Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 7:29
And all the people that heard [him,] and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
29. justified God ] i.e. they bore witness that God was just; see Luk 7:35, comp. Psa 51:4, “that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou art judged,” and Rom 3:26 . St Luke has already made prominent mention of the publicans at the baptism of Joh 3:12 .
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 29. Justified God] Or, declared God to be just – . The sense is this: John preached that the Divine wrath was coming upon the Jews, from which they might flee by repentance, Lu 3:7. The Jews, therefore, who were baptized by him, with the baptism of repentance, did thereby acknowledge that it is but justice in God to punish them for their wickedness unless they repented, and were baptized in token of it. Bp. PEARCE proves that this is the sense in which the word is used here and in Ps 51:4, compared with Job 32:2, and by this evangelist again in Lu 10:29, and Lu 16:15.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Matthew hath not this addition to our Saviours commendation of John, but it is of great use to introduce our Saviours following discourse. The evangelist here divideth the hearers into two sorts.
The first were the common people and the publicans; the former were despised by the Jewish doctors and rabbis, as a rude, illiterate sort of people; the latter, as a notoriously wicked sort.
The second sort were the Pharisees and the lawyers; of the former, he saith, that they,
being baptized with the baptism of John, justified God, that is, they owned, and publicly declared, and predicated the goodness and justice of God; they approved of what God had done, and blessed his name for sending amongst them such a prophet as John was, they owned and received him, and were baptized by him. Whoso believeth the message which God sendeth, and obeyeth it, he justifieth God; he that doth not, accuses and condemneth God: see Joh 3:33; 1Jo 5:10.
But the Pharisees and lawyers, that is, the scribes; not the scribes of the people, (they were but actuaries, or public notaries), but the scribes of the law, whose office it was to interpret and give the sense of the law.
These rejected; the word sometimes signifies to despise, Luk 10:16; 1Th 4:8; Heb 10:28; sometimes to disannul, as Gal 3:15; sometimes to reject, as Mar 6:26; 7:9. It is here interpreted by those words, being not baptized of him. We must understand the sense of by considering what is here meant by Y, the counsel of God, which some will understand concerning the purpose of God within himself; others, concerning his revealed will, his counsel as revealed to us. The matter seemeth to me but a strife about a word, which is sometimes taken in one sense, sometimes in another. The will of God is but one, only as every one of us keep some part of our mind to ourselves, and reveal other parts of it to our servants and children; so God, who hath determined and willed all events, concealeth some part of it from his creatures, and revealeth another part of it to them. It is the will of God that this, and that, and the other person should believe and be saved. He revealeth as to this thus much of his will, that whose believers shall be saved; but for that other part of his will, that this, and that, or the other man shall believe, this he concealeth, till he gives them a power to believe, and to receive the gospel, and then his will in this particular is revealed. Supposing then we here understand by , Gods secret purpose to be understood, how is it proved that it must be understood of his secret purpose for their salvation? Why should it not be understood of the secret purpose and counsel of God to give them the means of life and salvation? God from all eternity purposed to give the Jews the ministry of John the Baptist and Christ, as means for their salvation, not which should be certainly effective of it, but that should have such a tendency towards it as without their own refusing, and opposing them, it should have been effective, and was in their own nature a proper means in order to it: they reject and refuse it; by this they rejected the counsel of God, the effect of his counsel, and so judged themselves unworthy of eternal life, by neglecting, despising, and rejecting the use of that means, which was the product of an eternal purpose to send them such means.
This counsel of God is said to be rejected towards or against themselves: take it as Gods act, it was towards themselves, that is, for their good; if we refer it to their act of rejection, or refusal, it was against themselves, a judging of themselves unworthy of eternal life. We cannot in this place translate it disannul, or frustrate, as Gal 3:15, understanding it as to the Divine act; for who can frustrate or disannul the will or purpose of man, as to an act of his own, within his power to purpose? Though indeed as to the event it may be disannulled, as to any good effect as to another, if it be made to depend upon the action of another.
