Luke 12 Commentary on Hypocrisy and Sincerity

LUKE 12 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Warnings and Encouragements
This chapter is one of the most neglected by preachers. They will often preach on
all other chapters and then skip this one, for it is hard to deal with such strong
statements of Jesus.
1 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands
had gathered, so that they were trampling on
one another, Jesus began to speak first to his
disciples, saying: “Be[a] on your guard against
the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
BARNES, "In the mean time - While he was discoursing with the scribes and
Pharisees, as recorded in the last chapter.
An innumerable multitude - The original word is “myriad’s,” or ten thousands.
It is used here to signify that there was a great crowd or collection of people, who
were anxious to hear him. Multitudes were attracted to the Saviour’s ministry, and it
is worthy of remark that he never had more to hear him than when he was most
faithful and severe in his reproofs of sinners. Men’s consciences are on the side of the
faithful reprover of their sins; and though they deeply feel the reproof, yet they will
still respect and hear him that reproves.
To his disciples first of all - This does not mean that his disciples were, before
all others, to avoid hypocrisy, but that this was the “first” or chief thing of which they
were to beware. The meaning is this: “He said to his disciples, “Above all things
beware,” etc.
The leaven - See the notes at Mat_16:6.
Which is hypocrisy - See the notes at Mat_7:5. Hypocrisy is like leaven or yeast,
because:
1. It may exist without being immediately detected. Leaven mixed in flour is not
known until it produces its effects.
2. It is insinuating. Leaven will soon pervade the whole mass. So hypocrisy will, if
undetected and unremoved, soon pervade all our exercises and feelings.
3. It is swelling. It puffs us up, and fills us with pride and vanity. No man is more
proud than the hypocrite, and none is more odious to God. When Jesus
cautions them to beware of “the leaven of the Pharisees,” he means that they
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should be cautious about imbibing their spirit and becoming like them. The
religion of Jesus is one of sincerity, of humility, of an entire want of disguise.
The humblest man is the best Christian, and he who has the least disguise is
most like his Master.
CLARKE, “A myriad is ten thousand, and myriads must, at the very lowest,
mean twenty thousand. But the word is often used to signify a crowd or
multitude which cannot be readily numbered. There was doubtless a vast crowd
assembled on this occasion, and many of them were deeply instructed by the very
important discourse which our Lord delivered.
GILL, "In the mean time,.... While Christ was discoursing with the Pharisees, and
they were using him in the vilest manner, throwing out their invectives against him
in order to draw off the people from him:
when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people.
There were "myriads" of them, as in the original text, and a myriad is ten thousand;
the meaning is, that there were several thousands of them:
insomuch that they trod one upon another; striving to get near to Christ,
either to see his person, or to hear his discourses; and particularly, what he would
say to the Pharisees, who had fallen upon him in so violent a manner:
he began to say unto his disciples first of all; he directed his discourse not to
the Pharisees, nor to the multitude, but to his disciples in the first place; at least,
chiefly to them; for whom he had a regard, who were his dear friends, and were to be
the preachers of his Gospel every where; and therefore it was proper that they should
be aware of the dissembling arts of the Scribes and Pharisees, and have their minds
fortified against approaching dangers, persecutions, and death itself: the last phrase,
"first of all", is omitted in the Vulgate Latin version; and by all the Oriental versions,
it is joined to the next clause, and read thus, "especially", or
before all things, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy; expressed both in their doctrines, and in their lives; which carried a
great show of piety and holiness, but was in appearance only: very aptly is hypocrisy
in doctrine and manners, compared to leaven; which at first is small and little, but
gradually increases and spreads itself, and lies hid and covered, and is not easily
discerned, nor its influence and effects observed; but in time, it infects and corrupts
the whole of men's principles and practices, and puffs and swells them up with a vain
opinion of themselves; and when our Lord bids his disciples beware of it, his
meaning not only is, that they take heed that they were not infected with it
themselves, but that they were not imposed upon by the specious pretences of these
artful and designing men.
HENRY, "Christ's disciples were, for aught we know, the best men then in the
world, yet they needed to be cautioned against hypocrisy. Christ said this to the
disciples, in the hearing of this great multitude, rather than privately when he had
them by themselves, to add the greater weight to the caution, and to let the world
know that he would not countenance hypocrisy, no, not in his own disciples.”
“It is the leaven of the Pharisees: "It is the sin they are most of them found in.
Take heed of imitating them; be not you of their spirit; do not dissemble in
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Christianity as they do in Judaism; make not your religion a cloak of
maliciousness, as they do theirs."
JAMISON 1-3, "Luk_12:1-12. Warning against hypocrisy.
meantime — in close connection, probably, with the foregoing scene. Our Lord
had been speaking out more plainly than ever before, as matters were coming to a
head between Him and His enemies, and this seems to have suggested to His own
mind the warning here. He had just Himself illustriously exemplified His own
precepts.
his disciples first of all — afterwards to “the multitudes” (Luk_12:54).
covered — from the view.
SBC, “Profession without Practice.
I. That even decently conducted Christians are most extensively and fearfully ruled
by the opinion of society about them, instead of living by faith in the unseen God, is
proved to my mind by the following circumstance: that, according as their rank in life
makes men independent of the judgment of others, so the profession of regularity
and strictness is given up. The great mass of men are protected from gross sin by the
forms of society. The received laws of propriety and decency, the prospect of a loss of
character, stand as sentinels, giving the alarm, long before their Christian principles
have time to act. The question is, whether, in spite of our greater apparent virtue, we
should not fall like others, if the restraints of society were withdrawn i.e. whether we
are not in the main hypocrites like the Pharisees, professing to honour God, while we
honour Him only so far as men require it of us.
II. Another test of being like or unlike the Pharisees may be mentioned. Our Lord
warns us against hypocrisy in three respects—in doing our alms, in praying, and in
fasting. (1) Doubtless much of our charity must be public, but is much of our charity
also private?—is it as much private as public? (2) Are we as regular in praying in our
closet to our Father which is in secret as in public? (3) We have dropped the show of
fasting, which it so happens the world at the present day derides. Are we quite sure
that, if fasting were in honour, we should not begin to hold fasts as the Pharisees?
Thus we seek the praise of men. We see, then, how seasonable is our Lord’s warning
to us, His disciples, first of all to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is
hypocrisy—professing without practising. He warns us against it as leaven, as a
subtle, insinuating evil which will silently spread itself through the whole character,
if we suffer it. He warns us that the pretence of religion never deceives beyond a little
time, and that sooner or later, "whatsoever we have spoken in darkness shall be
heard in the light, and that which we have spoken in the ear in closets shall be
proclaimed upon the housetops."
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i., p. 124.
BURLITT, "In this chapter our blessed Saviour furnishes his diciples with many
instructions for the worthy discharge of their function in preaching the gospel;
particularly he recommends unto them two gracious qualifications, namely,
uprightness and sincerity, verses 1,2,3. Secondly, courage and magnanimity,
verses 4,5.
1. He recommends unto them the grace and virtue of sincerity: Beware of the
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leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Learn hence, that hypocrisy is a dangerous leaven, which ministers and people
are chiefly to beware of, and to preserve themselves from. Hypocrisy is a vice in
vizor; the face is vice, the vizor is virtue: God is pretended, self intended:
hupocrisy is resembled to leaven; partly for its sourness, partly for its
diffusiveness. Leaven is a piece of sour dough, that diffuses itself into the whole
mass or lump of bread with which it is mixed. Thus hypocrisy spreads over all
the man; all his duties, parts and performances, are leavened with it.
Again, leaven is of a swelling, as well as of a spreading nature; it puffs up the
dough, and so does hypocrisy the heart. The Pharisees were a sour and proud
sort of people; they were all for pre-eminence, chief places, chief seats, chief
titles, to be called Rabbi, Rabbi; In a word, as leaven is hardly discerned from
good dough at first sight, so is hypocrisy hardly discerned and distinguished
from sincerity. The Pharisees outwardly appeared righteous unto men, but
within were full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Observe next, the argument which Christ uses to dissuade men from hypocrisy:
There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed. As if he had said, the day is
coming, when a rotten and corrupt heart shall no longer pass under the vizor
and disguise of a demure look. In the day of judgment hypocritical sinners shall
walk naked; God, angels and men, shall see their shame.
Learn hence, that God will certainly, however long, wash off all the varnish and
paint which the hypocrite has put upon the face of his profession, and lay him
open to the terror of himself, and the astonishment of the world.
LIGHTFOOT, “[When there were gathered together an innumerable multitude
of people.] There is no one would understand this in the very letter of it; as if the
number of the people here present were at least twenty thousand, but a very
great number. So Acts 21:20: How many myriads of Jews which believe.
This probably denotes the mighty success of the seventy disciples preaching the
gospel, who had so clearly and effectually taught concerning Christ, and told
them of the place that he had determined to come to, that the people had flocked
together in those vast numbers, ready upon all occasions to meet him, when they
heard the Messias was making his approaches to this or that town.
Steven Cole, “Jesus spoke primarily to His disciples, but in the hearing
of all, warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. He was drawing a line: people could follow the leadership
of the Pharisees or they could follow Him. But they must
make a choice and stick with it in the face of potential persecution
and even death. To try to straddle the line will bring a person into
ultimate and final judgment. Thus, we must beware of hypocrisy and confess
Christ, even unto death, because hypocrites will face God’s judgment.”
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Spurgeon, “This age is full of shams. Deception never stood in so eminent a
position as it does at the present hour. I fear that there are only a few who
love the naked truth; we can scarcely endure it in our homes; you will
scarcely find a person in business who absolutely states it. If you walked
through our city streets, you might imagine that all the shops were built of
marble, and that all the doors were made of mahogany and woods of the
rarest kinds; and yet you soon discover that there is scarcely a piece of any
of these precious materials to be found anywhere, but that everything has
simulated grain, and painted, and varnished. I find no fault with this, except
that it is an outward example of an inward evil that exists. As it is in our
streets, so is it everywhere; graining, painting, and ornamentation, are at an
enormous premium. Counterfeit has finally attained to such an eminence
that it is very difficult to detect. The counterfeit so nearly approaches the
genuine item that the eye of wisdom itself needs to be enlightened before it
can discern the difference. This is especially true in religious matters. There
was once an age of intolerant bigotry, when every person was evaluated,
and if they were not precisely up to the orthodox standard of the day, the
fire devoured them; but in this age of love and acceptance, we are very apt
to allow the counterfeit to pass by, and to imagine that outward show is
really as beneficial as inward reality. If ever there was a time when it was
needful to say, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which
is hypocrisy,” it is now. The minister may not need to preach this doctrine
in the days of severe persecution: when the stakes are blazing, and when the
torture rack is in full operation, for few men and women will be hypocrites.
These are the clear tests of impostors; suffering, and pain, and death, for
Christ's sake, for they will not be endured by mere pretenders. But in this
silky-smooth age, when being religious is respectable, when following
Christ is honored, and when godliness itself has become gain, it is doubly
necessary that the minister should cry aloud, and lift up his voice like a
trumpet against this sin, “the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.”
I am sure that every true child of God will, at times, doubt themselves, and
their fear will probably take the shape of a suspicion concerning their own
state. They will at times begin to be terribly alarmed, lest, the reality is that
their godliness is only external, and their profession of faith is nothing but
an empty vanity. Those who are true Christians will sometimes suspect that
they aren’t truly saved, while those who are false believers will wrap
themselves up in the constant confidence of their own sincerity.
The hypocrite can speak like an angel, he can quote texts with the greatest
speed; he can talk concerning all matters of Christianity, whether they are
theological doctrines, mystical questions, or practical difficulties. In his own
mind he knows a lot and when he speaks, you will often feel embarrassed at
your own ignorance in the presence of his superior knowledge. But watch
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him when he comes to actions. What do you see there? The fullest
contradiction of everything that he has said. He tells others that they must
obey the Bible: does he obey it? No! he doesn’t. He declares that others
must experience this, that, and the other, and he sets up a fine scale of
experience, far above even that of the Christian himself; but does he touch
it? No, not with so much as one of his little fingers. He will tell others what
they should do; but will he remember his own teaching? Not he! Follow
him to his house; trail him to the marketplace, see him in the stores, and if
you want to refute his preaching you may easily do it from his own life. My
dear friends! is this the way it is with you? You are a member of a church,
an elder, a deacon, a minister. Is this your case? Is your life a contradiction
of your words? Do your hands witness against your lips? How is it with
you? With embarrassment, each one of us must confess that, to some extent,
our life is contradictory to our profession. We blush and we mourn over
this. But I hope there are some here who can say, “Notwithstanding many
weaknesses, with my whole heart have I endeavored to run in the ways of
your commandments, O my God, and I have not intentionally spoken
anything with my lips which I did not intend to carry out in my life.” Oh!
believe me, my brothers and sisters, talk is easy, but walk is hard: speech
any one may attain to, but action is difficult. We must have grace within us
to make our life holy; but holiness only expressed with our lips needs no
grace. The first mark of a hypocrite, then, is that they contradict by their
acts what they say with their words. Do any of you do this? If so, stand
convicted of hypocrisy, and bow your heads, and confess the sin.
Driving along the other day in the wind, I observed a large branch fall off of
a tree. I remarked that it was rotten, and wondered within myself how long
that might have been on the tree, and yet have been rotten all along. Then I
thought, “Oh! if the wind of persecution were to sweep through the church,
would I fall off like a rotten branch? Wouldn’t many of my congregation
fall off? They have professed to be united to Christ for a long time, and
have spoken for him, perhaps preached for him, but if the time of trial,
which will test the earth, should come on us again, how many of us would
stand? Oh! my friends don’t be content to take your Christianity for
granted; let it not be a superficial work. Don’t think that because you have
seen me and have seen my elders, and we have admitted you into the
church, that you are therefore a true Christian. We have been deceived
many times; it is not hard work to deceive a kind heart. I have looked into
the eyes of some, and have tried to read their very soul, and yet I have
misjudged; I have seen tears in their eyes when they have made a profession
of Christ, and yet they have been deceivers after all, and I have been very
grossly taken in. In fact, the more kind-hearted a person is, then the more
human nature will endeavor to trust them. I am certain I have used the
utmost diligence to weed out of the church those whom I have suspected of
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hypocrisy, and greater diligence will yet be used. But, oh, do deal with
yourselves, I beg you. I will not send you to hell blind-folded if I can help
it; I don’t wish to be in error myself, and God forbid that I should allow you
to be deceived.”
PETT, “Great crowds continued to gather (‘thousands of them’) so much so
that they were treading on one another, but Jesus had now begun primarily
to teach His disciples, although undoubtedly keeping the wider crowd in
mind. He warned them to “Beware of the leaven (or ‘yeast’) of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” Leaven was the old dough retained from
bread-making which was allowed to ferment. It would then be put into the
new dough to cause fermentation, so improving its structure and taste. Its
effects would spread all the way through the new dough. It can therefore
refer to any pervasive influence, whether good or bad, which can be
introduced into something and then spread and spread.
In Luke 13:21; Matthew 13:33 leaven refers to the pervasive influence of
the message of the Kingly Rule of God which spreads and spreads until it
has reached everywhere. In Matthew 16:6; Matthew 16:11-12; Mark 8:15 it
refers to the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees, and of Herod, which
could have a wrong pervasive influence, if His disciples were not wary.
