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But the man wanted to justify his question. So he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" And he, willing to declare himself righteous, said to Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" But the man wanted to justify his question. So he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"
Donât get me wrong, people tried to ask him questions all the time, but he rarely answered them and instead responded with a question of his own. Think about that for a minute. Jesus, God in flesh, more often than not, asked questions and avoided giving answers.
Luke 10:29 Commentaries: But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Bible> Commentaries> Luke 10:29 âLuke 10:29 âş But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Verse 29.
But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
To justify himself - Desirous to appear blameless, or to vindicate himself, and show that he had kept the law. Jesus wished to lead him to a proper view of his own sinfulness, and his real departure from the law.
29. But he wishing to justify himself. This question might appear to be of no importance for justifying a man.
Chapter 10 Now in chapter 10, we read of this commissioning in the sending forth of the seventy, in the contrast to the twelve of chapter 9.
The incident that Mark recorded in Mark 12:28-34 is quite similar to this one, but the differences in the accounts point to two separate situations. In view of the question at stake it is easy to see how people might have asked it of Jesus many different times.
The lawyer realized that the only way he could possibly fulfill the lawâs demand was to limit its demand. He should have acknowledged his inability to keep these commands and asked Jesus what He should do.
Then Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples, and He told them, "If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Luke 16:15. So He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.
Of the first part, his duty towards God, as far as his poor distorted mind could grasp the idea, he was at ease in his conscience. The tithe, down to the anise and cummin, had been scrupulously paid; his fasts had been rigidly observed, his feasts carefully kept, his prayer-formulas never neglected. Yes; as regards God, the Pharisee-lawyer's conscience was at ease! But his neighbour? He thought of his conduct towards that simple, truthful-looking Galilaean Rabbi, Jesus, that very day; trying to trip him up in his words, longing to do him injury - injury to that worn-looking, loving Man who had never done him any harm, and who, report said, was only living to do others good. Was he, perchance, his neighbour? So, vexed and uneasy - but it seems in perfect honesty now, and in good faith - he asks this further question, "Master, tell me, who do you teach should be included in the term 'neighbour'?"
The Pharisees held that the "Jews" only were to be regarded as such, and that the obligation did not extend at all to the Gentiles. The lawyer was probably ready to affirm that he had discharged faithfully his duty to his countrymen, and had thus kept the law, and could justify himself.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary. 10:25-37 If we speak of eternal life, and the way to it, in a careless manner, we take the name of God in vain. No one will ever love God and his neighbour with any measure of pure, spiritual love, who is not made a partaker of converting grace.
Satan, our enemy, has robbed us, and wounded us: such is the mischief sin has done us. The blessed Jesus had compassion on us. The believer considers that Jesus loved him, and gave his life for him, when an enemy and a rebel; and having shown him mercy, he bids him go and do likewise.
Our Saviour (this being but a captious question, considering the received interpretation amongst them of the law of God) doth not think fit to answer his question directly, but telling him a story, maketh him answer himself. Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. But he willing to justify himself,....
The law forbade murder, but Jesus said that anger or mockery makes one guilty of murder, because the same attitudes that produce murder first produce anger and contempt (see Matthew 5:21â22 ). The law forbade adultery, but Jesus said a lustful look is adultery in the heart.
In Luke 10 a teacher of the law, âwishing to justify himself,â asked Jesus, âWho is my neighbor?â (verse 29). It might be possible to keep the command to âlove your neighbor as yourselfâ if neighbor is defined narrowly enough. Jesusâ response is the story of the Good Samaritan, in which He demonstrates that your neighbor is anyone you come ...
Obviously, focusing on the letter of the law can be a tactic to negate the intent or spirit of the law. Leviticus 19:14 says, âDo not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind.â. Here the letter of the law forbids exactly two things: cursing the deaf and tripping up the blind. However, no law can explicitly cover every possible ...
A man who never touches a woman other than his wife but who indulges in sexual fantasies is obeying the letter of the law , but not the spirit of it (see Matthew 5:27â28 ). And, according to Jesus, obeying the letter of the law but not its spirit is not an option. When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment, ...
People who focus on the letter of the law often point to their compliance as a means to justify themselves, even as they flagrantly violate the lawâs intent; however, God will judge according to the spirit of the law, not just the letter. Return to:
However, no law can explicitly cover every possible situation. The spirit of the law in Leviticus 19:14 forbids taking advantage of the disabilities of another, no matter what those disabilities are. The letter of the law may be narrow, but the spirit of the law encompasses something far broaderâand is therefore more difficult to obey.
Notice that the lawyer was testing Jesus (v. 25) and asked what works he must do to have eternal life . The lawyer obviously had faith in God that produced good works consistent with the Law since he quoted the Law to Jesus when Jesus asked him what was written in the Law. Jesus commends him on his answer about loving God ...
Jesus commends him on his answer about loving God and loving oneâs neighbor and then follows up with the story of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:30-37) to show that works of love are the fulfillment of Loving Your Neighbor. This is why Jesus said, âDo this and you will live.â. Jesus was pointing the Lawyer to the law and requiring it of him.