Besides, what need any further explication of this phrase, of rejecting the counsel of God against themselves, than what followeth, being not baptized of him, that is, not receiving Johns doctrine of repentance for the remission of sins, and bringing forth fruits worthy of amendment of life, nor submitting to baptism as a testimony of such repentance; for the baptism of John in Scripture signifieth his whole administration, the doctrine he preached, as well as the ordinance of baptism by him administered; and so must be interpreted where our Saviour asked the Pharisees whether Johns baptism was from earth or from heaven, and they durst not say from heaven, lest Christ should have asked them, why then they believed him not? They were not baptized of him, is the same thing with, They would be none of his disciples.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29, 30. And all the people thatheard“on hearing (this).” These are the observationsof the Evangelist, not of our Lord.
and the publicansastriking clause.
justified God, beingbaptized, c.rather, “having been baptized.” Themeaning is, They acknowledged the divine wisdom of such a preparatoryministry as John’s, in leading them to Him who now spake to them (seeLuk 1:16 Luk 1:17);whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, true to themselves in refusing thebaptism of John, set at naught also the merciful design of God in theSaviour Himself, to their own destruction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And all the people that heard him,…. Either Christ saying these things in commendation of John, and gave their assent to them, and showed their approbation of them, having been baptized by him; or rather, the people that had heard John preach the doctrines of repentance and faith, and of baptism; for these words seem rather to be the words of Christ, relating the success of John’s ministry among different persons:
and the publicans justified God; even those wicked men, who were before profligate and abandoned sinners, when they came under John’s ministry, were so wrought upon by the power and grace of God through it, that they approved of, and applauded the wisdom, goodness, and grace of God, in sending such a prophet as John; in qualifying him in the manner he did, and giving in him a commission to preach such doctrines, and administer such an ordinance as he did: and this their approbation of the divine conduct, and their thankfulness for the same, they testified by their
being baptized with the baptism of John; they expressed their sentiments by their obedience; they declared it was right in God to institute such an ordinance, and for John to administer it; and that it became them to submit to it, as a part of righteousness to be fulfilled; they hereby signified, that they thought that it was agreeable to the nature of God, who is holy, just, and good, suitable to the Gospel dispensation, and very fit and proper for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Justified God ( ). They considered God just or righteous in making these demands of them. Even the publicans did. They submitted to the baptism of John ( . First aorist passive participle with the cognate accusative retained in the passive. Some writers consider verses Luke 7:29; Luke 7:30 a comment of Luke in the midst of the eulogy of John by Jesus. This would be a remarkable thing for so long a comment to be interjected. It is perfectly proper as the saying of Jesus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Justified God. Declaring, by being baptized, that God ‘s will concerning John’s baptism was right.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And all the people that heard him,” (kai pas ho laos akousas) “And all the people who heard him,” who gave heed to him, to what He said, obeyed His’ voice, believed in Him of whom John spoke.
2) “And the publicans, justified God,” (kai hoi telonai edikaiosan ton theon) “And those who were tax-collectors justified God,” or declared God to be just, in their confession, and following Him in baptism, as Savior and Lord, Joh 1:11-12.
3) “Being baptized with the baptism of John,” (ebaptisthentes to baptisma loannou) “Being (and having been) baptized (immersed) with the baptism of John,” Act 1:21-22, the kind of baptism God sent him from heaven to administer, Joh 1:6; Joh 1:30-34; Mat 3:6; Mat 3:11; Mat 21:32; Luk 3:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Luk 7:29
. And all the people hearing. This part is left out by Matthew, though it throws no small light on the connection of the words; for it was this circumstance which gave rise to Christ’s expostulation, when he perceived that the scribes persisted so obstinately in despising God. The substance of this passage is, that the common people and the publicans gave glory to God; while the Scribes, flattering themselves with confidence in their own knowledge, cared little for what Christ said. At first sight, this tends only to obscure, and even to disfigure, the glory of the Gospel, that Christ could not gather disciples to himself, except from the dregs and offscourings of the people; while he was rejected by those who had any reputation for holiness or learning. But the Lord intended, from the beginning, to hold out this example, that neither the men of that age, nor even posterity, might judge of the Gospel by the approbation of men; for we are all by nature inclined to this vice. And yet nothing is more unreasonable than to submit the truth of God to the judgment of men, whose acuteness and sagacity amounts to nothing more than mere vanity. Accordingly, as Paul says, “God hath chosen that part which is weak and foolish in the eyes of the world, that he may cast down from its height whatever appears to be mighty and wise,” (1Co 1:27.) Our duty is to prefer this foolishness of God, to use Paul’s expression, (1Co 1:25,) to all the display of human wisdom.
