Luke next narrated events that paved the way for Jesus' public ministry in Galilee and Judea.
John's ministry, as Jesus', did not begin until he was a mature man. This section of the Gospel shows the vital place John played as Messiah's forerunner.
Luke's account of this significant event is shorter than the parallel passages. At His baptism, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit for His ministry. It was also the occasion for the Father to authenticate Jesus as His Son. Luke stressed these two features and did not describe Jesus' actual baptism fully, though he recorded some information that the other evangelists omitted.
3:21 Evidently John baptized Jesus after he had baptized many other people. Luke may have wanted to imply by this that Jesus' baptism was the climax of John's ministry.133According to Luke this is the first of many important events that happened while Jesus was praying (cf. 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 11:1; 22:32, 40-44; 23:46). Only Luke recorded that the heavens opened while Jesus was praying. Luke had a special interest in Jesus' prayer life. It showed His conscious dependence on His Father.
"Jesus' baptism, like that of the people, was a single event in time; but his praying continued for his lifetime."134
Perhaps this explanation accounts for the different tenses of the verb and the participle in this verse. Luke also may have mentioned Jesus' praying to encourage his readers to do the same. The opening of the heavens indicated divine intervention into human history with revelation. God Himself had not intervened this way for many centuries. Luke's original readers, with their background in Greek mythology, would have had a special interest in this intervention. The Greek gods supposedly intervened in human affairs occasionally. Moreover Luke's frequent references to Jesus praying would have helped his original readers realize that Jesus was truly human and not just a god who had visited humans.
"In Luke-Acts times of prayer and worship are frequently the occasions for divine revelations to characters in the story. This is true of Zechariah (Luke 1:9-11), Anna (2:37-38), Cornelius (Acts 10:2-6), Peter (10:9-16), Paul (9:11-12; 22:17-21), and the prophets and teachers of the church in Antioch (13:2). This is true also of Jesus. Jesus' choice of the twelve is preceded by prayer, indeed, prayer through the whole night (dif. Matthew, Mark), in which Jesus is evidently seeking divine guidance for the choice (6:12). The transfiguration also takes place while Jesus is praying (dif. Matthew, Mark). . . . In 22:40-46 also, if vv. 43-44 are an original part of the text, Jesus prays concerning his mission and receives a response through a vision of a strengthening angel."135
3:22 This was a theophany, God appearing in corporeal form. The dove is a biblical symbol of peace (Gen. 8:8-12; cf. Gen. 1:2). Primarily it signified the coming of God's peaceful Spirit to empower Jesus for His ministry (Isa. 42:1; cf. Isa. 64:1). Secondarily it represented the peace that Jesus would impart to those who believed on Him.136Only Luke wrote that the Spirit came "in bodily form"thereby giving the theophany more substance. The voice from heaven identified Jesus as God's beloved Son (cf. 1:32; Exod. 20:1; Ps. 2:7; Isa. 42:1). With this divine approval, Jesus was ready to begin His ministry.
"The risen Jesus connects the beginning of the apostles' mission with the coming of the Spirit upon them (Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8), and the Pentecost scene shows that the coming of the Spirit leads immediately to the first preaching and expansion of the community. Thus in both Luke and Acts the descent of the Spirit initiates the central sequences of events which dominate these writings."137
"The primary application of this text comes in its Christology. Many in our culture respect Jesus, regarding him as a religious teacher of great significance and even placing him among the top religious teachers of all time. Others even acknowledge him as a prophet, giving him a seat in a rather limited club of divine revealers. But as high as these notes of respect are, they pale in comparison to the biblical portrait. Luke shows that Jesus is not like anyone who came before him or anyone since. The Hall of Religious Fame into which he is placed has only one portrait in it--his. There have been other great teachers, prophets, and kings, but there is only one who has combined all of those roles as God's Son."138
Why did Luke place his genealogy of Jesus at this point in his Gospel? Probably he did so because this was the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Matthew recorded Jesus' genealogy to show that He had a legitimate right by birth to occupy the Davidic throne. Consequently he placed his genealogy at the very beginning of his Gospel. Luke wanted to show the ancestry of Jesus, who now began His ministry, as the authenticated Son of God.
There are several other distinct differences between the two genealogies. They proceed in different directions, Matthew's starting with Abraham and ending in Jesus and Luke's beginning with Jesus and working back to Adam and God. Matthew's list stressed Jesus' place in the Jewish race by recording Jesus' ancestry back to Abraham, the father of the Jews. Luke's perspective is broader tracing Jesus all the way back to Adam and showing Him to be a member of the human race. Matthew grouped his names into three groups of 14 names each whereas Luke simply listed 78 ancestors.139Matthew recorded Jesus' descent from Joseph through Solomon, but Luke traced other ancestors from Joseph to David's other son Nathan. Matthew apparently gives Jesus legal line of descent from David naming the heirs to his throne, but Luke gave another branch of David's family tree that seems to be Joseph's blood line.140Matthew mentioned several women in his genealogy, but Luke mentioned none. Finally Luke's list is considerably longer than Matthew's.