Indeed it could spoil their whole lives. In 1 Corinthians 5:6-7; Galatians 5:9
it refers to sin’s pervasive influence in people’s lives. It will be seen from
this that leaven refers to influence that spread and spreads, whether good or
bad. Because the influence mentioned elsewhere is bad, some even see the
leaven which is revealed as pervading the Kingly Rule of God (Luke 13:21)
as being bad as well, and as reflecting those who have failed to take heed to
His warning against the leaven of the Pharisees, but if so it is not apparent
from the context.
Here, however, it refers to the danger of taking up the hypocritical ways of
the Scribes and Pharisees as outlined in Luke 11:37-53. They must neither
copy their ways, nor let a similar attitude affect the way that they live their
own lives. They must ensure that they are always open, straight and honest,
and genuinely concerned for the good of others, seeking to submit
themselves to the Kingly Rule of God in all humility, and not posturing or
seeking honour and flattery.
We should recognise that they had been brought up all their lives to give
deep respect to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were looked on as the very
heart of Israel’s spiritual life. Now they were to see their bad points, and not
be too carried away by their ideas. They were to learn to discern. (They had
no doubt already been greatly shocked to discover that these men did not
see eye to eye with their Master).
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‘Hypocrisy.’ The word signifies play-acting and indicates those who put on
a show on the outside which does not conform to what they are like inside,
or those who say one thing and do another.
Verses 1-12
Instruction To His Disciples About Living In The Light Of Eternity
(12:1-12).
Approaching the detail of the section the first thing that Jesus wants to do is
make His disciples think in the light of eternity. So He warns them to
beware of the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, as illustrated in the
previous passage, and of becoming like them and thinking like them (like all
Jews they had been brought up to respect and take heed to these ‘great
men’), and then puts their whole situation in the light of the Judgment Day
that is coming. They are to live in the light of that Day. In that Day all will
be opened up and laid bare, and all hypocrisy will be seen for what it is.
Thus His disciples must take heed to live in the light of that fact. And while
those same Scribes and Pharisees might prove in the future to be their
enemies they are not to fear, for they themselves are His ‘friends’ and God
cares intimately for them.
Indeed God is the One Whom alone they should fear, because He alone is
the One Who can punish after death. Yet though they should indeed fear
Him, they are nevertheless to recognise that God is also on their side and is
watching over them, and is with them in all that they do. For in their
‘reverent fear’ they should bear in mind that His care of Creation is such
that He observes even the smallest bird and that therefore, because they are
His, and in their case He is their Father, He knows all about them. He even
knows the very number of the hairs of their head, so important are they to
Him. (What other father counts the number of hairs on his son’s head?).
They must therefore be bold in confessing His Son before men, so that He,
as the Son of Man portrayed in Daniel 7:13-14, may confess them before
the court of heaven. Meanwhile they can be sure that they need have no fear
of mere earthly courts, for if they are called to give account in earthly
courts, His Holy Spirit will Himself be there to guide their defence, and He
will tell them what to say.
Thus if they are faithful to Him they need have no fear of either Heaven or
earth. Before the heavenly court they will be defended by the Son of Man
Himself, and before earthly courts by the Holy Spirit. People in such a
favourable position have nothing to fear. (Note the transposition of ideas,
‘fear not men -- fear Him -- confessed before Him -- defended before men’.
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All will be well for those who fear Him).
But in contrast those who deny Him before men, or who blaspheme against
the Holy Spirit, may be sure that their judgment will be swift and sure.
This whole passage is an interesting example of typical Jewish methods of
teaching, the stringing together of connected ideas in order to produce the
bigger picture, and it is essentially a unity. Note the magnificent series of
contrasts, demonstrating both the positive and the negative sides of His
message, and emphasising the choices that all men must face up to and
make. His words were spoken to the professing people of God in order to
distinguish those whose profession was real and those whose profession
was false:
The Contrasts In The Light of Which They Should Live.
· What is covered, will be revealed, what is hidden will be made
known.
· What is said in the dark, will be heard in the light, what is whispered
in private rooms, will be proclaimed from the house tops.
· Do not fear him who can kill the body -- fear Him Who has power to
cast into Gehenna.
· He who confesses me before men I will confess--- he who denies Me
before men I will deny.
· He who speaks a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven-- he
who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven.
We must now consider the analysis of the passage.
Analysis.
a When the many thousands of the crowd were gathered together, insomuch
that they trod one on another, he began to say to his disciples first of all,
“Beware you of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke
12:1).
b “But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed, and hid, that
will not be known, wherefore whatever you have said in the darkness will
be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in the inner
chambers will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Luke 12:2-3).
c “And I say to you my friends, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body,
and after that have no more that they can do” (Luke 12:4).
d “But I will warn you whom you shall fear. Fear him, who after he has
killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, Fear him” (Luke 12:5).
c “Are not five sparrows sold for two pence? and not one of them is
forgotten in the sight of God. But the very hairs of your head are all
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numbered. Fear not. You are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke
12:6-7).
b “And I say to you, Every one who shall confess me before men, him will
the Son of man also confess before the angels of God, but he who denies me
in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God,
and every one who shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be
forgiven him, but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it will not
be forgiven” (Luke 12:8-10).
a “And when they bring you before the synagogues, and the rulers, and the
authorities, do not be anxious how or what you shall answer, or what you
shall say, for the Holy Spirit shall teach you in that very hour what you
ought to say” (Luke 12:11-12).
We note that in ‘a’ they are to beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who
have authority over people’s religious lives and in the parallel they will be
brought before the synagogues and authorities for judgment. Furthermore
the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is set in contrast with the openness of the
Holy Spirit. There will be no play-acting with Him. In ‘b’ everything which
has been spoken is going to be revealed and in the parallel all men will be
judged by their confession or otherwise of Him and by their blasphemies. In
‘c’ they are not to be afraid of those who kill the body, and in the parallel
this is because they are not forgotten in the sight of God and the hairs of
their head are all numbered. Central in ‘d’ is their need to reverently fear
God.
The instructions now given follow a general theme, majoring on the fact of
judgment to come, with the first verse connecting back to what Jesus had
previously said to the Scribes and Pharisees at the end of Section 4. This
warns against the danger of following them in their hypocrisy.
He points out that to do so would in fact be foolish in the light of the
Judgment to come. For eventually everything is going to be revealed and
made known, and then all hypocrisy will be laid bare. In the light of this
they should therefore not be afraid of those who might seek to kill them
(these same hypocrites), but are rather to fear the One Who determines what
happens after death, and to remember that He in fact cares for them and has
even numbered the hairs of their head. What could be more sure than that?
This, however, depends on them boldly confessing Him before men, for if
they do then He will confess them before the angels of God. On the other
hand those who deny Him will be denied before the angels of God. And
finally He warns that those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will
never find forgiveness. When the Judgment comes they will be without
hope. On the other hand, those who hear the Holy Spirit, and who go before
earthly courts for His sake, will find the Holy Spirit there inspiring them as
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their Great Defender (John 16:7-11).
This last arises because the thought of those who might kill their bodies, and
of those who might seek to make them deny Him, has triggered the thought
that those who do boldly confess Him may well be brought before the
authorities and charged. So He wants them to know that if that happens they
need not worry, because when it does the Holy Spirit will be with them and
will teach them what to say. For whereas the Holy Spirit of God, God’s
power revealed in decisive visible action, is against those who reject Christ
to their eternal loss, He is very much on the side of those who confess Jesus
Christ.
Verses 1-35
Jesus Teaches Concerning Greed, Stewardship and the Need For
Fruitfulness Under The Kingly Rule of God Centring on the Fact That He
Will Make The Crooked Straight (12:1-14:35).
As we have seen we may analyse this next Section from Luke 12:1 to Luke
14:35 into its separate parts as follows:
a Instructions to disciples concerning facing up to eternity (Luke 12:1-12).
b An example is given of covetousness concerning an inheritance which is
followed by the parable of the fool who decided to enjoy rich banquets,
ignored the needs of the poor, and in the end suffered the unforeseen
consequences of prematurely losing his wealth to others who benefited
unexpectedly while the one expected to benefit lost out (Luke 12:13-21).
c We are to seek the Kingly Rule of God and not to be anxious about other
things (Luke 12:22-34).
d We are to be like men serving the Lord in His house and awaiting His
arrival from a wedding feast, being faithful in His service at whatever time
He comes and meanwhile making use of all our time for His benefit (Luke
12:35-40).
e There are stewards both good and bad who will be called to account for
He has come to send fire on earth which will cause great disruption (Luke
12:41-53).
f Men are to discern the times and not be like a debtor who realises too late
that he should have compounded with the Great Creditor (Luke 12:54-59).
g Some present draw attention to the tower that fell on men. He points out
that that was no proof of guilt, for all are sinful and will perish unless they
repent. They would therefore be wise to repent (Luke 13:1-5)
h The parable of the fig tree which is to be given its chance to bear fruit
(Luke 13:6-9).
i The crooked woman is healed on the Sabbath for Jesus has come to release
from Satan’s power (Luke 13:10-17).
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h The parables of the grain of mustard seed which is to grow and reproduce,
and of the leaven which spreads, both of which represent the growth of the
Kingly Rule of God in both prospective ultimate size and method of
expansion (Luke 13:18-21).
g Someone asks ‘are there few that are saved?’ The reply is that men must
strive to enter the door while they can (Luke 13:22-23).
f We must not be like those who awake too late and find the door closed
against them and wish they had befriended the Householder (Luke
13:24-28).
e We are to watch how we respond as His stewards for some will come
from east, west, north and south, while others will awake too late, like
Herod who seeks to kill Him and Jerusalem which is losing its opportunity
and will be desolated and totally disrupted (Luke 13:29-35).
d Jesus is invited into the home of a Chief Pharisee. And there He eats with
him at table, surrounded by many ‘fellow-servants’. There He sees a man
with dropsy. As God’s Servant He knows what His responsibility is if He is
to be a faithful and wise servant. It is to heal the man. For God’s works of
compassion should be done at all times including the Sabbath and not just at
times of man’s choosing. And yet He is surrounded by those waiting to
catch Him out (Luke 14:1-6).
c None are to seek the higher place, for he who humbles himself will be
exalted (Luke 14:7-11).
b An example is given of inviting the poor to dinner which is followed by
the parable of a rich banquet, where those who made excuses were rejected,
and the result was that due to unforeseen circumstances there a banquet for
the poor, while those for whom it was intended lost out (Luke 14:12-24)
a Instructions are given to the disciples concerning facing up to the cost
(Luke 14:25-35).
· ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’ (Luke 14:35).
Note that in ‘a’ the Section opens with instructions to the disciples, and in
the parallel it closes with instructions to the disciples, both seeing things in
the light of eternity. In ‘b’ we have a parable dealing with the use of riches,
and in the parallel the use of wealth to help the poor is dealt with, in ‘c’ we
are to seek the Kingly Rule of God and trust our Father over our daily
living, and in the parallel we are not to seek the higher place on earth, for
the one who humbles himself will be exalted. In ‘d’ we are to be like men
awaiting in the Lord’s ‘house’, awaiting His arrival at whatever time He
comes and meanwhile making use of all our time and serving Him
faithfully, and in the parallel Jesus is in the Chief Pharisee’s house and is
called on to perform an act of faithful service even though it is the Sabbath,
an act which He does perform. It is an example of faithful service even in
the face of difficulties, and a reminder to us that we are to use all our time,
including the Sabbath, for doing God’s work. In ‘e’ there are stewards both
good and bad who will be called to account, for He has come to ‘cast fire on
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the earth’, and in the parallel we are to watch how we respond as His
stewards, for some will come into the Kingly Rule of God from east, west,
north and south, while others will awake too late, like Herod who seeks to
kill Him and Jerusalem which is losing its opportunity and will be desolated
and will experience His ‘fire on earth’. In ‘f’ men are to discern the times,
and in the parallel we are not to be like those who awake too late. In ‘g’ and
its parallel the imminence of death and what our response should be to it is
described. In ‘h’ the vine is to be allowed its opportunity of bearing fruit,
and in the parallel the mustard seed will grow and bear fruit. Central in ‘i’ is
the healing and making straight of one who is crooked, a picture of what He
has come to do for Israel. This is the whole purpose of the Kingly Rule of
God.
COKE, “Perhaps this vast assemblage of people might be owing to an
apprehension, either that Christ might meet with some ill usage among so
many of his enemies, or that he would say or do something peculiarly
remarkable on the occasion. It was in the hearing of this vast assembly, that
he gave his disciples in general a charge and exhortation, similar to that
which he had given to the twelve apostles after their election. The precept,
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, with which he began this charge, is
similar to that which in the charge to the twelve runs thus, Be ye wise as
serpents, and harmless as doves: Matthew 10:16. For though the apostles
and the disciples were to be remarkably prudent in their behaviour, yet the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy or deceit, was not to enter into
the composition of their prudence; because hypocrisy is only an expedient
to serve a turn, the mask being always torn from hypocrites sooner or later.
See the parallel places.
COFFMAN, “This chapter is a well-organized sermon appropriately spoken
by Jesus Christ shortly after he walked out of the Pharisee's house, which
was attended by uncounted thousands of people. The scholarly allegation
that "We have here a group of discourses loosely put together in a
framework ascribed to Luke"[1] is superficial, unsustained by any valid
argument, and contradicted, absolutely, by the logical arrangement and
order of the sermon itself, as well as by its obvious and appropriate
connection with the events of the occasion. As Geldenhuys said, "From
Luke 12 we receive no other impression but that the Lord spoke all these
words on one occasion."[2] There are in this remarkable sermon a series of
nine warnings, as follows:
Warning against the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1-7).
Warning against the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:8-12).
Warning against covetousness (Luke 12:13-21).
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Warning against anxieties (Luke 12:22-34).
Warning against failure to "watch" (Luke 12:35-40).
Warning against unfaithfulness (Luke 12:41-48).
Warning against divisions due to God's word (Luke 12:49-53).
Warning against ignoring the signs of the time (Luke 12:54-56).
Warning against failure to make peace with God now (Luke
12:57-59).SIZE>
Here is an example of the most careful organization, the most perfect order
and progression in a discourse, so beautiful and persuasive that the
disorganized sermons and books men produce today are unworthy of
comparison with such a discourse as this. Even scholars who seem doubtful
of Jesus' use of the same, and similar, pronouncements in various situations
are willing to confess that this discourse fits the situation perfectly.
Dummelow said, "This speech is not unsuitable to the context in Luke."[3]
Many of the sayings in this chapter are closely similar to passages recorded
in the other synoptics as having been uttered in other contexts, or with a
different emphasis, or for the support of different teachings; but as often
stated in this work, it is absolutely certain that Jesus, like any other speaker,
would have done exactly that.
[1] J. M. Creed, The Gospel according to St. Luke (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1942), en loco.
[2] Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), p. 350.
[3] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 753.
In the meantime, when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered
together, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his
disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1)
I. Warning against the leaven of the Pharisees.
In the meantime ... refers to the time-lapse following Jesus' rising up and
14

