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| ISBN-13: | 9781575673714 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Moody Publishers |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2009 |
| Series: | MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 384 |
| Sales rank: | 689,342 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
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Luke 1-5: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary
By John MacArthur
Moody Publishers
Copyright © 2009 John MacArthurAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57567-371-4
CHAPTER 1
Luke's Prologue (Luke 1:1–4)
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught. (1:1–4)
The world is full of stories. Some are compelling, others are moving, many are impactful, and a few are even capable of profoundly changing how people think and live. Many such stories have come and gone throughout history, from the legends of the ancient world, the myths of past civilizations, the fanciful stories surrounding the pantheon of Greek gods, to the classics of literature from Aesop's fables to Beowulf to Shakespeare to modern writers. But there is one enduring and true story that stands above all the rest: the life of Jesus Christ. It is, as the title of a mid-twentieth-century Hollywood retelling of His life proclaimed, "The Greatest Story Ever Told."
This is the compelling and glorious story of how God purposed in eternity past to save lost sinners from eternal hell. His gracious, loving plan was to send His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who put their faith in Him. Jesus, as Paul wrote to the Romans, was "delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification" (Rom. 4:25). John wrote concerning Him, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). It was only because "God displayed [Jesus] publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith" that He could "demonstrate His righteousness" (Rom. 3:25) and both "be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (v. 26). Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), the gospel message of salvation from sin and judgment in Christ alone completely transcends the limitations of culture and time and definitively determines every person's eternal destiny (cf. John 3:36; 8:24; 14:6; Acts 4:12).
Accordingly, the central theme of both the Old and New Testaments is the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rev. 19:10). Just before His ascension He told the disciples, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44). It is the "Scriptures" (the Old Testament), Jesus declared to the hostile Jewish leaders, "that testify about Me" (John 5:39). The New Testament Epistles unpack all the theological riches of salvation in Christ, while the book of Revelation chronicles Christ's second coming in glory (cf. Matt. 24:30).
But of all the books of the Old and New Testaments, the Gospels most clearly focus on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Luke is the longest, and most thorough and complete of the four (Luke covers approximately forty pages, Matthew thirty-seven, Mark twenty-three, and John twenty-nine). Including the book of Acts, Luke's accurate, inerrant, comprehensive narrative of the life of Jesus and its impact spans more than sixty years. It begins with the birth of His forerunner, John the Baptist, and concludes with the apostle Paul's first imprisonment and ministry of the gospel in Rome. Altogether, Luke's writings make up more than one fourth of the New Testament. (For a further discussion of Luke's writings, see the Introduction to Acts in Acts 1–12, MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1994], 1–6.)
But despite his major role in chronicling the history and spread of the good news of salvation, Luke remains virtually unknown. Nowhere in his inspired writings does he refer to himself by name—not even in Acts, where he was one of Paul's traveling companions. In keeping with Luke's humble anonymity, the rest of the New Testament mentions his name only three times (Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24). He was content to remain in the background and allow the majesty of Christ, who pervades his writing, to be the focus. Luke's accurately recorded history and theology establish his readers' understanding of the Lord's life and ministry.
The four verses that constitute the prologue to Luke's gospel are one long sentence, crafted in the polished style of a Greek literary classic. (The remainder of the gospel was written in the koine Greek used in common, everyday speech, as were the other New Testament books.) Such prologues, explaining the writer's sources, purpose, and approach, were common in the scholarly writings of the Greco-Roman world (including those by such noted historians as Herodotus, Thucydides, Polybius, and Josephus). Luke's prologue thus marks his gospel as a serious literary and historical work, commanding the respect of even the most sophisticated, well-educated Gentile readers.
Despite his anonymity four elements of the evangelist's identity appear implicitly and explicitly in the prologue. Luke is revealed as a physician and historian, and as a theologian and pastor.
Luke the Physician and Historian
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, (1:1–3a)
The phrase it seemed fitting for me as well contains this gospel's only reference to its author. As noted in the introduction to this volume, the early church unanimously identified Luke as the author of the gospel that bears his name; there was never any other suggestion concerning its authorship.
All that is known about Luke's life before he became one of Paul's partners in spreading the gospel is that he was a physician. In Colossians 4:14 Paul referred to his dear friend as "Luke, the beloved physician." Since verses 10 and 11 of that chapter identify Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus as the only ones among this list of Paul's fellow workers who were "from the circumcision" (i.e., Jewish), it is reasonable to conclude that the people Paul refers to in verses 17, including Luke (v. 14), were Gentiles. (For further evidence that Luke was a Gentile, see the introduction to Luke in this volume.)
