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 12:27

12:27 Consider how the flowers ⁶  grow; they do not work ⁷  or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these!

Luke 21:12

21:12 But before all this, ⁸  they will seize ⁹  you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues ¹⁰  and prisons. You ¹¹  will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.

[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.

[12:27]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “lilies.” According to L&N 3.32, “Though traditionally κρίνον has been regarded as a type of lily, scholars have suggested several other possible types of flowers, including an anemone, a poppy, a gladiolus, and a rather inconspicuous type of daisy.” In view of the uncertainty, the more generic “flowers” has been used in the translation.

[12:27]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “toil.” Although it might be argued that “work hard” would be a more precise translation of κοπιάω (kopiaw) here, the line in English scans better in terms of cadence with a single syllable.

[21:12]  ¹¹ sn But before all this. Another note of timing is present, this one especially important in understanding the sequence in the discourse. Before the things noted in vv. 8-11 are the events of vv. 12-19.

[21:12]  ¹² tn Grk “will lay their hands on you.”

[21:12]  ¹³ sn Some of the persecution is of Jewish origin (the synagogues). Some fulfillment of this can be seen in Acts. See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

[21:12]  ¹⁴ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.