Luke 17 commentary

LUKE 17 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Sin, Faith, Duty
1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause
people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to
anyone through whom they come.
BARNES, "It is impossible - It cannot but happen. Such is the state of things
that “it will be.” See these verses explained in the notes at Mat_18:6-7.
CLARKE, "It is impossible but that offenses will come - Such is the
corrupt state of the human heart that, notwithstanding all the influences of grace,
and the promises of glory, men will continue to sin against God; and his justice must
continue to punish. See on Mat_18:6 (note).
GILL, "Then said he unto his disciples,.... In the Alexandrian copy, and in
"three" of Beza's exemplars it is read, "his disciples"; and so read the Vulgate Latin,
and all the Oriental versions; that is, Jesus said to his disciples what follows, as the
Syriac and Persic versions express, and the latter reads, he said "again". About the
time that he delivered the above parable concerning the rich man and Lazarus, he
repeated to his disciples what he had before said to them on another occasion, Mat_
18:7
it is impossible but that offences will come; considering the decree of God, the
malice of Satan, the wickedness of men, the corruption both of their principles and
practices. The Ethiopic version renders it, "temptation will come"; that which will be
trying to the faith of the saints, and a stumblingblock to weak minds, as reproach and
persecution, errors, and heresies, and the evil lives of professors:
but woe unto him through whom they come; See Gill on Mat_18:7
HENRY 1-2, "We are here taught,
I. That the giving of offences is a great sin, and that which we should every one of
us avoid and carefully watch against, Luk_17:1, Luk_17:2. We can expect no other
than that offences will come, considering the perverseness and frowardness that are
in the nature of man, and the wise purpose and counsel of God, who will carry on his
work even by those offences, and bring good out of evil. It is almost impossible but
that offences will come, and therefore we are concerned to provide accordingly; but
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woe to him through whom they come, his doom will be heavy (Luk_17:2), more
terrible than that of the worst of the malefactors who are condemned to be thrown
into the sea, for they perish under a load of guilt more ponderous than that of
millstones. This includes a woe, 1. To persecutors, who offer any injury to the least of
Christ's little ones, in word or deed, by which they are discouraged in serving Christ,
and doing their duty, or in danger of being driven off from it. 2. To seducers, who
corrupt the truths of Christ and his ordinances, and so trouble the minds of the
disciples; for they are those by whom offences come. 3. To those who, under the
profession of the Christian name, live scandalously, and thereby weaken the bands
and sadden the hearts of God's people; for by them the offence comes, and it is no
abatement of their guilt, nor will be any of their punishment, that it is impossible but
offences will come.
JAMISON, "Luk_17:1-10. Offenses - Faith - Humility.
(See Mat_18:6, Mat_18:7).
BARCLAY, "LAWS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (Luke 17:1-10)
17:1-10 Jesus said to his disciples, "It is impossible that snares to sin should not
arise; but woe to him through whom they do arise! It would be better for him if a
millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea rather
than that he should cause one of these little ones to trip up.
"Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents,
forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in the day, and if seven times
he turns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
The apostles said to the Lord, "Give us also faith!" The Lord said, "If you have
faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this sycamine tree, 'Be rooted
up and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
"If any of you has a slave ploughing or watching the flock, and the slave comes
in from the field, will he say to him, 'Come at once and take your place at table';
or rather, will he not say to him, 'Get ready my evening meal, and gird yourself
and serve me, until I eat and drink, and after that you shall eat and drink
yourself'? Does he thank a servant because he has done what he was ordered to
do? Even so, you too, when you have done everything you were ordered to do,
say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have done what it was our duty to do.'"
This passage falls into four definite and disconnected sections.
(i) Luke 17:1-2 condemn the man who teaches others to sin. The Revised
Standard Version talks in these verses about temptations to sin. The Greek word
(skandalon, Greek #4625) is exactly the same word as the English scandal. It has
two meanings.
(a) It originally meant the bait-stick in a trap.
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(b) It then came to mean any stumbling-block placed in a man's way to trip him
up. Jesus said that it was impossible to construct a world with no temptations;
but woe to that man who taught another to sin or who took away another's
innocence.
Every one must be given his first invitation to sin, his first push along the wrong
way. Kennedy Williamson tells of an old man who was dying. Something was
obviously worrying him. He told them at last what it was. "When I was a lad,"
he said, "I often played on a wide common. Near its centre two roads met and
crossed, and, standing at the cross-roads, was an old rickety sign-post. I
remember one day twisting it round in its socket, thus altering the arms and
making them point in the wrong direction; and I've been wondering ever since
how many travellers I sent on the wrong road."
God will not hold the man guiltless, who, on the road of life, sends a younger or a
weaker brother on the wrong way.
(ii) Luke 17:3-4 speak of the necessity of forgiveness in the Christian life. It tells
us to forgive seven times. The Rabbis had a saying that if one forgave another
three times, one was a perfect man. The Christian standard takes the Rabbinic
standard, doubles it and adds one; but it is not a matter of calculation. It simply
means that the Christian standard of forgiveness must immeasurably exceed the
best the world can achieve.
(iii) Luke 17:5-6 tell us that faith is the greatest force in the world. We must
again remember that it was the eastern custom to use language in the most vivid
possible way. This saying means that even that which looks completely
impossible becomes possible, if it is approached with faith. We have only to think
of the number of scientific marvels, of the number of surgical operations, of the
feats of endurance which today have been achieved and which less than fifty
years ago would have been regarded as utterly impossible. If we approach a
thing saying, "It can't be done," it will not; if we approach it saying, "It must be
done," the chances are that it will. We must always remember that we approach
no task alone, but that with us there is God and all his power.
(iv) Luke 17:7-10 tell us that we can never put God in our debt and can never
have any claim on him. When we have done our best, we have done only our
duty; and a man who has done his duty has done only what, in any event, he
could be compelled to do.
Were the whole realm of Nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
It may be possible to satisfy the claims of law; but every lover knows that
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nothing can ever satisfy the claims of love.
BENSON, "Luke 17:1. Then said he unto the disciples — Our Lord, about this
time, thought proper to repeat to the people, who then attended on his ministry,
and were desirous of being instructed by him, several particulars of his doctrine,
which he had formerly delivered in a more private way to his apostles, and some
others of his disciples, as follows: It is impossible but that offences will come —
Considering the general corruption of human nature, the snares of the world,
and the temptations of Satan, it cannot be but that one way or other offences will
be given and taken: stumbling- blocks will be laid in the way of such as are
travelling to the heavenly Jerusalem, and many will stumble at them, and fall
over them; will be hindered in the way, or turned out of it; for many professing
my religion will act in a manner very unsuitable to it, unworthy of themselves,
and disgraceful to the holy name they bear. But wo unto him through whom they
come — Let me warn you, therefore, as you love your own souls, to guard
against the guilt and danger of being stumbling-blocks in the way of others. It
were better for him, &c. — I assure you that such a one, especially he that by an
immoral life proves a reproach and scandal to my cause, had better die by the
hand of violence, and suffer the most shocking execution, than that he should
offend, or cause to stumble and fall, one of these little ones, that is, one weak
believer, or any other of my despised and persecuted followers. See on Matthew
18:7-9.
