Luke 12

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

• Papyrus 75 (AD 175–225)
• Papyrus 45 (~250)
• Codex Vaticanus (325–350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
• Codex Bezae (~400)
• Codex Washingtonianus (~400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1–3)

This chapter is divided into 59 verses.

Hypocrisy and the fear of God

Scottish minister William Robertson Nicoll calls this passage (verses 1–12) an "exhortation to fearless utterance". Henry Alford suggests that this discourse consists "for the most part of sayings repeated from other occasions".

An innumerable multitude

:In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy". Nicoll suggests that this is "the largest crowd mentioned anywhere in the Gospels"

The Jerusalem Bible notes that an alternative reading would connect the word "first" with the succeeding statement: First of all, be on your guard ... (, proton prosechete eautois). Protestant commentator Heinrich Meyer likewise argues that "πρῶτον, before all, is to be taken with προσέχετε"; it does not belong to what precedes". The Matthew Bible (1537) and Ruth Magnusson Davis' New Matthew Bible translation (2016) pick up this reading: :... he began and said to his disciples, "First of all, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy".

Verse 2

:For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. This verse matches : :For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Eric Franklin suggests that, in particular, it is Pharisaic hypocrisy which will be revealed, while David Robert Palmer translates the initial words of this verse, οὐδὲν δέ, ouden de, as "But there is nothing ...", arguing that "the particle δέ is meant to make a contrast here, between hypocrisy, in verse 1, and the disclosure of verse 2".

Verse 3

:Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops. In Matthew's wording, Jesus speaks in the darkness and exhorts his disciples subsequently to reveal what he has said (Matthew 10:27). Luke's version has the disciples speaking in the darkness. Nicoll compares these versions:

Parable of the Rich Fool

Main article: Parable of the Rich Fool

Among the canonical gospels of the New Testament, this parable of Jesus appears only in Luke's Gospel. The parable reflects the foolishness of attaching too much importance to wealth. It is introduced by a member of the crowd listening to Jesus, who tries to enlist Jesus' help in a family financial dispute: :One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. J. B. Lightfoot, Kuinoel (:de:Christian Gottlieb Kühnöl), and others note and emphasise that he was "certainly no attendant of Jesus".

An abbreviated version of the parable appears in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas (Saying 63) with a longer version similar to Luke's in Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5575.

The parable has been depicted by artists such as Rembrandt (illustrated), Jan Luyken, James Tissot, and David Teniers the Younger.

Do not worry

Main article: The Birds of the Air

Verse 29

: And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

Seek the kingdom of God

Verse 31

:But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Similarly in Matthew 6:33, with a slightly longer text: Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Verse 33

:Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. This is one of several occasions in Luke's gospel where Jesus encourages almsgiving.

Verse 34

:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Parable of the faithful servant

A series of exhortations to watchfulness and Luke's version of the parable of the faithful servant are contained in verses 35–48. The "master" (ὁ κύριος) is portrayed as being "away at a wedding", but "the main thought here only is that he is away at a feast, and will return".

I came to bring fire to the earth

Verse 49

:"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" F. W. Farrar, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, makes reference to an ‘unwritten saying’ of Christ, He who is near me is near the fire, which is recorded by Ignatius, Origen and Didymus.

Make peace with your adversary

The final verses of the chapter (verses 57–59) make use of an illustration based on a pecuniary claim

Verse 57

:Even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?

References

References

1. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:1. NKJV
2. Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
3. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
4. Nicoll, W. R., [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/luke/12.htm Expositor's Greek Testament] on Luke 12, accessed 19 June 2018
5. Alford, H., [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/alford/luke/12.htm Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford] on Luke 12, accessed 10 January 2022
6. but Jesus speaks "first of all" to his [[Disciple (Christianity). Peter]] asks (at verse 41) whether the [[parable of the faithful servant]] is addressed solely to the disciples or to the wider multitude (παντας, ''pantas'': 'everyone').{{bibleverse. Luke. 12:41. HCSB: [[Holman Christian Standard Bible]]
7. Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote ''a'' at Luke 12:1
8. Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/luke/12.htm Meyer's N T Commentary] on Luke 12, accessed 23 June 2018
9. [https://bibles-online.net/flippingbook/1537/950/ 1537 Matthew's Bible], p. 951: see colon after "disciples", accessed 23 September 2023
10. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:1. NMB: [[New Matthew Bible]]
11. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:1. NKJV: NKJV
12. Jerusalem Bible, Luke 12:2
13. Franklin, E., ''58. Luke'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary], p. 944
14. Palmer, D. R., [https://bibletranslation.ws/trans/lukewgrk.pdf The Gospel of Luke: a Translation from the Greek], August 2020 edition, accessed 10 January 2022, pg. 36
15. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:1. NKJV: NKJV
16. 0-8028-2315-7, pp. 487–491.
17. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:13. NKJV
18. Meyer observes that he was "a Jew on whom the endowments and authority of Jesus produced such an impression that he thought he might be able to make use of Him in the matter of his [[inheritance]]", but considers that "whether he was a younger brother who grudged to the first-born his [[Ki Teitzei#Deuteronomy chapter 21
19. ''Gospel of Thomas'': [http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html Lamb translation] and [http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gosthom.html Patterson/Meyer translation]
20. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:29. KJV KJV
21. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:31. KJV: KJV
22. {{bibleverse. Matthew. 6:33. KJV: KJV
23. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:33:ESV: [[English Standard Version]]
24. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:34. KJV KJV
25. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:49. NRSV NRSV
26. Farrar, F. W. (1891), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/luke/12.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Luke 12, accessed 19 August 2018
27. {{bibleverse. Luke. 12:57. NKJV NKJV