Bible Study series: Luke 9:18-22. Who do you say that I am? How would you answer his question?
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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 9:18-22
18 And so it happened that while he was praying by himself, and his disciples were with him, he asked them, saying, “Whom do the crowds say that I am? 19 In reply, they said, “John the Baptist; others Elijah; others that a prophet of old has arisen.” 20 He said to them, “But whom do you say that I am?” Peter replied and said, “The Christ of God.” 21 And he warned and ordered them to tell this to no one. 22 He said, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the law and be killed and raised on the third day.” (Luke 9:18-22)
Comments
18:
“praying”: As noted in Luke 1:10, and elsewhere throughout this commentary series, it is the very common verb proseuchomai (pronounced pros-yew-khoh-my) and appears 85 times. The noun proseuchē (pronounced pros-yew-khay) is used 36 times, so they are the most common words for prayer or pray in the NT. They are combined with the preposition pros, which means, among other things, “towards,” and euchē, which means a prayer, vow and even a mere wish. But Christians took over the word and directed it towards the living God; they leaned in toward him and prayed their requests fully expecting an answer. It is not a mere wish to a pagan deity.
Prayer flows out of confidence before God that he will answer because we no longer have an uncondemned heart (1 John 3:19-24); and we know him so intimately that we find out from him what is his will is and then we pray according to it (1 John 5:14-15); we pray with our Spirit-inspired languages (1 Cor. 14:15-16). Pray!
What Is Biblical Intercession?
It is so important that leaders pray by themselves. Praying replenishes and reprioritizes their focus. God is the source of their ministry. Here it seems that the Father communicated that Jesus’s calling really was to suffer and be rejected and the Jerusalem establishment and be killed and raised on the third day (v. 22). At least this pericope (pronounced peh-RIH-coh-pea) or section links the prayer time with his announcement or prediction in v. 23.
“disciples”: the noun is mathētēs (pronounced mah-they-tayss), and see v. 1 for more comments.
His disciples were “nearby,” so says one translation. He walked over to them to ask an identity question. How much had the special twelve learned, while they were with him through half his ministry? First he asked what the people or crowds think. No doubt the twelve had mingled with them and found out the popular opinion.
19:
These are the same answers offered in vv. 7-9 (scroll back up to see my comments). Popular opinion was inadequate and inaccurate. See those previous verses for more comments.
20:
“you”: adding the pronoun in Greek makes it emphatic. “But you—whom do you say that I am?”
Here is the real test, and Peter’s answer surpasses those of the crowds. Jesus was identified correctly. Matthew’s version shows Jesus proclaiming that Peter received this knowledge from the Father in heaven (Matt. 16:13-20), so the Father was breaking though in the disciples’ minds, or at least Peter’s mind. I get the impression that Peter spoke for all of them. I can easily imagine that the others verbally expressed or nodded their head in agreement. Matthew’s version says that Peter added, “the Son of the living God.” This is the fullest statement in their cultural context at this time. Later revelation, after Pentecost (Acts 2), will show the church that he was equal with God, as Phil. 2:5-11 reveals. “Although he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (v. 6). In other words, progressive revelation is a fact of the Bible. He reveals who he is by their historical context and what their mind can grasp, little by little. John’s Gospel shows Jesus slamming home his true identity as God in the flesh, and only the few and the insightful could grasp it. His fullest revelation was for a later time, after the birth of the church at Pentecost, and John’s Gospel reflects the later times—or was written for them long after the birth.
For more information on his Sonship, scroll down to v. 35.
21:
“warned and ordered”: this is a doublet—quick succession of synonyms—that I translate literally, but doublets could be translated as a modifier and the verb: “sternly ordered.” Your choice, for translations vary.
Once again, why would Jesus not want it bandied around that he was the Messiah? People have to discover things little by little. Also, he did not intend for them to impose their version of the Messiah on himself. He was in charge of his identity; they were not. They expected a conquering Messiah who would wipe out the Romans and ride into Jerusalem and keep it by God’s mighty power. Instead, by coming into Jerusalem riding on a colt-donkey (Luke 19:28-40), he would perplex the high and mighty, like Herod and the Jerusalem establishment, but the little people, like Peter the fisherman, would understand the Messiah’s mission more clearly, though not perfectly clearly, yet. So in this pericope or section of Scripture, we see the Great Reversal. Herod was perplexed (vv. 7-9), while Peter figured it out (vv. 18-19). But it takes more than just educated, popular guesses, so the crowds were the little people, but they could not figure it out. So what was important was to spend time with Jesus.
