New Testament Commentary - Luke 4

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 4 Jesus fasts forty days and is tempted of the devil—He announces his divine Sonship in Nazareth and is rejected—He casts out a devil in Capernaum, heals Peter's mother-in-law, and preaches and heals throughout Galilee.
1 AND Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost^a returned from Jordan, and was ^aled by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 ^aBeing forty days ^btempted^a of the ^cdevil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That ^aman shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.	1^a full of the Holy Ghost In the prophecies it was so told that God the Father would place His Spirit, meaning the Holy Ghost upon him (Isaiah 42). This 'mantle' of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost was apparantly greater than that which is experienced in general by the natural man. Whether Jesus' exceptional relationship with the Holy Spirit was in part based upon his genetic make up, being the Son of God, or because of an increase intensity and presence of the Spirit with him, is not understood for sure. But one might consider that in the case of Jesus Christ and because of the importance of his mission, the personage of the Holy Ghost, that third member of the Godhead, did attend him and was a constant protection and companion to him at all times. And as it is further set out, that the 'mantle' of the prophet is of such a 'greater intensity' than what is placed upon common man, so it may be thought of of Christ, for he was not only a prophet, but the Son of God and the promised Messiah which was sent to redeem the world. 2^a Being forty days tempted It is 'presumed' that there were but three temptations performed by Satan of Jesus. But Luke here states that for the duration of the 40 days Jesus was so tempted of Satan, and in truth Satan would continue to 'tempt' the Lord throughout his ministry. Yet the signifance of these three great temptations are of an importance that they are so set out and identified.	1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
5 ^aAnd the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this ^apower will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me^a; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt ^aworship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou ^bserve.	6^a for that is delivered unto me Now one must understand that Satan is the master deceiver, the master of lies. He may line his lies with some truth in them but there perspective and often exagerated presentation of them is totally a false and lying deception. Lucifer is not the master and god of this earth. While he is he who leads in the evil aspects thereof, the earth was created by Jehovah, it is his and is referenced as his footstool. It was not Satan who had power to given dominion over the earth as he so attempted to portary himself here, And though Satan so falsely presented himself as the 'Master of the Earth, Jesus quickly turned the truth upon him in the following rebuff and statement which well set forth that He himself was the Lord God, and NOT Satan.	1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
9 ^aAnd he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10 For it is written, He shall give his ^aangels charge over thee, to keep thee^a: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.	10^a He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee The importance of the success of the mission of Jesus Christ was of no little concern, neither was it left to happenstance. Jesus was always attended by the unseen power of heaven, even the very 'angels of heaven' as they helped to insure the success of the mission of the Messiah. And not only your 'regular angels' of heaven were employed, but one must come to an understanding that in particular that third member of the Godhead was so placed upon Jesus Christ as the Spirit of God was to ever attend him with perhaps the only exceptions being in the Garden of Gethsemane where Luke mistakes the seen angel of the Holy Ghost, there noted to be separated from the Lord so as the suffering be done singlely by him alone, and at that final end upon the cross when the spirit did withdraw from him at the time of his death.	1^a D&C 128:20; 2^a Mark 9:2 (2-13); Luke 9:29 (28-36); John 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16 (16-19); TG Jesus Christ, Glory of;
12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not ^atempt the Lord thy God. 13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the ^apower of the Spirit into ^bGalilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
16 ¶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The ^aSpirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath ^banointed me to ^cpreach the ^dgospel to the ^epoor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to ^fpreach ^gdeliverance to the ^hcaptives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at ⁱliberty them that are bruised^a, 19 ^aTo preach the acceptable year of the Lord.	18^a them that are bruised The consideration of the Messiah's treatment of those who are 'bruised' by the matters of the natural man, is not a new concept, but one which would have been scripturally understood. For in Isaiah 42, which is a very Messianic chapter, the workings of the spirit in and through Jesus Christ the Messiah was set forth that is would be as gentle of a working that even a 'bruised reed' would not be bent and broken by it, nor would a smoking flax be so much as affected negatively by it. In his working with man, Christ does not seek to rule with dominion over them, but is long suffering in love toward all men. He will not do that which would take away the angency and 'freedom' of the souls of men. If any strives to do this, it would be Satan and his angels, who did so seek to deprive men of their free agency ever since the beginnings of that war in heaven.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture ^afulfilled^a in your ears. 22 And all bare him witness, and ^awondered at the ^bgracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this ^cJoseph's son?^a	21^a This day is this scriptured fulfilled Jesus had just stated that a Messianic scripture of the Old Testament had been fulfilled, the implication being that he himself was the promised Messiah. Not all would have readily accept this, though they would have considered his words and the force of the power of the spirit which must have conveyed them into their hearts of understanding. In there considerations of them, they would have contrived that Jesus was speaking parenthetically that this was the 'day and age' to which the Jews might look to the fulfilling of the scripture, for indeed many of the Jews were at that time looking for the Messiah to come to deliver them from the burden of the captivity to the Romans, Thus in their comtemplation, they would have so reasoned away Jesus' pronouncement even though the spirit would have testified to their souls of the true meaning of it that Jesus himself was the Messiah come that was promised. 22^a Is not this Joseph's son? The dualistic nature of this question can only be appreciated when one comes to see in Jesus that he is both the promised Messiah ben David and the promised Messiah ben Joseph. To some it was but a question of whether Jesus was the son of Joseph the Capenter of Nazareth or the Son of God, which was a significant question in and of itself. But to others it was also the question as to whether Jesus was that promised Messiah ben Joseph, the son of Joseph of Egypt which was also foretold in their Law, though many of those sayings would be removed but are infered to have been there by such statements as made by Philip when he introduced the Messiah to Nathaniel (John 1:45).
23 And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in ^aCapernaum, ^bdo also here in thy country. 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is ^aaccepted in his own country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many ^awidows were in Israel in the days of ^bElias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many ^alepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was ^bcleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath^a, 29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.	28^a when they heard these things, were filled with wrath Now it was not only that Jesus had presented himself as the Messiah which upset the congregation to anger against him, but it was that he did not speak flattering words unto them. Rather than to 'praise the worthy men' of the synagogue, Christ did proceed to speak of them with distain in that he set forth that God did honor the Gentiles over the Jews in many cases. And it was the combination of these words, the declaration of his being he Messiah and the comdemnation of the people which did stir them up to commit a murder against him. Now it he would have spoken flattery and lies unto them, to the building up of their pride in themselves, then they may well have looked to him as the Messiah, for certainly they were looking toward having a Messiah raised up among them to deliver them. But they were prepared to follow one which would praise them and condemn their enemies, but not a Messiah who would do just the opposite as Jesus had done in the synagogue that day.
30 But he ^apassing through the midst of them went his way, 31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with ^apower.
33 ¶ And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the ^aunclean spirits, and they come out. 37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
38 ¶ And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 39 And he stood over her, and ^arebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.
40 ¶ Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with ^adivers diseases brought them unto him; and he ^blaid his ^chands on every one of them, and healed them. 41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art ^aChrist the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
42 And when it was day, he ^adeparted and went into a ^bdesert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and ^cstayed him, that he should not depart from them. 43 And he said unto them, I must ^apreach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I ^bsent. 44 And he preached in the synagogues of ^aGalilee.