Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
11. a Saviour ] It is a curious fact that ‘Saviour’ and ‘Salvation,’ so common in St Luke and St Paul (in whose writings they occur forty-four times), are comparatively rare in the rest of the New Testament. ‘Saviour’ only occurs in Joh 4:42; 1Jn 4:14; and six times in 2 Pet. and Jude; ‘salvation’ only in Joh 4:22, and thirteen times in the rest of the N. T.
Christ the Lord ] “God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ,” Act 2:36; Php 2:11. ‘Christ’ or ‘Anointed’ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah. In the Gospels it is almost invariably an appellative, ‘the Christ.’ But as time advanced it was more and more used without the article as a proper name. Our Lord was ‘anointed’ with the Holy Spirit as Prophet, Priest and King.
the Lord ] In the lower sense the word is used as a mere title of distinction; in the higher sense it is (as in the LXX.) the equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Jehovah’ the ineffable name. “We preach Christ Jesus the Lord,” 2Co 4:5 (see Php 2:11; Rom 14:9; 1Co 8:6; “No one can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,” 1Co 12:3).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Luk 2:11
For unto you is born this day
Lessons from the birthday of Christ
The birthday of Christ!–a name which connects with the familiar associations of home-life the opening of the heavens to human hope, the inconceivable grace and condescension of Almighty God, the beginning of a state of things on earth in which God our Maker has united Himself for ever with humankind.
I. REVERENCE. In thinking of Christs birthday, we are between two dangers. It may have become a mere name and word to us, conventionally accepted and repeated, but conveying no really living meaning; or it may have come with such fulness of meaning as to overwhelm and confound our thoughts, making us ask, How can such things be? Let us remember that God is Love; and that the mystery of the incarnation is the manifestation of that infinite Love. Let us try to take a true measure of the unspeakable majesty and living goodness with which we have to deal.
II. PURITY. The Incarnation was the mind and atmosphere of heaven, coming with all the height of their sanctities into human flesh–a spectacle to make us stop and be thoughtful, and consider our own experience of life and society. Let us pass from things which fashion and custom do not mind, but which do lower the tone and health of soul and character, which often tempt and corrupt it; let us turn away our eyes from what, however captivating and charming, is dangerous to know and look at, to the little child and His mother, and learn there the lesson of strength, of manliness–for purity means manliness–of abhorrence of evil.
III. HUMILITY. The human mind cannot conceive any surrender of place and claims, any willing lowliness and self-forgetfulness, any acceptance of the profoundest abasement, comparable to that which is before us in the birth, and the circumstances of the birth, of Jesus Christ. The measure of it is the measure of the distance between the Creator and the creature, and the creature in the most unregarded, most uncared-for condition, helpless, unknown, of no account for the moment among the millions of men whom He had made, and whose pride, and loftiness, and ambition filled His own world. There He was for the time, the youngest, weakest, poorest of them all; and He came thus, to show what God thinks of human pride, ambition, loftiness. He came thus, to show how God despises the untruth of self-esteem, the untruth of flattery, and to teach how little the outward shows of our present condition answer to that which, in reality and truth, it is worth while for a living soul, an immortal being, to be.
IV. THE LESSON OF NOT PUTTING OUR TRUST IN THE ARM OF FLESH. Contrast the birthday of Christ with the purpose of His coming–to reform, conquer, and restore the world. Of all that mighty order which was to be, of all that overwhelming task and work before Him, here were the first steps, in the lowest paths of human life! He it was to whom was committed this great work of God. Not in the way which men understood or anticipated, not by forces and measures suggested by their experience, but in the exact way of Gods perfect holiness and righteousness. He began and finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. In the utter unlikelihood of His success, there is a lesson for us. In doing His work, and in doing our own work, we are often sorely tempted to depart from His footsteps. In doing His work, in maintaining His cause, in fighting for His kingdom, it has always been too common for man to think, that all the same means are available which are used in human enterprises, that success depended on the same conditions, that it was impossible without employing weapons which were not like His. They have trusted to energy, strength, sagacity; they have distrusted the power of single-hearted obedience, prayer, patience, faith, self-sacrifice, goodness; they have thought it weak to be over-scrupulous; they have forgotten how far beyond the reach and touch of human power are the fortunes of the kingdom of the Most Holy. And so in doing our own work, it is hard for us all not to do the opposite to what our Master did; hard not to trust to the arm and the ways of flesh, instead of trusting with our eyes shut the path of duty, truth, obedience. The trader has before him the way of unflinching honesty, or the way in which custom and opinion allow him to take advantage and make shorter cuts to profit and increased business; which path will he take? Will he have faith in principle, and perhaps wait, perhaps lose; or will he do as others do, and, highly respecting principle, yet forget it at the critical moment? The young man entering into life wishes to get on. Will he trust to what he is, to his determination to do right, to straightforwardness and simplicity, to Gods blessing, or what God has blessed and promised to bless, or will he push his fortunes by readiness to appear what he is not, by selfishness, by man-pleasing, by crooked paths and questionable compliances? The boy has to do his lessons and satisfy his teachers. Will he be content to appear no cleverer than he is, to be conscientious, diligent, faithful, dutiful, whatever comes of it; or will he be tempted to save himself labour and trouble by shorter and easier ways which many will tell him of, and gain credit for what he has no right to? Here, to warn us, to teach us, to comfort us, in all our varied conditions and employments, we have the beginning of Christs conquest of the world. The footsteps of His great progress begin from the cradle of the nativity.
V. GLADNESS AND JOY. Sometimes we feel hardly in tune for the rejoicing of Christmas. It contrasts sharply with the bitterness of a recent bereavement, the sorrowful watch round a hopeless sick bed. Or it may be, while we are saluting our Lords coming with hymns and carols of childlike exultation, and repeating the angelic welcome to the Prince of Peace, that by a terrible irony, the heavens around us are black with storm and danger: that great nations are involved in the horrible death-struggle of war; that day by day men are perishing by every form of carnage, and suffering every form of pain; and that by each others hands. We almost ask, in such a case, whether it is not mockery to think of gladness. Yet it is in place even then; and Christmas claims it from us. Those great gospel songs which heralded the Incarnation of the Son of God–the Magnificat, the Benedictus, the Song of the angels–were themselves but the prelude to the life of the Man of Sorrows. They are followed immediately by Rachel weeping for her children at Bethlehem, and the flight from the sword of Herod. But yet in those dreadful days on earth, of blood and pain and triumphant iniquity, there was peace in heaven and the joy of the angels; for amid the cloud and storm of the conflict which men could not see through, the angels knew who was conquering. He is conquering, and to conquer still. All falsehood, cruelty, selfishness, oppression, and tyranny, are to fall before Him. Amid the darkness of our life, the hope of man is still on Him, as fixed and sure as ever it was. He will not disappoint man of his hope. (Dean Church.)
