Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 6:46

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

46 – 49 . False and true Foundations.

46. why call ye me, Lord, Lord ] “If I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts?” Mal 1:6. Painful comments are supplied by the language of two parables, Mat 25:11-12; Luk 13:25.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Luk 6:46

And why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

—

Religion, the doing of Gods will

I. In the first place, LET US BE WARNED AGAINST MAKING OUR RELIGION A MATTER MERELY OF OPINION. Said William Law to John Wesley, The bead can as easily amuse itself with a living and justifying faith in the blood of Jesus, as with any other notion. It is even so. A truer word, pointed in warning against a greater peril, was never uttered. The mistake in question is a very subtle one, but very serious, and more common than, perhaps, we think. As thus of the doctrines, so also of the duties of our religion. These duties may be objects merely of belief, arranged in well-ordered systems, and acknowledged to be the proper code of life, without being actually reduced to practice.

II. In the second place, LET US BE WARNED AGAINST MAKING OUR RELIGION A MATTER MERELY OF FEELING. This piety of moods and feelings, which goes by spasms, and not by the even pulses of a robust life, is not the sort of piety we need, my hearers. It dishonours our Master, who has something larger to do for us than simply to make us happy in our religion. It wrongs our own souls, which ought to be looking higher than their own enjoyment.

III. Finally, LET US BE MOVED TO MAKE OUR RELIGION A MATTER OF THE LIFE; FINDING THE TEST AND MEASURE OF OUR DISCIPLESHIP, NEITHER IN WHAT WE BELIEVE, NOR IN WHAT WE FEEL, BUT IN WHAT WE ARE, AS ANNOUNCING ITSELF IN WHAT WE DO. Not that we counsel the disparagement of Christian doctrine. There must be religious opinions, more or less clearly defined, conditioning the religious life; and the more clearly defined, the better. And the nearer we come to the teachings of Scripture, as interpreted by the Christian consciousness of the successive generations of believers; the nearer we come to those grand settlements of doctrine effected by the great expounders of doctrine, as Athanasius, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Edwards, the nearer we shall come to the hidings of Christian power. Neither would we disparage religious feeling. The new life has its beginning in feeling; while to be past feeling is the surest mark of reprobation. It is impossible for a man to be convinced of sin by the Spirit of God without being profoundly agitated. (R. D.Hitchcock, D. D.)

Obedience–not profession

I. WHY IS DOING THE WILL OF GOD LIKE BUILDING UPON A ROCK?

1. Doing is the way to being. Gods doing flows from His being; His work is the outflow of His nature. He radiates outwards into all the departments of the universe from a settled centre; and because He is so gloriously good, all His works are gloriously good. The work derives its character from the being–the unchangeable being or nature of God. But there is a vast immeasurable distance between us and God; and the grand question is, How a nature so disordered, so miserably poor in knowledge, so shallow in thought and conviction, so low in aspiration, so uncertain in the use of its freedom, prostituting it so often to low ends, and so seldom using it for our emancipation from evil; how is such a nature as ours to find its way up to

God till it shall have attained to His settled goodness and unchangeable excellence? The answer is, By exercising ourselves in those rules of goodness which Christ has given us as Divine. We must do in order to be. You must learn how to love your enemy, how to pray for them that despitefully use you. For there can be no true and perfect love in a nature that harbours hatred even towards an enemy. Self-denial and self-sacrifice, constraint and cross-bearing, are painful mow, because we are only learning; but when we have left school, and our nature has reached the standard for the attainment of which it has been under discipline, to love God and all creatures will involve no effort or constraint or painful cross-bearing; for love in us will be as spontaneous as it is in God: we shall have become a law unto ourselves, and we shall instinctively, and of our own free impulse, choose the good, the right, and the pure.

2. Doing is the way to knowing. To know physical facts is the way to gain material power; to know the hidden laws that govern nature is to become its lord and master, able, as with a magicians wand, to call forth her inexhaustible resources for the service and advantage of man. To know human nature in its prejudices and passions is necessary to the statesmen who would make laws that are to be beneficial to our empire. And Christ says, if you will do the will of God, you shall know what doctrine is Divine and what is not. Such knowledge–growing out of a hallowed experience–plants our feet immovably upon the Rock of certainty, and not all thestorms of opinion and doubt will be able to dislodge us.

3. Doing is the way to bless others. Even when a man is not making his fellow-man the object of his thought or deed–when he is not directly fulfilling some social duty, but while he is more specially engaged in nourishing his own interior manhood, strengthening his own attachment to what is true, and pure, and brave–he is nevertheless blessing others. For such a man creates unconsciously a moral atmosphere around him which his neighbours breathe he loads the air with a sacred perfume; an influence goes forth from him, like heat from fire, which insensibly leavens the minds of others. But when such a man comes into contact with his fellows in the relations of life–in business, in friendship, and in religion–he strengthens and perpetuates his unconscious influence. He does the will of God; he does to others as he would they should do unto him. He upholds the laws of justice and generosity against injustice and meanness.

II. HEARING BUT NOT DOING IS LIKE BUILDING ON THE SAND.

1. It issues in a false self-deceptive life. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. One of the most portentous facts in the constitution of our nature is–the power we have of self-deception. And yet when we come to consider, there is nothing capricious or malignant in it. It begins in conscious unfaithfulness. We hear the Word of God, but knowingly neglect to do it. We do not obey, but we must come to terms with the conscience.

2. Hearers and not doers will be convicted of egregious folly. I will liken him unto the foolish man. Disobedience to known duty is not only a violation of the conscience, which is guilt; it is also a violation of the reason, which is folly. Reason says it is folly to choose the evil and reject the good. No man would prefer the delusions of madness to the realities of a healthy mind. Reason says it is folly to purchase the present at the cost of the future. But this is what men are doing who are only hearers. For if our life-house should fall, great will be the fall of it. A mighty catastrophe is the fall of a soul! (C. Short, M. A.)

The sin, folly, and danger of mens calling Christ their Lord, and not yielding obedience to His laws; or the sinfulness and hazard of a profession of religion, without a correspondent practice

Wherein we have–

1. A concession. He grants they made a fair profession; they called Him Lord, their Lord.

2. A charge. He charges them with nothing like this in their practice. Though they called Him their Lord, they carried not themselves at all as His subjects and servants.

3. An expostulation. He puts them to consider the inconsistency of these things, and the unaccountableness of yoking together a profession and a practice that destroyed one another. Why will ye plead the relation and yet throw off the duty of the relation? If ye call Me your Lord, why do ye not what I say or bid you? If you will not do what I say or bid you, why do ye call Me your Lord? Two doctrines are deducible from the text thus explained.

I. There are who call Christ their Lord, owning His authority over them, and looking for benefit by Him, who yet make not conscience of doing the things which He as a Lord says to them, and requires of them. In discoursing this doctrine I shall–

I. Consider mens calling Christ their Lord.

II. Consider their not doing the things which He says, notwithstanding of their calling Him their Lord.

III. Show how it comes to pass that people call Christ Lord, and their Lord, and yet make not conscience of doing what He says.

IV. Apply the doctrine.

I. I will consider MENS CALLING CHRIST THEIR LORD. Under this head, I will show–

1. How men call Christ their Lord.

2. What they do call Christ, that call Him their Lord.

3. What is the import of their calling Him Lord.

1. I will show how men call Christ their Lord. Men call Him their Lord–

(1) Professing Christianity. Christians is the name of Christs disciples who owned Him for their Lord and Master–The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Act 11:26). One is your Master, even Christ (Mat 23:10). Nay, at that rate ye take the name, and throw off the thing.

(2) Being baptized in His name (Mat 28:19). They are thereby externally marked for His subjects and servants, and renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh.

(3) Praying unto Him, or to God in His name (Act 7:59; Dan 9:17).

(4) Attending the assemblies of His people to hear His word (Eze 23:31).

(5) Consenting personally to the covenant (Isa 44:5). Thereby theysay, He is, and shall be for ever their Lord, and that they shall be His only, wholly, and for ever.

(6) Lastly, Partaking of the sacrament of the Lords supper. The very name of that ordinance bears the partakers to call Him so (1Co 11:23; 1Co 11:26).

2. I will show what they do call Christ, that call Him their Lord.

(1) They call Him their Lord God; as Thomas did–My Lord, and my Joh 20:28).

(2) Their Lord Proprietor, Master, and Owner, however little regard they show to the will of His providence and precepts (Rom 14:9).

(3) Their Lord Redeemer (Exo 20:2), however unsuitably they walk to the redemption purchased by Him.

(4) Their Lord Husband, however refractory and disobedient they prove to Jer 3:14).

(5) Their Lord King, however rebellious they be–The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, He will save us Isa 33:22).

3. What is the import of their calling Him Lord? Men calling Him so, do in effect own, acknowledge, and profess–

(1) His undoubted authority to command and prescribe duty to them: owning Him as their Lord Husband, King, and God, they cannot deny but He has authority to bind them with laws.

(2) The justice and equity of His commands–The law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Rom 7:12).

(3) Our absolute obligation to obey Him. As the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are we in His. The potsherds of the earth may strive with one another, but shall they strive with their Maker?

