Luke 6:30 Commentary and Bible Study

This verse presents two different situations. In the first Christ’s disciple has received a request for help from someone whose need is genuine, presumably either because they are poor, or because they have faced some unexpected call on their resources which they are unable to supply (Luke 11:5-6). They are asking out of genuine need, and they ask more gently, seeking permission. The second case goes well beyond this and includes the use of force to remove what rightfully belongs to another. The disciple has his good taken from him against his will. The two cases are put together because both involve the yielding up of our possessions. How is the believer to handle requests for help, and in addition how is he to handle unreasonable behaviour? He is to comply with both. In the first case he is to give freely to those who ask for a loan or a gift, and not to withhold what he has. As so often in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, and in Luke’s sermon here, the saying of the Lord are proverbial, and not to be carried out without understanding. They teach us by means of compressed wisdom which encapsulates the chief principle to be considered in our conduct, but there are other factors to be considered also which are deliberately ignored by the Lord, but are found in other parts of Scripture. Does that mean that we can whittle away at Christ’s instruction until we reduce it to nothing and relieve ourselves of the burden of doing anything? Certainly not. Christ will hold us accountable for what we do with his words and for implementing the principle which he teaches us. The command to ‘Give to every man that asketh thee’ means that we are to be quick the recognise the needs of others and to sympathise with them, and to do what we can to help them, especially when it is a fellow believer in view. We are to be those who exercise mercy, and instinctively try to alleviate hardship and suffering in a fallen world. We are to love others in this very practical way at the expense of our own possessions. God has given to us so that we have the opportunity to give to others. This does not mean however that we make no attempt to judge the motivation behind this request, or to assess how genuine the need is. Nor does it mean that we give so much that we are more impoverished than those we give to (although one can imagine a situation where a one person makes provision another whom they love even though they can scarcely afford it). Paul is clear that he does not intend giving to go this far – ‘For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: ¹⁴ But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality’ (2 Corinthians 8:13-14).But the second case is different. Although there is here also a yielding up of our possessions, in this second case there is force and compulsion involved; the believer’s goods are taken from him and the clear implication is that this is done against his will. This is in effect stealing. The world can be very unreasonable, especially in its prejudices directed at believers. Does this extra factor of coercion mean that the believer is entitled to resist, to put up a struggle, and to maintain his rights? Not accord to Christ words here. In line with what he says in the Sermon on the Mount we are not to resist evil. We are to let the evil man or woman take advantage of us and suffer the loss of our goods.