The message of the shepherds
I. How SURE IS GODS WORD!
II. How WONDERFUL ARE GODS WAYS!
III. How GLORIOUS IS GODS SALVATION! (W. S. Bruce, M. A.)
The two advents
I. THE FIRST COMING WAS IN WEAKNESS, the glory hidden; the second will be in power, the glory revealed.
II. THE FIRST CONING WAS INTRODUCTIVE TO AN EXPERIENCE OF LABOUR AND SUFFERING; the second will be the inauguration of coronation and triumph.
III. IN FIRST COMING CHRIST MADE SALVATION POSSIBLE; in second He will prove how His work has sped.
IV. IN FIRST COMING HE INVITED MEN TO RECONCILIATION AND PEACE; in second He shall descend to bless the believing, but judge the impenitent. Lessons: As we are sure concerning the record of the first advent, let us also be as to the prediction of the second. Have we used the first so as to be prepared for this? (G. McMichael, B. A.)
Unto us a child is born
I. 1. Consider the revelation thus delivered by the angel–Unto you is born a Saviour. Jesus is horn a Saviour; we do not make Him a Saviour; we have to accept Him as such. Neither does salvation come from us or by us, but it is born to us.
2. Consider the outward sign by which the Saviour was to be known–A babe lying in a manger! Children are the saviours of society: the human race renewing itself perpetually in the freshness and innocence of childhood is prevented from becoming utterly corrupt. This is just the lesson the world needed. Philosophy, art, law, force, all had tried to raise mankind out of sin, and all had failed. In the fulness of time unto us a Child is born, and in the weakness of that Childhood, the human race is renewed, its flesh comes again as the flesh of a little child.
II. 1. What a message from heaven to a world weary of life and sick with sin–Unto you is born a Saviour!
2. What a message to those who are trusting in the pride of intellect, or in the pride of wealth, or in the pride of earthly position, or in the pride of character–This shall be the sign: a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger! The signs which betoken the presence of the Eternal are not always such as commend themselves to mens reasoning, for we are living among shadows which are not realities, although we mistake them for such. (Canon Vernon Hutton, M. A.)
The nature of Christs salvation
He is not a temporal Saviour: He is not a Saviour from mere temporal calamity; He is not a Saviour such as the saviours among the Jews were, who had emancipated them from their civil foes; but He is a Saviour from spiritual evils. He saves us from spiritual darkness by His Word; from the pollution and power of sin, by His merit and grace; from the bondage of Satan, by His energy; from hell, by becoming a curse for us, that we may attain eternal life. His salvation extends to the soul as well as the body; to eternity as well as to time. (Dr. Beaumont.)
Universality of the gospel offer
In the further prosecution of this discourse, we shall first say a few words on the principle of the gospel message–good-will: Secondly, on the object of the gospel message–men–it is a message of good-will to men: And, Thirdly, on the application of the gospel message to the men who now hear us.
I. When we say that God is actuated by a principle of good-will to you, it sounds in your ears a very simple proposition. There is a barrier in these evil hearts of unbelief, against the admission of a filial confidence in God. We see no mildness in the aspect of the Deity. Our guilty fears suggest the apprehension of a stern and vindictive character. It is not in the power of argument to do away this impression. We know that they will not be made to see God, in that aspect of graciousness which belongs to Him, till the power of a special revelation be made to rest upon them–till God Himself, who created light out of darkness, shine in their hearts. But knowing also that He makes use of the Word as His instrument, it is our part to lay the assurances of that Word, in all their truth and in all their tenderness, before you.
II. We now proceed, in the second place, to the object of the gospel message–men–a message of good-will to men. The announcement which was heard from the canopy of heaven was not good-will to certain men to the exclusion of others. It is not an offer made to some, and kept back from the rest of the species. It is generally to man. We know well the scruples of the disconsolate; and with what success a perverse melancholy can devise and multiply its arguments for despair. But we will admit of none of them. We look at our text, and find that it recognizes no outcast. Tell us not of the malignity of your disease–it is the disease of a man. Tell us not of your being so grievous an offender that you are the very chief of them. Still you are a man. The offer of Gods good-will is through Christ Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe. We want to whisper peace to your souls; but you refuse the voice of the charmer, let him charm never so wisely. And here the question occurs to us–how does the declaration of Gods good-will in the text consist with the entire and everlasting destruction of so many of the species? In point of fact, all men are not saved. We hold out a gift to two people, which one of them may take and the other may refuse. The good-will in me which prompted the offer was the same in reference to both. God in this sense willeth that all men shall be saved. There is no limitation with Him; and be not you limited by your own narrow and fearful and superstitious conceptions of Him.
III. But this leads us, in the last place, to press home the lesson of the text on you who are now sitting and listening around us. God, in the act of ushering the gospel into the world, declares good-will to man. He declares it therefore to you. Now, you are liable to the same fears with these shepherds. You are guilty; and to you belong all the weakness and all the timidity of guilt. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Christ the Saviour
At the very utterance of the name Saviour, every heart exults with a delight otherwise unknown. To the generous breast, no other object is so beautiful, no other sound so welcome. Never do we shed such rapturous tears, or feel so passionate a joy, as when we witness the heroism and the self-devotion of some act of magnanimous deliverance. Power softens into loveliness, when thus exerted. Danger and toil, encountered in such a cause, impart a stern, yet irresistible attraction. It is thus we think of the patriot, bleeding for the freedom of his country; of the philanthropist, regardless of his own security amidst pestilence, and darkness, and the ministers of death, that he may release the wretched captive, and break the yoke of the oppressor; of the advocate, defending the house of the widow or the heritage of the orphan, and turning into mockery the venality of accusation, and the menaces of vengeance; of the statesman, who stands forth single-handed, but with a dauntless heart, to turn back the flood of tyranny or faction, when threatening to engulf in common ruin the welfare of his people and the safety of mankind; and of the pilot, adventurously urging his way through the pitiless and maddening surge, that he may snatch some solitary victim from the horrors of shipwreck, and bear him, naked and shivering, to the shore. What, then, shall be the glory of Him who plunged, with all the consciousness of unsheltered peril, into the very depths of misery, to rescue the perishing soul! Or what shall be the measure, either of our admiration or our gratitude, when we celebrate, beholding its last triumphs, the emancipation of a world! Advocate, Friend, Brother, these are beloved names; and, like a grateful odour, they give life to the drooping spirit; but if the name of Saviour be more endearing than them all, then what is that ravishment of love with which the rescued sinner shall hail at length the blessed name of Jesus! (S. McAll.)