Being a physician in the ancient world did not carry the dignity that such a profession does today. Howard C. Kee gives a helpful historical perspective:
An obvious question is: did most of the Roman populace share the exalted view of the medical art propounded by its chief practitioners, and particularly by Galen [a second–century A.D. Roman doctor]? Galen is caustic in his denunciation of the money-seeking, routine-bound quacks who "enter the sickroom, bleed the patient, lay on a plaster, and give an enema." Both from the epigrams and from non-medical writers of the second century [A.D.] it is evident that the medical profession was regarded as being characteristically greedy and fond of public display. Plutarch, in The Flatters, mocks the smooth bedside manner of the day. Dio Chrysostom describes the efforts of physicians to drum up trade by public lecture-presentations, intended to dazzle hearers and attract patients:
This sort of recitation ... is kind of a spectacle or parade ... like the exhibition of the so-called physicians, who seat themselves conspicuously before us and give us a detailed account of the union of joints, the combination and juxtaposition of bones, and other topics of that sort, such as pores and respirations, and excretions. And the crowd is all agape with admiration and more enchanted than a swarm of children.
In his fine survey, Roman Medicine, John Scarborough notes that there were two different classes of physicians serving two different groups of patients. The aristocrats had physicians as servants or as private employees in their own establishments, or had access to them despite their high fees and lofty reputations. There were also many illiterate doctors, quacks, charlatans; exploiters of a gullible and needy public. He remarks that, "The intellectuality of Galen fails to pierce the growing gloom of an age gradually turning from rational answers posed by the Greek heritage of questioning to the mystical, all-encompassing solutions of religion." By the second half of the second century, there were many wonder-workers and rhetoricians, of whom Lucian draws satirical sketches in Alexander the False Prophet and The Passing of Peregrinus. ... Although we cannot generalize from Lucian's satirical remarks about the healing profession—in both its medical and its mystical aspects—we can safely conclude that [it] was [not] beyond criticism or universally esteemed in the later second century.
In the New Testament there are only seven occurrences of the word hiatros, and in only one of these is there a positive estimate of the physician. In Mt. 9:12 (=Mk. 2:17; Lk. 5:31) there is a proverbial expression about the physician's role being to care for the ailing, rather than the well. This is offered in the synoptics as justification for Jesus' attention to the sick, the unclean and the outcasts. In Mk. 5:26 (=Lk. 8:43), ... the physicians have taken money from the woman with the menstrual flow but have not cured her ailment. Another proverbial expression in Lk. 4:23, "Physician, heal yourself!," is a challenge to the one who points out problems that he must cure them. In Col. 4:14, Luke is identified as "the beloved physician," with no indication of the nature of the medical role he may have performed. (Medicine, Miracle and Magic in New Testament Times [London: Cambridge, 1986], 63–65)
At the very outset of his gospel Luke acknowledged that many others had already undertaken to compile an account of the life of Jesus. He did not specifically identify any of these early sources, which have all been lost. The only ones still extant that Luke may have consulted are the inspired gospels of Matthew and Mark, which probably were written before he penned his gospel (although Luke's omission of the material in an important section of Mark [6:45–8:26] suggests that he may not have seen Mark's gospel before he wrote). Whether or not Luke saw their gospels, he had personal contact with both Mark and Matthew, since Mark and Luke both traveled with Paul (cf. Philem. 24), and Luke could have visited Matthew in Jerusalem during Paul's two-year imprisonment at Caesarea (Acts 24:27). During that same period, Luke could have interviewed those in the Jerusalem church who had known the Lord, including the apostles and His mother, Mary. In addition, Luke had access to many others who had followed Jesus during His lifetime (such as the seventy [Luke 10:1–12], the women who ministered to Him [cf. Matt. 27:55; Mark 15:40–41; Luke 8:1–3; 23:49, 55], the 120 believers who gathered in Jerusalem following Christ's ascension [Acts 1:15], and the 500 who gathered in Galilee [1 Cor. 15:6]). They would have vividly remembered the things that Jesus did and said, and Luke could have interviewed them, or possibly read their writings.
Luke's goal was not to produce just another biography of Jesus, though that would have been a noble end in itself. Far more than that, he understood that the gospel is the story of what God accomplishes through Jesus Christ in the lives of sinners. The verb translated accomplished(pepleroprioremenon) is an intensive compound word that indicates the complete fulfillment of something, in this case the redemptive plan of God. Luke's gospel, like the other three canonical gospels, emphasizes the theme of divine accomplishment. It chronicles how God accomplished salvation for His people (cf. Matt. 1:21; Luke 19:10) through the redemptive work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospels do not relate the story of a misunderstood ethical teacher, a failed social revolutionary, a model of selfless humility, or even a heroic martyr; they reveal the Savior who is God incarnate, the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
It is important to note that Luke was not critical of those who had undertaken (a term often used in connection with literary endeavors) to compile an account (a phrase often used to refer to historical writing) of Jesus' life and ministry. He did not pen his gospel as a corrective to those accounts, but because God prompted him to write a comprehensive narrative of the life of Christ and the spread of His salvation gospel.
