When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
Parallel Translations
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When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.
But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
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And all the people that hearde and the publicans iustified God and were baptised with the baptism of Iohn.
But the pharises and scribes despised the counsell of god agaynst them selves and were not baptised of him.
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Then all the people that heard, and the Publicanes iustified God, being baptized with the baptisme of Iohn.
But the Pharises and the expounders of the Law despised the counsell of God against themselues, and were not baptized of him.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (20)
- Luke 13:34 (v30) “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children…
- Luke 3:12 (v29) Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what must we do?”
- Luke 7:35 (v29) Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
- Psalms 51:4 (v29) Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and…
- Jeremiah 8:8 (v30) “ ‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made that a lie.
Show all 20 cross-references
- Matthew 3:5-6 (v29) Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan,…
- Matthew 21:31-32 (v29) Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax…
- Matthew 22:35 (v30) One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
- Acts 18:25 (v29) This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning…
- Acts 19:3 (v29) He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
- Romans 10:3 (v29) For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the…
- 2 Corinthians 6:1 (v30) Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain,
- Revelation 15:3 (v29) They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the…
- Revelation 16:5 (v29) I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are righteous, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you have judged these things.
- Judges 1:7 (v29) Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their big toes cut off, scavenged under my table. As I have done, so God has done…
- Acts 20:27 (v30) for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
- Romans 3:4-6 (v29) May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might…
- Romans 10:21 (v30) But about Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
- Galatians 2:21 (v30) I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- Ephesians 1:11 (v30) We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv29–30 Said that he was just, good, faithful, and merciful.
Said that he was just, good, faithful, and merciful.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv29–30 29 And all the people that heard him, and…
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.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v29 Matthew hath not this addition to our Saviour’s commendation…
Matthew hath not this addition to our Saviour’s commendation of John, but it is of great use to introduce our Saviour’s 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.
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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 ηθετησαν by considering what is here meant by βουλην του Yεου, 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 βουλην του θεου, God’s 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 God’s 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 John’s 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 John’s 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.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v29 These words are our Saviour’s farther commendation of John…
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.
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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.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv29–30 They are like to children,.... The Pharisees and lawyers,…
They are like to children,.... The Pharisees and lawyers, who rejected the counsel of God, and the baptism of John, were like to "children"; not for innocence, simplicity, meekness, and humility; their characters were the reverse; but rather, for their ignorance, and want of understanding, their folly and weakness; nor are they here compared to the children that piped and mourned, but to those surly and ill natured ones, who made no answer to those that did. They, together with Christ, and John the Baptist, are in general likened to children,
sitting in the market place; where children were wont to be, there being a variety of persons and things to be seen; and which may design the temple, or the synagogues, or any place of concourse, where the Pharisees met, with John, Christ, and their disciples:
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and calling one to another, and saying; they that were good natured, and more disposed to mirth and innocent diversions:
we have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept: they imitated the pipers at weddings, expecting their companions would have danced, as was usually done by the others, when the pipe was played upon; and they mimicked the mourning women at funerals, expecting their fellows would have made as though they had wept; whereas they would do neither, showing a dislike both to the one and to the other. The children that imitated the pipers, represent Christ and his disciples, who delivered the joyful sound of the Gospel; and the children that acted the part of the mourners, signify John the Baptist, and his disciples, who preached the doctrine of repentance; and the children that would not join with, nor make any answer to the one, or the other, intend the Scribes and Pharisees, who were not pleased with either of them, as the following words show; See Gill on Mat 11:16. See Gill on Mat 11:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv29–30 And all the people - Our Lord continues his…
And all the people - Our Lord continues his discourse: justified God - Owned his wisdom and mercy in thus calling them to repentance, and preparing them for Him that was to come.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv29–30 Verse 29. Justified God] Or, declared God to be…
Verse 29. Justified God] Or, declared God to be just - εδικαιωσαν τον Θεον. 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 δικαιοω 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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v29 Luk 7:29-35. And all the people — That were…
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 John’s 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 God’s 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 men’s rejecting it is very atrocious. Now, to show these Pharisees and lawyers the perverseness of their disposition, in resisting the evidence of John’s 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 man’s 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 John’s 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.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v29 Justified God; i.e. feared and worshipped God, as just,…
Justified God; i.e. feared and worshipped God, as just, merciful, &c. (Witham) --- There are only two different sets of men, who glorified God for the baptism of John, and these seemed the most remote from works of piety; viz. the ignorant multitude, who scarcely knew the law; and the publicans, who were in general the most avaricious of mortals, and were looked upon as public sinners. If the preaching of the Baptist had such an effect upon these men; what kind of hearts must not the Scribes had had, who, with all the advantage of the knowledge of the law, still refused to believe? This verifies the saying of our Lord, in St. Matthew chap. xxi. 31: Amen, I say unto you, that the publicans and harlots shall go into the kingdom of heaven before you. (Maldonatus) --- God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to little ones; (St. Luke, x. 21.) for so it hat seemed good in his sight (Luke, x. 21.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v29 THE BAPTIST'S MESSAGE THE REPLY, AND CONSEQUENT DISCOURSE. (Luke…
THE BAPTIST'S MESSAGE THE REPLY, AND CONSEQUENT DISCOURSE. (Luke 7:18-35)
And all the people that heard--"on hearing (this)." These are the observations of the Evangelist, not of our Lord.