Justified God. This is a very remarkable expression. Those who respectfully embrace the Son of God, and assent to the doctrine which he has brought, are said to ascribe righteousness to God. We need not therefore wonder, if the Holy Spirit everywhere honors faith with remarkable commendations, assigns to it the highest rank in the worship of God, and declares that it is a very acceptable service. For what duty can be deemed more sacred than to vindicate God’s righteousness? The word justify applies generally, no doubt, to every thing connected with the praises of God, and conveys the idea, that God is beheld with approbation, and crowned with glory, by the people who embrace that doctrine of which He is the author. Now, since faith justifies God, it is impossible, on the other hand, but that unbelief must be blasphemy against him, and a disdainful withholding of that praise which is due to his name. This expression also teaches us, that men are never brought into complete subjection to the faith until, disregarding the flesh and sense, they conclude that every thing which comes from God is just and holy, and do not permit themselves to murmur against his word or his works.
Having been baptized with the baptism of John. Luke means that the fruits of the baptism which they had received were then beginning to appear; for it was a useful preparation to them for receiving the doctrine of Christ. It was already an evidence of their piety that they presented themselves to be baptized. Our Lord now leads them forward from that slender instruction to a higher degree of progress, as the scribes, in despising the baptism of John, shut against themselves, through their pride, the gate of faith. If, therefore, we desire to rise to full perfection, let us first guard against despising the very least of God’s invitations, (25) and be prepared in humility to commence with small and elementary instructions. Secondly, let us endeavor that, if our faith shall have a feeble beginning, it may regularly and gradually increase.
(25) “ Gardons premierement de mespriser un seul moyen par lequel Die nous convie;” — “let us first guard against despising a single method by which God invites us.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(29) And all the people that heard him . . .Here the reports begin to vary, St. Luke omitting what we find in St. Matthew as to the kingdom of heaven suffering violence; and St. Luke interposing a statement, probably intended for his Gentile readers, as to the effect produced by the preaching of the Baptist on the two classes who stood at opposite extremes of the social and religious life of Juda.
Justified God.Better, perhaps, acknowledged God as righteous. The word is commonly applied in this sense to man rather than to God; but it appears so used in the quotation in Rom. 3:4 from the LXX. version of Psa. 51:4. Here it has a special significance in connection with the statement that follows in Luk. 7:35, that wisdom is justified of all her children.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“And all the people when they heard, and the public servants, justified God, being baptised with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected for themselves the counsel of God, being not baptised of him.”