Luke's reason for referring to his sources was twofold. First, it establishes his history as a legitimate, reliable account. He was a careful historian who used credible methods of research and writing, and based his content on the firsthand accounts of eyewitnesses. Second, Luke's use of those sources places his gospel squarely in the orthodox tradition. His volume was not a bizarre, different, heretical gospel. Luke's account was consistent with the teaching of the apostles (cf. Acts 2:42) and with those of eyewitnesses and especially the other Spirit-inspired gospel writers (cf. John 20:30–31; 21:24–25).
In writing his gospel Luke utilized the source material handed down to him by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses. These same men (one definite article in the Greek text modifies both groups) later became servants (cf. 1 Cor. 3:5–9; 4:1; 2 Cor. 3:6) of the word (a synonym for the gospel [cf. 5:1; 8:11–13, 15; Acts 6:4; 8:4, 14, 25; 10:36; 11:1, 19; 13:5, 7, 44; 14:25; 15:7; 16:6, 32; 17:11; 18:5; 19:10). They observed Jesus' ministry firsthand and used that knowledge to faithfully preach the gospel. God preserved and transmitted the truth through them until He inspired four specific writers to record it in the New Testament. Eyewitnesses were the most significant sources who handed down (a technical term denoting the passing on of authoritative truth) the true information upon which Luke's account was based. That Luke was not an eyewitness himself makes it evident that he was not an apostle, since one qualification of apostleship was to have witnessed the resurrected Christ (Acts 1:21–22; cf. Luke 24:45–48; John 20:19–29; 1 Cor. 9:1; 1 John 1:1–3). Like Mark, he was not himself one of their number, but was a companion of some of the apostles (most notably Paul).
Since Luke had access to this wealth of firsthand, eyewitness testimony, it was fitting ("good," "proper") for him to write his account. The phrase having investigated everything carefully from the beginning ("having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first" [NKJV]) further marks Luke as an accomplished and accurate historian. His careful and thorough research gave him a precise understanding of Jesus Christ's life and ministry. As a result, he was uniquely qualified to write this gospel narrative under the Spirit's inspiration.
Luke's acknowledgement of his use of source material must not be misconstrued as a disclaimer of divine inspiration for his gospel. The process of inspiration never bypassed or overrode the personalities, life experiences, vocabularies, or writing styles of the Bible's human authors; their unique traits are indelibly stamped on all the books of Scripture. The Spirit used Luke's knowledge, gave him additional information, guided his selection of material, and controlled every word so that he wrote exactly what God wanted written (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12–13; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20–21). Therefore, his original account is infallibly and inerrantly true.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Luke 1-5: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur. Copyright © 2009 John MacArthur. Excerpted by permission of Moody Publishers.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface,Introduction to Luke,
1. Luke's Prologue (Luke 1:1–4),
2. God's Revelation to Zacharias (Luke 1:5–14, 18–25),
3. The Greatness of John the Baptist (Luke 1:15–17),
4. The Divine Announcement to Mary (Luke 1:26–33),
5. The Virgin Birth: A Divine Miracle (Luke 1:34–38),
6. Mary and Elizabeth: Confirming Angelic Prophecy (Luke 1:39–45),
7. Mary's Praise (Luke 1:46–55),
8. The Revelation of God in the Birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:56–66),
9. Zacharias's Song of Salvation—Part 1: The Davidic Covenant (Luke 1:67–71),
10. Zacharias's Song of Salvation—Part 2: The Abrahamic Covenant (Luke 1:72–75),
11. Zacharias's Song of Salvation—Part 3: The New Covenant (Luke 1:76–80),
12. Jesus' Birth in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–7),
13. The Announcement of Jesus' Birth (Luke 2:8–20),
14. Testifying to Jesus—Part 1: Joseph and Mary (Luke 2:21–24),
15. Testifying to Jesus—Part 2: Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25–38),
16. The Amazing Child Who Was God (Luke 2:39–52),
17. Setting the Stage for Jesus (Luke 3:1–6),
18. True Repentance: God's Highway to the Heart (Luke 3:7–17),
19. The Boldness of John the Baptist (Luke 3:18–20),
20. The Messiah's Divine Confirmation (Luke 3:21–22),
21. The Messiah's Royal Lineage (Luke 3:23–38),
22. The Temptation of the Messiah (Luke 4:1–13),
23. Jesus Returns to Nazareth (Luke 4:14–30),
24. Jesus' Authority over Demons (Luke 4:31–37),
25. Jesus: The Divine Deliverer (Luke 4:38–44),
26. Characteristics of Jesus' Divinity (Luke 5:1–11),
27. The Healing, Forgiving Savior (Luke 5:12–26),
28. Calling a Wretched Sinner; Confronting Self-righteous,
29. The Uniqueness of the Gospel (Luke 5:33–39),
Bibliography,
Index of Greek Words,
Index of Scripture,
Index of Subjects,
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