leaving the Pharisee's house where he had just dined.
The leaven of the Pharisees ... is plainly identified here as hypocrisy; but
Jesus used the same word in Matthew 16:6 as a reference to the teaching of
that group (see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 16:5-6). Why should
not Jesus have done this? The word is fully applicable to both. As Godet
said, "Leaven is the emblem of every active principle, good or bad, which
possesses the power of assimilation."[4]
Hypocrisy ... This is a "literary term used in connection with Greek drama
and means `play-acting'."[5] Long usage of the word in a Christian context
refers it to insincere pretensions to religious piety. Lamar pointed out that
our Lord's use of leaven as an emblem of both the teaching and the
hypocrisy of the Pharisees shows that "The essence of their doctrine was
hypocrisy; that being at once leaven and hypocrisy, its inevitable effect
being to make hypocrites, to reproduce itself."[6]
Unto his disciples first of all ... This has the meaning that "He addressed
himself first to his disciples, that is, to the Twelve. First here means
primarily."[7] Some of the teaching in this chapter applies especially to the
twelve apostles.
[4] F. A. Godet, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Edinburgh: T. and T.
Clarke, n.d.), II, p. 89.
[5] Charles L. Childers, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon
Hill Press, 1964), p. 517.
[6] J. S. Lamar, Commentary on Luke (Cincinnati, Ohio: Chase and Hall,
1877), p. 173.
[7] Ray Summers, Commentary on Luke (Waco, Texas: Word Books,
Publisher, 1974), p. 151.
SIMEON, "CAUTION AGAINST HYPOCRISY
Luke 12:1. In the mean time, when there were gathered together an
innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon
another, he began to say unto his Disciples first of all, Beware ye of the
leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
RARELY, if ever, can we find a greater instance of fidelity than in the
history before us. Our Lord had been dining with a Pharisee, and, even
whilst he was at dinner, he upbraided the whole sect of Pharisees, and
15

