Despite the rejection of the Jewish leaders, those who accept God"s plan ( Luke 7:30) as John and Jesus announced it demonstrated its rightness. Their lives were testimonies to the truthfulness of what they had believed, which John and Jesus had proclaimed. Jesus stated this truth as a principle. The behavior of good children (i.e, disciples) normally points to their having wise parents (i.e, John and Jesus). John and Jesus had also behaved as good children of God and had vindicated His wisdom by their behavior. [source][source][source]
Luke"s account of these condemnatory words is fuller than Matthew"s. Luke focused on the religious leaders" rejection whereas Matthew applied Jesus" words to all the unbelieving Israelites that He faced more generally. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
Luke 7:24-35 - A Great Man And A Still Greater
The Master chose the moment of John's fainting fit to pass this high eulogium on the Baptist's stalwart character, his indifference to worldly bribes and his divine commission. When we write hard things against ourselves, He may be judging us with infinite tenderness and wisdom. Heaven does not estimate us by our passing moods. But the least believer in this Christian age has a clearer knowledge of Christ and a closer relationship to Him, than had the Baptist. He was a servant; we are brothers, sons, heirs, Romans 8:16-17.
If we will not accept the lower call of duty, as was manifested in the appeal of the Baptist, we shall never profit by Christ. Accept the dim light of the morning star and it will lead to the dawn.
It ill becomes us to observe the winds of human caprice. If we please one party, we shall displease the other. There is but one path through life, and that is to do the will of God, in which, as Dante puts it, is our peace. But the children of wisdom recognize her alike in the anxiety of the Baptist and in the graces of the Son of man. [source]
Chapter Summary: Luke 7
1Jesus finds a greater faith in the centurion; 10heals his servant, being absent; 11raises from death the widow's son at Nain; 18answers John's messengers with the declaration of his miracles; 24testifies to the people what opinion he held of John; 31compares this generation to the children in the marketplaces, 36and allowing his feet to be washed and anointed by a woman who was a sinner, 44he shows how he is a friend to sinners, to forgive them their sins, upon their repentance
Greek Commentary for Luke 7:35
Of all her children [απο παντων των τεκνων αυτης] Here Matthew 11:19 has “by her works” Aleph has εργων ergōn here. The use of “children” personifies wisdom as in Proverbs 8; 9. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 7:35
Matthew 1:1Christ [Χριστός] Properly an adjective, not a noun, and meaning anointed ( Χρίω , to anoint). It is a translation of the Hebrew Messiah, the king and spiritual ruler from David's race, promised under that name in the Old Testament (Psalm 2:2; Daniel 9:25,Daniel 9:26). Hence Andrew says to Simon, “We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, Christ (John 1:41; compare Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; Acts 19:28). To us “Christ “has become a proper name, and is therefore written without the definite article; but, in the body of the gospel narratives, since the identity of Jesus with the promised Messiah is still in question with the people, the article is habitually used, and the name should therefore be translated “the Christ.” After the resurrection, when the recognition of Jesus as Messiah has become general, we find the word beginning to be used as a proper name, with or without the article. In this passage it omits the article, because it occurs in the heading of the chapter, and expresses the evangelist's own faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Anointing was applied to kings (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1), to prophets (1 Kings 19:16), and to priests (Exodus 29:29; Exodus 40:15; Leviticus 16:32) at their inauguration. “The Lord's anointed” was a common title of the king (1 Samuel 12:3,1 Samuel 12:5; 2 Samuel 1:14,2 Samuel 1:16). Prophets are called “Messiahs,” or anointed ones (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15). Cyrus is also called “the Lord's Anointed,” because called to the throne to deliver the Jews out of captivity (Isaiah 45:1). Hence the word” Christ” was representative of our Lord, who united in himself the offices of king, prophet, and priest. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
It is interesting to see how anointing attaches to our Lord in other and minor particulars. Anointing was an act of hospitality and a sign of festivity and cheerfulness. Jesus was anointed by the woman when a guest in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and rebuked his host for omitting this mark of respect toward hint (Luke 7:35,Luke 7:46). In the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:8,Hebrews 1:9), the words of the Messianic psalm (Psalm 45:7) are applied to Jesus, “God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”-DIVIDER-
Anointing was practised upon the sick (Mark 6:13; Luke 10:34:; James 5:14). Jesus, “the Great Physician,” is described by Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1,Isaiah 61:2; compare Luke 4:18) as anointed by God to bind up the broken-hearted, and to give the mournful the oil of joy for mourning. He himself anointed the eyes of the blind man (John 9:6,John 9:11); and the twelve, in his name, “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6:13). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Anointing was practised upon the dead. Of her who brake the alabaster upon his head at Bethany, Jesus said, “She hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying” (Mark 14:8; see, also, Luke 23:56). [source]
