CHAPTER 4. THE TEMPTATION, AND THE BEGINNING OF THE GALILEAN MINISTRY. It is in every way credible that the baptism of Jesus with its connected incidents should be followed by a season of moral trial, or, to express it more generally, by a period of retirement for earnest thought on the future care... [ Continue Reading ]
Τότε, then, implying close connection with the events recorded in last chapter, especially the descent of the Spirit. ἀνήχθη, was led up, into the higher, more solitary region of the wilderness, the haunt of wild beasts (Mark 1:13) rather than of men. ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος. The divine Spirit has to do w... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Temptation_ (Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13).... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ νηστεύσας. The fasting was spontaneous, not ascetic, due to mental preoccupation. In such a place there was no food to be had, but Jesus did not desire it. The aorist implies that a period of fasting preceded the sense of hunger. The period of forty days and nights may be a round number. ἐπείνασ... [ Continue Reading ]
προσελθὼν, another of the evangelist's favourite words, implies that the tempter is conceived by the narrator as approaching outwardly in visible form. εἰπὲ ἵνα : literally “speak in order that”. Some grammarians see in this use of ἵνα with the subjunctive a progress in the later Macedonian Greek on... [ Continue Reading ]
_First temptation_, through hunger.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ ἀποκ. εἶπεν : Christ's reply in this case as in the others is taken from Deuteronomy (Matthew 8:3, Sept [14]), which seems to have been one of His favourite books. Its humane spirit, with laws even for protecting the animals, would commend it to His mind. The word quoted means, man is to live a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Second temptation_. τστε παραλαμ.… τοῦ ἱεροῦ : τότε has the force of “next,” and implies a closer order of sequence than Luke's καὶ (Matthew 4:5). παραλαμβάνει, historical present with dramatic effect; seizes hold of Him and carries Him to. τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν : Jerusalem so named as if with affection... [ Continue Reading ]
βάλε σεαυτὸν κάτω : This suggestion strongly makes for the symbolic or parabolic nature of the whole representation. The mad proposal could hardly be a temptation to such an one as Jesus, or indeed to any man in his senses. The transit through the air from the desert to the winglet, like that of Eze... [ Continue Reading ]
_Third temptation_. εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν : a mountain high enough for the purpose. There is no such mountain in the world, not even in the highest ranges, “not to be sought for in terrestrial geography,” says De Wette. The vision of all the kingdoms and their glory was not physical. τοῦ κόσμου. What... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐὰν πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃς μοι. This is the condition, homage to Satan as the superior. A naïve suggestion, but pointing to a subtle form of temptation, to which all ambitious, self-seeking men succumb, that of gaining power by compromise with evil. The danger is greatest when the end is _good_. “The end... [ Continue Reading ]
ὕπαγε σατανᾶ. Jesus passionately repels the Satanic suggestion. The ὕπαγε σ. is true to His character. The suggestions of worldly wisdom always roused in Him passionate aversion. The ὀπίσω μου of some MSS. does not suit this place; it is imported from Matthew 16:23, where it does suit, the agent of... [ Continue Reading ]
τότε ἀφίησιν : _then_, when the peremptory ὕπαγε had been spoken. Nothing was to be made of one who would not do evil that good might come. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄγγελοι. The angels were ministering to Him, with food, presumably, in the view of the evangelist. It might be taken in a wider sense, as signifying th... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀκούσας δὲ … Γαλιλαίαν : note of time. Jesus returned to Galilee on hearing that John was delivered up, _i.e._, in the providence of God, into the hands of his enemies. Further particulars as to this are given in chapter 14. Christ's ministry in Galilee began when the Baptist's came to an end; how l... [ Continue Reading ]
_Beginnings of the Galilean ministry_ (Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:14-15). In a few rapid strokes the evangelist describes the opening of the Messianic work of Jesus in Galilee. He has in view the great Sermon on the Mount, and the group of wonderful deeds he means thereafter to report, and he gives first... [ Continue Reading ]
Ναζαρέτ. Jesus naturally went to Nazareth first, but He did not tarry there. κατῴκησεν εἰς Καπερναοὺμ, He went to settle (as in Matthew 2:23) in Capernaum. This migration to Capernaum is not formally noted in the other Gospels, but Capernaum appears in all the synoptists as the main centre of Christ... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus chose Capernaum as best suited for His work. There He was in the heart of the world, in a busy town, and near others, on the shore of a sea that was full of fish, and on a great international highway. But the evangelist finds in the choice a fulfilment of prophecy ἵνα πληρωθῇ. The oracle is re... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν σκοτίᾳ : the darkness referred to, in the view of the evangelist, is possibly that caused by the imprisonment of the Baptist (Fritzsche). The consolation comes in the form of a greater light, φῶς μέγα, great, even the greatest. The thought is emphasised by repetition and by enhanced description o... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπὸ τότε … κηρύσσειν. After settling in Capernaum Jesus began to preach. The phrase ἀπὸ τότε offends in two ways, first as redundant, being implied in ἤρξατο (De Wette); next as not classic, being one of the degeneracies of the κοινή. Phrynichus forbids ἐκ τότε, and instructs to say rather ἐξ ἐκείνο... [ Continue Reading ]
_Call of four disciples_. The preceding very general statement is followed by a more specific narrative relating to a very important department of Christ's work, the gathering of disciples. Disciples are referred to in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1), therefore it is meet that it be shown how... [ Continue Reading ]
he effect was immediate: εὐθέως ἀφέντες. This seems surprising, and we naturally postulate previous knowledge in explanation. But all indications point to the uniquely impressive personality of Jesus. John felt it; the audience in the synagogue of Capernaum felt it on the first appearance of Jesus t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἄλλους δύο, another pair of brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee, the four together an important instalment of the twelve. The first pair were casting their nets, the second were mending them, (καταρτίζοντες), with their father.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ δὲ εὐθέως ἀφέντες. They too followed immediately, leaving nets, ship, and _father_ (_vide_ Mark 1:20) behind.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Summary account of the Galilean ministry_. A colourless general statement serving as a mere prelude to Chapter s 5 9. It points to a ministry in Galilee, varied, extensive, and far-famed, conceived by the evangelist as antecedent to the Sermon on the Mount; not necessarily covering a long period of... [ Continue Reading ]