COFFMAN, “In this chapter, the teaching of Jesus is continued by four definite
pronouncements, which are perhaps highlights of an extensive discourse, the
exact connection of which is difficult to discern, (Luke 17:1-10), the healing of
ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19), and the teaching concerning the second coming of the
Lord (Luke 17:20-37).
Between Luke 17:10 and Luke 17:11, Christ made a journey to Jerusalem for the
purpose of raising Lazarus from the dead; and yet the only notice of that journey
here is found in the words, "As they were on the way to Jerusalem" (Luke
17:11). The marvelous significance of this will be noted under that verse.
And he said unto his disciples, It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling
should come; but woe unto him through whom they come. It were well for him if
a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather
than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. (Luke 17:1-2)
This is the first of four sayings, held by many to be independent teachings of
Jesus, unconnected with the discourse or circumstance in which Luke has placed
them. Of course, if that is what they are, there can be no finding fault with such
an arrangement by the sacred historian; because Mark also frequently reported
such independent items of Jesus' marvelous teaching. This writer, however,
strongly feels that there is a connection which will be noted in each of the four
sayings.
Jesus had just finished the parable of Dives and Lazarus, which closed with the
implication that Dives had influenced his five brothers to follow a sinful course,
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an error which he vainly sought to correct from the spirit world. Jesus quite
logically moved to warn those yet living against such a sin. Spence agreed that
"There does seem a clear connection here with the narrative immediately
preceding."Luke 2p. 86">[1] After noting the opinions of many to the contrary,
Geldenhuys also said, "It appears to us that there is a unity between the various
pronouncements and that (although Luke does not say so) they were uttered on
one and the same occasion."[2]
Hobbs thought the four sayings might be entitled "Four things of which the
Christian should beware." These were enumerated by him as "the sin of
tempting others (Luke 17:1-2), ... the sin of an unforgiving spirit (Luke 17:3-4), ...
the sin of overlooking the power of faith in this (Luke 17:5-6), ... and the sin of
supposing that one may merit salvation (Luke 17:7-10).[3] We fully agree with
Hobbs that there are four pronouncements here, not merely two, as indicated by
the paragraphing in the English Revised Version (1885).
The Pharisees, who were constantly on the fringe of every audience Jesus ever
addressed, were at that very moment trying to cause the Twelve themselves to
stumble; and Jesus spoke in the most stern manner against those who would
pervert the faith of others.
Occasions of stumbling ... Bliss observed that the Greek word rendered
STUMBLING "meant the trigger of a trap, contact with which would cause the
trap to spring."[4] Therefore, although addressed to his disciples, this warning
far exceeded anything that the Twelve might have needed. It is God's
pronouncement of eternal wrath against those who lay a trap to destroy the faith
of others.
One of these little ones ... is a characteristic reference of Jesus to those who are
"babes in Christ," whose faith is young and weak.
Millstone ... The teaching here is that physical death is a far more desirable fate
than that which is reserved for those whose intent is to destroy the faith of
others. The millstone in view here weighed about forty pounds; and, although
Matthew quoted the Lord as referring to "a millstone drawn by an ass," a much
larger stone, those commentators who style that a contradiction must be kidding.
A forty-pound stone around the neck would have the same effect as a stone ten
times as large, if the wearer of either were thrown into the sea.
Luke 2p. 86">[1] H. D. M. Spence, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 16, Luke 2p. 86
[2] Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), p. 431.
[3] Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1966), p. 245.
[4] George R. Bliss, An American Commentary on the New Testament (Valley
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Forge, Pennsylvania: The Judson Press, n.d.) p. 258.
COKE, “Luke 17:1. Then said he unto the disciples,— Having been derided by
the Pharisees as a visionary, and insulted on account of his doctrine concerning
the pernicious influence of the love of money, our Lord took occasion to speak of
affronts and offences, — Σκανδαλα, stumbling-blocks, provocations to sin; and
though he represented such things as highly useful in respect of the exercise and
improvement which they afford to holiness and virtue; and unavoidable by
reason of the pride, anger, revenge, malice, and other jarring passions of men, he
did not fail to set forth their evil nature in their dreadful punishment. To
understand our Lord in the passage before us, it is necessary that we attend to an
obvious distinction. All offences or temptations are not of the same nature; some
of them are things in themselves sinful; others of them are things innocent: Jesus
speaks of the first sort; nor has he denounced against the authors of them a
greater punishment than they deserve; because to their own intrinsicmalignity
such things have this added, that they prove stumbling-blocks to others; and so
are of the most atrocious nature. When the other sort of offences happen to be
mentioned, they are spoken of in milder terms: if the offence be given to a fellow-
Christian, the person guilty of it is peculiarly blamed for wanting that love
towards his brother, which the Christian religion enjoins. If it be given to a
heathen, he is charged with being deficient in due concern for the glory of God:
in the mean time, it must be observed on this head, that though the weakness of
well-meaning persons,—who, by relying on our example, may be led to imitate us
in things which they think sinful,—is a strong reason in point of charity, why we
should forbear those actions, however innocent, (unless we are under the greatest
necessity of doing them;) yet the perverseness of malicious minds, that are apt to
misrepresent things, does by no means lay any obligations on a good man to
forbear what he finds convenient for him, provided he himself knows it to be
innocent; for the difference of the persons, who are apt to be affected by our
example, greatly alters the case of offences, and our behaviour with relation to
them. See the note on Matthew 18:5-6.
PETT, "Causing Stumblingblocks For Children (17:1-2).
The first warning is against putting causes for stumbling in people’s way,
especially in the way of weak disciples and believing children.
Analysis.
a And he said to his disciples, “It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling
should come (Luke 17:1 a).
b But woe to him, through whom they come! (Luke 17:1 b).
b It were well for him if a millstone was hung about his neck and he were thrown
into the sea (Luke 17:2 a).
a Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble (Luke 17:2
b).
Note how in ‘a’ occasions of stumbling will come, and in the parallel they should
beware of making little ones stumble. In ‘b’ there is a woe on those who do cause
others to stumble, and in the parallel it is declared that it would be better to
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drown themselves quickly rather than do so.
Luke 17:1-2, ‘And he said to his disciples,
It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come,
But woe to him, through whom they come!
It were well for him if a millstone was hung about his neck and he were thrown
into the sea,
Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.’
It is first stated that life and a sinful world is such that it is impossible to avoid
occasions of stumbling. They must necessarily come because of what people are.
But the point here is to warn against being the cause of such stumbling. The
word used here is skandala which indicates the stick which causes a bait trap to
function. It is a warning against ‘entrapping’ people, in this case disciples, into
temptation and wrongdoing, by false teaching and bad example.
One example of such a stumblingblock is found in chapter 16. The Pharisees
might scoff at Jesus’ views about wealth, but wealth was unquestionably a
stumblingblock to many (Ezekiel 7:19). It certainly was to the rich man in the
preceding story (Luke 16:19-31). It will be to the rich young ruler (Luke
18:18-26). It takes a special kind of person to be both wealthy and truly spiritual,
which is why Jesus spoke so forcefully concerning it. Thus the Pharisees caused
others to stumble by their attitude to wealth, even when they did not stumble
themselves. Let the disciples beware that they do no do the same.
