute or for that later identification of Mary Magdalene with the women who anoint Jesus' feet (luke 7:36-50; Matt. 26:6-13 par.) or with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10.38; John 11.1-2). In Luke 8.2 it is said that Mary Magdalene was healed of seven evil spirits by Jesus. But this is in the context of a list of women who were followers of Jesus, who had also been healed, and who supplied the material support for his mission.
Though most commentators simply note that the woman's sin is not specified, S. MacLean Gilmour (The Interpreter's Bible, Volume 8, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1952, page 142) remarks in his commentary on Luke:
A sinner probably means "a prostitute."
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Newman and Stine, A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew, NY: United Bible Societies, 1988, page 282:
...spirits that make people unfit for worshiping God
Newman and Nida, A Translator's Handbook on the Acts of the Apostles, NY: United Bible Societies, 1972, page 122:
In biblical terminology "evil spirits" and "unclean spirits" are essentially synonymous. There are, however, serious difficulties encountered in employing an adjective such as "unclean," for this can turn out to be simply "dirty." Quite naturally the emphasis in the Bible is on the fact that these spirits caused people to become unclean in a religious sense, that is, they defiled them, so that they could not worship God."
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The Romans crucified two thousand Jews during the rebellion that followed King Herod the Great's death in 4 B.C.E., so Jesus' followers were well acquainted with crucifixion even before his death. It was common practice in these executions to have the condemned person carry his own cross to the place of crucifixion.
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Bruce Metzger, in A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition (New York: United Bible Societies, 1994, pages 126-127), writes:
Was it seventy or seventy-two whom Jesus appointed and sent on ahead of him? The external evidence is almost evenly divided... The factors that bear on the evaluation of internal evidence are singularly elusive... In order to represent the balace of external evidence and the indecisiveness of internal consideration, a majority of the Committee decided to include the word duo in the text, but to enclose it within square brackets to indicate a certain doubt that it has a right to stand there.
Fellow Greek New Testament Editorial Committee member and textual authority Kurt Aland is granted a dissenting opinion in the Metzger's Textual Commentary from the indecisiveness of the rest of the Editorial Committee. Unequivocally endorsing "seventy-two" as representing the original text of Luke, Aland writes:
The concept of "70" is an established entity in the Septuagint and in Christian tradition... Consequently it is astonishing that the reading hebdomeykonta duo [seventy-two] occurs at all in 10.1 and 17, and that it has such strong support.