(4) The strongest ties upon us to be for Him. If He is our Proprietor and Redeemer, are we not bound by all the ties of honour and gratitude to be wholly His?

(5) The expectation of happiness from Him. Calling Him our Lord, we expect from Him and by Him the pardon of our sin, the favour of God, and a part in the kingdom of heaven (Mat 7:21).

II. I will consider MENS NOT DOING THE THINGS WHICH HE SAYS, NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THIS. We may take it up in three things.

1. Christ as a Lord prescribes duty to His subjects. He has not an empty title of lordship and dominion, but is a Lawgiver–He is our Lawgiver Isa 33:22). And the law of the ten commands, in their spirituality

and extent, is His law, binding by His authority on all that call Him Lord Exo 20:2-3, &c.).

2. He intimates His will to them as to their duty. He says what He would have them to do. We have His written laws in the Bible, which is Gods Word to every one into whose hand it comes.

3. Yet men neglect it, and regard it not in their practice. They plead the relation to Him, but make no conscience of the duty of it.

(1) They have no due sense of their being absolutely bound up to His will, but fancy themselves to be at some liberty to walk according to their own, as if the government were divided betwixt Christ and themselves Psa 12:4). They do not feel the tie of the yoke of Christ always upon them, but are like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke, skipping at ease according to their own pleasure.

(2) They frame not their life according to His will.

(3) They never set themselves to do all that He says; contrary to what the Psalmist did (Psa 119:6), who had respect unto all Gods commandments.

(4) They habitually do against what He says, making their own lusts and inclinations their law; like those who said, I have loved strangers, and after them will I go (Jer 2:25) They call him their Lord; but Satan and their lusts are really their lords, to whom they yield their obedience, being captives at their pleasure.

(5) They do nothing purely because He says it, else they would endeavour to do all. In what they do, they have other ends than to please Him: they do it to please themselves, for their own profit, pleasure, or safety.

III. The third general head is, to SHOW HOW IT COMES TO PASS, TEXT PEOPLE CALL CHRIST LORD, AND THEIR LORD, AND YET MAKE NOT CONSCIENCE OF DOING WHAT HE SAYS. The springs of this ruining practice, that so prevails, are many: as–

1. The want of a thorough change in their nature: A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit: neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit Luk 6:43-44).

(1) Good education and religious company embalms some dead souls; but still they want the principle of the Spirit of life; like those of whom the apostle says (Jud 1:19).

(2) The gospel being new to some, makes a reel among their affections; as it did among the stony-ground hearers (Mat 13:20-21).

(3) They get some new light into their heads, but no new life into their hearts.

(4) Many get awakening grace, that never get converting grace.

2. Entertaining wrong notions of religion. They form to themselves such notions of religion, as leave them at liberty in the course of their walk.

(1) They think that is religion to call Christ Lord in performing duties of worship, praying, &c., and consider not that the substance of religion lies in holy, tender walking (Tit 2:11-12).

(2) They think that faith will save them, though it be dead, idle, and inactive; contrary to what the apostle saith: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (Jam 2:14.) As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (Luk 6:26). They do not consider that that faith is not saving faith which is so.

3. Reigning unbelief. Of this our Lord complained: Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life (Joh 5:40).

4. Want of consideration (Luk 15:17).

5. The natural enmity of the heart prevailing against conviction Rom 8:7).

6. Unmortified lusts still keeping the rule and dominion over the soul, though Christ has the name of their Lord. Doctrine

II. It lies on mens consciences before the Lord, to take it home to themselves, to consider and answer it, how they come to call Christ their Lord, and yet not make conscience of doing the things which He as a Lord says to them, and requires of them. In discoursing this doctrine, I shall only show the import of the expostulation in the text, and then conclude with a word of application. I will show the import of this expostulation. It imports–

1. That Christ is in earnest for our obedience. He is not indifferent what regard we show to what He says as our Lord (Psa 119:4).

(1) The evidence of our belonging to Christ, in a saving relation, lies upon it. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you (Joh 15:14).

(2) The evidence of your right to heaven lies on it. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they might have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city (Rev 22:14).

2. It is possible for us in this life to get the things that Christ says, done acceptably, in all the parts thereof. If it were not so, then, by the text, nobody at all would be allowed to call Him Lord; which is certainly false Mat 7:21). So there are two sorts that call Him Lord; some that do, some that do not what He says; the former allowed, the other rejected. The doctrine of the imperfection of the saints obedience is a stone of stumbling to many a blind soul. To prevent your stumbling–

(1) Distinguish between doing the will of Christ in all its parts, and in all its degrees. A whole family hears so many particular pieces of work prescribed to them all by the father and master of the family. His grown children do them all exactly to his mind; the younger children, who are but learning to work, put hand to every one of them, and baulk none of the pieces; but they do none of them exactly. Refractory servants do some of them, but others of them they never notice. Just so it is with the saints in heaven, true believers on earth, and hypocrites.

(2) Distinguish between doing the will of Christ perfectly, and acceptably. No man in this life can do the former (Philip. 3:12). But every true believer does the later (Act 10:25).

(3) Distinguish between ability in ourselves to do the will of Christ acceptably, and ability for it in Christ, offered to us in the gospel, and to be brought in by faith. No man, saint nor sinner, has the former. We are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves (2Co 3:5). But all true believers do get the latter (Php 4:13).

3. Notwithstanding the things that Christ says may be got done acceptably, yet many that call Him Lord will not do them. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, &c. (Tit 1:16).

(1) Obedience to sin, and disobedience to Christ, is their choice.

(2) They have neither heart nor use for the grace and strength that is in Christ Jesus (Joh 5:40; Psa 81:11).

4. Christ is highly displeased with the disobedience of those that call Him Lord, who will not do what He says (Psa 50:16-22). But to persuade you of it, consider–

(1) His infinite purity and holiness (Isa 6:3). He is the Holy One of Israel.

(2) The dreadful strokes He has brought on such as called Him Lord, for not doing the things that He says.

(3) Does he not refuse communion with such persons in holy ordinances, and thereby testify his displeasure against them? I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face Hos 5:15). Lastly, Consider how He will treat them at the last day Luk 19:27).

5. There is a great evil in calling Christ Lord, and not doing what He says; an evil that highly provokes Him, as casting dishonour on Him in a very special manner.

(1) Their sins and looseness of life reflect a peculiar dishonour on Him, as pretending a relation to Him (Rom 2:24).

(2) They do Satan a peculiar pleasure.

(3) They wound the heart of the real children of God, and make the whole family sigh more heavily than the sins of others would do (Psalm Iv. 12). But there are three things they do not consider.

(1) What inconsistency is in this course: What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? (2Co 6:14-15).

(2) How heinously the Lord Christ takes it, that men should yoke Satans service with His (2 Coritnthains 6:15, forecited).

(8) What the end of such a course will be, what it will issue in at length. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! (Deu 32:29).

6. People ought to consider it, see what account they can make of it, and how they will answer it. And–

(1) How they will answer it to their own consciences.

(2) How they will answer it to the Lord Christ in the judgment. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Practical obedience

I. In the first place, OUTWARD OBEDIENCE IS THE NECESSARY FRUIT, AND THE ABSOLUTE TEST OF INWARD LIFE. He alone will enter into the kingdom of heaven that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Let us pause over the words. They cannot refer to the man who accidentally does the will of God because it so happens that his pleasure coincides with Gods pleasure, just as a person may walk in the same path as another without intending to be his companion. In such an act there would be no inward element. But they must refer to the man who intentionally does Gods will; does it, that is, because it is Gods will; independently of any further consideration of whether it be pleasant or not in itself. Observe, therefore, there is no picking and choosing in such an obedience. The word doeth does not mean intention, profession, or promise, but action in those practical details of actual life, which make up the real sum total of human existence. A saving religion is not that which is up in the air, but that which plants its sacred feet on the solid earth of daily life. Such a religion is exceedingly difficult, and there is one power alone which can accomplish it in us. It is the power of God. To use an respired illustration, we are Gods workmanship. Not only does an artists work show the genius of the artist, but every artist has his own touch and style. We look at an exquisite picture, and we recognize the hand of the painter: we exclaim, with undoubting confidence, Raphael, Guido, Rembrandt. Thus when we look at a true Christian who bears and reflects Christ all over him, we say, God. That is Gods work; Gods Spirit alone can have done that. God is admired in His saints, and glorified in all them that believe. And how can it be otherwise if we reverse the order, and, instead of looking from the act to the principle, trace the principle down into the act? For what is salvation, but deliverance from sin; and what is sin, but opposition to the will of God? To be saved, therefore, is to be brought into conformity with Gods will. A good man is full of the Holy Ghost. Bat the Holy Ghost can no more abide in a heart without making it holy, without compelling it by the most sweet inward necessity to do Gods will, than there can be a sun without light, a stream without water, a summer without flowers, a life without activity.

