Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 11:39
And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
39. Now do ye Pharisees ] Doubtless other circumstances besides the mere supercilious astonishment of the Pharisee led to the vehement rebuke. The eightfold woe in Matthew 23 is fuller than here. Jesus denounces their frivolous scrupulosity (39), combined with gross insincerity (42), their pride (43), and their corruption (44).
make clean the outside of the cup and the platter ] Mar 7:4, “washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.” On one occasion the Sadducees seeing them busied in washing the great Golden Candelabrum sneeringly observed that they would wash the Sun itself if they could get the opportunity.
your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness ] i.e. of greed, and of the depravity which causes it. A slightly different turn of expression is given in Mat 23:25-26. See Excursus VI. on Sects of the Jews; and compare these denunciations with those delivered in the Temple on the last day (Tuesday in Passion Week) of the Lord’s public ministry, Mat 23:25-28. The early Christian heretics reflected the character of these Pharisees in their mixture of elaborate profession with real godlessness, Tit 1:15-16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See Mat 23:25. Ravening. Robbery, plunder. Here the sense is that the cup and platter were filled with what had been unjustly taken from others. That is, they lived by their wickedness; their food was procured by dishonesty and extortion. This was a most terrible charge; and as it was applied, among others, to the man who had invited the Saviour to dine with him, it shows that nothing would prevent his dealing faithfully with the souls of people. Even in the Pharisees own house, and when expressly invited to partake of his hospitality, he loved his soul so much that he faithfully warned him of his crimes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 39. Ye – make clean the outside] See Clarke on Mt 23:25.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We have much the same, though delivered in another form, with a denunciation of a woe, See Poole on “Mat 23:25“. We must not imagine that our Saviour here reflects upon the cleansing of vessels in which we put our meat and drink, for undoubtedly, as to them, the Pharisees washed both the inside and the outside. And the conceit of them is amiss who think that by the inward part, Luk 11:39, he means the meat in their dishes, which was gotten indeed by ravening, and wickedness, extortion, &c.; for it is a hard interpretation of the inward part of the platter, to say, by it is meant the meat in the platter; but neither doth our Saviour say, the inward part of the dish, but your inward part, by which he plainly means the soul. Our Saviour doth therefore certainly compare the Pharisees to dishes or platters washed or scoured only on the outside, and blames their hypocrisy in this, that they were mighty solicitous about an outside purity and cleanness, but for the inward purity of the heart and soul, they took no care at all about that; they were very scrupulous about undefiled hands, but nothing at all about having their souls and inward powers and affections undefiled. This he telleth them was most egregious folly, for God, that made the body, made the soul also, and therefore would exact a purity in the inward as well as the outward man, especially considering that he loveth truth in the inward parts.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
39-41. cup and platterremarkableexample of our Lord’s way of drawing the most striking illustrationsof great truths from the most familiar objects and incidents of life.
raveningrapacity.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said unto him,…. Jesus, as the Syriac and Persic versions read; the Lord Jesus, as the Ethiopic.
Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup, and the platter; being very tenacious of the traditions of the elders, concerning the washing of cups and pots, which had been of late years brought in among them, and therefore the word “now” is used;
[See comments on Mt 23:25] and
[See comments on Mr 7:4],
but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness: meaning either their souls, which were full of all manner of sin, the cleansing and purity of which they had no concern about, whilst they were very strict and curious in washing their bodies, their cups and platters; or rather the vessels which were filled with meat and drink got by extortion, rapine, and oppression; see Mt 23:25.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Lord ( ). The Lord Jesus plainly and in the narrative portion of Luke.
Now (). Probably refers to him. You Pharisees do now what was formerly done.
The platter ( ). The dish. Old word, rendered “the charger” in Mt 14:8. Another word for “platter” () in Mt 23:25 means “side-dish.”
But your inward part ( ). The part within you (Pharisees). They keep the external regulations, but their hearts are full of plunder (, from , to seize) and wickedness (, from , evil man). See Mt 23:25 for a like indictment of the Pharisees for care for the outside of the cup but neglect of what is on the inside. Both inside and outside should be clean, but the inside first.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Platter [] . The word rendered charger in Mt 14:8, on which see note. Compare, also, paroyiv, platter, Mt 23:25.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
JESUS PRONOUNCES WOES UPON THE PHARISEES V. 39-44
1) “And the Lord said unto him,” (eipen de ho kurios pros autou) “Then the Lord said directly to him,” in response to the Pharisee’s pious shock that Jesus reclined to eat without taking a bath-like washing first.