Having stated the position Jesus now deals with response to that position. Their coming has divided up Israel. On the one hand are the common people (the poor, and hungry, and sorrowful), together with the outcasts (the public servants) and they have revealed God to be in the right in what He has done (justified His decision) in sending John, by responding to John’s message and being baptised with His baptism in readiness for the Coming One, in readiness for His pouring out on them of His Holy Spirit. On the other are the Pharisees and the Lawyers (Scribes), and the rich and the full and the self-satisfied, who have rejected the counsel and purposes of God, and have refused to be baptised. They justify themselves (Luk 18:11-12). Note Jesus certainty of the purpose of God which they have rejected. They have actually turned against God’s purposes.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 7:29. And all the people, &c. See the note on Mat 11:12-13.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
29 And all the people that heard him , and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
Ver. 29. Justified God ] i.e. They glorified his word, Act 13:48 , and acknowledged, his righteousness, repenting of their sins, and believing John’s and Christ’s testimony, which the Pharisees so pertinaciously rejected, and so deservedly perished. For as wine, a strong remedy against hemlock, yet mingled with it doubleth the force of the poison; so it is with the word when mingled with unbelief, and cast away with contempt.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
29, 30. ] It has been imagined that these words are a continuation of our Lord’s discourse, (Grot., De Wette, Meyer, Bp. Wordsworth,) but surely they would thus be most unnatural. They are evidently a parenthetical insertion of the Evangelist, expressive not of what had taken place during John’s baptism, but of the present effect of our Lord’s discourse on the then assembled multitude. Their whole diction and form is historical , not belonging to discourse. Besides, if were meant to signify ‘ when they heard him ’ (John), then . should be .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 7:29-30 are best taken as a historical reflection by the evangelist. Its prosaic character, as compared with what goes before and comes after, compels this conclusion, as even Hahn admits. Then its absence from Mt.’s account points in the same direction. It has for its aim to indicate to what extent the popular judgment had endorsed the estimate just offered by Jesus. The whole people, even the publicans, had, by submitting to be baptised by John, acknowledged his legitimacy and power as a prophet of God, and so “justified” ( ) God in sending him as the herald of the coming Messianic Kingdom and King, i.e. , recognised him as the fit man for so high a vocation. To be strictly correct he is obliged, contrary to his wont, to refer to the Pharisees and lawyers as exceptions, describing them as making void, frustrating ( , cf. Gal 2:21 ) the counsel of God with reference to themselves. The two words . and . are antithetic, and help to define each other. The latter meaning to treat with contempt and so set aside, the former must mean to approve God’s counsel or ordinance in the mission of the Baptist. Kypke renders: laudarunt Deum , citing numerous instances of this sense from the Psalt. Solom. after has been variously rendered = “against themselves” (A. V [76] ) and = “for themselves,” i.e. , in so far as they were concerned (R. V [77] ; “quantum ab eis pendebat,” Bornemann). But the latter would require . The meaning is plain enough. God’s counsel very specially concerned the Pharisees and lawyers, for none in Israel more needed to repent than they. Therefore the phrase = they frustrated God’s counsel (in John’s mission), which was for (concerned) the whole Jewish people, and its religious leaders very particularly.
[76] Authorised Version.
[77] Revised Version.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
publicans = toll collectors. See on Mat 5:46.
justified God. A Hebraism = declared God to be just, by submitting to John’s baptism.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
29, 30.] It has been imagined that these words are a continuation of our Lords discourse, (Grot., De Wette, Meyer, Bp. Wordsworth,) but surely they would thus be most unnatural. They are evidently a parenthetical insertion of the Evangelist, expressive not of what had taken place during Johns baptism, but of the present effect of our Lords discourse on the then assembled multitude. Their whole diction and form is historical, not belonging to discourse. Besides, if were meant to signify when they heard him (John), then . should be .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 7:29. , and all) Luke sets forth what the people did, and what on the other hand the Pharisees did, in order that he may show, why Jesus spake at the one time those things which are joined together by both verses.[73] A similar division of the sentence is to be seen, Mat 9:6.[74]-, having heard) John.-) and [that is] especially the publicans, whom others had most despaired of as irreclaimable.-, justified) They approved and submitted to the ordinance of God, the baptism of repentance, as being just. The same verb occurs presently, Luk 7:35.
[73] i.e. The things spoken Luk 7:24-28, which refer to the multitude ( ; in Luk 7:24, answering to , Luk 7:29), are joined with those spoken Luk 7:31-35, in reference to the Pharisees and lawyers (Luk 7:30), by the pair of verses, 29, 30, introduced parenthetically by way of explanation.-ED. and TRANSL.