Another stumblingblock can arise from the example we set to others. Paul
warned against allowing what we eat or drink to become a stumblingblock to
others (Romans 14:21). We may know that food offered to idols is nothing, and
we may be able to control how much we drink, but the more we are used in
Christian service the more our example is watched and copied, and the more we
therefore have to think about how our actions might affect others. We will not be
comfortable in that Day if an alcoholic declares that it was our example that
started him on his way to ruin. To the non-believer it sounds incredible that we
should think like this, for to them their right to do what they like is all, but the
Christian thinks differently, for he has to give account to his Master.
A third way of causing people to stumble would be by false teaching. They must
ensure that they are not being led astray like the Pharisees were seen to be in
Luke 16:14-18, and as a result of it leading astray those who looked to them for
guidance. They must beware of the hypocritical ways (leaven) of the Pharisees
(Luke 12:1).
Jesus treated the matter of causing others to stumble so seriously that He
declared a ‘woe’ on a person who did it. Indeed He says that it would be better
for that person to be instantly drowned than for them to cause a weaker person
to stumble. Being a Christian teacher and guide is no light matter. We must
study to show ourselves approved to God, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The millstone was the top stone used for grinding in the mill. It would have a
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hole in it and could thus be tied around the neck. If it were a large stone, as it
would regularly be, the person would sink instantly. The emphasis is on a swift
drowning (it was a severe warning, not actually intended to be carried into
effect). See for a slightly different example Jeremiah 51:63. Being cast into the
sea is an indication of judgment, compare Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:23.
It should, however, be noted that if such rough treatment is preferable to the
alternative, then the alternative must be pretty gruesome. We should not treat
lightly the idea of God’s punishments. On the other hand the severity of the
punishment must be seen in the light of the fact that to the repentant forgiveness
is available.
‘Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.’ Clearly
anything is seen as better than causing the weak to stumble, either by what we
say or what we do. ‘Little ones’ or ‘lesser ones’ (mikron) might indicate children,
or weak disciples, or the poor. ‘These’ suggests that they were present and could
be indicated. But there could well have been children who were with their
parents among the disciples, whom He uses as an object lesson. But all classes of
‘weak ones’ are in the end to be included. For the strong must have a regard for
the weak (Romans 15:1). For although Jesus valued children, He also valued the
weak (compare Isaiah 42:3). The parallel in the section chiasmus favours the
idea that it is little ones who are mainly in mind, for in the chiasmus it parallels
the bringing of children to Jesus (Luke 18:15-17). Compare also Matthew 18:5
where it is clearly indicated that the millstone treatment is recommended for
those who cause child believers to go astray.
Verses 1-10
The Disciples’ Responsibility Towards God’s People And The Warning Not To
Get Above Themselves Because Of What They Will Accomplish (17:1-10).
Some have spoken here of ‘separate sayings’ but there is no reason why this
passage should not be seen as a unity. It is a string of connected sayings of a type
regularly put together in Jewish teaching. It first warns against putting a cause
for stumbling in front of the weak, which is fairly similar to the Old Testament
warning against doing the same with the blind (Leviticus 19:14; Deuteronomy
27:18), and this is followed by the need to be ready to forgive weaker brothers
and sisters, a failure in which might well cause a weaker person to stumble. This
is then seen as making the Apostles aware that their own faith is weak, which
results in a desire for increased faith. And it is at this point that they receive the
assurance that their faith is large enough to accomplish what God wants to
accomplish, because even faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient for that.
Nevertheless their cry for increased faith is a welcome sign of growing humility.
But Jesus is well aware that what they are to accomplish in the future, the
planting of the Kingly Rule of God among the nations, might give the Apostles a
sense of superiority, so He follows all that he has said with a warning not to get
above themselves because they are able to do these things. They are not to see it
as making them super-saints. They must keep in mind that they will only be
doing what it is their duty to do, and that therefore all the glory must go to God.
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Having learned the secret of overcoming riches in the previous chapter, they are
now to learn the secret of overcoming pride in their accomplishments.
BURKITT, "Two things are here observable, 1. The necessity of scandalous
offences: It must needs be that offences come, if we consider men's corruptions,
Satan's malice, God's permission and just judgment.
Observe, 2. The misery and mischief which comes by these scandals: Woe unto
the world because of offences; woe to such as give the scandal: this is the woe of
one denouncing: and woe to such as stumble at offences given; this is the woe of
lamenting.
From the whole, note, 1. That scandals or offensive actions in the church of
Christ will certainly happen, and frequently fall out among those that profess
religion and the name of Christ: It is impossible but that offences will come.
Secondly, that scandalous and offensive actions from such as profess religion and
the name of Christ, are baneful and fatal stumbling blocks to wicked and worldy
men.
Thirdly, that the offences which wicked men take at the falls of the professors of
religion, for the hardening of themselves in their wicked and sinful practices, is
matter of just and great lamentation: Woe unto the world because of offences,
Matthew 18:7
SBC, “. We understand from such a sentence as this, what a true, calm judgment of
life the New Testament furnishes. It tells us the worst; it does not gloss things over.
Its writers and teachers are not carried away by enthusiasm. They do not paint the
world, even as it is to be in the light of Christian truth as a Utopia, a happy
dreamland of perfection. We remember who it was that pronounced this sentence.
Not one who despaired of humanity, not a cynic to whom its weaknesses were matter
for sarcasm, but one who, for all its vice and weakness, "so loved the world," and so
hoped all things and believed all things of the world, that He came from heaven to
live in it and to die for it. And yet, in spite of this, He could say calmly, "It is
impossible"—so God had allowed it to be—and proceed to warn and to persuade and
to work for men and with men, as though the necessary existence of temptation did
not lessen human responsibility, or make impossible the preservation of innocence
or the growth of holiness.
II. Notice two or three applications of our Lord’s words. (1) A life of selfish
enjoyment can hardly escape being a life through which offence comes. It is hard to
live before others a life which is easier than theirs—more guarded and furnished with
appliances of comfort and pleasure—without causing some harm to them, it may be
by rousing envy, it may more easily be by setting before them a wrong ideal,
strengthening in them the dangerous sense that a man’s life consists in the
abundance of the things that he possesses. (2) Our Lord’s words give the key to one
side of human sin and wretchedness. "It is impossible but that offences will come"—
impossible but that one man’s wickedness or folly should lead to sin and
wretchedness in others; impossible even in a world Christian in name and
profession; impossible even when men are trying in a sense and degree to live as
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Christians. It is a question that we must be always asking ourselves, whether we are
so living as to help or to injure these near us—those who look up to us, those who
breathe the same air with us, those who will in any way form a standard from our
acts and character.
E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 232.
BI 1-4, "It is impossible but that offences will come
Where sin occurs, God cannot wisely prevent it
The doctrine of this text is that sin, under the government of God, cannot be
prevented.
1. When we say IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREVENT SIN UNDER THE
GOVERNMENT OF GOD, the statement still calls for another inquiry, viz.:
Where does this impossibility lie? Which is true: that the sinner cannot possibly
forbear to sin, or that God cannot prevent his sinning? The first supposition
answers itself, for it could not be sin if it were utterly unavoidable. It might be his
misfortune; but nothing could be more unjust than to impute it to him as his
crime. Let us, then, consider that God’s government over men is moral, and
known to be such by every intelligent being. It contemplates mind as having
intellect to understand truth, sensibility to appreciate its bearing upon happiness,
conscience to judge of the right, and a will to determine a course of voluntary
action in view of God’s claims. So God governs mind. Not so does He govern
matter. The planetary worlds are controlled by quite a different sort of agency.
