Luke 2:25-28

From the twenty-fifth verse Simeon becomes the centre of the picture: Luke 2:25-28 relate his coming in; Luke 2:29-32, his song; Luke 2:33-35, his address to the parents.

Vers. 25-28. In times of spiritual degeneracy, when an official clergy no longer cultivates anything but the form of religion, its spirit retires amongst the obscurer members of the religious community, and creates for itself unofficial organs, often from the lowest classes. Simeon and Anna are representatives of this spontaneous priesthood. It has been conjectured that Simeon might be the rabbi of this name, son of the famous Hillel, and father of Gamaliel. But this Simeon, who became president of the Sanhedrim in the year 13 of our era, could hardly be the one mentioned by Luke, who at the birth of Jesus was already an old man. Further, this conjecture is scarcely compatible with the religious character of Luke's Simeon. The name was one of the commonest in Israel.

The term just denotes positive qualities; fearing God

A. V. devout (εὐλαβής appears to be the true reading) watchfulness with regard to evil.

The separation of πνεῦμα from ἅγιον by the verb ἦν in the greater part of the MSS. gives prominence to the idea of the adjective. An influence rested upon him, and this influence was holy. Χρηματίζειν, properly, to do business; thence, to act officially, communicate a decision, give forth an oracle.

The reading κύριον has neither probability nor authority; κυρίου is the genitive of possession: the Christ whom Jehovah gives and sends.

There are critical moments in life, when everything depends on immediate submission to the impulse of the Spirit. The words ἐν τῷ πνεύματι, in spirit, or by the spirit, do not denote a state of ecstasy, but a higher impulse.

A contradiction has been found between the term γονεῖς, parents, and the preceding narrative of the miraculous birth; and Meyer finds in this fact a proof that Luke avails himself here of a different document from that which he previously used. What criticism! The word parents is simply used to indicate the character in which Joseph and Mary appeared at this time in the temple and presented the child.

The καί of the twenty-eighth verse indicates the apodosis; exactly as if the circumstantial ἐν τῷ εἰσαγαγεῖν...formed a subordinate proposition; this καί, at the same time, brings out the close connection between the act of the parents who present the child and that of Simeon, who is found there opening his arms to receive it. By the term receive, the text makes Simeon the true priest, who acts for the time on behalf of God.