Luke 10:29 (GNT) But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Good News Translation w/ Apocrypha Chapter Parallel Luke 10:29 (GNTA) But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" GOD'S WORD Translation Chapter Parallel
Full Answer
This Lawyer was trying to justify himself to obtain eternal life. He was trying to narrow down the definition of neighbor to make it acceptable in his own mind and maintain his justification before God in his own mind.
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â But desiring to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, âAnd who is my neighbor?â
The Jewish lawyer who approached Jesus wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. He was looking at his own works and trying to justify himself. He was thinking that what he did was enough. On one level, Jesus' answer about the good Samaritan pointed out that this man didn't love like he should.
As Luke puts it, he wanted to âjustify himself.â And so he asks the one question he believes will do just that: âWho is my neighbor?â He thought he knew what Jesus would answer, and he assumed that the response would shine a light on his respectability, would show him for what he was, a man on the right side of things.
This parable is unique to Luke's Gospel and reflects Luke's stress on Jesus' attitude to the marginalized, here, the foreigner. The parable is triggered by a lawyer trying to catch Jesus out by testing his ability to interpret the Jewish Scriptures and solve the human puzzle of how to receive 'eternal life'.
The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road.
To be a neighbor, according to Jesus, means to come alongside someone. As Christian Americans, we must remember that we are Christians first, and Americans second. Our nationality should never surpass our faith and its duties. This is what we must keep in mind when we consider our âneighborâ.
justify yourself (to someone) âDefinitions and Synonyms phrase. DEFINITIONS1. to explain to someone the reason why you did something, especially when they think you have done something wrong.
Jesus used the Parable of the Good Samaritan as an example of loving those who may not be our friends. Jesus was asked to confirm what he meant by the word 'neighbour'. This is when he told the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), to explain that people should love everyone, including their enemies.
The typical interpretation of loving of a neighbor as oneself is affinity for kindness, patience, gentleness etc. in relations with neighbors. This interpretation of course is right. The easiest way to avoid doing of wrong to others is focus on doing of what is right.
When Jesus asks which of these three â the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan â acted as a neighbor to the robbed man, the lawyer answers âThe one who showed him mercy.â As Jesus often does, he turns the question of âwho is my neighbor?â on its head and instead answers âwho might be a neighbor to me?â
Who, then, in law, is my neighbour? The answer seems to be persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.â
When asked which commandment is greatest, he responds (in Matthew 22:37): âThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mindâŚthe second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
a person who lives near or next to another. a person or thing near or next to another. (as modifier)neighbour states.
The Samaritan saw the injured Jewish man lying in the road. Unlike the priest and unlike the Levite, he stopped and took pity on the man. He bent down and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He helped the man climb up onto the back of his own donkey and then took him to an inn, walking alongside.
Samaritan, member of a community, now nearly extinct, that claims to be related by blood to those Israelites of ancient Samaria who were not deported by the Assyrian conquerors of the kingdom of Israel in 722 bce.
It commemorated God's deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and was ordained hundreds of years prior to the life of Jesus as a lasting memorial to the saving work of God. The most important element of celebrating the Passover was the feast.
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.
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.
To be rescued by the Samaritan â and this is the point â is like being a man who wants to âjustify himselfâ but is instead rescued from distress by the grace of Jesus Christ. By telling this parable, Jesus ironically gave the lawyer a great gift, a work of kindness, even though the lawyer may not have thought so.
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 they so quickly settle into commonplace religious respectability. Love of God and neighbor become âgo to church and be nice to others.â. God first, others second, me last. Thereâs no âIâ in âTeam.â. Weâve recited this in Vacation Bible School just before ...
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'?"
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.
Luke 10:29 (ASV) But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Luke 10:29 (BBE) But he, desiring to put himself in the right, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Luke 10:29 (CEB) But the legal expert wanted to prove that he was right, so he said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Luke 10:29 (CJB) But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, "And who is my `neighbor'?"
Luke 10:29 (CSB) But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Luke 10:29 (DBY) But he, desirous of justifying himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Luke 10:29 (ESV) But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
Amplified Bible But he, wishing to justify and vindicate himself, asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Yeshua, "And who is my â neighbor '?"
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
Genesis 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it winds throughout the land of Havilah, where there is gold.
But he willing to justify himself ,.... Upon the foot of his own righteousness, and to make himself appear to be righteous to others; for this the Jews thought themselves able to do, both to justify themselves before God by their own works, and make it out to men, that they were truly righteous persons; and it is a maxim with them, that
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.
Willing to justify himself - Wishing to make it appear that he was a righteous man, and that consequently he was in the straight road to the kingdom of God, said, Who is my neighbor? supposing our Lord would have at once answered, "Every Jew is to be considered as such, and the Jews only." Now as he imagined he had never been deficient in his conduct to any person of his own nation, he thought he had amply fulfilled the law.
He knew that when the law has done it's work in the heart of a man or women they will come asking for mercy, not for direction on what good things they could do to gain eternal life. We see this quite often in the gospels: If a person comes by the law, Jesus answers them with the law.
Luke 10:30-35 NIV In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. (31) A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. (32) So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. (33) But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. (34) He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. (35) The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
Instead, it pointed the lawyer to the One, the despised One... the Lord Jesus, who was the true good Samaritan who went out of His way to save mankind. Jesus didn't cross over to the other side of the road. He saw the problem and didn't look for someone else to sort the problem. He made no excuses.
One despised... A Samarian. This represents the despised One - the Lord Jesus whom the Jews called a Samaritan. ( John 8:48 ). He is the One who had compassion ( Matt 9:36, Mar 1:41) and went out of His way to heal up the broken and give life to the dying.
Instead, it is a Samaritan, one despised in Jewish society, that has mercy and compassion upon the beaten man and goes out of his way (and at personal cost to himself) to see that this man is healed and taken care of.
No! But here is the point - If someone truly believes that they can inherit eternal life by keeping the law or by being good then they haven't been schooled by the law of God yet, for the purpose of the law was to shut every mouth! Jesus knew their hearts.
In Luke chapter 10 verses 25-37, Jesus answers the question posed by a lawyer, âTeacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?â In which Jesus responds, âWhat is written in the law? What is your reading of it?â And so the lawyer responds with the two great commandments from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, saying: ââYou shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,â and âyour neighbor as yourself.ââ Jesus affirms his answer by saying he is correct, in which the lawyer responds with another question, asking, âAnd who is my neighbor?â
Christâs parable directly addresses the deeper motive that the lawyer is trying to justify himself for: that there are certain people who are his neighbor and therefore should be loved , and that there are others who are not and therefore do not have to be loved by him. The parable that Jesus uses directly nullifies this frame of thinking, because it demonstrates that even someone who is supposed to be a hated enemy is still your neighbor. The âcertain manâ that Jesus references that âwent down from Jerusalemâ--an entirely Jewish city at the time of Christ--could potentially be a Jew himself. The idea can also be entertained that the lawyer who is being answered by Christ is also a Jew. From my perspective, it would make sense, since Christ makes the main protagonist of the parable a Samaritan; of which, Samaritans and Jews held an ancient hatred toward one another.
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
But he willing to justify himself Upon the foot of his own righteousness, and to make himself appear to be righteous to others; for this the Jews thought themselves able to do, both to justify themselves before God by their own works, and make it out to men, that they were truly righteous persons; and it is a maxim with them, that