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Verse Commentaries:
Chapter Level Commentary:
(Luk_6:17-49)
FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.
1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Third paragraph
4. Etc.
CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS
A. This chapter seems to divide into several separate incidents:
1. Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees over His disciples' eating grain on the Sabbath (cf. Luk_6:1-6)
2. Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees over the "healing of the man with the withered hand" on the Sabbath (cf. Luk_6:6-11)
3. Jesus chooses twelve disciples (cf. Luk_6:12-19)
4. Luke's recording of a sermon similar to "The Sermon on the Mount" in Mat_5:7 (recorded in Luk_6:20-49)
B. There is an obvious difference between the "Sermon on the Mount" recorded in Matthew and "The Sermon on the Plain" in Luke (cf. Luk_6:17). Luke seems to be written on the level of social conditions and attitudes toward our material world (some scholars would say Luke is dealing with a delayed Parousia); whereas Matthew seems to be written as a progression of spiritual levels progressing to Christlikeness (an eschatological setting). It is uncertain why Luke includes the "curses" (i.e., OT prophetic "woes." These woes are antithetically parallel to the blessings), while Matthew completely leaves them out (this shows the sermons recorded in the NT are not verbatim, but summaries and excerpts). Basically, the Beatitudes are not specific commands to be followed, but examples of an attitude toward our present world and our place in it. It is hard to decide whether or not Luke and Matthew record two different sermons using similar themes and examples (cf. Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, p. 312 and 366) or the same sermon recorded differently (cf. D. A. Carson, "Matthew" in Expositor's Bible Commentary). Remember each of the Gospel writers selected, adapted, and rearranged Jesus' teachings to address their target audiences. Luke leaves out much of the Jewish elements in Jesus' teaching that Matthew records for his Jewish readership.
C. Luke's version of Jesus' sermon has been greatly ignored by scholarship. Most interpreters use Matthew's account to interpret Luke's account. However, they are very different. Luke's beatitudes are not eschatological, but contemporary. Jesus is addressing His disciples (cf. Luk_6:20). The Kingdom is here! Believers' outward physical conditions must not affect their trust and joy in God.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Why does Jesus continue to challenge the religious leaders on the subject of the oral traditions concerning the Sabbath?
2. Why do the lists of the names of the disciples vary?
3. Why is the Sermon on the Mount so different from the Sermon on the Plain?
4. What is the purpose of the Sermon on the Plain in its Lukan context?