The Great Reversal + Time with Jesus.
Bock:
Rather than making mere verbal claims, Jesus wants his works and scriptural promises to testify to him (Luke 4:16-30; 6:1-5; 7:22-23; 24:13-19). In addition such verbal claims should not be made publicly until it is clearly understood by those making the declaration what kind f Messiah is present. Once they understand, then they are to proclaim (24:44-47). Thus, the disciples go public in a bold way after the resurrection (Acts 2:36; 3:18; 4:26; 10:39-43 …).” (p. 846-47)
22:
“it is necessary”: it comes from the word dei (pronounced day). It is an impersonal verb (think of the French verb il faut, pronounced eel foh, “one must” or “it is necessary,” if you know this language). The Greek verb means: “it is necessary, one must … one ought or should … what one should do” (Shorter Lexicon). It comes from the word dei (pronounced day), and in some contexts it denotes a destiny orchestrated by God, as it does here. In Luke it often means divine necessity; that is, God is leading things: Luke 2:49; 4:43; 9:22; 12:12; 13:33; 15:32; 17:25; 18:1; 19:5; 21:9; 22:37; 24:7; 24:26, 44; Acts 1:16; 1:21; 3:21; 4:12; 5:29; 9:6;, 16; 14:22; 16:30; 17:3; 19:21; 20:35; 23:11; 25:10; 27:21; 27:24, 26. He knew his mission, and it included his death, which was destined by God, to be the substitution for us. He died in our place. This requirement was unavoidable and necessary.
This is the first time that Jesus predicted his death, and it is important to connect this confession with his prayer time with his Father in heaven. (The other times he predicts his death in Luke: 9:44-48; 18:31-33). Jesus was called by the Father to die for the sins of the world, and the Father reinforced this calling during his prayer time. But the good news is that Jesus would rise from the dead on the third day. It makes me wonder how God would call us to die. That’s the topic of the next verses.
“Son of Man”: it both means the powerful, divine Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human.
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
“elders”:
“chief priests”:
“teachers of the law”: Other translations call them “scribes.”
For more about these three, see this post:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
All these groups were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (cf. Garland, p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7, ESV). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others.
This verse will be literally fulfilled in Luke 22:66, when the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law bring him into the council room and interrogate him and conclude that he committed blasphemy (Matt. 26:64-65 // Mark 14:62-64), which deserves death (Lev. 24:10-16, 23).
“third day”: Some people take this to mean literally seventy-two hours, because Jonah spent three days and three nights in the big fish (Jnh. 1:17; Matt. 12:40), so Jesus must also spend seventy-two hours in the grave. But we over-read the intent here. The sign of Jonah was his coming out of the depths of the belly and the sea, which was a type of the resurrection. Let’s not over-analyze it. Jesus was crucified and died on Friday; he spent Saturday in the grave—or his body did—and his spirit and soul and body were raised from the dead early on Sunday morning: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday—three days. They don’t have to be seventy-two hours.
How do I prove that “three days and three nights” can be partial? First, in 1 Sam. 30:12 (literally “today three days”), the day before yesterday. Second, in Esther, a period described as “three days and three nights” (4:16) is concluded on the third day (5:1). (Thanks, R. T. France, p. 491, fn. 12!). Third, Jesus says he will rise on the third day (Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:64, and in Mark and Luke). Those verses in the Gospels where he quotes Jonah 1:17 and here where he says “on the third day” prove that he did not over-interpret Jonah, for the prophet was merely a sign and type. Jesus believed that three days and three nights could be partial. Fourth, even Paul said, “on the third day, according to the Scriptures”, that is, the OT (1 Cor. 15:4). So Paul must be using a semitic inclusive day out of three days of 72 hours. The days are partial.
Go to biblegateway.com and search the term “third day.” It is amazing how many significant contexts the phrase means.
GrowApp for Luke 9:18-22
1. How would you answer Jesus’s direct question to you?
2. How have you personally acted on his true identity?
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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