2) “Now do ye Pharisees make clean,” (nun humeis hoi Pharisaoi katharizete) “Now and as a rule of unending practice you Pharisees cleanse,” or sterilize, as a traditional ceremony in your homes, that has nothing to do with the Law of the Lord or the Law of Moses, Mar 7:3-9.
3) “The outside of the cup and the platter;” (to eksothen tou poteriou kai tou pinakos) “The outside (exterior) of the pottery-cup and of the dish,” in a ceremonial form of imaginary, external purifications, a thing unauthorized by the Lord. The cup and platter represent the washing of the people, Mat 23:25; Mar 7:1.
4) “But your inward part,” (to de esothen humon) “But your own inside,” the heart, the seat of emotions his moral nature, your inner-platter, Mat 23:26; Jer 17:9.
5) “Is full of ravening wickedness (gemei harpages kai ponerias) “is full of robbery and wickedness, Mat 15:18-20; Mat 23:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
39. Now you Pharisees Christ does not here charge the Pharisees, as in Matthew, (Mat 15:1,) and Mark, (Mar 12:2,) with serving God in an improper manner by human inventions, and breaking the law of God for the sake of their traditions; but merely glances at their hypocrisy, in having no desire of purity except before the eyes of men, as if they had not to deal with God. Now this reproof applies to all hypocrites, even to those who believe that righteousness consists in ceremonies appointed by God. Christ includes more than if he had said, that it is in vain to serve God by the commandments of men, (Mar 7:7😉 for he condemns generally the error of worshipping God by ceremonies, and not spiritually, by faith and a pure affection of the heart.
On this point the prophets had always contended earnestly with the Jews; but, as the minds of men are strongly inclined to hypocrisy, they proudly and obstinately adhered to the conviction, that God is pleased with external worship, even when it is not accompanied by faith. But in the time of Christ, they had sunk to such depth of folly, that they made religion to consist entirely in absolute trifles. Accordingly, he directs his accusation against the Pharisees, for being extremely careful to wash cups, and cherishing within their hearts the most abominable filth of cruelty and wickedness He charges them with folly on this ground, that God, who created that which is within the man, his soul, as truly as the body, cannot be satisfied with a mere external appearance. The chief reason why men are deceived is, that they do not consider that they have to deal with God, or, they transform Him according to the vanity of their senses, as if there were no difference between Him and a mortal man.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(39) Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup.See Note on Mat. 23:25. The verses that follow stand in the relation to the great discourse against the Pharisees in that chapter, as the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6) does to the Sermon on the Mount. Here, too, we recognise another instance, not of a narrative misplaced, but of words actually repeated. All past experiences, all faults previously noted, were gathered at last into one great and terrible invective. We note, as an instance of independence, St. Lukes use of a different Greek word for platter, viz., that which is elsewhere (Mat. 14:8; Mat. 14:11) better translated charger, the large central dish, as distinguished from the smaller platter or side-dish. For the excess of St. Matthew, St. Luke has the more generic wickedness. From one point of view the words are more startling here than in their context in St. Matthew. There they are spoken as in open conflict with a class, here they are addressed to an individual member of the class, and by One whom he had invited as a guest. It must be remembered, however, that there was a touch of supercilious scorn in all these invitations, still more, perhaps, in the looks and whispers in which the wonder in this instance showed itself; and the words point to secret sins which the Searcher of hearts knew, and which it was necessary to reprove.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39-44. On words similar to these we have annotated in Matthew 23. That our Lord under similar circumstances should use similar thoughts and expressions, and even quote the same Scripture passage, is perfectly natural. The lawyer who has essentially the same cause to plead, though with different parties, would of course go through the same argument, quote the same authorities, and even make the same impassioned appeal to the same emotions. The popular orator in a political canvass repeats the same speech to rouse the passions of successive audiences. The physician a hundred times finds the same symptoms grouped in the same disease, and applies the same medicines. The author, even a Strauss, publishes thousands of copies of the same book. The singer, when encored, goes through the same notes and strains to excite the same feelings. Why then should not he who has once gone through with an impressive and unsurpassable train of thought, employ it a second and a third time, under precisely similar demands? Our Saviour was perpetually meeting the same sort of men, who were suffering the same diseases, and needing the same truths and dealings. The same sort of facts and teachings would therefore occur not only twice but thrice and four times.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
