45 The good man, out of the good store of his heart, gives good things; and the evil man, out of his evil store, gives evil: for out of the full store of the heart come the words of the mouth.
Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for giving necessary teaching, and for grace to those who give ear.
And keep watch over your heart with all care; so you will have life.
You offspring of snakes, how are you, being evil, able to say good things? because out of the heart's store come the words of the mouth. The good man out of his good store gives good things; and the evil man out of his evil store gives evil things. And I say to you that in the day when they are judged, men will have to give an account of every foolish word they have said. For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.
Let your talk be with grace, mixed with salt, so that you may be able to give an answer to everyone.
He who has faith in me, out of his body, as the Writings have said, will come rivers of living water.
Even so the tongue is a small part of the body, but it takes credit for great things. How much wood may be lighted by a very little fire! And the tongue is a fire; it is the power of evil placed in our bodies, making all the body unclean, putting the wheel of life on fire, and getting its fire from hell. For every sort of beast and bird and every living thing on earth and in the sea has been controlled by man and is under his authority; But the tongue may not be controlled by man; it is an unresting evil, it is full of the poison of death.
Let the word of Christ be in you in all wealth of wisdom; teaching and helping one another with songs of praise and holy words, making melody to God with grace in your hearts.
Their throat is like an open place of death; with their tongues they have said what is not true: the poison of snakes is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of curses and bitter words:
The mouth of the good man says words of wisdom; the talk of his tongue is of righteousness. The law of his God is in his heart; he will never make a false step.
There are some whose uncontrolled talk is like the wounds of a sword, but the tongue of the wise makes one well again.
Purposing destruction, using deceit; your tongue is like a sharp blade. You have more love for evil than for good, for deceit than for works of righteousness. (Selah.) Destruction is in all your words, O false tongue.
If one comes to see me, deceit is in his heart; he keeps a store of evil, which he makes public in every place. All my haters are talking secretly together against me; they are designing my downfall.
Everyone says false words to his neighbour: their tongues are smooth in their talk, and their hearts are full of deceit. The smooth lips and the tongue of pride will be cut off by the Lord. They have said, With our tongues will we overcome; our lips are ours: who is lord over us?
If only I had in the waste land a night's resting-place for travellers, so that I might go away, far from my people! for they are all untrue, a band of false men. Their tongues are bent like a bow to send out false words: they have become strong in the land, but not for good faith: they go on from evil to evil, and they have no knowledge of me, says the Lord. Let everyone keep watch on his neighbour, and put no faith in any brother: for every brother will certainly be tricking his brother, and every neighbour will go about saying evil. Everyone will make sport of his neighbour with deceit, not saying what is true: their tongues have been trained to say false words; they are twisted, hating to come back.
Give me this power, so that when I put my hands on anyone he may get the Holy Spirit. But Peter said, May your money come to destruction with you, because you had the idea that what is freely given by God may be got for a price. You have no part in this business, because your heart is not right before God. Let your heart be changed, and make prayer to God that you may have forgiveness for your evil thoughts. For I see that you are prisoned in bitter envy and the chains of sin.
Joining with one another in holy songs of praise and of the Spirit, using your voice in songs and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
My delight is to do your pleasure, O my God; truly, your law is in my heart. I have given news of righteousness in the great meeting; O Lord, you have knowledge that I have not kept back my words. Your righteousness has not been folded away in my heart; I have made clear your true word and your salvation; I have not kept secret your mercy or your faith from the great meeting.
But evil acts of the flesh and all unclean things, or desire for others' property, let it not even be named among you, as is right for saints; And let there be no low behaviour, or foolish talk, or words said in sport, which are not right, but in place of them the giving of praise.
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, so that I might make clear to the Gentiles the good news of the unending wealth of Christ:
Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this wealth in vessels of earth, so that it may be seen that the power comes not from us but from God;
Let your ear be bent down for hearing my words, and let your heart give thought to knowledge. For it is a delight to keep them in your heart, to have them ready on your lips.
The men of pride have put secret cords for my feet; stretching nets in my way, so that they may take me with their tricks. (Selah.)
My mouth will make clear your righteousness and your salvation all the day; for they are more than may be measured. I will give news of the great acts of the Lord God; my words will be of your righteousness, and of yours only. O God, you have been my teacher from the time when I was young; and I have been talking of your works of wonder even till now. Now when I am old and grey-headed, O God, give me not up; till I have made clear your strength to this generation, and your power to all those to come.
Who make their tongues sharp like a sword, and whose arrows are pointed, even bitter words; So that in secret they may let loose their arrows at the upright, suddenly and unseen. They make themselves strong in an evil purpose; they make holes for secret nets; they say, Who will see it, Or make discovery of our secret purpose? The design is framed with care; and the inner thought of a man, and his heart, is deep. But God sends out an arrow against them; suddenly they are wounded. The evil of their tongues is the cause of their fall; all those who see them are shaking their heads at them.
See, hate is dropping from their lips; curses are on their tongues: they say, Who gives attention to it?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Luke 6
Commentary on Luke 6 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 6
Lu 6:1-5. Plucking Corn-ears on the Sabbath.
(See on Mt 12:1-8 and Mr 2:23-28.)
1. second sabbath after the first—an obscure expression, occurring here only, generally understood to mean, the first sabbath after the second day of unleavened bread. The reasons cannot be stated here, nor is the opinion itself quite free from difficulty.
5. Lord also—rather "even" (as in Mt 12:8).
of the sabbath—as naked a claim to all the authority of Him who gave the law at Mount Sinai as could possibly be made; that is, "I have said enough to vindicate the men ye carp at on My account: but in this place is the Lord of the law, and they have His sanction." (See Mr 2:28.)
Lu 6:6-11. Withered Hand Healed.
(See on Mt 12:9-15 and Mr 3:1-7.)
7. watched whether, &c.—In Matthew (Mt 12:9) this is put as an ensnaring question of theirs to our Lord, who accordingly speaks to the state of their hearts (Lu 6:9), just as if they had spoken it out.
9. good, or … evil, save … or destroy—By this novel way of putting His case, our Lord teaches the great ethical principle, that to neglect any opportunity of doing good is to incur the guilt of doing evil; and by this law He bound His own spirit. (See Mr 3:4.)
11. filled with madness—The word denotes senseless rage at the confusion to which our Lord had put them, both by word and deed.
what … do to Jesus—not so much whether to get rid of Him, but how to compass it. (See on Mt 3:6.)
Lu 6:12-49. The Twelve Apostles Chosen—Gathering Multitudes—Glorious Healing.
12, 13. went out—probably from Capernaum.
all night in prayer … and when … day, he called, &c.—The work with which the next day began shows what had been the burden of this night's devotions. As He directed His disciples to pray for "laborers" just before sending themselves forth (see on Mt 9:37; Mt 10:1), so here we find the Lord Himself in prolonged communion with His Father in preparation for the solemn appointment of those men who were to give birth to His Church, and from whom the world in all time was to take a new mould. How instructive is this!
13-16. (See on Mt 10:2-4.)
17. in the plain—by some rendered "on a level place," that is, a piece of high tableland, by which they understand the same thing, as "on the mountain," where our Lord delivered the sermon recorded by Matthew (Mt 5:1), of which they take this following discourse of Luke to be but an abridged form. But as the sense given in our version is the more accurate, so there are weighty reasons for considering the discourses different. This one contains little more than a fourth of the other; it has woes of its own, as well as the beatitudes common to both; but above all, that of Matthew was plainly delivered a good while before, while this was spoken after the choice of the twelve; and as we know that our Lord delivered some of His weightiest sayings more than once, there is no difficulty in supposing this to be one of His more extended repetitions; nor could anything be more worthy of it.
19. healed—kept healing, denoting successive acts of mercy till it went over "all" that needed. There is something unusually grand and pictorial in this touch of description.
20, 21. In the Sermon on the Mount the benediction is pronounced upon the "poor in spirit" and those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Mt 5:3, 6). Here it is simply on the "poor" and the "hungry now." In this form of the discourse, then, our Lord seems to have had in view "the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him," as these very beatitudes are paraphrased by James (Jas 2:5).
21. laugh—How charming is the liveliness of this word, to express what in Matthew is called being "comforted!"
22. separate you—whether from their Church, by excommunication, or from their society; both hard to flesh and blood.
for the Son of man's sake—Compare Mt 5:11, "for My sake"; and immediately before, "for righteousness' sake" (Lu 6:10). Christ thus binds up the cause of righteousness in the world with the reception of Himself.
23. leap for joy—a livelier word than "be exceeding glad" of "exult" (Mt 5:12).
24, 25. rich … full … laugh—who have all their good things and joyous feelings here and now, in perishable objects.
received your consolation—(see on Lu 16:25).
shall hunger—their inward craving strong as ever, but the materials of satisfaction forever gone.
26. all … speak well of you—alluding to the court paid to the false prophets of old (Mic 2:11). For the principle of this woe, and its proper limits, see Joh 15:19.
27-36. (See on Mt 5:44-48; Mt 7:12; and Mt 14:12-14.)
37, 38. See on Mt 7:1, 2; but this is much fuller and more graphic.
39. Can the blind, &c.—not in the Sermon on the Mount, but recorded by Matthew in another and very striking connection (Mt 15:14).
40. The disciple, &c.—that is, "The disciple aims to come up to his master, and he thinks himself complete when he does so: if you then be blind leaders of the blind, the perfection of one's training under you will only land him the more certainly in one common ruin with yourselves."
41-49. (See on Mt 7:3-5, Mt 7:16-27.)