Matthew 11:19Wisdom is justified by her works [εδικαιωτη απο των εργων αυτης] A timeless aorist passive (Robertson, Grammar, p. 836f.). The word “justified” means “set right” Luke (Luke 7:35) has “by all her children” as some MSS. have here to make Matthew like Luke. These words are difficult, but understandable. God‘s wisdom has planned the different conduct of both John and Jesus. He does not wish all to be just alike in everything. “This generation” (Matthew 11:16) is childish, not childlike, and full of whimsical inconsistencies in their faultfinding. They exaggerate in each case. John did not have a demon and Jesus was not a glutton or a winebibber. “And, worse than either, for πιλος philos is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nickname at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner‘s lover” (Bruce). Cf. Luke 15:2. The plan of God is justified by results. [source]
John 12:8Ye have always [παντοτε εχετε] Jesus does not discredit gifts to the poor at all. But there is relativity in one‘s duties. But me ye have not always This is what Mary perceived with her delicate woman‘s intuition and what the apostles failed to understand though repeatedly and plainly told by Jesus. John does not mention the precious promise of praise for Mary preserved in Mark 14:9; Matthew 26:13, but he does show her keen sympathetic insight and Christ‘s genuine appreciation of her noble deed. It is curiously mal-a -propos surely to put alongside this incident the other incident told long before by Luke (Luke 7:35.) of the sinful woman. Let Mary alone in her glorious act of love. [source]
Romans 3:20Be justified [δικαιωθήσεται] For the kindred adjective δίκαιος righteoussee on Romans 1:17. 1. Classical usage. The primitive meaning is to make right. This may take place absolutely or relatively. The person or thing may be made right in itself, or with reference to circumstances or to the minds of those who have to do with them. Applied to things or acts, as distinguished from persons, it signifies to make right in one's judgment. Thus Thucydides, ii. 6,7. “The Athenians judged it right to retaliate on the Lacedaemonians.” Herodotus, i., 89, Croesus says to Cyrus: “I think it right to shew thee whatever I may see to thy advantage.”-DIVIDER-
A different shade of meaning is to judge to be the case. So Thucydides, iv., 122: “The truth concerning the revolt was rather as the Athenians, judged the case to be.” Again, it occurs simply in the sense to judge. Thucydides, v., 26: “If anyone agree that the interval of the truce should be excluded, he will not judge correctly “In both these latter cases the etymological idea of right is merged, and the judicial element predominates. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
In ecclesiastical usage, to judge to be right or to decide upon in ecclesiastical councils. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Applied to persons, the meaning is predominantly judicial, though Aristotle (“Nichomachaean Ethics,” v., 9) uses it in the sense of to treat one rightly. There is no reliable instance of the sense to make right intrinsically; but it means to make one right in some extrinsic or relative manner. Thus Aeschylus, “Agamemnon,” 390-393: Paris, subjected to the judgment of men, tested ( δικαιωθεὶς ) is compared to bad brass which turns black when subjected to friction. Thus tested or judged he stands in right relation to men's judgments. He is shown in the true baseness of his character. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Thus the verb acquires the meaning of condemn; adjudge to be bad. Thucydides, iii., 40: Cleon says to the Athenians, “If you do not deal with the Mitylenaeans as I advise, you will condemn yourselves.” From this readily arises the sense of punish; since the punishment of a guilty man is a setting him in right relation to the political or moral system which his conduct has infringed. Thus Herodotus, i., 100: “Deioces the Mede, if he heard of any act of oppression, sent for the guilty party and punished him according to his offense.” Compare Plato, “Laws,” ii., 934. Plato uses δικαιωτήρια to denote places of punishment or houses of correction (“Phaedrus,” 249). According to Cicero, δικαιόω was used by the Sicilians of capital punishment: “ Ἑδικαιώθησαν , that is, as the Sicilians say, they were visited with punishment and executed” (“Against Verres,” v., 57). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
To sum up the classical usage, the word has two main references: 1, to persons; 2, to things or acts. In both the judicial element is dominant. The primary sense, to make right, takes on the conventional meanings to judge a thing to be right, to judge, to right a person, to treat rightly, to condemn, punish, put to death. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
2. New Testament usage. This is not identical with the classical usage. In the New Testament the word is used of persons only. In Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35, of a quality, Wisdom, but the quality is personified. It occurs thirty-nine times in the New Testament; twenty-seven in Paul; eight in the Synoptists and Acts; three in James; one in the Revelation. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