accused them of the vilest hypocrisy. This might have been thought by
some a breach of hospitality; but a sense of his duty to God was paramount
to every other consideration. The Pharisee had begun with expressing his
wonder that our Lord had not washed his hands before he sat down to meat;
for among the Pharisees this ceremony had been magnified into a religious
observance. This superstition our Lord had not chosen to sanction: and as
among the Pharisees it was accompanied with a scandalous neglect of
internal purity, he exposed the folly of it, and condemned in the severest
terms all who substituted such a rite in the place of vital godliness. His
reproofs, as might be expected, greatly irritated his indignant hearers: yet no
sooner had an immense multitude assembled at the door, than he went out to
them, and, in the presence of them all, enjoined his Disciples above all
things to beware of that grand feature of the Pharisaic character, hypocrisy
[Note: See chap. 11:37 to the end. πρῶτον in the text, seems better to be
construed with προσέχετε].
This caution, so boldly and so strongly given, deserves our attention, no less
than that of the Disciples to whom it was spoken. We propose, therefore,
I. To consider the evil against which our Lord cautioned them—
The nature of hypocrisy is far from being generally understood. Many
would suppose, that conduct which was notoriously evil, would, from its
notoriety, be exempt from the charge of hypocrisy; and that there could be
no hypocrisy, where the person was not conscious that he was deceiving
others. But that term, according to the Scripture use of it, is very extensive:
and under it may be included many different forms or degrees of hypocrisy.
1. That which is known both to ourselves and others—
[Hypocrisy consists in acting contrary to our professions: and this we may
do in such an open and shameless way as to manifest clearly to others, no
less than to ourselves, that we are dissemblers with God.
How is it with the great mass of those who disregard religion? Do they cast
off the Christian name also? Do they not rather account themselves
Christians; and would they not be highly offended if their claim to that title
were disputed? Yet have they in reality as little of Christianity in their hearts
and lives as the very heathen: and there is reason to believe, that they would
have lived precisely as they have, if they had all the while known
Christianity to be a fable; and that they would continue to live in the very
same state, if now for the first time they should learn that our religion were
founded in imposture. To them we may safely apply those words of the
Apostle, “They profess that they know God, but in works deny him, being
16

abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate [Note:
Titus 1:16.].”
It is precisely the same with many also who profess a high regard for
religion. They are strenuous advocates for decorum, and are very observant
of outward forms; but are as far from any thing like vital godliness as the
most profane — — — They may impose upon a few ignorant people, who
have not an idea what religion is: but persons of the least education, who
think at all for themselves, see that all those forms are a mere farce, if
unaccompanied with the affections of the heart; and these formalists
themselves know, and feel, and, amongst each other, will acknowledge
them to be so. Of such persons St. Paul says, that “they have a form of
godliness, but deny the power thereof; that, like Jannes and Jambres, (two
great opposers of Moses,) they resist the truth, being men of corrupt minds,
reprobate concerning the faith; and that their folly shall be manifest unto all
men, as theirs also was [Note: 2 Timothy 3:5-9.].”
Thus is the hypocrisy of many covered with so thin a veil, that every one of
the smallest penetration may discover it: and if their professions be treated
with respect, it is merely from a desire which every one feels to make the
way to heaven as easy as possible, and to lower the standard of religion to
his own attainments.]
2. That which, though hid from others, is known to ourselves—
[It is no uncommon thing for persons to embrace certain religious
principles, without ever attending to their sanctifying efficacy. Such were
Judas, and Ananias, and Sapphira: these did actually impose on others; they
were considered by all as sound converts: but could Judas be ignorant that
he was a thief? or Ananias and Sapphira that they were liars? So it is then
with many professors of religion, who pass for real Christians at this time:
their exterior appearance is that of sanctity; but one is dishonest, another is
addicted to falsehood, another gives way to lewd desires and practices,
another is under the dominion of his evil tempers. Now, notwithstanding the
esteem in which they may be held, must not these persons, to say the least,
have many secret misgivings, or rather, if they consider at all, must they not
know that their hearts are not right with God? We may see the character of
such persons drawn to the life by the Apostle Paul: all their high professions
and evil practices are exhibited in contrast with each other, and stand as a
monument of the wickedness and deceit-fulness of the human heart [Note:
Romans 2:17-23.].]
3. That which, though hid from ourselves, is known to God.
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[It is but too possible for persons to “seem to be religious,” and to think
themselves so, at the very time that they are under the influence of some
habitual evil, which proves that they“deceive their own selves, and that their
religion is vain [Note: James 1:26.].” The characteristic mark of the true
Christian is sincerity: he is “an Israelite indeed, and without guile [Note:
John 1:47.];” attending to all the commandments equally, without partiality,
and without hypocrisy [Note: 1 Timothy 5:21. James 3:17.]. But the persons
we refer to are partial in every part of their duty. Their repentance is partial:
they mourn, not so much for sin, as for the consequences of their sin; nor
yet for the consequences, as they respect God and his honour, but only as
they respect themselves and their happiness. Even in relation to themselves,
they are not grieved that sin has denied their consciences, and hardened
their hearts, but only that it has injured their character, or brought guilt and
misery upon their souls. Their faith also is partial: it has respect to Christ as
a Priest to atone for them, but not as a King to rule over them: it receives
Christ for righteousness, but not for sanctification. Moreover, whilst they
profess to trust in God for spiritual blessings, they cannot stay themselves
upon him for temporal things, but are as ready to sink under their trials, as if
they knew not from whence they came, and to give way to despondency as
if they had no God to flee unto. Their love too is partial: it is confined to
those of their own sect and party, and knows little of that expansive
benevolence which was so exemplified in the Lord Jesus, when he laid
down his life for the whole world, not excepting even his bitterest enemies.
Moreover, their zeal is also partial: it is ardent in some things; in one it is
violent against superstition and forms of man’s appointment; and in another
it exclaims against schisms, and heresies, and divisions: but it finds no
scope for exercise in things which would bear upon their own peculiar
habits: it is active enough in things that gratify their feelings, and that tend
to exalt their character, but slow to engage in any thing that appears
humiliating and self-denying. In a word, the hypocrite is neither uniform
nor unreserved in any part of his obedience; but betrays his insincerity,
whenever his interests, his habits, or his passions are to be sacrificed to
God.]
Seeing then that hypocrisy is so extensive an evil, and that our Lord judged
it necessary to caution his own immediate Disciples against it, we proceed,
II. To enforce his caution—
But what words can be sufficient for this purpose? What arguments can we
use to impress upon your minds the necessity of being ever on your guard
against so great an evil? Consider,
1. Its subtile nature—
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[We are told that “Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, and his
ministers appear as ministers of righteousness [Note: 2 Corinthians 11:13; 2
Corinthians 11:15.]:” from whence we may infer, that there is no person in
whom hypocrisy may not find an asylum, nor any act wherein it may not
have scope for exercise. It is the continual aim of Satan to infuse it into us,
and by means of it to defile our very best actions. The pretexts too under
which it can hide itself are innumerable. There is not any form which it
cannot assume: and sanctity itself is its appropriate garb. What need have
we then to watch against a principle which finds so easy admission into the
heart, yet is so hard to be detected, and so difficult to be expelled! Let not
any of us imagine that we are out of its reach; nor be too confident that we
are free from its influence. Surely we should have a godly jealousy over
ourselves in relation to it, and not only “search and try ourselves,” but pray
that “God himself would search and try us, in order to see if there be any
wicked way in us, and to lead us in the way everlasting [Note: Psalms
139:23-24.].” Let us never forget that“there is a generation that are pure in
their own eyes, whilst yet they are not washed from their filthiness [Note:
Proverbs 30:12.];” and that there are many who “have a name to live, but
are really dead” before God [Note: Revelation 3:1.].]
2. Its defiling influence—
[As “leaven,” a very small measure of it will soon “leaven the whole lump.”
It not only debases the act with which it is more immediately connected, but
renders the whole soul abominable in the sight of God. We may profess
ourselves the Lord’s people [Note: Isaiah 48:1-2.] — — — and take delight
in his ways [Note: Ezekiel 33:31-32.] — — — and seem most exemplary in
our conduct [Note: Isaiah 58:2-3.] — — — and yet have it all rendered vain
and worthless by means of this accursed principle. What a painful thought is
this, that we may be apprehending ourselves most holy and most exemplary,
and yet, after all, may be found to have deceived our own souls! But so it
is:“A man may think himself to be something, and yet in the sight of God be
nothing but an hypocrite and self-deceiver [Note: Galatians 6:3.].” Let us
then spare no pains to purge out the old leaven, that we may be a new lump:
and, as the Jews at their passover were indefatigable in their exertions to
banish leaven from their houses, so let us, now that Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us, labour to banish it from our hearts, and to keep the feast
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth [Note: 1 Corinthians
5:6-8.].”]
3. Its fatal effects—
[Awful indeed are the denunciations of God’s wrath against hypocrites,
19

