GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 3:7-8
7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor;’ for I tell you, God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Luke very carefully tells us that crowds (plural, ὄχλοις) kept coming out to be baptized by him. John preached to them, and a few men stayed on as disciples of John (Matt. 9:14; Mark 2:18; John 3:25). Some who came were Pharisees, men devoted to living an outwardly pure life. Some were Sadducees, a sect that rejected the resurrection of the dead, angels, spirits, and even heaven as a place for man. It was the Pharisees and Sadducees John was primarily addressing here (see Matthew 3:7). They came to be baptized, but they hardly would have been willing to confess their sins to him. What we have here is John’s explanation of why he would not baptize those unwilling to repent or to show their fruits of repentance.
He calls them a “brood of vipers.” That is, children of the devil (Genesis 3:1). They were tempting other people to fall into sin or despair, but were unwilling to acknowledge their own sins.
“Who warned you to flee?” This question confuses some readers. If John had used a verb to show continuous action, he would have used the present tense or the imperfect (“who has always been warning you?” ὑπεδείκνυεν ). However, Luke’s excellent Greek reaches to the aorist or single-action tense (“Who warned you, just once?” ὑπέδειξεν ). This means a one-time occurrence, and also something that certainly, truly has taken place in the past. What does all this mean? John’s warning was constant, continuous, and kept on going out. But he points the finger of judgment at the Pharisees and those with them and says: “Someone once told you to flee from God’s coming wrath!” That someone is the one who fled once from God’s wrath and was condemned forever to hell. John is accusing the Pharisees of following the devil’s lies, and he’s spot on target.
John was preaching what he always preached: “Produce fruits of repentance.” Let your life show that you’ve changed your ways. Repentance should show a change, and John was more than willing to help people understand how to do that (3:10-14). With the Pharisees and Sadducees, however, there was one vital matter to be addressed: “Don’t even begin to say to yourselves that you have Abraham as your ancestor.” Why? Because being saved and having a place with God in heaven doesn’t depend on your ancestry, not even for the Jews. Paul (the former Pharisees) said, “Those who believe are children of Abraham…those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham… If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:7,9,29).
What does John mean when he says, “God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones?” Either the stones are symbolic, or they are to be taken literally. Neither view damages the Word of God. If the stones are symbolic, then the Pharisees have hardened their hearts, and John means that the otherwise dead Gentiles are the stones that will be raised to spiritual life when the Jews reject their Messiah. This is Lenski’s view (Luke p. 190). But a view that takes Scripture at face value will remember that it’s within God’s power to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:3, although this is from the lips of the devil), and, more importantly, if some Christians are forced to keep quiet, “the stones will cry out” their faith in Christ (Luke 19:40). This is Luther’s view:
“If the entire world were to express its disagreement (with your faith); if everything seemed to turn out unfavorably; and, finally, if you yourself were to die—there will still come to pass what God has promised you in Baptism, in the Word, in the Lord’s Supper, and in absolution, provided only that faith relies on the promise. God cannot lie. Therefore faith, which relies on the Word, cannot lie or deceive either. Sooner would heaven collapse; sooner would stones become bread; and sooner would God raise up children for Abraham from stones (Luke 3:8).”
Let your whole life shout out your faith, in repentance, in attitude, and in everything you say and do.
All depends on our possessing
God’s abundant grace and blessing,
Though all earthly wealth depart.
They who trust with faith unshaken
In their God are not forsaken
And e’er keep a dauntless heart.
Christian Worship Hymn 421, v. 1
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota