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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 4:31

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And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

31 37. The Healing of a Demoniac

31. came down to Capernaum ] St Matthew (Mat 4:13-16) sees in this the fulfilment of Isa 9:1-2, omitting the first part which should be rendered “At the former time he brought contempt on the Land of Zebulun and on the Land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he brought honour.” It was perhaps on His way to Capernaum that our Lord healed the courtier’s son (Joh 4:47-54). Capernaum is in all probability Tell Hm. The name means village (now Kefr) of Nahum, and Tell Hm is ‘the ruined mound’ or ‘heap’ of (Na)hum. It is now a heap of desolation with little to mark it except the ruins of one white marble synagogue possibly the very one built by the friendly centurion (Luk 7:5) and the widely-scattered dbris of what perhaps was another. But in our Lord’s time it was a bright and populous little town, at the very centre of what has been called “the manufacturing district of Palestine.” It lay at the nucleus of roads to Tyre and Sidon, to Damascus, to Sepphoris (the capital of Galilee), and to Jerusalem, and was within easy reach of Peraea and Ituraea. It was in fact on the “ way of the sea ” (Isa 9:1) the great caravan road which led to the Mediterranean. It was hence peculiarly fitted to be the centre of a far-reaching ministry of which even Gentiles would hear. These things, as St Paul graphically says, were “not done in a corner,” Act 26:26. Besides the memorable events of the day here recorded, it was here that Christ healed the paralytic (Luk 5:18) and the centurion’s servant (Luk 7:2), and called Levi (Mat 9:9), rebuked the disciples for their ambition (Mar 9:35), and delivered the memorable discourse about the bread of life (John 6).

a city of Galilee ] These little descriptions and explanations shew that St Luke is writing for Gentiles who did not know Palestine. Comp. Luk 1:26, Luk 21:37, Luk 22:1.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

See this explained in the notes at Mark 1:21-39.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 4:28; Luk 4:31

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath

Nazareth; or, Jesus rejected by His friends

WHO WERE THESE REJECTORS OF CHRIST? They have their types and representatives now.

1. They were those who were nearest related to the Saviour. They were the people of His own town.

2. They were those who knew most about Christ. The whole story of the wondrous Child was known to them.

3. They were people who supposed that they had a claim upon Christ. They no doubt argued, He is a Nazareth man, and of course He is in duty bound to help Nazareth.

II. WHY THEY THUS REJECT THE MESSIAH.

1. I should not wonder but what the groundwork of their dissatisfaction was laid in the fact that they did not feel themselves to be the persons to whom the Saviour claimed to have a commission. Observe, He said, in the eighteenth verse, that He was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor. Now, the poorest ones in the synagogue may have felt pleased at that word; but as it was almost a maxim with the Jewish doctors that it did not signify what became of the poor–for few but the rich could enter heaven–the very announcement of a gospel for the poor must have sounded tothem awfully democratical and extreme, and must have laid in their minds the foundation of a prejudice. Did not some of them say, We have worn our phylacteries, and made broad the borders of our garments; we have not eaten except with washen hands; we have strained out all gnats from our wine; we have kept the fasts, and the feasts, and we have made long prayers, why should we feel any poverty of spirit? Hence they felt there was nothing in Christs mission for them. When He next mentioned the broken-hearted, they were not at all conscious of any need of a broken heart. They felt heart-whole, self-satisfied, perfectly content. What is the acceptable year of the Lord to us, if it is only for bruised captive ones? We are not such. At a glance you perceive, my brethren, the reason why in these days Jesus Christ is rejected by so many church-going and chapel-going people.

2. I entertain little doubt but what the men of Nazareth were angry with Christ because of His exceeding high claims. He said, The spirit of Jehovah is upon Me. They started at that. And so men now reject Christ because He sets Himself too high, and asks more of them than they are willing to give.

3. Another reason might be found in the fact that they were not for receiving Christ until He had exhibited some great wonder. They craved for miracles. Their minds were in a sickly state. A young man yonder has said to himself, If I had a dream, as I hear So-and-so had, or if there should happen to me some very remarkable event in providence, which should just meet my taste; or if I could feel to-day some sudden shock of I know not what, then I would believe. Thus you dream that my Lord and Master is to be dictated to by you! You are beggars at His gate, asking for mercy, and you must needs draw up rules and regulations as to how He shall give that mercy.

4. Again, and perhaps this time I may hit the head of the nail in some cases, though I suppose not in many in this place, part of the irritation which existed in the minds of the men of Nazareth was caused by the peculiar doctrine which the Saviour preached upon the subject of election. He laid it down that God had a right to dispense His favours just as He pleased, and that in doing so He often selected the most unlikely objects. They did not like this. The doctrine of free grace to the needy is ever a stumbling-block to men.

5. They loved not such plain personal speaking as the Saviour gave them.

6. They could not bear to hear Him hint that He meant to bless the Gentiles.

III. And now, WHAT CAME OF IT?

1. They thrust the Saviour out of the synagogue, and then they tried to hurl Him down the brow of the hill. These were His friends, good, respectable people: who would have believed it of them? You saw that goodly company in the synagogue who sang so sweetly, and listened so attentively, would you have guessed that there was a murderer inside every one of their coats? It only needed the opportunity to bring the murderer out; for there they are all trying to throw Jesus down the hill. We do not know how much devil there is inside any one of us; if we are not renewed and changed by grace, we are heirs of wrath even as others.

2. But what came of it? Why, though they thus thrust Him out, they could not hurt the Saviour. The hurt was all their own. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Men seldom see the great in what is about them

We ride without eyes under Greylock, and go to the White Mountains for sublimity. The moon in Venice, and the sky in Naples, have more charm than here at home. The weeds of other climates become our flowers, and our flowers seem to us but weeds. There is little heroism, little devotion and nobility on our square mile; there are no epics or lyrics of human deed and feeling sung in our streets; the great, the beautiful, the excellent, is at a distance. Why we think thus it may be hard to tell, unless it is from instinctive reverence on the one hand, and on the other because the realization of greatness makes us aware of our own littleness, and so provokes us to every danger. So that what we read of here is no strange history, but only an illustration of a daily fact: a great spirit rejected by friends and neighbours; it is only the carpenters Son, the boy who grew up in the midst of us, and now, forsooth, claiming to be a prophet! And so they drive Him out of their city. (T. T. Munger.)

Cause of the Nazarenes wrath

What was actually the cause of the sudden upboil of these mens wrath? It was that their selfesteem was wounded. Christ declared that only the humble and meek would be able to receive Him. Elijah was persecuted, and received only by one poor widow. Naaman was unworthy to be healed till he humbled himself to dip in despised Jordan. The men of Nazareth understood the inference. It was not flattering to their pride; they could not be fed and healed unless they became humble, and submitted to the Lords Christ. This they would not do–and they cast Him out of their city. As with Christ, so with His Church, and with His messengers. As long as they preach a gospel which does not touch mans pride and lower his selfesteem, they wonder at the graciousness of the gospel; but the moment it bids them not to be wise in their own conceits, insists on submission of body, soul, and reason to Christ, and calls to a lowly walk and self-abasement, then men rise up against the Church, and its ministers, and against the true gospel of Christ, and would, if they could, cast it out of their city, and hurl it from their thoughts. (J. Baring. Gould, M. A.)

Capernaum

It lay on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and was, in Christs day, a thriving, busy town. The highway to the sea, from Damascus to Ptolemais–now Acre–ran through it, bringing no little local traffic, and also opening the markets of the coast to the rich yield of the neighbouring farms, orchards, and vineyards, and the abundant returns of the fisheries of the lake. The townsfolk thus, as a rule, enjoyed the comfort and plenty we see in the homes of Peter and Matthew, and were even open to the charge of being winebibbers and gluttonous, which implied generous entertainments They were proud of their town, and counted on its steady growth and unbounded prosperity, little dreaming of the ruin which would one day make even its site a question. (Dr. Geikie.)

Dr. Robinson, Captain Conder, and others place the site of Capernaum at Khan Mingeh, a spot of unique interest and beauty. Captain Conder certainly adduces strong reasons in favour of this hypothesis. (L. Oliphant.)

Not far from the banks of the Jordan stands Capernaum (now Tell. Hum), and here we find ourselves in the very centre of the Lords Galilean ministry. It was at Capernaum that He dwelt. This was the startingpoint of His journeys, and to this He returned after going about from place to place doing good. (E. Stapfer, D. D.)

Blindness of prejudice

A lady who excelled in making wax flowers and fruit was often criticised severely by her friends, and her work decried, as she thought, unjustly. She convicted them by showing an apple, which they as usual found fault with, one as to the shape, another as to colour, and so on. When they had finished, the lady cut the apple and ate it. (Baxendales Anecdotes.)

Overawed by the Spirit

The Rev. Charles G. Finney gives, in the words following, an account of the effects of a Christian look on a certain occasion:–I once preached, for the first time, in a manufacturing village. The next morning I went into a manufacturing establishment to view its operations. As I passed into the weaving department, I beheld a great company of young women, some of whom, I observed, were looking at me and then at each other, in a manner that indicated a trifling spirit, and that they knew me. I, however, knew none of them. As I approached nearer to those who had recognized me, they seemed to increase in their manifestation of lightness of mind. Their levity made a peculiar impression upon me; I felt it to my very heart. I stopped short and looked at them, I know not how, as my whole mind was absorbed with their guilt and danger. As I settled my countenance upon them, I observed that one of them became very much agitated. A thread broke. She attempted to mend it; but her hands trembled in such a manner that she could not do it. I immediately observed that the sensation was spreading, and had become universal among that class of triflers. I looked steadily at them, until one after another gave up, and paid no more attention to their looms. They fell on their knees, and the influence spread throughout the whole room. I had not spoken a word, as the noise of the looms would have prevented my being heard if I had. In a few minutes all work was abandoned, and tears and lamentations filled the room. At this moment the owner of the factory, who was himself an unconverted man, came in, accompanied, I believe, by the superintendent, who was a professed Christian. When the owner saw the state of things, he said to the superintendent, Stop the mill. What he saw seemed to pierce him to the heart. It is more important, he hurriedly remarked, that these souls should be saved than that this mill should run. As soon as the noise of the machinery had ceased, the owner inquired, What shall we do? We must have a place to meet where we can receive instruction. The superintendent replied, The mule-room will do. The mules were run up out of the way, and all the hands were notified, and assembled in that room. We had a marvellous meeting. I prayed with them, and gave them such instructions as at the time they could bear. The Word was with power; and within a few days, as I was informed, nearly every hand in that great establishment, together with the owner, had hope in Christ. (Bates Influence of Mind on Mind.)

Remarkable change in the conduct of a mob

A missionary who had been sent to a strange land to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God and who had passed through many hardships and was often in danger of losing his life, through the persecutions excited against him, came to a place where he had often before, at no small risk, preached Christ crucified. About fifty people who had received good impressions from the Word of God, assembled: he began his discourse; and after he had preached about thirty minutes, an outrageous mob surrounded the house, armed with different instruments of death, and breathing the most sanguinary purposes. The preacher then addressed his little flock to this effect, These outrageous people seek not you but me, if I continue in the house, they will soon pull it down and we shall be all buried in its ruins, I will therefore in the name of God go out to them and you will be safe. As soon as the preacher made his appearance the savages became instantly as silent and as still as night: he walked forward and they divided to the right and to the left, leaving a passage about four feet wide for himself and a young man who followed him to walk in. The narrator who was present on the occasion goes on to say, This was one of the most affecting spectacles I ever witnessed, an infuriated mob without any visible cause (for the preacher spoke not one word) became in a moment as calm as lambs. They seemed struck with amazement bordering on stupefaction; they stared and stood speechless, and after they had fallen back to right and left to leave him a free passage, they were as motionless as statues. They assembled with the full purpose to destroy the man who came to show them the way of salvation, but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. (Dr. Adam Clarke.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 31. Came down to Capernaum] Which it is likely he made his ordinary place of residence from this time. See Clarke on Mt 4:13.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Capernaum was a city in the other Galilee, under the jurisdiction of Philip, whither Matthew and Mark mention our Saviours motion upon the report of the imprisonment of John. Philip is not only by historians reported of a less bloody temper than his brother Herod, but Herod having taken away his wife, it is very probable that there was no good understanding between him and Philip. So that two things promised our Saviour more quiet in Philips jurisdiction:

1. The tameness of his temper.

2. The hatred between him and Herod.

It appears, from Luk 4:23, he had been at Capernaum before, but stayed very little, hastening to his own country of Nazareth in the other Galilee: from thence he now again removeth, hearing of Johns imprisonment, and seeing the baseness of his countrymen. When he came there, he keeps on his course preaching upon the Jewish sabbath, not abolished till his resurrection. It appeareth by Luk 4:33, that he preached in the synagogue here also.

It is said that the people

were astonished at his doctrine. Astonishment is one thing, believing is another. Men may be some ways and to some degrees affected at the word of God, that yet are far enough from believing, as the most of these Capernaites were; else Christ had never upbraided them as he did, Mat 11:23.

For his word was with power. That this phrase is to be understood only of those powerful and miraculous operations, by which Christ confirmed the word which he preached to be from God, I cannot yield. It is better interpreted by Mar 1:22, He taught them as one that had authority, not as the scribes; and to be understood of the gravity and spirituality of his doctrine, his majesty and life in the delivering of it, and the power of God going along with it for the conviction of sinners; to all which were added his miraculous operations, of which the evangelist goeth on giving us a more particular account.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

31. down to CapernaumIt layon the Sea of Galilee (Mt 4:13),whereas Nazareth lay high.

Lu4:33-37. DEMONIACHEALED.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And came down to Capernaum,…. Which was, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, sixteen miles or more from Nazareth; and Christ may be said to “come down” to it, because of the situation of Nazareth, which was upon an hill:

a city of Galilee: of lower Galilee, near the sea of Galilee:

and taught them on the sabbath days: that is, he went into the synagogue at Capernaum, on the sabbath days, whenever he was there, and taught the inhabitants, explained some passage or other in the Old Testament, as he had done at Nazareth and instructed them in the doctrines of the Gospel.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Expulsion of a Demon; Christ’s Departure from Capernaum.

31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36 And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. 38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. 42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. 43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. 44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.

When Christ was expelled Nazareth, he came to Capernaum, another city of Galilee. The account we have in these verses of his preaching and miracles there we had before, Mark i. 21, c. Observe,

I. His preaching: He taught them on the sabbath days, &lti>v. 31. In hearing the word preached, as an ordinance of God, we worship God, and it is a proper work for sabbath days. Christ’s preaching much affected the people (v. 32); they were astonished at his doctrine, there was weight in every word he said, and admirable discoveries were made to them by it. The doctrine itself was astonishing, and not only as it came from one that had not had a liberal education. His word was with power; there was a commanding force in it, and a working power went along with it to the conscience of men. The doctrine Paul preached hereby proved itself to be of God, that it came in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

II. His miracles. Of these we have here,

1. Two particularly specified, showing Christ to be,

(1.) A controller and conqueror of Satan, in the world of mankind, and in the souls of people, by his power to cast him out of the bodies of those he had taken possession of; for for this purpose was he manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Observe, [1.] The devil is an unclean spirit, his nature directly contrary to that of the pure and holy God, and degenerated from what it was at first. [2.] This unclean spirit works in the children of men; in the souls of many, as then in men’s bodies. [3.] It is possible that those who are very much under the power and working of Satan may yet be found in the synagogue, among the worshippers of God. [4.] Even the devils know and believe that Jesus Christ is the Holy One of God, is sent of God, and is a Holy One. [5.] They believe and tremble. This unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice, under a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and apprehensive that Christ was now come to destroy him. Unclean spirits are subject to continual frights. [6.] The devils have nothing to do with Jesus Christ, nor desire to have any thing to do with him; for he took not on him the nature of angels. [7.] Christ has the devil under check: He rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace; and this word he spoke with power; phimotheti—Be muzzled, Christ did not only enjoin him silence, but stopped his mouth, and forced him to be silent against his will. [8.] In the breaking of Satan’s power, both the enemy that is conquered shows his malice, and Christ, the conqueror, shows his over-ruling grace. Here, First, The devil showed what he would have done, when he threw the man in the midst, with force and fury, as if he would have dashed him to pieces. But, Secondly, Christ showed what a power he had over him, in that he not only forced him to leave him, but to leave him without so much as hurting him, without giving him a parting blow, a parting gripe. Whom Satan cannot destroy, he will do all the hurt he can to; but this is a comfort, he can harm them no further than Christ permits; nay, he shall not do them any real harm. He came out, and hurt him not; that is, the poor man was perfectly well in an instant, though the devil left him with so much rage that all that were present thought he had torn him to pieces. [9.] Christ’s power over devils was universally acknowledged and adored, v. 36. No one doubted the truth of the miracle; it was evident beyond contradiction, nor was any thing suggested to diminish the glory of it, for they were all amazed, saying, What a word is this! They that pretended to cast out devils did it with abundance of charms and spells, to pacify the devil, and lull him asleep, as it were; but Christ commanded them with authority and power, which they could not gainsay or resist. Even the prince of the power of the air is his vassal, and trembles before him. [10.] This, as much as any thing, gained Christ a reputation, and spread his fame. This instance of his power, which many now-a-days make light of, was then, by them that were eye-witnesses of it (and those no fools either, but men of penetration), magnified, and was looked upon as greatly magnifying him (v. 37); upon the account of this, the fame of him went out, more than ever, into every place of the country round about. Our Lord Jesus, when he set out at first in his public ministry, was greatly talked of, more than afterwards, when people’s admiration wore off with the novelty of the thing.

(2.) Christ showed himself to be a healer of diseases. In the former, he struck at the root of man’s misery, which was Satan’s enmity, the origin of all the mischief: in this, he strikes at one of the most spreading branches of it, one of the most common calamities of human life, and that is bodily diseases, which came in with sin, are the most common and sensible corrections for it in this life, and contribute as much as any thing towards the making of our few days full of trouble. These our Lord Jesus came to take away the sting of, and, as an indication of that intention, when he was on earth, chose to confirm his doctrine by such miracles, mostly, as took away the diseases themselves. Of all bodily diseases none are more common or fatal to grown people than fevers; these come suddenly, and suddenly cut off the number of men’s months in the midst; they are sometimes epidemical, and slay their thousands in a little time. Now here we have Christ’s curing a fever with a word’s speaking; the place was in Simon’s house, his patient was Simon’s wife’s mother, Luk 4:38; Luk 4:39. Observe, [1.] Christ is a guest that will pay well for his entertainment; those that bid him welcome into their hearts and houses shall be no losers by him; he comes with healing. [2.] Even families that Christ visits may be visited with sickness. Houses that are blessed with his distinguishing favours are liable to the common calamities of this life. Simon’s wife’s mother was ill of a fever. Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. [3.] Even good people may sometimes be exercised with the sharpest afflictions, more grievous than others: She was taken with a great fever, very acute, and high, and threatening; perhaps it seized her head, and made her delirious. The most gentle fevers may by degrees prove dangerous; but this was at first a great fever. [4.] No age can exempt from diseases. It is probable that Peter’s mother-in-law was in years, and yet in a fever. [5.] When our relations are sick, we ought to apply ourselves to Christ, by faith and prayer, on their account: They besought him for her; and there is a particular promise that the prayer of faith shall benefit the sick. [6.] Christ has a tender concern for his people when they are in sickness and distress: He stood over her, as one concerned for her, and compassionating her case. [7.] Christ had, and still has, a sovereign power over bodily diseases: He rebuked the fever, and with a word’s speaking commanded it away, and it left her. He saith to diseases, Go, and they go; Come, and they come; and can still rebuke fevers, even great fevers. [8.] This proves Christ’s cures to be miraculous, that they were done in an instant: Immediately she arose. [9.] Where Christ gives a new life, in recovery from sickness, he designs and expects that it should be a new life indeed, spent more than ever in his service, to his glory. If distempers be rebuked, and we arise from a bed of sickness, we must set ourselves to minister to Jesus Christ. [10.] Those that minister to Christ must be ready to minister to all that are his for his sake: She ministered to them, not only to him that had cured her, but to them that had besought him for her. We must study to be grateful to those that have prayed for us.

