Bible Study Series: Luke 1:57-66. This is John the Baptist. What a calling he will have: a prophet.

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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!

Luke 1

In this post, links are provided for further study.

Let’s begin.

Scripture: Luke 1:57-66

⁵⁷ The time for Elizabeth to give birth was completed, and she birthed a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord magnified his mercy for her, and they celebrated with her. ⁵⁹ And when the eighth day came to pass, they went to circumcise the child, and they were beginning to call him after the name of his father, Zechariah. ⁶⁰ But his mother responded and told them, “No! But he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ They told her, “No one of your relatives is called by that name.” ⁶² They began to make signs to his father as to what he would want to call him. ⁶³ He asked for a little writing tablet and wrote, saying, “John is his name.” And everyone was surprised.

⁶⁴ Instantly his mouth was opened, also his tongue, and he began speaking and praising God. ⁶⁵ And fear came on all their neighbors; and in the entire hill country of Judea, these words were spoken throughout. ⁶⁶ Everyone who heard tucked it in their hearts, saying, “What will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. (Luke 1:57-66)

Comments:

57:

A quick and straightforward verse. The Greek for time here is chronos (pronounced khroh-nohss), and we get chronology from it. This shows that we should not make too much of the nuances between chronos time and kairos time. Supposedly the first is sequential, calendar time, while the second has a quality built into it, measured by significant events, which in this case is the birth of John. In any case, the calendar and nature say it was time to give birth, and she did.

58:

God answered her prayers. “He lavished his mercy on her,” says one translation. Mine is very literal, for I like the image of God magnifying or enlarging mercy—on her, on Elizabeth herself. In v. 25 she said she owned “my shame.” Now her shame was removed, in front of all her neighbors and relatives. Public shame has now turned to public honor.

59-63:

Everyone knew best (or so they thought). They naturally called him by his father’s name, but good ideas are not God ideas. They were surprised when he wrote his son’s name. Don’t let people’s “good ideas” interfere with God’s ideas. Let God surprise them—and you.

Gabriel—sent from God!—named the child before he was born. The prophetic powers and foreseeing ability of God is beyond our human minds to figure out. See v. 13 for the theology of God’s omniscience.

Liefeld and Pao: “Zechariah may have been deaf as well as mute, though this has not been indicated. Luke says he was ‘unable to speak’ (v. 22), but the word used … can also mean ‘deaf’ (as in 7:22) (comment on vv. 62-63). He does have to receive and give gestures, so maybe he was also mute and deaf.

Bock on v. 63: “Zechariah’s response is emphatic. His name is … John. Zechariah does not say it shall be John. The change in tense between 1:60 and 1:63 is significant. For Zechariah, the child had a name from the time of the angel’s announcement. There was not choice for him. His reply indicates obedience and submission to God’s message” (p. 168).

64:

A miraculous intervention. His mouth was opened, but there is no verb for his tongue, so translators reasonably add one: “his tongue was loosed.” Gabriel had said Zechariah would not be able to speak until it happened (v. 20). But note that he did not speak at the birth of his son, but when he wrote, “John is his name.” Apparently God wanted him to get it fixed in his mind that God is in control, and writing the name of his son accomplished that (see v. 13).

“praising”: it is the verb eulogeō, and see Luke 1:42 for more comments.

65:

Reverential fear is valid when miracles happen. It can mean “fright” or “fear” or “awe” or “reverential fear.” Nowadays preachers appear a little embarrassed by the fear of God. But they are wrong. Fear of God is a virtue in us, and the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 1:7). The NT authors like this word, using the verb and noun and adjectives 151 times. Imagine standing before God’s white throne in heaven. If he did not love you, you would faint with fear. Even when you know that he loves you, you would still shake and tremble with fear. Awe and intimacy go together between us and the Creator of the universe.

66:

“tucked”: literally the Greek verb is the standard one for “place” or “put.” Everyone in the Judean hills who heard placed these miraculous events and words in their hearts, similar to Mary “pondering” (Luke 2:19) and “treasuring” (2:51) in her heart the words about her son. Instead of “placed” I chose “tucked.” It’s a little more intimate and sweet (or so it seems to me).

To conclude …..

It must be wonderful to observe how a child grows up, what he would grow up into. God was on him, with him. What does that mean for the only child? Was he a little preacher boy? (I have heard of boys standing on soapboxes and playing church and preaching up a storm for their neighbor kids and siblings.) How deeply did he study the Torah and the other portions of Scripture? What did Zechariah the priest teach him? Did he say priests don’t drink alcohol? Probably. What did Elizabeth teach him about her ancestor Aaron, Moses’s older brother?

Grow App for Luke 1:57-66

1. What was it like when God answered a major prayer in your life?

2. How would you define the fear of God (your fear of God)? What is your experience with it?

3. In your child’s life, what has he or she grown or growing up into? If he or she has temporarily wandered off from the things of God, how are you praying for him or her?

4. What are you teaching your children about God? How often? What does it mean to lead by example?

RELATED

11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel

3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel

2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels

1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series

SOURCES

For the bibliographic data, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:

Luke 1