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and the publicans--a striking clause.
justified God, being baptized, &c.--rather, "having been baptized." The meaning is, They acknowledged the divine wisdom of such a preparatory ministry as John's, in leading them to Him who now spake to them (see Luk 1:16-17); whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, true to themselves in refusing the baptism of John, set at naught also the merciful design of God in the Saviour Himself, to their own destruction.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv29–30 29. justified God] i.e. they bore witness that God…
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.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv29–30 (29) And all the people that heard him .…
(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 Judæa.
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.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv29–30 And all the people that heard him, and the…
And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God. This is not, as many expositors have assumed, a statement of St. Luke"s own as to the effect of John"s preaching on varied classes of his hearers, but the words are still the words of Jesus; it is a continuation of his eulogy of the Baptist. He says here that the people, "the folk," listened gladly to him; they were persuaded in great numbers of the necessity of a changed life, and were in consequence baptized by him. The meaning of the term, "justified God," is that these, the common folk, by their actions and ready acceptance of the great reformer-preacher, thus publicly declared that they acknowledged the wisdom and goodness of God in this his work through the Baptist; but, as is stated in the next verse
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v30 Rejected the counsel of God against themselves
Luk_7:30
Rejected the counsel of God against themselves
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The rejection of the counsel of God by the Pharisees
There they stood on the banks of Jordan, self-complacency written on their countenances, the calm peace of death upon their hearts; whispering to one another as they heard the fervid words of the preacher, Never mind; you and I know better than that; we are not to allow ourselves to be carried away by this hot-headed enthusiast; we are too intelligent people for that; we are educated people; we have a certain refinement which, of itself, precludes our being so influenced.
That is not the man for us; we will go back to our synagogue. I like to hear the calm, quiet exposition which Rabbi So-and-so gives of the Book of the Law; it is very interesting to listen to him, but this enthusiastic fanatic does us no good: come away, come away; we have had enough. He calls us a generation of vipers. You cannot listen to a man that insults you. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected, &c. Yes, and that very moment the axe was laid at the root of the tree. Yet another moment, and that axe should be lifted up by the hand of Divine judgment; a few short moments more, and that stroke should fall; only a few years were to pass over their heads, and the city they gloried in, and the temple they prided themselves about, were to lie strewn along the dust. Their name was to be obliterated from the roll of the nations of the earth; their national existence was to be trampled upon; their streets were to be drenched with blood; they themselves, as a den of robbers or a gang of murderers, were to be crucified round the wall of their own city, or dragged into captivity to adorn the triumphs of a foreign conqueror. All this was already in store; the edge of the axe was already sharp, and the hand of justice was already grasping it; and, all the while, these poor self-complacent men were flattering themselves that the message was not for them. We have Abraham to our father; we are the children of privilege; what have we to fear? And so they slept their sleep; and so they rejected the counsel of God against their own souls. There are plenty of Pharisees in our own day, and they are just as true to the instincts of their own life as were the Pharisees of eighteen hundred years ago. What was the characteristic of these Pharisees? Self-complacency. They were satisfied with themselves. They had not yet found out the plague of their own hearts. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v30
Luke
THWARTING GOD’S PURPOSE
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Luk 7:30.
