Luke4
New International Version
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
8Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.
10For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
12Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
15He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
24“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
25I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
27And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
29They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.
30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
31Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people.
32They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.
33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,
34“Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
35“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
36All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!”
37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
38Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.
39So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
40At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.
41Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
42At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.
43But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”
44And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Luke 4.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The temptation of Christ. (1–13). Christ in the synagogue of Nazareth. (14–30). He casts out an unclean spirit and heals the sick. (31–44).
vv1-13
Christ's being led into the wilderness gave an advantage to the tempter; for there he was alone, none were with him by whose prayers and advice he might be helped in the hour of temptation. He who knew his own strength might give Satan advantage; but we may not, who know our own weakness. Being in all things made like unto his brethren, Jesus would, like the other children of God, live in dependence upon the Divine Providence and promise. The word of God is our sword, and faith in that word is our shield. God has many ways of providing for his people, and therefore is at all times to be depended upon in the way of duty. All Satan's promises are deceitful; and if he is permitted to have any influence in disposing of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, he uses them as baits to insnare men to destruction. We should reject at once and with abhorrence, every opportunity of sinful gain or advancement, as a price offered for our souls; we should seek riches, honours, and happiness in the worship and service of God only. Christ will not worship Satan; nor, when he has the kingdoms of the world delivered to him by his Father, will he suffer any remains of the worship of the devil to continue in them. Satan also tempted Jesus to be his own murderer, by unfitting confidence in his Father's protection, such as he had no warrant for. Let not any abuse of Scripture by Satan or by men abate our esteem, or cause us to abandon its use; but let us study it still, seek to know it, and seek our defence from it in all kinds of assaults. Let this word dwell richly in us, for it is our life. Our victorious Redeemer conquered, not for himself only, but for us also. The devil ended all the temptation. Christ let him try all his force, and defeated him. Satan saw it was to no purpose to attack Christ, who had nothing in him for his fiery darts to fasten upon. And if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. Yet he departed but till the season when he was again to be let loose upon Jesus, not as a tempter, to draw him to sin, and so to strike at his head, at which he now aimed and was wholly defeated in; but as a persecutor, to bring Christ to suffer, and so to bruise his heel, which it was told him, he should have to do, and would do, though it would be the breaking of his own head, Ge 3:15. Though Satan depart for a season, we shall never be out of his reach till removed from this present evil world.
vv14-30
Christ taught in their synagogues, their places of public worship, where they met to read, expound, and apply the word, to pray and praise. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit were upon him and on him, without measure. By Christ, sinners may be loosed from the bonds of guilt, and by his Spirit and grace from the bondage of corruption. He came by the word of his gospel, to bring light to those that sat in the dark, and by the power of his grace, to give sight to those that were blind. And he preached the acceptable year of the Lord. Let sinners attend to the Saviour's invitation when liberty is thus proclaimed. Christ's name was Wonderful; in nothing was he more so than in the word of his grace, and the power that went along with it. We may well wonder that he should speak such words of grace to such graceless wretches as mankind. Some prejudice often furnishes an objection against the humbling doctrine of the cross; and while it is the word of God that stirs up men's enmity, they will blame the conduct or manner of the speaker. The doctrine of God's sovereignty, his right to do his will, provokes proud men. They will not seek his favour in his own way; and are angry when others have the favours they neglect. Still is Jesus rejected by multitudes who hear the same message from his words. While they crucify him afresh by their sins, may we honour him as the Son of God, the Saviour of men, and seek to show we do so by our obedience.
vv31-44
Christ's preaching much affected the people; and a working power went with it to the consciences of men. These miracles showed Christ to be a controller and conqueror of Satan, a healer of diseases. Where Christ gives a new life, in recovery from sickness, it should be a new life, spent more than ever in his service, to his glory. Our business should be to spread abroad Christ's fame in every place, to beseech him in behalf of those diseased in body or mind, and to use our influence in bringing sinners to him, that his hands may be laid upon them for their healing. He cast the devils out of many who were possessed. We were not sent into this world to live to ourselves only, but to glorify God, and to do good in our generation. The people sought him, and came unto him. A desert is no desert, if we are with Christ there. He will continue with us, by his word and Spirit, and extend the same blessings to other nations, till, throughout the earth, the servants and worshippers of Satan are brought to acknowledge him as the Christ, the Son of God, and to find redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
Key Words
δέ (dé): but, and, etc.
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs): Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites
πλήρης (plḗrēs): replete, or covered over; by analogy, complete
ἅγιος (hágios): sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)
πνεῦμα (pneûma): a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, demon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit
ὑποστρέφω (hypostréphō): to turn under (behind), i.e. to return (literally or figuratively)
ἀπό (apó): "off," i.e. away (from something near), in various senses (of place, time, or relation; literal or figurative)
Ἰορδάνης (Iordánēs): the Jordanes (i.e. Jarden), a river of Palestine
καί (kaí): and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words
ἄγω (ágō): properly, to lead; by implication, to bring, drive, (reflexively) go, (specially) pass (time), or (figuratively) induce
Cross References
Luke 4Jesus quotes this verse to defeat Satan's first temptation to turn stones into bread.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin
Jesus quotes this command to worship God alone, soundly rejecting Satan's offer of the kingdoms.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Satan quotes and misapplies this promise of angelic protection to tempt Jesus to presumption.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Jesus quotes this command to rebuff Satan's invitation to test God's protection by jumping.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Jesus directly reads and quotes this passage as His prophetic manifesto, which is explicitly fulfilled in Him.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Jesus cites Elijah being sent exclusively to the Gentile widow of Zarephath, prefiguring His own ministry.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jesus cites Elisha cleansing Naaman the Syrian to illustrate God's sovereign favor extending to Gentiles.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jesus is led as one 'full of the Holy Ghost,' whom God gives without measure.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Jesus' forty-day fast typologically mirrors Moses' forty-day fast on Mount Sinai before giving the Law.
Supported by John Calvin
Satan's departure 'for a season' points forward to the bruising of Christ's heel at the Passion.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Peter's sermon echoes Luke 4:18, summarizing Jesus' ministry as being anointed with the Holy Ghost.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The 'acceptable year of the Lord' directly alludes to the liberty proclaimed during the Jubilee.
Supported by JFB
The crowd wonders at Jesus' 'gracious words,' fulfilling the Messianic prophecy of grace poured into His lips.
Supported by JFB
Parallel proverb regarding a prophet having no honor or acceptance among his own countrymen.
Supported by JFB
Parallel escape where Jesus miraculously passes through a hostile crowd attempting to kill Him.
Supported by Matthew Henry