God does not move them in their orbits by motives, but by a physical agency. I
said, all men know this government to be moral by their own consciousness.
When its precepts and its penalties come before their minds, they are conscious
that an appeal is made to their voluntary powers. They are never conscious of any
physical agency coercing obedience. Where compulsion begins, moral agency
ends. Persuasion brought to bear upon mind, is always such in its nature that it
can be resisted. By the very nature of the case, God’s creatures must have power
to resist any amount of even His persuasion. There can be no power in heaven or
earth to coerce the will, as matter is coerced. The nature of mind forbids its
possibility. God is infinitely wise. He cannot act unwisely, The supposition would
make Him cease to be perfect, and this were equivalent to ceasing to be God.
Here, then, is the case. A sinner is about to fall before temptation, or in more
correct language, is about to rush into some new sin. God cannot wisely prevent
his doing so. Now what shall be done? Shall He let that sinner rush on to his
chosen sin and self-wrought ruin; or shall He step forward, unwisely, sin Himself,
and incur all the frightful consequences of such a step? He lets the sinner bear his
own responsibility. Thus the impossibility of preventing sin lies not in the sinner,
but wholly with God. Sin, it should be remembered, is nothing else than an act of
free will, always committed against one’s conviction of right. Indeed, ii a man did
not know that selfishness is sin, it would not be sin in his case. These remarks will
suffice to show that sin in every instance of its commission is utterly inexcusable.
II. We are next to notice some OBJECTIONS.
1. “If God is infinitely wise and good, why need we pray at all? If He will surely do
the best possible thing always, and all the good He can do, why need we pray?”
Because His infinite goodness and wisdom enjoin it upon us.
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2. Objecting again, you ask why we should pray to God to prevent sin, if He
cannot prevent it? We pray for the very purpose of changing the circumstances. If
we step forward and offer fervent, effectual prayer, this quite changes the state of
the case.
3. Yet further objecting, you ask—“Why did God create moral agents at all if He
foresaw that He could not prevent their sinning?” Because He saw that on the
whole it was better to do so.
Concluding remarks:
1. We may see the only sense in which God could have purposed the existence of
sin. It is simply negative. He purposed not to prevent it in any case where it does
actually occur.
2. The existence of sin does not prove that it is the necessary means of the
greatest good.
3. The human conscience always Justifies God. This is an undeniable fact—a fact
of universal consciousness. (C. G. Finney, D. D.)
The evil and danger of offences
1. The first is a time of persecution. Offences will abound in a time of persecution
to the ruin of many professors.
2. A time of the abounding of great sins is a time of giving and taking great
offence.
3. When there is a decay of Churches, when they grow cold, and are under
decays, it is a time of the abounding of offences. Offences are of two sorts.
I. SUCH AS ARE TAKEN ONLY, AND NOT GIVEN. The great offence taken was at
Jesus Christ Himself. This offence taken, and not given, is increased by the poverty of
the Church, These things are an offence taken and not given.
II. THERE ARE OFFENCES GIVEN AND TAKEN.
1. Offences given: and they are men’s public sins, and the miscarriages of
professors that are under vows and obligations to honourable obedience. Men
may give offence by errors, and miscarriages in Churches, and by immoralities in
their lives. This was in the sin of David; God would pass by everything but offence
given: “Because thou hast made My name to be blasphemed,” therefore I will deal
so and so. So God speaks of the people of Israel: these were My people, by reason
of you My name is profaned among the Gentiles. These are the people of the
Lord; see now they are come into captivity, what a vile people they are. Such
things are an offence given.
2. Offences taken. Now offences are taken two ways.
(1) As they occasion grief (Rom_14:1-23.). See that by thy miscarriage thou
“grieve not thy brother.” Men’s offences who are professors, are a grief,
trouble, and burden to those who are concerned in the same course of
profession. “Offences will come”; and therefore let us remember, that God can
sanctify the greatest offences to our humiliation and recovery, and to the
saving of our Church. Such is His infinite wisdom.
(2) Given offences occasion sin. But offences given are an occasion of sin,
even among professors and believers themselves. The worst way whereby a
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given offence is thus taken, is, when men countenance themselves in private
sins by others’ public sins; and go on in vices because they see such and such
commit greater. Woe unto us if we so take offence. Again, a given offence is
taken, when our minds are provoked, exasperated, and carried off from a
spirit of love and tenderness towards those that offend, and a]l others, and
when we are discouraged and despond, as though the ways of God would not
carry us out. This is to take offence to our disadvantage. I shall give you a few
rules from hence, and so conclude.
(a) The giving offence being a great aggravation of sin, let this rule lie
continually in your hearts, That the more public persons are, the more
careful they ought to be that they give no offence either to Jew or Gentile,
or to “the Church of Christ.”
(b) If what I have laid down be your first and your main rule, I doubt
where this is neglected there is want of sincerity; but where it is your
principal rule, there is nothing but hypocrisy. Men may walk by this rule,
and have corrupt minds, and cherish wickedness in their hearts.
(c) Be not afraid of the great multiplication of offences at this day in the
world. The truths of the gospel and holiness have broke through a
thousand times more offences.
(d) Beg of God wisdom to manage yourselves under offences: and of all
things take heed of that great evil which professors have been very apt to
run into; I mean, to receive and promote reports of offence among
themselves, taking hold of the least colour or pretence to report such
things as are matter of offence, and give advantage to the world. Take
heed of this, it is the design of the devil to load professors with false
reports. (J. Owen, D. D.)
Of the necessity of offences arising against the gospel
I. In the first place, it will be proper TO CONSIDER WHAT THE PRINCIPAL OF
THOSE OFFENCES AIDE WHICH HINDER THE PROPAGATION OF THE
GOSPEL OF TRUTH. And though everything that is faulty in any kind does in its
measure and degree contribute to this evil; yet whoever considers the state of the
Christian world, and the history of the Church in all ages from the beginning, will
find that the great offences which have all along chiefly hindered the progress of true
Christianity, are these which follow.
1. Corruption of doctrine. The Jewish believers, even in the apostles’ own times,
contended for the necessity of observing the rites and ceremonies of the law of
Moses; and this gave just offence to the Gentiles, and deterred them from readily
embracing the gospel. After this, other offences arose from among the Gentile
converts, who by degrees corrupting themselves after the similitude of the
heathen worshippers, introduced saints and images, and pompous ceremonies
and grandeur into the Church, instead of true virtue and righteousness of life.
2. The next is divisions, contentions, and animosities among Christians, arising
from pride, and from a desire of dominion, and from building matters of an
uncertain nature and of human invention upon the foundation of Christ. The
great offence, I say, which in all nations and in all ages has hindered the
propagation of the gospel of truth, has been a hypocritical zeal to secure by force
a fictitious uniformity of opinion, which is indeed impossible in nature; instead of
the real Christian unity of sincerity, charity, and mutual forbearance, which is the
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bond of perfectness.