39. The Lord said unto him In this verse our Lord depicts, by a very impressive image, the contrast between the external ritual purity and the internal moral impurity of the pharisaical classes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the Lord said to him, “Now you the Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but your inward part is full of extortion (‘greed’) and wickedness.” ’
Jesus is aware of what the Pharisee is thinking/saying and draws attention to their inconsistency. They cleanse the externals, such as the outsides of cups and dishes, and through their ritual by implication the outside of the body, but they ignore contamination of the inward parts, contamination of the heart of man (compare Mar 7:14-23). There is an outward show of cleanliness, while underneath is a turmoil of greed and wickedness. The light such as it is may shine on the cups and platters to see if they are clean, but not on the heart. Note here that He speaks as ‘the Lord’, which is fairly common in Luke whose aim is to maintain His distinctiveness from all others.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Ver. 39. See Mat 23:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
39. ] There is not the least improbability or incongruity in our Lord’s having thus spoken as a guest at a meal (as Strauss, Schleiermacher, De Wette, &c., maintain); His solemn work of reproof and teaching was never suspended out of mere compliment, nor were the intentions of the Pharisees towards Him so friendly as these invitations seem to imply. They were given mostly from deference to popular opinion, and from no love to Him; sometimes even with a directly hostile object. See Luk 11:53-54 , and compare also ch. Luk 7:44-46 . Observe also, that the severest parts of the discourse in Matt. (Luk 11:13-22 ; Luk 11:33 ) were not uttered on this occasion.
, i.e. as instanced by your present conduct Here is an instance of your, &c.
. . . . ] Understand, ‘in the proverb’ or perhaps the application is left to be enthymematically filled up, for the next clause presupposes it.
and of a man , are not the outside and inside of the body but the outside apparent conduct , and the inner unseen motives .
Some difficulty has been found in the parallelism of . , and : and a proposal has been made (to which I am surprised to see Bleek giving his adhesion) to take with what follows: “ the inside (of the cup and platter) is full of your plunder and wickedness .” But surely all verisimilitude is against this, as well as the emphatic position thus given to . The simple fact is, that the parable and its interpretation are intermixed throughout the whole, the mind of the hearer being left to find its own way in allotting each its part.
Luk 11:40 seems clearly to me to be a question , and to mean, as E. V., Did not He, who made the outside, make the inside also? i.e. if His works have become unclean and polluted through sin, what is the use of only partially purging them, not accomplishing the purgation? must not the cleansing, to be good for any thing, extend to the whole?
The making to mean, ‘ he who has cleansed ,’ and a negative, instead of an interrogative sentence ‘ye fools, he who has cleansed the outside has not cleansed the inside also’ gives, especially as the same was more strongly implied in Luk 11:39 , the most frigid sense imaginable; and I can only (still, after his second edition) wonder that Stier, after Kuinoel and others, should have adopted it.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 11:39 . , once more this title in narrative. : variously taken as = igitur or = ecce , or as a strictly temporal particle = now “a silent contrast with a better ” (Meyer). Hahn affirms that at the beginning of a sentence can mean nothing else than “now”. But Raphel, in support of the second of the above senses (“admirationem quandam declarat”), quotes from Arrian , ( Epict. , lib. iii., cap. 23, 1). Bengel cites 2Ki 7:6 , Sept [109] , where in the first position is the equivalent for ( vide Sweet’s edition). Lo! ecce! seems best to suit the situation, which demands a lively emotional word. Godet happily renders: “Vous voil bien! Je vous prends sur le fait.” for Mt.’s (Luk 23:25 ). , your inside, instead of the inside of the dishes in Mt. The idea is that the food they take into their bodies is the product of plunder and wickedness ( = , Mt.).
[109] Septuagint.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
clean: i. a. ceremonially clean.
platter = dish. See note on Mat 14:8.
ravening and wickedness = wicked greed. Figure of speech Hendiadys. App-6.
wickedness. App-128.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
39.] There is not the least improbability or incongruity in our Lords having thus spoken as a guest at a meal (as Strauss, Schleiermacher, De Wette, &c., maintain);-His solemn work of reproof and teaching was never suspended out of mere compliment,-nor were the intentions of the Pharisees towards Him so friendly as these invitations seem to imply. They were given mostly from deference to popular opinion, and from no love to Him;-sometimes even with a directly hostile object. See Luk 11:53-54, and compare also ch. Luk 7:44-46. Observe also, that the severest parts of the discourse in Matt. (Luk 11:13-22; Luk 11:33) were not uttered on this occasion.
