Luke 3

Luke 3:1-14

In this chapter we have, 1. The beginning of John’s baptism, and the steps and intention of it, ver. 1—6. His exhortation to the multitude, ver. 7—9. And the particular instructions he gave to those who desired to be told their duty, ver. 10—14. 2. The notice he gave them of the approach of the Messiah, ver. 15—18, to which is added (though it happened after what follows) the mention of his imprisonment, ver. 19, 20. 3. Chief coming to be baptized of John, and his entrance therein upon the execution of his prophecies office, ver. 21, 22. 4. His pedigree and genealogy recorded up to Adam, ver. 23—38.

1. NOW in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Cesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrach of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrach of Iturea, and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrach of Abilene, 2. Annas and Calaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; 4. As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. 7. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 10. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 11. He answered and saith unto them, He that hath two coars, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. 12. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 13. And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. 14. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsity, and be content with your wages.

Great expectations had been raised concerning the son of Zacharias from his infancy, and now he appears to answer them.

1. The

2. The time of his entering publicly on his ministry, is here observed. It was in the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod. He was a great leader of Galilæ, his brother Philip of Ituræ, and Lyræ as of Abilene. They were called tetracra, either as having each the fourth part of what was under the dominion of Herod the Great, or as standing in the fourth rank of governors, which are reckoned thus; the emperor, praecosals, kings, tetracra. They were all foreigners, a mark of the sad subjection of the Jewish people, now reduced entirely under the Roman yoke, the sceptre being finally departed from Judah, and the very kingly office abolished in Judea. Annas and Caiaphas being the high-priest, not that they both bore that office at the same time, but Annas had been, and Caiaphas was now in that station; or as some fuppofe, Annas was the fugan, or chief of the priest, who stood next to the high-priest in rank and honour.

3. The origin and tendency of his ministry is declared. The word of God came to him in the wilderness, he was inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to go forth, being endowed with extraordinary gifts and graces, and possessed of the spirit of prophecy; and hereupon leaving the solitude where he had hitherto abode, he came into a more populous part of the country near to Jordan, preaching publicly the necessity of repentance, and admitting to his baptism those who made profession of it, as the sign and seal of the remission of their sins. Note, all who by faith turn to Jesus, and repent them truly of their sins, are assured of their pardon.

4. John herein eminently fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. xi. 3—5. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, loud and vehement, prepare ye the way of the Lord into your hearts, by a deep and humbling sense of your sins made his paths straight; let every obstruction from pride and ignorance be removed, as the harbinger clears the way for the entry of the king. Every valley shall be filled, the lowly and depressed with his shall be raised up by pardoning grace and divine consolations; and every mountain and hill shall be brought down, the proud and self-righteous shall be humbled into the hail of humiliation, or sink into the belly of hell; and the crooked shall be made straight, the perverse dispositions and conduct of sinners shall by divine grace be reexisted; and the rough ways shall be made present, the most untraceable spirits forfeited and fudulent, or every difficulty in the way of men’s receiving the Messiah shall be removed. And all flesh, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, shall be the salvation of God; many of all nations, ranks, and ages shall embrace the gospel of Jesus, and partake of his eternal redemption.

5. He addecessed himself with very awakening language to the multitude who came to him. He charges them as a generation of voters, full of venom, hypocrisy, and sacrificial futility; and also, who hath warned you to fire from the wrath to come from the national judgments ready to descend upon them, or the more terrible and eternal vengeance hanging over every guilty sinner’s head. He warns them therefore of the necessity of a speedy and real change of heart and life, evident in the fruits of all holy conversation and godliness; without which, their beailed privilege as Abraham’s descendants, would profit them nothing, but rather aggravate their guilt. God wanted them not; he could, and would, from stones, from Gentiles, raise up a more illustrious and numerous race, the heirs of Abraham’s faith, his spiritual children, who should supply their place, if they continued hypocritical and impenitent: now therefore the call of mercy was sent to them, that they might prevent their impending doom, before the ax of divine vengeance was laid to their coats; and they, as barren trees, cut down and call into the fire, utterly destroyed as a nation; and as the sinners of old, suffering also the vengeance of eternal fire. Note, (1.) The future hath no moment to hide, death and judgment are at his heels. (2.) No outward privilege can profit those, whose hearts remain unrenewed and unholy. (3.) True repentance will be seen by its fruits; the change will be internal, universal, evident, abiding. (4.) It is a fearful thing for an impenitent soul to fall into the hands of the living God.

6. The Pharisees and Sadducees were probably disguised at these hard sayings, and left him; but the people, the publicans and soldiers, were deeply affected, and earnestly solicitous to know what those fruits of repentance were, which they were required to produce: and a blessed symptom it is of real conversion, when we are thus diligent to enquire what is the mind of God, and really disposed through grace to follow it. To these, therefore, John directs his instructions suited to their several circumstances and temperatures.

(1.) To the people in general he recommends a liberal distribution to the necessities of their brethren; supplying them according to their ability with food and raiment; and where the call was urgent, straining themselves rather than suffer their neighbours to perish with cold, or be banished with hunger; and a truly charitable soul is not only to his power, but sometimes above his power, willing.

(2.) To the publicans, the collectors of the public taxes, many of whom were Jews, he gave in charge that they should use no exactitude, nor levy more than the government demanded.

VOL. II.

Their employment, though in general odious to the people, was not in itself unlawful, whilst they demeaned themselves in it with justice and integrity.