II. But there is another point of view from which the lesson may be regarded. OUTWARD OBEDIENCE MY BE, IN THE HANDS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, THE INSTRUMENT OF INWARD LIFE, AND THEREFORE, WHERE INWARD LIFE ALREADY EXISTS, THE MEANS AND STIMULANT OF A HIGHER GROWTH IN GRACE. A man is truly in earnest, and sets himself without reserve to do Gods will as he finds it in His Word. What is the first experience that such a man will gain? what his earliest lesson, his first upward step Godward, although it be apparently a step downward into the dark? I say that it is a knowledge of failure and of sin. He cannot keep Gods will in its inward spirit and power through the weakness of his flesh. Must he not ask himself why he fails? Ah, why, indeed, but from indwelling sin I Thus there flashes upon the soul a sense of sin and a consciousness of guilt before God. And when the soul once stands face to face with this truth, the impossibility of self-righteousness and of doing Gods will as he fondly thought in his own strength must become clear as the flash of the sunshine. Then I am a helpless sinner, he exclaims, vile and worthless, and where shall I find help and hope? If I cannot save myself, who can save me? He flings the arms of his faith around the feet of the dying Jesus, and cries out, My Lord and my God, my Saviour, Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification. (E. Garbett, M. A.)

The necessity of doing the will of God

Some of you, perhaps, suppose that you do enough to show that you are Christians if you come here on Sundays. One purpose for which you come here is to learn how to live elsewhere. It can be no excuse for breaking Gods commandments on Monday that you made a great effort on Sunday–came a mile and a half through the wind and rain–to learn what Gods commandments are. Suppose a man were caught trespassing in a gentlemans private grounds, and when asked for a defence of his conduct answered that though no doubt he was trespassing, he hoped that it would be a palliation of his offence that once a week for twenty years he had taken care to read the notice on the board–Private road. Trespassing forbidden. Would that be a rational excuse? Or suppose you had a man in your works who was constantly breaking some of the printed regulations which are put up in the shops, what would you say if he asked you to look over his bad conduct because he always read through the regulations every Monday morning? We see the folly of a plea of that kind when alleged to cover a violation of any of our own rules and regulations; and yet so easily do we deceive ourselves, that we are all in danger of supposing that because we read the Bible and come to public worship in order to learn Gods laws we have something to set off against breaking them. Christs words are clear. We are none the better for knowing the will of God; we must obey it. We must do the will of God. Some men have such a keen admiration for moral goodness that they take it forgranted that they are really good. You admire industry–good; but if you are to enter into the kingdom of heaven you must be industrious. Emotion of other kinds–good in its place–is also mistaken for actual well-doing. When we begin to hold political meetings in the winter there will be hundreds of men, belonging to both political parties, who will think that they are animated by a generous patriotism and a noble zeal for the public good, because they give enthusiastic cheers to the eloquence of their favourite orators; but ask them to do some canvassing, or to give a subscription towards the expenses of a contested election, and you will find that their patriotism and their zeal have all vanished. Doing Gods will is one thing, being sorry for not doing it is a different thing altogether. But suppose we resolve to do better–is not this satisfactory? Satisfactory? No; not unless we actually do better as the result of our good resolutions. Christ does not say that the man who resolves to do the will of God will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the man who does it; and between good resolutions and good deeds there is apt to be a very precarious connection. Some people appear to use up all their strength in making good resolutions, and they have no strength left to carry them out. We must do the will of God if we are to enter into heaven. However perfect our excuses may seem for not doing it, I cannot see that these excuses are admissible. One man pleads his natural temperament as a justification of the violence or irritability of his temper. Another pleads the sharp necessities of business as an excuse for resorting to accommodation bills and other illegitimate methods of raising money. Another pleads the bad treatment he has received from a relative or a friend in defence of rough and hard and uncharitable words about him. God who made us, knows our frame and He re members that we are dust; Christ can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all points as we are. We may rely on the Divine tenderness and mercy. God will not deal hardly with us; He treats us more generously than we treat each other; sometimes He treats us more mercifully than we treat ourselves. But to allege temptation as an apology for sin is clearly to defy the authority of the Divine law and to dissolve all moral obligations. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

The folly of a fruitless profession

I. SHOW WHO THEY ARE WHO DESERVE THE CENSURE IN THE TEXT.

1. Mere nominal Christians.

2. Formal, self-righteous persons.

3. False professors.

II. EXPOSTULATE WITH THEM ON THE FOLLY OF THEIR CONDUCT.

1. IS not a conformity to Christs precepts practicable?

2. Is not obedience to Him necessary?

3. Will not a feigned allegiance be discovered by Him?

4. Shall we not wish at last that we had been sincere and upright.

APPLICATION.

(1) Let us all seek to become Christians indeed.

(2) Let us not be afraid to confess our Lord before men.

(3) Let our lives be consistent with our professions.

(4) Let us trust in the Lord as simply as if obedience were not required.

(5) Let us obey the Lord as zealously as if obedience only were required. (Theological Sketch Book.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 46. Lord, Lord] God judges of the heart, not by words, but by works. A good servant never disputes, speaks little, and always follows his work. Such a servant a real Christian is: such is a faithful minister, always intent either on the work of his own salvation, or that of his neighbour; speaking more to God than to men; and to these as in the presence of God. The tongue is fitly compared by one to a pump, which empties the heart, but neither fills nor cleanses it. The love of God is a hidden spring, which supplies the heart continually, and never permits it to be dry or unfruitful. Quesnel.

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

See Poole on “Mat 7:24” and following verses to Mat 7:27, where we before met with the same thing. The sum is, mens hopes of salvation built upon any other but Christ alone, or built upon Christ without a sincere study and endeavour to keep the commandments of Christ, are vain hopes; and though, till a storm of affliction or temptation comes, they may please themselves a little with them, yet when they come to die, or when any notable temptation assaults them, or any great affliction cometh upon them, then they will fail them, and they will see the folly and vanity of them. What is the hope of the hypocrite, when God taketh away his soul? Job 27:8.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And why call ye me Lord, Lord,…. Or, “my Lord, my Lord”, as the Syriac version renders it; acknowledging, in words, his government over them; claiming an interest in him, and making use of his name and authority:

and do not the things which I say; or “command”; and therefore such words in their mouths would be of no use to them, since they neither did his Father’s will, which he taught them, nor observed his commands and ordinances which he enjoined them; and therefore should not enter into the kingdom of heaven, nor be owned by him another day, but should be bid to depart from him; [See comments on Mt 7:21].

[See comments on Mt 7:22].

[See comments on Mt 7:23].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

And do not ( ). This is the point about every sermon that counts. The two parables that follow illustrate this point.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,” (ti de kaleite kurie, kurie) “Then why do you all call me Lord, Lord,” Mat 25:11-12; Luk 13:25, with a profession of discipleship that consists in words only, a valueless mouthing, Mal 1:6; Mat 7:21; Mat 25:11; Luk 13:25.

2) “And do not the things which I say?” (kai ou poleite ha lego) “And do not (do) the things which I say?” for you to do as a matter of practical Godliness Joh 14:15; Joh 15:14; Jas 1:22; Mat 7:21.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Butlers Comments

SECTION 5

Mainstay (Luk. 6:46-49)

46 Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you? 47Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.

Luk. 6:46-48 Rock: Jesus concludes this great Sermon with a claim for authority which must have startled His audience. It still startles men today! For it is exceedingly presumptuous if there is no evidence upon which to base the claim. He is claiming that a mans life will stand or fall according to whether he hears and does His teachings or not. He is elevating Himself as Lord over mankind. The Sermon on the Mount has as its authority, the deity of Jesus. Because Jesus is Lord, His words are the mainstay of life. The man who hears and does what Jesus teaches will not be ruined by the storms of life. Poverty, sickness, war, persecution and failing human relationships will not destroy the person who trusts Jesus Christ because he knows there is a perfect world to come and these storms are from God to build character and a desire for that other world. The man who hears and keeps the words of this Sermon is building the character and longings that will make him happy and fit for that next world.

Luk. 6:49 Ruin: One man has said, Storms will come. Most any shanty will stand in the sunshine. But what about the storm? To build ones life in opposition to the teachings of this Sermon is to build on sand. To trust in this world only is to trust in that which is doomed to perish. To live out of harmony with this Sermon is to develop a character of greed, selfishness, superficiality, vengefulness, and criticism. That does not bring happiness in this life nor fit one to live in the presence of God forever in the next. Trust Jesus! He knows the way to Life! Become a citizen of His kingdom! The careful student should study the comments of Harold Fowler, Matthew, Vol. I, College Press, pages 184442, on this unique Sermon on the Mount.

STUDY STIMULATORS:

1.

Jesus was challenged about His Sabbath actions before Luk. 6:1-49Where? Why?

2.

Why were the Jews so emphatic about the Sabbath?

3.

What does the O.T. law say about plucking grain? about working on the Sabbath?

4.

What does Jewish tradition say about working on the Sabbath?

5.

Why did Jesus bring up Davids eating of the showbread?

6.

What does Jesus teach in this about the nature of Gods kingdom?

7.

What relationship did Jesus claim toward the Sabbath for Himself?

8.

What does the Sabbath have to do with saving life?

9.

Name three reasons Jesus selected 12 special disciples to become apostles?

10.

Why would these 12 disciples not fit modern prospectives for leadership?

11.

Can you name the 12 apostles? 12 American sports celebrities? 12 TV stars?

12.

Is the Sermon of Jesus in Luk. 6:20-49 the same as the Sermon on the Mount in Mat. 5:1-48; Mat. 6:1-34; Mat. 7:1-29?