Our Lord has just been pouring unstinted praise on the head of John the Baptist. The eulogium was tenderly timed, for it followed, and was occasioned by the expression, through messengers, of John’s doubts of Christ’s Messiahship. Lest these should shake the people’s confidence in the Forerunner, and make them think of him as weak and shifting, Christ speaks of him in the glowing words which precede my text, and declares that he is no ‘reed shaken with the wind.’
But what John was was of less moment to Christ’s listeners than was what they had done with John’s message. So our Lord swiftly passes from His eulogium upon John to the sharp thrust of the personal application to His hearers. In the context He describes the twofold treatment which that message had received; and so describes it as, in the description, to lay bare the inmost characteristics of the reception or rejection of the message. As to the former, He says that the mass of the common people, and the outcast publicans, ‘justified God’; by which remarkable expression seems to be meant that their reception of John’s message and baptism acknowledged God’s righteousness in accusing them of sin and demanding from them penitence.
On the other hand, the official class, the cultivated people, the orthodox respectable people-that is to say, the dead formalists-’rejected the counsel of God against themselves.’
Now the word ‘rejected’ would be more adequately rendered ‘frustrated,’ thwarted, made void, or some such expression, as indeed it is employed in other places of Scripture, where it is translated ‘disannulled,’ ‘made void,’ and the like. And if we take that meaning, there emerge from this great word of the Master’s two thoughts, that to disbelieve God’s word is to thwart God’s purpose, and that to thwart His purpose is to harm ourselves.
I. And I remark, first, that the sole purpose which God has in view in speaking to us men is our blessing.
I suppose I need not point out to you that ‘counsel’ here does not mean advice, but intention. In regard to the matter immediately in hand, God’s purpose or counsel in sending the Forerunner was, first of all, to produce in the minds of the people a true consciousness of their own sinfulness and need of cleansing; and so to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, who should bring the inward gift which they needed, and so secure their salvation. The intention was, first, to bring to repentance, but that was a preparation for bringing to them full forgiveness and cleansing. And so we may fairly widen the thought into the far greater and nobler one which applies especially to the message of God in Jesus Christ, and say that the only design which God has in view, in the gospel of His Son, is the highest blessing-that is, the salvation-of every man to whom it is spoken.
Now, by the gospel, which, as I say, has thus one single design in the divine mind, I mean, what I think the New Testament means, the whole body of truths which underlie and flow from the fact of Christ’s Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, which in brief are these-man’s sin, man’s helplessness, the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Death of Christ as the sacrifice for the world’s sin; Faith, as the one hand by which we grasp the blessing, and the gift of a Divine Spirit which follows upon our faith, and bestows upon us sonship and likeness to God, purity of life and character, and heaven at last. That, as I take it, is in the barest outline what is meant by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And now I want to press upon you, dear friends, that that great and sublime body of truths made known to us, as I believe, from God Himself, has one sole object in view and none beside-viz. that every man who hears it may partake of the salvation and the hope which it brings. It has a twofold effect, alas! but the twofold effect does not imply a twofold purpose. There have been schemes of so-called Christian theology which have darkened the divine character in this respect, and have obscured the great thought that God has one end in view, and one only, when He speaks to us in all good faith, desiring nothing else but only that we shall be gathered into His heart, and made partakers of His love. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.
If so, the question comes very sharp and direct to each of us, Is that gospel fulfilling its purpose in me? There are many subordinate good things flowing from the Christian revelation, such as blessings for social outward life, which are as flowers that spring up in its path; but unless it has effected its one purpose in regard to you and me, it has failed altogether. God meant His word to save your soul. Has it done so? It is a question that any man can answer if he-will be honest with himself.