insomuch that to “have our portion with them” is to be exposed to his
heaviest indignation [Note: Matthew 24:51.]. Nor is it gross hypocrisy only,
such as is manifest to all, that so provokes his displeasure; but that also
which is the most secret and refined: “the hypocrites in heart heap up
wrath,” and that too whilst they are flattering themselves perhaps, and
expecting an accumulated weight of glory [Note: Job 36:13.]. And oh how
fearful will be their disappointment! How distressing too will it be to their
more upright friends, to miss them in the regions of bliss, and to find that,
after all their professions of godliness, they were not counted worthy of the
kingdom of heaven [Note: Job 20:4-7.]! Consider these things beforehand.
Consider that your state will be fixed by Him, “whose eyes are as a flame of
fire,” who “searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins,” and who will give to
every man according to his works: and know assuredly, that whatever be
now thought of your state, you will then stand or fall, according to your real
character [Note: 1 Timothy 5:24-25.].
If you are disposed to ask, What shall I do to avoid this doom, I would
suggest to you a few words of]
Advice—
1. Be not too confident of your own integrity—
[However unconscious we may be of our latent hypocrisy, it is well to be
diffident of ourselves. Even Paul himself cultivated this kind of humility,
choosing rather to cast himself on the mercy of his God, than to place too
great a reliance on his own integrity [Note: 1 Corinthians 4:3-5.]. We say
not, that you may not rejoice in the testimony of a good conscience; for this
the Apostle did [Note: 2 Corinthians 1:12.]: but we recommend it to you to
“rejoice with trembling:” for we are sure that such a frame of mind is most
favourable to a discovery of our real principles, and most conducive to our
ultimate salvation.]
2. Commit yourselves to the care of your gracious God and Saviour—
[To whom can you look for succour, but to that blessed Saviour, who has
promised to “keep the feet of his saints?” He alone can “put truth in your
inward parts,” and keep you “sincere and without offence unto the day of
Christ.” Yet, however preserved by his grace, you will need to be washed
continually in the fountain of his blood. Sprinkle yourselves then
continually with his precious blood: from thence derive all your hope and
peace; and doubt not but that he will both “keep you from falling, and
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy
[Note: Jude, ver. 24.]”
20

BARCLAY, "THE CREED OF COURAGE AND OF TRUST (Luke
12:1-12)
12:1-12 In the meantime, when the people had been gathered together in
their thousands, so that they trampled on each other, Jesus began to say first
of all to his disciples, "Be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. There is nothing covered up which will not be unveiled,
and there is nothing secret which shall not be known. All, therefore, that
you have spoken in the dark shall be heard in the light; and what you have
spoken into someone's ear in the inner room will be proclaimed on the
housetops. I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body
and who after that are not able to do anything further. I will warn you whom
you are to fear--fear him who after he has killed you has authority to cast
you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for 1/2
pence ? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. But as for you--
even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid. You are of
more value than many sparrows. I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me
before men, him will the Son of Man acknowledge before the angels of
God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of
God. If anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man it will be forgiven
him; but he who speaks irreverently of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
When they bring you before synagogues and rulers and those set in
authority, do not worry how you will defend yourself or about what defence
you will make, or about what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach
you in that same hour what you ought to say."
When we read this passage we are reminded again of the Jewish definition
of preaching--charaz (Hebrew #2737), which means stringing pearls. This
passage, too, is a collection of pearls strung together without the close
connection which modern preaching demands. But in it there are certain
dominant ideas.
(i) It tells us of the forbidden sin, which is hypocrisy. The word hypocrite
began by meaning someone who answers; and hypocrisy originally meant
answering. First the words were used of the ordinary flow of question and
answer in any talk or in any dialogue; then they began to be connected with
question and answer in a play. From that they went on to be connected with
acting apart. The hypocrite is never genuine; he is always play-acting. The
basis of hypocrisy is insincerity. God would rather have a blunt, honest
sinner, than someone who puts on an act of goodness.
(ii) It tells of the correct attitude to life, which is an attitude of fearlessness.
There are two reasons for fearlessness.
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(a) Man's power over man is strictly limited to this life. A man can destroy
another man's life but not his soul. In the 1914-18 war Punch had a famous
cartoon in which it showed the German Emperor saying to King Albert of
Belgium, "So now you have lost everything"; and back came Albert's
answer, "But not my soul!" On the other hand, God's power is such that it
can blot out a man's very soul. It is, therefore, only reasonable to fear God
rather than to fear men. It was said of John Knox, as his body was being
lowered into the grave, "Here lies one who feared God so much that he
never feared the face of man."
(b) God's care is the most detailed of all. To God we are never lost in the
crowd. Matthew says, "Are not two sparrows sold for 1/4 pence ?"
(Matthew 10:29.) Here Luke says, "Are not five sparrows sold for 1/2
pence ?" If you were prepared to spend 1/2 pence you got not four, but five
sparrows. One was flung into the bargain as having no value at all. Not even
the sparrow on which men set not a 1/4 pence value is forgotten before God.
The very hairs of our head are numbered. It has been computed that a
blonde person has about 145,000 hairs; a dark-haired person, 120,000; and
a person with red hair, 90,000! The Jews were so impressed with the
individual care of God that they said that every blade of grass had its
guardian angel. None of us needs to fear for each can say, "God cares for
me."
(iii) It tells us of the unforgivable sin, which is the sin against the Holy
Spirit. Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus spoke about this sin
immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his cures to the
prince of devils instead of to God (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29).
These men could look at the very grace and power of God and call it the
work of the devil. To understand this we must remember that Jesus was
talking about the Holy Spirit as the Jews understood that conception, not in
the full Christian sense, about which his audience at that time obviously
knew nothing.
To a Jew, God's Spirit had two great functions. Through the Spirit he told
his truth to men, and it was by the action of the Spirit in a man's mind and
heart that he could recognize and grasp God's truth. Now, if a man for long
enough refuses to use a faculty he will lose it. If we refuse to use any part of
the body long enough it atrophies. Darwin tells how when he was a young
man he loved poetry and music; but he so devoted himself to biology that he
completely neglected them. The consequence was that in later life poetry
meant nothing to him and music was only a noise, and he said that if he had
his life to live over again he would see to it that he would read poetry and
listen to music so that he would not lose the faculty of enjoying them.
22