13.

What do you think about this Sermonis it some kind of Christian law? Is it possible to live it? What is we fail?

14.

Does Jesus really intend for us to jump with joy when we are persecuted for His sake? Why?

15.

Does Jesus really intend for us to be pacifists and protest police work and war and when invaded by a foreign power to turn the other cheek?

16.

What is the Christians best attitude toward judging?

17.

Does Jesus really offer the teachings of this Sermon as answers to lifes problems?

Appleburys Comments

The Necessity of Obedience
Scripture

Luk. 6:46-49 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: because it had been well builded. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation, against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.

Comments

And why call ye me Lord, Lord.See Mat. 7:22-23. Jesus called for sincerity and honesty in all human relationships. Hypocritical judging was forbidden. Those who followed Him were to have their heart in it. Unless you say it by your life, there is no use to call Him Lord with your mouth.

heareth my words and doeth them.James said, Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only (Jas. 1:22). Failing to do so results in self-delusion. Jesus graphic illustration of the two housesone built on solid rock and the other with no foundationshows the folly of failing to obey His word.

Special Note

THE SABBATH

A.

The Jews and the sabbath.

1.

It is first mentioned in Exo. 16:26.

2.

Was it observed as an eternal principle by Adam? The fact that Gen. 2:2-3 states that God rested on the seventh day and hallowed it, leads some to assume that it was given to Adam and all his posterity. This view contradicts Moses statement that no other nationnot even their fathershad this law of which the sabbath law was a part (Deu. 4:8; Deu. 5:1-3; Deu. 4:13). Moses mentioned the sabbath when he gave the account of the creation because the Jews were keeping it when he wrote. God had given it to the Jews because it was on the seventh day that He had rested from His work.

3.

Why was it given to the Jews? The seventh day, rather than any other day, was given because on it God had rested (Exo. 20:11). It was given to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Deu. 5:15).

4.

What is the relation of the sabbath to the Old Covenant? The first important fact to remember is that the Old Covenant was the Ten Commandments of which the sabbath was the fourth (Exo. 34:28; Deu. 4:13). A second and equally important fact is this: The New Covenant supplanted the Old and the sabbath is nowhere found as a part of the New. See Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:6-13; 2Co. 3:2-18; Gal. 4:21-31.

B.

Jesus and the sabbath.

1.

Why did He, as His custom was, observe the sabbath? He was born under the Law to redeem those under the Law (Gal. 4:4). At the time of His birth, His parents complied with the Law of Moses (Luk. 2:22-24). When the leper was cleansed, He commanded him to comply with the Law (Mat. 8:4). During His ministry, when asked what to do to have eternal life, He pointed to the Ten Commandments as the answer (Mar. 10:17-22). On the Day of Pentecost, however, when Peter spoke by the Holy Spirit, he said, Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins (Act. 2:38). This is the directive in connection with the New Covenant.

2.

What proof is there that He never broke the Law, although he was charged with sabbath-breaking?

The Jews complained that He broke the sabbath when He healed the lame man at Bethesda, but He defended His action by saying, My Father worketh until now and I work (Joh. 5:18). A year and a half later, He referred to this incident and reminded the Jews that they carried out the law of circumcision even on the sabbath (Joh. 7:21-24). When two laws were in conflict, the lesser was suspended at the point of conflict. Then why condemn Jesus for making a man completely whole on the sabbath?

He appealed to common sense when He asked, Is it lawful to do good or bad on the sabbath? (Mat. 12:9-12) No one dared say that His miracles of healing were bad. He pointed out the inconsistency of their complaints against Him, for they were in the habit of loosing the ox or the ass and leading it to water on the sabbath. See Luk. 13:15. Does this indicate that the law had been relaxed to some extent? See Num. 15:32-36. Again, He answered the complaint of the Jews by reference to their history, specifically, an incident that involved David. See Mat. 12:2-8. It was mercy and not sacrifice that pleased God.

C. The Christian and the sabbath.

1. Was it the appointed day of meeting of the church? The first day of the week, and not the sabbath, was the day of their meeting. See Act. 20:7; 1Co. 16:1-2.

2. Why did the apostles go to the synagogue on the sabbath? They went to preach the Gospel. See the account of Paul preaching in the synagogue on the sabbath in Antioch in Act. 13:14-52. They did some things as Jews which they refused to let others bind on Gentile Christiansfor example, circumcision (Gal. 2:3-5). At Cenchreae Paul kept the provisions of a Jewish vow (Act. 18:18) and later in Jerusalem he was prepared to make certain Jewish offerings (Act. 21:17-31). He did these things as Jewish customs, not as Christian obligations (Rom. 14:5-6).

3.

Was the sabbath changed to the first day of the week? No. What about Constantine? He had nothing to do with it. The New Testament was written long before his time, and it indicates that the early church gathered on the first day of the week, not the sabbath (Act. 20:7).

4.

Are Christians commanded to keep the first day of the week as a holy day and refrain from working on that day? That provision related to the sabbath, not the first day of the week, the Lords day. On the first day of the week, Christians were to assemble, break bread, preach the Word, and present the offering; but every day of the week was a holy day for them.

5.

Is the Lords day the first day of the week? The expression is found only in Rev. 1:10. Act. 20:7 indicates that the first day of the week was the day of meeting for the church.

6.

What, then, is the significance of the sabbath to the Christian? It is a type of rest in heaven. See Heb. 4:9.

Summary

In this chapter Luke gives a condensed statement of some of the most interesting and important events in the Galilean ministry of Our Lord. He completes his report on a series of complaints against Jesus. The two mentioned in this chapter are based on Jesus supposed breaking of the sabbath. He tells of the selecting of the Twelve and the teaching of the multitudes. The lessons Jesus taught on that occasion are similar to those of the Sermon on the Mount as presented by Matthew.
The complaints about working on the sabbath are based on two different types of work. One was, according to the Jews, actual work on the holy day, for the disciples of Jesus pulled off the heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands to get the grain. But Jesus pointed out that they hadnt been reading the Bible or, if they had, they hadnt understood the meaning of Davids action when he used the bread that according to law was for priests only and gave it to his men to keep them alive. The Son of Man who explained this Scripture to the Jews is also Lord of the sabbath and allowed His men to gather the grain for food on that holy day.
The other work was the merciful work of healing a man with a withered hand. Jesus knew what they were thinking, so He told the man to stand up in the midst of the group where everyone could see him. Then He commanded him to stretch forth his hand, and it was restored. The senseless fury of the complainers asked only, What can we do to get rid of Him?
Selecting the twelve apostles was one of the most important tasks in the ministry of Jesus. He spent all night in prayer before making the choice. Luke gives their names and tells something about some of them, closing his report with Judas who became the traitor.
After choosing the twelve, Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place where a large crowd from Judea and Jerusalem and even from Tyre and Sidon had gathered. They had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases.
The lesson began with the four Beatitudes and the four Woes. Then Jesus spoke of conduct toward enemies and others. In four brief statements of truth, He warned against following blind guides, false teachers, hypocritical judging, and conduct that is like trees producing corrupt fruit.
He closed the lesson with a warning about the necessity of true obedience. He warned against calling Him Lord, Lord and not doing what He said. He showed them what this meant by the illustration of the two houses, the one built on rock, the other had no foundation.

Questions

1.

What are the five complaints against Christ as given in chapters five and six?

2.

On what issue were the two presented in this chapter based?

3.

What was the original law about work on the sabbath?

4.

What are the two types of work about which the complaints were made?

5.

How does Jesus reference to David justify His disciples conduct?

6.

What did Jesus say about His own relation to the sabbath?

7.

What was unusual about the presence of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue on that sabbath when Jesus was present?

8.

For what were the Pharisees hoping?

9.

How was the issue brought to the test?

10.

What did Jesus tell the man to do? Why?

11.

What question did Jesus ask?

12.

What did He do just before He told the man to stretch forth his hand?

13 What effect did the miracle have on those who were hoping to find a cause to condemn Jesus?
14.

What did the enemies of Jesus plan to do?

15.

What did Jesus do before selecting the Twelve?

16.

What are some of the facts about the prayer life of Jesus?

17.

How long did Jesus pray on that occasion?

18.

What is an apostle?

19.

Why was Jesus called the Apostle?

20.

What principle is to be observed in explaining the use of the word apostle?

21.

In what sense did Paul refer to James the Lords brother as an apostle?

22.

Was Peters authority as an apostle different from that of the other apostles?

23.

What is known about Andrew?

24.

Why did Jesus call James and John Sons of thunder?

25.

What may be said of the three who are commonly thought of as being the inner circle of apostles?

26.

What of the two named Judas?

27.

What are some of the difference between Matthews account of the Sermon on the Mount and Lukes report of the lessons Jesus taught after selecting the Twelve?

28.

Why did the people want to touch Jesus?

29.

What four classes are called blessed?

30.

What is the distinction between them and the ones mentioned in the Beatitudes of Mat. 5:1-12?

31.

On what four classes are the woes pronounced?

32.

What did Jesus mean when He said, Beware when all men speak well of you?

33.

How can you love your enemies?

34.