, i.e. as instanced by your present conduct-Here is an instance of your, &c.
. . . .] Understand, in the proverb-or perhaps the application is left to be enthymematically filled up, for the next clause presupposes it.
and of a man, are not the outside and inside of the body-but the outside apparent conduct, and the inner unseen motives.
Some difficulty has been found in the parallelism of . , and : and a proposal has been made (to which I am surprised to see Bleek giving his adhesion) to take with what follows: the inside (of the cup and platter) is full of your plunder and wickedness. But surely all verisimilitude is against this, as well as the emphatic position thus given to . The simple fact is, that the parable and its interpretation are intermixed throughout the whole, the mind of the hearer being left to find its own way in allotting each its part.
Luk 11:40 seems clearly to me to be a question, and to mean, as E. V., Did not He, who made the outside, make the inside also?-i.e. if His works have become unclean and polluted through sin, what is the use of only partially purging them,-not accomplishing the purgation?-must not the cleansing, to be good for any thing, extend to the whole?
The making to mean, he who has cleansed, and a negative, instead of an interrogative sentence-ye fools, he who has cleansed the outside has not cleansed the inside also-gives, especially as the same was more strongly implied in Luk 11:39, the most frigid sense imaginable; and I can only (still, after his second edition) wonder that Stier, after Kuinoel and others, should have adopted it.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 11:39. [ , but the Lord said) Jesus spake these things which here follow in Galilee first, subsequently at Jerusalem (Mat 23:1-39). In Galilee He said, in this passage [Luk 11:49], I will send [Future] Prophets and Apostles among them. Then also at Jerusalem [Mat 23:34], He said, Behold, I send [Present]: To wit, in the intervening time He was come nearer to the actual sending of them.-Harm., p. 398.]-, now) The particle has the force of demonstrating a thing present: on this account the LXX. employ it for , Behold, 2Ki 7:6; and in this passage it at the same time involves an antithesis between external purity and impurity; in the same way as nunc among the Latins has often the force of atqui.- ) that which is exterior (the outside): for instance, the exterior of a very clean cup.- ) your interior (inner man), viz. your manner of life.-, is full) like a cup or dish. First, and are adverbs; then in Matthew, ch. Luk 23:25-26, it is the cup and the dish that are said to be full, : in Luke it is the inward part itself of the Pharisees. The exterior of vessels is not only convex, but also concave [what is commonly, though not correctly, called the inside]: the interior is both the heart and the manner of life.[111] It makes no difference whether , rapine, be taken, in the material sense, for the thing carried off, or, in the formal sense, for rapaciousness. However, it is taken in the formal sense, inasmuch as in Matthew or , intemperance or injustice, and in Luke , malignity, wickedness, are added. It may be thus paraphrased: Ye Pharisees keep clean the part in the vessel which is exterior; but your interior is full of rapaciousness and malignity. Ye fools, did not He, who made the exterior thing, to wit, the vessel, at the same time also make the interior thing, namely, the heart? But as concerns those things which are in the vessel [which is but the exterior thing], give alms, and behold all things, your whole manner of life, are clean to you, whatever be the case as regards the vessel, whether it be more or less clean.
[111] Not what is commonly called the inside of a cup: , according to Beng., applies here only to the heart, and not to the cup figuratively.-ED. and TRANSL.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Now: Mat 23:25, Gal 1:14, 2Ti 3:5, Tit 1:15
but: Luk 16:15, Gen 6:5, 2Ch 25:2, 2Ch 31:20, 2Ch 31:21, Pro 26:25, Pro 30:12, Jer 4:14, Mat 12:33-35, Mat 15:19, Joh 12:6, Joh 13:2, Act 5:3, Act 8:21-23, Jam 4:8
ravening: Psa 22:13, Eze 22:25, Eze 22:27, Zep 3:3, Mat 7:15
Reciprocal: Deu 23:11 – wash himself Psa 5:9 – inward Psa 49:11 – Their inward Psa 51:6 – inward Psa 62:4 – inwardly Isa 50:7 – I set Isa 55:7 – his thoughts Eze 23:36 – declare Eze 34:7 – General Mat 3:7 – the Pharisees Mat 5:20 – exceed Mar 7:4 – except Mar 7:6 – hypocrites Mar 10:2 – the Pharisees Joh 1:24 – were of Joh 7:7 – because Joh 9:40 – Are Act 13:10 – O full Rom 2:29 – which 2Co 7:1 – let
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
[Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, etc.] this our Saviour speaks of the persons; and not of the vessels; which is plain, in that,
I. He saith, your inward parts; etc.; so that the sense is to this purpose: You cleanse yourselves outwardly indeed by these kinds of washings; but that which is within you is full of rapine, etc.
II. Whereas he saith, he that made that which is without; he doth not speak it of the artificer that made the cup or the platter, but of God. Else what kind of argument is this? ‘He that made the cups and the platters, made both the outside and the inside of them’: what then? ‘Therefore do ye make yourselves clean both outside and inside too.’ But if we refer it to God, then the argument holds forcibly enough: ‘Did not God, that made you without, make you within too? he expects, therefore, that you should keep yourselves clean, not only as to your outside, but as to your inside too.’
III. It is hardly probable that the Pharisees should wash the outside of the cup or platter, and not the inside too. Take but these two passages out of this kind of authors themselves: “Those dishes which any person eats out of over night, they wash them, that he may eat in them in the morning. In the morning they wash them, that he may eat in them at noon. At noon, that he may eat in them at the mincha. After the mincha, he doth not wash them again; but the cups, and jugs, and bottles, he doth wash, and so it goes throughout the whole day;” etc. I will not give myself nor reader the trouble to examine the meaning of the words: it suffices that here is mention only of washing, and that the whole vessel, not of this or that part only: and the washing of such vessels was by dipping them in water.
“All vessels that have an outside and an inside; if the inside be defiled, the outside is also; but if the outside be defiled, the inside is not defiled.” One would think this was to our purpose, and asserted the very literal sense of the words we have in hand, viz. that the cups and the platters, although they were unclean on the outside, yet in the inside they might be clean; and it was sufficient to the Pharisee, if he cleansed them on the outside only. But the vessels here mentioned (if the Gloss may be our interpreter) are such as they might use both the outside and the inside indifferently. Some of them are recited by the Gemarists, viz. sacks, wallets, nightcaps, pillowcases, etc.
Our Saviour, therefore, does not here speak according to the letter, neither here nor in Mat 23:25; when he saith, “Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter”; but by way of parable and similitude. ‘You, while you are so very nice and officious in your external washings, you do nothing more than if you only washed the outside of the cup or dish, while there was nothing but filth and nastiness within.’
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 11:39. And the Lord said to him. The form of our Lords opening remark indicates that the Pharisees marvelled orally, and that the others present of that sect had assented to the censure. This was rudeness to the guest, calling for rebuke. There is no proof that the invitation was given out of friendliness.
Now, not in contrast to some previous time, but rather in the sense: full well, here is a proof of the way in which, ye Pharisees, etc. Others of this party were doubtless present.
The outside of the cup and of the platter. Comp. Mat 23:25. The reference is to their ceremonial observances, but the contrast differs from that in Matthew. There the outward legality and the inward immorality of their enjoyments are in strict contrast; here the outwardly purified cup is opposed to the inwardly corrupted heart of the drinker; external conduct to inner unseen motives. The comparison is less exact, since the figure and the reality are joined. Some explain: the inside (of the cup and platter) is full of your plunder and wickedness; but this is grammatically objectionable.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 39
But your inward part, &c.; that is, the inward part of the cup and the platter. The meaning is, that within they were filled with the fruits of injustice and wickedness. This is evident from the phraseology of the parallel passage. (Matthew 23:25,26.)
Luke 11:40,41. There is considerable difficulty in interpreting these two verses, so as to exhibit a meaning clearly in connection with what precedes. The passage is obscure in the original.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus did not criticize this Pharisee and his religious brethren for washing their hands before eating or for observing ritual purification beyond what the law required. He used His host’s objection as an occasion to point out the hypocrisy involved in Pharisaic teaching and practice. The Pharisees typically neglected more important things while stressing the necessity of much less important things (cf. Luk 6:27-36; Luk 10:25-37). By washing ceremonially they were only doing half of what God expected of them. They needed to purify themselves internally as well as externally. To wash the outside of a person and not cleanse the inside is as foolish as only washing the outside of a bowl without washing the inside.
"Did not he (the potter or God) who made the outside also make the inside (and therefore you must cleanse both)?" [Note: Plummer, p. 310.]
"The way to clean up a dirty vocabulary is not to brush your teeth but to cleanse your heart." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:217.]