Lange Commentary - Luke 9:28 - 9:36

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Lange Commentary - Luke 9:28 - 9:36


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

b. The Transfiguration (Luk_9:28-36)

28And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James [James and John, V. O.], and went up into a [the] mountain to pray. 29And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering [ ἐîáóôñÜðôùí , lit., flashing forth light]. 30And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias [Elijah]: 31Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease [or, departure] which he should [was about to] accomplish at Jerusalem. 32But Peter and they that were with him were heavy [weighed down] with sleep: and when they were awake,; they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. 33And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias [Elijah]: not knowing what he said. 34While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they 35[i.e., Jesus, Moses, and Elijah] entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved [elect, V. O.] Son: hear him. 36And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk_9:28. Eight days.—According to Matthew and Mark, six days after the just-mentioned conversation. If we assure that Lake has reckoned in the day of the discourse and a second day for the Transfiguration, which had perhaps already taken place in the morning, the difference is then almost reconciled, and it does not even need the assumption of some, that the Saviour spent one or two whole days on the mountain, the Transfiguration taking place after their expiration.

Into the mountain, ôὸ ὄñïò .—More definite than Matthew and Mark, who only mention an ὄñïò ὑøçëüí . The tradition which has pointed to Tabor has been often contradicted, yet the objections raised against this are, according to our opinion, not well tenable. That this tradition existed even in the time of Jerome, and that the empress Helena for this reason erected a church on Tabor, proves of itself not much, it is true. Yet it may still be called remarkable, that tradition designates a place so far distant from Cæsarea Philippi, where our Saviour had just before been found (Mat_16:13). Without sufficient ground in the apostolic tradition, it appears probable that they would not have assumed the theatre of the one event to be so far removed from that of the other. For the other mountains which have been thought of instead of Tabor, namely, Hermon or Paneas, there is almost less yet to be said. Yet it must not be forgotten that about a week intervened between the Transfiguration and the first prediction of the Passion, in which time the Saviour may very well have traversed the distance from Cæsarea to Tabor, which, it is true, is somewhat considerable. Comp. Mat_17:22. If the Saviour, moreover, shortly after He left the mountain, returned to Capernaum, Mat_17:24-27, this town was scarcely a day’s journey distant from Tabor. The single important difficulty is that raised by De Wette, following Robinson, that at this time there was a fortification on the summit of Tabor. But although Antiochus the Great fortified the mountain 219 b.c., it is not by any means proved that in the time of Jesus this fortification was yet standing, and though, according to Josephus, this mountain, in the Jewish war, was fortified against the Romans, this, at all events, took place forty years later. Traces of these fortifications are found apparently in the ruins which have since been discovered especially on the south western declivity; but in no case is it proved that the whole mountain was built over at the time of Jesus. Moreover, it must not be overlooked how exceedingly well adapted the far-famed beauty of this place was for its becoming a theatre of the earthly glorification of the Lord.—According to a Dutch theologian (Meyboom), we are to understand the southern summit of the Anti-Lebanon, a snowy peak, which now bears the name Dschebel Escheik.

Peter, James and John.—Already previously witnesses of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and later than this of the agony in Gethsemane, the most intimate of His friends, those who were initiated into the most mysterious and sublime scenes. The influence of the autopsy of Peter is, in Mar_9:3; Mar_9:6; Mar_9:8; Mar_9:10, unmistakable.

