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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Mark 4:34 - 4:34
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But privately to his disciples he expounded all things (kat' idian de tois idiois mathētais epeluen panta). To his own (idiois) disciples in private, in distinction from the mass of the people Jesus was in the habit (imperfect tense, epeluen) of disclosing, revealing, all things (panta) in plain language without the parabolic form used before the crowds. This verb epiluō occurs in the N.T. only here and in Act 19:39 where the town-clerk of Ephesus says of the troubles by the mob: “It shall be settled in the regular assembly” (en tēi ennomōi ekklēsiāi epiluthēsetai). First future passive indicative from epiluō. The word means to give additional (epi) loosening (luō), so to explain, to make plainer, clearer, even to the point of revelation. This last is the idea of the substantive in 2Pe 1:20 where even the Revised Version has it: “No prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation” (pāsa prophēteia graphēs idias epiluseōs ou ginetai). Here the use of ginetai (comes) with the ablative case (epiluseōs) and the explanation given in verse 2Pe 1:21 shows plainly that disclosure or revelation to the prophet is what is meant, not interpretation of what the prophet said. The prophetic impulse and message came from God through the Holy Spirit. In private the further disclosures of Jesus amounted to fresh revelations concerning the mysteries of the kingdom of God.