What rule of conduct toward others did Jesus give?

35.

Is it possible to obey Jesus command about love?

36.

What did He mean by the reference to blind guides?

37.

What did He mean by saying that a disciple is not above his teacher?

38.

What kind of judging did He forbid?

39.

Why did He say that a tree is known by its fruits?

40.

What did He say about calling Him Lord, Lord?

41.

How did He illustrate the necessity of obeying His word?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(46) And why call ye me, Lord, Lord.The teaching is the same in substance, though not in form.

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

46-49. Mat 7:21-29.

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

A warning in conclusion:

v. 46. And why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

v. 47. “Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:

v. 48. lie is like a man which “built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock.

v. 49. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

A word of searching earnestness to such as make Christianity a mere confession, but not a profession, which they practice, that make great protestations of loyalty to Christ, but do not back up their words with concrete proofs. To contradict with every act in life what one vehemently asserts to be his conviction is the most miserable form of contradiction. And in the end, the mere confessor will find his house of cards and hypocrisy toppling about his ears. To impress this fact upon His hearers, Christ places two men before them in a parable. The first one wanted to build a house; so he dug and kept on deepening his trenches until he was sure that he had struck bedrock. There he laid a solid foundation, upon which he proceeded to build his house. Then came the test. A flood came rushing in like the billows of the sea, and the angry waters tugged at the foundation of that house, but could not budge it: it was built well, with firm solidity. That is the faith of a man that trusts in Jesus with all his heart as his Savior. The second man also wanted to build a house. But he set the rafters and joists on the ground without any foundation; he built at haphazard on the surface. When the rushing stream of the flood struck this edifice to tug at its walls, it toppled over and sank down quickly, and the fall of that house was great. That is the faith and the fate of a man that confesses Christ merely with his lips and draws nigh to Him only with his mouth. In times of stress and danger, when the storms of life beat against the weak heart, there is only one rock that will weather every gale, that is Jesus the Christ, the one and only Savior of mankind. To learn to put his trust in the Redeemer and the glorious Gospel of the redemption through His blood must be the constant effort of every Christian. And the true believer will not be satisfied with a mere beginning, but will dig and keep deepening his knowledge of God’s Word and will, in order that he may be prepared for the evil days, and for the hours of the valley of the shadow of death.

Summary. Jesus has two disputes with scribes and Pharisees concerning the observance of Sabbath and the works permitted thereon, selects His twelve apostles, performs many miracles, and teaches the apostles and a great many people on the mountainside.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 6:46 . The verification , however, of the spoken word which actually goes forth out of the good treasure of the heart lies not in an abstract confessing of Me, but in joining therewith the doing of that which I say.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1498
THE FOLLY OF A FRUITLESS PROFESSION

Luk 6:46. Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

THE honour of Christ and the salvation of our souls depend on our having right views of the Gospel: we cannot therefore too earnestly insist on the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. Nevertheless we should constantly urge the practice of good works as the fruits and evidences of our faith. The folly of expecting salvation while we neglect them is strongly represented by our Lord in the text.

I.

Shew who they are that deserve the censure in the text

The heathens have less to aggravate their sins than Christians. The greater part of those who live in countries that are evangelized are obnoxious to this censure

1.

Mere nominal Christians deserve it

[Many are Christs, as having been devoted to him in baptism. By the appellation of Christians they profess themselves his followers; but they are in no respect subject to his will and word. Christ commands them to seek first the kingdom of God, &c and they seek it last.]

2.

Formal, self-righteous persons deserve it

[Many will go far in the outward duties of religion: they will profess too a veneration for the name of Christ: but he calls them to regeneration [Note: Joh 3:3.], and they deny their need of it. He bids them live by faith on him, and it proves a hard saying [Note: Joh 6:53; Joh 6:60.]: they are satisfied with the form of godliness, without the power.]

3.

False professors deserve it

[None are so worthy of reproof as they: they will talk much of their dependence on Christ: they will profess perhaps to have experienced much of his power and grace: they may even glory in the recollection of his truth and faithfulness; but in the midst of all, they can be proud, covetous, passionate, censorious, unforgiving, deceitful, and dishonest. To such the text may be applied with peculiar energy.].
Such persons ought to be addressed with all plainness of speech

II.

Expostulate with them on the folly of their conduct

The service of God is justly called a reasonable service; but a fruitless profession is most unreasonable. No reason can be assigned why persons should rest in such a state

1.

Is not a conformity to Christs precepts practicable?

[Many allege, that such strictness as he requires is unattainable. We allow that absolute perfection is not to be expected in this world; but an unreserved devotedness of ourselves to God is attainable. Thousands of the saints of old have walked thus with God: there is a cloud of living witnesses who exemplify this conduct. God has promised grace to all who seek it diligently.]

2.

Is not obedience to him necessary?

[We may be good citizens if we possess only the virtues of heathens; but an unfeigned regard to Christ is necessary to constitute us Christians. St. Paul has fully declared the in-efficacy of outward religion [Note: Rom 2:28-29.]. Judas and the foolish virgins awfully exemplified it [Note: Mat 25:3; Mat 25:11-12.]. Our Lord has warned us all respecting it [Note: Mat 7:21-23.].]

3.

Will not a feigned allegiance be discovered by him?

[We may easily deceive our fellow-creatures; but every motion of our hearts is visible to Christ [Note: Heb 4:13.]: nor can the most specious appearances deceive him [Note: Joh 2:24-25.]. In his final judgment he will shew that he was privy to our most secret thoughts and desires [Note: 1Co 4:5.].]

4.

Shall we not wish at last that we had been sincere and upright?

[The reproach which attends the exercise of real religion, may make us satisfied with the form of it at present; but in the day of judgment we shall see our folly [Note: Wisd. 5:19.]. We shall not know what to reply to this question then. The vain excuses we now make we shall not even dare to offer.]

Application

[Let all then seek to become Christians indeed. Let us not be afraid to confess our Lord before men; and let us regard what he says not only above all, but in opposition to all, that human counsellors can suggest. Let us take care that our lives be consistent with our professions. Let us trust in the Lord as simply, as if obedience were not required. Let us obey the Lord as zealously, as if obedience only were required.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Ver. 46. See Mat 7:21 ; Mal 1:6 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

46 48. ] The connexion goes on here also and our Lord descends into the closest personal searching of the life and heart, and gives His judicial declaration of the end of the hypocrite, whether teacher or private Christian: see notes on Matt.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 6:46 , introducing the epilogue, rather than winding up the previous train of thought, answers to Mat 7:21-23 ; here direct address (2nd person), there didactic (3rd person); here a pointed question, and paratactic structure as of an orator, in lively manner, applying his sermon, there a general statement as to what is necessary to admission into the Kingdom of Heaven , etc.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 6:46-49

46″Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: 48he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Luk 6:46-47 Lip service only is not the essence of true discipleship (cf. Isa 29:13; Mat 7:21-22). Obedience which flows from a personal commitment is crucial. Obedience does not precede grace, but it does follow after it!

Luk 6:46 “Lord, Lord” The rabbis said that the doubling of a name shows affection (cf. Gen 22:11).

The Greek word Kurios was used in several distinct ways in the first century. It could simply mean (1) “sir”; (2) “master”; (3) “owner”; or (4) “husband.” But, in theological contexts, it is usually interpreted with its full meaning derived from the OT substitution of the Hebrew term adon (owner, master, husband, lord) when reading Scripture for the covenant name YHWH (cf. Exo 3:14). See Special Topic at Luk 1:68. In this context these men were making a theological statement about Jesus, but did not have a personal relationship with Him (cf. Mat 7:21-25). It is difficult at this early stage in Jesus’ ministry to know how much theological weight to attach to this term. Peter uses it early as a theological title for Jesus (cf. Luk 5:8), as does this verse, where Jesus links one’s verbal affirmations with obedience.

SPECIAL TOPIC: APOSTASY (APHISTMI)

“hears My words and acts on them” This parable was unique to Matthew (Mat 7:24-27) and Luke (Luk 6:47-49). This is similar to the connotation of the Hebrew word Shema of Deu 6:1, where the word implies “to hear so as to do.” Christianity involves

1. knowledge

2. personal response

3. a lifestyle of service

It is interesting that both builders are said to hear Jesus’ words. Again, it looks as if the context of these warnings is religious people who have heard and responded at some level.

Luk 6:48-49 This ending is very similar to Matthew’s conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mat 7:26-27).

Luk 6:48 “because it had been well built” This corresponds to “dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock.” This phrase is found in the ancient Greek manuscripts P75, , B, L, and W (the UBS4 gives it an A rating). However, another phrase was taken from the Matthew parallel (cf. Luk 7:25) and very early was substituted for the Lukan phrase (cf. MSS A, C, D, and the Vulgate). Many of these scribal additions happened very early in the period of hand copying these texts. Here is a good example. Manuscript P75 is from the early third century, while MS A (Alexandrinus) is from the fifth century.