Luk_9:29. The fashion of His countenance was altered.—We have here the first feature in the narrative which requires special attention; the alteration of the outward appearance of the Saviour. We cannot possibly assume (Olshausen) that the body of the Saviour, even during His earthly life, underwent a gradual process of glorification, which here entered into a new stadium. This view leads us to a Docetic conception, and moreover explains, it is true, the shining of His countenance, but not the gleaming of His garments, on which account even Olshausen sees himself necessitated to conceive the Saviour not only as glittering, but also as shined upon. Justly does Lange call attention to the fulness of the Spirit which, from within, overstreamed His whole being. Even with this, however, the brilliancy of His garments is not yet sufficiently explained, so that there is occasion to connect with the inward outstreaming of glory an external illumination. But why might not this latter have arisen from the brilliancy with which undoubtedly we must conceive the appearance of the two heavenly messengers as attended? For we nowhere read that the Saviour shone so miraculously before they had appeared to Him. Even in the case of Moses, Exo_34:29, the brilliancy of his countenance is occasioned by an external heavenly light. [With all deference to the author, this anxious analysis of the Transfiguration appears to us artificial and puerile.—C. C. S.]

Luk_9:30. Two men.—How the apostles learned that it was Moses and Elijah no one of the narrators tells us. They may have become aware of it either by intuition, or by some outward token have understood it from the nature of the discourse, or have heard it afterwards from Jesus. In no case does the uncertainty as to the manner how they learned it give us authority for the assertion that they could not have known it at all, and still less for the rationalizing conjecture that it was two human strangers, secret disciples, confederates with Jesus, and the like.

Which were Moses and Elijah.—That these words were meant to be only the subjective judgment of the relator, but in no way the objective expression of the fact, has, it is true, been often said, but never yet been proved.

Luk_9:31. Spake of His decease.—Luke alone has this intimation as to the subject and the purpose of the interview, by which the true light is first thrown upon this whole manifestation. That Luke’s account has arisen “from the later tradition, which very naturally came to this reflexion,” we cannot possibly believe with Meyer ad loc. The witnesses who saw the rest may also have heard this and remembered it afterwards.—It is noticeable that Peter, 2Pe_1:15, calls his own death also, to which he is looking forward, an ἔîïäïò .—When they were awake, äéáãñçãïñÞóáíôåò .—Lange: “Sleeplessly watching.” De Wette: “When they had waked up.”—At all events it is an antithesis to the preceding ὕðíῳ âåâáñçìÝíïé , by which we are forbidden to draw from this last expression the inference that they had been hindered by sleep from being competent witnesses. However drunken with sleep they may have been, they had not, however, at all gone to sleep, but remained so far awake that they could become aware of all that here took place with the bodily eye and with the ecstatic sense of the inward man alike. Even had we no other proof, yet this very feature in the narrative would show us that we have here before us no dream of the three sleeping disciples, or phantasm of their own heated imagination. That Luke, more than the other two Synoptics, would warrant us to assume something here merely subjective (Neander), is at least wholly unproved.

Luk_9:33. And it came to pass.—The first feeling which animated the disciples in the view of the heavenly spectacle was naturally fear, Mar_9:6. But scarcely have they recovered from that when an indescribable feeling of felicity fills them, to which Peter, almost with child-like transport, lends words. The heavenly temper of the spiritual world communicates itself to the dwellers of earth, and as it were with their hands will they hold fast to the heavenly presence before it vanishes from their eyes.—Three tabernacles.—From the fact that Peter does not propose to build six, but three booths, it may be assuredly concluded that by ἡìᾶò he means only himself and his fellow-disciples,—not all who were there present (De Wette). Sepp, ii. p. 408, takes the liberty of finding in the tabernacles a symbol “of the threefold ministry in the Church.”

Not knowing what he said.—Not because he was yet entirely overcome with sleep, but because he was wholly taken captive by the extraordinariness of the whole scene. Else he would not have expressed himself with so little suitableness, a subjective reflection which manifestly proceeds from Peter himself.

Luk_9:34. A cloud.—The Shekinah, the symbol of the glory of God. “Hœc, ut ex sequentibus patet, ad ima se demisit.” Bengel. The cloud of light which formerly filled the sanctuary of the Lord now receives the three as into a tabernacle of glory, and ravishes the end of the manifestation from the eyes of the disciples, as its beginning also had remained hidden from them.