2. A general account given by wholesale of many other miracles of the same kind, which Christ did.

(1.) He cured many that were diseased, even all without exception that made their application to him, and it was when the sun was setting (v. 40); in the evening of that sabbath day which he had spent in the synagogue. Note, It is good to do a full sabbath day’s work, to abound in the work of the day, in some good work or other, even till sun-set; as those that call the sabbath, and the business of it, a delight. Observe, He cured all that were sick, poor as well as rich, and though they were sick of divers diseases; so that there was no room to suspect that he had only a specific for some one disease. He had a remedy for every malady. The sign he used in healing was laying his hands on the sick; not lifting up his hands for them, for he healed as having authority. He healed by his own power. And thus he would put honour upon that sign which was afterwards used in conferring the Holy Ghost.

(2.) He cast the devil out of many that were possessed, v. 41. Confessions were extorted from the demoniacs. They said, Thou art Christ the Son of God, but they said it crying with rage and indignation; it was a confession upon the rack, and therefore was not admitted in evidence. Christ rebuked them, and did not suffer them to say that they knew him to be the Christ, that it might appear, beyond all contradiction, that he had obtained a conquest over them, and not made a compact with them.

3. Here is his removal from Capernaum, Luk 4:42; Luk 4:43.

(1.) He retired for awhile into a place of solitude. It was but a little while that he allowed himself for sleep; not only because a little served him, but because he was content with a little, and never indulged himself in ease; but, when it was day, he went into a desert place, not to live constantly like a hermit, but to be sometimes alone with God, as even those should be, and contrive to be, that are most engaged in public work, or else their work will go on but poorly, and they will find themselves never less alone than when thus alone.

(2.) He returned again to the places of concourse and to the work he had to do there. Though a desert place may be a convenient retreat, yet it is not a convenient residence, because we were not sent into this world to live to ourselves, no, not to the best part of ourselves only, but to glorify God and do good in our generation. [1.] He was earnestly solicited to stay at Capernaum. The people were exceedingly fond of him; I doubt, more because he had healed their sick than because he had preached repentance to them. They sought him, enquired which way he went; and, though it was in a desert place, they came unto him. A desert is no desert if we be with Christ there. They detained him that he should not depart from them, so that if he would go it should not be for want of invitation. His old neighbours at Nazareth had driven him from them, but his new acquaintances at Capernaum were very importunate for his continuance with them. Note, It ought not to discourage the ministers of Christ that some reject them, for they will meet with others that will welcome them and their message. [2.] He chose rather to diffuse the light of his gospel to many places than to fix it to one, that no one might pretend to be a mother-church to the rest. Though he was welcome at Capernaum, and had done abundance of good there, yet he is sent to preach the gospel to other cities also; and Capernaum must not insist upon his stay there. They that enjoy the benefit of the gospel must be willing that others also should share in that benefit, and not covet the monopoly of it; and those ministers who are not driven from one place may yet be drawn to another by a prospect of greater usefulness. Christ, though he preached not in vain in the synagogue at Capernaum, yet would not be tied to that, but preached in the synagogues of Galilee, v. 44. Bonum est sui diffusivum–What is good is self-diffusive. It is well for us that our Lord Jesus has not tied himself to any one place or people, but, wherever two or three are gathered in his name, he will be in the midst of them: and even in Galilee of the Gentiles his special presence is in the Christian synagogues.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Came down (). Mr 1:21 has the historical present,

they go into (). Capernaum (Tell Hum) is now the headquarters of the Galilean ministry, since Nazareth has rejected Jesus. Lu 4:31-37 is parallel with Mr 1:21-28 which he manifestly uses. It is the first of Christ’s miracles which they give.

Was teaching them ( ). Periphrastic imperfect. Mark has first and then . “Them” here means the people present in the synagogue on the sabbath, construction according to sense as in Mr 1:22.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Taught [ ] . Correctly, as Rev., was teaching. The finite verb and participle denoting continuance.

On the Sabbath – days [ ] . Rev., day. The word is often used in the plural form for the single day, as in verse 16; probably after the analogy of plural names of festivals, as ta azuma, the feast of unleavened bread; ta genesia, the birthday; or perhaps following the Aramaic plural.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “And came down to Capernaum.” (kai katelthen eis kapharnaoum) “And he went down to Capernaum,” Came down from Nazareth to Capernaum a city some fifteen miles to the Northeast, by the side of the Sea of Galilee, where He was to reside for most of His ministry in Galilee, Mat 4:13; Mar 1:21.

2) “A city of Galilee,” (polin Galilaias) “A city (of the same country or region) of Galilee,” located on the Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Peter lived and operated a fishing business, Luk 4:38-39; Mat 4:18; Mat 4:20.

3) “And taught them on the sabbath days.” (kai en didakon autous en tois sabbasin) “And he was teaching them there regularly on the sabbath,” or repeatedly taught them, the people of Capernaum, on the sabbath, as He had repeatedly attended the synagogue in Nazareth in His youth, Luk 4:16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk. 4:31. Came down.Capernaum being situated on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Nazareth being higher on the hills. Taught them on the Sabbath days.Rather, He was teaching them on the Sabbath day (R.V.).

Luk. 4:32. Doctrine.Rather, teaching: both the manner and substance of His words (cf. Mat. 7:28-29). With power.Rather, with authority (R.V.).

Luk. 4:33-41 contain a narrative of the events of one particular Sabbath day, from morning to night: see also Mat. 8:14-17; Mar. 1:21-31.

Luk. 4:33. Unclean devil.The word unclean is inserted, either because in Greek demon might be good or bad, or because in this special case the effect upon the possessed person made the epithet peculiarly appropriate.

Luk. 4:34. Let us alone.Or, Ah! (R.V.), the Greek word being either the imperative of to let alone, or an interjection.

Luk. 4:35. Hold thy peace.Lit. be muzzled.

Luk. 4:37. The fame of Him.Rather, a rumour concerning Him (R.V.).

Luk. 4:38. A great fever.This is a technical term used by contemporary Greek physicians. For other examples of minute medical or physiological details given by this Evangelist, see Luk. 4:35 (and hurt him not), Luk. 5:12; Luk. 6:6; Luk. 22:50-51; Act. 3:7-8; Act. 4:22; Act. 9:33; Act. 28:8.

Luk. 4:39. He stood over her.Notice the graphic description; also in Luk. 4:40, He laid His hands on every one of them.

Luk. 4:40. When the sun was setting.With sunset the Sabbath ended, and the friends of the sick would feel at liberty to carry them into Christs presence.

Luk. 4:41.The best MSS. omit Christ: omitted in R.V. It is probably a gloss explanatory of The Son of God.

Luk. 4:43. Preach the kingdom of God.Rather, preach the good tidings [gospel] of the kingdom of God (R.V.).

Luk. 4:44. Galilee.MS. evidence is very strong in favour of Juda rather than Galilee in this passage. It may be an error of transcription; but the striking fact remains that there was an early Judan ministry, which is recorded in St. Johns Gospel, but is not directly referred to by the Synoptists, unless it be here.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 4:31-44

A Sabbath in Capernaum.We here pass from the synagogue at Nazareth, among its hills, to that at Capernaum, on the lake-side, where Jesus was already known as a worker of miracles. The two Sabbaths are in sharp contrast. The issue of the one is a tumult of fury and hate; that of the other, a crowd of suppliants and an eager desire to keep Him with them. The story is in four paragraphs, each showing a new phase of Christs power and pity.

I. Christ as the Lord of that dark world of evil (Luk. 4:33-37).The silence of the synagogue was suddenly broken by shrieks of rage and fear coming from a man who had been sitting quietly among the others. Possibly his condition had not been suspected until Christs presence roused his dreadful tyrant. Note the rage and terror of the demon. The presence of purity is a sharp pain to impurity, and an evil spirit is stirred to its depths when in contact with Jesus. Observe, too, the unclean spirits knowledge of the character and Divine relationship of Jesus. It gives a glimpse into a dim region, and suggests that the counsels of heaven, as effected on earth, are keenly watched and understood by eyes whose gleam is unsoftened by any touch of pity or submission. Observe Christs tone of authority and sternness. He had pity for men who were capable of redemption; but His words and demeanour to the evil spirits are always severe. He accepts the most imperfect recognition from men, and often seems as if labouring to evoke it; but He silences the evil spirits clear recognition. The confession which is unto salvation comes from a heart that loves, not merely from a head that perceives; and Jesus accepts nothing else. He will not have His name soiled by such lips. Note, still further, Christs absolute control of the demon. His bare word is sovereign and secures outward obedience, though from an unsubdued and disobedient will. He cannot make the foul creature love, but can make him act. Surely omnipotence speaks, if demons hear and obey. The existence of such spirits suggests the possibility of undying and responsible beings reaching, by continued alienation of heart and will from God, a stage in which they are beyond the capacity of improvement and outside the sweep of Christs pity.

II. The gentleness of Christs healing power and the immediate service of gratitude to Him (Luk. 4:38-39).Now the Lords tenderness shines unmingled with sternness. His pity, that pity which wielded omnipotence, was kindled by the beseeching of sorrowful hearts. And He who moves the forces of Deity still from His throne lets us move His heart by our cry. St. Luke is specially struck with one feature in the casethe immediate return of ordinary strength. The woman is lying, the one minute, pinned down and helpless with a great fever, and the next is engaged in her domestic duties. When Christ heals He heals thoroughly, and gives strength as well as healing. What could a woman, who was probably a poor dependant on her son-in-law, do for her Healer? Not much. But she did what she could, and that without delay. The natural impulse of gratitude is to give its best, and the proper use of healing and new strength is to minister to Him. Such a guest made humble household cares worship; and all our poor powers and tasks, consecrated to His praise and become the offerings of grateful hearts, are lifted into greatness and dignity. He did not despise the modest fare hastily dressed for Him; and He still delights in our gifts, though the cattle on a thousand hills are His.

III. The all-sufficiency of Christs pity and power (Luk. 4:40-41).As soon as the sinking sun relaxed the sabbatical restrictions, a motley crowd came flocking round the house carrying all the sick that could be lifted, all eager to share in His healing. It did not argue real faith in Him, but it was genuine sense of need, and expectation of blessing from His hand; and the measure of faith was the measure of blessing. They got what they believed He could give. If their faith had been larger, its answers would have been greater. St. Luke makes prominent the inexhaustible fulness of pity and power, which met and satisfied all the petitioners. The misery spoke to Christs heart, and He moved among the sad groups, and with gentle touch healed them all. To-day as then, the fountain of His pity and healing power is full, after thousands have drawn from it, and no crowd of suppliants bars our way to His heart or His hands. He has enough for all, enough for each, enough for evermore.

IV. Jesus seeking seclusion, but willingly sacrificing it at mens call (Luk. 4:42-44).He withdraws in early morning, not because His store of power was exhausted, or His pity had tired, but to renew His communion with the Father. He needed solitude and silence, and we need it still more. No work worth doing will ever be done for Him unless we are familiar with some quiet place, where we and God alone together can hold converse, and new strength be poured into our hearts. Our Lord is here our pattern also, of willingly leaving the place of communion when duty calls and men implore. A great solemn must ruled His life, as it should do ours, and the fulfilment of that for which He was sent ever was His aim, rather than even the blessedness of solitary communion or the repose of the silent hour of prayer.Maclaren.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 4:31-44

Luk. 4:31-44. A Vivid Glimpse of Christs Actual and Active Ministry.We are enabled to follow His footsteps for nearly twenty-four hours.

I. In the earlier part of the day, He goes to the synagogue, teaches with great impression, and deepens this still further by the first instance of His power over the possessed.

II. In the after-part of the day, He raises Simons mother-in-law from her fevered bed to perfect health.

III. Later on the same evening, the afflicted people of the whole town are gathered round the door, and He heals them all.

IV. The nights rest which followed must have been of the briefest, for He rose the next morning long before day broke, and retired into a solitary place for prayer.Laidlaw.

The Record of a Single Sabbaths Work.

I. A strange scene in a church.

II. A wonderful transformation in a private house.

III. The house turned into a public hospital from which all the diseased people go away cured.Hastings.

Christs Daily Life.

I. His work of preaching.

II. His work of healing.

III. His hours of retirement.W. Taylor.

Luk. 4:31. Came down to Capernaum.Jesus had before this visited Capernaum and wrought miracles of healing the fame of which had reached Nazareth (Luk. 4:23); but now He makes it the headquarters of His work in Galilee. Probably the animosity towards Him manifested by His fellow-townsmen in Nazareth had something to do with His making this change. From Joh. 2:12 we should understand that His mother and brethren also removed to Capernaum at the same time. Perhaps the hatred He had incurred was to some extent visited upon them. So intimately was He associated henceforth with Capernaum that it is called His own city (Mat. 9:1). It is strange that this city which is so much spoken of in the Gospels has completely disappeared; there are three or four theories as to which particular heap of ruins near the Sea of Galilee is to be identified with it. We can scarcely make any mistake in connecting this utter destruction with Christs own prophecy concerning the city (Mat. 11:23).

Taught them.The substance of His teaching is given in Mar. 1:15 : The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Luk. 4:32. His word was with authority (R.V.).The teaching of Jesus was different from that to which the people were accustomed:

(1) He spoke as one sent and commissioned by God;
(2) He laid stress upon His own person and claims as the Word of God made flesh; and
(3) love for the souls of men shone out in all He said. The general characteristics of Rabbinical teaching have been described as follows: The scribes varied greatly, like other men, in ability, character, and qualifications; but it would appear that in the time of our Lord the great bulk of them were pedantic in things that were obvious enough, and frivolous and jejune in all things that lay beyond. They were admirable guessers, and mighty in platitudes. They were ingenious in raising microscopic doubts, and perfect adepts in conjuring up conceit to do battle with conceit. They were skilful in splitting hairs to infinity, and proud of their ability to lead their hearers through the endless mazes of the imaginations of preceding rabbisimaginations that ended in nothing, or in something that was actually worse than nothing. But they had no power, or almost none, to move the conscience toward true goodness, or to stir the heart toward God and toward man. They might speak, indeed, with positiveness enough; but it would not be with moral power. They might assert with dictatorial self-sufficiency; but it would not be with demonstration of the Spiritdemonstration flashing in conviction even upon reluctant souls (Morison).

Luk. 4:33-36. The Demoniac in the Synagogue.

I. The unhappy worshipper.We can only conjecture the special meaning of the phrase here employed, a spirit of an unclean devil. He had not as yet been excluded from the synagogue worship. Or perhaps he rushed, spirit-driven, into the midst of the worshippers.

II. The sacred Presence provokes a crisis.There is an unbelief which can never be silent. The demons could never confront Jesus calmly. They resent His interference. They are indignant at His saving work. They make weird, unearthly complaint.

III. Jesus is stern and cold.He is gentle with sinful men. Not so here. As to a wild beast, He says, Be muzzled. Come out of him. Whereupon the evil spirit exhibits at once his ferocity and his defeat.

IV. The spectators draw the proper inference.A new power implied a new revelation. Something far-reaching and profound might be expected from Him who commanded the unclean spirits with authority and was obeyed. Yet no one was converted by this miracle. All were amazed; but wonder is not self-surrender.Chadwick.

Luk. 4:33. In the synagogue.It is strange to find a man possessed by an unclean spirit among the worshippers in the synagogue, but perhaps he had not before this given any open indication of the spiritual malady from which he was suffering. The excitement connected with the teaching of Christ, and the holiness of His person, may have disturbed the mans mind and stirred up the rage of the evil spirit.

Luk. 4:34. What have we to do with Thee?The unclean spirit is the real speaker; but the utterance is that of the man, who, being in, i.e. possessed by, the evil spirit, becomes its mere instrument. In this respect a specific distinction may be observed in the mode of spiritual action in the case of true prophets: in them inspiration does not supersede personal consciousness; they either speak their own words, or they deliver a message in the name and in the words of the Lord.Speakers Commentary.

Art Thou come to destroy us?The Saviour had not, so far as appears, been formally interfering by a specific action. But His very presence on the scene was felt to be interference. There emanated from Him, round about, an influence that went in upon men blissfully, counteracting all evil influences. The unclean spirit felt the power, and resented it as an interferencean interference not with itself in particular, but with the entire circle of kindred spirits. Art Thou come to destroy us?Morison.

I know Thee the Holy One of God.Earth has not recognised her King, disguised as He is like one of her own children; but heaven has borne witness to Him (Luk. 2:11; Luk. 3:22), and now hell must bear its witness toothe devils believe and tremble.Trench.

The Outcry of the Evil Spirit.Jerome speaks of the outcry of the evil spirit as being like the exclamations of a fugitive slave when he comes face to face with his master and seeks to deprecate his wrath. But it is more probable that on the part of the evil spirit there was a malignant intention to compromise Jesus by bearing testimony in favour of His high claims. The acknowledgment of the supreme power of the Saviour together with a refusal to submit to His rule is an illogical course of procedure we are only too familiar with in our own experience. To many of His professed disciples Jesus may say, Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Luk. 4:35. Thrown him in the midst.The final deliverance of the sufferer from the evil spirit was accompanied by such a sharp paroxysm that evidently those in the synagogue thought that the man was dead. This is vividly indicated by the phrase came out of him and hurt him not. Something similar to this violence of the evil spirit in the hour of its ejectment is evermore finding place; and Satan vexes with temptations and with buffetings none so much as those who are in the act of being delivered from his dominion for ever. In the man possessed by the evil spirit we have a living picture of our own souls under the dominion of sin; just as in the power of Christ to heal the sufferer we have a proof of His ability to control the powers of darkness and to deliver us from subjection to them.

Luk. 4:36-37. They were all amazed.We can imagine to ourselves the emotion of those assembled in the synagogue who, while they were listening in silence to the teaching of Jesus, saw in an instant such a storm break forth in their midstan almost visible contest between the two spiritual powers which were disputing with each other for rule over mankind (Godet). In their presence the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children (Isa. 49:25). The admiration manifested by those who witnessed this miracle and the fame with which the performance of such a work invested the Saviour no doubt indicate that His claim to have been sent from God was pretty widely accepted in the district. Yet after all it was but the springing up of the seed in the rocky ground where there was not sufficient deepness of earth. The words they heard and the mighty works they saw involved all the heavier punishment for their unbelief (Mat. 11:23).

Luk. 4:38-41. Healing of the Body a Pledge of the healing of the Soul.

I. The fever rebuked.

1. At the request of those around.
2. Accompanied by a specific action.
3. Followed by a complete recovery.

II. The evenings work.He began afresh and carried on probably late into the night His toilsome work. Disease being the cold shadow of sin, its removal was a kind of sacrament, an outward and visible sign that the Healer of souls was nigh.Laidlaw.

Luk. 4:38. Simons house.Perhaps in the statement that Jesus on leaving the synagogue went to the house of a disciple rather than to that in which His mother and brethren were, we have an indication of an estrangement between Jesus and some of His own family who believed not on Him (cf. Joh. 7:5). The fact that Peter was married is, one would think, calculated to disturb those who attach great importance to the doctrine of the celibacy to the clergy. We read of his wife as accompanying him in missionary journeys (1Co. 9:5). Clement of Alexandria, in his Miscellanies, tells of her martyrdom in words that are very beautiful and free from exaggerated sentiment. They say that the blessed Peter, when he saw his wife led away to death, rejoiced that she was graciously called, and was returning to her home, and that, calling her by name, he addressed her in words of encouragement and consolation, Remember thou the Lord. Such was the marriage of the saints, and such their perfect state of mind towards their dearest.

A great fever.I.e. typhoid fever.

They besought Him for her.I.e. evidently Peter and his wife.

Luk. 4:39. Rebuked the fever.It is not necessary to understand the word rebuke as implying a personification of the fever: it evidently means speaking in a firm, authoritative manner, and tolerating no resistance to His command.

Rose up and ministered unto them.The instantaneousness and completeness of the cure is indicated in the fact that she immediately, on leaving the bed on which sickness had laid her, ministered to the Saviour and the others, i.e. waited upon them at the table. We may apply this circumstance to our spiritual duties. The first use she made of her recovered strength was to employ it in her Masters service. And does she not become a pattern therein to Christians, who on their restoration to spiritual health should employ their powers in ministering to Christ in the person of the poorest members of His mystical body?Burgon.

Consecration of Renewed Powers.There is a whole cluster of suggestions here.

I. Every sick person who is restored should hasten to consecrate to God the life that is given back.Surely it was spared for a purpose.

II. Opportunities to minister to Christ in the persons of His people are at hand and innumerable.No need to wait for fine and splendid service. True ministry to Christ is doing first and well ones daily duties.Miller.

Luk. 4:40. All they that had any sick.Observe His Divine power and goodness shining forth in the miraculous cure of all diseases. And whatsoever be thy spiritual maladies, though never so many and so desperate, yet come. Never any came to Him and went away uncured.Leighton.

Laid His hands on every one.Jesus could certainly have cured by a word (Luk. 7:6-10), or even by a simple exercise of will (Joh. 4:50). But there is first of all something profoundly human in this act of laying His hand on the head of each one whom He wished to benefit. It was an indication of kindly feeling. Then, too, it was morally significant. Each time that Jesus made use of material means for working a cure, whether it were by the sound of His voice or by the use of clay made with His spittle, His purpose was to establish a personal tie between the sufferer and Himself; for He wished not only to cure, but to lead to God, and to do that by presenting Himself as the organ of Divine grace among mankind. It is this moral purpose which explains the diversity in the means which He employed. If they had been in themselves curativeif, for example, they had been of the nature of magnetic passesthey would not have varied so much. But as they were directed to the heart of the sufferer, they were chosen with special reference to his character or condition. In the case of a deaf-mute, Jesus put His fingers in his ears; He anointed the eyes of a blind man with His spittle, etc. The cure, therefore, was presented to the heart of those healed as an emanation from His person, and attached them to Him by an indissoluble tie.Godet.

The Miracles of Healing Prophetic.In the healing of all manner of diseases, Jesus not only gave a proof of His power to cope with all the evils bodily and spiritual that afflict mankind, but gave a prophetic representation of the state of blessedness in the new heavens and earth, from which all that mars our happiness will be for ever excluded. In the miracles of healing we have the first-fruits of that Divine beneficence which will overcome and banish all our sorrows (cf. Rev. 21:3-4).

Luk. 4:42. Christ in Solitude.He was continually withdrawing Himself from human sight and contact in those deserts of Palestine and praying. With teaching and healing, prayer divided His life. Have we too no need of like withdrawings after Him and with Him into the wilderness? Are we so intensely spiritual that we need none of that desecularising, decarnalising process of which the desert seclusions of Jesus were the perpetual parable? It is not safe to have the world always with us. The ground lacks moisture which has only the glare of day upon it.Vaughan.

Solitude often Dreaded.What is it that makes solitude dreadful to some and oppressive to many? Partly

(1) the sense of physical danger, born of helplessness and uncertainty. This Jesus never felt, who knew that He must walk to-day and to-morrow, and on the third day be perfected. And partly
(2) the weight of unwelcome reflection, the rebukes of memory, the fears that come of guilt. Jesus was agitated by no inward discords, upbraided by no remorse. He had probably no reveries; He is never recorded to soliloquise; solitude to Him was but another name for communion with God His Father; He was never alone, for God was with Him.Chadwick.

Jesus makes Time for Prayer.Jesus would always find time for prayer, or make time for it. If His days were full of excitement and toil, He would take time out of His nights for communion with God. At least, He never allowed Himself to be robbed of His hours of devotion. Is not His example a solemn rebuke?Miller.

The Order of these Events.From St. Marks Gospel we get several additional particulars which enable us to understand more clearly the narrative in this place. In the morning, long before the darkness of the night was past, Jesus rose up and left the house of Simon Peter and went into a desert place to pray. When His absence was discovered, Simon Peter and others went in search of Him, and entreated Him not to leave them. The early morning, the silent departure from the house, the purpose for which He sought the solitude of the desert, and the search for Him, form a very striking picture. The active labours of the preceding day caused Jesus to feel the necessity of recruiting His spiritual strength by withdrawing Himself for a time from the turmoil of the world and by holding communion with His heavenly Father. How much more do we need to seek from time to time to collect together our thoughts which are so easily dissipated by our every-day occupations, and to seek from God that spiritual refreshment that will make us strong to serve Him and our fellow-men! For we cannot give out unless we receive from Him.

The Search for Jesus.Jesus had doubtless enjoyed some uninterrupted hours of such communings with His heavenly Father ere His friends from Capernaum arrived in search of Him. When morning came, Peter, loath to break in upon the repose of his glorious Guest, would await His appearance beyond the usual hour; but at length, wondering at the stillness, and gently coming to see where the Lord lay, he finds itlike the sepulchre afterwardsempty! Speedily a party is made up to go in search of Him, Peter naturally leading the way.Brown.

Luk. 4:43. I must preach the kingdom of God.No doubt those who had witnessed the miracles in Capernaum expected to see a repetition of marvels of the same kind; but in the words in which Jesus replied to their request to remain among them, He lays stress upon preaching the good tidings of the kingdom of God as the great work He was sent to do. As the Saviour of Israel, and not merely of Capernaum, a moral obligation lay upon Him to go from city to city. It would no doubt have been pleasanter to remain among those who showed a disposition to pay Him reverence. But even Christ pleased not Himself. The Saviour of the world might, indeed, by abiding in the same place, have drawn all men unto Himself; but He did not do so, because He would give us an example to go about, and seek those who are perishing, as the shepherd his lost sheep.

Other cities.Jesus went about doing good. He did not confine His blessings to single localities. He sought to reach as many souls as possible. He did not wait for people to come to Him, but carried the good news to their own doors. He thus taught that

I. His gospel is for all men, and not for any particular place. He taught us also

II. To make the most of our lives and opportunities, scattering the blessings of grace as widely as possible. He wants His Church to keep on preaching the gospel to other cities also, till there is not one left in which it has not been heard.Miller.

Luk. 4:44. The synagogues of Galilee.Our Lords procedure in this first missionary journey was therefore to visit various towns, and to preach in synagogues on successive Sabbaths. It has been calculated that the time occupied must have been some four or five months. Galilee at this period was a very populous district. Josephus says that it contained two hundred and four towns, with not less than fifteen thousand inhabitants in each, i.e. more than three million of a population. Even if he has exaggerated the number, it must still have been considerable.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Butlers Comments

SECTION 3

Validation of the Son of Mans Authority (Luk. 4:31-44)

31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath; 32 and they were astonished at his teachings for his word was with authority. 33And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, 34Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. 35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent, and come out of him! And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36And they were all amazed and said to one another, What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37And reports of him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

38 And he arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simons house. Now Simons mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they besought him for her. 39And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her; and immediately she rose and served them.

40 Now when the sun was setting all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 41And demons also came out of many, crying, You are the Son of God! But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

42 And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them; 43but he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose. 44And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Luk. 4:31 Pronouncements: Luke has a different chronology of this early Galilean ministry than that of Matthew and Mark. Matthew and Mark list the healing of the demoniac, Peters mother-in-law, and the masses after the miracle of the fishes and the call to discipleship of the fishermen (cf. Mat. 4:13-22; Mar. 1:14-20). Luke places the healing ministry before the call of the fishermen (cf. Luk. 5:1-11) We believe Luke had some reason for varying from the chronological order. Perhaps Luke did so to offer an explanation for the basis of such ready acceptance of Jesus call by the fishermen. Whatever the case, after leaving the unbelieving, murderous mob at the hills of Nazareth Jesus went down to the coast of the Sea of Galilee and the city of Capernaum. Jesus followed His custom of going to synagogue services on the Sabbath and finding opportunities there to teach. People were astounded at His teaching. The Greek participle exeplessonto is from the verb plesso which means to be struck. The people were exceedingly mentally stricken with His teaching!

In both manner and content Jesus continually astounded people by His teaching (cf. Luk. 2:48; Joh. 4:29; Joh. 7:14-15; Joh. 7:46; Mat. 7:29). Mar. 1:21, parallel to Luk. 4:31, adds, . . . for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. Prophets said, Thus saith the Lord. Rabbis and scribes said, Thus saith the Rabbis and the traditions. Jesus said, I say unto you! The endless human traditions and officious pronouncements of the rabbis, which they elevated above the Scripture (cf. Mat. 15:1-20; Mar. 7:1-23), were monotonously and wearily repeated. But rather than bring men the mercy and forgiveness of God such teaching bound on them a burden they were unable to bear. The practical heart-searching words of Jesus were in direct contrast with the pointless minutiae and hair-splitting arguments of the rabbis. When men listened to Jesus, they said: Yes, He is right, that is so! The truth Jesus uttered was authoritative and men knew it. This is still true! Even though this period of the ministry of Jesus is marked by the working of many miracles, it does not seem that His ordinary preaching and teaching needed any such supernatural testimony to enable it to stand on its own merits as being authoritative. Today, take any teaching of Jesus and proclaim it anywhere in the world, and the common consciousness of humanity knows the teaching is true. That is because the teachings of Jesus are absolute truth.

Luk. 4:32-41 Powers: This is the first confrontation of Jesus and demons in the record of Luke. There are interesting things to learn from this event. First, it is significant that Luke, the physician, does not question the reality of demon possession. Next, we observe some interesting things about the demon: (a) he was attending synagogue service; (b) he was called an akathartou (unclean) demon which means religiously unclean or unholydemons are beings who wish to have nothing to do with holiness, purity, goodness or righteousness but whose sole desire is evil and hurtfulness; (c) he was compelled to acknowledge the fact that Jesus was Gods Holy One; (d) he was terrified of Jesusthe Greek expletive ea (Ah!) is an oath or shriek of fear; (e) he convulsed the man he possessedGreek, rhipto, meaning, throw with a sudden jerking motion (Mar. 1:26, Gr. has sparaxan, from which we get the English words spasm and spastic); (f) the demon obeyed Jesus immediately.

Jesus actions toward the demon manifest His complete sovereignty over evil spiritual beings: (a) Jesus charged (Gr. epetimesen, meaning literally, exercised His honorship upon) the demon to come out of the man; (b) Jesus forced the demon to be silent (Gr. phimotheti, be muzzled); (c) The people testified that with authority (exousia) and power (dunamei) Jesus commanded (epitasseithe same Greek word which may also be translated, subjected or subordinated) the evil spirit; Mark (Luk. 1:27) adds testimony that the evil spirit obeyed Jesus. Reports (Greek, echos) of Jesus fame echoed throughout all the surrounding region. The people said, This is a new teaching! (Mar. 1:27). Jesus absolute authority over demons was so superior to the ineffectual superstitions of the exorcists it was totally unique.

Exorcists of that day believed the air was populated by evil spirits, and that on certain occasions they entered into men through food and drink. The Egyptians held that there were thirty-six parts of the human body, any of which might be entered and controlled by evil spirits. Some of the rabbis believed that since demons were invisible if one put sifted ashes on the threshold of the house, their footprints might be seen in the morning, prints like those that a chicken might leave. One rabbi, in order to protect himself against demons, always took a lamb with him every time he went to the bathroom since they attacked animals as well as human beings. Such superstitions are used by modern critics to attack the credibility of the biblical record of demon possession. They say Jesus was a victim of these superstitions of His day.
One of the following conclusions must be true concerning the reality of demons as mentioned in the Gospel accounts. No other possibilities exist, and only one of these may be true: Either,

Jesus did cast out real demons as the texts represent, or,

Jesus did no such thing and the accounts are entirely false, or,

Jesus did go through the motions and the pretense of casting demons out, while He knew there were no real demonsHe was a charlatan, or,

Jesus was as ignorant and superstitious on this subject as the people and honestly thought He cast out spirits in healing sicknesses.

Which of these views fits the facts and the testimony? Jesus never made a statement in connection with demons which has been discredited by the progress of human knowledge. Modern thought is now not so certain that demon-possession is a mere superstition. There is no apparent organic reason for many illnesses (as attested by psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine). We know far too little about the relationship between the spiritual and physical realms to arbitrarily deny the historicity of the Gospel accounts of demon possession.

The New Testament discusses demons under the following headings: (a) Demons are Satans messengers (angels), Mat. 25:41; 1Co. 6:3; 2Co. 12:7; 2Pe. 2:4; Jud. 1:6; Rev. 9:11; Rev. 12:7; (b) Demons are unclean spirits Mat. 8:16; Mat. 8:28; Mat. 12:45; Mat. 10:1; Mar. 5:1-2; Mar. 5:13; Mar. 1:23-28; Mar. 3:11-30; Mar. 6:7; Mar. 7:25; Mar. 9:14-20; Luk. 8:27-30; Luk. 4:33-36; Luk. 10:17-20; Mar. 9:17-25 (dumb spirit); Act. 16:16 (spirit of divination). Demons have these personality traits:

They are knowledgeable; Mat. 8:29; Mar. 1:34; Jas. 2:19.

They can speak; Luk. 4:33-41; Mar. 3:11-12; Mar. 5:7.

They are fierce; Mat. 8:28; Mat. 17:14-21; Mar. 9:14-29; Luk. 9:37-43.

They did great harm to people; Mat. 12:27 ff; Mat. 9:32; Mar. 9:14-29.

They did no good at all; Joh. 10:21.

They need a body to inhabit; Mat. 8:28 ff; Mat. 17:14-21; Mar. 9:14-29; Luk. 9:37-43.

They may be many in number; Mar. 5:9.

They fear Christ; Mar. 1:24; Luk. 4:34; Mat. 8:28-33; Mar. 5:1-20; Luk. 8:26-39.

They often lead men to indulge in speculations about demons and inspire division within Christianity; 1Ti. 4:1; Jas. 3:13-18; 1Jn. 4:1-3; 1Co. 10:19-22; Rev. 16:14, etc.

We know from the divine record that demons abide:

In heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).

In the air (Eph. 2:2).

In the earth (Job. 1:7).

In the sea (Mat. 8:32).

In bodies of men (Mat. 12:43; Eph. 2:2).

In kings and potentates of the world (Dan. 10:13-20; Rev. 16:14).

In bodies of animals (Mar. 5:13).

In waterless places (Luk. 11:24).

Reserved in chains under darkness (2Pe. 2:4; Jud. 1:6).

In the abyss (Luk. 8:31).

Where does the Christian stand in relation to demons? First, Satan and his demons have been conquered by Christ (Luk. 10:18; Joh. 12:31; Joh. 16:11; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; 1Jn. 3:8; Mat. 12:29). Satan and his angels have been bound and limited by Christ who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. But, like an insane army general who is defeated but will not quit until he is slain, Satan and his messengers are still active in the lives of men who love darkness (Act. 10:38; Eph. 4:27; Eph. 6:11, 2Ti. 2:26; Jas. 4:7; 1Pe. 5:8; 1Jn. 3:8; 1Jn. 2:13-16; 1Co. 7:5; 2Co. 4:4; 1Ti. 5:15; 1Jn. 4:1; 1Ti. 4:1; Jas. 3:15; Act. 5:16; Act. 8:7; Act. 16:16; Rom. 8:15; 2Ti. 1:7; 1Co. 2:12; Eph. 6:12; Eph. 3:10; Rom. 8:38). Demons do exist! They cannot live in Christians because the Holy Spirit dwells in them. Christians are engaged in a cosmic struggle with the hosts of wickedness and the kingdom of darkness from which they have been transferred. Christians need the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10 ff; 2Co. 10:3-5). Greater is He that is in Christians than he that is in the world (1Jn. 4:4; 1Jn. 5:18-19; 1Jn. 2:14).

The New Testament is quite cleardemon possession was a reality. Ignorance on this matter is not in the mind of God or Christ but in ours.
Immediately after the incident with the demon-possessed man Jesus left the synagogue and went to Peters home in Capernaum. Peters mother-in-law lay sick with a great fever (Greek, megalo puretopureto is the word from which we have the English, pyre or pyrotechnic, and means fire). Ancient physicians (including Galen, 130 A.D.) divided fevers into two classeslittle and great. Considering the total lack of insecticides and poor hygienic methods, becoming infected with some great fever (such as malaria, typhus, pneumonia, etc.) was an every day, possibility. Lukes use of the imperfect Greek verb sunechomene (lit., was being seized with) may indicate that her fever had seized her for a long timeperhaps a chronic malady. Doctor Luke watches Jesus through the eyes of a physician and describes Jesus as going in, standing over the patient and taking her by the hand. But there the normal bedside manner ends. Jesus rebukes the fever. He charged the fever (epetimesen, as with the demon) exercising His honorship upon the fever and it left her. Immediately (with no time necessary to recuperate or regain strength) she arose and began to serve the house guests of her son-in-law. It was a miraculous healing.

That evening, as the sun began to set toward the Mediterranean Sea, literally hundreds of people (so many it appeared to be the whole city of Capernaum) gathered outside the door of Peters house with people ill from all kinds of diseases and those possessed of demons. They wanted Jesus to heal them. Luke uses the Greek adjective hekasto (each) to qualify the noun hen (one). He means to say that Jesus healed each and every single one there who had an illness or was demon-possessed. Christs healings contrasted with modern pseudo-healers reveals the following:

Jesus did not heal for notoriety; Mat. 8:1-4; Mat. 9:27-31; Mar. 3:7-12; Mar. 7:31-37; Mar. 8:22-26, etc.

Jesus healed all sorts of afflictions. One so-called faith-healer is known to have selected through screening only forty out of seven hundred who came to him for healing.

Jesus never indicated healing was to be universal. Four times He healed many; once He healed ten; three times He healed two at once; twenty-three times He healed one person; often He healed only one of many present who were ill.

Jesus did not use auto-suggestion or hypnotism in His cures.

Jesus did not indicate healing was to be appropriated by all who appropriate the atonement provided by His death,

Jesus healed only Jews with two possible exceptions (Mat. 15:21-28; Joh. 4:46-54).

Jesus never discouraged the use of physicians and medicines.

There was never a question about the affliction of anyone Jesus healed.

There was never any question, even from enemies of Jesus, whether the afflicted were healed or not.

There was never a case of relapse when Jesus healed a person.

Jesus performed no partial healings.

Jesus did not make faith a uniform condition for healing.

There were never any failures by Jesus to heal anyone He intended to heal.

Jesus specialized in extreme cases (even death).

No one ever found Jesus guilty of fraud in His healings.

Jesus never asked patients to ignore their symptoms.

Jesus never failed to heal all in a group when He proposed to heal a group.

Christs healings were invariably instantaneous.

Compassion was not the ruling motive with the Lord.

Jesus refused to let the demons cry out that He was the Son of God. He did not want and did not need verification from demons that He was Gods Holy Son. The Greek text portrays Jesus being very emphatic in silencing the demons. All too soon the enemies of Jesus would be accusing Him of working miracles by the power of the devil.

Luk. 4:42-44 Purposes: Mark tells us that after the crowds dwindled away from Peters door, Jesus slipped away in the very early morning hours (while it was still dark) (Mar. 1:35) to a lonely place to pray. He is probably driven to seek solitude and prayer to resist the temptations that would come with such popularity. The crowds kept on seeking (epezetoun, Greek imperfect tense) and kept on trying to detain Him (kateichon, imperfect). It is evident that attending to peoples physical necessities made Jesus extremely popular. He could have been crowned king had He exploited. His miraculous power for this end (cf. Joh. 6:14-15). But Christs primary purpose is not to heal and feed physical bodies which are ultimately doomed to dissolution and death. The primary purpose of His ministry and kingdom is the regeneration of the spiritual man. He makes that plain when He says, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.

Lukes note, And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea, (Luk. 4:44) seems to disagree with Matthew (Mat. 4:23) and Mark (Mar. 1:39) who say Jesus went throughout Galilee. This disagreement may be due to scribal error. While the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi and Old Syriac manuscripts have Judea, the Alexandrinus, Bezae, Vulgate, and Peshitto Syriac (and others) have Galilee, for Luk. 4:44.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

Do you think of the devil as a real person? What do you think of the powers he is said to possess? How much time do you think we should devote to studying about him?

Why did God create the human body with certain vulnerabilities?

What was the first vulnerability the devil attacked in Jesus? How did Jesus overcome the temptation? May we overcome the same way?

What human vulnerability did the devil attack next in Jesus? Are you subject to the same vulnerability? Have you ever been tempted in this? How did you overcome?

What human vulnerability did the devil attack last? Have you ever succumbed to the philosophy that the end justifies the means?

Why did Jesus seek out synagogues to proclaim His mission and message? What kind of service would be conducted in a synagogue?

How did Jesus interpret Isa. 61:1-2 to the people of Nazareth? What kind of interpretation did they expect?

What did Jesus mean by the proverb, Physician, heal yourself.

How is Jesus authority demonstrated in His teaching?

10.

Do you believe demons are real? Why?

11.

Why cant demons possess Christians?

12.

What are some significant differences between the miraculous healings performed by Jesus and those of pseudo faith-healers today?

13.

Was Jesus primary purpose that of compassion in His healings? If not, why did He heal?

Appleburys Comments

His Ministry in Capernaum
Scripture

Luk. 4:31-44 And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath day: 32 and they were astonished at his teaching; for his word was with authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man, that had a spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 Ah! what have we to do with thee, Jesus thou Nazarene? are thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no hurt. 36 And amazement came upon all, and they spake together, one with another, saying, What is this word? for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37 And there went forth a rumor concerning him into every place of the region round about.

38 And he rose up from the synagogue, and entered into the house of Simon. And Simons wifes mother was holden with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she rose up and ministered unto them.
40 And when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41 And demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, Thou art the Son of God. And rebuking them, he suffered them not to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he came out and went into a desert place; and the multitudes sought after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them. 43 But said unto them, I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also: for therefore was I sent,
44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Comments

And he came down to Capernaum.Capernaum became the center of Jesus ministry in Galilee (Joh. 2:12). It was located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was thus situated more than six hundred feet below sea level; thats why Luke says He came down to Capernaum. Jesus taught in the synagogues of Capernaum and performed miracles there. It became the object of His wrath because of the stubborn rejection of the evidence that should have led to repentance. He said, And thou Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have remained unto this day (Mat. 11:23). See also Luk. 10:13.

astonished at his teaching.Matthew calls attention to this same reaction after the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 7:28-29). Jesus was unlike other teachers who had to rely on other sources for their authority; He spoke from His own authority, for He spoke the words of God.

a spirit of an unclean demon.Demons are spiritual beings without bodies. They have all the attributes of personality. They are under the control of Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Luk. 11:15). They are unclean. They have a desire to be in a body and did actually take up residence in the bodies of living people. On one occasion, when driven out of the human body, they were permitted to enter the bodies of swine. They are thought by some to be evil angels, and by others, the spirits of the wicked dead.

Demon possession was manifested in at least three forms in biblical times: (1) extreme mental illness (Luk. 8:26-27); (2) physical illness such as blindness, inability to speak, epilepsy (Mat. 17:14-18); and (3) soothsaying powers (Act. 16:16-18).

If there is such a thing as demon possession today, it cannot be claimed with real assurance, for no one is equipped to accurately diagnose such a case. Jesus, of course, was able to distinguish between the effects of demon possession and the symptoms of physical or mental illness. It is worthwhile to note the difference between His technique in handling cases of demon possession and in miraculous cures of those who were physically or mentally ill.

he cried out with a loud voice.This may suggest fear or a desire to be let alone. Coupled with the loud voice, this expression may indicate a symptom of mental illness, but there is insufficient evidence in this case of demon possession to classify it accurately.

what have we to do with thee?These spirits or demons knew that they had nothing in common with the Lord, for their prince was the devil. The plural we may suggest that more than one demon was using the speech organs of the possessed man. See Luk. 8:30.

I know thee.Demons recognized Jesus of Nazareth. They knew that He, in contrast to their prince, was the Holy One of God. They knew that they were destined for destruction. They knew that Jesus is the Son of God and they knew that He was the Christ (Luk. 4:41). It is not strange that there is no record of a demon possessed person confessing that He is the Christ, for that would mean that the demon was acknowledging Him as Lord whereas the prince of demons is the devil.

Jesus rebuked him.He rebuked the demon by saying, Be quiet and come out of him. This is an order given to a being capable of understanding and obeying. When Luke says that He rebuked the fever (Luk. 4:39), there is no suggestion that he considered the fever in the same light. It was, of course, by miraculous power that he instantly stopped the fever and caused the temperature to return to normal. But in the case of casting out the demon, He ordered the unclean spirit or demon to leave and it did.

demon had thrown him down.Such convulsions seem to be common effects of demon possession (Luk. 9:42). By the order from Christ, the demon came out, having done the man no injury.

amazement came upon all.The use of such divine power was intended to point out the deity of Jesus. In this case, Luke reminds us that those who witnessed the handling of the demon possessed man were amazed at what they saw. It also shows Jesus concern for those unfortunate sufferers.

There is no indication that any demon possessed person was responsible for his condition. There was no word of condemnation for this man after the demon left him.

with authority and power.Jesus had defeated Satan in the wilderness temptation by using the Word of God. But by the exercise of His divine power and authority, He defeated Satans efforts to use demon possessed people to discredit Him before the crowds.

there went forth a rumor.The story of Jesus power and authority to heal was repeatedly heard throughout the whole region. This explains why the people brought all their sick and demon possessed to Him to be healed (Luk. 4:41).

Simons wifes mother.Peters mother-in-law was sick with a very high fever. By placing this account immediately after the miracle of casting out the demon, Luke shows the distinction between a miracle of healing and one dealing with demon possession.

immediately she rose up.Luke was a trained physician. He had investigated these accounts and did not hesitate to show that a genuine miracle had taken place. She was able to minister to those present immediately after Jesus healed her.

when the sun was setting.This was at the close of the sabbath day, and the people were free to bring their sick for Him to heal. But, of course, healing the sick on the sabbath was not breaking the sabbath as Jesus later proved (Joh. 7:23).

he suffered them not to speak.Jesus did not permit the demons to speak for Him. That was what the devil wanted them to do in order to make people believe that Jesus was in league with Satan, and thus discredit Him in their eyes. See Pauls attitude in a similar situation (Act. 16:17-18).

the multitudes sought after him.No wonder they followed Him into the lonely place where He had gone to rest and pray. In their distress, they begged Him to stay with them. But it was necessary that He preach the gospel in other cities also. The purpose of His ministry was to prepare for the kingdom of God.

And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.These providentially prepared places of meeting enabled Jesus to carry on His ministry of preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Luke did not have enough room on one papyrus roll to give all the details of all these incidents, but the ones he does tell about are sufficient to let us see what an important place preaching held in the ministry of Jesus.

Summary

The chapter begins with the account of the complete victory of Jesus over the devil. With it, Luke completes the first part of his Life of Christ. In it he gives sufficient evidence to prove that Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man. Not even the devil with his three-fold temptation could destroy this evidence.
The temptations presented a choice between Gods instructions and the propositions of the devil. Jesus could have turned the stone into bread, but without hesitation He said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone.
When the devil had completed every temptation, he left Jesus for a season. But it is quite evident that he returned many times during Jesus ministry to renew his efforts to defeat Him. One such instance may be seen in the effort of the people to make Him king after the feeding of the five thousand.
God had led Jesus through the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He was tempted. Then Jesus returned to Nazareth to begin His public ministry in the little village where He grew up. He came with power performing miracles through the Holy Spirit to prove that His message came from God.
In the synagogue at Nazareth, He read from the prophet Isaiah the passage that outlined the ministry He was to undertake. When He finished reading, He said to the people, Today this Scripture is fulfilled before you. But they said, This is Josephs son, for they didnt know the facts in the case. It was for people like them that Luke made a careful research of the facts and reported them to Theophilus that no one may ever need to fall into that error again.
The irate people of Nazareth would not let this One, whom they had known since He was a boy, compare them unfavorably with Gentiles. They took Him to the cliff at the edge of the city to hurl Him down to His death. But He walked through that mob as one would swim through a turbulent stream and went on His way.
Jesus went down to Capernaum which became the center of His activity for the greater part of His ministry. There He taught the people. They were astonished at the authority of His words. There He healed a demon possessed man. The report of His work spread throughout the whole district, He healed Peters wifes mother. The people brought their demon possessed and sick to Him and He healed them all.
He withdrew to a lonely place, but the crowds followed and begged Him to stay with them. But He said, I must preach good tidings of the kingdom of God to other cities also, for it was for that purpose that I was sent. He continued preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

Questions

What is meant by full of the Holy Spirit when it refers to John? to Jesus?

What is meant by led in the Spirit?

What is temptation?

What is the difference between temptation and sin?

What did Jesus say about the longing desire for the thing God has forbidden?

Why was changing a stone into bread a temptation to Jesus?

Why did the devil say, If you are the Son of God?

What proof is given to show that Jesus overcame temptations as a man?

What did He use to defeat the devil?

10.

How is the Christian equipped to defeat the devil?

11.

Were other temptations presented to Jesus later?

12.

What does John say about all that is in the world?

13.

What are the three temptations in the wilderness?

14.

What does Matthew say about the ministry of angels after the temptation of Jesus?

15.

What is the significance of the fact that the temptation followed immediately after the baptism of Jesus?

16.

What is the significance of the evidence presented in the first section of Lukes Gospel?

17.

What is meant by in the power of the Spirit as it relates to Jesus ministry?

18.

What does Luke say about the fame of Jesus at this point?

19.

Why did Jesus and the apostles preach in the synagogues?

20.

What was the order of service in the synagogue?

21.

Why did He read from Isaiah?

22.

What was the response of the people to His reading? to His explanation?

23.

Why did they say, This is Josephs son?

24.

Why did they try to kill Him?

25.

How did He escape from the violence of the mob?

26.

What place did Capernaum have in the ministry of Jesus?

27.

What was the response of the people of Capernaum?

28.

What is a demon?

29.

What distinction does Luke show between the technique used by Jesus in casting out a demon and in healing a sick person?

30.

What forms did demon possession take?

31.

Is there demon possession today?

32.

Why is there no record of a demon possessed person confessing that Jesus is the Christ?

33.

What was the response of the people to the reports of His healing ministry?

34.

Why did Jesus withdraw to a lonely place?

35.

What did He say when the people begged Him to stay with them?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(31) And came down to Capernaum.See Note on Mat. 4:13. St. Luke, it will be noticed, gives, what St. Matthew does not give, the reason of the removal.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

31. And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee The heretic Marcion, concerning whom see our note on Luk 6:4, commenced his mutilated Gospel of Luke, as Tertullian informs us, at this place, with these words: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius God descended into Capernaum, a city of Galilee. To refute the omissions and interpolations of Marcion, Tertullian appeals to all those Churches which Paul founded with the co-operation of Luke, who all with perfect unanimity follow that edition of Luke which has been handed down to the universal Church of the present day. From this we can see how well authenticated a history we have in our Gospel of Luke.

Capernaum See notes on Mat 4:13. Jesus had a home (Mar 2:1; Mar 3:19) at Capernaum, where he became so complete a resident as to be legally taxable, Mat 17:24; but had he a house of his own? This is negatived by his words, (Mat 8:20,) “the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” It is probable that he either resided with Peter, (Mat 8:14,) who seems to have been host for other apostles, (Mar 1:29,) or that his mother had transferred her own residence, with her son’s, to Capernaum. Jesus may, for aught we know, have there wrought in his secular occupation.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath day.’

Having left Nazareth in a hurry Jesus now ‘came down’ (from the mountainside to the lakeside) to Capernaum, on the shore of the Lake of Galilee. He had already been active there (one or two of His future disciples lived there) as we learned from Luk 4:23. And He taught them on the Sabbath day (in the synagogue – Luk 4:33).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Teaching With Authority, Proclaiming The Good News To The Poor (4:31-32)

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Anointed Prophet Ministers In Capernaum And Elsewhere (4:31-44).

In this passage the work of the Spirit Anointed Prophet is seen as coming to fulfilment. Here we are given the essence of His activity. Primarily He teaches with authority. But He also frees a man from captivity by evil spirits, He delivers from an oppressive fever, and carries on a successful healing and deliverance ministry, and then He goes on to proclaim the Kingly Rule of God in other towns also.
Pause before you enter here. Consider what you read, and wonder. Do not just say, ‘Oh, we know these stories from Mark.’ Consider that these next verses reveal that into this imperfect world has come One Who has total authority over the powers of evil, One Whose creative word can remove the effects of disease in a moment, One Who can make totally whole all who come to Him with any imperfection whatsoever, and One Who can bring men forgiveness and bring them under the direct and personal Kingly Rule of God. Here is revealed God’s Salvation (Luk 1:30). Here is the guarantee that men can be transferred from under the tyranny of darkness into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13), here is the proof that Satan’s power will not finally prevail, here is the assurance that one day all will be made well, in Him is the certainty of our future hope, for it will all be accomplished by the One Who stands here. We are about to read a cameo of the history of salvation.
The passage may be analysed as follows:
a He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And He was teaching them on the sabbath day (Luk 4:31).
b And they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority (the authority of the Kingly Rule of God) (Luk 4:32).
c He casts evil spirits out of a man and they declare ‘We know Who You are, the Holy One of God’ (Luk 4:33-34).
d He rebukes the spirits and they come out of the man (Luk 4:35).
e All are amazed and report concerning Him goes everywhere (Luk 4:36-37).
d He rebukes a fever and the woman is wholly restored (Luk 4:38-39).
c He heals many and casts out evil spirits and they declare ‘You are the Son of God’ (Luk 4:40-41).
b He goes on His way to proclaim the Kingly Rule of God to other towns (Luk 4:42-43).
a And He was preaching in the synagogues of Judaea (some authorities say ‘Galilee’ but often to Luke ‘Judaea’ includes Galilee (Luk 4:44).
Note that in ‘a’ He teaches in Capernaum and in the parallel He preaches ‘in Judaea’ (‘the land of the Jews’). In ‘b’ He preaches with the word of power/authority and in the parallel He proclaims authority of the Kingly Rule of God. In ‘c’ the evil spirits bare testimony to Him, as they do in the parallel. In ‘d’ He rebukes the evil spirits and the man is restored and in the parallel He rebukes the fever and the woman is restores. So Jesus equally heals a man and a woman. Central to the passage in ‘e’ is that all are amazed so that report about Him goes everywhere.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Some cities did not receive Jesus, such as the city of Nazareth (Luk 4:14-30). Therefore, Jesus did not spend much time in those cities. This passage of Jesus’ acceptance by the Galileans follows the story of Jesus’ violent rejection in Nazareth as an example of how warmly some cities received His message. In both of these passages of Scripture, demons testify of Jesus’ divinity (Luk 4:34; Luk 4:41).
Outline: Here is a proposed outline:
1. Healing the Man with an Unclean Spirit Luk 4:31-37
2. The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Others Luk 4:38-41
3. Preaching and Healings in Galilee Luk 4:32-44
Luk 4:31-37 Healing the Man with an Unclean Spirit ( Mar 1:21-28 ) Luk 4:31-37 gives us the account of how Jesus healed a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum. This story reflects back on and expounds upon Luk 4:15, “And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.” In this account of Jesus healing in the synagogue at Capernaum in Luk 4:31-37, Luke places emphasis upon Jesus’ authority and power to heal sickness and disease. In contrast, the story of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath places emphasis upon Jesus’ authority over Jewish tradition, which angered the scribes and Pharisees (Luk 6:6-11).
Luk 4:31 Comments – The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus left Nazareth and came to dwell in Capernaum.
Mat 4:13, “And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:”
Luk 4:32 Comments – Luk 4:32; Luk 4:36 reflects the emphasis of Jesus’ public ministry prior to the Travel Narrative, in which He ministered under the anointing. This theme is introduced in Luk 4:14-15.
Luk 4:14-15, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.”
Luk 4:36 Comments – Luk 4:32; Luk 4:36 reflects the emphasis of Jesus’ public ministry prior to the Travel Narrative, in which He ministered under the anointing. This theme is introduced in Luk 4:14-15.
Luk 4:14-15, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.”
Luk 4:37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
Luk 4:38-41 The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-Law and Others ( Mat 8:14-17 , Mar 1:29-34 ) In Luk 4:38-41 we have the story of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law while visiting Peter’s home. Later that evening, He healed the multitudes.
Luk 4:38 “And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever” – Comments – As is done today, Luke may well be making a distinction between a low-grade and a high-grade fever. W. E. Vine says, “Luke, as a physician, uses the medical distinction by which the ancients classified fevers into great and little.” [187]
[187] W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), “Fever (to be sick of).”
Luk 4:41 Comments – Jesus will not reveal His deity until the Mount of Transfiguration.
Luk 4:42-44 Jesus Preaches and Heals Throughout Galilee ( Mar 1:35-39 ) Luk 4:42-44 gives us the story of how Jesus went about Galilee preaching the Gospel and healing the sick.
Luk 4:43 Comments – In Luk 4:43 we see the underlying theme of the Gospel of Luke. Jesus discusses His calling to take the Gospel to the cities of Israel. He will also begin training the twelve apostles to be witnesses of Him, first in Israel, and after His resurrection, to the uttermost parts of the earth. In Luk 10:1 He will send out the seventy ahead of Him to the cities in Israel in which He planned to visit. After His resurrection He will commission them to take the Gospel abroad to the nations (Luk 24:47, Act 1:8).
Luk 10:1, “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.”
Luk 24:47, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
Act 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Luk 4:44 Comments – We see from Luk 4:44 that Jesus had an organized plan of preaching the Gospel to the people in Galilee. He first visited the synagogues where the people had gathered themselves on the Sabbath to hear God’s Word. The synagogue was the learning institution of the Jewish culture. It would be in this environment that men’s hearts would be most receptive, and least hostile to the Saviour. We see Paul the apostle going through the cities of Asia Minor and Macedonia using the same strategy, where he entered the Jewish synagogues on the Sabbath to begin his evangelist work in each city.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Narrative: He Demonstrates Justification (Capernaum) Prior to Jesus Christ teaching on true justification, He demonstrates to His disciples His authority over sin, sickness, and customs. He has authority to redeem man’s physical, spiritual, and mental being.
Outline: Here is a proposed outline:
1. Demonstration of His Authority over Sickness Luk 4:31-44
2. Demonstration of His Authority over Sin Luk 5:1-26
3. Demonstration of His Authority over Customs Luk 5:27 to Luk 6:11
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Justification: Jesus Testifies of True Justification Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:49 records Jesus’ Galilean ministry prior to the Travel Narrative, at which time He heads towards Jerusalem for the final Passover and His Passion. In Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:11 Jesus demonstrates God’s standard of justification. Since Luke’s Gospel reveals Jesus as the Saviour of the world, this narrative demonstrates His authority to offer redemption in every area of people’s lives. The narrative material about His Galilean ministry reveals Jesus offering healing over sickness in man’s body, forgiveness over sin in man’s heart, and freedom from earthly tradition in man’s mind. He demonstrated His authority over sickness (Luk 4:31-44), over sin (Luk 5:1-26), and over tradition (Luk 5:27 to Luk 6:11). Sickness dwells in the physical body of man; Sin dwells in the heart of man; and, tradition dwells in the mind of men. Jesus gives a prophetic word in each of the three sections, when healing the sick in Luk 4:43, when forgiving sin in Luk 5:24, and when breaking Jewish tradition in Luk 6:5.
Luk 4:43, “And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.”
Luk 5:24, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.”
Luk 6:5, “And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”
Thus, Jesus reveals His authority to redeem the three-fold make-up of man. However, Jesus first declared His authority as Saviour of the world in His hometown of Nazareth, where He was rejected (Luk 4:16-30). In Luk 6:12-49 Jesus delivers a discourse on God’s standard of justification in the Kingdom of God.
Outline: Here is a proposed outline:
1. Narrative: He Demonstrates Justification (Capernaum) Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:11
2. Discourse: Jesus Teaches on True Justification (Galilee) Luk 6:12-49
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Witnesses of Jesus Justifying Him as the Saviour of the World (God the Father’s Justification of Jesus) Luk 4:31 to Luk 21:38 contains the testimony of Jesus’ public ministry, as He justifies Himself as the Saviour of the world. In this major section Jesus demonstrates His divine authority over man, over the Law, and over creation itself, until finally He reveals Himself to His three close disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration as God manifested in the flesh. Jesus is the Saviour over every area of man’s life and over creation itself, a role that can only be identified with God Himself. This was the revelation that Peter had when he said that Jesus was Christ, the Son of the Living God. Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 begins with His rejection in His hometown of Nazareth and this section culminates in Luk 9:50 with Peter’s confession and testimony of Jesus as the Anointed One sent from God. In summary, this section of material is a collection of narratives that testifies to Jesus’ authority over every aspect of humanity to be called the Christ, or the Saviour of the world.
Luke presents Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world that was presently under the authority of Roman rule. He was writing to a Roman official who was able to exercise his authority over men. Thus, Luke was able to contrast Jesus’ divine authority and power to that of the Roman rule. Jesus rightfully held the title as the Saviour of the world because of the fact that He had authority over mankind as well as the rest of God’s creation. Someone who saves and delivers a person does it because he has the authority and power over that which oppresses the person.
In a similar way, Matthew portrays Jesus Christ as the Messiah who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the King of the Jews supports His claim as the Messiah. John gives us the testimony of God the Father, who says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John uses the additional testimonies of John the Baptist, of His miracles, of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and of Jesus Himself to support this claim. Mark testifies of the many miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ by emphasizing the preaching of the Gospel as the way in which these miracles take place.
This major section of the public ministry of Jesus Christ can be subdivided into His prophetic testimonies. In Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:49 Jesus testifies of true justification in the Kingdom of God. In Luk 7:1 to Luk 8:21 Jesus testifies of His doctrine. In Luk 8:22 to Luk 10:37 Jesus testifies of divine service in the Kingdom of God as He sets His face towards Jerusalem. In Luk 10:38 to Luk 17:10 Jesus testifies of perseverance in the Kingdom of God as He travels towards Jerusalem. Finally, in Luk 17:11 to Luk 21:38 Jesus teaches on glorification in the Kingdom of God.
The Two-Fold Structure in Luke of Doing/Teaching As Reflected in the Prologue to the Book of Acts – The prologue to the book of Acts serves as a brief summary and outline of the Gospel of Luke. In Act 1:1 the writer makes a clear reference to the Gospel of Luke, as a companion book to the book of Acts, by telling us that this “former treatise” was about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” If we examine the Gospel of Luke we can find two major divisions in the narrative material of Jesus’ earthly ministry leading up to His Passion. In Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 we have the testimony of His Galilean Ministry in which Jesus did many wonderful miracles to reveal His divine authority as the Christ, the Son of God. This passage emphasized the works that Jesus did to testify of Himself as the Saviour of the world. The emphasis then shifts beginning in Luk 9:51 to Luk 21:38 as it focuses upon Jesus teaching and preparing His disciples to do the work of the Kingdom of God. Thus, Luk 4:14 to Luk 21:38 can be divided into this two-fold emphasis of Jesus’ works and His teachings. [186]
[186] We can also see this two-fold aspect of doing and teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus always demonstrated the work of the ministry before teaching it in one of His five major discourses. The narrative material preceding his discourses serves as a demonstration of what He then taught. For example, in Matthew 8:1 to 9:38, Jesus performed nine miracles before teaching His disciples in Matthew 10:1-42 and sending them out to perform these same types of miracles. In Matthew 11:1 to 12:50 this Gospel records examples of how people reacted to the preaching of the Gospel before Jesus teaches on this same subject in the parables of Matthew 13:1-52. We see examples of how Jesus handled offences in Matthew 13:53 to 17:27 before He teaches on this subject in Matthew 18:1-35. Jesus also prepares for His departure in Matthew 19:1 to 25:46 before teaching on His second coming in Matthew 24-25.
Jesus’ Public Ministry One observation that can be made about Jesus’ Galilean ministry and his lengthy travel narrative to Jerusalem is that He attempts to visit every city and village in Israel that will receive Him. He even sends out His disciples in order to reach them all. But why is such an effort made to preach the Gospel to all of Israel during Jesus’ earthly ministry? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to hear and believe. For those who rejected Him, they now will stand before God on the great Judgment Day without an excuse for their sinful lifestyles. Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to believe and be saved. This seemed to be His passion throughout His Public Ministry. Another aspect of the answer is the impending outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the sending out of the Twelve to the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus understood the necessity to first preach the Gospel to all of Israel before sending out the apostles to other cities and nations.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Luk 4:31. To Capernaum, Capernaum is no where mentioned in the Old Testament, either by its own name, or by any other. Probably it was one of those towns which the Jews built after their return from Babylon. Its exact situation has not yet been determined with certainty by geographers; only, from its being on the confines of the two tribes, Reland and others conjecture that it stood somewhere on the north-west shore of the lake of Gennezareth. According to Josephus, (Bell. b. 3. 100: 18.) the length of this lake was a hundred furlongs, or twelve miles and a half, and its breadth forty furlongs, or five miles. Pliny says it was sixteen miles long and six broad. Anciently the lake of Gennezareth was called the Sea of Chinnereth, Num 34:11 but in latter times it was named the Sea of Galilee, because that country formed part of its shore;and the Sea of Tiberias, from the city of Tiberias lying on the south-west coast thereof. Its bottom is gravel, which gives its water both a good colour and taste. The river Jordan runs through the middle of it, and stocks it with a great variety of excellent fish. In the countries round this lake our Lord spent two or three years of his public life; and though he afterwards enlarged the compass of his journies, yet they always enjoyed a considerable share of his blessed company and divine instructions. There were several reasons which might determine Jesus to be so much about the sea of Galilee. 1. The countries which surround this sea were large, fertile, and populous, especially the two Galilees. For, according to Josephus, (Bell. 50. 3. 100. 2.) they alone had many towns and a multitude of villages, the least of which contained above 15,000 souls. On the east side of the lake were Chorazin, Bethsaida, Gadara, and Hippon; on the west, Capernaum, Tiberias, and Tarrichea, with other places of inferior note. Wherefore, as it was agreeable to the end of Christ’s coming, that his doctrine should be spread extensively, and his miracles wrought publicly, no country could be a better scene for his ministry than this. Besides its numerous inhabitants, there were at all times many strangers resorting to the trading towns on the lake, who, after hearing Jesus preach, could carry home with them theglad tidings of salvation, which were the subject of his sermons. Capernaum, chosen by Christ as the place of his residence, was a town of this kind, and much frequented. 2. The countries round the lake were remote from Jerusalem, the seat of the scribes and Pharisees, a most malignant sort of people, who would not have borne with patience the presence of a teacher held in such estimation as Jesus deservedly was. We know this by what happened in the beginning of his ministry, when he made and baptized many disciples in Judea. They took such offence at it, that he judged it expedient to leave the country: Joh 4:1 compared with ch. Luk 3:22. Wherefore, as it was necessary that he should spend a considerable time in preaching and working miracles, both for the confirmation of his mission, and for the instruction of his disciples in the doctrine, which they were afterwards to preach, these countries were, of all others, the most proper for him to reside in; or rather, they were the only places where he could be with safety for any time unless he had used his divine power for his own protection. 3. It was agreeable to the end of our Lord’s mission, that he should be in a low station of life; because to have affected pomp and grandeur was inconsistent with the character of a teacher sent from God. Some readers, perhaps, will be here pleased to be informed, that Plato, drawing the character of one perfect in virtue, says, “He must be poor, and void of all recommendation but virtue alone.” Repub. 2. That the duties of his ministry might be executed as extensively as possible, he and his disciples were obliged to make long journies, the fatigue of which would have been too great for ordinary constitutions to have sustained, had they been all performed on foot. This inconvenience was remedied by the easy passages which the lake afforded. Hence the countries round it were chosen by him as a scene of his ministry, preferably to the other parts of the land of Israel. Farther, as the multitude earnestly wished that he would take the title of king, and set up a secular empire, it was necessary, according to the mode which he had prescribed for his own conduct, that he should have the opportunity of retiring from them when they became troublesome. Accordingly, we find him and his disciples making their escapes by the lake; passing easily and speedily in their own boats, from one country to another, as occasion required. 4. Capernaum, of all the towns near the lake, was pitched upon by Jesus as the place of his ordinary residence after his expulsion from Nazareth, because he was sure of meeting with a favourable reception there. He had gained the friendship of the principal family in the city; viz. that of the nobleman, whose son he had curedat Cana: and the good-will which this family, with its relations, bare to him, was not an ordinary kindness, like that which persons bear to a benefactor; but, being struck with the miracle, they firmly believed him tobe the Messiah, heartily espoused his cause, and, no doubt, were ready to assist him on all occasions. Besides, this miracle must have conciliated the love and respect of the inhabitants of Capernaum, to whom it could not but be well known. Nor mustwe omit the foreknowledge which Jesus had of his being to gain the favour of a Roman centurion, (Mat 8:5; Mat 8:34.) and of a ruler of the synagogue, (Mar 5:22.) both living in this town, whose friendship likewise would protect him from the insults of his enemies. To conclude, Capernaum was a place where the men dwelt who had become his disciples immediately after his baptism, and whose presence he chose to have very frequently, before he called them to leave their families, and attend upon him constantly. But we must ever remember that all this arose primarily from his not judging it expedient to use the power of his supreme Godhead on trivial occasions.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 4:31-37 . See on Mar 1:21-28 , whom Luke with some slight variations follows.
] Down from Nazareth, which lay higher up, to Capernaum, which was situated on the shore. Comp. Mat 4:13 .
. .] for here Capernaum occurs for the first time in Luke in the course of the history (it is otherwise at Luk 4:23 ).
.] expresses the constant occupation of teaching on the Sabbaths (otherwise in Mark), comp. on Mat 7:29 .
Luk 4:33 . ] The genitive is a genitive of apposition or of nearer definition (Winer, p. 470 [E. T. 666 7]); and , which, according to Greek usage, is in itself applicable to either good or evil spirits, being used by Luke for the first time in this passage, is qualified by .
] not the imperative of (Vulg.: sine; Euthymius Zigabenus, ad Marc . , comp. Syr.), but “interjectio admirationis metu mixtae ” (Ellendt, Lex. Soph . I. p. 465): ha! Plato, Prot . p. 314 D. Seldom occurring elsewhere in prose, even in the New Testament only in this place (not Mar 1:24 ). See Fritzsche, ad Marc . p. 32 f., who, nevertheless, traces back the origin of the expression to the imperative form.
. . .] not interrogatively. The words themselves are simply taken from Mark; all the less therefore is any hint to be read into them of the redeeming ministry of Jesus to the Gentile world (Baur, Evang . p. 429 f.).
Luk 4:35 . ] is to be accented thus. See Bornemann, p. 4; comp., nevertheless, Lipsius, Gramm. Unters . p. 31 ff.
] He threw him down into the midst in the synagogue. The article might , but must not , be added. See the instances from Homer in Duncan, ed. Rost; Krger, ad Xen. Anab . i. 8. 15. Observe, moreover, that here Luke describes more vividly than Mark, although his description is too unimportant “to glorify the miracle” (Holtzmann).
Luk 4:36 . ] not: quid hoc rei est? (Beza, Er. Schmid, Grotius, Kuinoel, de Wette); but: what sort of a speech is this ? to wit, that which is related in Luk 4:35 ; comp. Theophylact: , . It is otherwise at Luk 4:32 , where is the discourse which teaches ; here, the speech which commands . Mar 1:27 has, moreover, given the former particular (the ) here again as the object of the people’s astonishment and conference; but Luke, working after him, distinguishes the two, using for both, indeed, the general expression , but clearly limiting this expression in Luk 4:32 by , and in Luk 4:36 by . Baur decides otherwise in the Theol. Jahrb . 1853, p. 70.
] since he , etc., accounts for this question asked in astonishment.
. .] with authority aud power . The former is the authority which He possesses , the latter the power which He brings into operation .
Luk 4:37 . ] noise (Act 2:2 ; Heb 12:19 ), a stronger, expression for rumour . The classical writers use thus (Herod. ix. 24; Pind. Ol . xiv. 29).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

