Luke 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

Luke 11:27

11:27 As ⁶  he said these things, a woman in the crowd spoke out ⁷  to him, “Blessed is the womb ⁸  that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!” ⁹ 

Luke 11:29

The Sign of Jonah

11:29 As ¹⁰  the crowds were increasing, Jesus ¹¹  began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign, ¹²  but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ¹³ 

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹⁴  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ¹⁵  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ¹⁶  the yeast of the Pharisees, ¹⁷  which is hypocrisy. ¹⁸ 

[3:8]  ¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[11:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “And it happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:27]  ⁷ tn Grk “lifted up her voice and said.” This idiom is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “spoke out.”

[11:27]  ⁸ tn For this term see L&N 8.69.

[11:27]  ⁹ sn Both the reference to the womb and the breasts form a figure of speech called metonymy. In this case the parts are mentioned instead of the whole; the meaning is “Blessed is your mother!” The warnings seem to have sparked a little nervousness that brought forth this response. In the culture a mother was valued for the accomplishments of her son. So this amounts to a compliment to Jesus.

[11:29]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[11:29]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:29]  ¹³ sn The mention of a sign alludes back to Luke 11:16. Given what Jesus had done, nothing would be good enough. This leads to the rebuke that follows.

[11:29]  ¹⁴ sn As the following comparisons to Solomon and Jonah show, in the present context the sign of Jonah is not an allusion to Jonah being three days in the belly of the fish, but to Jesus’ teaching about wisdom and repentance.

[12:1]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ¹⁸ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ²⁰ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.