39 And the Lord said to him, You Pharisees make the outside of the cup and the plate clean; but inside you are thieves and full of evil.
To the clean in heart all things are clean: but to those who are unclean and without faith nothing is clean; they become unclean in mind and in thought.
And the Lord saw that the sin of man was great on the earth, and that all the thoughts of his heart were evil.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.
And I went farther in the Jews' religion than a number of my generation among my countrymen, having a more burning interest in the beliefs handed down from my fathers.
But Peter said, Ananias, why has the Evil One put it into your heart to be false to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
So while a meal was going on, the Evil One having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to be false to him,
And he said, You take care to seem right in the eyes of men, but God sees your hearts: and those things which are important in the opinion of men, are evil in the eyes of God.
And when the Lord saw her, he had pity on her and said to her, Be not sad.
A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire. You blind Pharisee, first make clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become equally clean.
Make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for by its fruit you will get knowledge of the tree. 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.
Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves.
Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.
Her rulers in her are like a loud-voiced lion violently taking his food; they have made a meal of souls; they have taken wealth and valued property; they have made great the number of widows in her.
There is a generation who seem to themselves to be free from sin, but are not washed from their unclean ways.
When he says fair words, have no belief in him; for in his heart are seven evils:
This Hezekiah did through all Judah; he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And for everything he undertook, in connection with the work of the house of God and his law and orders, he got directions from God and did it with serious purpose; and things went well for him.
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but his heart was not completely true to the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Luke 11
Commentary on Luke 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
In this chapter,
Luk 11:1-13
Prayer is one of the great laws of natural religion. That man is a brute, is a monster, that never prays, that never gives glory to his Maker, nor feels his favour, nor owns his dependence upon him. One great design therefore of Christianity is to assist us in prayer, to enforce the duty upon us, to instruct us in it, and encourage us to expect advantage by it. Now here,
Now,
Luk 11:14-26
The substance of these verses we had in Mt. 12:22, etc. Christ is here giving a general proof of his divine mission, by a particular proof of his power over Satan, his conquest of whom was an indication of his great design in coming into the world, which was, to destroy the works of the devil. Here too he gives an earnest of the success of that undertaking. He is here casting out a devil that made the poor possessed man dumb: in Matthew we are told that he was blind and dumb. When the devil was forced out by the word of Christ, the dumb spoke immediately, echoed to Christ's word, and the lips were opened to show forth his praise. Now,
Luk 11:27-28
We had not this passage in the other evangelists, nor can we tack it, as Dr. Hammond does, to that of Christ's mother and brethren desiring to speak with him (for this evangelist also has related that in ch. 8:19), but it contains an interruption much like that, and, like that, occasion is taken from it for instruction.
Luk 11:29-36
Christ's discourse in these verses shows two things:-
Luk 11:37-54
Christ here says many of those things to a Pharisee and his guests, in a private conversation at table, which he afterwards said in a public discourse in the temple (Mt. 23); for what he said in public and private was of a piece. He would not say that in a corner which he durst not repeat and stand to in the great congregation; nor would he give those reproofs to any sort of sinners in general which he durst not apply to them in particular as he met with them; for he was, and is, the faithful Witness. Here is,
To this he subjoins a rule for making our creature-comforts clean to us (v. 41): "Instead of washing your hands before you go to meat, give alms of such things as you have' (ta enonta- of such things as are set before you, and present with you); "let the poor have their share out of them, and then all things are clean to you, and you may use them comfortably.' Here is a plain allusion to the law of Moses, by which it was provided that certain portions of the increase of their land should be given to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; and, when that was done, what was reserved for their own use was clean to them, and they could in faith pray for a blessing upon it, Deu. 26:12-15. Then we can with comfort enjoy the gifts of God's bounty ourselves when we send portions to them for whom nothing is prepared, Neh. 8:10. Job ate not his morsel alone, but the fatherless ate thereof, and so it was clean to him (Job 31:17); clean, that is, permitted and allowed to be used, and then only can it be used comfortably. Note, What we have is not our own, unless God have his dues out of it; and it is by liberality to the poor that we clear up to ourselves our liberty to make use of our creature-comforts.