The Saviours love
Like the sunshine that falls with magical flicker on pearl and ruby, lance and armour, in the royal hall, yet overflows the shepherds home, and quivers through the grating of the prisoners cell; pours glory over the mountain-range; flames in playful splendour on the wave; floods the noblest scenes with day, yet makes joy for the insect; comes down to the worm, and has a loving glance for the life that stirs in the fringes of the wayside grass; silvers the moss of the marsh and the scum of the pool; glistens in the thistle-down; lines the shell with crimson fire, and fills the little flower with light; travels millions and millions of miles, past stars, past constellations, and all the dread magnificence of heaven, on purpose to visit the sickly weed, to kiss into vividness the sleeping blooms of spring, and to touch the tiniest thing with the gladness that makes it great: so does the Saviours love, not deterred by our unworthiness, not offended by our slights, come down to teach and bless the meanest and the lowliest life in the new creation. He restores the bruised reed; the weakest natures share His visits, and revive beneath His smile. (Charles Stanford, D. D.)
The great announcement
I. A Saviour is BORN.
II. A SAVIOUR is born.
III. A Saviour is born unto you.
IV. THIS DAY. (Van. Doren.)
A Saviour from spiritual ruin
I know not how, but when we hear of saving, or mention of a Saviour, presently our mind is carried to the saving of our skin, of our temporal state, of our bodily life; further saving we think not of. But there is another life not to be forgotten, and greater the dangers, and the destruction there more to be feared than of this here, and it would be well sometimes we were reminded of it. Besides our skin and flesh, a soul we have, and it is our better part by far, that also hath need of a Saviour; that hath her destruction out of which, that hath her destroyer from which she would be saved, and those would be thought on. Indeed, our chief thought and care would be for that; how to escape the wrath, how to be saved from the destruction to come, whither our sins will certainly carry us. Sin will destroy us all. And to speak of a Saviour, there is no person on earth has so much need of a Saviour as has a sinner. Nothing so dangerous, so deadly unto us, as is the sin in our bosom; nothing from which we have so much need to be saved, whatsoever account we make of it. From it comes upon us all the evil of this life, and of the life to come, in comparison whereof these here are not worth speaking of. Above all, then, we need a Saviour for our souls, and from our sins, and from the everlasting destruction which sin will bring upon us in the other life not far from us. Then if it be good tidings to hear of a Saviour, where it is but a matter of the loss of earth, or of this life here; how then, when it comes to the loss of heaven, to the danger of hell, when our soul is at stake, and the well-doing or un-doing of it for ever? Is not such a Saviour worth hearkening after? (Bp. Lancelot Andrews.)
Christ the Saviour of men
What does that word Christ mean, and what does it teach us? To the Jew of that day, and even to the Pagan, there could have been no doubt as to the meaning of this word Christ, the Christos, the Anointed, one representing to him some person who had been publicly set apart to some great office among men. Anointing was that act by which, especially among the Jews, a man was set apart to some Divinely appointed office among the people; the prophet who was to speak to the people from God, the priest who was to minister to the people in holy things for God, the king who was to rule in Gods glory over Gods own people, were solemnly set apart by anointing to their office. What they would have called anointing we now call consecration–the publicly and divinely ordered sanctioning and setting apart of a man for an office in which he is to minister unto men and for God. This is anointing, and more than this, it implies that with the appointment and consecration came a power and a grace to fit a man for the office he received. When our Lord, then, is called the Anointed One, the Christ, it means that He is the One of all humanity, who is divinely consecrated and set apart to noble office and high service, and whose whole life and being is filled with the Divine light necessary for doing the work of that office–the Anointed, consecrated One, in whom all consecration and Divine unction centres for the performance of all offices. And every one of these offices, observe, was in the service of mankind. The prophetic office was His, and He claims it as His own when He says, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He hath anointed Me–what for? to preach the gospel to the poor. The prophets office was an office to serve mankind as their teacher, their guide, and their counsellor. The priestly office was His, and for what? That He might offer Himself as a Lamb without spot or blemish to God, and, having entered by a new and living way with His own blood, should live for intercession and sacrifice, coming forth with blessings for Gods people. God made Him king over them, and gave Him heaven for an inheritance–for what? That He might rule them in righteousness and peace. Prophet, Priest, King: in each one of these He was the servant of mankind, and so He says of Himself, The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. King of kings and Lord of lords He is, but Servant of servants to His brethren, and the lordship and the kingdom that He won was won by faith and suffering, won by faithful service, and He served that He might reign, and through it all He was sustained by the in dwelling power of the Spirit of God, who gave not the Spirit by measure unto Him. This is the idea of the Christ, the consecrated One. It means One whose whole life on earth, whose whole life ever since He has left this earth, was devoted, is devoted, to the service of mankind. (Bishop W. C. Magee.)
A consecrated life
Not so long ago the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands were sorely smitten and plagued by leprosy. They resolved at last to gather all the lepers from the islands round about, all tainted with the slightest symptoms of leprosy, and banish them to one island, where they should dwell and perish slowly, while the rest of their fellow citizens were saved from the plague–and they did so. And this band of pilgrims, on a pilgrimage of death, were gathered on the shore of one of these islands, about to depart by a ship which would carry them away for life, and standing on the shore was a priest, a Roman Catholic priest, and he saw this multitude going away without a shepherd to care for their souls, and he said, Take me, let me go amongst them; I will dwell amongst these lepers, and will give them the ministrations of religion which otherwise they would be without. He went, and for some time his courage sustained, and his ministrations blessed that people amongst whom he had cast his lot for life, for he might never leave that place; and then we hear in a letter, written by himself calmly and cheerfully, how that the disease has at last assailed himself, and that his hours of labour are numbered, and before him lies the death of slow and hideous decay to which he had doomed himself that he might save others. In that man was the heart of the priest; in that man was to be seen a manifestation of the Spirit of Christ, the Anointed One; full surely on that soul rested the Divine unction that strengthens and blesses men for noble deeds of sacrifice; and there is not one of us who, in our boasted Protestantism, might be disposed to look down upon the benighted priest, there is not one of us who might not say, Let my soul be with his soul in the day when men will have to give an account before the judgment seat of God. (Bishop W. C. Magee.)
The good news is for each and all
It is very pleasant to hear good tidings for all the rest of the world; but it is pleasanter to know that we have a personal share in the benefits of which those tidings tell. There may be safety to others who are endangered, and not to us. The lifeboat may come and go, and we be left on the wreck. Bread may be distributed to the hungry, and we fail of a share which shall keep as from starving. The physician may bring health to many, and pass us by unnoticed. All of our condemned fellows might be pardoned, and we have no release. Unless the good tidings are to us also, we cannot welcome them with boundless joy, however glad we are that there is help for others. The writer found himself, in the fortunes of war, a prisoner in the Libby, at Richmond. One evening, as the prisoners lay down to sleep, the story was whispered among them that a flag-of-truce boat had come up the river, and that some one of their number was to be released the next day. That was glad tidings for all. But the question in every prisoners mind was, Am I to be released? There were many dreams of home that night on that prison floor. In the early morning, after roll-call, there was breathless expectancy for the name of the favoured prisoner. It was the name of Chaplain Trumbull. Those glad tidings had a meaning for him they could not have for any of his companions. To him there came that day the message of deliverance from bondage, and he passed out from the prison-house thanking God that the message was to him. Unto you is a Saviour born. Whoever you are, whatever are your sins there is salvation for you. (H. C. Trumbull.)