3. The third and last great offence I shall mention, by which the propagation of
true religion is hindered, is the vicious and debauched lives, not of Christians, for
that is a contradiction, but of those who for form’s sake profess themselves to be
so.
II. Having thus at large explained what is meant in the text by the word “offences,” I
proceed in the second place to consider IN WHAT SENSE OUR SAVIOUR MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD TO AFFIRM THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT SUCH OFFENCES
WILL COME; or, as it is expressed in St. Matthew, that it must “needs be” that
offences come. And here there have been some so absurdly unreasonable as to
understand this of a proper and natural necessity; as if God had ordained that
offences should come, and bad accordingly predestinated particular men to commit
them. But this is directly charging God with the sins of men, and making Him, not
themselves, the author of evil. The plain meaning of our Saviour, when He affirms it
to be impossible but that offences will come, is this only—that, considering the state
of the world, the number of temptations, the freedom of men’s will, the frailty of their
nature, the perverseness and obstinacy of their affections; it cannot be expected, it
cannot be supposed, it cannot be hoped, but that offences will come; though it be
very unreasonable they should come. Men need not, men ought not, to corrupt the
doctrine of Christ; they need not dishonour their religion by unchristian heats,
contentions, and animosities among themselves; much less is there any necessity that
they should live contrary to it, by vicious and debauched practices; and yet, morally
speaking, it cannot be but that all these things will happen.
III. I proposed to consider in the third place, WHY A PARTICULAR WOE IS, BY
WAY OF EMPHASIS AND DISTINCTION, DENOUNCED AGAINST THE PERSONS
BY WHOM THESE OFFENCES COME. Thus it appears plainly in general, that the
necessity here mentioned of offences coming, is no excuse for those by whose
wickedness they come. It is because they are offences of an extensive nature.
IV. THE INFERENCES I SHALL DRAW FROM WHAT HAS BEEN SAID, ARE—
1. From the explication which has been given of these words of our Saviour—“It is
impossible but that offences will come”—we may learn, not to charge God with
evil, nor to ascribe to any decree of His the wickedness and impieties of men.
2. Since our Saviour has forewarned us that it must needs be that such offences
will come as may prove stumbling-blocks to the weak and inattentive, let us take
care, since we have received this warning, not to stumble or be offended at them.
3. And above all, as we ought not to take, so much more ought we to be careful
that we never give, any of these offences. (S. Clarke.)
On the vitiating influence of the higher upon the lower orders of society
If this text were thoroughly pursued into its manifold applications, itwould be found
to lay a weight of fearful responsibility upon us all. We are here called upon, not to
work out our own salvation, but to compute the reflex influence of all our works, and
of all our ways, on the principles of others. And when one thinks of the mischief
which this influence might spread around it, even from Christians of chiefest
reputation; when one thinks of the readiness of man to take shelter in the example of
an acknowledged superior; when one thinks that some inconsistency of ours might
seduce another into such an imitation as overbears the reproaches of his own
conscience; when one thinks of himself as the source and the centre of a contagion
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which might bring a blight upon the graces and the prospects of other souls beside
his own—surely this is enough to supply him with a reason why, in working out his
own personal salvation, he should do it with fear, and with watchfulness, and with
much trembling. But we are now upon the ground of a higher and more delicate
conscientiousness than is generally to be met with; whereas our object at present is
to expose certain of the grosset offences which abound in society, and which spread a
most dangerous and ensnaring influence among the individuals who compose it. Let
us not forget to urge on every one sharer in this work of moral contamination, that
never does the meek and gentle Saviour speak in terms more threatening or more
reproachful, than when He speaks of the enormity of such misconduct. There cannot,
in truth, be a grosser outrage committed on the order of God’s administration, than
that which he is in the habit of inflicting. There cannot, surely, be a directer act of
rebellion, than that which multiplies the adherents of its own cause, and which swells
the hosts of the rebellious. And, before we conclude, let us, if possible, try to rebuke
the wealthy out of their unfeeling indifference to the souls of the poor, by the
example of the Saviour. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Our liability to cause others to offend
A father tells us how he once started alone to climb a steep and perilous hill,
purposely choosing a time when his children were at play, and when he thought that
they would not notice his absence. He was climbing a precipitous path when he was
startled by hearing a little voice shout, “Father, take the safest path, for I am
following you.” On looking down, he saw that his little boy had followed him, and was
already in danger; and he trembled lest the child’s feet should slip before he could get
to him, and grasp his warm little hand. “Years have passed since then,” he writes,
“but though the danger has passed, the little fellow’s cry has never left me. It taught
me a lesson, the full force of which I had never known before. It showed me the
power of our unconscious influence, and I saw the terrible possibility of our leading
those around us to ruin, without intending or knowing it; and the lesson I learned
that morning I am anxious to impress upon all to whom my words may come.”
(Archdeacon Farrar.)
Cause of offence to the young
The owner of the famous Wedgwood potteries, in the beginning of this century, was
not only a man of remarkable mechanical skill, but a must devout and reverent
Christian. On one occasion, a nobleman of dissolute habits, and an avowed atheist,
was going through the works, accompanied by Mr. Wedgwood, and by a young lad
who was employed in them, the son of pious parents. Lord C sought early
opportunity to speak contemptuously of religion. The boy at first looked amazed,
then listened with interest, and at last burst into a loud, jeering laugh. Mr.
Wedgwood made no comment, but soon found occasion to show his guest the
process of making a fine vase; how with infinite care the delicate paste was moulded
into a shape of rare beauty and fragile texture, how it was painted by skilful artists,
and finally passed through the furnace, coming out perfect in form and pure in
quality. The nobleman declared his delight, and stretched out his hand for it, but the
potter threw it on the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces. “That was
unpardonable carelessness!” said Lord C , angrily. “I wished to take that cup home
for my collection! Nothing can restore it again.” “No. You forget, my lord,” said Mr.
Wedgwood, “that the soul of that lad who has just left us came innocent of impiety
into the world; that his parents, friends, all good influences, have been at work
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during his whole life to make him a vessel fit for the Master’s use; that you, with your
touch, have undone the work of years. No human hand can bind together again what
you have broken.” Lord C——, who had never before received a rebuke from an
inferior, stared at him in silence; then said, “You are an honest man,” frankly holding
out his hand. “I never thought of the effect of my words.” There is no subject which
many young men are more fond of discussing than religion, too often parading the
crude, half comprehended atheistic arguments which they have heard or read before
those to whom such doubts are new. Like Lord C——, they “do not think.” They do
not, probably, believe these arguments themselves, and they forget that they are
infusing poison into healthy souls, which no after-efforts of theirs can ever remove, A
moment’s carelessness may destroy the work of years. (Christian Age.)
2 It would be better for them to be thrown into
the sea with a millstone tied around their neck
than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
CLARKE, "A mill-stone - That drowning a person with a stone tied about the
neck was an ancient mode of punishment, see proved in the note on Mat_18:6, Mat_
18:7 (note), to which let the following be added. To have a mill-stone hanged about
the neck, was a common proverb. “Samuel saith, A man may marry, and after that
addict himself to the study of the law. Rab. Jochanan saith, No: shall he addict
himself to the study of the law with a mill-stone about his neck?” The place in
Aristophanes, to which the reader is referred in the note on Mat_18:6 (note), is the
following: -
Αραν µετεωρον εις το βαραθρον εµβαλω,
Εκ του λαρυγγος εκκρεµασας ᆓπερβολον
“Lifting him up into the air, I will plunge him into the deep: a great stone
being hung about his neck.”
