Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 3:8 - 3:8

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Luke 3:8 - 3:8


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

8. ποιήσατε. The verb implies instant effort. “Produce at once.”

μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν. He cuts off even all attempt at self-excuse. ‘Do not allow yourselves to say.’ The ἄρξησθε is almost like ‘Do not harp on the old boast’ (Das alte Lied anfangen). St Matthew has μὴ δόξητε, ‘do not deceive yourselves on the subject by a mere illusion.’

πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ. ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ The Jews had so exalted a conception of this privilege (Joh 8:39) that they could scarcely believe it possible that any son of Abraham should ever be lost. This is seen in many passages of the Talmud, which maintain that a “single Israelite is of more worth in God’s sight than all the nations of the world.” “Thou madest the world for our sakes. As for the other people … Thou hast said … that they are nothing but be like unto spittle, and hast likened the abundance of them unto a drop that falleth from a vessel … But we Thy people whom Thou hast called Thy firstborn, Thy only begotten, and Thy fervent lover, &c.” 2Es 6:56-58. The Prophets had long ago warned them that privileges without duties were no protection (Jer 7:3-4; Mic 3:11; Isa 48:2, &c.). Christ taught them that Abraham’s seed had no exclusive offer of salvation (Mat 8:11-12; Joh 8:33-39), and it was a special part of the mission of St Paul to bring home to them that “they are not all Israel which are of Israel,” Rom 4:1; Rom 9:6-7; Gal 3:29; Gal 6:15.

ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων. He pointed to the rocky boulders, or the flints on the strand of Jordan, around him. He who had made Adam from the clay could make sons of Abraham from those stones (Bengel). St John’s imagery is that of the wilderness,—the rock, the serpent, the barren tree.