Further, this single purpose of the divine speech embraces in its intention each of the hearers of that message. I want to gather the wide-flowing generality, ‘God so loved the world that He sent His Son that whosoever believeth,’ into this sharp point, ‘God so loved me, that He sent His Son that I, believing, might have life eternal.’ We shall never understand the universality of Christianity until we have appreciated the personality and the individuality of its message to each of us. God does not lose thee in the crowd, do not thou lose thyself in it, nor fail to apprehend that thou art personally meant by His broadest declarations. It is thy salvation that Christ had in view when He became man and died on the Cross; and it is thy salvation that He had in view when He said to His servants, ‘Go into all the world’-there is universality-’and preach the Gospel to every creature’-there is individuality.
Then, further, God is verily seeking to accomplish this purpose even now, by my lips, in so far as I am true to my Master and my message. The outward appearance of what we are about now is that I am trying, lamely enough, to speak to you. You may judge this service by rules of rhetoric, or anything else you like. But you have not got to the bottom of things unless you feel, as I am praying that every one of you may feel, that even with all my imperfections on my head-and I know them better than you can tell me them-I, like all true men who are repeating God’s message as they have caught it, neither more nor less, and have sunk themselves in it, may venture to say, as the Apostle said: ‘Now, then, we are ambassadors for God, as though God did beseech by us, we pray in Christ’s stead.’ John’s voice was a revelation of God’s purpose, and the voice of every true preacher of Jesus Christ is no less so.
II. Secondly, this single divine purpose, or ‘counsel,’ may be thwarted.
‘They frustrated the counsel of God.’ Of all the mysteries of this inexplicable world, the deepest, the mother-mystery of all, is, that given an infinite will and a creature, the creature can thwart the infinite. I said that was the mystery of mysteries: ‘Our wills are ours we know not how,’-No! indeed we don’t!-’Our wills are ours to make them Thine.’ But that purpose necessarily requires the possibility of the alternative that our wills are ours, and we refuse ‘to make them Thine.’ The possibility is mysterious; the reality of the fact is tragic and bewildering. We need no proof except our own consciousness; and if that were silenced we should have the same fact abundantly verified in the condition of the world around us, which sadly shows that not yet is God’s ‘will’ done ‘on earth as it is in heaven,’ but that men can and do lift themselves up against God and set themselves in antagonism to His most gracious purposes. And whosoever refuses to accept God’s message in Christ and God’s salvation revealed in that message is thus setting himself in battle array against the infinite, and so far as in him lies {that is to say, in regard to his own personal condition and character} is thwarting God’s most holy will.
Now, brethren, I said that there was only one thought in the divine heart when He sent His Son, and that was to save you and me and all of us. But that thought cannot but be frustrated, and made of none effect, as far as the individual is concerned, by unbelief. For there is no way by which any human being can become participant of the spiritual blessings which are included in that great word ‘salvation,’ except by simple trust in Jesus Christ. I cannot too often and earnestly insist upon this plain truth, which, plain as it is, is often obscured, and by many people is never apprehended at all, that when the Apostle says ‘It is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth,’ he is laying down no limitation of the universality or of the adequacy of that power, but is only setting forth the plain condition, inherent in the very nature of things and in the nature of the blessings bestowed, that if a man does not trust God he cannot get them, and God cannot give him them, though His heart yearns to give him them He cannot do it. How can any man get any good out of a medicine if he locks his teeth and won’t take it? How can any truth that I refuse to believe produce any effect upon me? How is it possible for the blessings of forgiveness and cleansing to be bestowed upon men who neither know their need of forgiveness nor desire to be washed from their sins? How can there be the flowing of the Divine Spirit into a heart which is tightly barred against His entrance? In a word, how a man can be saved with the salvation that the Gospel offers, except on condition of his simple trust in Christ the Giver, I, for my part, fail to see. And so I remind you that the thwarting of God’s counsel is the awful prerogative of unbelief.
Then, note that, in accordance with the context, you do not need to put yourselves to much effort in order to bring to nought God’s gracious intention about you. ‘They thwarted the counsel of God, being not baptized of Him.’ They did not do anything. They simply did nothing, and that was enough. There is no need for violent antagonism to the counsel. Fold your hands in your lap, and the gift will not come into them. Clench them tightly, and put them behind your back, and it cannot come. A negation is enough to ruin a man. You do not need to do anything to slay yourselves. In the ocean, when the lifebelt is within reach, simply forbear to put out your hand to it, and down you will go, like a stone, to the very bottom. ‘They rejected the counsel,’ ‘being not’-and that was all.