Aristoph. in Equit. ver. 1359.
ELLICOTT, "(2) It were batter for him . . .—See Note on Matthew 18:6, where
the order of the two sayings is inverted. Assuming the words to have been
repeated where we find them here, the “little ones” must mean the disciples of
Christ who are, in both senses of the word “offended” by the worldliness of those
who profess to be religious. They are made to stumble by the temptation to
follow the bad example, or their faith in the reality of godliness is shaken by
seeing that the form exists without the power.
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3 So watch yourselves.
“If your brother or sister[a] sins against you,
rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.
BARNES 3-4, "See the notes at Mat_18:15, Mat_18:21-22. “Trespass against
thee.” Sin against thee, or does anything that gives you an offence or does you an
injury.
Rebuke - Reprove. Go and tell him his fault, and seek an explanation. Acquaint
him with what has been the effect of his conduct, and the state of your feelings, that
he may acknowledge his error and repent.
GILL, "Take heed to yourselves..... Or to one another, that ye neither give, nor
take offence. Take heed to your spirits, to your doctrines, walk, and conversation,
that you give no offence to any, that you are not stumbled by what you shall see in,
and meet with from others:
if thy brother trespass against thee; See Gill on Mat_18:15.
rebuke him; privately, and proceed according to the rules there directed to; lay his
sin before him; endeavour not only to convince him of the fact, but of the evil of it;
how contrary to the will of God; how unbecoming the Gospel of Christ, and the
profession he makes; how hurtful to himself, as well as injurious to his brother; and
how such evils give the enemy occasion to reproach the saints, to speak evil of the
ways of God, and blaspheme the name and doctrines of Christ, and harden sinners in
their sins, as well as stumble weak Christians, and sadden the hearts of the righteous.
And if he repent; if he is made sensible of his evil, and is truly sorry for it, and
ingenuously acknowledges it:
forgive him; the injury committed against a man's self; and pray to God for him, for
an application of his pardoning grace and mercy to him; and comfort him with the
hope of forgiveness with God, by the gracious promises and declarations of pardon
made to such persons; drop all resentment and anger, and behave towards him with
all sweetness of temper, and affability, and respect: and this is to be done
immediately, as soon as a man repents: and so say the Jews (p);
"says R. Chanina bar Papa, whoever commits a thing, and repents of it, they forgive
him directly; as it is said, Mal_3:5 "and fear not me": lo, they that fear me, forgive
immediately:''
such were reckoned good men, men fearing God.
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HENRY, "II. That the forgiving of offences is a great duty, and that which we
should every one of us make conscience of (Luk_17:3): Take heed to yourselves. This
may refer either to what goes before, or to what follows: Take heed that you offend
not one of these little ones. Ministers must be very careful not to say or do any thing
that may be a discouragement to weak Christians; there is need of great caution, and
they ought to speak and act very considerately, for fear of this: or, “When your
brother trespasses against you, does you any injury, puts any slight or affront upon
you, if he be accessary to any damage done you in your property or reputation, take
heed to yourselves at such a time, lest you be put into a passion; lest, when your
spirits are provoked, you speak unadvisedly, and rashly vow to revenge (Pro_24:29):
I will do so to him as he hath done to me. Take heed what you say at such a time, lest
you say amiss.”
1. If you are permitted to rebuke him, you are advised to do so. Smother not the
resentment, but give it vent. Tell him his faults; show him wherein he has not done
well nor fairly by you, and, it may be, you will perceive (and you must be very willing
to perceive it) that you mistook him, that it was not a trespass against you, or not
designed, but an oversight, and then you will beg his pardon for misunderstanding
him; as Jos_22:30, Jos_22:31.
2. You are commanded, upon his repentance, to forgive him, and to be perfectly
reconciled to him: If he repent, forgive him; forget the injury, never think of it again,
much less upbraid him with it. Though he do not repent, you must not therefore bear
malice to him, nor meditate revenge; but, it he do not at least say that he repents,
you are not bound to be so free and familiar with him as you have been. If he be
guilty of gross sin, to the offence of the Christian community he is a member of, let
him be gravely and mildly reproved for his sin, and, upon his repentance, received
into friendship and communion again. This the apostle calls forgiveness, 2Co_2:7.
BENSON, "Luke 17:3-4. Take heed to yourselves — That you may neither
offend others, nor be offended by others, but that you may keep all your passions
under proper regulation, and may be preserved from those resentments of
injuries, real or supposed, which, if yielded to, might occasion much sin to
yourselves or others. If thy brother trespass against thee, &c. — But while our
Lord cautioned them against all angry passions, and that quarrelsome temper
which they naturally produce, he thus prescribed a seasonable and prudent
reprehension of any fault that might be committed, accompanied with
forgiveness on the part of the person injured, as the best means of disarming the
temptations that might arise from such a disposition. See on Matthew 18:21. And
if he repent, forgive him — Immediately, without insisting on any rigorous
satisfaction. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day — That is, very
frequently; and seven times a day turn again, saying, I repent — That is, if he
give sufficient proof that he does really repent, after having sinned ever so often;
thou shalt forgive him — Shalt receive him just as if he had never sinned against
thee. But this forgiveness is due only to real penitents. See on Matthew 18:21-22.
In a lower sense, we are to forgive all, penitent or impenitent, so as to bear them
the sincerest goodwill, and to do them all the good we can; and that not seven
times only, but seventy times seven.
COFFMAN, “Jesus often taught on the subject of forgiveness. Just about the
longest parable in the New Testament regards this very thing (Matthew
18:20-35); and there is no need to make Luke's account here a "variable" of
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other teachings of Jesus in similar words and different circumstances. In fact,
there is a little different thing in view here, namely, a warning against
withholding forgiveness (when it has been asked for). Nor can we agree with
Wesley that "forgiveness is due only to real penitents."[5] Summers was nearer
the true meaning of Jesus when he wrote:
It is foreign to the intent of Jesus to ask, "But what if he does not repent?" ...
The follower of Jesus is not justified in holding a spirit of unforgiveness just
because no apology is offered. That would put the responsibility for the
Christian's attitude upon the offender; and that Jesus would never do.[6]
This subject is more extensively developed in this writer's my Commentary on
Matthew, Matthew 6:14-15. As a matter of fact, if one is going to forgive only
those sinners against himself who repent and request it, he will not forgive
anyone ten times in a lifetime! Besides that, what about those cases in which men
sin against others WITHOUT EVER BEING AWARE that they have done so?
And in religious matters, many sins are committed unintentionally (see John
16:2).
[5] John Wesley, Notes on the New Testament (Naperville, Illinois: Alec. R.
Allenson, Inc., 1950), en loco.
[6] Ray Summers, Commentary on Luke (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher,
1974), p. 197.
