Luke 2:40 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 2:40-52)‘The child grew.’ This was necessary as part of his true humanity. He did not, as in infant, come into the world already possessing mature wisdom. He had to grow as all other children have to grow, and his mind had to develop. All of the time he was truly God and his divine nature was not capable of growth or improvement or development. What is said here is said only of his human nature. He grew in body and in spirit, in mind, in understanding, learning new things, and developing distinctive character. His parents nurtured him and loved him. God gave him godly parents, but unlike him they were not without sin, and their understanding of their task as parents to the Messiah had to grow also, and they did not always get everything right, as we are about to see. ‘He waxed strong in spirit.’ Some Greek manuscripts lack the word ‘spirit’, but it is obviously implied. We might judge that Christ was not excessively strong in body, for he needed to rest by the well when his disciples had the strength to go into the city and look for food (John 4:6-8). Nevertheless his body developed and he grew strong in spirit, a strength that gave him determination, understanding, clarity of thinking, and love for God and for the Scriptures. His mind was exploring divine truth from an early age, and he knew who he was. That is obvious from what we read next. He knew he was sent into the world and that he was the Messiah. He handled this knowledge perfectly as a child, being ready to wait until the time the Spirit led him to reveal himself to Israel (John 1:31). ‘He was filled with wisdom.’ Wisdom protected him from sin, just as Proverbs says: ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7) … When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; ¹¹ Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: ¹² To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things’ (Proverbs 2:10-12). This is the true wisdom, the wisdom which God alone gives. He must have had access to the Scriptures from an early age, for it is clear that he knew the word of God well and had meditated long and hard on its contents. He understood it better than the religious leaders of the day who perverted it to their supposed advantage. He was able to avoid all the traps they set for him, because he had studied the word of God and come to a right understanding of it, and as the perfect man he understood the word of God which was given to be understood, not to remain obscure.‘The grace of God was upon him.’ The Spirit was with him, teaching him, comforting him, confirming his mission to him. It is evident from how many times the Lord speaks to his disciple about this, that he knew that suffering awaited him. And yet he kept going down the pathway assigned to him by his Father in heaven. He needed grace to face this, as well as to deal with all the troubles of this fallen world. His whole life was characterised by grace, ‘`the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.’He developed as a child all of that kindness, compassion, and sympathy that we see him exhibit in his adult ministry. These were deep seated habits in him which Mary must had observed with delight. But all this time he was without sin. He went through every stage of the development of a child and resisted temptation at every point. He must have been a marvel to those who knew him in his childhood, including other children to whom he related.Remarkably, this is all that the Scripture tells us of his childhood. ‘He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not’ (John 1:10). At this stage there were no disciples. His mother and father knew something through the angelic messages and the prophecies they had received, but that knowledge they seem to have wisely kept to themselves. At the first miracle Mary indicates something of what she understood when she said, ‘They have no wine.’ He saw that there was much more in her words than appeared, for he answered her, ‘Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come’ (John 2:4).