B. Capernaum.The Prophet mighty in Works and Words before God and all the People.
Luk 4:31 to Luk 7:50
1. The first Settlement, the first miraculous Acts, the first Choice of Apostles at Capernaum.
a. Arrival And Activity At Capernaum, And Excursion From Thence Into The Region Round About (Luk 4:31-44)
31And [he] came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught8 them on the sabbath days. 32And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was withpower. 33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil,34and cried out with a loud voice, Saying,9 Let us alone [or, Ha!]; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee whothou art; the Holy One of God. 35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came outof him, and hurt him not. 36And they were all amazed [there came an awe upon all], and [they] spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authorityand power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37And the fame [a rumor or report, ] of him went out into every place of the country round about.38And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simons house. And Simons wifes mother was taken with [suffering under] a great [severe] fever; and they besought him for her. 39And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her:and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any [friends] sick with divers [various] diseases brought them untohim; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. 41And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ10 the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for11 they knew that he was Christ.42And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from 43them. And [But] he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to [the] other cities also: for therefore [thereto] am I sent. 44And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk 4:31. And He came down to Capernaum.Comp. the remarks on Mat 4:13. Plainly enough Luke brings the removal of the Saviour to Capernaum into connection with the unfavorable reception which He finds at Nazareth. Herein he is indirectly supported by Matthew (Luk 4:13), while Mark (Luk 1:21) does not contradict it. John, it is true, gives no account of this settlement of Jesus at Capernaum, but it is known how incomplete his Galilean reports are. That he also knows of an abode of the Saviour at Capernaum, appears from Joh 2:12; Joh 6:59. The suitableness of this dwelling-place for Jesus, nevertheless, strikes the eye at once: He finds Himself here in the centre of a very active traffic, between Tyre, Sidon, Arabia, and Damascus, upon the great road to the Mediterranean, where continually great throngs were streaming together. From here He could easily travel to Juda, Itura, and Upper Galilee, in order to preach the gospel. Here the influence of the sacerdotal party was not so strong as in Jerusalem; here He found, moreover, the dwelling of Simon Peter, a friends house, whose hospitable rooms He was doubtless glad to use as His shelter during His sojourn there, even if He did not exactly live in this house, especially as His brothers at Nazareth did not yet believe on Him. If He wished for rest He could find this nowhere better than on the shore of the lake, of whose exquisite environs Rabbinical scholars write: Seven seas have I created in the Holy Land of Canaan, saith the Lord, but only one of all these have I chosen, namely the Sea of Gennesareth, and if danger threatened Him, He could at once betake Himself to the opposite jurisdiction of the tetrarch Philip. That the moral wretchedness of the town above many others, might recommend it only the more to the great Physician of sinners, is easily intelligible.
And taught them.What He preached there is given in Mar 1:15. Particularly in the beginning of His public life does He attach Himself to John the Baptist, yet He distinguishes Himself at once from Him in this, that with the requirement of He connects that of faith on the gospel, and explicitly declares, that the time is not only come near, but is fulfilled.
Luk 4:32. And they were astonished.The preaching of the Saviour produces, therefore, at Capernaum at once a much deeper impression than at Nazareth (Luk 4:22). A similar explanation to that here, in relation to the might of the word of Jesus in opposition to that of the spiritually dead doctrine of the scribes and Pharisees, is also given by Matthew, Luk 7:28-29.
Luk 4:33. Which had a spirit of an unclean devilAccording to Mar 1:21, compared with Luk 4:16-20, this healing took place not before but after the calling of the first four apostles, which Luke does not mention until Luk 5:1-11. Matthew passes over this miracle entirely in silence. As respects the possessed, of whom we here meet one, it will hardly be necessary here again to refute the rationalistic assertion, that the Saviour and His Evangelists, when they speak of demoniacal infirmities, accommodated themselves only to a superstitious popular conception. With everything figurative which they contain, yet expressions such as Luk 11:24-27; Mat 17:21, and other passages, appear to lead to the presupposition that these unhappy ones were actually tormented by demoniacal influence. Modern science has as yet by no means proved that on actual possession, even nowadays, is unheard of and impossible. How much less is it inconceivable in the fulness of time, when the kingdom of darkness concentrated its full power against the kingdom of light!
Here indeed the ontological objection has been brought forward that there are no demons, and that, if there were, the possession of men by them would be utterly impossible. But a modest science would indeed have to take the word impossible not quite so quickly upon its lips, and not in its self-conceit to decide in a sphere of which, outside of historic revelation, it knows nothing. The whole connection of our bodily and spiritual nature, as well as the operation of spirit upon spirit, remains for us still, in part, a terra incognita. This we know, however: the soul operates through the nervous system upon the body and receives by the medium of these nerves its impressions from the outer world. Not less certain is it, that the natural connection between the nervous life and consciousness may be relaxed for a shorter or longer time; the magnetic sleep and insanity are witnesses for this. If, therefore, as the Lord Himself declares, demons exist, why should they not be able so to work on the nervous system that the soul subjected to this strange influence is fettered and rendered inactive? Why should we not be able to experience the operation of the world of spirits upon us most strongly just at the time when the regular operation of the world of sense upon us is restrained? Undoubtedly, if we understand such an indwelling of the demons that by it two or three subjects are united in one material organism, we fall into psychological monstrosities. But if we assume a personal operation of evil spirits upon their victims which takes place in a psychical way and does not expel the human spirit but suppresses it, there are then no insurmountable difficulties remaining, even if the demoniacally infirm are not precisely to be called greater sinners than others. Yet there may have been in their own physical or psychical condition a peculiarly great receptivity for the operation of the demons. The accounts which we have of these infirm in the Synoptics give us warrant for such a conception. But as respects the silence of John upon this, we can by no means infer too much from the argument e silentio. Perhaps the Saviour healed fewer possessed in Juda than in Galilee. Perhaps John considered it unnecessary to amplify the few miracles related by him with reports of this particular character. Perhaps, also, he was disposed to consider the combat between darkness and light more on its ethical than on its metaphysical side. In brief, there is just as little reason for the assumption that he himself was unbelieving in the matter of demonology, as for the assumption that he preferred to pass this Jewish superstition over in silence before his readers in Asia Minor. In order to maintain this assumption, we should be obliged to overlook entirely such passages as 1Jn 3:8; Joh 13:27; Joh 10:20. In the last named passage the word is by no means synonymous with the preceding , but this latter is in the opinion of the Jews the ground of the former. In a similar way they connect, Joh 8:48, the charge that Jesus was possessed, with the injurious epithet Samaritan, Comp., moreover, respecting the demoniacs, Lange, Matthew, p. 96; Ideler, Geschichte des religisen Wahnsinns, I, and the weighty article of Ebrard in Herzogs Real Encyklopdie, 3. pp. 240255.
Luk 4:34. What have we.The demoniac, therefore, knows Jesus in His high dignity, although He had just appeared publicly for the first time in Capernaum. If we have once recognized the possession, there is nothing in this extraordinary. Analogies in abundance are presented by natural presentiments, the gift of second sight, &c. The mystery concealed from the human world of the origin of Jesus and the purpose of His incarnation, is already known to the world of spirits, which almost instinctively is compelled to tremble when it recognizes its future conqueror. Noticeable is the plural in which the demon makes itself heard, although Luke has spoken in the singular of a . . It is possible that he speaks, as it were, in the name of the whole demon-world, which he feels threatened in himself, or also that he makes himself heard in the name of the whole throng assembled in the synagogue, in the definite purpose of arousing a bitterness against Jesus and bringing His life into danger. Certainly this would have been a worthy attempt for the vassal of the Prince of Hell, since the latter had been so brilliantly beaten back in the wilderness, and was now bent upon vengeance and new assaults. Comp. the Satanology of Boss in Rudelb. and Guerikes Zeitschrift, 1851, 4, and the prlection of Sartorius upon the Doctrine of Satan in Hengstenbergs Evang. Kirchenzeitung, 1858, 1.
Luk 4:35. And Jesus rebuked him.Here also we see at once that in the therapeutics of the heavenly Physician threatening takes a far more important place than sympathizing lamentation. He passes over for a moment the sufferer Himself in order to direct at once His word of might against the evil spirit controlling him. The word of might with which He commands the demon has a noticeable agreement with that with which He afterwards bridles the seas and the winds.
And when the devil had thrown him.Here also, as often, the most violent paroxysm precedes the healing of the sufferer. To undertake fully to explain such phenomena in sickness is perhaps as foolish as to call them wholly inconceivable. Whoever has understanding will call no philosophical presuppositions to his help in order to judge a priori of facts, but will rather observe facts, in order upon them to build his theories, and, moreover, especially in cases like the present, will be mindful of the word of the English poet-king: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.Threw him, ; somewhat stronger Mark: , quum discerpsisset eum. Mitiore verbo usus est Lucas, in sensu tamen optime conveniunt, quia uterque docere voluit, violentum fuisse Dmonis exitum. Sic ergo miserum hominem prostravit, quasi discerpere vellet: irritum tamen fuisse conatum dicit Lucas, non quod impetus ille prorsus absque lsione fuerit, vel saltem obsque ullo doloris sensu, sed quia integer postea fuit homo a diabolo liberatus. Calvin.As to the rest, the ground on which the Saviour imposed silence on the demon strikes us at once. He would not have His Messianic dignity prematurely declared before the ears of all, and repulsed every homage which was offered Him from impure lips or in an equivocal intent. In this last respect, we see Paul following the footsteps of His great Master, Act 16:18. Here also the declaration, Psa 50:16, holds good.
Luk 4:36. What a word is this!Mark: What sort of new doctrine, . The newness in this case is found not so much in the matter as in the effect of the words of Jesus.With authority and power. Authority which endures no contradiction, power which endures no resistance.
Luk 4:38. And He arose.Comp. Mar 1:29-31. The position of the miracle wrought upon Peters mother-in-law in Mark and Luke, immediately after the first casting out of a devil in the synagogue at Capernaum, appears to deserve the preference to that in Matthew (Luk 8:14-17), who mentions this event after the Sermon on the Mount. According to Mark, Andrew also dwelt in this house, who, however, does not, like Simon, appear to have been married. That the sickness of the was of a serious nature appears not only from the technical expression used by the physician Luke (ses Galen, De diff. febr., I., cited by Wetstein), but also especially from the fact that it hindered her even from entertaining, in a manner somewhat befitting Him, the so greatly desired guest. The of Mark, in his mentioning their prayer for help to the Saviour, belongs again to the pictorial peculiarities of this evangelist.
Luk 4:39. Rebuked the fever.As just before the demon. According to Matthew and Mark, who omit this circumstance, He lays hold of her hand in order to lift her up. That the one does not exclude the other is easily understood; apparently the Saviour considered this contact as necessary in order to awaken the faith of the sick woman, who was too severely attacked by the fever herself to entreat His help. That she is able at once to rise, bears witness to the completeness of her recovery; that she at once girds herself for serving, shows that the bodily benefit was also sanctified to her heart. As to the rest, this miracle is related by all the Synoptics, not so much because it was remarkable above others, but especially because it belongs to the first period of the Saviours activity in Capernaum, and increased enthusiasm to ecstasy. At the same time, also, because it was followed by a series of other miracles in the town and region round about, concerning which there is not more particular mention. Especially was it important as a proof of the particular care which the Saviour devoted to the fashioning and training of Peter for an apostle. Among the twelve there was none whose house, person, boat, in short, whose whole circle of life was so made the theatre of remarkable miracles as that of Peter, who on this day also was bound with new bonds to the Master.
Luk 4:40. Now when the sun was setting.According to Matthew and Mark: when it had already become late. It is almost as if the Synoptics, even by the choice of their words, wished to put their readers in the position to follow almost step by step the Saviour on the first day of His unwearied and blessed activity at Capernaum. While the sun is going down, the report of two astonishing miracles has caused the light of a new hope for the sick in the town and its vicinity to rise. Among the various infirm of whom Luke gives account, Matthew and Mark mention also many possessed. The former He appears to have healed especially by laying on of hands, the other through His words (Matthew). The graphic trait which Mark adds to this whole representation, Luk 4:33, namely, that the whole city assembled before the door, betrays evidently the influence of Peter, the eye-witness.
Luk 4:42. And when it was day.According to Mar 1:35, so early that it might well have been called still night. From his account it also appears that the Saviour withdraws Himself into solitude in order in prayer to seek rest for some few moments of the night. Here also, as elsewhere (Mat 14:23), is there the same alternation of prayer and labor in the life of the Saviour, such as in truth might be called a praying without ceasing. This short repose, however, is disturbed by the disciples following Him even here (, Mark), with Peter at their head (Mar 1:36), who do not rest until they have found Him, in order to make known to Him the entreaty of the inhabitants who were waiting for His return.
Luk 4:43. I must preach to the other cities also., of course, not in the sense of an absolute necessity, but of a Divine decorum, of a moral obligation which springs from His very relation as the Messiah of Israel, and not of Capernaum alone. Elsewhere also must He preach the gospel: upon this, not upon doing miracles, does the Saviour here lay the greatest emphasisFor thereto am I sent. That is: Thereto have I publicly come forward, have been manifested as Divine teacher among My contemporaries, equivalent to the expression in Mark: For that have I come out, . Here we have no more to understand a proceeding forth from the Father, as in Joh 16:28 (Euthymius, Stier), than a mere going forth from Capernaum. The latter gives an insipid sensethe former, the apostles would now perhaps have understood least of all. The Saviour speaks simply of the purpose for which He now appeared publicly as a teacher.
Luk 4:44. And He preachedAccording to Mar 1:39, He at the same time casts out devils and traverses all Galilee. This journey appears to have been very extended and to have wound up with the (Joh 5:1).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Like the wilderness of Quarantania, so does also the synagogue at Capernaum show the combat of the Lord against the might of hell. Now, when the prince of this world had been repulsed, his satellites assay the assault. At both points Christ triumphs through the might of His word, and the demons cries of terror are so many voices to His honor as well as the acclamations of praise of the enthusiastic people. In a striking manner does this narrative already confirm what James (Luk 2:19) says of the faith of devils; but at the same time also by the side of their power, their powerlessness here becomes manifest. Where the demon cannot drive back the Lord, he still seeks to do mischief to the poor man, but he succeeds as little in one as in the other.
2. Word and deed are here, as everywhere, united in Christ. With justice, therefore, says Augustine, Tract. 24 in Joh.: Interrogamus ipsa miracula, quid nobis loquantur de Christo; habent enim, si intelligamus, linguam suam. Nam quia ipse Christus Verbum est, etiam factum Verbi verbum nobis est.
3. For the first time in the Gospel of Luke we meet in this passage with a report of miracles. Of course, we cannot here go into any particular investigation respecting these works of the Lord and His apostles, which, indeed, is much the less necessary after the fruitful hints of Lange. Only in general we must recollect in respect to these and all subsequent accounts of miracles: 1. That the impossibility of miracles admits of no proof whatever, either from the empirical, or from the logical, or from the metaphysical side. 2. That the conception: laws of nature, which are presumed to be infringed by miracles, is in the nature of the case elastic, so that Goethe is right when he says (Zur Farbenlehre); As on one side experience is limitless, because ever new and yet newer things can be discovered, so are maxims also, which, if they are not to grow petrified, must not lose the capability of extending themselves and of receiving what is greater, nay, of consuming and losing themselves in a higher view. 3. That the distinction between miracula and mirabilia will become clearly evident only if we consider the fact not in and of itself, but connected with the moral character of the wonder-worker and of the purpose of his activity. 4. That the miracles of the Saviour are worthily esteemed only as they are in a certain sense regarded as the natural revelations of His divinely human personality, which itself might be called the greatest, the absolute, nay, if one will, the sole miracle. 5. That miracles were in no sense given in order to constrain to faith, but rather in order to take away from unbelief every excuse, Joh 15:24. The direct intention of miracles was to serve as a proof of the Divine mission of the Saviour, Joh 5:36, and so far also to awaken confidence towards His person and His words. That the miracle in and of itself, without any reference to the personality of the doer, is no decisive proof of the inner truth of his preaching, is something which modem Apologetics may frankly concede without losing anything. She may the rather agree with the beautiful expression of Jean Paul: Miracles on earth are nature in heaven.
4. The miracle in his dwelling is of special moment for the history of Peters apostolic development. Through the first word of the Saviour (Joh 1:43), he becomes His friend; through the miracle of the draught of fishes (Luk 5:1-11), he becomes His apostle; finally, by the miracle wrought on his mother-in-law, the apostle is bound to the Master in thankful affection. That, moreover, the apostle was married, and is not required wholly to break this bond, is evident also from 1Co 9:5. As to the manner in which the Romish Church seeks to wrest the argument against the celibacy of the clergy deduced from these passages, the reader can find much that is interesting in Sepp, Leben Jesu, ii. p. 154. This question itself, however, must not detain us here.
5. Even though Peter had carried away no other remembrances from the life of the Lord than those of this first sojourn at Capernaum and the first visit in the region round about, he would already have had a right to introduce his first preaching to the Gentiles with a . The door of his dwelling, besieged by all manner of sick, who offered the Lord not even an hour of praying night-rest, is the worthy theatre of the Christus Consolator, and the citation of Isa 53:4 in Matthew is in this connection one of the most felicitous of the whole sacred history. Comp. Lange on Mat 8:16-17.
6. From the comparison with Mat 4:23-25 it appears how great the impression was which the Saviour already made at His public appearance in Galilee and the region round about. It is so much the more remarkable that He makes no use for Himself of this enthusiasm, and does not so much foster as avoid it, and so soon leaves Capernaum, where yet so many hearts beat for Him. This also is a proof of the truth of Joh 2:23-25, and at the same time a proof of the wisdom of the Saviour in the fashioning of His first disciples. He wishes to call them to self-denial, to accustom them to a life of journeying, and to bridle awakening earthly expectations.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Jesus arrival at Capernaum the fulfilment of the prophetic word, comp. Mat 4:15.The King of Gods kingdom a preacher of the gospel.The deep impression of the word of the Lord: 1. Astonishing, 2. explicable, 3. important; a. for faith (apologetically), b. for life (practically).The One anointed with the Holy Spirit and the one plagued by the evil spirit in the same synagogue together.The synagogue at Capernaum glorified by the visit of the Lord of the temple.Capernaum by the coming of the Lord raised even to heaven.The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light.The early enthusiasm for the Saviour at Capernaum compared with the subsequent lukewarmness.Where Jesus comes, the devil cannot possibly abide.The Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil.The power and powerlessness of the kingdom of darkness: 1. Its power: a. to have dominion over men, b. to cast scorn on the Son of Man; 2. its powerlessness: a. to withstand the Lords word of command, b. mortally to wound His redeemed; 3. the last revelations of the power of the Evil One precede the exhibitions of his powerlessness.How the Evil One stands over against Christ and Christ over against the Evil One: 1. The Evil One stands over against Christ with hypocritical homage, irreconcilable hate, and anxious fear; 2. Christ stands over against the Evil One with immovable peace, compassionate love, and triumphant might.Heaven, hell, and earth meet one another on the same place.The Stronger who disarms the strong.The demons wish to have nothing to do with Jesus, but Jesus has all the more, therefore, to do with the demons.The Saviours word of might: 1. Unique in majesty; 2. unique in power.Before the Lord goes anywhere, the report of Him goes already before Him.The house of Simon: 1. Chosen by the Messiah, 2. visited by sickness, 3. made glad by Omnipotence, 4. changed by thankfulness into a house of the Lord.The dwelling of Peter the theatre of great unhappiness, great redemption, great thankfulness.Grace and gratitude: 1. In order to be able to serve the Lord, we must first have been healed by Him; 2. in order to manifest genuine thanks for His healing love, we must serve Him. No service without a foregoing healing, no healing without subsequent service.he busy Sabbath rest of the Saviour.The bright evening after a beautiful day of His life.Sick ones of many kinds, only one Physician; healings of many kinds, only one miraculous might; voices of many kinds, only one key-note: He has done all things well.The demons knew Christ even before men knew Him, but what good does this knowing do them?The solitary prayer of the Saviour: 1. His refreshment after labor, 2. His balsam amid pains, 3. His shield in temptations, 4. His staff for the further journey of life.Seeking Jesus: 1. In order to find, 2. without finding, 3. till found.Obedience-the key-note of the Saviours free manifestations of love.John remains long in one place, Jesus must go forth as widely as possible in order to preach the gospel.The first journey of the Lord a triumphal journey.
Starke:Whoever has a soul possessed by uncleanness, is much more wretched than he whose body is possessed of the devil.Bibl. Wirt.:The devils themselves shame the unbelief of men, Luk 4:34.The heaviest temptations are sometimes the last ragings of Satan.Cramer:The works of Christ are meant to create in us wonder; wonder, inquiry; inquiry, a good report; the report, the knowledge of Christ; the knowledge of Christ, eternal life, Joh 17:3.Christ does not draw back from going to the sick and visiting them for our reminder and imitation, Mat 25:43.Quesnel:A single individual that stands well with God may bring a blessing upon his whole family.Hedinger:For health recovered, the best thanks are: with new obedience to serve God.Osiander:We should not be angry if now and then some desire our help at inconvenient time, but ascribe it to necessity, or excuse their simplicity.Brentius:Christ brings with His word for towns and villages no harm, but pure grace and blessing.Quesnel:It is praiseworthy for preachers of the gospel often to betake themselves to solitude (comp. the beautiful meditation of Vinet: La solitude recommande au pasteur).Majus:Jesus, when He hides Himself and appears to be lost, must with all diligence be sought.Christ is to be preached as well in the schools as in churches, yet when will Christendom be with earnestness intent thereon?
Lisco on Luk 4:31-36 :The might of the Saviour: 1. It is acknowledged even by the kingdom of darkness; 2. it manifests itself in gracious redemption; 3. it reveals to us the Divine origin and the Divine power of His doctrine.On Luk 4:38-39 :Jesus truly our Saviour: 1. He heals of all manner of sickness, 2. He bestows new powers for activity.Van Oosterzee:Christ, the Divine physician of souls, how He ever yet: 1. Discovers the same wretchedness, 2. feels the same compassion, 3. desires the same temper of heart, 4. follows the same method of healing, 5. excites the same opposition, 6. deserves the same homage as here at the healing of bodily ills.
Footnotes:
[8]Luk 4:31. , expressing His doing it habitually.C. C. S.]
[9]Luk 4:34.Rec.: before . Critically dubious. See Lachmann, ad loc. [Om. inter al. B., L., Sin.C. C. S.]
[10]Luk 4:41.Rec.: , …; a somewhat superfluous paraphrase, which is omitted by B., C., [Sin.], D., L., F., X., Vulgata, Origenes, Griesbach, De Wette, Meyer, &c.
[11]Luk 4:41.Not: to say that they knew, &c., is never to say, but to speak, to discourse. Alford.C. C. S.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

Ver. 31. And came down to Capernaum ] Contempt drives away Christ. And woe be unto you if I forsake you,Hos 9:12Hos 9:12 . Contend earnestly for the faith, since it is but once delivered to the saints, Jude
3. You must never expect another edition of it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

31 f. ] Mar 1:21-22 . The view maintained with regard to the foregoing occurrence in the preceding notes, of course precludes the notion that it was the reason of our Lord’s change of habitation to Capernaum . In fact that change, as remarked on Luk 4:14 , had been made some time before: and it is hardly possible that such an expression as . . should be used, if He still resided there. The words . come in unnaturally after the mention of . in Luk 4:23 , and evidently shew that this was originally intended to be the first mention of the place.
What may have been the reason of the change of abode is quite uncertain. It seems to have included the whole family, except the sisters, who may have been married at Nazareth, see note on Joh 2:12 , and Mat 4:13 .
., Joh 2:12 , because Nazareth lay high, and Capernaum on the sea of Galilee. The expression (Mark) is not added by Luke: see Mat 7:29 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 4:31-37 . In Capernaum; the demoniac (Mar 1:21-28 ). . He went down from Nazareth , not from heaven , as suggested in Marcion’s Gospel, which began here: “Anno quinto-decimo principatus Tiberiani Deum descendisse in civitatem Galilaeae Capharnaum,” Tertull. c. Marc. Luk 4:7 . . .: circumstantially described as it is the first mention in Lk.’s own narrative. Yet the description is vague, as if by one far off, for readers in the same position. No mention here of the lake ( vide Luk 5:1 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 4:31-37
31And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; 32and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34″Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You arethe Holy One of God!” 35But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. 36And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another saying, “What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out.” 37And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.
Luk 4:31 “He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee” Capernaum became Jesus’ headquarters and He probably moved His family to this locale.
“and He was teaching them on the Sabbath” In these early days of ministry, Jesus spoke in the local synagogues as much as possible (as did Paul, cf. Act 3:26; Rom 1:16). There would quickly come a time when He was forced to speak to the large crowds in the open air of the countryside.
Luk 4:32 “and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority” The Greek term translated “amazed” literally meant “struck by a blow” or “knocked beside themselves.” Jesus’ message was different (both in content and form) because He did not speak as the scribes who quoted the famous pair of rabbinical teachers like Shammai (the conservative rabbinical school) and Hillel (the liberal rabbinical school). He spoke as one who had authority in Himself (cf. Mat 7:28-29; Joh 7:46).
“authority” See Special Topic: Luke’s Use of Exousia at Luk 20:2.
Luk 4:33 “a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon” See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DEMONIC (UNCLEAN SPIRITS)
“cried out” This implies at the top of his voice.
Luk 4:34
NASB, NRSV”Let us alone”
NKJV”Let us alone”
TEV”Ah”
NJB”Ha”
The Greek particle ea is used in the Septuagint of Job where it is translated “alas” in Luk 19:5 and “let alone” in Luk 15:16. It is used in Hellenistic poetry to express displeasure or surprise.
NASB”What business do we have with each other”
NKJV”What have we to do with You”
NRSV”What have you to do with us”
TEV, NJB”What do you want with us”
This expression is used in the Septuagint with a hostile connotation (cf. Jgds. Luk 11:12; 2Sa 16:10; 2Sa 19:22; 1Ki 17:18; 2Ch 35:21).
“Jesus of Nazareth” See Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: JESUS THE NAZARENE
“us” Notice the plural. In the NT possession often involves numbers of demons (cf. Luk 8:2; Luk 8:27; Luk 8:30).
“I know who You arethe Holy One of God” The demon’s recognition and testimony was not meant to help Jesus, but to add to the Pharisee’s charge that His power was from Satan (cf. Luk 4:41; Luk 11:15; Mat 9:34; Mat 12:24; Mar 3:22).
The phrase “Holy One of God” is an OT Messianic title. It is alluded to in Luk 1:35 and Act 3:14. It is the title by which the demonic addressed Jesus in Mar 1:24 and Luk 4:34.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HOLY ONE
Luk 4:35 “‘Be quiet” This is an aorist passive imperative singular meaning “be muzzled.” Notice the switch from “us” (Luk 4:34) to the singular here. Possibly only one demon spoke on behalf of them all.
“come out” This is an aorist active imperative. Exorcisms were common in Jesus’ day, but Jesus’ methods were radically different. His exorcisms were a sign of the New Age. The rabbis used magic formulas, but Jesus used His own authority. There is so much confusion and bad information circulating today about exorcism and the demonic. Part of this problem is that the NT does not discuss these issues. As a pastor I wish I had more information on this subject. Here are some books I trust:
1. Christian Counseling and the Occult, Kurt E. Koch
2. Demons in the World Today, Merrill F. Unger
3. Biblical Demonology, Merrill F. Unger
4. Principalities and Powers, Hendrik Berkhof
5. Three Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare by Clinton Anthony
It surprises me that exorcism is not listed as one of the spiritual gifts and that the subject is not addressed in the Apostolic letters. I believe in a biblical world view which includes the spiritual realm (i.e., good and evil), present and active in the physical realm (i.e., Job 1-2; Daniel 10; Eph 2:2; Eph 4:14; Eph 6:10-18). However, God has chosen not to reveal the specifics. As believers we have all the information we need to live godly, productive lives for Him! Some subjects are not revealed or developed.
Several physical manifestations of an unclean spirit leaving a person are recorded (cf. Mar 1:26; Mar 9:26; Luk 9:39). This may have been a way of confirming that the spirit had truly left.
This first sign of power clearly shows the Messianic implications of Jesus. The OT title (cf. Psa 16:10) by which the demons acknowledge Him and His power to control and judge them clearly reflects the spiritual authority of Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Luk 4:27 c).
Luk 4:36 “amazement” This is a different Greek term from Luk 4:32, but a synonym (cf. Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, vol. 1, pp. 311-312). Luke uses it in Luk 4:36; Luk 5:9 and Act 3:10.
“authority” See Special Topic at Luk 20:2. Jesus’ message about Himself was radical and unexpected. He verified His claims with His actions!
Luk 4:37 “spreading” We get the English term “echo” from this Greek term. The message of Jesus’ power over unclean spirits, as well as His physical healings, caused great excitement and the gathering of large crowds.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

And, &c. Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6) in verses: Luk 4:31-37. Compare Mar 1:21-28.
Capernaum. The second place of His ministry. See the Structure (E2, p. 1442). See App-169.
Galilee. See App-169.
taught = was teaching (i.e. continuously).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