Luk_9:35. A voice.—The same which was heard before on the Jordan and afterwards in the Temple. As the Saviour, by the Divine voice on the Jordan, had already been consecrated as the King of the kingdom of heaven, and afterwards, Joh_12:28, as the High-priest of the New Testament; so here, on the part of the Father, His Prophetic dignity is in its elevation above that of the two greatest messengers of the Lord in the Old Testament proclaimed to His disciples.—Hear Him.—At the same time an echo of an utterance of Moses, Deu_18:15. Comp. Psa_2:7; Isa_42:1.

Luk_9:36. And they kept it close.—According to Mat_17:9, at the express command of our Lord. The whole conversation respecting Elijah, which Matthew and Mark now give, Luke passes over, perhaps because he considered it for his Gentile Christian readers partly as little intelligible and partly as less important.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. For the statement and criticism of the different interpretations, see Lange on Mat_17:1.

2. As well those who interpret the Transfiguration on the mountain as a purely objective manifestation from the spiritual world without any subjective mediation, as also those who derive all from the quickened receptivity of the disciples, supported by some outward circumstances, such as the morning light, the gleaming of snow, and the like, misapprehend both the letter and the spirit of the narrative. The point of view from which what here took place must be considered, is presented to us by the Saviour Himself when He speaks of a ὅñáìá , a word which in the New Testament is often used of an objectively real phenomenon (Act_7:31; Act_12:9). It is, as Lange very justly names it, “a manifestation of spirits in the midst of the present state.” But he who ascribes the whole miracle to the subjectivity of the apostles will scarcely be able to explain how the so simple, and as yet so earthly-minded, disciples, should all at once have been transported out of themselves into such an ecstasy that they could believe that they saw heaven opened above the very head of the Messiah. No, the language of the three Synoptics warrants decidedly the opinion that the disciples, fully awake, perceived with their eye and ear an objective appearance. For even if Peter did not know what he said, he yet knew very well what he saw; but had they been misled by their heated imagination, and had he or his companions afterwards shown it, the Saviour would certainly not have neglected to instruct them more perfectly thereupon. But on the other hand, this also must be maintained with as much decision—that they by that which they outwardly saw were transported into the condition of an exalted [intensified, potenzirten] life of the soul, and thereby became receptive for the hearing of the heavenly voice. Whoever, like Peter, finds in dwelling together with citizens of the spiritual world nothing terrifying, but on the contrary, wishes that this might endure as long as possible, shows by that very fact that he is completely exalted above himself. Here, apparently, there took place a similar union of sensuous and spiritual intuition, of a miraculous fact with an exalted inward life, to that which we can also perceive in the miracle at the Baptism.

3. When philosophy, a priori, doubts the possibility of such a revelation of the spiritual world perceivable by mortals, we shall simply answer her that she is incompetent from her own resources to decide anything in reference to an order of things which is known to us as little by conclusions of reason as by intuition. If, however, historical criticism inquires whether there is sufficient ground to assure to the narrative of the Transfiguration its place in the series of the facts in the public life of our Lord, we would recall that the grounds which elsewhere speak for the credibleness of the Synoptics whenever they relate the most astonishing miracles, hold good here also in undiminished force. Some have, it is true, asserted that such enigmatical and isolated events did not belong to the original apostolic Kerygma; but this is mere rationalistic caprice. The command of the Lord to keep silence until His resurrection, implied not only the permission, but in a certain measure the command, to speak of what took place here after His resurrection; and it would have been psychologically inconceivable if His disciples had neglected to do so. It is sufficiently evident how high a place this narrative occupies in the Synoptics; higher even than the miracle at the Baptism. The difference of the several accounts in respect of some points is in fact insignificant. It is true John says not a word of what here took place: his silence, however, cannot by any means throw any reasonable suspicion on the testimony of his predecessors in narration. On the other hand it is entirely in the spirit of his Gospel, that he gives us to see the glory of the Only-begotten Son of the Father less in such single details than in the grand unity of His manifestation. Only a simple spiritualism, which, moreover, forgets that the fourth Gospel also speaks of voices from heaven, Joh_12:28, can from this silence deduce anything against the objectivity of the history of the miracle. And, what above all may not be overlooked, the testimony of the Synoptics is in a striking manner supported by the second epistle of Peter, Luk_1:16-18, whose spuriousness, it is true, has often been asserted, but, in our eyes at least, has been as yet by no means proved. Comp. Dietlein, Der 2te Brief Petri, p. 1–71; Guericke, Neutestamentl. Isagogik, p. 472; Stier, Brief Judä, p. 11; Thiersch, Apost. Zeitalter, p. 209; et al. plur.

