Bible Study series: Luke 11:27-28. What do you have to do to be truly blessed?
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
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.
Scripture: Luke 11:27-28
27 And it happened that while he was speaking these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts which nursed you!” 28 But he said, “On the contrary! Blessed are the ones who listen to the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)
Comments:
27:
This verse is spoken from a mother’s perspective. A woman has the right to feel proud of her son, and this woman expressed herself by using something literal (womb and breasts) to stand in for the intimacy she feels for her child. It is the human point of view. However, Jesus wants to raise it to a higher vision.
28:
This verse comes from the higher kingdom perspective. “on the contrary” is strong. It could also be translated as “not so!” “In contrast!” “Rather!”
Jesus already covered the two kinds of listeners (Luke 6:46-49). The wise one digs deep and builds his house on a firm foundation, and when the storms of life and testing come, it stands because it is well built. The unwise listener builds his house on the ground without a foundation. It collapses.
In this verse Jesus said you got to keep the word of God. It could be translated as “message” of God. It is the Greek noun logos (pronounced loh-goss and is used 330 times in the NT). Since the Greek noun is so important, let’s explore it more deeply, as I do in this entire commentary series.
The noun is rich and full of meaning. It always has built into it rationality and reason. It has spawned all sorts of English words that end in –log-, like theology or biology, or have the log– stem in them, like logic.
People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Yes, Luke-Acts is very charismatic, but it is also very orderly and rational and logical.
On the other side of the word logos, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia that believe they alone can teach and understand the Word. Not true.
Bottom line: Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining Word and Spirit is the balanced life. And see the other elements for a healthy spiritual life, in v. 26.
“keep”: the verb means “obey carefully, assiduously.” In other contexts it means “to guard.”
GrowApp for Luke 11:26-28
1. Have you ever had an earthbound opinion that needed a heavenly perspective? Give an example and how you changed.
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
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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