(3.) To the soldiers, who seem to have been also Hebrews, perhaps the guards of Philip, or Herod, he said, do violence to no man, extort nothing from the people by threatening, behave not insolent, nor outrageous in your quarters; when employed in war, use no unnecessary devastations, nor wanton cruelty; neither accept any faith, neither their comrades to their officers, or the people where they might be stationed, through malice, or for the sake of money; and be content with your wages, neither increasing them by plunder, nor seeking to advance them by mutiny; a caution well deserving the notice of all servants, who, if once they give way to discontent, will soon be tempted to use unlawful means to gratify their covetousness.

15. And at the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; 16. John answered, saying unto them all, ‘I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latcher of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: ‘he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. 17. ‘Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. 18. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. 19. ‘But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20. Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

Luke 3:15-20

We have here,

1. The general expectations which the people were in of the Messiah. The sceptre was departed from Judah, and the prophecies of Daniel concerning him now required his coming; which made many turn their eyes to John, who appeared with marks of such singular distinction, and spoke with such authority and zeal, that they began to suspect this might be the long-expected Messiah.

2. John immediately undeceived them, disclaiming all pretensions to that honour, and directs them to expect shortly the Great Prophet, whose forerunner he was. The meanest office under him he acknowledges himself unworthy to discharge; and his baptism was not worthy to be compared with the more powerful and efficacious influences of that Holy Ghost, that, under the ministry of Jesus, should be abundantly dispersed, and act, like fire, with refulfies energy upon the souls of men. By his gospel he would make a thorough separation between the faithful and the hypocrites, and by his judgments on the Jewish people (seem them away as the chaff before the fan); and, when he hath gathered in his chosen, the wheat, into his garner, the wicked, the self-righteous, and the apostate, will be cast into the everlasting burning. An awful declaration, which deserves the most awakened attention.

These and many other things did John with great freedom and fidelity deliver, preaching the glad tidings of the gospel (1605.1.1) to the people, and urging upon their consciences the importance of the truths he declared. Such ministers ought all, who are put in trust with the gospel, to be; warm, zealous, indefatigable, free, copious, evangelical. Then may we expect to reap the fruit of our labours, in a harvest of immortal souls.

3. After a short but glorious course of about a year and a half, a sudden flop is put to the Baptist’s ministry by a most unjust imprisonment. Unable to flatter, yea zealous to reprove the most exalted sinners, Herod the tetrarch escaped not his sharp rebukes for the complicated crime of taking his brother Philip’s wife, and marrying her even during his life, and though the had children by him; thus joining incels to adultery; and for all the other evils which Herod had done, which were many and notorious. Exasperated at this plain and faithful dealing, he added this to all his other wickedness, that he shut up John in prison, and after a while was prevailed upon to take away his life. Note, (1.) When God’s ministers are thus compelled to an involuntary silence, their sufferings speak as loud as their sermons. (2.) Mysterious are the ways of Providence. The excellent of the earth become a prey to perniciousness, who triumph at their fall. Where, will some say, is the God of judgment! Wait a moment. The mystery will soon be unfolded.

4. Now when all the people were baptized, ‘it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened: 22. And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily hope like a dove upon him, and ‘a voice came from heaven, which said, ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. 23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was

supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, 24. Which was the son of Matthai, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, 25. Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Edi, which was the son of Nagge, 26. Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Judah, 27. Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Y Rhefa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, 28. Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Colam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, 29. Which was the son of Jole, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jerim, which was the son of Matthai, which was the son of Levi, 30. Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim, 31. Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, 32. Which was the son of Jeffe, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Nassifon, 33. Which was the son of Aminadah, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Efrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, 34. Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Ifaar, which was the son of Abraham, 35. Which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, 36. Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Nagau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, 37. Which was the son of Sainon, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, 38. Which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, 39. Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Luke 3:21-38

The Evangelist finishes the history of John’s ministry, which continued near a year after Christ’s baptism, before he enters upon the public appearance of Jesus.

1. After a multitude of others had been baptized, at last Jesus also comes to John, and is baptized of him in Jordan: when, looking up in prayer to his Father, instantly the heaven were opened, and the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape descended upon him, both to qualify him for his mediatorial work, and to be a Sign to John that he was the Messiah; which was farther confirmed by an audible voice from heaven, God the Father testifying his delight in this Son of his love, and his perfect satisfaction in his undertaking. Note, (1.) Christ prayed, to set us the example. In this way the communion between earth and heaven is to be maintained. (2.) If God be well pleased in his Son, then may we confidently rest our souls on him as our Saviour, and never doubt of the fulness of the redemption he hath obtained for us.

2. The age and pedigree of Jesus are recorded by the Evangelist. He was about thirty years of age when he entered upon the mediatorial office. Descended from David by his mother’s fate, whose genealogy is here given, as well as by Joseph’s his reputed father. Some difficulties occur, in comparing the genealogies. Joseph, said in Matthew to be the son of Jacob, is here said to be the son of Heli, which some avoid by reading the words (as was supposed the son of Joseph) in a parenthesis, intimating that in reality Jesus was the son of Heli, Mary’s father. Or Joseph, being her husband, might be called, in right of his wife, Heli’s son.

Some have observed also, that the words (as was supposed) as it was supposed, may be rendered as it was found in the record of the genealogy, which the Evangelist copied, and none at that time ever contradicted.

The inferring the name of Cainan between Sala and Arphaxad is of more difficult solution, it not agreeing with the Hebrew copies, nor any ancient version except the Seperagint, and is thought not to have been there originally; but that some early transcriber of Luke’s gospel inferring this name by mistake, it afterwards crept into that translation. The matter indeed is of little moment, and doth not in the least affect our salvation.

Some, to whose sentiments I accede, chose to carry the name of Jesus through all his ancestors, instead of concealing each with his immediate predecessor. As thus, Jesus the son of Heli,

of Matthai, &c. till we come to the top of the line, as the son of Adam in his human, the Son of God in his divine nature; uniting both in his own person, and yet not two, but one Christ.