Joy in the Saviour fully received
He is the most joyful man who is the most Christly man. I wish that some Christians were more truly Christians: they are Christians and something else; it were much better if they were altogether Christians. Perhaps you know the legend, or perhaps true history of the awakening of St. Augustine. He dreamed that he died, and went to the gates of heaven, and the keeper of the gates said to him, Who are you? And he answered, Christianus sum, I am a Christian. But the porter replied, No, you are not a Christian, you are a Ciceronian, for your thoughts and studies were most of all directed to the works of Cicero and the classics, and you neglected the teaching of Jesus. We judge men here by that which most engrossed their thoughts, and you are judged not to be a Christian but a Ciceronian. When Augustine awoke, he put aside the classics which he had studied, and the eloquence at which he had aimed, and he said, I will be a Christian and a theologian; and from that time he devoted his thoughts to the Word of God, and his pen and his tongue to the instruction of others in the truth. Oh I would not have it said of any of you, Well, he may be somewhat Christian, but he is far more a keen money-getting tradesman. I would not have it said, Well, he may be a believer in Christ, but he is a good deal more a politician. Perhaps he is a Christian, but he is most at home when he is talking about science, farming, engineering, horses, mining, navigation, or pleasure-taking. No, no, you will never know the fulness of the joy which Jesus brings to the soul, unless under the power of the Holy Spirit you take the Lord your Master to be your All in all, and make Him the fountain of your intensest delight. He is my Saviour, my Christ, my Lord, be this your loudest boast. Then will you know the joy which the angels song predicts for men. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The lesson of Christmas
In the light of the Son of God becoming flesh, we dare not degrade or defile ourselves. We see how base an apostasy it is to abnegate the Divine prerogative of our being. The birth of Christ becomes to us the pledge of immortality, the inspiration of glad, unerring, life-long duty to ourselves. And no less does it bring home to us the new commandment of love to our brethren. It becomes the main reason why we should love one another. If men were indeed what Satan makes them, and makes us try to believe that they solely are–hopelessly degraded, unimaginably vile; if human life be nothing at the best but the shadow of a passing and miserable dream, I know not how we could love one another. We could only turn with loathing from all the vice and blight, the moral corruption, the manifold baseness of vile, lying, degraded lives. How is all transfigured, how is the poorest wretch earth ever bore transfigured, when we remember that for these Christ became man, for these He died I Shall we, ourselves so weak, so imperfect, so stained with evil, shall we dare to despise these whom Christ so loved that for them–yea, for those blind and impotent men, these publicans and sinners, these ragged prodigals of humanity still voluntarily lingering among the husks and swine–for these, even for these, He, so pure, so perfect, took our nature upon Him, and went, step by step, down all that infinite descent? Despise them? Ah! the revealing light of the God-man shows too much darkness in ourselves to leave any possibility for pride. If we have learnt the lesson of Christmas, the lesson of Bethlehem, let us live to counteract the works of the devil; let it be the one aim of our lives to love and not to hate; to help, not to hinder; to succour them that are tempted, not to add to and multiply their temptations; to make men better, not worse; to make life a little happier, not more deeply miserable; to speak kindly words, not words that may do hurt; to console and to encourage, not to blister and envenom with slanderous lies; to live for others, not for ourselves; to look each of us not on his own things, but on the things of others; to think noble thoughts of man as well as of God; to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven us. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
A Saviour
The Esquimaux have no word in their language to represent the Saviour, and I could never find out that they had any direct notion of such a Friend. But I said to them, Does it not happen sometimes when you are out fishing that a storm arises, and some of you are lost and some saved? They said, Oh yes, very often. But it also happens that you are in the water, and owe your safety to some brother or friend who stretches out his hand to help you. Very frequently. Then what do you call that friend? They gave me in answer a word in their language, and I immediately wrote it against the word Saviour in Holy Writ, and ever afterwards it was clear and intelligible to all of them. (Colemeister.)
Christmas day explains two dispensations
Those who have travelled in mountainous countries know how the highest crest of the mountain range is always known by seeing from that point, and that point only, the streams dividing on either side. Even so it is with the event of this day. The whole, or nearly the whole, history of the ancient world, and specially of the Israelite people, leads us up to it as certainly on the one side, as the whole history of later times, especially of the Christian world, leads us up to it from the other side: Other events there are which explain particular portions of history; other birthdays can be pointed out; other characters have arisen which contain within themselves the seed of much that was to follow. There is none which professes like this to command both views at once, and thus, even if we knew no more concerning it, we should feel that a life and character which so explains two dispensations comes to us with a double authority. Either would be enough to constitute a claim to our reverence; both together make a claim almost irresistible. (Dean Stanley.)
Christ born in the city of David
A poor casket to contain so great a Jewel. Thou Bethlehem, says the Prophet Micah, the least among the princes of Judah; yet big enough to contain the Prince of heaven and earth. Little Zoar, says Lot, and yet Zoar was big enough to receive him and his children safe out of the fire of Sodom. Mean Bethlehem, unless the angel had spoke it, the prophet foretold it, and the star had showed it to the wise men, who would not have gainsaid that the Saviour of all men could be laid in such a village? The Roman historian made a marvel that so noble an emperor as Alexander Severus was, could come out of Syria, Syrus Archisynagogus, as they called him in scorn. Behold that emperors Lord, comes not only out of Syria, but out of the homeliest corner in Syria, out of the despicable tributary city of David. (Bishop Hacker.)
A Saviour
But that the name may not be an empty sound to us as it was to them, consider these three things.
1. With what honour it was imposed.
2. What excellency it includes.
3. What reverence it deserves. (Bishop Hacker.)
His words, His actions, His miracles, His prayers, His sacraments, His sufferings, all did smell of the Saviour. Take Him from His infancy to His death, among His disciples and among the publicans, among the Jews, or among the Gentiles, He was all Saviour. (Bishop Hacker.)
The sun enlightens half the world at once, yet none discern colours by the light but they that open their eyes; and a Saviour is born unto us all, which is Christ the Lord: but enclasp Him in thine heart as old Simeon did in his arms, and then thou mayest sing his Nune Dimittis, or Marys Magnificat, My spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour. (Bishop Hacker.)