A study of the Pauline passages shows that it is used by Paul according to the sense which attaches to the adjective δίκαιος , representing a state of the subject relatively to God. The verb therefore indicates the act or process by which a man is brought into a right state as related to God. In the A.V. confusion is likely to arise from the variations in translation, righteousness, just, justifier, justify. See Romans 3:24,Romans 3:26,Romans 3:28,Romans 3:30; Romans 4:2; Romans 5:1,Romans 5:9; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:8,Galatians 3:11,Galatians 3:24; Titus 3:7. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The word is not, however, to be construed as indicating a mere legal transaction or adjustment between God and man, though it preserves the idea of relativity, in that God is the absolute standard by which the new condition is estimated, whether we regard God's view of the justified man, or the man's moral condition when justified. The element of character must not only not be eliminated from it; it must be foremost in it. Justification is more than pardon. Pardon is an act which frees the offender from the penalty of the law, adjusts his outward relation to the law, but does not necessarily effect any change in him personally. It is necessary to justification, but not identical with it. Justification aims directly at character. It contemplates making the man himself right; that the new and right relation to God in which faith places him shall have its natural and legitimate issue in personal rightness. The phrase faith is counted for righteousness, does not mean that faith is a substitute for righteousness, but that faith is righteousness; righteousness in the germ indeed, but still bona fide righteousness. The act of faith inaugurates a righteous life and a righteous character. The man is not made inherently holy in himself, because his righteousness is derived from God; neither is he merely declared righteous by a legal fiction without reference to his personal character; but the justifying decree, the declaration of God which pronounces him righteous, is literally true to the fact in that he is in real, sympathetic relation with the eternal source and norm of holiness, and with the divine personal inspiration of character. Faith contains all the possibilities of personal holiness. It unites man to the holy God, and through this union he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). The intent of justification is expressly declared by Paul to be conformity to Christ's image (Romans 8:29,Romans 8:30). Justification which does not actually remove the wrong condition in man which is at the root of his enmity to God, is no justification. In the absence of this, a legal declaration that the man is right is a fiction. The declaration of righteousness must have its real and substantial basis in the man's actual moral condition. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Hence justification is called justification of life (Romans 5:18); it is linked with the saving operation of the life of the risen Christ (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:10); those who are in Christ Jesus “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1); they exhibit patience, approval, hope, love (Romans 5:4,Romans 5:5). Justification means the presentation of the self to God as a living sacrifice; non-conformity to the world; spiritual renewal; right self-estimate - all that range of right practice and feeling which is portrayed in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle. See, further, on Romans 4:5.Knowledge ( ἐπίγνωσις )Clear and exact knowledge. Always of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of the religions life, and hence containing more of the element of personal sympathy than the simple γνῶσις knowledgewhich may be concerned with the intellect alone without affecting the character. See Romans 1:28; Romans 10:2; Ephesians 4:13. Also Philemon 1:9, where it is associated with the abounding of love; Colossians 3:10; Philemon 1:6, etc. Hence the knowledge of sin here is not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character. [source]
Greek Commentary for Luke 7:35
Here Matthew 11:19 has “by her works” Aleph has εργων ergōn here. The use of “children” personifies wisdom as in Proverbs 8; 9. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 7:35
Properly an adjective, not a noun, and meaning anointed ( Χρίω , to anoint). It is a translation of the Hebrew Messiah, the king and spiritual ruler from David's race, promised under that name in the Old Testament (Psalm 2:2; Daniel 9:25, Daniel 9:26). Hence Andrew says to Simon, “We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, Christ (John 1:41; compare Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; Acts 19:28). To us “Christ “has become a proper name, and is therefore written without the definite article; but, in the body of the gospel narratives, since the identity of Jesus with the promised Messiah is still in question with the people, the article is habitually used, and the name should therefore be translated “the Christ.” After the resurrection, when the recognition of Jesus as Messiah has become general, we find the word beginning to be used as a proper name, with or without the article. In this passage it omits the article, because it occurs in the heading of the chapter, and expresses the evangelist's own faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Anointing was applied to kings (1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 10:1), to prophets (1 Kings 19:16), and to priests (Exodus 29:29; Exodus 40:15; Leviticus 16:32) at their inauguration. “The Lord's anointed” was a common title of the king (1 Samuel 12:3, 1 Samuel 12:5; 2 Samuel 1:14, 2 Samuel 1:16). Prophets are called “Messiahs,” or anointed ones (1 Chronicles 16:22; Psalm 105:15). Cyrus is also called “the Lord's Anointed,” because called to the throne to deliver the Jews out of captivity (Isaiah 45:1). Hence the word” Christ” was representative of our Lord, who united in himself the offices of king, prophet, and priest. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- It is interesting to see how anointing attaches to our Lord in other and minor particulars. Anointing was an act of hospitality and a sign of festivity and cheerfulness. Jesus was anointed by the woman when a guest in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and rebuked his host for omitting this mark of respect toward hint (Luke 7:35, Luke 7:46). In the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 1:8, Hebrews 1:9), the words of the Messianic psalm (Psalm 45:7) are applied to Jesus, “God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”-DIVIDER- Anointing was practised upon the sick (Mark 6:13; Luke 10:34:; James 5:14). Jesus, “the Great Physician,” is described by Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1, Isaiah 61:2; compare Luke 4:18) as anointed by God to bind up the broken-hearted, and to give the mournful the oil of joy for mourning. He himself anointed the eyes of the blind man (John 9:6, John 9:11); and the twelve, in his name, “anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them” (Mark 6:13). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Anointing was practised upon the dead. Of her who brake the alabaster upon his head at Bethany, Jesus said, “She hath anointed my body aforehand for the burying” (Mark 14:8; see, also, Luke 23:56). [source]
A timeless aorist passive (Robertson, Grammar, p. 836f.). The word “justified” means “set right” Luke (Luke 7:35) has “by all her children” as some MSS. have here to make Matthew like Luke. These words are difficult, but understandable. God‘s wisdom has planned the different conduct of both John and Jesus. He does not wish all to be just alike in everything. “This generation” (Matthew 11:16) is childish, not childlike, and full of whimsical inconsistencies in their faultfinding. They exaggerate in each case. John did not have a demon and Jesus was not a glutton or a winebibber. “And, worse than either, for πιλος philos is used in a sinister sense and implies that Jesus was the comrade of the worst characters, and like them in conduct. A malicious nickname at first, it is now a name of honour: the sinner‘s lover” (Bruce). Cf. Luke 15:2. The plan of God is justified by results. [source]
Jesus does not discredit gifts to the poor at all. But there is relativity in one‘s duties. But me ye have not always This is what Mary perceived with her delicate woman‘s intuition and what the apostles failed to understand though repeatedly and plainly told by Jesus. John does not mention the precious promise of praise for Mary preserved in Mark 14:9; Matthew 26:13, but he does show her keen sympathetic insight and Christ‘s genuine appreciation of her noble deed. It is curiously mal-a -propos surely to put alongside this incident the other incident told long before by Luke (Luke 7:35.) of the sinful woman. Let Mary alone in her glorious act of love. [source]
For the kindred adjective δίκαιος righteoussee on Romans 1:17. 1. Classical usage. The primitive meaning is to make right. This may take place absolutely or relatively. The person or thing may be made right in itself, or with reference to circumstances or to the minds of those who have to do with them. Applied to things or acts, as distinguished from persons, it signifies to make right in one's judgment. Thus Thucydides, ii. 6,7. “The Athenians judged it right to retaliate on the Lacedaemonians.” Herodotus, i., 89, Croesus says to Cyrus: “I think it right to shew thee whatever I may see to thy advantage.”-DIVIDER- A different shade of meaning is to judge to be the case. So Thucydides, iv., 122: “The truth concerning the revolt was rather as the Athenians, judged the case to be.” Again, it occurs simply in the sense to judge. Thucydides, v., 26: “If anyone agree that the interval of the truce should be excluded, he will not judge correctly “In both these latter cases the etymological idea of right is merged, and the judicial element predominates. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In ecclesiastical usage, to judge to be right or to decide upon in ecclesiastical councils. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Applied to persons, the meaning is predominantly judicial, though Aristotle (“Nichomachaean Ethics,” v., 9) uses it in the sense of to treat one rightly. There is no reliable instance of the sense to make right intrinsically; but it means to make one right in some extrinsic or relative manner. Thus Aeschylus, “Agamemnon,” 390-393: Paris, subjected to the judgment of men, tested ( δικαιωθεὶς ) is compared to bad brass which turns black when subjected to friction. Thus tested or judged he stands in right relation to men's judgments. He is shown in the true baseness of his character. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Thus the verb acquires the meaning of condemn; adjudge to be bad. Thucydides, iii., 40: Cleon says to the Athenians, “If you do not deal with the Mitylenaeans as I advise, you will condemn yourselves.” From this readily arises the sense of punish; since the punishment of a guilty man is a setting him in right relation to the political or moral system which his conduct has infringed. Thus Herodotus, i., 100: “Deioces the Mede, if he heard of any act of oppression, sent for the guilty party and punished him according to his offense.” Compare Plato, “Laws,” ii., 934. Plato uses δικαιωτήρια to denote places of punishment or houses of correction (“Phaedrus,” 249). According to Cicero, δικαιόω was used by the Sicilians of capital punishment: “ Ἑδικαιώθησαν , that is, as the Sicilians say, they were visited with punishment and executed” (“Against Verres,” v., 57). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- To sum up the classical usage, the word has two main references: 1, to persons; 2, to things or acts. In both the judicial element is dominant. The primary sense, to make right, takes on the conventional meanings to judge a thing to be right, to judge, to right a person, to treat rightly, to condemn, punish, put to death. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 2. New Testament usage. This is not identical with the classical usage. In the New Testament the word is used of persons only. In Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:35, of a quality, Wisdom, but the quality is personified. It occurs thirty-nine times in the New Testament; twenty-seven in Paul; eight in the Synoptists and Acts; three in James; one in the Revelation. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- A study of the Pauline passages shows that it is used by Paul according to the sense which attaches to the adjective δίκαιος , representing a state of the subject relatively to God. The verb therefore indicates the act or process by which a man is brought into a right state as related to God. In the A.V. confusion is likely to arise from the variations in translation, righteousness, just, justifier, justify. See Romans 3:24, Romans 3:26, Romans 3:28, Romans 3:30; Romans 4:2; Romans 5:1, Romans 5:9; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:8, Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:24; Titus 3:7. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The word is not, however, to be construed as indicating a mere legal transaction or adjustment between God and man, though it preserves the idea of relativity, in that God is the absolute standard by which the new condition is estimated, whether we regard God's view of the justified man, or the man's moral condition when justified. The element of character must not only not be eliminated from it; it must be foremost in it. Justification is more than pardon. Pardon is an act which frees the offender from the penalty of the law, adjusts his outward relation to the law, but does not necessarily effect any change in him personally. It is necessary to justification, but not identical with it. Justification aims directly at character. It contemplates making the man himself right; that the new and right relation to God in which faith places him shall have its natural and legitimate issue in personal rightness. The phrase faith is counted for righteousness, does not mean that faith is a substitute for righteousness, but that faith is righteousness; righteousness in the germ indeed, but still bona fide righteousness. The act of faith inaugurates a righteous life and a righteous character. The man is not made inherently holy in himself, because his righteousness is derived from God; neither is he merely declared righteous by a legal fiction without reference to his personal character; but the justifying decree, the declaration of God which pronounces him righteous, is literally true to the fact in that he is in real, sympathetic relation with the eternal source and norm of holiness, and with the divine personal inspiration of character. Faith contains all the possibilities of personal holiness. It unites man to the holy God, and through this union he becomes a partaker of the divine nature, and escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4). The intent of justification is expressly declared by Paul to be conformity to Christ's image (Romans 8:29, Romans 8:30). Justification which does not actually remove the wrong condition in man which is at the root of his enmity to God, is no justification. In the absence of this, a legal declaration that the man is right is a fiction. The declaration of righteousness must have its real and substantial basis in the man's actual moral condition. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Hence justification is called justification of life (Romans 5:18); it is linked with the saving operation of the life of the risen Christ (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:10); those who are in Christ Jesus “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1); they exhibit patience, approval, hope, love (Romans 5:4, Romans 5:5). Justification means the presentation of the self to God as a living sacrifice; non-conformity to the world; spiritual renewal; right self-estimate - all that range of right practice and feeling which is portrayed in the twelfth chapter of this Epistle. See, further, on Romans 4:5.Knowledge ( ἐπίγνωσις )Clear and exact knowledge. Always of a knowledge which powerfully influences the form of the religions life, and hence containing more of the element of personal sympathy than the simple γνῶσις knowledgewhich may be concerned with the intellect alone without affecting the character. See Romans 1:28; Romans 10:2; Ephesians 4:13. Also Philemon 1:9, where it is associated with the abounding of love; Colossians 3:10; Philemon 1:6, etc. Hence the knowledge of sin here is not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character. [source]