[74] Where similarly the writer introduces, parenthetically, a necessary remark of his own between the former and latter parts of Christs words.-ED. and TRANSL.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
justified: Luk 7:35, Jdg 1:7, Psa 51:4, Rom 3:4-6, Rom 10:3, Rev 15:3, Rev 16:5
being: Luk 3:12, Mat 3:5, Mat 3:6, Mat 21:31, Mat 21:32
Reciprocal: Mat 11:12 – from Mat 11:19 – But Mat 19:30 – General Mar 10:31 – General Luk 5:30 – General Luk 15:1 – General Luk 18:10 – a Pharisee Joh 10:41 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Justified God means they acknowledged God to be just in authorizing John to baptize the people. They expressed their belief on this subject by being baptized.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 7:29-30. These verses have been regarded as, either a part of our Lords discourse, or a comment of the Evangelist. Each view has able supporters. The latter seems more natural. But the words: And the Lord said (Luk 7:31), are to be omitted. The early insertion of the phrase shows that the verses were very early regarded as an explanation of the Evangelist. If they belong to our Lords discourse, they were introduced to show the different reception accorded to John, and thus to furnish a historical ground for the reproach which follows (Luk 7:31-34). If an observation of the Evangelist, they explain for the benefit of distant readers the different reception given to Johns baptism, and the consequent difference in the effect produced by the Lords discourse at this time. The first view takes him as referring to John, and justified God, rejected, as applying to what happened under Johns preaching; the latter refers Him to Christ, and the actions to the result of His preaching.
Toward themselves, i.e., with respect to themselves.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words are our Saviour’s farther commendation of John the Baptist; he tells us, that John had two sorts of hearers.
1. The common people and publicans.
2. The Pharisees and lawyers: and declares the different effect which John’s ministry had upon these two different sorts of persons.
As to the former, the common people and the publicans: the common people were accounted by the Jewish doctors as the dregs of mankind, an ignorant and rude mob; the publicans were esteemed notoriously wicked, guilty of great injustice, oppression, and extortion; yet these vile persons were converted sooner than the knowing men of the time, the self-justifying Pharisees and lawyers; for it is said, The publicans were baptized of John, and justified God; that is, they looked upon John as a prophet sent of God; they owned his ministry, received his message, and submitted to his baptism. Those who believe the message that God sends, and obeys it, justifies God; they that do not believe and obey, accuse and condemn God.
But of the others it is said, namely, of the Pharisees and lawyers, That they rejected the counsel of God against themselves; that is, the revealed will of God: refusing to be baptized of him. This rejecting the counsel of God we are guilty of, when we have low and undervaluing thoughts of Christ and his gospel, when we are ashamed, in times of persecution, to own and profess him, when we stop our ears to the voice of his ministers and messengers, when we submit not ourselves to the reasonable laws and commands of Christ; and this rejection of Christ at the great day, will render our condition worse than the condition of Heathens, that never heard of a Saviour; than the condition of Jews, which cruciifed their Saviour; yea, than the condition of devils, for whom a Saviour never was intended.
Lord! Where shall we appear, if we either reject or neglect thy great salvation!
