Bible Study series: Luke 6:6-11. Jesus broke down the wall which religious leaders had built around the Torah (first five books of the Bible).
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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!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 6:6-11
6 And so it happened on another Sabbath that he went into the synagogue and taught. And a man was there, and his right hand was withered. 7 The teachers of the law and Pharisees were watching him maliciously, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, in order to discover some way to accuse him. 8 But he knew their reasonings. He said to the man having a withered hand, “Get up and stand here in the middle!” 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you: is it lawful to do good or to do bad, to save a life or destroy it, on the Sabbath?” 10 He looked around at them and said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” He did so, and his hand was restored. 11 They were filled with fury and began to speak among themselves what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:6-11)
Comments:
Here are posts repeated here from the previous passage:
What Does the New Covenant Retain from the Old?
Do Christians Have to ‘Keep’ the Ten Commandments?
Ten Commandments: God’s Great Compromise with Humanity’s Big Failure
One Decisive Difference Between Sinai Covenant and New Covenant
No, it is not commanded for believers in union with Christ to keep the Sabbath. However, if they want to do this voluntarily without the command hanging over their heads (in Num. 15:32-36 a man was stoned to death for violating the Sabbath), then they may certainly do so. But this does make them first-class kingdom citizens and the rest of second-class kingdom citizens,
6:
“taught”: Here he was in a formal setting, the synagogue. He spoke with authority, unlike the teachers of the law and Pharisees (Luke 4:32; Matt. 7:28-29). This is what the Spirit does through a surrendered heart and mind. It was his habit and custom to enter their synagogues and teach the people (see 4:15). He combined a teaching and healing ministry. His insight into Scripture was profound, unlike many healer-teachers today (by my observation).
“Someone sick or crippled, without life being threatened, could wait a day for treatment” (Bock, p. 528).
7:
The rabbis allowed healing to be done on the Sabbath, but only when a life was in danger, a baby was being born, or circumcision on the eighth day (Bock, p. 528). This man’s disability fit none of those exceptions.
“teachers of the law”: They are also called scribes in some translations.
“Pharisees”: see v. 2 for more comments.
You can learn more about them here:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
“watching … maliciously”: Picture watchdogs sitting right by you and glowering at you. So it means, “watch closely, observe carefully … watch (maliciously), lie in wait for … watch one’s opportunity … watch, guard ….” The Shorter Lexicon suggests “watch (maliciously)” for v. 7 here. Anger is building in the religious leaders, the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior.
“on the Sabbath”: see the comments on vv. 1-2.
“accuse”: the verb speaks of the public forum, so the context is in public, specifically in the synagogue here. The verb also means “to speak in the assembly, harangue … speak ill of someone” (Liddell and Scott). You get “speak down to” or just “accuse.”
8:
One could save a life on the Sabbath if a life was threatened by a burglar (Bock, vol. 1, p. 528), for example, but that’s an extreme case that does not apply here. The disabled man’s life was not literally threatened, but his quality of life was.
Jesus was supremely confident in his and his Father’s and the Spirit’s ability to heal, and that’s why he told the man to stand in the middle of them. He was the Anointed One.
“reasoning”: the noun means, depending on the context, (1) “thought, opinion, reasoning, design” or (2) “doubt, dispute, argument.” Recall that Simeon prophesied that Jesus would reveal the hearts of many (Luke 2:35 and see 4:23 and 5:21). And here it was happening again.
9:
Jesus is about to do good on the Sabbath. A third option was to do nothing, or so it seems, but then this is the same as not saving a life, and subsequently letting the life go away and gradually destroy itself. “And just as you want people to treat you, treat them likewise” (Luke 6:31; see Matt. 7:12). This is more commonly known as “Do unto others and you want them to do to you.” The law and prophets are summed up on that counsel (Matt. 7:12). The main point: Be active in doing good to others.
“save”: The verb is sōzō (pronounced soh-zoh and used 106 times in the NT), which means “save, rescue, heal” in a variety of contexts, but mostly it is used of saving the soul. Here it means saving or healing the body.
As noted throughout this commentary on Luke-Acts, the noun salvation and the verb save go a lot farther than just preparing the soul to go on to heaven. Together, they have additional benefits: keeping and preserving and rescuing from harm and dangers; saving or freeing from diseases and demonic oppression; and saving or rescuing from sin dominating us; ushering into heaven and rescuing us from final judgment. What is our response to the gift of salvation? You are grateful and then you are moved to act. When you help or rescue one man from homelessness or an orphan from his oppression, you have moved one giant step towards salvation of his soul. Sometimes feeding a hungry man and giving clothes to the naked or taking him to a medical clinic come before saving his soul.
All of it is a package called salvation and being saved.
What Is the Work of Salvation?
How Do We Respond to God’s Salvation?
“destroy”: Here it seems to mean to allow a life to be destroyed by inaction.
“life”: It can mean, depending on the context: “soul, life” and it is hard to draw a firm line between the two. “Breath, life principle, soul”; “earthly life”; “the soul as seat and center of the inner life of man in its many and varied aspects, desires, feelings, emotions”; “self’; or “that which possesses life, a soul, creature, person.”
A little theology:
Word Study on Spirit, Soul, and Body
Here in this verse, however, it means life.
10:
The religious leaders had been watching him maliciously (v. 7); There is no malice built into the word, but one senses Jesus was defiant, righteously angry. Jesus is again confident when he commanded the man to stretch out his hand. “Stretch out your hand!” Wow!
“restored”: it means “restore, reestablish … cure, be cured … bring back, restore.” It is a great word choice on Luke’s part. The man’s hand was returned and reestablished and restored back to normal. Never accept as normal what is clearly abnormal. Pray!
11:
“fury”: they were in a mindless emotion, in a rage and fury. It could also be translated in some contexts as foolish, which makes sense, given the prefix and stem. But not here. Their reaction was a mindless rage. They lived in an honor-and-shame society, and Jesus shamed them in public, which they so richly deserved. (Please note that in this context shame does not mean a psychological state that comes from abuse.) It means your opponents lost the public tussle, and they deserved it, because they had attacked you.
Never doubt that Jesus would not give an inch to his opponents. Many teachers say to believers today that they should just cower and let the bullies run all over them, because that is what Jesus did at his trial. Please, note, however, that he could have called twelve legions of angels at the moments of his arrest, but he did not (Matt. 26:53). At the end of his life, he did surrender to the will of God. He did keep silent, except a few times.
In contrast, during his ministry, he did not cower or surrender. He fought back. His growing movement and lives were at stake. If he let his opponents get away with their criticism, his silence could have been misinterpreted as weakness, so he would not have been worthy to be followed. The listeners would have gone home, and rightly. “He’s not sure of his own message? He lets the religious leaders walk all over him? He’s not the Messiah!” Often silence can be misinterpreted as agreement. And if the sparring match is over eternal truths (as distinct from nonessential issues), don’t give in to your erroneous and broken opponents.
No, don’t be rude or contemptuous or defiant or stubborn, especially when you don’t know very much of Scripture or basic doctrine or particularly to your pastor who has a good heart and knows the Word. But if the Scripture is really, really clear, be firm and resolute about your interpretation of such issues as healing is for today or Christ is the Lord, or sin should not be accepted in the church, despite the culture’s pressure to compromise (e.g. about same-sex marriages).
When Jesus Used Harsh Language
GrowApp for Luke 6:6-11
1. Have you ever had to break with religious tradition? How did the traditionalists react? What did you do?
2. Jesus was confident and bold in his public healing. Have you even been bold or confident in public for the Lord in your own circumstance? If not, why not? If you have, what happened?
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
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