Just so we can lose the faculty of recognizing God. By repeatedly refusing
God's word, by repeatedly taking our own way, by repeatedly shutting our
eyes to God and closing our ears to him, we can come to a stage when we
do not recognize him when we see him, when to us evil becomes good and
good becomes evil. That is what happened to the scribes and Pharisees.
They had so blinded and deafened themselves to God that when he came
they called him the devil.
Why is that the unforgivable sin? Because in such a state repentance is
impossible. If a man does not even realize that he is sinning, if goodness no
longer makes any appeal to him, he cannot repent. God has not shut him
out; by his repeated refusals he has shut himself out. That means that the
one man who can never have committed the unforgivable sin is the man
who fears that he has, for once a man has committed it, he is so dead to God
that he is conscious of no sin at all.
(iv) It tells us of the rewarded loyalty. The reward of loyalty is no material
thing. It is that in heaven Jesus will say of us, "This was my man. Well
done!"
(v) It tells us of the help of the Holy Spirit. In the fourth Gospel the
favourite title of the Holy Spirit is the Paraclete. Parakletos (Greek #3875)
means someone who stands by to help. It can be used of a witness, or an
advocate to plead our cause. In the day of trouble there need be no fear, for
no less a person than the Holy Spirit of God stands by to help.
BENSON, ". When there were gathered together an innumerable
multitude — επισυναχθεισων των μυριαδων, literally, myriads (that is, tens
of thousands, how many is not said) being gathered together. By this it
appears, that though the scribes and Pharisees thought to accuse him, and
bring him into disrepute, the people that were not under the influence of
their prejudices and jealousies still admired him, attended on him, and did
him honour. Nay, it seems the more these learned hypocrites strove to drive
them from Christ, the more they flocked to him; which, doubtless, vexed
them no little. It is not improbable, however, that this vast assemblage of
people might be partly owing to an apprehension, either that Christ might
meet with some ill usage among so many of his enemies, or that he would
say or do something peculiarly remarkable on the occasion. Be this as it
may, it is evident that the people could bear reproof better than the
Pharisees; for though, in the morning, when they were gathered thick
together, (Luke 11:29,) he had severely reproved them, as an evil generation
that sought a sign, yet in the afternoon they renewed their attendance on
him. It is pleasing to see people thus forward to hear the word of God, and
venture upon inconvenience and danger, rather than miss an opportunity of
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being instructed in divine things. He began to say unto his disciples, Beware
of the leaven, &c. — The caution given in this and the two following verses,
and the subsequent exhortations contained in this paragraph, are to the same
purpose with others that we have had in Matthew and Mark, upon other the
like occasions. See on Matthew 16:6; Matthew 10:26-32; Mark 8:15. For it
is reasonable to suppose, that our blessed Lord preached the same doctrines,
and pressed the same duties, at several times; and that some of his
evangelists have recorded them as he delivered them at one time, and others
as he taught them at another. It is here said, that he addressed his disciples
first of all; for they were his peculiar charge, his family, his school, and
therefore he particularly warned them as his beloved sons. They made a
greater profession of religion than others, and hypocrisy therein was the sin
of which they were most in danger. And as they were to preach to others, if
they should prevaricate, corrupt the word of God, and deal deceitfully with
it, and with the souls of men, their hypocrisy would be more criminal than
that of others. Christ’s disciples, Judas excepted, were, we have reason to
believe, the best men in the world, and yet we see they needed to be
cautioned against hypocrisy. What need, then, have we to be jealous of
ourselves lest we should fall into this sin! Christ gave this caution to his
disciples in the hearing of this great multitude of people, rather than
privately, to add the greater weight to it, and to let the world know that he
would not countenance any sin, and especially hypocrisy, even in those he
loved best.
2 There is nothing concealed that will not be
disclosed, or hidden that will not be made
known.
BARNES, "Shall be proclaimed upon the housetops - See the notes at Mat_
10:27. The custom of making proclamation from the tops or roofs of houses still
prevails in the East. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 51, 52) says:
“At the present day, local governors in country districts cause their commands thus
to be published. Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the
people have returned from their labors in the field. The public crier ascends the
highest roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call upon all faithful
subjects to give ear and obey. He then proceeds to announce, in a set form, the will of
their master, and demand obedience thereto.”
CLARKE, "There is nothing covered - See the notes on Mat_5:15; Mat_
10:26, Mat_10:27 (note); Mar_4:22 (note).
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GILL, "For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed,.... No sin, be
it ever so secret or privately done, as nothing is more covered than hypocrisy, but
what shall be detected sooner or later; if not in this world, which is often the case, yet
the last judgment, and in the world to come:
neither hid, that shall not be known; for how careful soever men may be to hide
their vices from others, they are known to God; who will bring every thing into
judgment, and make manifest the secrets of all hearts. These were general sentences,
which were used by Christ at different times, upon different occasions, and applied to
particular cases; See Gill on Mat_10:26.
HENRY, "(2.) A good reason against it: “For there is nothing covered that shall
not be revealed, Luk_12:2, Luk_12:3. It is to no purpose to dissemble, for, sooner or
later, truth will come out; and a lying tongue is but for a moment. If you speak in
darkness that which is unbecoming you, and is inconsistent with your public
professions, it shall be heard in the light; some way or other it shall be discovered, a
bird of the air shall carry the voice (Ecc_10:20), and your folly and falsehood will be
made manifest.” The iniquity that is concealed with a show of piety will be
discovered, perhaps in this world, as Judas's was, and Simon Magus's, at furthest in
the great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, Ecc_12:14;
Rom_2:16. If men's religion prevail not to conquer and cure the wickedness of their
hearts, it shall not always serve for a cloak. The day is coming when hypocrites will be
stripped of their fig-leaves.
2. To this he added a charge to them to be faithful to the trust reposed in them, and
not to betray it, through cowardice or base fear. Some make Luk_12:2, Luk_12:3, to
be a caution to them not to conceal those things which they had been instructed in,
and were employed to publish to the world. “Whether men will hear, or whether they
will forbear, tell them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; what has
been spoken to you, and you have talked of among yourselves, privately, and in
corners, that do you preach publicly, whoever is offended; for, if you please men, you
are not Christ's servants, nor can you please him,” Gal_1:10. But this was not the
worst of it: it was likely to be a suffering cause, though never a sinking one: let them
therefore arm themselves with courage; and divers arguments are furnished here to
steel them with a holy resolution in their work. Consider,
COFFMAN, "This had the effect of warning the Twelve that they should not be
guilty of any dissimulation with regard to the Pharisees; but it goes far beyond
that and points to the final judgment when all the secrets of men shall be
exposed. This underscores the foolish stupidity of hypocrisy. "Since God knows
all and will ultimately reveal all, how foolish it is for one to be content with the
form and shadow without the reality."[8] When the Lord comes, "He will bring
to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the
hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God" (1 Corinthians 4:5;
see also Ephesians 5:13).
ENDNOTE:
[8] Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 518.
Therefore, fear hypocrisy, for you are only fooling yourself. Seven Cole wrote,
25

“Jesus was not fooled into mistaking momentary popularity for long-term
acceptance. The crowds were thronging around Him, but He knew the
propensity of human hearts, even of His disciples, toward hypocrisy.”
Steven Cole goes on: The Greek word for hypocrisy referred to a mask used in
acting. It means to lead people to believe that you are something
you are not. The hypocrite’s emphasis is on how others see him,
not on how God sees him. Thus his focus is on the outward person,
not on the heart. Jesus calls it leaven or yeast because it is
subtle and insidious. Just as a small pinch of yeast will spread until
it puffs up a large lump of dough, so a small amount of hypocrisy
tolerated in our lives will spread until it contaminates us totally.
In Galatians 2:13, Paul charged Peter and Barnabas with hypocrisy
because they openly ate with Gentile believers, but when
the Judaizers came to town, they suddenly withdrew out of fear of
what the Judaizers would think. If such godly, strong leaders as
Peter and Barnabas were susceptible to hypocrisy, then it is a sin
that we all need to be on guard against!
Hypocrisy is a danger because we are prone to please
people at the expense of pleasing God.
The Pharisees were hypocrites because they lived with a view
to popular acclaim, but they did not live in view of God, especially
on the heart level. We all like to be liked and we don’t want to offend
anyone. So it’s easy to tell people what they want to hear rather than to be
completely honest. And if people get a little better
impression of us than is warranted, we let it go by because we
want them to think highly of us. We all face a strong tendency to
please men whom we can see, but to ignore God whom we cannot
see. But Jesus points out the fallacy of this, because the God
whom we cannot see, sees everything!
3. The art of being a hypocrite depends on concealment, but one day all will be revealed. We can only
be hypocrites before men, but never before God. He sees through the actor's mask we put on.
PETT, “And one good reason for this is that one day all will be revealed and laid bare at the judgment.
Anything covered up will be revealed. Anything hidden will be brought to light. All hypocrisy will be
unmasked. It is best therefore for them not to have anything in their lives of which they will feel
ashamed. All of us therefore need to examine our lives and ask ourselves, is there anything in my life of
which I will be ashamed in that day?
BENSON, "Luke 12:2-5. For there is nothing covered, &c. — All your actions shall be brought to light,
either in this world or in the next. Wherefore take great care never to do any thing which cannot bear
the light, but let the whole of your behaviour be fair, honest, and good. This argument against hypocrisy
he proceeded to improve as a reason for their acquiring another quality, which would serve all the ends
they could propose by their hypocrisy, and to much better purpose; an undaunted resolution in the
performance of their duty, founded on faith in God, who now governs the world by a particular
providence, and in the end will reward or punish every man according to his deeds. I say unto you, my
friends — With all possible seriousness, and tender concern for your everlasting welfare; Be not afraid
of them that kill the body — Let not the fear of man make you act the hypocrite, or conceal any thing
which I have commissioned you to publish: and after that have no more that they can do — The
immortal soul being entirely out of their reach. But I will forewarn you — Greek, υποδειξω υμιν, I will
show you; whom you shall fear — Whose displeasure you shall be afraid to incur; fear him, which after
he hath killed the body, hath power to cast into hell — Is able to torment the soul eternally, and whose
26