The chief thing then observable here, is this, that in rejecting John’s baptism and ministry, they are said to reject the counsel of God towards themselves, that is, the gracious design of God in calling them to repentance, by John’s ministry; by which refusal they declared, that they approved not of God’s counsel as just and right in calling them to repentance, who were such zealots for the law, and so unblameable in their conversation, that it became a proverb amongst them, that if but two persons went to heaven, one of them must be a Pharisee. They therefore judged it an incongruous thing to call such righteous persons to repentance, as they took themselves to be, and to threaten them with ruin who were so dear to God: but the publicans and common people, being conscious to themselves of their sin and guilt, did approve of this counsel which God sent them by his messenger, and submitted to this baptism of repentance, for the remission of sins, to which God by the Baptist now called them.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 7:29-35. And all the people That were present, and the publicans in particular, when they heard this discourse, having been formerly baptized with the baptism of John, justified God Owned his wisdom and mercy, in having called them to repentance by Johns ministry, and prepared them for him that was to come. But the Pharisees and lawyers The good, learned, honourable men; rejected the counsel of God against themselves That is, to their own prejudice. They made void Gods gracious and merciful design, with regard to themselves; or disappointed all the methods of his love, and would receive no benefit from them. By calling the gospel the counsel of God, the grandest idea of it possible is given. It is nothing less than the result of the deep consideration and deliberation of God; for which reason the crime of mens rejecting it is very atrocious. Now, to show these Pharisees and lawyers the perverseness of their disposition, in resisting the evidence of Johns mission, and the gracious design of God in calling them to repentance by his ministry, he told them they were like children at play, who never do what their companions desire them, but are so froward and perverse that no contrivance can be found to please them. It is plain, our Lord means that they were like the children complained of, not like those that made the complaint. Whereunto shall I liken, &c. See this passage elucidated in the note on Mat 11:16-19. We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced, &c. The application of this proverb to the Pharisees our Lord justified by observing, that the Divine Wisdom had tried every method proper for converting them, but in vain. For, first of all, the Baptist was sent unto them in the stern dignity of their ancient prophets, so that it was natural to think they would have reverenced him; nevertheless, they rejected him altogether. John came neither eating bread, as others do, nor drinking wine But living on locusts, and honey, and water, in the wilderness; and ye say, He hath a devil He acts like a wild, distracted demoniac, whom an evil spirit drives from the society of men. Such, it seems, was the pride and malice of the Pharisees, that, when they found their own ostentatious and hypocritical mortifications utterly eclipsed by the real austerities of this holy mans life, they impudently affirmed that his living in deserts, his shunning the company of men, the coarseness of his clothing, the abstemiousness of his diet, with other severities which he practised, were all the effects of madness, or religious melancholy. The Son of man came eating and drinking The severity of Johns ministry proving unsuccessful, with respect to the conversion of the scribes and Pharisees, God sent his own Son to address and conduct himself toward them in a more free and familiar manner: but neither was this method successful in bringing them to repentance and newness of life. They said, Behold a gluttonous man, &c. Ungratefully injuring his character for that humanity and condescension, which they should rather have applauded. But Wisdom is justified in all her children The children of wisdom are those who are truly wise, wise unto salvation, and who prove themselves to be so by a sincere and ardent love of truth and goodness, of wisdom, piety, and virtue; and the wisdom of God in all these dispensations, these various ways of calling sinners to repentance, and in all the methods of his divine providence, however offensive they may be to wicked men, are readily owned and heartily approved of by all these, See on Mat 11:19.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vers. 29 and 30. Retrospective Survey of the Ministry of John.And all the people that heard Him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves [the Pharisees and scribes rendered God’s design vain in their case. M. Godet’s trans.], being not baptized of him.
These verses form the transition from the testimony which Jesus has just borne to John, to the application which He desires to make to the persons present. He attributes to the ministry of John a twofold result: a general movement amongst the lower classes of the people, Luk 7:29; an open opposition on the part of the rulers who determine the fate of the nation, Luk 7:30. Several interpreters (Knapp, Neander) have been led by the historical form of these verses to regard them as a reflection of the evangelist introduced into the discourse of Jesus. But such a mention of a fact interrupting a discourse would be unexampled. In any case it would be indicated, and the resumption of the discourse pointed out in Luk 7:31; the formula, And the Lord said, at the commencement of this verse, is not authentic. Had John been still at liberty, the words all that heard might, strictly speaking, have referred to a fact which had taken place at that time, to a resolution which His hearers had formed to go and be baptized by John that very hour. But John was no longer baptizing (Luk 3:19-20; Mat 11:2). These words are therefore the continuation of the discourse. The meaning of Jesus is: John’s greatness (28b is only a parenthesis) was thoroughly understood by the people; for a time they did homage to his mission, whilst (, Luk 7:30) the rulers rejected him. And thus it is that, notwithstanding the eagerness of the people in seeking baptism from John, his ministry has nevertheless turned out a decided failure, in regard to the nation as such, owing to the opposition of its leaders. The object understood after all that heard is John the Baptist and his preaching. To justify God is to recognise and proclaim by word and deed the excellence of His ways for the salvation of men. The expression: they have annulled for themselves the divine decree, signifies that, although man cannot foil God’s plan for the world, he may render it vain for himself.