COKE, “Luke 17:3-4. Take heed to yourselves:— Our Lord speaks here
concerning a quarrelsome temper in his servants, but especially in the ministers
and teachers of religion;insinuating,thatmanygrievous temptations to sin arise
thence; temptations both to the persons who are injured by that temper, because
injuries beget injuries; and to those who are witnesses of the injury, as
encouraging them to venture on the like evils. But he prescribes a seasonable and
prudent reprehension of the fault, accompanied with forgiveness on the part of
the person injured, as the best means of disarmingthetemptationswhichmay arise
from such a disposition. Sentiments of this kind, delivered immediately after our
Lord had been insulted by the falsest teachers, for inculcating the purest
doctrine, proved how truly he forgave them all the personal injuries which they
had committed against him, throw a beautiful light on the severe things which he
had said of them in the course of his ministry, and are powerful
recommendations of that most amiable of virtues, the forgiveness of injuries. See
the note on Matthew 5:44.
ELLICOTT, “(3) Take heed to yourselves.—The position of the words is
remarkable, and they have nothing corresponding to them in the parallel passage
in Matthew 18:21, where see Note. It is as though our Lord saw in the disciples
the tendency to sit in judgment on the sins of others, on such sins especially as He
had just condemned, and checked it by the words “take heed to yourselves.”
They were in danger of faults hardly less fatal to the spiritual life than selfish
luxury, and one of those faults was the temper of hard and unforgiving
judgment. When they saw a conspicuous instance of worldliness or other evil,
they did as we so often do—they condemned, but did not “rebuke.” In practice,
18

as He taught them by example as by precept, open friendly reproof, aiming at
restoration, is the truest path to the forgiveness with which, in the careless
estimate of most men, it seems to be incompatible.
PETT, "Jesus also stresses the need to forgive readily those who recognise their
faults. Being unwilling readily to forgive could easily result in causing the weak
who have sinned, and sense that they are unforgiven, to stumble and fall away.
Such people often need to be made to feel welcome so as to help them to get over
their weakness. In such cases being unforgiving can only cause hurt and
resentment, and be a stumblingblock to the person who senses that he is not
forgiven. And yet it is not always easy to forgive. That is why in the Lord’s
prayer we are reminded that we should forgive, because we have been forgiven.
This is a reminder that we too are weak. And if we consider how much has been
forgiven to us, we will find forgiving far less difficult.
Analysis.
a Take heed to yourselves (Luke 17:3 a).
b If your brother sin, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him (Luke 17:3 b).
b And if he sin against you seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to
you, saying, I repent (Luke 17:4 a).
a You shall forgive him (Luke 17:4 b).
In ‘a’ they are told to take heed to themselves, and in the parallel they are to
forgive. In ‘b’ they are to rebuke a sin in a brother and if he repents to forgive
him, and in the parallel the same is to be true if he sin seven times in a day.
Luke 17:3-4,
Take heed to yourselves,
If your brother sin, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him.
And if he sin against you seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to
you, saying, I repent,
You shall forgive him.
‘Take heed to yourselves’ connects these verses directly to the idea in Luke
17:1-2. There is no more important attitude towards young believers than to be
able to forgive them. That does not, however, mean dealing lightly with sin. If a
brother or sister sins then their sin must be drawn to their attention, not in a
hypercritical or censorious way, but gently and lovingly in the same way as we
would want them to do it to us. Nevertheless they must be shown that it is wrong.
Sin must not be condoned. The verb used can mean ‘To speak seriously about, or
to warn in order to prevent an action, or in order to bring one to an end’. But
then if they acknowledge their sin and change their heart and mind about it they
are to be forgiven. Back biting or the nursing of grudges is thus forbidden. In
Matthew Jesus amplifies the idea to include seeking the help of others where the
person fails to repent (Matthew 18:15-17).
And the same applies if they sin seven times in the day. This is not a number to
be counted so that once we reach seven we can stop, it is really saying, ‘as often
as it happens’. The point is that continual forgiveness must be available, just as
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we need continual forgiveness from God. Thereby they will be strengthened and
raised to continue to go forward (instead of stumbling even more) and we will be
blessed and forgiven for our own sins.
But to put others before ourselves by avoiding being a stumblingblock, and to
forgive others continually for what they do against us, are not easy things to do.
They require faith in the One Who holds all things in His hands. That is
certainly how the Apostles saw it, for they then turned to Jesus and asked Him in
the light of all this to increase their faith. Note the change from ‘disciples’ to
‘Apostles’. There were many disciples, only twelve Apostles. The Apostles rightly
saw that they had a special responsibility for all the disciples who followed Jesus.
The Power of Little Faith Combined With A Great God Which Will Plant the
Kingly Rule of God, And The Need For Humility In The Service Of One Who
Gives Such Power (Luke 17:5-10).
What Jesus has just required of His disciples in Luke 17:1-4 has made the
Apostles appreciate that spiritually they are lacking. So with absolute confidence
in their Maser they ask Him to give them increased faith. He had previously
given them faith to preach, heal and cast out evil spirits. Now they are asking for
more faith so as to enable them to walk without causing others to stumble, and so
as to enable them to continually forgive, to say nothing of the other attributes
that they are going to need. They want to be men of such faith that they do not
fail God.
Jesus therefore points out that what they need is not a greater faith, but faith in a
greater God. If their recognition of the greatness of God is sufficient they will be
able to do remarkable things, for they have been chosen for that very purpose.
But while guiding them in this Jesus recognises the dangers for them in what He
now says of overweening pride, and thus seeks to bring home to them the need to
recognise that they will only have the power that He is describing because they
are doing what they are commanded to do, and that they do it as servants and
not as masters.
Analysis.
a The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).
b And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say
to this sycamine (mulberry) tree, ‘Be you rooted up, and be you planted in the
sea, and it would obey you” (Luke 17:6).
c “But who is there of you, having a servant ploughing or keeping sheep, who
will say to him, when he is come in from the field, ‘Come straightway and sit
down to meat’,” (Luke 17:7).
d “And will not rather say to him, ‘Make ready that on which I may sup, and
gird yourself, and serve me, until I have eaten and drunk, and afterwards you
will eat and drink?’ ” (Luke 17:8).
c “Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded?”
(Luke 17:9).
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b “Even so you also, when you shall have done all the things that are commanded
you” (Luke 17:10 a).
a “Say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which it was our duty
to do.’ ” (Luke 17:10 b).
The request for increased faith, if answered, may well open the gate to false
pride. Thus in guiding them in the way of faith Jesus carefully reminds them that
they are servants who are merely doing their duty. What they will be able to
achieve they will be able to achieve because of that fact. They will therefore have
nothing to boast about in it.
Note in ‘a’ that they request a greater gift of faith, and in the parallel they are to
acknowledge that they are thereby only servants doing their duty. In ‘b’ they are
promised that their faith will such that they will be able to command the
sycamine tree to replant itself in the sea, and in the parallel He reminds them
that they will only be able to do so because they themselves are under command.
In ‘c’ he questions whether a servant expects his master to serve him, and in the
parallel he questions whether a servant expects to be thanked. Central to all in
‘d’ is his responsibility to serve his master.