Christs birth city
The Athenians were proud of Pompeys love, that he would write his name a citizen of their city. For a princely person to accept a freedom in a mean corporation is no little kindness; how much more doth it aggravate the love of Christ to come from heaven, and be made a citizen of this vile earth, to be born after a more vile condition than the most abject of the people. (Bishop Hacker.)
The merit of Christs birth
For, as we say of the sin of Adam, the act passed away at the first, but the guilt remains upon his posterity: so our Saviour was born upon one particular day which is passed, but the merit and virtue of it is never passed, but abides for ever. (Bishop Hacker.)
1. Then with reverend lips and circumcised ears let us begin with the joyful tidings of a Saviour.
2. Heres our participation of Him in His nature, natus, He is born, and made like unto us.
3. It is honourable to be made like us, but it is beneficial to be made for us; unto you is born a Saviour.
4. Is not the use of His birth superannuated, the virtue of it long since expired? No, tis fresh and new; as a man is most active when he begins first to run–He is born this day.
5. Is He not like the king in the Gospel who journeyed into a far country, extra orbem solisque vias, quite out of the way in another world? no–the circumstance of place points His dwelling to be near–He is born in the city of David.
6. Perhaps to make Him man is to quite unmake Him; shall we find Him able to subdue our enemies, and save us, since He hath taken upon Him the condition of human fragility? Yes, the last words speak His excellency and power, for He is such a Saviour as is Christ the Lord. (Bishop Hacker.)
A Saviour
It comprehends all other names of grace and blessing; as manna is said to have all kind of supers in it to please the taste. When you have called Him the glass in which we see all truth, the fountain in which we taste all sweetness, the ark in which all precious things are laid up, the pearl which is worth all other riches, the flower of Jesse which hath the savour of life unto life, the bread that satisfieth all hunger, the medicine that healeth all sickness, the light that dispelleth all darkness; when you have run over all these, and as many more glorious titles as you can lay on, this one word is above them, and you may pick them all out of these syllables, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. (Bishop Hacker.)
The nativity
Let us consider the message itself, the foundation of all our spiritual joy.
I. WHAT IS HE WHO IS BORN? He is a Saviour, a Deliverer. Good indeed are the tidings of a saviour. Delightful to one languishing On a bed of pain and sickness is He that comes with power and skill to heal and to restore. Most joyful to the wretch condemned to die for his crimes, is the sound of pardon.
II. WHAT ARE THE TITLES GIVEN TO THIS SAVIOUR?
1. He is Christ. As His name, Jesus, signifies a saviour, so Christ signifies the anointed. He is an anointed Saviour. Thus is He distinguished from all other saviours. The title Christ also teaches us His office.
2. He is the Lord. High and glorious name I He is Jehovah. He is Lord by right of creation, in His Divine and eternal nature. He is Lord by right of inheritance; man, as Mediator between God and man. He is more particularly our Lord by redemption. These names, then, Christ, the Lord, show Him, an all-sufficient Saviour; show Him, God and man united in one Person: as man to suffer, as God to redeem. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.] A Saviour, , the same as Jesus from , to make safe, to deliver, preserve, to make alive, thus used by the Septuagint for hecheiah, to cause to escape; used by the same for to confide in, to hope. See the extensive acceptations of the verb in Mintert, who adds under : ” The word properly denotes such a Saviour as perfectly frees us from all evil and danger, and is the author of perpetual salvation.” On the word Jesus, see Joh 1:29.
Which is Christ. , the anointed, from to anoint, the same as Messiah, from mashach. This name points out the Saviour of the world in his prophetic, regal, and sacerdotal offices: as in ancient times, prophets, kings, and priests were anointed with oil, when installed into their respective offices. Anointing was the same with them as consecration is with us. Oil is still used in the consecration of kings.
It appears from Isa 61:1, that anointing with oil, in consecrating a person to any important office, whether civil or religious, was considered as an emblem of the communication of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. This ceremony was used on three occasions, viz. the installation of prophets, priests, and kings, into their respective offices. But why should such an anointing be deemed necessary? Because the common sense of men taught them that all good, whether spiritual or secular, must come from God, its origin and cause. Hence it was taken for granted,
1. That no man could foretell events, unless inspired by the Spirit of God. And therefore the prophet was anointed, to signify the communication of the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge.
2. That no person could offer an acceptable sacrifice to God for the sins of men, or profitably minister in holy things, unless enlightened, influenced, and directed by the Spirit of grace and holiness. Hence the priest was anointed, to signify his being divinely qualified for the due performance of his sacred functions.
3. That no man could enact just and equitable laws which should have the prosperity of the community and the welfare of the individual continually in view, or could use the power confided to him only for the suppression of vice and the encouragement of virtue, but that man who was ever under the inspiration of the Almighty.
Hence kings were inaugurated by anointing with oil. Two of these offices only exist in all civilized nations, the sacerdotal and regal; and in some countries the priest and king are still consecrated by anointing. In the Hebrew language, mashach signifies to anoint; and ha-mashiach, the anointed person. But as no man was ever dignified by holding the three offices, so no person ever had the title ha-mashiach, the anointed one, but Jesus the Christ. He alone is King of kings, and Lord of lords: the king who governs the universe, and rules in the hearts of his followers; the prophet to instruct men in the way wherein they should go; and the great high priest, to make atonement for their sins.
Hence he is called the Messias, a corruption of the word ha-mashiach, THE anointed ONE, in Hebrew; which gave birth to , ho Christos, which has precisely the same signification in Greek. Of him, Melchizedek, Abraham, Aaron, David, and others, were illustrious types; but none of these had the title of THE MESSIAH, or the ANOINTED of GOD: This does, and ever will, belong exclusively to JESUS the CHRIST.
The Lord. , the supreme, eternal Being, the ruler of the heavens and the earth. The Septuagint generally translate Yehovah by . This Hebrew word, from hayah, he was, properly points out the eternity and self-existence of the Supreme Being; and if we may rely on the authority of Hesychius, which no scholar will call in question, is a proper translation of Yehovah, as it comes from , – , I am, I exist. Others derive it from , authority, legislative power. It is certain that the lordship of Christ must be considered in a mere spiritual sense, as he never set up any secular government upon earth, nor commanded any to be established in his name; and there is certainly no spiritual government but that of God: and indeed the word Lord, in the text, appears to be properly understood, when applied to the deity of Christ. Jesus is a prophet, to reveal the will of God, and instruct men in it. He is a priest, to offer up sacrifice, and make atonement for the sin of the world. He is Lord, to rule over and rule in the souls of the children of men: in a word, he is Jesus the Saviour, to deliver from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin; to enlarge and vivify, by the influence of his Spirit; to preserve in the possession of the salvation which he has communicated; to seal those who believe, heirs of glory; and at last to receive them into the fulness of beatitude in his eternal joy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
11. unto you is bornyoushepherds, Israel, mankind [BENGEL].Compare Isa 9:6, “Unto us aChild is born.” It is a birth“The Word is madeflesh” (Joh 1:14).When? “This day.” Where? “In the city ofDavid“in the right line and at the right “spot”;where prophecy bade us look for Him, and faith accordingly expectedHim. How dear to us should be these historic moorings of ourfaith! With the loss of them, all substantial Christianity is lost.By means of them how many have been kept from making shipwreck, andattained to a certain external admiration of Him, ere yet they havefully “beheld His glory.”
a Saviournot One whoshall be a Saviour, but “born a Saviour.”