On this conduct of the rulers, see Luk 3:7. The indirect reproof addressed by Jesus to the Pharisee Nicodemus (Joh 3:5) for having neglected the baptism of water, coincides in a remarkable manner with this passage in Luke.
In place of these two verses, we find in Matthew (Mat 11:12-15) a passage containing the following thoughts: The appearing of John was the close of the legal and prophetical dispensation; and the opening of the Messianic kingdom took place immediately after. Only, men must know how to use a holy violence in order to enter into it (Luk 7:12-13). John was therefore the expected Elijah: Blessed is he who understands it (Luk 7:14; Luk 7:13)! These last two verses occur again in Mat 17:12, where they are brought in more naturally; it is probable that some similarity in the ideas led the compiler to place them here. As to Luk 7:12-13, they are placed by Luke in a wholly different and very obscure connection, Luk 16:16. According to Holtzmann, it would be Matthew who faithfully reproduces here the common source, the Logia; while Luke, not thinking the connection satisfactory, substitutes for this passage from the Logia another taken from the proto-Mark, which Matthew introduces at Luk 21:31-32. Since, however, he was unwilling to lose the passage omitted here, he gives it another place, in a very incomprehensible context, it is true, but with a reversal of the order of the two verses, in order to make the connection more intelligible. Holtzmann quite prides himself on this explanation, and exclaims: All the difficulties are solved….This example is very instructive as showing the way in which such difficulties should be treated (pp. 143-5). The only thing proved, in our opinion, is, that by attempting to explain the origin of the Syn. by such manipulations we become lost in a labyrinth of improbabilities. Luke, forsooth, took the passage Mat 5:12-15 (Matthew) away from its context, because the connection did not appear to him satisfactory, and inserted this same passage in his own Gospel, Luk 16:16, in a context where it becomes more unintelligible still! Is it not much more natural to suppose that Matthew’s discourse was originally composed for a collection of Logia, in which it bore the title: On John the Baptist, and that the compiler collected under this head all the words known to him which Jesus had uttered at different times on this subject? As to Luke, he follows his own sources of information, which, as he has told us, faithfully represent the oral tradition, and which furnish evidence of their accuracy at every fresh test.
Gess endeavours, it is true, to prove the superiority of Matthew’s text. The violent (Mat 11:12) would be, according to him, the messengers of John the Baptist, thus designated on account of the abruptness with which they had put their question to Jesus before all the people. And Jesus declared this zeal laudable in comparison with the indifference shown by the people (Luk 7:31-35). But, 1. How could Jesus say of the disciples of John that they were forcing an entrance into the kingdom, whilst they frequently assumed a hostile attitude towards Him (Mat 9:14; Joh 3:26)? 2. There would be no proportion between the gravity of this saying thus understood, and that of the declarations which precede and follow it upon the end of the prophetic and the opening of the Messianic era.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
7:29 And all the people that heard [him], and the publicans, {c} justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
(c) Said that he was just, good, faithful and merciful.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ condemnation of His unbelieving generation 7:29-35 (cf. Matthew 11:16-19)
John had questioned Jesus’ identity, and Jesus had defended John’s identity. Jesus now warned his hearers who rejected John’s identity and Jesus’ identity.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 7:29-30 do not appear in the Matthew parallel. They reveal a deep division among the people, and they set the scene for Jesus’ comments that follow (Luk 7:31-35).
Many of the "common people," even tax collectors, had responded to John’s message and had undergone his baptism (Luk 3:12; Luk 3:21). When they heard Jesus’ preaching, these people responded positively. They acknowledged God’s justice (justified God) when they heard Jesus speaking highly of John. That is, they accepted God’s ways as they were and did not try to force Him to behave as they might have preferred. Jesus’ words about John vindicated their earlier decision to submit to John’s baptism.