Luke 8:15

8:15 But as for the seed that landed on good soil, these are the ones who, after hearing ¹  the word, cling to it ²  with an honest and good ³  heart, and bear fruit with steadfast endurance. ⁴ 

Luke 8:21

8:21 But he replied ⁵  to them, “My mother and my brothers are those ⁶  who hear the word of God and do it.” ⁷ 

Luke 13:2

13:2 He ⁸  answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners ⁹  than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

¹ tn The aorist participle ἀκούσαντες (akousante") has been taken temporally, reflecting action antecedent (prior to) that of the main verb.

² sn There is a tenacity that is a part of spiritual fruitfulness.

³ sn In an ancient context, the qualifier good described the ethical person who possessed integrity. Here it is integrity concerning God’s revelation through Jesus.

⁴ sn Given the pressures noted in the previous soils, bearing fruit takes time (steadfast endurance), just as it does for the farmer. See Jas 1:2-4.

⁵ tn Grk “answering, he said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he replied.”

⁶ tn There is some discussion about the grammar of this verse in Greek. If “these” is the subject, then it reads, “These are my mother and brothers, those who.” If “these” is a nominative absolute, which is slightly more likely, then the verse more literally reads, “So my mother and brothers, they are those who.” The sense in either case is the same.

⁷ sn Hearing and doing the word of God is another important NT theme: Luke 6:47-49; Jas 1:22-25.

⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

¹⁰ sn Jesus did not want his hearers to think that tragedy was necessarily a judgment on these people because they were worse sinners.