Christ the Lord“magnificentappellation!” [BENGEL].”This is the only place where these words come together; and Isee no way of understanding this “Lord” but ascorresponding to the Hebrew JEHOVAH”[ALFORD].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For unto you is born this day,…. Day is here put for a natural day, consisting both of night and day; for it was night when Christ was born, and the angels brought the tidings of it to the shepherds. The particular day, and it may be, month and year, in which Christ was born, cannot be certainly known; but this we may be sure of, it was in the fulness of time, and at the exact, season fixed upon between God and Christ in the council and covenant of peace; and that he was born, not unto, or for the good of angels; for the good angels stand in no need of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, having never fell; and as for the evil angels, a Saviour was never designed and provided for them; nor did Christ take on him their nature, nor suffer in their stead: wherefore the angel does not say, “unto us”, but “unto you”, unto you men; for he means not merely, and only the shepherds, or the Jews only, but the Gentiles also; all the children, all the spiritual seed of Abraham, all elect men; for their sakes, and on their account, and for their good, he assumed human nature; see Isa 9:6
in the city of David; that is, Bethlehem, as in Lu 2:4 where the Messiah was to be born, as being, according to the flesh, of the seed of David, his son and offspring; as he is, according to his divine nature, his Lord and root. The characters of this new born child follow, and which prove the tidings of his birth to be good, and matter of joy:
a Saviour; whom God had provided and appointed from all eternity; and had been long promised and much expected as such in time, even from the beginning of the world; and is a great one, being God as well as man, and so able to work out a great salvation for great sinners, which he has done; and he is as willing to save as he is able, and is a complete Saviour, and an only, and an everlasting one: hence his name is called Jesus, because he saves from sin, from Satan, from the law, from the world, from death, and hell, and wrath to come, and from every enemy.
Which is Christ the Lord; the Messiah spoken of by the prophets; the anointed of the Lord, with the Holy Ghost without measure, to be a prophet, priest, and king in his church; and who is the true Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of angels, good and bad, the Lord of all men, as Creator, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Lord of lords, and King of kings; and who is particularly the Lord of saints by his Father’s gift, his own purchase, the espousal of them to himself, and by the power of his grace upon them: and the birth of such a person must needs be joyful, and is to be accounted good news, and glad tidings.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(). First aorist passive indicative from . Was born.
Saviour (). This great word is common in Luke and Paul and seldom elsewhere in the N.T. (Bruce). The people under Rome’s rule came to call the emperor “Saviour” and Christians took the word and used it of Christ. See inscriptions (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 344).
Christ the Lord ( ). This combination occurs nowhere else in the N.T. and it is not clear what it really means. Luke is very fond of (Lord ) where the other Gospels have Jesus. It may mean “Christ the Lord,” “Anointed Lord,” “Messiah, Lord,” “The Messiah, the Lord,” “An Anointed One, a Lord,” or “Lord Messiah.” It occurs once in the LXX (La 4:20) and is in Ps. of Sol. 17:36. Ragg suggests that our phrase “the Lord Jesus Christ” is really involved in “A Saviour (Jesus) which is Christ the Lord.” See on Mt 1:1 for Christ and Mt 21:3 for Lord.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Is born [] . It adds to the vividness of the narrative to keep to the strict rendering of the aorist, was born.
A Savior. See on Mt 1:21. Christ. See on Mt 1:1. Lord. See on Mt 21:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For unto you is born this day,” (hoti etechthe humin semeron) “Because there was born to you a today,” to Israel, Isa 9:6-7, this very day, to you shepherds in Israel and your people first, in priority of promise, pledge, and opportunity; He came of the Jews, first to the Jews, Joh 1:11; Rom 1:16; Rom 2:9-10.
2) “In the city of David,” (en polei David) “In a city of David,” called Bethlehem of Judaea, Mic 5:2; Mat 2:5-6; Luk 2:4. These words are so definitively accurate in prophetic revelation of the Savior who is born, an anchor for every soul who will trust Him.
3) “A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,” (soter, hos estin Christos kurios) “A Savior who is (now exists as) Christ (the) Lord,” a. deliverer from the consequences of all sin, Luk 1:74; Luk 4:18; Mat 1:21; Luk 19:10. Jesus means Savior or deliverer while Christ means anointed one or Messiah, a title which refers to His official office of prophet, priest, and king, the latter of which refers especially to His messiahship. The term “Lord” means Jehovah, the Divine one of the Godhead who was and is to come, as master of all things, and all men, and angels, Joh 3:35; Joh 5:22; Joh 5:26-27.
The term “Lord” is the uniform name used in the Septuagint, first Gk. translation of the Old Testament, as a substitute for the very sacred Hebrew word Jehovah, as it appears “Lord” in Luk 2:9, of God.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11. This day is born to you Here, as we lately hinted, the angel expresses the cause of the joy. This day is born the Redeemer long ago promised, who was to restore the Church of God to its proper condition. The angel does not speak of it as a thing altogether unknown. He opens his embassy by referring to the Law and the Prophets; for had he been addressing heathens or irreligious persons, it would have been of no use to employ this mode of speaking: this day is born to you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord For the same reason, he mentions that he was born in the city of David, which could serve no purpose, but to recall the remembrance of those promises which were universally known among the Jews. Lastly, the angel adapted his discourse to hearers who were not altogether unacquainted with the promised redemption. With the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets he joined the Gospel, as emanating from the same source. Now, since the Greek word Greek, as Cicero assures us, has a more extensive meaning than the Latin word Servator, and as there is no Latin noun that corresponds to it, I thought it better to employ a barbarous term, than to take anything away from the power of Christ. And I have no doubt, that the author of the Vulgate, and the ancient doctors of the Church, had the same intention. (150) Christ is called Savior, (151) because he bestows a complete salvation. The pronoun to you (152) is very emphatic; for it would have given no great delight to hear that the Author of salvation was born, unless each person believed that for himself he was born. In the same manner Isaiah says, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,” (Isa 9:6😉 and Zechariah, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee lowly,” (Zec 9:9.)
