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Quotes & Notes on:
Luke 2:40
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John Wesley's Notes:
And the child grew-In bodily strength and stature;
and waxed strong in spirit-The powers of his human mind daily improved;
filled with wisdom-By the light of the indwelling Spirit, which
gradually opened itself in his soul;
and the grace of God was upon him-That is, the peculiar favour of God
rested upon him, even as man.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* the child. Lu 2:52; Jg 13:24; 1Sa 2:18; 3:19; Ps 22:9; Isa 53:1,2
* strong. Lu 1:80; Eph 6:10; 2Ti 2:1
* filled. Lu 2:47,52; Isa 11:1-5; Col 2:2,3
* the grace. Ps 45:2; Joh 1:14; Ac 4:33
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
The child grew] As to his body-being in perfect health.
Waxed strong in spirit] His rational soul became strong and vigorous.
Filled with wisdom] The divinity continuing to communicate itself more
and more, in proportion to the increase of the rational principle. The
reader should never forget that Jesus was perfect man, as well as God.
And the grace of God was upon him.] The word cariv, not only means grace
in the common acceptation of the word, (some blessing granted by God's
mercy to those who are sinners, or have no merit,) but it means also
favour or approbation: and this sense I think most proper for it here,
when applied to the human nature of our blessed Lord; and thus our
translators render the same word, Lu 2:52. Even Christ himself, who knew
no sin, grew in the favour of God; and, as to his human nature,
increased in the graces of the Holy Spirit. From this we learn that, if
a man were as pure and as perfect as the man Jesus Christ himself was,
yet he might nevertheless increase in the image, and consequently in the
favour, of God. God loves every thing and person, in proportion to the
nearness of the approaches made to his own perfections.
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Family Bible Notes:
(No comment on this verse)
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1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
As Christ grew up in age, so the virtue of his Godhead showed
itself more and more.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
The child grew. He was a child, and a child that grew in heart,
in intellect, in size, in grace, in favor with God. Not a man in child's
years.
Filled with wisdom. The body advances in stature and the soul in wisdom.
The divine nature revealed its own wisdom in proportion to the measure
of the bodily growth.--Cyril. In "the mystery of godliness: God manifest
in the flesh" [1Ti 3:16], one of the inscrutable things that was that
the Divine man should become a babe, not only in body, but in mind and
wisdom.
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
Coming up (epistâsa). Second aorist active participle. The
word often has the notion of coming suddenly or bursting in as of Martha
in Lu 10:40. But here it probably means coming up and standing by and so
hearing Simeon's wonderful words so that her words form a kind of
footnote to his. Gave thanks (anthômologeito). Imperfect middle of a
verb (anthomologeô) in common use in Greek writers and in the LXX though
here alone in the N.T. It had the idea of a mutual agreement or of
saying something before one (anti). Anna was evidently deeply moved and
repeated her thanksgiving and kept speaking (elalei, imperfect again)
"to all them that were looking for (prosdechomenois, as in Lu 1:35 of
Simeon) the redemption of Jerusalem (lutrôsin Ierousalêm)." There was
evidently a group of such spirits that gathered in the temple either men
around her and Simeon or whom she met from time to time. There was thus
a nucleus of old saints in Jerusalem prepared for the coming of the
Messiah when he at last appears as the Messiah in Jerusalem (John 2 and
3). These probably all passed away. But they had a happy hour of hope
and joy. The late MSS. have "in Jerusalem" but "of Jerusalem" is
correct. What they meant by the "redemption of Jerusalem" is not clear,
whether political or spiritual or both. Simeon was looking for the
consolation of Israel (Lu 2:25) and Zacharias (Lu 1:68) sang of
redemption for Israel (Isa 40:2).
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Albert Barnes' Commentary:
Strong in spirit. In mind, intellect, understanding. Jesus had a human
soul, and that soul was subject to all the proper laws of a human
spirit. It therefore increased in knowledge, strength, and character.
Nor is it any more inconsistent with his being God to say that his soul
expanded, than to say that his body grew.
Filled with wisdom. Eminent for wisdom when a child--that is, exhibiting
an extraordinary understanding, and wise to flee from everything sinful
and evil.
And the grace of God, &c. The word grace in the New Testament commonly
means unmerited favour shown to sinners. Here it means no more than
favour. God showed him favour, or was pleased with him and blessed him.
It is remarkable that this is all that is recorded of the infancy of
Jesus; and this, with the short account that follows of his going to
Jerusalem, is all that we know of him for thirty years of his life. The
design of the evangelists was to give an account of his public ministry,
and not his private life. Hence they say little of him in regard to his
first years. What they do say, however, corresponds entirely with what
we might expect. He was wise, pure, pleasing God, and deeply skilled in
the knowledge of the divine law. He set a lovely example for all
children; was subject to his parents, and increased in favour with God
and man.
{w} "filled with wisdom" Isa 11:2,3; Lu 2:52
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
His mental development kept pace with His bodily, and "the grace of
God," the divine favor, rested manifestly and increasingly upon Him. See
Lu 2:52.
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Spurgeon Commentary:
What a child was this, with the fullness of divine grace upon him! Lord
Jesus, make our sons and daughters to be like thee while they are yet
children.
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William Burkitt's Notes:
(No comment on this verse)
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Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:
(No comment on this verse)
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The Fourfold Gospel:
And the child grew. This verse contains the history of thirty
years. It describes the growth of our Lord as a natural, human growth
(compare Lu 1:80); for, though Jesus was truly divine, he was also
perfectly man. To try to distinguish between the divine and human in
Jesus, is to waste time upon an impracticable mystery which is too
subtle for our dull and finite minds.
And waxed strong. His life expanded like other human lives. He learned
as other boys; he obeyed as other children. As he used means and waited
patiently for growth, so must each individual Christian, and so must the
church. Though the latter is a mystical body, and animated by the Holy
Spirit, it must nevertheless make increase of itself before coming to
the perfect man (Eph 4:16).
Filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. These words
describe briefly the life of Christ during the preparatory period at
Nazareth. It was a quiet life, but its sinless purity made the Baptist
feel his own unworthiness compared to it (Mt 3:14), and its sweet
reasonableness inspired in Mary, the mother, that confidence which led
her to sanction, without reserve, any request or command which Jesus
might utter (Joh 2:5).
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