31 f.] Mar 1:21-22. The view maintained with regard to the foregoing occurrence in the preceding notes, of course precludes the notion that it was the reason of our Lords change of habitation to Capernaum. In fact that change, as remarked on Luk 4:14, had been made some time before: and it is hardly possible that such an expression as . . should be used, if He still resided there. The words . come in unnaturally after the mention of . in Luk 4:23, and evidently shew that this was originally intended to be the first mention of the place.
What may have been the reason of the change of abode is quite uncertain. It seems to have included the whole family, except the sisters, who may have been married at Nazareth,-see note on Joh 2:12, and Mat 4:13.
., Joh 2:12, because Nazareth lay high, and Capernaum on the sea of Galilee. The expression (Mark) is not added by Luke: see Mat 7:29.
Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 4:31. [ , on the Sabbath days) By this proceeding a beginning was made. Subsequently a multitude on other days also were collected together to Him in the open air.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 4:31-44
2. MIRACLES AT CAPERNAUM
Luk 4:31-44
31, 32 And he came down to Capernaum,-How Jesus escaped from the people of Nazareth we are not told, but the fact is recorded clearly that he did escape and went “down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee.” Nazareth was on a high elevation, and Capernaum was on the Sea of Galilee, which was about six hundred feet lower than the Mediterranean Sea, and was much lower than Nazareth. Jesus had been at Capernaum before for a short time (Joh 2:12), but now he comes to make it his place of residence. “Capernaum” was the name of a fountain and a town situated on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, on the boarders of the tribes of Zebulum and Naphtali; it was on the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean. It was suited as the principal residence of Jesus during the three years of his ministry. It is called his “own city.” (Mat 9:1.) It was also the residence of Andrew, Peter, James, and John, who were natives of Bethsaida (Joh 1:44), and probably the home of Matthew.
And he was teaching them on the sabbath-Jesus preached repentance and the gospel of the kingdom of God. (Mat 4:17; Mar 1:14-15.) He availed himself of every opportunity to teach the people when they assembled for worship. His teaching had a great effect on the people, for they were “astonished at his teaching”;the reason assigned by Luke for the astonishment was “for his word was with authority.” They were astonished both at what he taught and the manner in which he taught them. He never expressed a doubt; he knew the Father’s will and taught that with authority. (Mat 7:28-29.) Some think that reference is here made to the miracles which he wrought to witness that he was from God.
33-37 And in the synagogue there was a man,-A parallel record of the healing of “a demoniac in the synagogue” is found in Mar 1:23-28. Luke’s account is briefer than that of Mark, and with enough difference to show the independence of his account. According to Mar 1:16-22, this miracle followed the calling of the four disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John. Jesus performed miracles as proof of his divine mission. (Joh 2:22; Joh 9:3-5; Joh 10:25; Joh 10:37.) The Jews expected their Messiah to work miracles. (Mat 12:38; Luk 11:16; Joh 7:31.) The miracles of Jesus were variously designated. When they were specially regarded as evidence of his divine mission (Luk 8:11; Joh 2:11), they were called “signs”; when they manifested his supernatural power, they were called “mighty works”; when as extraordinary phenomena, exciting astonishment or terror, they were called “wonders” (Mar 13:22 Joh 4:48; Act 2:22);and when viewed still more generally, as something completed, they were called “works” (Joh 7:3; Joh 7:21).
And Jesus rebuked him,-Jesus commanded the demon to cease bearing testimony; Jesus did not need, neither would he accept, the testimony of demons. The faith that people had in him must come from the testimony which God furnished and not from demons. Jesus commanded two things: “Hold thy peace” and “come out of him.” The demon is commanded to be silent and to obey Jesus. Two distinct personalities are here recognized; the demon is treated as a person as much as the man. The personality of the demon is further shown by his crying out, convulsing the man, and coming out of him. “And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no hurt.” Mark records (1:26) that “tearing him” the demon came out of the man “crying with a loud voice.” Luke being himself a physician knew that this was not a case of insanity or mental hallucination; he describes the case and never hints that it was a case of insanity, but that it was a case of two distinct personalities in direct conflict with each other.
And amazement came upon all,-The effect of this miracle is vididly presented by Luke; a general amazement took possession of the people which led them to discussion and to certain conclusions. “They spake together, one with another saying, What is this word?” They meant what power or authority his word carried; even the demons heard and obeyed him. Mark records them as asking: “What is this? a new teaching!” (Mar 1:27.) No one could doubt what was done. They were not ready to accept Jesus as the Messiah, and yet they could not account for such extraordinary deeds being done by him. As a result of this miracle “there went forth a rumor concerning him into every place of the region round about.” This was a popular rumor concerning what he did and taught; he became a common topic of conversation among the people in Capernaum and Galilee.
38, 39 And he rose up from the synagogue,-Parallel records of this miracle are found in Mat 8:14-17 and Mark 1 29-34. Of them Mark and Luke give about the same record. Mark tells us that this was the house of Simon and Andrew; he also records that James and John were present. This miracle was a domestic scene-a miracle in the home of his earliest disciples, and in the presence of two others. The home of Peter and Andrew was originally in Bethsaida, which was a suburb of Capernaum. This miracle must have been encouraging to his disciples. Peter’s wife’s mother was sick of a fever Luke, as a physician, diagnoses the case, and says that she was “holden with a great fever.” Jesus came and “stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her.” There was no delay; she was healed immediately and was able to minister unto them at once.
40, 41 And when the sun was setting,-Luke has recorded the two miracles of healing the demoniac and Peter’s wife’s mother; he now proceeds from these two particular miracles, the one public, the other private, to the statement that his miracle-working power was very largely and wonderfully exercised at that time and place. Near sunset the day became cooler, and the people brought many who were sick to Jesus. The news of his presence in the city and his wonderful cure in the synagogue had been spread until all heard about his wonderful power. Since one of his miracles was performed on the Sabbath and in the synagogue where the people had come to worship, it gave great opportunity to broadcast his power to heal. Jesus healed diseases of others, but he was never sick. He “himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases.” (Mat 8:17.)
And demons also came out from many,—Jesus exercised his power over the demons, and when they were cast out they came out crying and said: “Thou art the Son of God.” Jesus rebuked them and would not let them bare testimony of him; Luke is clear on stating that “they knew that he was the Christ.” They had supernatural wisdom and recognized Jesus as being the Son of God. Demons were not to be witnesses and messengers to proclaim the fact that Jesus was the Son of God. His own disciples were to do this, and he would furnish them all the evidence that they needed. (Joh 5:32; Joh 5:39; Joh 5:46-47; Joh 20:30-31.) The time had not arrived for Jesus to make the full announcement that he was the Son of God, and would not permit the demons to bare such testimony.
42, 43 And when it was day, he came out-After healing Peter’s wife’s mother and many others, Jesus “went into a desert place,” that is, an uninhabited and unfrequented place near Capernaum. He went there for quite meditation and prayer. (Mar 1:35.) However, he was not permitted to remain there very long, for “the multitudes sought after him, and came unto him, and would have stayed him, that he should not go from them.” From Mark’s account of this it appears that Peter and his party sought and found Jesus, and reported to him that all the people were seeking him (Mar 1:36-37); before Jesus had time to return with Peter and his company, the multitudes searched with such diligence that they found him and attempted to prevent his going from them. At Nazareth the people drove him out of their city, but at Capernaum they seek to retain him there; what a contrast!
But he said unto them,-The reply that Jesus made showed that he had other work to do, and that the people did not understand his mission. Jesus said: “I must preach the good tidings of the kingdom of God to the other cities also.” There was a moral necessity based upon the word “I must”; he must proclaim the news of the kingdom to others. Luke does not use “kingdom” so often as Matthew; “the kingdom of God” here is the same as “the kingdom of heaven” in Mat 3:2. “The kingdom of heaven” has special reference to its central locality, while “the kingdom of God” shows to whom the kingdom belongs. The same thing is expressed by “kingdom of Christ,” or simply “kingdom.” (Eph 5:5; Heb 12:28.) The kingdom, reign or administration of the Messiah is spiritual in its nature (Joh 18:36; Rom 14:17), and is exercised over, and has its seat in, the hearts or believers (Luk 17:21). It exists on earth (Luk 13:18-19, Luk 13:20-30); it extends to another state of existence (Php 2:10-11); and will be fully consumated in a state of glory (Mat 8:11; 1Co 15:24; 2Pe 1:11.) This kingdom embraces the entire mediatorial reign or government of Christ on earth and in heaven, and includes in its subjects all the redeemed. (Eph 3:15.)
44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.-Jesus continued his preaching, going throughout Galilee and meeting with the people in the synagogues; Mark adds that he also was “casting out demons.” (Mar 1:39.) This is a brief account of the first general preaching tour throughout Galilee. The many things which occurred show that in Galilee his reception among the common people was most welcome; his fame went throughout the whole country, and the enthusiasm was great.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Healer and Preacher
Luk 4:31-44
In after years the evil spirit cried out, Jesus I know, Act 19:15. Evidently our Lord was not only seen of angels, but closely watched by the fallen spirits, who beheld His every act and listened to every word. What a remarkable verdict was that given in Luk 4:34! Those who know most of evil are most certain of the ultimate woe which awaits its votaries; and they know genuine goodness when they meet it. Our Lord had overcome the prince of demons, and could therefore command His household.
We need to be delivered from the fever of passion, caught in the low-lying marshes of our lives; to have Christs hands laid upon our sicknesses and wounds; to be delivered from evil things that haunt our hearts. Then we must help Him in similar services to others. But if He must have His quiet prayer times, so must we, Luk 4:42.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Jesus At Capernaum — Luk 4:30-44
But He passing through the midst of them went His way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power. And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil (demon), and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a Word is this! for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of Him went out into every place of the country round about. And He arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simons house. And Simons wifes mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought Him for her. And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils (demons) also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou are Christ the Son of God. And He rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that He was Christ, And when it was day, He departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought Him, and came unto Him, and stayed Him, that He should not depart from them. And He said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And He preached in the synagogues of Galilee- Luk 4:30-44.
The greater portion of this section consists of one days work on the part of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, in the city of Capernaum, at the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee. It is called elsewhere His own city. After He gave up His work in the carpenter shop and went out on His great mission to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to a waiting people, a people who had been expecting that kingdom for so long, He removed from Nazareth to Capernaum, and made that the center from which He traveled back and forth to the various parts of the land. So on this occasion He returned to Capernaum, and He taught them, we are told, on the Sabbath days. By the term Sabbath-day, we are not to understand our Sunday, but the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day. That was the day on which the people laid aside their usual employment and gathered together in their synagogues to hear the Word of God and to offer prayer. Our Lord took advantage of that day and joined with them. It had been His custom always to do this, and there in the synagogue on the Sabbath-days He ministered the Word of God. We are told that the people were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power. There was a divine energy about Him that appealed to them. They had never heard another like Him. You remember sometime afterward when officers were sent to arrest Him, they returned without Him and were asked, Why have you not brought Him? Their answer was, Never man spake like this Man. There was something so compelling about the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it moved the hearts even of His enemies. His word was with power.
It was not only the power of His Deity, but it was also the power of the Holy Spirit, for our Lord Jesus chose, as Man on earth, not to act according to His own Deity, but to be led, and guided, and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in the power of the Holy Spirit He preached the gospel of the kingdom.
On one particular occasion we read that in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and cried out with a loud voice. We should change the word devil in the Authorized Version to demon, because of the well-recognized fact that according to Scripture there is only one devil, Satan, who is called that old serpent, the devil; but there are a great many demons. These demons, evidently, were spirits led by Satan in his great rebellion, and he is called the prince of the power of the air. So we gather that these demons are not yet confined in hell, but with their master, Satan, they have access to men, and on certain occasions they can actually indwell and dominate men, or even where they do not indwell them, are able to impress them for evil, and lead them into ways contrary to the will of God. Here was a case of a man who was actually possessed with a demon. Just as in our dispensation of grace Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and so act under His control as they yield obedience to Him, so it was possible for men to be indwelt by one of these evil spirits and act as under that control. When this man, in whom the evil spirit was, saw the Lord Jesus Christ there in the synagogue he cried out, Let us alone. What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth. Art Thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art-the Holy One of God.
There is something very striking here. Men, ordinarily speaking, did not know Him. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Those who should have known Him, those who should have recognized Him as having been sent by the Father, failed to understand who He was. The demon knew because Jesus has absolute authority over the unseen world. This is the only world in which anyone dares to flaunt His will, or deny His Deity. Everybody does His will in heaven. Everyone knows Him there, and all the lost have to be subject to Him in the under-world. Even demons have to recognize His authority. So this evil spirit called out, I know who Thou art-the Holy One of God. But Jesus did not desire a testimony of that kind; so He rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him, and immediately in response to the word of the Lord Jesus the evil spirit, dominating the man, threw him in convulsions on the ground, and then came out of him and no longer hurt him.
All this took place in the synagogue at Capernaum. When I was visiting Palestine some years ago, I think the greatest thrill I had, next to visiting the place called Calvary, and the garden tomb just outside the Damascus gate of Jerusalem, was when standing on that very platform of the synagogue in Capernaum where this event and other events recorded in the Gospel took place. It was at Capernaum, we are told, that a Roman centurion built the Jews a synagogue, and for many, many centuries Capernaum had been entirely hidden from view. Archaelogists were unable to identify its site, until some years before the First World War a group of German monks built a monastery on a hill north of the Sea of Galilee, and when the World War broke out they were interned within the monastery grounds and were not permitted to leave until the war was over. While interned, in order that they might keep physically fit, they began to dig about on the hill where their monastery stood, and soon they began uncovering great blocks of limestone. The work went on with great interest, and by-and-by they uncovered an ancient synagogue. There was the entire floor, the great stones of the side walls, and the platform and pillars that had once upheld the roof. Now they have restored a great part of that synagogue, set up those pillars in place again, and though, of course, the roof is not on, you can enter the building, can look out over the vast floor capable of seating several hundred people, and you can stand on the platform back of the stone reading-desk. As I stood there with one of the monks by my side and my wife and daughter on the other side, how sacred a spot it seemed! I knew that my feet were standing on the very place where my blessed Lord had stood so long ago. They were able to identify it as the synagogue of Capernaum by this: They found on the great stones of the foundation all kinds of Hebrew signs. For instance, you can see cut in the stone Aarons rod, and the golden bowl that was placed in the ark, the five-pointed star of Solomon and the six-pointed star of David, the olive, the fig, and vine-leaves which are used as symbols of Israel, and a great many other signs that were distinctly Jewish, and yet the synagogue itself is definitely Roman in architecture. But there is only one Roman sign to be seen. That is the great eagle. Evidently some Jew who revolted at this had chiseled off most of the eagle. The Jew did not like the sign of the eagle on a synagogue devoted to Jehovah. There is little question but that it is the synagogue built by the Roman centurion, that the Jews might have a suitable place of worship. There it is, bearing silent testimony to the Word of God. As I stood there at the reading-desk, I could look down, and I said to the monk, Somewhere near there was that man with the unclean spirit. I can almost imagine I see him rising to his feet, and hear him screaming, Let us alone, what have we to do with Thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us? The monk said, And Jesus rebuked him. I said, Yes. So we went on, mentioning one thing after another that had taken place in that synagogue.
It is a very real thing when you read the Bible in the light of what you can see, even in present-day Palestine. You realize how wonderfully accurate everything is. When this man, then, was delivered from the power of the evil spirit, the people assembled there were stirred greatly. They were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. Notice one thing about the miracles of our Lord. He never wrought a miracle for self-aggrandizement. He never exercised His marvelous power merely in order to draw attention to Himself. In other words, He was not like the so-called magicians among the heathen who do all sorts of wonders to amaze and dazzle people. Jesus never wrought a miracle of any kind except for the benefit of others.
It was so in delivering this man from the power of the unclean spirit. It was so great a miracle that the audience was stirred and they began to spread His fame abroad. But He went out of the synagogue on the same day and went down into the city. He entered into the house of Simon Peter, the fisherman, who lived there also. Simons wifes mother was taken with a great fever, and they besought Him for her. Some people have forgotten that Simon Peter ever had a wife. He was not a celibate clergyman! His mother-in-law lived with them. He was doubtless deeply concerned because she had taken ill, and they called to Jesus, and they besought Him for her. Oh, how often in these records we find people going to the Lord Jesus about others. And He invites us to do the same, and to bring to Him those who are sick, and those who are needy, and those who are distressed. He loves to answer prayer today as He did so long ago. They pleaded with Him to do something for Simons wifes mother, and He went into the sick room. He stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her. There is an added word in one of the other Gospels I like so much. It says, He touched her hand, and the fever left her. He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and He put His hand upon that hot fevered hand of the patient, and immediately there came a calmness, a sense of quietness and coolness. In the same wonderful way the Lord Jesus loves to minister to our fevered, restless hearts today. Oh, how many of us, in a certain sense, are like this poor woman. We are all distracted and upset and disturbed by existing conditions. What a blessed thing it is when Jesus comes to the bedside, when Jesus draws near, and when He rebukes the fever, when He touches the hand, and the fever dies away.
We are told that immediately she arose and ministered unto them. This is quite natural when one has experienced the delivering power of our Lord Jesus Christ. How the heart delights then to do something for Him and for others. This good woman no sooner is healed, no sooner realizes that she is well, than she says, Now, I want to serve Him who has done this thing for me, and I want to serve those who are dear to Him and to me. So she ministered unto them.
Have you felt a touch of His healing hand? Has His voice rebuked the fever of sin that once raged in your very being? Is it your delight now to serve Him? Are you among those who are glad not only to avail themselves of His delivering power, but are now concerned about giving Him the service of a grateful heart? Are you putting yourself out for the blessing of other people? This is the test of real conversion. You can tell a person who has experienced the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ by the manifestation of a desire to please Him, a desire to do His will, to glorify Him, to make Him known to others, and to bring them into contact with Him.
Every time the Lord wrought a work of power like this upon the body of some dear needy soul, the word of it went abroad to encourage others to come to Him. It is the same today. When the Lord Jesus works in great grace, saving one from the life of sin, bringing him to know God and giving him the power to live a new life to His glory, how it appeals to other people! I do not think there is anything that has such a tendency to draw folks to any place where the Word of God is preached as the word going forth that people are being saved, that men and women are being delivered from their sins, that God is working miracles among them. Oh, that we might see more of that here-the saving power of our Lord Jesus thus manifested!
In this instance we are told that as the sun was setting, and the day drew to a close, a day in which He had been so busily engaged in alleviating woes, that multitudes were brought to Him, and He laid His hands on them and healed them. Nobody ever came to Him in the days of His flesh, seeking deliverance from any ailment, but He met them in grace and delivered them. Somebody might say, Well, how is it that now sometimes when we are sick, we come to Him, and we do not receive that for which we ask? We need to remember that those mighty signs and wonders that He wrought when He was here on earth were the witnesses given to Israel to His Messiahship. He did them not only to help those who came to Him, but also to bear testimony to those who saw and heard, that He was indeed the promised Saviour. You will remember that the prophet of old declared that in His day the tongue of the dumb should be made to sing; the lame should leap as a hart; the eyes of the blind should be opened; the ears of the deaf unstopped, and that sorrow and sickness should flee before Him. These were the outward evidences that He was what He professed to be, the Messiah of Israel. Now that He has gone back to glory He has not given the definite promise that He will heal diseased bodies, but He has promised that He will always deliver sin-sick people that will come to Him. He says, Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out.
Every miracle that He wrought was in someway a picture of what sin does to men and women and how they are delivered. Take, for instance, the man who was possessed with a demon. He is just a picture of people all about us controlled and dominated by Satanic power, driven by habits and passions from which they cannot deliver themselves. This woman, with a fever raging in her veins, is a picture of the feverishness of sin, from which the Lord gives complete freedom.
They came to Him from all quarters and He healed them. We are told that demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. They knew Him. They recognized Him. They understood who He was. Men might deny Him, but the demons could not. He rebuked them because He did not want their testimony. And He rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that He was Christ. Then we are told that when it was day He departed. When the morning dawned, He left Capernaum and went out into a desert place, and people sought Him there, and came to Him and begged Him not to depart from them. It is beautiful to see this. At this time, at least, He was appreciated, and the people wanted Him to remain. There may have been some selfishness in that. But they recognized His power and they desired Him to stay in their city. He said, I cannot confine Myself to one place. I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also. He went on from place to place, and preached in the synagogues of Galilee. Thus He was being accredited to the people of Israel as the promised One for whom they had waited so long. Oh, what a joy it is to realize that although now He is hidden from the eyes of men, yet His power is just the same! If I am addressing any who are in trouble, or sorrow, or distress, who are bound by chains of sin, or controlled by the power of habit; if you will only come to Jesus, though He is now in heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father, you can reach out the hand of faith and feel the touch of His hand of healing. He will give deliverance to all who call upon Him in faith.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Chapter 24
Lessons From Capernaum
When the Jews at Nazareth threw him out of their synagogue and tried to murder him for preaching the gospel, our Lord came down to Capernaum, another Galilean city.
Ordained Means
The first thing that stands out in this passage is the fact that gospel preaching is Gods ordained means of grace. This portion of scripture begins and ends with statements about our Lord Jesus preaching the gospel.
And (the Lord Jesus) came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power (Luk 4:31-32).
And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee (Luk 4:43-44).
Our Saviour placed great importance upon the preaching of the gospel. In fact, he said, I must preach the kingdom of God for therefore am I sent. Preaching was his business.
I stress this fact because we live in a day in which preaching is belittled, set aside and considered out of date by the religious world. While I readily acknowledge that most preaching is irrelevant, gospel preaching is not. Rather, the preaching of the gospel is the most important aspect of the churchs life and ministry in every age.
Ever beware of those who make little of preaching, and of any tendency to set aside the ministry of the Word. The church is never stronger than her pulpit. The church is strong when the pulpit is strong. The church is irrelevant when the pulpit is irrelevant. The preaching of the gospel is Gods ordained means of grace to his people, the means by which he saves, edifies, comforts and directs his people in this world.
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love (Eph 4:9; Eph 4:11-16).
Look at what Luke tells us about our Lords preaching, in Luk 4:31-32; Luk 4:43-44. Our Saviour was a preacher of doctrine. His doctrine was astonishing. He preached the kingdom of God. His word fell upon the hearts of men with power. His every word was intentional, weighty, powerful. His gospel came in demonstration of the Spirit and power. Let every preacher seek wisdom and grace from God the Holy Spirit to imitate the Master.
Demons
Another thing that stands out in this passage and needs to be understood is the fact that Satan, and hell, and demons are real.
And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about (Luk 4:33-37).
I cannot say much about this, because I know little about it; but I want to be understood. Demonology is not something to play with or ignore. Hell is not a nightmare. It is real. Satan is not imaginary, but the prince of darkness. Demons are not mythical monsters, but fallen angels. Satan, and hell, and the demons of hell are bent upon the destruction of our souls and the dishonour of our God.
I do not mean to suggest that these things are now, or ever can be, out of control. That is not the case. For this purpose, the Book tells us, Christ was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. And he demonstrates his power over hell in this fourth chapter of Lukes gospel. What does this passage tell us about the devil? The devil is an unclean spirit. This unclean spirit works evil in the souls of men, just as he did in their bodies during the days of our Lords earthly ministry. Those who are under Satans strongest influence are often found in the house of God. The devils, the demons of hell have nothing to do with Christ (Luk 4:34). For, verily, he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
The Lord Jesus Christ always has the devil under his control (Luk 4:35-36). When he says to hell, Hold thy peace, all hell holds its peace! With authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits.
Knowledge And Salvation
Even the demons of hell have faith, doctrinally accurate faith, better faith than most Baptists (they believe and tremble!); but not saving faith. Beware of unsanctified knowledge. It is a dangerous snare by which many are destroyed. Knowledge is not salvation. Head knowledge, without heart experience, is a positive curse.
Spiritual knowledge, gospel knowledge, a saving knowledge of Christ is knowledge accompanied by faith, inspiring hope and producing love.
We must never be content with knowing Bible facts, Bible history, Bible trivia, or even Bible doctrine. Salvation is knowing God as he has revealed himself in the person and work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Joh 17:3).
Here are some questions worth considering: Does my knowledge of sin make me hate it? Does my knowledge of Christ cause me to trust him, love him and honour him? Does my knowledge of Gods will cause me to seek, in all things, to obey it? Does my knowledge of doctrine make me useful to others? Does my knowledge of grace make me gracious? If the knowledge I have does not move my heart heavenward and does not make Christ precious to me, my knowledge is useless knowledge that will only add to my condemnation in hell.
A Mighty Saviour
Learn this and rejoice The Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty Saviour.
And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simons house. And Simons wifes mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them (Luk 4:38-42).
Demons and disease alike flee before the word of his power. By the touch of his hand the fever is removed and the fainting body is made strong. J. C. Ryle rightly observed
We see sicknesses and devils alike yielding to his command. He rebukes unclean spirits, and they come forth from the unhappy people whom they had possessed. He rebukes a fever, and lays his hands on sick people, and at once their diseases depart, and the sick are healed.
We cannot fail to observe many similar cases in the four gospels. They occur so frequently that we are apt to read them with a thoughtless eye, and forget the mighty lesson which each one conveys. They are all intended to fasten in our minds the great truth that Christ is the appointed Healer of every evil which sin has brought into the world. Christ is the true antidote and remedy for all the soul-ruining mischief which Satan has wrought on mankind. Christ is the universal physician to whom all the children of Adam must repair, if they would be made whole. In him is life, and health, and liberty. This is the grand doctrine which every miracle of mercy in the gospel is ordained and appointed to teach. Each is a plain witness to that mighty fact, which lies at the very foundation of the gospel. The ability of Christ to supply to the uttermost every need of human nature is the very cornerstone of Christianity. Christ, in one word, is all.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Antidote for the old serpents poison. He is the remedy for our ruin. He is the Physician for our sin-sick souls. He is our Life, our Health and our Liberty. Our Lord Jesus Christ is an able, almighty, omnipotent Saviour. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25).
Our blessed Saviour still enters the strong mans house, binds him, casts him out, and takes possession of the house. It is still true that all upon whom he lays his hands, all to whom he speaks in saving power, are healed by him, immediately. And all who are healed by Christ gladly serve him and his people (Luk 4:39).
When the day of grace dawns upon redeemed sinners, all who have known his saving power, tasted his grace and experienced his mercy, still lay hold of him, stay him, and plead with him ever to abide with them (Luk 4:42). Spirit of God, cause us to stay him, that he may not depart from us!
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