I want to remind you that none of the ancient Greek manuscripts of the NT (over 5,000) completely agree with each other, but the differences really affect no major doctrine. The NT is the best preserved text from the ancient world. We can trust that it faithfully communicates God’s truth to us who believe and obey! Within the Greek manuscripts we have the original words. Nothing has been lost! We are just not sure which reading is original.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Lord, Lord. Figure of speech Epizeuxis (App-6), for emphasis App-98. B. a.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

46-48.] The connexion goes on here also-and our Lord descends into the closest personal searching of the life and heart, and gives His judicial declaration of the end of the hypocrite, whether teacher or private Christian: see notes on Matt.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

[46. , the things which I say) as your Lord, to whom obedience is due.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Chapter 36

What Is Your Foundation?

God saves sinners by free grace alone. We are not saved by what we will, or by what we do. Election is by grace. Redemption is the work of Gods grace. Regeneration is the work of free grace alone. We are kept and preserved in grace by grace alone. The doctrine of holy scripture is crystal clear. From start to finish, Salvation is of the Lord! A spiritually dead sinner has no more to do with the work of the new birth than Lazarus did with his resurrection from the dead.

But that does not mean that sinners are passive in the experience of grace. God does not knock a man in the head and drag him to heaven, whether he wants to go or not. That is not the doctrine of Scripture. God makes his people willing in the day of his power, and graciously causes his chosen to come to Christ willingly (Psa 65:4; Psa 110:3).

In the passage now before us our Lord Jesus describes two groups of hearers, two kinds of religious people: Those who are saved and those who think they are saved, though they are lost.

True believers, those who have been made wise by grace, are people who do some things, people who, being quickened by his grace, called by his Spirit and drawn with the cords of love, have been made to want Christ and seek him with all their hearts. Therefore, they hear his Word gladly and do his bidding diligently. Digging deep, they have discovered the Foundation. They build upon the Foundation. And having built upon the Foundation, they stand.

The Lord Jesus also describes religious fools in this passage. The religious fool (Mat 7:26) is one who does not take the things of God seriously. He hears the gospel, just like the wise man does; but everything with him is froth and folly. His religion is all on the surface, superficial and fake. With him, there is no digging, no building and no standing.

The religious fool is one who has made lies his refuge (Isa 28:14). They have a house of refuge; but it is a house with no solid foundation, a refuge of lies built upon the shifting sands of human effort, religious works and personal goodness. What is your foundation? Is your soul built upon a foundation of earth and sand, or are you built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus? Saved sinners are built upon and build upon the Foundation God has laid in Zion, Christ Jesus (Isa 28:16).

Christless Religion

Religion without Christ is a very common thing. The visible church has always been a mixed multitude. Tares grow wherever wheat is sown. Goats graze in the same field with sheep. Wherever you find gold, you are sure to find fools gold. While he walked and preached in this world, the Son of God himself had many followers who were his disciples in word only, many who pretended to honour him by calling him Lord, but were yet rebels and refused to obey him.

This is the evil which our Lord exposes in Luk 6:46. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? It has always been a painful fact, throughout the history of the church, that multitudes profess faith in Christ who do not know him. Multitudes wear his name and use it who do not follow him (Isa 29:13; Eze 33:31; Mat 15:8-9; Jas 1:22).

Nothing is more soul numbing, nothing is more dangerous to your soul, nothing is more damning than religion without Christ. Nothing is more likely to keep you from Christ than deluding yourself into thinking you have him when you do not. Nothing in all the world is more treacherous to your soul than a mere form of godliness. Nothing is more likely to keep you from seeking refuge than a refuge of lies (Isa 28:14-20).

True Faith

True faith is an earnest heart pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are born of God know their need of Christ and seek him with all their hearts (Jer 29:12-13; Php 3:7-14). When a sinner knows his need of Christ, when he is fleeing from the wrath of God, when the gaping jaws of hell are before him, when God fixes it so that he is at his wits end and must either have Christ or die forever, he is in dead earnestness. There is nothing half-hearted, indifferent, or careless about him.

Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like (Luk 6:47). Believers are sinners who come to Christ as their Priest, their Saviour, trusting him alone for acceptance with God. They are people who hear Christs words as their Prophet, as their Teacher. And believers are people who obey Christ as their King, as their Lord and Master.

The Lord Jesus describes the believer as a wise man, who builds his house upon the rock. He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock (Luk 6:48). He believes on the Rock. He digs deep, sparing nothing, refusing to build upon any foundation other than that foundation which God has laid, Christ Jesus (Isa 28:16; Rom 9:33; Rom 10:11; 1Pe 2:6).

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly lean on Jesus name.

Edward Mote

The house that is built upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, is stable and secure. Floods of heresies, streams of adversity, winds of troubles, temptations and trials beat vehemently upon the house, but cannot shake it! It stands firmly fixed upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.

He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah (Psa 62:6-8).

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (Psa 40:2).

False Faith

False faith is shallow, superficial and unstable. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great (Luk 6:49). John Gill wrote

Such builders, and such a building cannot stand against the violent rain of Satans temptations, the floods of the worlds persecutions, the stream and rapid torrent of their own hearts lusts, nor the blowing winds of heresy and false doctrine, and much less the storms of divine wrath and vengeance. They are in a most dangerous condition; they cannot support themselves; they must fall, and great will be their fall; their destruction is inevitable, their ruin is irrecoverable.

The Lord Jesus here describes the religion of the one who merely professes, but does not have faith in him. His religion is a house built upon the shifting sands of the earth. His hope is built upon his poor emotions, his excited experience, his religious learning and knowledge, church tradition, his freewill decision, his self-righteous works or sentiments.

The false refuge house is a house quickly built. It may look very impressive, but when floods of heresies, streams of adversity and winds of troubles, trials and temptations beat upon the house, it falls. It falls because it has no foundation. Thus John Trapp could say:

The unprofitable hearer is not cemented to Christ by faith, but laid loose, as it were, upon a sandy foundation, and so slips beside the ground work in foul weather. He is not set into the stock as a scion, but only stuck into the ground as a stake, and is therefore easily pulled up. Whereas the true Christian is knit fast to Christ the Rock by the ligament of a lively faith; and as a lively stone, is built up in a spiritual house (1Pe 2:5), growing up in the mystical body with so much sweetness and evenness, as if the whole temple (like that of Solomon) were but one entire stone. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit (1Co 6:17).

Christ is the Foundation God has laid. Will you stumble over him, or build upon him? God help you to build on him. May God the Holy Spirit join you to him and build you upon him (1Co 1:30-31).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Luk 13:25-27, Mal 1:6, Mat 7:21-23, Mat 25:11, Mat 25:24, Mat 25:44, Joh 13:13-17, Gal 6:7

Reciprocal: Mat 11:29 – and learn Mat 22:24 – Master Mar 14:45 – Master Luk 5:5 – nevertheless Luk 6:49 – that heareth Luk 18:18 – Good Luk 19:20 – Lord Joh 2:5 – Whatsoever Joh 12:26 – serve 2Co 9:13 – professed Phi 4:9 – do Col 3:22 – obey Jam 1:22 – be 1Jo 2:3 – if we

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

6

The word “lord” means ruler. It is inconsistent to call Jesus by a name that means one who is in the rule, but then refuse to obey what he commands.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

IT has been said, with much truth, that no sermon should conclude without some personal application to the consciences of those who hear it. The passage before us is an example of this rule, and a confirmation of its correctness. It is a solemn and heart-searching conclusion of a most solemn discourse.

Let us mark, in these verses, what an old and common sin is profession without practice. It is written that our Lord said, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” The Son of God Himself had many followers, who pretended to honor Him by calling Him Lord, but yielded no obedience to His commandments.

The evil which our Lord exposes here, has always existed in the Church of God. It was found six hundred years before our Lord’s time, in the days of Ezekiel: “They come unto thee,” we read, “as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them, for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.” (Eze 33:31.) It was found in the primitive Church of Christ, in the days of James. “Be ye doers of the word,” he says, “and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (Jam 1:22.) It is a disease which has never ceased to prevail all over Christendom. It is a soul-ruining plague, which is continually sweeping away crowds of Gospel-hearers down the broad way to destruction. Open sin, and avowed unbelief, no doubt slay their thousands. But profession without practice slays its tens of thousands.

Let us settle it in our minds, that no sin is so foolish and unreasonable as the sin which Jesus here denounces. Common sense alone might tell us that the name and form of Christianity can profit us nothing, so long as we cleave to sin in our hearts, and live unchristian lives. Let it be a fixed principle in our religion, that obedience is the only sound evidence of saving faith, and that the talk of the lips is worse than useless, if it is not accompanied by sanctification of the life. The man in whose heart the Holy Ghost really dwells, will never be content to sit still, and do nothing to show his love to Christ.

Let us mark, secondly, in these verses, what a striking picture our Lord draws of the religion of the man who not only hears Christ’s sayings, but does Christ’s will. He compares him to one who “built a house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock.”

Such a man’s religion may cost him much. Like the house built on a rock, it may entail on him pains, labor, and self-denial. To lay aside pride and self-righteousness, to crucify the rebellious flesh, to put on the mind of Christ, to take up the cross daily, to count all things but loss for Christ’s sake,-all this may be hard work. But, like the house built on the rock, such religion will stand. The streams of affliction may beat violently upon it, and the floods of persecution dash fiercely against it, but it will not give way. The Christianity which combines good profession and good practice, is a building that will not fall.