displeasure, therefore, is infinitely to be dreaded. Yea, I say unto you, Fear him — And rather choose to
venture on the greatest dangers, and to sacrifice your lives, than to do any thing which may offend his
Divine Majesty. See on Matthew 10:28. It is remarkable that Christ gives this direction even to his
peculiar friends: therefore the fearing of God, as having power to cast into hell, is to be pressed even
upon true believers.
BI, “Nothing covered, that shall not be revealed
The revealing process
There is a tendency in things everywhere to manifest their natures, and make
themselves known.
Seeds that are buried, seek the light; shells deep in the sea grope their way to the
shore; the processes of nature are to bring things to the surface. What is true in
matter has certainly its counterpart in mind. Human character, notwithstanding all
efforts to keep itself back, also tends to development; what is not seen at once is
found out in a lifetime. The strong passions of the soul, like smothered fires or
hidden springs, at last burst their way through, and become known. There is
certainly going on around us in the operations of nature, and in the unfolding of
events, a revealing process, as if creation and Providence had determined to let light
into all dark places, and at last uncover human hearts. This, we suppose, is the
general idea taught in the text.
I. THERE ARE REVEALING PROCESSES GOING ON IN THE WORLD AROUND
US, AND UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH MAKE IT EXCEEDINGLY
PROBABLE THAT, IN THE WORLD TO COME, THEY WILL CONTINUE TO GO
ON WITH ACCELERATED AND OVERWHELMING POWER. One fact often
discloses a great deal, when brought into connection with another fact, which, when
it stood by itself, told nothing. The ancient kings of the East were aware of this, when
they sent messages from one to another on business which they wished to be kept
secret from all but themselves. The message was written upon a piece of parchment,
but so written that it could not be deciphered unless first bound upon a staff, which
contained a counterpart and key to that which was sent, and each king kept one of
these staffs; hence, if the messenger should lose the scrip, the secret would not be
divulged, because not intelligible, unless wrapped round the wood: the one was read
by the help of the other, though each spoke nothing by itself. So with events in
human life; they throw light on each other when brought together.
II. ALL THE HINDRANCES WHICH PREVENTED A PERFECT REVELATION OF
THE CHARACTER IN THIS WORLD, WILL, IN THE NEXT, BE REMOVED. If even
in such a world as this, where the body, and old associations, and friends, and
forgetfulness, and ignorance of the consequences, contribute to quiet the goadings of
conscience, men are still driven by remorse to give a detailed and minute account of
the evil they have done, what may not be expected when, with conscience all alive,
and memory quickened, the soul dismantled of its clay, stung by its sins, bereft of
friends, and hindered by nothing, meets the eye of its Maker without a veil? Surely
there is a provision in our nature, by reason of which every one shall give an account
of himself unto God.
III. MUCH OF THE BIBLE IS WRITTEN, AND ALL PROBATION ARRANGED,
WITH REFERENCE TO A JUDGMENT IN THE MIDST OF MINUTE AND
AMAZING REVELATIONS. There is a foretokening all along our earthly way. If the
wicked hear a “dreadful sound,” what does he hear? If he sees a hand others do not
see, what is it that he sees? The fear of God is not before his eyes, and yet he is afraid.
There was a sound, a rustle of a leaf, yet to him a sound that spoke of discovery—a
whisper of betrayal and development; he sees things around him working to the
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surface. Even a stain upon his robe, a paler hue upon his cheek, may have a voice to
some one; many things have come out in ways most unexpected and who shall say,
after all, he may not have been observed! Perhaps the words of the aged preacher
peal again upon his soul—“Every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil.” “For every idle word which men shall speak,
shall they give account”; “Whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in
the light”; and “The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and the grave
the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man according to his
works,” out of the things that were written in the books.
IV. IF THERE WERE NO BOOKS WITH MAN’S NEEDS RECORDED IN THEM,
NO CONSCIENCE IN THE SOUL TO URGE THEM FORTH, NO WITNESSES TO
TESTIFY, AND NO FORMAL SENTENCE TO BE PRONOUNCED AND
VINDICATED, STILL THE FUTURE CONDITION OF THE SOUL WILL ITSELF
POINT BACK TO SPECIFIC ACTS OF SIN OR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS ON EARTH,
AS THE GROUND OF ITS PECULIAR DESTINY. (W. Neill.)
The inner world
I. Now, we believe that God has dealt with man according to his temperament. He
knows us far better than we know ourselves; and He would therefore work upon us in
a manner most likely to produce a good effect. It may be, indeed, that the abstract
idea of the Lord’s coming to judgment, would have been in itself too lofty for a man
fully to appreciate; so that in order to make man realize it, and thus to let it have a
practical bearing upon our conduct, it has been necessary to enter into the detail, and
describe one of the scenes connected with it. Or, to regard the subject in another
light, it is noticeable that man feels no shame of God’s knowledge of sin. This may be
proved from the fact that we are guilty, all of us, of many secret sins, which we should
blush to own to our dearest friend, but which we are ready enough to acknowledge to
God. On the other hand, we are not often content that our good deeds should be
known to God alone, but the majority of persons would seem to wish that men
should regard them also. These considerations may lead us to understand, that it was
from a complete knowledge of human nature that Christ warned His disciples by the
announcement of the truth—that all secrets would eventually be brought to light.
“Beware,” He says, “of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” For there is
nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.
II. By laying as de a 1 further reference to God’s perfect knowledge of human nature
implied in the text, we would lead your minds to the doctrine which the text
conveys—and, indeed, it is a most important one. Christ here speaks of the revealing
at the last day, of all that we now hide in the closest secrecy. He tells us that there is
nothing, hide it as we now may from the knowledge of others, which He will not
reveal before the masses of the universe. The actions of a single day, who can number
them? Go, examine your own hearts. Each man for himself must go down to the
region of his own soul, and find out what is there going on. Thoughts and passions,
motives and wishes, hopes and fears, hatred, lusts and affections, intentions of good,
and designs of evil; these are the shadowy dwellers of that weed within, whose name
is legion, for indeed they are many. At one time they prompt us to external deeds; at
another time, our external deeds are only the cloak beneath which they disguise
themselves, so that men perceive them not. Oh, who can turn the mental eye
inwards, and not marvel at, and fear the secret world which toils and burns in the
heart? Yet we see it not all. He knows all things now, and there shall come a day when
they shall be known no longer to God alone, but they shall be all declared to the
gathered masses of the universe; for Christ has told us, that “there is nothing covered
28

that shall not be revealed.”
III. And if this be true, does it not especially behove us constantly to regard the state
of that heart which God so closely inspects?
IV. And here we may notice a remarkable distinction between the judgment passed
on our conduct by man on the one side, and by God on the other. Man takes into
account our wicked actions only, while God often discerns matter of condemnation,
long before the wicked action is committed. As viewed by an earthly tribunal, it is of
little account what designs we may have had, if those designs have never been put
into execution. If we are placed in positions where unavoidable circumstances really
debar us often from those privileges which the gospel of Christ affords to man, we
may safely commit ourselves to the hands of God; He knows our hearts; and the day
will come when it will be proved that, although debarred from many privileges, it was
not really our own fault; our inclinations were good, and these inclinations shall be
openly declared; for “there is nothing covered,” no secret wish, no concealed desire,
“that shall not be revealed; there is nothing hid that shall not be known.” (H.
Palmer.)
Christians weighed in the balance
If we had eyes adapted to the sight, we should see, on looking into the smallest seed,
the future flower or tree enclosed in it. God will look into our feelings and motives as
into seeds; by those embryos of action He will infallibly determine what we are, and
will show what we should have been, had there been scope and stage for their
development and maturity. Nothing will be made light of. The very dust of the
balances shall be taken into account. It is in the moral world as it is in the natural,
where every substance weighs something; though we speak of imponderable bodies,
yet nature knows nothing of positive levity: and were men possessed of the necessary
scales, the requisite instrument, we should find the same holds true in the moral
world. Nothing is insignificant on which sin has breathed the breath of hell:
everything is important in which holiness has impressed itself in the painted
characters. And accordingly “There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and
hid that shall not be known.” However unimportant now, in the estimation of man,
yet, when placed in the light of the Divine countenance, like the atom in the sun’s
rays, it shall be deserving attention; and as the minutest molecule of matter contains
all the primordial elements of a world, so the least atom of that mind shall be found
to include in it the essential elements of heaven. (W. Harris.)
No secrecy for sin
A man broke into a small church in Scotland, with the sacrilegious intention of
stealing the communion plate. Hearing steps outside the building, and expecting that
he should be discovered, he hurried to the end of the church, where, seeing a long
rope depending to the ground, he laid hold of it for the purpose of climbing out of
sight. But it proved to be the bell rope, and his weight rang the bell, which attracted
his pursuers immediately to the spot. The man, of course, was caught; and thus
wittily addressed the unconscious cause of his detection:—“If it had not been for thy
long tongue and empty head I should not have been in my present predicament.”
This is the story as we get it from Mr. Gatty’s book “upon the Bell”; but it has its
lesson. Those who sin are pretty sure, sooner or later, to turn king’s-evidence against
themselves. There is a voice in wrong-doing; its long tongue will not always be quiet.
All unaware, the offender puts out his hand and pulls the bell which tells against
29

himself and summons vengeance to overtake him. Let no man dream that he can
secure secrecy for his wickedness. Every timber in floor or roof is really to cry out
against him, and before he is aware of it, he will himself be ringing out his own
infamy. What will be his dismay when he stands self-convicted before the assembled
universe! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Guilt strangely revealed
Once, in a certain part of Germany, a box of treasure that was being sent by railway
was found to have been opened and emptied of its contents, and filled with stones
and rubbish. The question was, Who was the robber? Some sand was found sticking
to the box, and a clever mineralogist, having looked at the grains of sand through his
microscope, said that there was only one station on the railway where there was that
kind of sand. Then they knew that the box must have been taken out at that station,
and so they found out who was the robber. The dust under his feet, where he had set
down the box to open it, was a witness against him. (Clerical Library.)
The quickening of conscience
Just as the manipulations of the photographer in his dark chamber bring forth a
picture which has been burnt into the plate by rays of light before, that when
completed it may be brought to light again, and set before men that they may see
what manner of persons they were; so, in the dark chambers of the dead, in the
hidden spirit-world, there shall be a quickening of conscience. Many a dull picture,
burnt into the mind amid the brightness of life shall be made terribly clear, the whole
to be exposed as a finished view in the light of the judgment throne, and of Him who
sits thereon. We are taught that we had better cultivate this photography of life
ourselves. God has given to us the dark chambers of the night, no chambers of
horror, but chambers in which, away from busy life, we may still be workers for Him,
bringing forth the pictures of the day that are imprinted on conscience, and that may
all be lost, unless we thus draw them forth.
Everything is recorded
It is related that, some time since, a gentleman visiting England called upon a
gentleman there living in princely grandeur. After being passed from one liveried
servant to another, with almost as much ceremony as if he were about to be brought
into the presence of the Queen, he was shown into a large and elegantly furnished
drawing-room, where he was received by the gentleman whom he sought. He saw
that there were two other persons seated at a table in the room, but not being
introduced to them, proceeded with his business. At the close of the interview, as he
was about to leave, the gentleman remarked, “I am accustomed to have conversations
with me recorded, and, that there may be no misunderstanding, these my
amanuenses will read to you what you have said.” The visitor was thunderstruck. He
little thought, while sitting there, that two pairs of ears were catching up every word
he uttered, and two pairs of hands were putting it into a permanent record. So with
many in this world. They seem not to know that there is a Being about their path who
hears every syllable they utter, and who, “when the books are opened,” will bring
everything to view. In a late work of fiction the Recording Angel is represented as
dropping a tear, just as he enters the celestial gates, upon an oath uttered in haste by
a favourite character, and blotting it out for ever. But that is fiction, and not truth. A
greater than man declares that “whatsoever is spoken in darkness shall be heard in
the light,” and that “every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
30