4. The inquiry as to the purpose of the heavenly manifestation is not difficult to answer. The representatives of the Ancient Covenant come in order to consecrate the Messiah for death. The Lord must have longed to speak of that which now lay so deeply at His heart, and yet could find no one on earth who could fully comprehend Him, to whom He could with confidence have unbosomed Himself. His subsequent agony in Gethsemane would certainly have been still more overpowering and deep had the hour of Tabor not preceded. If we read elsewhere that even the angels desire to look into the work of redemption (1Pe_1:12), we here become aware how it awakens not less the inmost interest of the blessed departed. For our Lord, this manifestation and interview was a new proof that His plan of suffering was in truth comprehended in the counsel of the Father, and to the disciples the remembrance of this night might afterwards become a counterpoise against the scandal and the shame of the cross. Finally, as respects the heavenly voice, the exaltation of Jesus even over the greatest men of God in the Ancient Covenant was thereby established, the testimony at the Jordan was repeated, and therefore a new proof of His sinlessness and of His being well pleasing to God was given, whereby the scoffings which He should afterwards hear were more than lavishly even beforehand compensated to Him. As respects the further purpose of the manifestation in its whole, and in its different parts, see Lange ad loc.

5. The Christological importance of this whole event for all following centuries is self-evident. A new light from heaven rises upon Jesus’ Person. On the one hand it rises upon His true Humanity, which needed the communication and strength from above. On the other hand, His Divine dignity, as well in relation to the Father, as also in comparison with the prophets, is here made known to earth and heaven. Considered from a typico-symbolic point of view, it is significant that the appearance of the prophets is represented as a vanishing one, Jesus, on the other hand, as alone remaining with His disciples. Their light goes down, His sun shines continuously.

6. Not less light here falls upon the Work of the Saviour. The inner unity of the Old and the New Covenant becomes by this manifestation evident, and it is shown that in Christ the highest expectations of the law and the prophets are fulfilled. His death, far from being accidental or insignificant, appears here as the carrying out of the eternal counsel of God, and is of so high significance that messengers of heaven come to speak concerning it on earth. The severity of the sacrifice to be brought by Him is manifest from the very fact that He is in an altogether extraordinary manner equipped for this conflict. And the great purpose of His suffering, union of heaven and earth, Coloss. Luk_1:20, how vividly is it here presented before our souls when we on Tabor, although only for a few moments, see heaven descending upon earth, and dwellers of the dust taken up into the communion of the heavenly ones.

7. The manifestation on Tabor deserves, moreover, to be called a striking revelation of the future state in this. We see here: the spirits of just men made perfect live unto God, even though centuries have already flown over their dust. In a glorified body they are active for the concerns of the kingdom of God, in which they take the holiest interest. Although separated by wide distances of time and space beneath, Moses and Elijah have met and recognized one another in higher regions. The centre of their fellowship is the suffering and glorified Jesus, and so blessed is their state, that even their transient appearance causes the light of the most glorious joy to beam into the heart of the child of earth. Earthly sorrow is compensated and forgotten; the Canaan which Moses might not tread in his life, he sees unclosed to him centuries after his death. Thus do they appear before us as types of that which the pious departed are even now, in their condition of separation from the body, and as prophets of that which the redeemed of the Lord shall be in yet higher measure at His coming.