Let us mark, lastly, in these verses, what a mournful picture our Lord draws of the religion of the man who hears Christ’s sayings, but does not obey them. He compares him to one who, “without a foundation, built an house upon the earth.”

Such a man’s religion may look well for a season. An ignorant eye may detect no difference between the possessor of such a religion, and a true Christian. Both may worship in the same Church. Both may use the same ordinances. Both may profess the same faith. The outward appearance of the house built on the rock, and the house without any solid foundation, may be much the same. But the day of trial and affliction is the test which the religion of the mere outward professor cannot stand. When storm and tempest beat on the house which has no foundation, the walls which looked well in sunshine and fair weather, are sure to come to the ground. The Christianity which consists of merely hearing religion taught, without doing anything, is a building which must finally fall. Great indeed will be the ruin! There is no loss like the loss of a soul.

This passage of Scripture is one which ought to call up in our minds peculiarly solemn feelings. The pictures it presents, are pictures of things which are daily going on around us. On every side we shall see thousands building for eternity, on a mere outward profession of Christianity-striving to shelter their souls under false refuges-contenting themselves with a name to live, while they are dead, and with a form of godliness without the power. Few indeed are the builders upon rocks, and great is the ridicule and persecution which they have to endure! Many are the builders upon sand, and mighty are the disappointments and failures which are the only result of their work! Surely, if ever there was a proof that man is fallen and blind in spiritual things, it may be seen in the fact that the majority of every generation of baptized people, persist in building on sand.

What is the foundation on which we ourselves are building? This, after all, is the question that concerns our souls.-Are we upon the rock, or are we upon the sand?-We love perhaps to hear the Gospel. We approve of all its leading doctrines. We assent to all its statements of truth about Christ and the Holy Ghost, about justification and sanctification, about repentance and faith, about conversion and holiness, about the Bible and prayer. But what are we doing? What is the daily practical history of our lives, in public and private, in the family and in the world? Can it be said of us, that we not only hear Christ’s sayings, but that we also do them?

The hour cometh, and will soon be here, when questions like these must be asked and answered, whether we like them or not. The day of sorrow and bereavement, of sickness and death, will make it plain whether we are on the rock, or on the sand. Let us remember this betimes, and not trifle with our souls. Let us strive so to believe and so to live, so to hear Christ’s voice and so to follow Him, that when the flood arises, and the streams beat over us, our house may stand and not fall.

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Notes-

v48.-[He is like a man, &c.] We must be careful in interpreting and explaining this parable, that we do not lose sight of its proper scope and intention. It is surely not handling Scripture honestly to tell people that the “rock” here is Christ, and the man who builds on it the true believer,-the foundation of earth, false grounds of confidence for justification, and the man who builds on it the deluded Christian who trusts in them. All this may be excellent divinity. But that is not the point in question. The point is, Does the passage teach this lesson? I answer unhesitatingly that it does not.

The object of the parable is not to teach the doctrine of justification, but the folly of Christian profession unaccompanied by Christian practice, and the certain ruin to which such profession must lead if persisted in. That Christ is the true rock on which we must build our hopes, and that there is no other rock on which we can stand, is abundantly taught elsewhere. But it is not the lessen of the passage before us. The passage is a warning against Antinomianism. Let not that be forgotten.

The habit of accommodating Scripture, and using it in a sense which it was not originally intended to bear, is a dangerous practice. It has indirectly a mischievous effect on our own minds, and is most confusing to the poor and unlearned. When a poor man hears a sense put on texts which does not appear on the face of them, and in reality can only be drawn from them by accommodation, it makes him think that the Bible is a book which none but learned people can understand.

[Digged deep.] The English language fails here to give the full force of the Greek words. They would be translated more literally, “digged and deepened.”

[The flood arose, the stream beat.] To understand this, we must remember that the climate in hot countries is very different from our own. When rains fall in hot countries they often fall very violently, and cause the rivers and streams to swell into a flood very rapidly. Under such circumstances the events described by our Lord might easily take place, and had doubtless often been seen by many of His hearers.

v49.-[He that heareth and doeth not.] The plain words of John Bunyan, when he describes Talkative in Pilgrim’s Progress, are an admirable commentary on this verse. “The soul of religion is the practical part. ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.’ (Jam 1:27.) This Talkative is not aware of. He thinks that hearing and saying will make a good Christian, and thus he deceiveth his own soul. Hearing is but the sowing of the seed. Talking is not sufficient to prove that fruit is indeed in the heart and life. Let us assure ourselves, that at the day of doom men shall be judged according to their fruits. It will not then be said, Did you believe? but, Were you a doer, or talker only? And accordingly they shall be judged. The end of the world is compared to our harvest; and you know that men at harvest regard nothing but fruit.”

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 6:46-49. This close is the same as in Matthew. Luk 6:45 here answers to Mat 7:21-23, omitting the allusion to the last day, and taking the form of a direct exhortation.

Digged and went deep (Luk 6:48), i.e. digged again and again, until he reached the proper foundation.

Because it had been well builded. This reading, now generally accepted by scholars, complements the expression of Matthew: founded upon the rock. Yet even here the main reference is to the foundation. Luk 6:49 here is even more graphic than the parallel passage.

On the earth without a foundation, is = on the sand. Off the true Rock there is no foundation, all is sand.

Straightway belongs to all that follows.

It fell in, in a heap.

The ruin, breach, the result of the fall (Matthew). See on Mat 7:24-27.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Our Saviour here concludes his sermon with an elegant similtude: he compares the faithful doer of the word to a wise builder, which grounded his house upon a rock. Others he resembles to a foolish builder, that built his house upon the sand.

The house is the hope of heaven and eternal life;

the rock is Christ; the building upon the sand, is resting upon the bare performance of outward duties;

the rain, the winds, and the floods, are all kinds of afflicting evils, sufferings, and persecutions, that may befall us.

The sum is: men’s hopes of salvation built upon any other besides Christ, or built upon Christ without a sincere and uniform obedience to him, are vain hopes, deceitful hopes; for when the storm arises, when affliction or persecution comes, their confidence will fail them, their foundation will be shaken.

Learn, 1. That the obedient believer is the only wise man, that builds his hopes of heaven upon a sure and abiding foundation; Christ is the rock that he builds upon, and one Christ is before a thousand creatures, one rock better than millions of sands to build upon.

2. That such professors as rest in the bare performance of outward duties, are foolish builders; their foundation is weak and sandy, and all their hopes of salvation vain and deceitful.

Lord! How does the carnal world build all their hopes upon the sand, on the wisdom of the flesh, on their policies, councils, friends and riches! They bottom their very soul upon fancies, presumptions, delusions, and vain hopes. They expect to be happy without being holy, which is to expect to be easy without being healthy.

Woe to that man whose portion lies in the creature’s hands, who builds all his hopes upon this earth; for when the earth is shaken, his hopes are shaken, his heart is shaken, and he is at his wits’ end: whereas the Christian that builds upon the rock, stands firm and sure; for if ever the Christian falls, Christ must fall with him: he shall never be disappointed of his hopes, unless faithfulness can disappoint; he shall never be deceived, unless truth itself can deceive. If it be impossible for the obedient, holy, and circumspect Christian finally to miscarry.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 6:46-49. And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? What will fair professions avail, without a life answerable thereto? Our Lords words may also refer to what he had just spoken in praise of good words. As if he had said, Though I have thus spoken, you must take notice, that it is in a particular case especially that your good words will manifest the state of your hearts to be good, namely, when the characters and actions of others are spoken of and censured. Good words, on many other occasions, are of no avail; for the best advices given to others, Luk 6:42, or the fairest speeches imaginable addressed to me, your Master, and your giving me the highest titles of respect, are of no manner of signification, if you do not keep my commandments, and possess the graces, and practise the duties which I describe and enjoin. And the flood arose Here is an allusion to the violent rains and sweeping floods in the eastern countries, in the winter. Though the rains are not extremely frequent at that season, yet, when it does rain, the water pours down with great violence for three or four days and nights together, enough to drown the whole country. Such violent rains in so hilly a country as Judea must occasion inundations very dangerous to buildings within their reach, by washing the soil from under them, and occasioning their fall. Harmer. See the notes on Mat 7:21-29; where the contents of this paragraph are explained. May these beautiful, striking, and repeated admonitions, which our Saviour gives us of the vanity of every profession which does not influence the practice, be attended to with reverence and fear! We are building for eternity; may we never grudge the time and labour of a most serious inquiry into the great fundamental principles of religion! May we discover the sure foundation, and raise upon it a noble superstructure, which shall stand fair and glorious when hypocrites are swept away into everlasting ruin, in that awful day in which heaven and earth shall flee away from the face of him that sits upon the throne!

Rev 20:11. Doddridge.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Third part of the discourse: Luk 6:46-49. The Sanction.

Here we have the conclusion, and, so to speak, the peroration of the discourse. The Lord enjoins His disciples, for the sake of their own welfare, to put in practice the new principle of conduct which He has just laid down.

Ver. 46. And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.

