Luke 11:46 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 11:46

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Here is another feature of hypocrisy. The lawyers were guilty of setting a false example. They manufactured an image of themselves in the minds of the people. They presented themselves as exemplar believers, who had succeeded in living up to the standards of God’s law, and who all the common people must do their best to imitate. Of course, all this was fabrication; it was a lie. They did not really obey God according to his standards, or please him; quite the reverse. They offered only a legal obedience, and the truth was that their own consciences condemned them, but they kept them well out of sight. However on the basis of their imagined righteousness, they laid a duty on the backs of the people, that they too should live by the standards of the law. They claimed the right to teach the people to live by such a high standard, because they had supposedly succeeded themselves. But really they had no moral authority to ask such a thing. A teacher must live his message, and again we see here that these teachers constantly failed to do so. They did not understand the law themselves, and they misapplied it to others, teaching erroneously that righteousness could come from the law. All this was done as a tactic to get the people to admire them the more: this was what their minds were really set on. That admiration could only be obtained on the back of a lie, but the consequence was that an impossible requirement was set before the people. It was, says the Lord, like a great burden which they placed in the backs of others, while not troubling to touch it with one of their fingers.

Application

God has given us his law to teach us about the sin that is within us. Proud human nature refuses to acknowledge sin. God has therefore given us the law and set before us this standard that is far beyond our reach as lost sinners. He has done this to bring us under conviction, by holding up a mirror to our conduct, so that we see how far short we feel. We understand it is impossible for us to satisfy the law. But the lawyers, the legal experts in the law of Moses, were doing the opposite. They were telling the people, it is entirely possible to keep the law; we have done it, and you too can do it. So we see that hypocrisy frustrates the purpose of God. It shows itself to be thoroughly dishonest and despicable in the process.

Those who set a true standard of godliness to others, know the struggles they have been through, and they know that grace alone can bring us into God’s favour. They give thanks to God for the forgiveness of sin and for the salvation that comes through faith in Christ alone. They know by experience that the law only brings condemnation and guilt, not because the law is bad, but because fallen human nature cannot live up to its standard. They love the law and they strive to keep it, but they know that all their efforts fall far short of God’s glorious holiness. They are sympathetic to those who are going through the same struggles with sin and temptation.

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Luke 11:46 Commentary and Bible Study