(150) He refers to his use of the Latin word Salvator , for which there is no classical authority. The apology may be deemed unnecessary; but Calvin was entitled to be more sensitive on this point than many modern scholars. The purity of his style discovers so perfect an acquaintance with the writers of the Augustan age, that it must have given him uneasiness to depart from their authorized terms. He pleads high authority for the liberty he had taken. Cicero, whose command of the resources of his native tongue will not be questioned, acknowledges that there is no Latin word which conveys the full import of the Greek word σωτ́ηρ, and in this, as well as many other instances, calls in the aid of a richer and more expressive language than his own. — Ed.
(151) “ Salvator .”
(152) “ Au reste, ce n’est pas sans cause que ce mot Vous est adjouste: et il est bien a poiser. Car il ne serviroit gueres de savoir que le Sauveur est nay, sinon qu’un chacun appliquast cela a sa personne, s’asseurant que c’est pour lui qu’est nay le Fils de Dieu.” — “Besides, it is not without reason that this word You is added; and it is well to weigh it. For it would hardly be of service to know that the Savior is born, unless each applied that to his own person, being persuaded that it is for him that the Savior is born.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
11. Unto you You, the people of Israel.
City of David The true place for the birth of David’s royal son.
A Saviour Too high a title for a mere man.
Christ The Anointed, the Messiah.
The Lord Which is the Greek for the incommunicable name Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Luk 2:11. For unto you is born, &c. Because one of the Bodleian manuscripts reads this , to us, Mr. Fleming has conjectured, that the angel who spoke was a glorified human spirit, perhaps that of Adam, all of whose happy descendants might, he thinks, make up the chorus, Luk 2:13. But considering the great assent of copies to the present reading, this conjecture leans upon a very slender support. Grotius imagines (which is more probable) that this angel was Gabriel. Almost all the Greek fathers, after the fourth Century, taught that this day, upon which our Saviour was born, was the sixth of January; but the Latins fixed his birth to the twenty-fifth of December. However, the principles upon which both the one and the other proceeded, clearlyprove their opinion to be without foundation. They imagined that Zacharias, John the Baptist’s father, enjoyed the dignity of high-priest, and that he was burning incense on the day of expiation, when the angel appeared to him in the temple; and as the national expiation was always made on the tenth of Tisri, answering to the twenty-fifth of September,they fixed Elisabeth’s pregnancy to that day, and supposed that Gabriel appeared to Mary precisely six months after; so that reckoning nine months forward, they brought the birth of Christ exactly to the twenty-fifth of December. The Greek fathers, though they proceeded upon the very same principles, were not so exact in their calculations, making the birth to happen some days later; but the uncertainty, or to express it better, the fallacy of those principles, has induced Scaliger, Calvisius, and most learned men since that time, to maintain, in opposition to the ancient doctors of both churches, that our Lord was born in September. The writers above mentioned support their opinion by the following calculation: when Judas Maccabeus restored the temple worship on the twentieth of the month Casleu, answering to the beginning or middle of our December, the course of Joarib, or first course of priests, (according to 1Ch 24:7.) began the service, the rest succeeding in their turns. By making computations accordingto these suppositions, it is found, that the course ofAbia, to which Zacharias belonged, served in the months of July or August, at which time the conception of the Baptist happened. And as Mary had her vision in the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, that is to say, about the beginning of January, she conceived so as to bring forth our Lord in the September following. To this agrees the circumstance of the shepherds lying out in the fields the night of the nativity, which might happen in the month of September, but not probably in January. So likewise the taxation at Christ’s birth, which might be executed more convenientlyin autumn than the depth of winter, especially as the people were obliged to repair to the cities of their ancestors, which were often at a great distance from the places of their abode.
After the time, the angel mentions the place of the Saviour’s nativity,in the city of David; informing us, that thus it pleased God, that He who is described as of the house and lineage of David, and of whom David himself was but a type, should have his birth in the same city where David had, to make the parallel more complete and exact. But there is yet something further in the case; for this city of David was Bethlehem, whence we find his father called Jesse the Bethlehemite; and from hence it was that the prophet Micah foretold that the ruler in Israel should come forth, ch. Luk 5:2. Now since Hebrew names are usually significant, and imposed to some special end or purpose, we may observe that the name of this city signifies the house or place of bread; and what place fitter for his birth and reception, who was and is the living bread which came down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die? After the place, the angel makes out the great characteristics of the Saviour,who is Christ the Lord,the Messiah, or Anointed. The natural properties of things, though separated from common to religious use, continue the same. They are hallowed by such separation; they are applied to greater objects, and employed in the highest service; but are not altered in themselves. The frankincense, the salt, the oil are the same, whether in the temple or the cottage, and are subservient to like purposes. The properties of oil are such, as have recommended it to various offices, civil and religious. It not only preserves itself, but also gives a lustre to other bodies; is a proper vehicle for odoriferous perfumes, is soft and bright, and makes the face to shine, which was of old esteemed a symbol of joy and magnificence; to which may be added, that as it feeds and maintains life in the lamp, so it served to denote the influences of the Spirit. Hence the king, the prophet, the priest, consecrated persons and thing, were anointed, to give them a lustre, and to denote and publish the separation of them from common men, and common use. Hence the offerings of a sweet savour were with oil and frankincense; but the sin-offering was without them. Lev 5:11. Oil was poured on the head of Aaron with such profusion, as to run down upon his beard, and the skirts of his garments. His sons were anointed with oil; the altar and all its vessels, the tabernacle, the laver, and its foot were anointed. We have also, in sacred and prophane history, many examples of anointing with oil. See Luk 10:34. Homer’s Iliad, . 38. . 350. It has been already said, that kings, priests, and prophets were anointed. The word anointed was often used for prince or king. Cyrus is called the Lord’s anointed: Saul was anointed captain before he was king: Zerubbabel, with his crown of gold, and Joshua the high-priest, with his crown of silver, are the two anointed ones in Zec 4:14. See also Isa 61:1. So usual was the phrase of the anointed for kings, that in the parable of the trees, Jdg 9:9 they are said to go forth to anoint a king. Hence it follows, that the expected king of the Jews, their greatest prince, prophet, legislator, priest,each of which offices alone would have entitled him to the name of Messiah, or Anointed,should eminently be called by the Jews the Messiah, or Christ. It is not without particular emphasis, that the angel has added to this character that he is the Lord. The title of Anointed, or anointed of the Lord, is, as we have shewn, given to kings and God’s vicegerents upon earth; but the character of Christ the Lord is more exalted and sublime, and belongs only to Him, whom the prophet calls Jehovah our righteousness; and the apostle, the Lord from heaven; and who, being co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, is God of gods, or Lord of lords. He was the Lord, the Jehovah, who appeared so often under the first dispensation; to Abraham, in the plains of Mamre; to Isaac, in Gerar; to Jacob, in Beth-el; to Moses, in the wilderness. He is the Leader of the host of Israel; the Word of God, by whom he made the world, by whom he conversedwith the first and best of mankind; whom he sent as a Saviour to redeem his people from their servitude in Egypt, their captivity in Babylon, and at last, in the flesh, to redeem the world from the pollution of sin, and the dominion of death.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
Ver. 11. A Saviour ] The Greek word is so emphatic (as Cicero witnesseth) that other tongues can hardly find a fit word to express it. The Grecians delivered by Flaminius, rang out , , with such a courage, that the birds, astonished, fell to the earth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 2:11 . : a word occurring (with ) often in Lk. and in St. Paul, not often elsewhere in N. T. : also often in Lk.’s Gospel, where the other evangelists use Jesus. The angel uses the dialect of the apostolic age.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
For = That: meaning “born to-day”; not “I announce to-day”. See note on Luk 23:43.
is born = was born, or brought forth.
a Saviour. Not a helper: for a
Saviour is for the lost.
Christ the Lord = Hebrew. Mashiah Jehovah, i.e. Jehovah’s Anointed. 1Sa 24:6. App-98.
the Lord. App-98. B. a. The Lord of all power and might. Therefore able to save. Compare Rom 14:9. 1Co 8:6; 1Co 12:3. 2Co 4:5. Php 1:2, Php 1:11. These three words define and contain the “Gospel” as being good news as to a Person; and as being Christianity as distinct from Religion, which consists of Articles, Creeds, Doctrines, and Confessions; i.e. all that is outward. Compare Php 1:3, Php 1:4-7, Php 1:9, Php 1:10, Php 1:20, Php 1:21. Note that in the Greek the words, “in the city of David”, come last. Hence the z and z correspond in the Structure. p. 1436. d
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 2:11. , unto you) the shepherds, unto Israel, and unto all mankind.-, Christ) Luk 2:26. All ought to have retained in their memory so clear a communication [revelation], whilst the Lord was growing up to maturity. The name Jesus is not added, inasmuch as it afterwards was given Him at His circumcision, Luk 2:21 : but the force of that name is represented [is vividly expressed] in the term, Saviour. And so also in the Old Testament it is often virtually expressed under the term, Salvation.-, the Lord) An argument for joy. An exalted appellation. [Mat 2:6.]- , in the city) Construe with is born. By this word the place is pointed out, as by the expression, this day, the time is indicated.-, David) This periphrasis refers the shepherds to the prophecy, which was then being fulfilled.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Saviour
(See Scofield “Rom 1:16”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
unto: Luk 1:69, Isa 9:6, Mat 1:21, Gal 4:4, Gal 4:5, 2Ti 1:9, 2Ti 1:10, Tit 2:10-14, Tit 3:4-7, 1Jo 4:14
in: Luk 2:4, Mat 1:21
which: Luk 2:26, Luk 1:43, Luk 20:41, Luk 20:42, Gen 3:15, Gen 49:10, Psa 2:2, Dan 9:24-26, Mat 1:16, Mat 16:16, Joh 1:41, Joh 1:45, Joh 6:69, Joh 7:25-27, Joh 7:41, Joh 20:31, Act 2:36, Act 17:3, 1Jo 5:1
the Lord: Luk 1:43, Luk 20:42-44, Act 10:36, 1Co 15:47, Phi 2:11, Phi 3:8, Col 2:6
Reciprocal: Deu 32:43 – Rejoice 1Ki 11:39 – not for ever 2Ki 13:5 – a saviour Psa 21:6 – made Psa 97:1 – the earth Pro 25:25 – so Isa 19:20 – he shall send Isa 33:22 – he will Isa 41:10 – Fear Isa 41:27 – I will give Isa 43:11 – General Isa 49:1 – The Lord Jer 33:14 – General Eze 21:27 – until Hag 2:7 – and the Mal 3:1 – and Mat 2:1 – Bethlehem Mat 2:2 – born Mat 7:11 – good Mar 1:1 – beginning Mar 16:15 – into Luk 1:47 – God Luk 2:7 – and wrapped Luk 2:30 – General Luk 3:6 – General Luk 8:1 – the glad Luk 20:44 – how Joh 1:14 – the Word Joh 3:17 – but Joh 4:1 – the Lord Joh 4:42 – and know Joh 7:28 – Ye both Joh 7:42 – not Joh 21:7 – It is Act 2:30 – he Act 3:26 – sent Act 5:31 – a Saviour Act 8:8 – General Act 9:17 – the Lord Act 13:23 – raised Act 20:24 – the gospel Rom 1:1 – the gospel Rom 1:16 – the gospel Gal 3:14 – through Eph 3:4 – the mystery Phi 2:29 – with 1Ti 1:1 – God 1Ti 1:11 – glorious 1Ti 2:5 – the man 1Ti 2:15 – she Tit 1:4 – our
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE BIRTHDAY OF CHRIST
Born this day.
Luk 2:11
The birthday of Christ: what are its lessons?
I. The lesson of reverence.Think of the Divine majesty of the love which for us surrendered all, for us accepted all.
II. The lesson of purity.Amid what innocence and with what purity and holiness did our Saviour come!
III. The lesson of humility.Christ came, the youngest, the weakest, the purest of all, to show what God thinks of human pride, ambition, and loftiness.
IV. The lesson of not trusting the arm of flesh.Contrast the manner of His coming with the natural expectations of human experience.
V. The lesson of gladness and joy.Christ brought joy unspeakable.
Dean Church.
Illustration
We do not put sufficient joyousness into our religion. Why is religion always so solemnly grave? Why are religious people almost always looking so sad? Cultivate joy. Pray for joy. Encourage joy in your own heart. What cannot joy do? Do we not all do things best when we are happy? Do we not work best, pray best, live best, when we are happy? And if holiness makes heaven, heaven makes holiness.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Unto you denotes that it was for their benefit the birth had occurred. The announcement of it was about the same as was predicted in Isa 9:6.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 2:11. Unto you. This refers directly to the shepherds, as in Luk 2:10, confirming the view, that they were men who expected the Messiah.
In the city of David. Bethlehem; comp. Luk 2:4; Luk 2:15. The latter instance shows that they understood it at once. The reference to the prophecy in Mic 5:2, was probably plain to the pious shepherds.
A Saviour. Comp. Mat 1:21. Not a mere temporal deliverer, as appears from what follows: who is Christ the Lord. This is the only place where these words come together in this form. The first means the Messiah, and could not be otherwise understood; the second has already been used twice (Luk 2:9) of God, and is the word used in the LXX. to translate the Hebrew Jehovah. We therefore understand the angelic message, this first Gospel statement of the Person of Christ, to mean that the child born in Bethlehem as a Saviour, was the promised Messiah, Jehovah.