This saying proves that Jesus was already recognised as Lord by a large part of this multitude, but that even then He would have been glad to find in many of those who saluted Him by this title a more scrupulous fidelity to the law of charity. This warning is connected, doubtless, with the preceding context, by this idea: Do not be guilty, in the dispensation now commencing, of the same hypocrisy as the scribes and Pharisees have been guilty of in that which is coming to an end; they render homage to Jehovah, and, at the same time, perpetually transgress His law. Do not deal with my word in this way. The same idea is found in Matthew, at the corresponding place in the Sermon on the Mount (Luk 7:21 et seq.), but under that abstract and sententious form already observed in the Beatitudes: Not every one that saith unto me: Lord, Lord, etc. In this passage in Matthew, Jesus expressly claims to be the Messiah and Supreme Judge. The same idea is expressed in the Lord, Lord, of Luke.

Vers. 47-49. Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: 48. He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it; for it was founded upon a rock. 49. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that, without a foundation, built a house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

The two evangelists coincide in this closing illustration. On the shelving lands which surround the Lake of Genesareth, there are some hills on which the rock is covered with only a thin layer of earth (, Luke) or sand (, Matthew). A prudent man digs through this moveable soil, digs deep down ( ), even into the rock, upon and in which (/ with the accusative) he lays the foundation.

Luke only mentions one cause of destruction, the waterspout (), that breaks on the summit of the mountain and creates the torrents which carry away the layer of earth and sand, and with it the building that is not founded on the rock. Matthew adds the hurricane () that ordinarily accompanies these great atmospheric disturbances, and overthrows the building which the torrent undermines. Though the differences between these two descriptions in Matthew and Luke are for the most part insignificant, they are too numerous to suppose that both could have been taken from the same document.

To build on the earth, is to admit the Lord’s will merely into the understanding, that most superficial and impersonal part of a man’s self, while closing the conscience against Him, and withholding the acquiescence of the will, which is the really personal element within us. The trial of our spiritual building is brought about by temptation, persecution, and, last of all, by judgment. Its overthrow is accomplished by unbelief here below, and by condemnation from above.

The Alex. reading, because it had been well built (Luk 6:48), is to be preferred to that of the T. R., for it was founded on a rock, which is taken from Matthew.

A single lost soul is a great ruin in the eyes of God. Jesus, in closing His discourse, leaves His hearers under the impression of this solemn thought. Each of them, while listening to this last word, might think that he heard the crash of the falling edifice, and say within himself: This disaster will be mine if I prove hypocritical or inconsistent.

The Sermon on the Mount, therefore, as Weizscker has clearly seen, is: the inauguration of the new law. The order of the discourse, according to the two documents, is this: Jesus addresses His hearers as belonging to a class of people who, even according to the Old Testament, have the greatest need of heavenly compensations. Treating them as disciples, either because they were already attached to Him as such, or in their character as voluntary hearers, He regards this audience, brought together without previous preparation, as representing the new order of things, and promulgates before this new Israel the principle of the perfect lw. Then, substituting His disciples for the doctors of the ancient economy, He points out to them the sole condition on which they will be able to accomplish in the world the glorious work which He confides to them. Lastly, He urges them, in the name of all they hold most precious, to fulfil this condition by making their life agree with their profession, in order that, when tested by the judgment, they may not come to ruin. In what respect does this discourse lack unity and regular progression? How can Weizscker say that these precepts, in Luke, are for the most part thrown together, without connection, and detached from their natural context? It is in Matthew rather, as Weizscker, among others, acknowledges, that we find foreign elements interwoven with the tissue of the discourse; they are easily perceived, for they break the connection, and the association of ideas which has occasioned the interpolation is obvious. Thus: Luk 6:23-26, reconciliation (apropos of hatred and murder); Luk 6:29-30, a precept, which is found elsewhere in Matthew itself (Luk 18:8-9); Luk 6:31-32 (a passage which is found Luk 19:3-9); Luk 6:7-15, the Lord’s Prayer, an evident interruption in His treatment of the three principal Pharisaic virtues (alms, Luk 6:2-4; prayer, Luk 6:5-6; fasting, Luk 6:16-18); Luk 6:24 (if not even 19) -34, a passage on providence (in connection with the avarice of the Pharisees); Luk 7:6-11; Luk 7:13-14, precepts, simply juxtaposited; Luk 7:15-20, a passage for which Luk 12:33-35 should be substituted; lastly, Luk 7:22-23, where allusion is made to facts which lie out of the horizon of that early period. It is remarkable that these passages, whose foreign character is proved by the context of Matthew, are the very passages that are found dispersed over different places in the Gospel of Luke, where their appropriateness is easily verified. The author of the first Gospel could not be blamed for this combination of heterogeneous elements within one and the same outline, unless his compilation of the discourse had been made from the first with an historical aim. But if we admit, as we are authorized by the testimony of Papias to admit, that this discourse belonged originally to a collection of discourses compiled with a didactic or liturgical aim, and that the author wanted to give a somewhat complete exposition of the new moral law proclaimed by Jesus, there is nothing more natural than this agglomerating process. It is evident that the author found, in this way, a means of producing in his readers, just as any other evangelist, the thrilling impression which the word of Jesus had made on the hearts of His hearers (Mat 7:28-29).

The way in which these two versions stand related to each other, will not allow of their being deduced from a proto-Mark as a common source, according to Holtzmann and Weizscker. And besides, how, in this case, did it happen that this discourse was omitted in our canonical Mark? The species of logophobia which they attribute to him, in order to explain this fact, is incompatible with Mar 9:39-50; Mar 9:13.

A religious party has made a party-banner of this discourse. According to them, this discourse is a summary of the teaching of Jesus, who merely spiritualized the Mosaic law. But how are we to harmonize with this view the passages in which Jesus makes attachment to His person the very centre of the new righteousness (for my sake, Mat 5:11; for the sake of the Son of man, Luk 6:22), and those in which He announces Himself as the Final and Supreme Judge (Mat 7:21-23, comp. with Luk 6:46 : Lord, Lord!)? The true view of the religious import of this discourse, is that which Gess has expressed in these well-weighed words: The Sermon on the Mount describes that earnest piety which no one can cultivate without an increasing feeling of the need of redemption, by means of which the righteousness required by such piety may at last be realized (p. 6).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XLII.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

(A Mountain Plateau not far from Capernaum.)

Subdivision K.

CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION: TWO BUILDERS.

aMATT. VII. 24-29; cLUKE VI. 46-49.

c46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? [Why do ye give me the title, but withhold the service which should go with it?– Mal 1:6.] a24 Every one therefore that ccometh unto me, and heareth my words {athese words of mine,} and doeth them [ Joh 13:17, Jam 1:22], cI will show you whom he is like: 48 he is like {ashall be likened unto} ca man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: aa wise man who built his house upon the rock [The word “rock” suggests Christ himself. No life can be founded upon Christ’s teaching unless it be founded also upon faith and trust in his personality. For this we must dig deep, for as St. Gregory says, “God is not to be found on the surface”]: 25 and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; cand when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: aand it fell not: cbecause it had been well builded. afor it was founded upon the rock. [The imagery of this passage would be impressive anywhere, but is especially so when used before an audience accustomed to the fierceness of an Eastern tempest. Rains, floods, etc., represent collectively the trials, the temptations and persecutions which come upon us from without. There comes a time to every life when these things throng together and test the resources of our strength.] 26 And every one {c49 But he} athat heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not shall be likened unto {cis like} aa foolish man, who {cthat} built a {ahis} house upon the sand: {cearth} without a foundation; a27 and the rain [269] descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; {cagainst which the stream brake,} and straightway it fell in; aand great was the fall thereof. cand the ruin of that house was great. [We do not need to go to Palestine to witness the picture portrayed here. Whole towns on the Missouri and the lower Mississippi have been undermined and swept away because built upon the sand. Jesus here limits the tragedy to a single house. “A single soul is a great ruin in the eyes of God” (Godet). Jesus did not end his sermon with a strain of consolation. It is not always best to do so.] a28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at his teaching: 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. [See page 166.]

[FFG 269-270]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luk 6:46-49. Hearing and Doing (Mat 7:21; Mat 7:24-27*)There are some interesting but not vital differences. Nominal adherence will not avail in the Judgment.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 46

Call ye me Lord, Lord; that is, by professions acknowledge my authority, while you do not obey my commands.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

The parable of the two claims 6:46 (cf. Matthew 7:21-23)

This is a very brief condensation of a parable that Matthew recorded more fully. Matthew’s interest in it connects with the mention of false teachers that occurs in the context of his account of the sermon. Luke simply lifted the main point of the teaching out and inserted it in his account. His interest was primarily Jesus’ warning to disciples to apply His teaching to their lives. Profession of discipleship is one thing, but what identifies a true disciple of Jesus is really doing God’s will (cf. Jas 1:22-25).

A disciple cannot legitimately refer to Jesus as his or her lord and ignore what He teaches. The double title was common in Judaism to strengthen the form of the address (cf. Gen 22:11; Gen 46:2; Exo 3:4; 1Sa 3:10). Here it implies great honor. "Lord" was a respectful address, as we have noted, but in view of who Jesus was it came to imply the highest respect. Used intelligently it implied deity, messiahship, and sovereignty. However everyone who used this title, even Jesus’ disciples, did not always imply all of this when they used it, especially before Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)