Luke 10:29 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 10:29

Comments

The lawyer feels uncomfortable, and he feels trapped. He has no right to feel that way. He has given his answer to his own question: ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’, and then Christ has said to him, ‘Now go and do it.’ But he knows the standard is too high and he cannot do the very thing that he has said it is necessary to do. He is therefore looking for an escape route, and this is the issue which he comes up with. Yes, the law says that he is to love his neighbour, but who is his neighbour? He wants to narrow the scope of the law to make it easier to keep the commandment. Luke tells us that he says this to justify himself. That means that he is aware that he cannot live up the standard, and has failed his own test, and needs to defend himself against the charge of not loving as he should.

Application

Those who believe in salvation by doing good works, are compelled to defend their record of righteousness, or else they must give up hope of obtaining life for themselves. ‘And who is my neighbour?’ He walked straight into the trap. He is convinced he loves the Lord God. He worships; he performs all the religious duties – the outward things, the ceremonial rites. What about loving his neighbour? What does this mean? Has he loved his neighbour as himself? And so he asked, ‘Well, who is my neighbour? You mean my immediate neighbour, my family?’ And then the Lord Jesus Christ really drives the lesson home with this illustration, this parable of the good Samaritan, this picture of this poor traveller who had gone on this journey from Jerusalem down to Jericho.

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Luke 10:29 Commentary and Bible Study