Jesus applies peoplesâ own standards to themselves when they seek to be justified before God. If you hold to justification by faith alone , then the standard is not works but faith in Christâs work. If your standard is faith and works, then youâre obligated to keep the Law. However, such a standard can save no one.
by faith alone in Christâs work alone, and that explains why Paul said in Romans 3:28 that we are âjustified by faith apart from the works of the lawâ because no one is able to keep the law perfectly.
His intent was wrong. He was trying to get the lawyer to evaluate his life and his heart and see that his intentions were off.
Jesus asked a LOT of questions in his years walking this earth. By one estimate, he asks a total of 307 questions that are recorded in the Gospels. What makes that number truly surprising is how few questions he actually answered. We only have 8 recorded answers that Jesus gave.
Itâs in these questions, Jesus asks his disciples if they truly love him. If they actually want to be with him. The first one comes in John 6. After Jesus teaches a very hard lesson, everyone listening decides following Jesus is too difficult and they get up and leave.
Interestingly, a common question of invitation Jesus asked was, âWhat are you looking for?â (John 1:38)
He will not force anyone. Jesus asks this question in hopes they will choose a relationship with him over other pursuits in life. Jesus asks a question of invitation, rather than demand obedience.
In short, the lawyer, who Luke says âstood up to test Jesusâ and wanted âto justify himself,â now finds himself face down beside the road. No longer in the stance of righteousness, he is now in the posture of dire need.
Jesus undermines the lawyerâs standing in order to show that the lawyer, like all the rest of humanity, needs not to stand his ground but to see the face of grace, and then to move, to repent. It is important to keep in view that the story Jesus told the lawyer was a parable, not an example story.
The lawyer depended upon the concepts âlove Godâ and âlove neighborâ to remain fixed and stable, a system of religious justification, and, again like most of us, he had found a sweet spot in that religious system that allowed him to be satisfied with himself and his life.
Luke says the lawyer intended to put Jesus to the test, and to do so, he asks two questions.
Jesus was not born to justify the righteous; he was born, as the angels over Bethlehem proclaimed, to be a savior. In Jesus, the system is not standing still. God is moving toward humanity in mercy and calling humanity to move toward God in repentance. And that is why Jesus throws the lawyer into the ditch beside the Jericho road.
But that is precisely the beginnerâs blunder committed by the well-known Torah attorney who shows up in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke. At this point in Luke, Jesus has âset his face to go to Jerusalemâ (9:51) and is beginning the long journey to the city of his destiny, the city of his death, the city of his glory.
Only the Samaritan, the despised Samaritan, the one by whom the lawyer would not want even to be touched, only the Samaritan lifted him up, dressed his wounds, cared for his life, helped him move from a place of death to a place of life.
The Apostle Paul said, âWherefore as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin and so death fell upon all men for that all have sinned. Sin is the breaking of Godâs law and so a Messiah was and is needed to save men and anoint them with Godâs eternal life.
Here is the most important to me. The Bible is holy. It is set apart from every other book and is Godâs masterpiece, Divine Love Letters. It has two covenants that are legal documents and they bring to the Bible the most astonishing thing in history , a code which is self-authenticating.
The Bible is supposed to be a book of answers. So itâs rather interesting how many questions it asks. Iâm not referring to unanswered questions about the Bible, nor the philosophical or existential questions raised by the Bible. Iâm referring to actual questions asked in the Bible, whether by God, angels, or men.
The Bible prove s its own authority and also proves it authorship as divine by the innumerable prophecies about a coming Christ and then the fulfilments of that Christ in Jesus of Nazareth! Among so called sacred books no other book comes close to the amazing features of the Holy Bible. â.
Jesus chose these seventy to see the glory of God in action as they served and represented Him. ¡ Perhaps seventy suggested a connection with the seventy members of the Sanhedrin, and Jesus showed He was established a new order, a new leadership.
He praised God the Father for His wisdom, for His plan, and for His own unique relationship with God the Father. ¡ Jesus thanked the Father, not praising His own work. ¡ Jesus thanked the Father for His wise, sometimes unexpected plan. ¡ Jesus thanked the Father for the fellow servants in His midst.
3. ( Luk 10:9) What Jesus wanted the seventy to do: to heal and to preach.
The good of a harvest can go to waste if there are no laborers to take advantage of the bounty. Jesus warned us that opportunities to meet human need and bring people into His kingdom may wasted because of a shortage of laborers . d.
There was a Judas in the twelve: we never read of one among the seventy.â (Morrison) iii. Sent them two by two: âThese Christ sent by two and two: 1. To teach them the necessity of concord among the ministers of righteousness. 2.
The Bible never specifically mentions Jesusâ miracles in Chorazin. This is an indication that the Gospels give us sketches of Jesusâ life, not full biographies. The Apostle John admitted this, saying it would be impossible to recount everything Jesus did ( John 21:25 ). d.
Even the demons are subject to us in Your name: A careful look at the instructions Jesus gave these seventy ( Luke 10:9) shows that Jesus had not originally commissioned them to cast out demons (as He did the twelve disciples in Luke 9:1-2 ). Therefore, we might regard this as an unexpected blessing of their ministry. i.