8. The inseparable connection of suffering and glory, as well for the Lord as for His disciples, is here in the most striking manner placed before our eyes. Tabor is the consecration for Calvary, but at the same time gives us a foretaste of the Mount of Olives. At the same time the carnal longing for the joy of Ascension without the smart of Good Friday, is here for all time condemned. The hours of Tabor in the Christian life are still as ever like those of Peter and his companions. “Even with the purest feeling of the joy of faith there mingles here on earth much that is sensual and self-seeking; such exaltations of the spirit wrought by God Himself, are not bestowed on us in order for us to revel here in the intoxication of unspeakable emotions; there follows upon them the cloud, which withdraws from us all sensible sweetness of the enjoyment given us, and in our poverty and sinfulness causes us to feel the terrors of God, that we may ever learn to serve Him the more in the Spirit.” Von Gerlach.

9. There are admirable paintings of the Transfiguration, especially by Raphael. See Staudenmayer, Der Geist des Christenthums, dargestellt in den heiligen Zeiten, Handlungen und Kunst, ii. p. 430–437, and the chief histories of art. Comp. the Essay on the History of the Transfiguration by Dr. C. B. Moll in Piper’s Evang. Kalender, 1859, p. 60 seq.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The mountain-heights in the life of the Saviour.—Prayer the night-rest of Jesus.—The inward glory of the nature of our Lord revealed without.—The eye of the fathers of the Ancient Covenant directed full of interest upon the Mediator of the New.—The conflict which is carried on on Earth, is known to the dwellers of Heaven.—Jesus consecrated to His suffering and dying by a visit from the dwellers of heaven. This consecration was: 1. Necessary, on account of the true Humanity of the Saviour; 2. fitting, on account of the high momentousness of the event; 3. of great value for the disciples, as well then as afterwards; 4. continually important for the Christian world of following centuries.—Servants of God on earth separated from one another, in heaven united with one another.—The high importance which heaven ascribes to the work of redemption on earth.—The gleaming heaven in contrast with the sleeping earth.—The blessed view of the unveiled world of spirits.—“Master, it is good for us to be here.” 1. That we are here; 2. that we are here; 3. that we are here with Thee and heaven.—Tabor delights endure only for instants.—Even in communion with the dwellers of heaven, Peter cannot deny his individuality.—When I was a child, I spake as a child.—Alternation of rapture and fear in the consecrated hour of the Christian life.—The voice of God from the cloud contains even yet important significance: 1. For the Saviour, 2. for the disciples, 3. for the world.—God wills that all men should hear the Son of His love. 1. This the Father requires; 2. this the Son deserves; 3. this the Holy Spirit teaches us.—The prophets vanish, Jesus remains alone.—Jesus alone: 1. So appears He even now to His own in the holiest hours of life; 2. so will it also be hereafter. Even heaven vanishes to the eye which may behold the Lord of heaven face to face.—Christian silence.—Even to his fellow-disciples the disciple of the Saviour cannot relate all which the Saviour has often let him taste.—[How some Christian people are perpetually tormented with a notion that they must testify to whatever manifestation of God is granted to themselves, at the risk of bringing shallowness and weakness upon their own experience!—C. C. S.]—How well it is with the friend of the Saviour on Tabor: 1. How well it was there for His first disciples; they saw there a manifestation: a. most sublime in itself, b. most momentous for the Master, c. most pregnant of instruction for themselves. 2. How well it is continually with the Christian there; he finds, a. support for his faith, b. a school of instruction for his life, c. a living image of his highest hope.—The light which Tabor throws: 1. Upon the majesty of the person of Jesus; 2. upon the fitness of His suffering; 3. upon the sublimity of His kingdom.—Hear ye Him: 1. With deep homage; 2. with unconditional obedience; 3. with joyful trust.—The near connection of Old and New Covenant.—Tabor the boundary: 1. Between the letter and the Spirit; 2. between the ministration of condemnation, and the ministration of righteousness; 3. between that which vanishes away, and that which abides. 2Co_3:6-11.—Jesus’ Transfiguration considered in connection with His Passion: On Tabor, 1. The prediction of His Passion is repeated; 2. the necessity of His Passion is confirmed; 3. the conflict of His Passion is softened; 4. the fruit of His Passion is prophesied.—The ascent [Aufgang] to Tabor, and the decease [Ausgang] at Jerusalem. We receive here light upon: 1. The exalted character of the Person who accomplishes this decease; 2. the worth of the work which is accomplished in this decease; 3. the glory of heaven which through this decease is disclosed.—Jesus the centre of union of the Church militant and the Church triumphant.—From the depth into the height, from the height again towards the depth.