came: Mat 4:13, Mar 1:21
taught: Mat 10:23, Act 13:50-52, Act 14:1, Act 14:2, Act 14:6, Act 14:7, Act 14:19-21, Act 17:1-3, Act 17:10, Act 17:11, Act 17:16, Act 17:17, Act 18:4, Act 20:1, Act 20:2, Act 20:23, Act 20:24
Reciprocal: Mat 4:12 – when Mar 6:2 – he began Mar 6:6 – And he went Luk 6:6 – he Joh 6:59 – in the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1
Capernaum was the other city which Jesus had previously adopted as a residence (Mat 4:13).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 4:31. Came down to Capernaum, which was situated on the lake, Nazareth being higher on the hills.
A city of Galilee. This explanation made by Luke, and the close connection with the occurrence at Nazareth, lead us to maintain the usual view, that this was the transfer from Nazareth to Capernaum, mentioned in Mat 4:13.
And he was teaching them. This was His habit. But the reference here is to a particular occasion, hence the clause should be separated from the preceding. On the substance of His teaching at this time, comp. Mar 1:15.
On the Sabbath-day. A particular day when the miracles were wrought (Luk 4:33-40). For convenience of comparison, however, we join the verses to this section.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our blessed Saviour being driven out of Nazareth by the fury of his countrymen, departs to Capernaum, where he entered their synagogues, and taught. Who can declare the pains that our Saviour took, and the hazards which he ran, in preaching the everlasting gospel to lost sinners?
But observe the smallness of his success; the people were astonished, but not believed. His doctine produced admiration, but not faith; his auditors were admirers, but not believers. They were astonished at his doctrine: the reason of which astonishment is added, For his word was with power; that is, there were majesty in his person, spirituality in his preaching, and powerful miracles accompanying both, and confirming both, of which the evangelist here gives us as account, namely, the casting out of a devil in one possessed.
There was a man which had a Spirit of an unclean devil, and he cried out; Luk 4:33 that is, the devil, that unclean spirit, did enter into him, and bodily possess him. Amongst other many calamities, which sin has brought upon our bodies, this is one, to be bodily possessed by Satan. The devil has inveterate malice against mankind, seeking to ruin our souls by his suggestions and temptations, and to destroy our bodies by some means or other.
O how much is it to our interest, as well as our duty, by prayer to put ourselves morning and evening under the divine care and protection, that we may be preserved from the power and malice of evil spirits!
Observe, 2. The title here given to the devil: he is called the unclean spirit. The devils, those wicked spirits of hell, are most impure and filthly creatures; impure by reason of their original apostasy, impure by means of their actual and daily sins, such as murder and malice, lying and the like, by which they continually pollute themselves; and impure, by means of their continual desire and endeavours to pollute mankind with the contagion of their own sins.
Lord! How foul is the nature of sin, which makes the devil such a foul and filthy, such an impure and unclean creature!
Observe, 3. The substance of the devil’s outcry: Let us alone, what have we to do with thee? Art thou come to destroy us? That is, to restrain us from the exercise of our power. The devil thinks himself destroyed, when he is restrained from doing mischief.
Observe, 4. The title given by the devil to our Saviour; he styles him, The Holy One of God. How comes this acknowledgment out of the devil’s mouth? Could an apostle make a profession beyond this? But how comes Satan to make it? For no good end, and with no good intention, we may be sure; for the devil never speaks truth for truth’s sake, but for advantage sake.
Probably, 1. He might make this profession, that so he might bring the truth profest into question; hoping that the truth, which received testimony from the father of lies, would be suspected.
Or, 2. It might perhaps be done to make the people believe that our Saviour had some familiarity with Satan, and did work miracles by his help, because he did confess him, and seem to put honor upon him.
Hence we may learn, that it is possible for a person to own and acknowledge Christ to be the true and only Saviour, and yet to miss of salvation by him. If a speculative knowledge, and a verbal profession, of Christ were sufficient for salvation, the devil himself would not miss of happiness.
Observe, 5. How our Saviour rebukes the devil for his confession, and commands him silence. Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace; but why was this rebuke given the devil, and his mouth stopped when he spoke the truth?
Answer, 1. Because Christ knew that the devil confessed this on purpose to disgrace the truth.
2. Because the devil was no fit person to make this profession: a testimony of truth from the father of lies, is enough to render truth itself suspected. Yet the devil’s evidence, that Christ was the Holy One of God, will rise up in judgment against the wicked Pharisees, who shut their eyes against the miracles and stopped their ears against the doctrine, of the Holy One of God.
Observe, lastly, how the unclean spirit obeys the voice of Christ, but with great reluctancy and regret: when the unclean spirit had thrown him in the midst, he came out.
Where observe, the devil’s spite at parting: he tears the man, throws him violently from place to place, showing how loathed he was to be dispossessed. Where Satan has once gotten an hold, and settled himself for a time, how unwilling is he to be cast out of possession! Yea, it is a torment and vexation to him to be cast out. It is much easier to keep out Satan, than to cast him out. Satan may possess the body by God’s permission, but he cannot possess our hearts without our own consent and approbation. It will be our wisdom to deny him entrance into our souls at first, by rejecting his wicked motions and suggestions; for when once entered, he will, like the strong man armed, keep the house, till a stronger than he cast him out.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 4:31-32. And came down to Capernaum And dwelt there, entirely quitting his abode at Nazareth, in consequence of the rude treatment which he met with from his townsmen. Here let it be observed, that by settling in Capernaum our Lord fulfilled Isaiahs prophecy, Isa 9:1, which elegantly describes the effect of the Messiahs residence in Galilee. See notes on Mat 4:13-16. And he taught them on the sabbath days Namely, according to Mat 4:17, and Mar 1:15, proclaimed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and exhorted them to repent and believe the gospel. This was his testimony during the time of his abode at Capernaum, and this he made the subject of his preaching in their synagogue on the sabbath days, not being discouraged by the ill usage that he had met with at Nazareth, upon his bearing the same testimony there. And they were astonished Powerfully struck, and very much affected; with his doctrine. For his word was with power With authority and majesty, which incomparably exceeded that low and servile manner of preaching which the scribes and Pharisees commonly used, in retailing their precarious traditions and insipid comments to the people. Our Lord, however, did not confine himself to Capernaum, for he frequently made excursions into the neighbouring country, and on such occasions, no doubt, preached several times every day.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

2. Residence at Capernaum: Luk 4:31-44. Five sections: 1 st. A general survey (Luk 4:31-32); 2 d. The healing of a demoniac (Luk 4:33-37); 3 d. That of Peter’s mother-in-law (Luk 4:38-39); 4 th. Various cures (Luk 4:40-42); 5 th. Transition to the evangelization of Galilee generally.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XXXI.
HEALING A DEMONIAC IN A SYNAGOGUE.
(At Capernaum.)
bMARK I. 21-28; cLUKE . iv. 31-37.
b21 And they [Jesus and the four fishermen whom he called] go into {che came down to} Capernaum, a city of Galilee. [Luke has just spoken of Nazareth, and he uses the expression “down to Capernaum” because the latter was on the lake shore while Nazareth was up in the mountains.] And bstraightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. {cwas teaching them} b22 And they were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them as having {chis word was with} bauthority, and not as the scribes. [Mark uses the adverb “straightway” and the particle “again” (which has a similar meaning) to depict the rapid movement of Jesus. As used by him in this connection it probably indicates that this was the next Sabbath after the calling of the four fishermen. The astonishment of the people was natural. Not yet recognizing Jesus’ divinity, they could not understand how one so humble could speak with such authority. They contrasted his teaching with that of the scribes. The scribes were learned men who preserved, copied and expounded the law and the tradition ( Ezr 7:6, Ezr 7:12, Neh 8:1, Mat 15:1-6, Mat 23:2-4, Mar 12:35, Luk 11:52). They were also called “lawyers” ( Mar 12:28, Mat 22:35), and “doctors of the law” ( Luk 5:17-21). Though the teaching of Jesus differed from the teaching of the scribes as to matter, the contrast drawn is as to manner. They spoke on the authority of Moses or the elders, but Jesus taught by [166] his own authority. Their way was to quote minute precedents supported by endless authorities. A passage taken from later rabbinical writings starts thus: “Rabbi Zeira says, on the authority of Rabbi Jose bar Rabbi Chanina, and Rabbi Ba or Rabbi Chija on the authority of Rabbi Jochanan,” etc. Contrast this with the oft-repeated “I say to you” of Jesus– Mat 5:18, Mat 5:20, Mat 5:22, Mat 5:26, Mat 5:28, Mat 5:34.] 23 And straightway there was in their {cthe} bsynagogue a man with {cthat had} ban unclean spirit {ca spirit of an unclean demon} [Matthew, Luke and Mark all concur in pronouncing demons unclean; that is, wicked. They thus corrected the prevailing Greek notion that some of the demons were good. The word “demon,” as used in our Saviour’s time by both Jews and Greeks, meant the spirits of the departed or the ghosts of dead men, and the teaching of that and prior ages was that such spirits often took possession of living men and controlled them. But whatever these demons were, the Scripture, both by its treatment of them and its words concerning them, clearly indicates that they were immaterial, intelligent beings, which are neither to be confused with maladies and diseases of the body, nor with tropes, metaphors, or other figures of speech. In proof of this we adduce the following Scripture facts: 1, the legislation of the Old Testament proceeded upon the assumption that there was such a thing as a “familiar spirit” ( Lev 19:31); 2, in the New Testament they are spoken of as personalities ( Jam 2:19, Rev 16:14), Jesus even founding a parable upon their habits ( Luk 11:24-26); 3, Jesus distinguished between them and diseases, and so did his disciples ( Mat 10:8, Luk 10:17-20); 4, Jesus addressed them as persons, and they answered as such ( Mar 5:8, Mar 9:25); 5, they manifested desires and passions ( Mar 5:12, Mar 5:13); 6, they showed a superhuman knowledge of Jesus ( Mat 8:29). It would be impossible to regard demon possession as a mere disease without doing violence to the language used in every instance of the expulsion of a demon. The frequency of demoniacal possession in the time of Jesus is probably due to the fact that his advent [167] formed a great crisis in the spiritual order of things. For fuller treatment of the subject, see Millennial Harbinger, 1841, pp. 1Jo 3:8). At his second coming the workers themselves shall suffer ( Mat 25:41). We find that they recognized that the time of this “torment” had not yet come– Mat 8:29.] I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. [It is impossible that fever or disease, mental or physical, could give such supernatural knowledge. The demon called Jesus the Holy One, 1, because it was one of his proper Scriptural names ( Psa 16:10, Act 3:14); 2, because holiness was that characteristic which involved the ruin of demons as unholy ones–just as light destroys darkness. We should note here the unfruitful knowledge, faith, and confession of demons. They lacked neither knowledge ( Mat 8:29), nor faith ( Jam 2:19), nor did they withhold confession; but Jesus received them not. Repentance and willing obedience are as necessary as faith or confession.] 35 Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. [We have in this phrase two personages indicated by the personal pronoun “him”; one of whom is commanded to come out of the other; one of whom is now rebuked and hereafter to be destroyed, the other of whom is delivered. In commanding silence Jesus refused to receive the demon’s testimony. We can see at least three reasons for this: 1, it was not fitting that the fate of the people should rest upon the testimony of liars; 2, because receiving such testimony might have been taken as an indication that Jesus sustained friendly relations to demons–something which the enemies of [168] Christ actually alleged ( Mat 12:24); 3, the Messiahship of Jesus was to be gradually unfolded, and the time for its public proclamation had not yet come.] And when the demon {bunclean spirit} chad thrown him down in the midst, btearing him and crying with a loud voice, che came out of him, having done him no hurt. [The demon first racked the body of the man with a convulsion, and then, with a cry of rage, came out. All this was permitted that, 1, there might be clear evidence of demoniacal possession; 2, the demon’s malignity might be shown; 3, it might be manifested that the spirit came not out of its own accord, but because compelled thereto by the command of Christ. The cry was, however, a mere impotent expression of anger, for Luke, “the beloved physician,” notes that it did the man no hurt.] b27 And they were all amazed, {aamazement came upon all}, binsomuch that they questioned among themselves, cand they spake together, one with another, saying, bWhat thing is this? cWhat is this word? ba new teaching! cfor with authority and power he commandeth beven the unclean spirits, cand they come out. band they obey him. [The power to command disembodied spirits thus amazed the people, because it was more mysterious than the power to work physical miracles. By this miracle Jesus demonstrated his actual possession of the authority which he had just assumed in his teaching.] 28 And the report of him went out straightway {c37 And there went forth a rumor concerning him} beverywhere into all {cevery place of} bthe region of Galilee roundabout. [This fame was occasioned both by the miracle and the teaching. The benevolence and publicity of the miracle, and its power–the power of one mightier than Satan–would cause excitement in any community, in any age. Though this is the first miracle recorded by either Mark or Luke, yet neither asserts that it was the first miracle Jesus wrought, so there is no conflict with Joh 2:11.] [169]
[FFG 166-169]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luk 4:31-37. A Case of Exorcism (Mar 12:1-28*).Lk. brings Jesus at once to Capernaum and so postpones the call of the first disciples (Mar 1:16-20) to ch. 5. The narrative keeps close to Mk., but note the phrase spirit of an unclean demon (Luk 4:33), and the assertion that the expelled spirit, though it threw the man down, did not hurt him (Mk. says it tore him).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 31
Down to Capernaum. Nazareth was situated among the hills, back from the lake, while Capernaum was upon its shore.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

3. Jesus’ ministry in and around Capernaum 4:31-44
The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus because they did not believe that He was the Messiah or the Son of God. Luke next gave many proofs of Jesus’ messiahship and deity. He chose incidents from Jesus’ ministry in and around Galilee to demonstrate this. The first four incidents happened in Capernaum and its environs. Even though these incidents involved miracles, they occurred in a broader context of teaching.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The exorcism of a demoniac in the Capernaum synagogue 4:31-37 (cf. Mark 1:21-28)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus had to go down topographically from Nazareth, that stood approximately 1,200 feet above sea level, to Capernaum, that lay almost 700 feet below sea level. This notation, and the mention that Capernaum was a city of Galilee, were undoubtedly for Luke’s original readers’ benefit many of whom were unfamiliar with Palestinian geography. Again Luke recorded that Jesus was teaching in the synagogue (cf. Luk 4:16). There He demonstrated the liberating work that Isaiah wrote that Messiah would do (Luk 4:18).
"Teaching [Gr. didache] in Luke-Acts is seen as a broad term encompassing much more than the offer of the gospel, whereas preaching [kerygma] in Luke-Acts [only in Luk 11:32] tends to be limited to the salvation message." [Note: Idem, "A Theology . . .," p. 119.]
Jesus’ unusual authority amazed (Gr. exeplessonto) those present (cf. Deu 18:18). Later Jesus’ works elicited the same response (Luk 9:43). It was particularly Jesus’ word (Gr. logos, cf. Luk 1:1-4) that impressed them here. As a prophet, Jesus spoke directly from God and for God. The people of Capernaum recognized Jesus’ authority, but the Nazarenes did not.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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