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 16:24

16:24 So ⁶  he called out, ⁷  ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus ⁸  to dip the tip of his finger ⁹  in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish ¹⁰  in this fire.’ ¹¹ 

Luke 19:9

19:9 Then ¹²  Jesus said to him, “Today salvation ¹³  has come to this household, ¹⁴  because he too is a son of Abraham! ¹⁵ 

Acts 13:26

13:26 Brothers, ¹⁶  descendants ¹⁷  of Abraham’s family, ¹⁸  and those Gentiles among you who fear God, ¹⁹  the message ²⁰  of this salvation has been sent to us.

Romans 4:12-16

4:12 And he is also the father of the circumcised, ²¹  who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised. ²² 

4:13 For the promise ²³  to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 4:14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ²⁴  4:15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression ²⁵  either. 4:16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, ²⁶  with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants – not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, ²⁷  who is the father of us all

[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.

[16:24]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous actions in the narrative.

[16:24]  ⁷ tn Grk “calling out he said”; this is redundant in contemporary English style and has been simplified to “he called out.”

[16:24]  ⁸ sn The rich man had not helped Lazarus before, when he lay outside his gate (v. 2), but he knew him well enough to know his name. This is why the use of the name Lazarus in the parable is significant. (The rich man’s name, on the other hand, is not mentioned, because it is not significant for the point of the story.)

[16:24]  ⁹ sn The dipping of the tip of his finger in water is evocative of thirst. The thirsty are in need of God’s presence (Ps 42:1-2; Isa 5:13). The imagery suggests the rich man is now separated from the presence of God.

[16:24]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in terrible pain” (L&N 24.92).

[16:24]  ¹¹ sn Fire in this context is OT imagery; see Isa 66:24.

[19:9]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative

[19:9]  ¹³ sn This is one of the few uses of the specific term salvation in Luke (1:69, 71, 77), though the concept runs throughout the Gospel.

[19:9]  ¹⁴ sn The household is not a reference to the building, but to the people who lived within it (L&N 10.8).

[19:9]  ¹⁵ sn Zacchaeus was personally affirmed by Jesus as a descendant (son) of Abraham and a member of God’s family.

[13:26]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Men brothers,” but this is both awkward and unnecessary in English.

[13:26]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “sons”

[13:26]  ¹⁸ tn Or “race.”

[13:26]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and those among you who fear God,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Note how Paul includes God-fearing Gentiles as recipients of this promise.

[13:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “word.”

[4:12]  ²¹ tn Grk “the father of circumcision.”

[4:12]  ²² tn Grk “the ‘in-uncircumcision faith’ of our father Abraham.”

[4:13]  ²³ sn Although a singular noun, the promise is collective and does not refer only to Gen 12:7, but as D. Moo (Romans 1-8 [WEC], 279) points out, refers to multiple aspects of the promise to Abraham: multiplied descendants (Gen 12:2), possession of the land (Gen 13:15-17), and his becoming the vehicle of blessing to all people (Gen 12:13).

[4:14]  ²⁴ tn Grk “rendered inoperative.”

[4:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “violation.”

[4:16]  ²⁶ tn Grk “that it might be according to grace.”

[4:16]  ²⁷ tn Grk “those who are of the faith of Abraham.”