"The significance of the genealogy in Luke probably lies in the emphasis on Jesus as a member of the human race, a son of Adam; in the contrast of Jesus, the obedient Second Adam (a theme implicit but not explicit in Luke), with the disobedient first Adam; and in Jesus as the true Son of God (cf. Adam,' v. 38)."141
Luke also stressed the universal significance of Jesus for the whole human race, not just for the Jews, by tracing His ancestry back to Adam. This theme, too, is prominent in the third Gospel.
3:23 Luke probably used the round number "30"to describe Jesus' age when He launched His ministry because many significant Old Testament characters began their service of God when they were 30 (cf. Gen. 41:46; 2 Sam. 5:4; Ezek. 1:1). This included Israel's priests (Num. 4). Evidently Jesus was 32 years old when He began His ministry.142Luke also clarified that Jesus was not the physical son of Joseph. People only supposed that He was.
3:24-38 Matthew traced Joseph's line back to David through Joseph's father Jacob and David's son Solomon. Luke traced Joseph's line back to David through Joseph's father Eli (or Heli, NIV) and David's son Nathan. Is there a mistake in the text, is one of these genealogies really the genealogy of Mary rather than Joseph, or did Joseph have two fathers?
The two lines of Joseph proceed back through two entirely different sets of names. Therefore there does not seem to be an error in the text regarding the name of Joseph's father. Luke did not even mention Mary in his genealogy, and Matthew seems clearly to have been describing Joseph's ancestors (Matt. 1:16). Consequently it appears unlikely that one of the genealogies is Mary's. As strange as it may seem, Joseph appears to have had two fathers.
The custom of levirate marriage in the ancient Near East permitted the widow of a childless man to marry his (unmarried) brother. It was common to consider a child of the second marriage as the legal son of the deceased man to perpetuate that man's name. In genealogies the ancients sometimes listed such a child as the son of his real father but at other times as the son of his legal father. This may be the solution to the problem of Joseph's fathers. It is a very old explanation that the third century church father Africanus advocated.143Either Jacob or Eli (Heli) was Joseph's real father, and the other man was his legal father. This may also be the solution to the problem of Shealtiel's two fathers (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27). It is only an adequate explanation, however, if Jacob and Eli were half-brothers, specifically the sons of the same mother but not the same father. Jacob's father was Matthan and his grandfather was Eleazar whereas Eli's father was Matthat and his grandfather was Levi.
Another solution is that Matthew provided a list of incumbents (actual or potential) to the Davidic throne, and Luke listed Joseph's physical father and forefathers.144According to this view Matthew showed that Jesus had a legitimate right to rule as Messiah since He was in the royal line through His adoptive father Joseph. Luke showed that Jesus was a real blood descendant of David. Yet Luke had already showed in chapters 1 and 2 that Jesus was not a biological son of Joseph. Advocates of this view point out that Luke was careful to state that Jesus was only supposedly the son of Joseph (v. 23). However if He was not the physical son of Joseph what is the point of tracing Joseph's ancestors to prove Jesus' humanity? This criticism applies to the former view too.
Another view is that the genealogy is Joseph's, but Luke did not mean that Joseph was Jesus' physical father.
"In the eye of the law Jesus was the heir of Joseph; and therefore it is Joseph's descent which is of importance."145
Yet the purpose of the genealogy seems to be to trace Jesus back to the first man to prove that He was a real son of Adam.
The obvious problem with the view that Luke recorded Mary's genealogy is that he did not refer to Mary but wrote that his genealogy was Joseph's. One advocate of this view explained the lack of reference to Mary this way. It was not customary among the Romans or the Jews to include the name of a woman in such a list.146Nevertheless Matthew mentioned four women in his genealogy, and Luke showed more interest in women than any of the other evangelists.147It seems unlikely that he would have refrained from using Mary's name if he meant that this genealogy was hers.
Most of the scholars are not dogmatic about the solution to this problem.
"It is only right, therefore, to admit that the problem caused by the existence of the two genealogies is insoluble with the evidence presently at our disposal."148
From David to Abraham (vv. 32-34), Luke's list parallels Matthew's quite closely (Matt. 1:2-6). The list from Abraham to Adam (vv. 34-38) is very similar to the one in Genesis 11:10-26 (cf. Gen. 5:1-32; 1 Chron. 1:1-26).149
The presence of Shealtiel and Zerubbabel in the lists of both Solomon and Nathan's descendants is another problem (Matt. 1:12; Luke 3:27). King Jeconiah, a descendant of Solomon, may have adopted Shealtiel, a descendant of Nathan and Zerubbabel's father, into his line (cf. 1 Chron. 3:17; Jer. 22:30). Then Zerubbabel's descendants continued the two lines of Solomon and Nathan, one branch of the family perpetuating the legal line of Solomon and the other the blood line of Nathan.150Another possibility is that there were two sets of fathers and sons named Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, one set in Joseph's legal line and the other in his blood line.
Luke stressed how the Spirit who had come upon Jesus at His baptism guided and empowered Him in His temptation and how Jesus, God's approved Son, pleased His Father by His obedience. Jesus overcame the devil who opposed God's plans. This story is also edifying because it helps believers understand how to recognize and overcome Satan's attacks. We do so as Jesus did by obeying God's will as revealed in Scripture. Jesus drew His responses to Satan from Old Testament passages that relate to Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 8:3; 6:13, 16). Jesus succeeded, in the wilderness no less, where Israel had failed.151
Luke recorded the same three temptations as Matthew did, but he reversed the order of the second and third incidents. Probably Luke rearranged the order to stress Jesus' victory in Jerusalem. Luke viewed Jerusalem as the center toward which Jesus moved in this Gospel and the center from which the gospel radiated to the uttermost part of the earth in Acts (Acts 1:8). Matthew, on the other hand, concluded his account of the temptation with a reference to the kingdom, his particular interest.
Greek readers had an interest in the idea of the Son of God, explicitly present in two of the temptations. They also had an interest in miracles, which appear in one if not two of them, and Satan who appears in all three.
4:1-2 Reference to Jesus' fullness with the Spirit links this incident with Jesus' baptism (3:22). There seems to be a deliberate comparison between Israel as God's Son (Exod. 4:22-23; Hos. 11:1) and Jesus as the Son of God in this story. Both sons experienced temptation in the wilderness for 40 periods of time, Israel for 40 years and Jesus for 40 days (cf. Gen. 7:4; Exod. 24:18; 1 Kings 19:8; Jon. 3:4). Perhaps God regarded a period of days as the appropriate counterpart for a man compared to years for a nation.152Moses also went without food for 40 days in the wilderness (Deut. 9:9). Israel failed, but Jesus succeeded. God led Israel into the wilderness, and God's Spirit led Jesus there. God tested Israel there, and God allowed the devil to test Jesus there.
Satan tempts people to depart from God's will, but God never does this (James 1:3). People tempt God by making unreasonable demands on Him (Num. 14:22; Deut. 6:16; Ps. 106:14). God tests, but does not tempt, people (Exod. 16:4; 20:20; Deut. 8:2; 13:2; Judg. 2:22; 3:4; 2 Chron. 32:31). All three types of testing occurred in Israel's temptation in the wilderness and in Jesus' temptation there.153
Jesus proved completely pleasing to God in His trials, but Satan was displeasing to Him. Jesus, filled with the Spirit, sided with God, whereas Satan, not filled with the Spirit, opposed Him. Jesus was physically hungry, but He was full of the Spirit. Thus the importance of Spirit control is obvious in this passage as is the importance of familiarity with and fidelity to the Scriptures. Jesus had been fasting (Matt. 4:2; cf. Exod. 34:28; Deut. 9:9). Evidently Jesus experienced temptation all 40 days, but the three instances Luke recorded happened at the end of that period (cf. Mark 1:13).
4:3-4 All three of the tests recorded enticed Jesus to abandon His dependence on God. The first one was a temptation to gratifyself but not by doing something wicked since eating is necessary. The devil attacked Jesus where He was vulnerable since He was then hungry. To continue to exist in the wilderness, Jesus, and the Israelites before Him, had to believe that God's word was trustworthy (Deut. 8:3). God had revealed a plan for both that assured them that they would not die in the wilderness. Satan assumed that Jesus was the Son of God, as is clear from the first class condition in the Greek text (v. 3).
Human welfare does not depend primarily on food or even physical provisions. It depends mainly on obedience to God's will even though that may mean physical deprivation. By applying this passage to Himself Jesus put Himself in the category of a true "man"(Gr. anthropos). Luke had special interest in the testing of Jesus' humanity, and he presented Jesus as the example for the Christian to follow.
4:5-8 The devil also took Jesus up on a mountain (Matt. 4:8; cf. Deut. 32:49; 34:1-3). Evidently he showed Jesus the kingdoms in a vision since He saw them all "in a moment of time (instant)."This was a temptation to exaltself. Jesus could not enter into His glory without suffering first, according to God's will (24:26). Jesus' response was that of the perfect man, the last Adam (Rom. 5:19). He worshipped and served God alone (Deut. 6:13).
4:9-12 Next Satan tempted Jesus to glorifyHimself. Jesus refused to repeat Israel's sin in the wilderness of putting God to the test by forcing His hand. The Israelites had wondered if God was still with them (Exod. 17:7). Instead Jesus committed Himself to simply following God's will in God's time. Satan quoted Psalm 91:11-12 and Jesus responded with Deuteronomy 6:16. The Deuteronomy passage applied to Satan as well as to Jesus.
4:13 The devil only left Jesus temporarily. He continued to tempt Him later. However, Luke viewed Jesus' victory here as significant. His lack of reference to the fact that angels then ministered to Jesus (Matt. 4:11; Mark 1:13) reinforces Jesus' personal victory over Satan.
