Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 18:20
Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother.
20 . Thou knowest the commandments ] St Matthew says that our Lord first answered, ‘Keep the commandments,’ and when the young man asked, ‘ What kind of commandments?’ expecting probably some recondite points of casuistry minute rules [Halachoth) out of the oral Law our Lord to his surprise mentions the broadest and most obvious commandments of the Decalogue.
Do not kill, &c.] Our Lord seems purposely to have mentioned only the plainest commandments of the Second Table, to shew the young man that he had fallen short even of these in their true interpretation; much more of that love to God which is the epitome of the first Table. Thus does Christ ‘send the proud to the Law, and invite the humble to the Gospel.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
20. Thou knowest, c.Matthew(Mt 19:17) is more completehere: “but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.He saith unto him, Whichas if he had said, Point me out one ofthem which I have not kept?”Jesus said, Thou shalt,” &c.(Mat 19:17 Mat 19:18).Our Lord purposely confines Himself to the second table, whichHe would consider easy to keep, enumerating them allfor in Mark(Mr 10:19), “Defraud not”stands for the tenth (else the eighth is twice repeated). InMatthew (Mt 19:19) the sumof this second table of the law is added, “Thou shalt love thyneighbor as thyself,” as if to see if he would venture to say hehad kept that.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou knowest the commandments,…. The ten commandments given to Moses, and delivered to people; and which they were careful to teach their children; though five are only here mentioned, and not in the order in which they stand: suggesting hereby that these must be kept, or the law must he fulfilled, and satisfaction made for the violation of it, or there can be no inheriting eternal life. The five commandments mentioned are, the seventh, sixth, eighth, ninth, and fifth:
do not commit adultery; do not kill; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honour father and thy mother;
[See comments on Mt 19:17] and
[See comments on Mr 10:19].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Why callest thou me good? See on Mt 19:17.
Do not commit adultery, etc. Compare the different arrangement of the commandments by the three synoptists.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Thou knowest the commandments,” (tas entolas oidas) “You well know or perceive the commandments,” which Jesus then quoted from the second part of the law, those that set forth man’s duties to his fellowman, Exo 20:12-17.
2) “Do not commit adultery,” (me moicheuses) “Do not commit (an act) adultery” an act of adultery, Exo 20:14; Mat 19:18-19. And Jesus even indicated such was even “looking upon one” to lust thereafter, Mat 5:27-28.
3) “Do not kill, Do not steal,” (me phoneuses me klepses) “Do not steal, do not kill,” Exo 20:13; Exo 20:15; Mar 10:19; Gen 9:6.
4) “Do not bear false witness,” (me pseudomartureses) “Do not bear (be a carrier of) false witness,” false or malicious testimony, Exo 20:16.
5) “Honor thy father and thy mother.” (tima ton patera sou kai ten metera) “Honor your father and your mother,” Exo 20:12; Lev 19:18. In Mar 10:19 the phrase “defraud not” stands for the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet,” Exo 20:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(20) Thou knowest the commandments.St. Luke here agrees with St. Matthew in omitting the defraud not, which we find in St. Mark.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“You know the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.”
Jesus then takes up the question with what was probably a stock reply, so that he can search out the man’s thinking. He cites the main part of the covenant of Sinai that applies to attitude towards others (Exo 20:1-17), omitting those which refer to God. Perhaps He acknowledges thereby that no man can determine whether he is treating God rightly. He can only test it by considering his behaviour towards men and women. Or perhaps He could see what this man’s god was, and was waiting to apply that later. But He certainly does intend the man to see His words in the context of the whole Law, and in the light of His own teaching on the matter (se Matthew 5).
Outwardly the commandments mentioned would not be difficult for a man in the ruler’s position to keep if they were just taken as they were stated. What would be more difficult would be keeping the underlying implications as later expounded by Moses, and as expanded by Himself in Matthew 5, implications relating to thoughts and desires. But He must also have been aware that the ruler would not be contented with this reply. It was a deliberately standard reply that anyone could have given him This was not why he had sought out a prophet. It really did not solve his dilemma. The point was that he knew that his life was not satisfactory.
Perhaps Jesus’ aim was also to make the ruler ask himself, ‘Why has He not told me that I must worship only God’, ‘why has He not said that I must not covet? (The commandments that He has omitted) For Jesus already knew what the young man really worshipped, and that he coveted, and He would shortly be coming on to it.
Note On The Order In Which Luke Cites The Commandments.
The order of the commandments as given by Luke differs from that in Exodus 20 in the Hebrew text, but it may well have been a recognised order in use in 1st century AD (compare Rom 13:9; Jas 2:11), and is found in some LXX texts of Deuteronomy 5. Or it may simply be the order in which Luke’s source remembered them, or even Luke’s preferred order, with the one he wanted to stress put first. Perhaps he felt that adultery was the sin that the ruler (or his readers) might be most likely to have committed of the two primary commandments. Matthew and Mark both have it slightly differently, following the normal order. But the basic ideas are the same. All of them put ‘Honour your father and your mother’ after the primary list, probably because they saw the other commandments as all going together.
But whereas Luke only selects out what are actual commandments in the texts he knows, Mark adds ‘You shall not defraud’, and Matthew adds, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ We may see it as probable that Jesus gave a longer list than any of them record, but that Luke omitted what he did not see as actual commandments (he chose to do so, for he had Mark in front of him). We do know that ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ is cited by Jesus (and Luk 10:27) at another time, and that Luke often seeks to prevent repetition. But the basic idea is clear in all, that he should keep the commandments and obey the Law.
End of note.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Ver. 20. See Mat 19:17-19 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 18:20 . : the Seventh Com., first in Lk., the Sixth in Mt. and Mk. (W. H [145] ). Mk.’s and Mt.’s . , etc., are not found in Lk.
[145] Westcott and Hort.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
knowest. Greek. oida. App-132.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 18:20. , honour) even though thou art a ruler: Luk 18:18.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
knowest: Luk 10:26-28, Isa 8:20, Mat 19:17-19, Mar 10:18, Mar 10:19, Rom 3:20, Rom 7:7-11
Do not commit: Exo 20:12-17, Deu 5:16-21, Rom 13:9, Gal 3:10-13, Eph 6:2, Col 3:20, Jam 2:8-11
Reciprocal: Deu 5:18 – General Mal 1:6 – son Mat 19:18 – Thou shalt do Luk 15:29 – Lo Jam 2:11 – Do not commit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Note here, that the duties directed to by our Saviour, are the duties of the second table, nothing being a better evidence of our unfeigned love to God, than a sincere performance of our duty to our neighbor; love to man is a fruit and testimony of our love to God.
Learn thence, that such as are defective in the duties of the second table, charity and justice towards men, do make but a counterfeit show of religion, though they pretend to the highest degree of holiness and love towards God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Jesus returned to the young man’s question (Luk 18:18). If he wanted to obtain eternal life by doing something, he would have to keep God’s laws. The rabbis taught that people could keep the Law in its entirety. [Note: Morris, p. 267.] Jesus cited the fifth through the ninth commandments from the Decalogue that deal with a person’s responsibilities to his or her fellowman (Exo 20:12-16). By doing so, He affirmed the authority of the Old Testament. He was also gracious with the man by not referring to the commands about people’s responsibilities to God or the command about coveting. The man’s response indicated that he had kept the letter of the law (cf. Php 3:6).