Further, the people who are in most danger of frustrating God’s gracious purpose are not blackguards, not men and women steeped to the eyebrows in the stagnant pool of sensuous sin, but clean, respectable church-and-chapel-going, sermon-hearing, doctrine-criticising Pharisees. The man or woman who is led away by the passions that are lodged in his or her members is not so hopeless as the man into whose spiritual nature there has come the demon of self-complacent righteousness, or who, as is the case with many a man and woman sitting in these pews now, has listened to, or at all events, has heard, men preaching, as I am trying to preach, ever since childhood, and has never done anything in consequence. These are the hopeless people. The Pharisees-and there are hosts of their great-great-grandchildren in all our congregations-’the Pharisees . . . frustrated the counsel of God.’
III. Lastly, this thwarting brings self-inflicted harm.
A little skiff of a boat comes athwart the bows of a six thousand ton steamer, with triple-expansion engines, that can make twenty knots an hour. What will become of the skiff, do you think? You can thwart God’s purpose about yourself, but the great purpose goes on and on. And ‘Who hath hardened himself against Him and prospered?’ You can thwart the purpose, but it is kicking against the pricks.
Consider what you lose when you will have nothing to do with that divine counsel of salvation. Consider not only what you lose, but what you bring upon yourself; how you bind your sin upon your hearts; how you put out your hands, and draw disease and death nearer to yourselves; how you cannot turn away from, or be indifferent to, the gracious, sweet, pleading voice that speaks to you from the Cross and the Throne, without doing damage-in many more ways than I have time to enlarge upon now-to your own character and inward nature. And consider how there lie behind dark and solemn results about which it does not become me to speak, but which it still less becomes me-believing as I do-to suppress. ‘After death the judgment’; and what will become of the thwarters of the divine counsel then?
These wounds, many, deep, deadly as they are, are self-inflicted. There do follow, on God’s message and unbelief of it, awful consequences; but these are not His intention. They are the results of our misuse of His gracious word. ‘Oh, Israel!’ wailed the prophet, ‘thou hast destroyed thyself’ Man’s happiness or woe is his own making, and his own making only. There is no creature in heaven or earth or hell that is chargeable with your loss but yourself. We are our own betrayers, our own murderers, our own accusers, our own avengers, and-I was going to say, and it is true -our own hell.
Dear friends! this message comes to you once more now, that Jesus Christ has died for your sins, and that if you will trust Him as your Saviour, and obey Him as your Sovereign, you will he saved with an everlasting salvation. Even through my lips God speaks to you. What are you going to do with His message? Are you going to receive it, and ‘justify’ Him, or are you going to reject it, and thwart Him? You thwart Him if you treat my words now as a mere sermon to be criticised and forgotten; you thwart Him if you do anything with His message except take it to your heart and rest wholly upon it. Unless you do you are suicides; and neither God, nor man, nor devil is responsible for your destruction. He can say to you, as His servant said: ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean.’ Jesus Christ is calling to every one of us, ‘Turn ye! turn ye! Why will ye die? As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v29 General Information:
General Information:
Luke, the author of this book, comments on how people responded to John and Jesus.
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When all the people ... baptism of John
This verse could be reordered to be more clear. AT: "When all the people who had been baptized by John, including the tax collectors, heard this, they declared that God is righteous"
they declared that God is righteous
"they said that God had shown himself to be righteous" or "they declared that God had acted righteously"
because they had been baptized with the baptism of John
This can be stated in active form. AT: "because they had let John baptize them" or "because John had baptized them" (See: Active or Passive)
rejected God's purpose for themselves
"rejected what God wanted them to do" or "chose to disobey what God told them"
they had not been baptized by John
This can be stated in active form. AT: "they did not let John baptize them" or "they rejected John's baptism" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
tax
declare
God
righteous
baptize
John (the Baptist)
Pharisee
scribe
reject
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.