The Bible

 

Luke 11

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1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

3 Give us day by day our daily bread.

4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

14 And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.

16 And others, tempting him, sought of him a sign from heaven.

17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

18 If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.

19 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

20 But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

23 He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

32 The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

37 And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

39 And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?

41 But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.

42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also.

46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

47 Woe unto you! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.

48 Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and ye build their sepulchres.

49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:

50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;

51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:

54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

   

Commentary

 

Explanation of Luke 11

By Rev. John Clowes M.A.

Verses 1-2. That in supplication, the affections and thoughts of the supplicant ought to be open inwards to the reception of the Divine Good, and to acknowledge the Divine Human principle of the Lord to be that good, and to receive thence Truth Divine, that so the external man may be brought into conformity with the internal.

Verse 3. And thus to incorporate the goods and truths of the Word into the love and life.

Verse 4. That so all evil may be removed through admission of the Divine mercy, and defence may be had against the powers of darkness, and that thus may be effected final separation from the influence of those powers.

Verses 5-6. Mankind therefore ought to keep their affections and thoughts continually open to the divine being, since the communication of heavenly good and truth cannot otherwise be effected.

Verse 8. For the Divine mercy is always in the desire to open such communication, but unless man exerts his freewill for a similar purpose, it is impossible it can be opened.

Verses 9-10. It is therefore an eternal law, that the who desire good shall receive good, and also that they who desire truth shall receive truth, and that thus communication with heaven and the Lord will be opened.

Verses 11-13. That natural affection is kind to its offspring, and provides all things necessary for their instruction and comfort; how much more the Divine love in regard to its offspring!

Verse 14. That through the omnipotence of the Lord's Divine Human principle, internal falsities are removed which obstruct the confession of Divine power, so that the Divine Human principle is acknowledged.

Verses 15-16. But these effects are imputed to infernal agency by some, whilst others still remain in doubt, and require further proof of Divine agency.

Verses 17-18. Although it is an eternal truth, that dominion grounded in what is evil and false is altogether contrary to dominion grounded in what is good and true, and that no dominion can stand, unless there be unanimity in its constituent principles.

Verse 19. And if the Lord's Divine Human principle exercised power over infernal falsities, in consequence of its connection with infernal agency, then every other power of truth exercised over falsities must be in the same connection.

Verse 20. As on the other hand, if the Lord's Divine Human principle act from its own proper Divine power in extirpating falsities, then it is an evident proof that Divine power is present with man.

Verses 21-22. And that it is present for the purpose of removing infernal influence from man, by removing false principles.

Verse 23. Therefore whoever is not conjoined with the Lord in the good of love, must of necessity be disjoined in the opposite evil, and whoever is not conjoined with Him in the truth of faith, must of necessity be disjoined in the opposite false principle.

Verses 24-26. And however, in such case, the evils of the natural man may appear externally removed, yet the internal man is without faith and charity, and full of evils, whence comes profanation of holy things, which is a more dangerous state than that of no faith.

Verses 27-28. For the regeneration of man can only be effected by the joint operation of the affection of truth and the affection of good.

Verses 29-30. That it is not allowable to seek testifications of truth in any thing but the genuine effect of truth, which, with the Lord, was the glorification of His Human principle, and with man is regeneration.

Verse 31. That the more interior the truths are, which are made known to man's understanding, so much the greater is his condemnation, if he is not more interiorly affected with the love of truth.

Verse 32. And if he does not shun evils accordingly.

Verse 33. For the light of truth ought not to be subjected to the things of man's natural will, but to be exalted by affection in the intellectual mind, and thus to direct the things of the will.

Verse 34. Will of good, man becomes enlightened with true wisdom, but it is otherwise if the understanding of truth be grounded in the love of evil.

Verse 35. For in this case truth is falsified, which is a worse state than that of mere ignorance.

Verse 36. Whereas if truth be exalted over all things of the natural will, in this case both the internal and external man are under its guidance.

Verses 37-41. That the who are in hypocritical worship are more attentive to the things of the external man, than to those of the internal, when yet they ought to be attentive to both.

Verse 41. In which latter case both the internal man and the external would be under the influence of charity, and would thus be purified.

Verse 42. External things of the church, whilst at the same time they are careless about internal things, or such as relate to love and charity.

Verse 43. And seek pre-eminence in holy things, and to be thought better and wiser than others.

Verse 44. And make evils to appear externally like goods, and falsities like truths, so as to deceive the unwary.

Verses 45-46. That they also are accursed, who, by mis-interpretation of the Word, lead others into infestations by falsities, when yet they themselves have no concern about the truth.

Verses 47-48. So that all truth perishes under what is false, and all good under what is evil, thus proving that their understandings are formed of mere falsities destructive of truths, and that those falsities are filled with evils.

Verse 49. And that they thus extinguish every truth of doctrine, and destroy every good of doctrine, and wander from one false doctrine to another.

Verses 50-51. And adulterate all good, and falsify all truth of the Church, by all manner of rejection of the Lord.

Verse 52. They are therefore accursed, because they neither enter themselves into heavenly truth, nor encourage others to enter.

Verses 53-54. That this manifestation of the interior evils of those, who are in hypocritical worship, excites in them bitter animosity against the Lord, with a desire to pervert every truth of His Word.