thereof in the day of judgment.” (W. H. Baxendale.)
Eastern proclamations
Our Lord spent most of His life in villages; and, accordingly, the reference here is to a
custom observed only in such places, never in cities. At the present day, writes
Thompson, local governors in country districts cause their commands thus to be
published. Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the people
have returned from their labours in the field. The public crier ascends the highest
roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call upon all faithful subjects to
give ear and obey. He then proceeds to announce, in a set form, the will of their
master, and demands obedience thereto.
3 What you have said in the dark will be heard
in the daylight, and what you have whispered in
the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed
from the roofs.
BARNES, "Shall be proclaimed upon the housetops - See the notes at Mat_
10:27. The custom of making proclamation from the tops or roofs of houses still
prevails in the East. Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 51, 52) says:
“At the present day, local governors in country districts cause their commands thus
to be published. Their proclamations are generally made in the evening, after the
people have returned from their labors in the field. The public crier ascends the
highest roof at hand, and lifts up his voice in a long-drawn call upon all faithful
subjects to give ear and obey. He then proceeds to announce, in a set form, the will of
their master, and demand obedience thereto.”
GILL, "And I say unto you, my friends,.... Whom he dearly loved, and had
taken into the greatest intimacy and familiarity; making known to them whatever he
had heard from his Father; giving them the best instructions, the most faithful and
friendly advice, and proper precautions; all which, and more, showed them to be his
friends, and for whom he after laid down his life:
be not afraid of them that kill the body; though he would have them beware of
the Pharisees, he would not have them be afraid of them; he would have them know
them, and avoid their hypocrisy, and guard against it; but not fear them, or the worst
they could do unto them, which was to kill the body; and that they had no need to be
afraid of, since at death, their souls would be immediately happy, in the enjoyment
and vision of God; and their bodies would sleep in Jesus, and be raised in the
resurrection morn, and be united to their souls, and be both for ever blessed:
and after that have no more that they can do; they have nothing more to kill,
31

or which they can put to pain or misery; the soul is out of their reach, is an immortal
spirit, and cannot be hurt or destroyed by them.
HENRY, "(1.) “The power of your enemies is a limited power (Luk_12:4): I say
unto you, my friends” (Christ's disciples are his friends, he calls them friends, and
gives them this friendly advice), “be not afraid, do not disquiet yourselves with
tormenting fears of the power and rage of men.” Note, Those whom Christ owns for
his friends need not be afraid of any enemies. “Be not afraid, no, not of them that kill
the body, let it not be in the power of scoffers, not even of murderers, to drive you off
from your work, for you that have learned to triumph over death may say, even of
them, Let them do their worst, after that there is no more that they can do; the
immortal soul lives, and is happy, and enjoys itself and its God, and sets them all at
defiance.” Note, Those can do Christ's disciples no real harm, and therefore ought
not to be dreaded, who can but kill the body; for they only send that to its rest, and
the soul to its joy, the sooner.
JAMISON, "I say, etc. — You will say, That may cost us our life. Be it so; but,
“My friends, there their power ends.” He calls them “my friends” here, not in any
loose sense, but, as we think, from the feeling He then had that in this “killing of the
body” He and they were going to be affectingly one with each other.
1 Intervarsity Commentary, “In the midst of growing crowds and official
opposition Jesus issues a warning. The setting of his words is not insignificant.
Even though people are practically crawling over one another to get to Jesus, the
disciples should not be fooled by current popularity and should recall the level of
opposition Jesus has faced. Popularity can breed a desire to remain popular and
thus to soften the hard truth of our sinfulness before God. So Jesus warns, "Be
on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees." Leaven (NIV yeast) was a
symbol of corruption (Ex 12:14-20; 1 Cor 5:6). The Pharisees' hypocrisy has just
been discussed in 11:39-41. Jesus is saying that the desire to impress can lead to a
double life. The way of the Pharisees is not the way for Jesus' disciples.
Hypocrisy will not work, because everything is revealed before God. The secrets
of people's hearts will be revealed (Rom 2:15; 1 Cor 4:5). God's omniscience
means that there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will
not be made known. This includes words said in the dark or whispered in private
rooms. A private room (tameion) was the innermost apartment in a house. So
even things said deep within one's home and mind are known to God. Even these
things will be proclaimed from the housetops one day. What is done in the
basement will be revealed on mountaintops. We may divide our activities into
public and private, visible and unseen, but there is no such division with God's
vision. The walls we build up to protect our psyche and rationalize our behavior
cannot keep out the eyes of God.
PETT, “The same is true of their words. Things spoken under cloak of the night
will be brought into the light, things whispered in the ear in a private room will
be shouted out from the housetops for all to hear. So they should take heed to
what they say. Indeed for every idle word that a man shall speak he will give
account of it on the Day of Judgment (Matthew 12:36). For that Day will be a
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day when all is brought into the light, and all men’s secrets will be made known
(Luke 8:17; Mark 4:22). All this will cause rejoicing for those who confess
Christ, but for those who deny Christ, or blaspheme against the Holy Spirit it
could be catastrophic (see Luke 12:8-10).
LIGHTFOOT, “[That which ye have spoken in the ear.] I have elsewhere spoken
of a doctor whispering in the ear of his interpreter. The reason of this usage is
given us in Chagigah, because the law is delivered silently; and the reason of this
is, it is delivered silently, because of Satan.
However, these words are not to be understood of any such kind of whispering
into the ears of the interpreter, but concerning any matter that may have been
spoken in never so much secrecy and design not to have been known again. The
doctor whispered into the ear of the interpreter to that end, that his disciples
might publish what he had said. But here is meant, whatever any had the
greatest purpose to conceal, yet God will reveal it; not much unlike that passage
in Ecclesiastes 10:20. Our Saviour intimates the folly as well as the wickedness of
dissimulation, because in time the visor shall be taken off, and the most
dissembled hypocrisy exposed to naked view.
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of
those who kill the body and after that can do no
more.
GILL, "And I say unto you, my friends,.... Whom he dearly loved, and had
taken into the greatest intimacy and familiarity; making known to them whatever he
had heard from his Father; giving them the best instructions, the most faithful and
friendly advice, and proper precautions; all which, and more, showed them to be his
friends, and for whom he after laid down his life:
be not afraid of them that kill the body; though he would have them beware of
the Pharisees, he would not have them be afraid of them; he would have them know
them, and avoid their hypocrisy, and guard against it; but not fear them, or the worst
they could do unto them, which was to kill the body; and that they had no need to be
afraid of, since at death, their souls would be immediately happy, in the enjoyment
and vision of God; and their bodies would sleep in Jesus, and be raised in the
resurrection morn, and be united to their souls, and be both for ever blessed:
33

and after that have no more that they can do; they have nothing more to kill,
or which they can put to pain or misery; the soul is out of their reach, is an immortal
spirit, and cannot be hurt or destroyed by them.
HENRY, "Henry, “"The power of your enemies is a limited power. I say unto
you, my friends" (Christ's disciples are his friends, he calls them friends, and
gives them this friendly advice), "be not afraid, do not disquiet yourselves with
tormenting fears of the power and rage of men." Note, Those whom Christ owns
for his friends need not be afraid of any enemies. "Be not afraid, no, not of them
that kill the body, let it not be in the power of scoffers, not even of murderers, to
drive you off from your work, for you that have learned to triumph over death
may say, even of them, Let them do their worst, after that there is no more that
they can do; the immortal soul lives, and is happy, and enjoys itself and its God,
and sets them all at defiance." Note, Those can do Christ's disciples no real
harm, and therefore ought not to be dreaded, who can but kill the body; for they
only send that to its rest, and the soul to its joy, the sooner.
JAMISON, "I say, etc. — You will say, That may cost us our life. Be it so; but,
“My friends, there their power ends.” He calls them “my friends” here, not in any
loose sense, but, as we think, from the feeling He then had that in this “killing of the
body” He and they were going to be affectingly one with each other.
COFFMAN, "In this passage, "Jesus makes it clear that mortal life is by no
means man's most valuable possession."[9] The body is not the real "I."
Although I have a body, the body is not I. Men should learn, therefore, not to
accord fear to men or any earthly powers, which have jurisdiction over the body
alone, but not over the soul.
My friends ... Jesus here contrasted his disciples, through this term of
appreciation, with his Pharisaical enemies. "Fear him ..." The one to be feared in
not Satan, as some have supposed, but Almighty God. "The power to cast into
hell belongs to God, not to Satan."[10] The usage here is similar to "the
condemnation of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:6), which has reference not to any
condemnation the devil may bestow, but to the condemnation which God has
pronounced against him. This is also the view of Harrison, "This refers to God
and not to Satan, for Satan cannot determine the destiny of a human soul."[11]
After he hath killed ... Do these words then have reference to God's KILLING?
In a sense, they do. "It is appointed unto men once to die" (Hebrews 9:27); and
that appointment is surely of God. It is a failure to see this which leads some to
see Satan as the one to be feared; but the whole thesis of the Bible is "Fear God!"
Power to cast into hell ... This word, hell, is a translation of [@gehenna], a Greek
word used by Matthew, Mark, James (James 3:6), and Luke for the place of final
punishment of the wicked. It is the most dreadful word in the Bible. For a full
discussion of the doctrine of eternal punishment, see my Commentary on
Matthew, Matthew 25:41. As Hobbs observed, "If hell is not real fire, as some
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Luke 12 Commentary on Hypocrisy and Sincerity

Luke 12 Commentary on Hypocrisy and Sincerity

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Luke 12 Commentary on Hypocrisy and Sincerity