Starke:—The prayer of believing souls brings a foretaste of eternal life with it.—Oh, Saviour, if Thou wert so glorious on the Mount, what must Thou now be in heaven!—Christ, Moses, and all the prophets speak with one voice concerning our redemption. Be not then unbelieving, but believing.—Nova Bibl Tub.:—When Jesus shall waken us to His glory, we shall be as those that dream.—Quesnel:—Whoever will enjoy rest and glory before labor and suffering, has never yet become acquainted with true religion.—The saying, “It is good to be here,” may be spared till we are in heaven.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Our future blessedness is yet encompassed with a cloud; “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” 1Jn_3:2.—My Redeemer, it is nothing to me who abandons me, if only Thou remain. Psa_73:25.

Wallin:—Desire no heaven upon earth.—Arndt:—Jesus’ Transfiguration the opening scene of His passion. 1. The connection in which it stands with the Passion; 2. the significance which it has especially for the Passion.—Fuchs:—The Transfiguration of Christ: 1. Where did it happen? 2. how did it happen? 3. whereto did it happen?—Couard:—The importance of this narrative: 1. For our faith, 2. for our life, 3. for our hope.—In Krummacher’s Elijah the Tishbite, the concluding discourse upon: Jesus Alone.—Schleiermacher:—4th vol. of sermons, p. 338.—Palmer:—“Lord, it is good to be here.” An admirable text for occasional sermons, remarks at communions, weddings, at the grave, &c., useful also at dedications.

Footnotes:

[Luk_9:28.—The Rec. is approved by Tischendorf, Lachmann, Tregelles, Alford, with Cod. Sin., A., B., C.1, 12 other uncials. Van Oosterzee’s order only by C.3, D., 2 other uncials.—C. C. S.]

[Luk_9:32.—“Some difficulty is here occasioned by äéáãñçãïñÞóáíôåò . The verb äéáãñçãïñåῖí signifies elsewhere: to watch through; so Herodian, III. Luk_4:8 : ðÜóçò … ôῆò íõêôὸò äéáãñçãïñÞóáíôåò . Accordingly Meyer wishes it to be so taken here: Since they, however, remained awake, did not actually fall asleep. But according to the connection with the preceding it is altogether improbable that such is the meaning: ‘since they, notwithstanding their disposition to sleep, yet remained awake,’ but rather that Luke meant this word, in any case an unusual one, in the sense: After they as it were had passed through their slumber to awaking again, had again waked: as the Vulgate had already rendered it by evigilantes (Luther: da sie aber aufwachten).” Bleek. Van Oosterzee takes Meyer’s interpretation against the preferable one, as it seems to me, of Bleek.—C. C. S.]

Luk_9:35.—According to the reading of B., L., [Cod. Sin.,] ἐêëåëåãìÝíïò , approved by Griesbach, Schulz, Tischendorf, and Meyer. The Recepta ἀãáðçôüò , although strongly attested, appears to be taken from the parallels in Matthew and Mark.