BURKITT, "The doctrine of forgiving an offending brother, is pressed upon us
with many forcible arguments in the New Testament, which speaks it to be a
duty of indispensable necessity. This place is to understood of private offences,
and personal wrongs and injuries done by one man to another; which we must
first reprove, and then remit; and although it be said, If he repent, forgive him;
that is not to be understood, as if we needed not to pardon our brother, if he
neglects to repent and ask forgiveness; but whether he acknowledges his offence
or not to us, our hearts must stand ready to forgive the wrong done to us, and to
pray for forgiveness on his behalf at the hands of God; laying aside all thoughts
and desires of revenge in our own cause, and standing ready to any office of love
and service to our offending brother.
Learn hence,
1. That to fall often into the same offence against our brother is a great
aggravation of our offences: If thy brother trespass against thee seven times in a
day; that is, very often.
2. That as the multiplication of offences is a great aggravation of offences, so the
multiplying of forgiveness is a great demonstration of a God-like temper in us:
he that multiplies sin, does, like Satan, sin abundantly; and he that multiplies
pardon, does, like God, pardon abundantly.
4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a
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day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I
repent,’ you must forgive them.”
GILL, "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day,.... For good
men are frequently apt to fall into sin, and offend both God and man; see Pro_24:16
"and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent"; as often as he sins, and
appears to be truly sensible of it, and humble for it, and makes acknowledgments of
it; and not only barely in words professes his concern for it, but there is reason to
believe that he is heartily grieved for it, and to hope that he will behave better for the
future:
thou shalt forgive him; this seems to be occasioned by Peter's putting such a
question to Christ, how often a brother might sin against him, and he forgive him;
see Mat_18:21. The Jews plead for great tenderness and readiness to forgive
penitents, when they ask for forgiveness; which they insist upon should be done: they
say (q),
"it is forbidden an injured person to be cruel, and not forgive; this is not the way of
the seed of Israel: but when he that has done the injury asks of him, and prays him
once and again, and he knows that he has returned from his sin, and hath repented of
his evil, he ought to forgive him; and whoever makes haste to forgive, is
praiseworthy.''
But then, they say (r),
"if he brings all the rams of Nebaioth that are in the world, he is not to have pardon,
unless he asks it of him.''
And they seem also to have set times for it, as well as restrain the frequent repetition
of it: they observe (s);
"if a man returns by repentance, in the intermediate time, (i.e. as the gloss explains it,
between the beginning of the year, or New Year's Day, and the day of atonement,)
they pardon him; but if he does not return in the intermediate time, though he brings
all the rams of Nebaioth in the world, they do not pardon him.''
A man that was always forgiving, was reckoned by them an extraordinary man: it is
said (t) of Mar Zutra bar Nachman, that he was ‫יום‬ ‫בכל‬ ‫,מוחל‬ "forgiving every day"; but
yet they do not seem to care to carry it to so great a length, and to repeat it so often as
our Lord directs; they allow a man to forgive three times, but not a fourth; See Gill on
Mat_18:22.
HENRY, "3. You are to repeat this every time he repeats his trespass, Luk_17:4.
“If he could be supposed to be either so negligent, or so impudent, as to trespass
against thee seven times in a day, and as often profess himself sorry for his fault,
and promise not again to offend in like manner, continue to forgive him.” Humanum
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est errare - To ere is human. Note, Christians should be of a forgiving spirit, willing
to make the best of every body, and to make all about them easy; forward to
extenuate faults, and not to aggravate them; and they should contrive as much to
show that they have forgiven an injury as others to show that they resent it.
JAMISON, "seven times — not a lower measure of the forgiving spirit than the
“seventy times seven” enjoined on Peter, which was occasioned by his asking if he
was to stop at seven times. “No,” is the virtual answer, “though it come to seventy
times that number, if only he ask forgiveness in sincerity.”
ELLICOTT, "(4) If he trespass against thee.—Better, if he sin. The better MSS.
omit the words, “against thee,” and so make the command more general, and the
verb is the same as that in Matthew 18:21, the teaching of which is here
manifestly reproduced. The outward form seems at first to present a somewhat
lower standard of forgiveness, “seven times,” instead of “seventy times seven.”
Here, however, it should be remembered that we have “seven times a day,” and
the meaning is obviously the same in both passages. No accumulation of offences,
however often repeated, is to be allowed to bring us to the hardness which
refuses to forgive when the offender says that he repents and asks forgiveness.
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our
faith!”
BARNES, "Increase our faith - This duty of forgiving offences seemed so
difficult to the disciples that they strongly felt the need of an increase of faith. They
felt that they were prone themselves to harbor resentments, and that it required an
additional increase of true religion to enable them to comply with the requirements
of Jesus. We may learn from this:
1. That Jesus has “the power” of increasing the faith of his people. Strength
comes from him, and especially strength to believe the gospel. Hence, he is
called the “Author and Finisher” of our faith, Heb_12:2.
2. The duty of forgiving offences is one of the most difficult duties of the Christian
religion. It is so contrary to our natural feelings; it implies such elevation above
the petty feelings of malice and revenge, and is so contrary to the received
maxims of the world, which teach us to “cherish” rather than to forgive the
memory of offences, that it is no wonder our Saviour dwells much on this duty,
and so strenuously insists on it in order to our having evidence that our hearts
have been changed.
Some have thought that this prayer that he would increase their faith refers to the
power of working miracles, and especially to the case recorded in Mat_17:16-20.
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CLARKE, "Increase our faith - This work of pardoning every offense of every
man, and that continually, seemed so difficult, even to the disciples themselves, that
they saw, without an extraordinary degree of faith, they should never be able to keep
this command. But some think that this and what follows relate to what Matthew has
mentioned. Mat_17:19, Mat_17:20.
GILL, "And the apostles said unto the Lord,.... Either on account of what was
now said by Christ concerning offences, and forgiving injuries; being conscious to
themselves of their own weakness to withstand temptations; and fearful lest they
should be stumbled and offended with what they should meet with; or that they
should give offence to others: and being also sensible of what spirits they were of,
and of the difficulties of conquering them, and mastering the resentment of their
minds, when injured and provoked; and also the necessity of divine assistance, of
having fresh supplies of grace, and of having their graces, and particularly faith,
strengthened, and drawn into a lively exercise; or on account of their not being able
to cast out a devil from one that was possessed, Mat_17:19 when words, to the same
purpose, were spoken by Christ, as in the following verse; on occasion of one or other
of these, though more likely the former, the apostles addressed Christ in this manner,
increase our faith; both the faith of working miracles, and the grace of believing in
him: by which, as they express their sense of the weakness, and imperfection of their
faith; and their great desire to have it increased, which might be for their comfort,
and his glory; so they acknowledge his divine power, and that he is the author and
finisher of faith; and that as the beginning, so the increase of it is from him:
wherefore faith is not of a man's self, or the produce of man's freewill and power, but
is the gift of God; and even where it is, it is not in man to increase it, or add to it, or to
draw it forth into exercise; this also is the operation of God. And if the apostles had
need to put up such a petition to Christ, much more reason have other men.
HENRY, "III. That we have all need to get our faith strengthened, because, as that
grace grows, all other graces grow. The more firmly we believe the doctrine of Christ,
and the more confidently we rely upon the grace of Christ, the better it will be with us
every way. Now observe here, 1. The address which the disciples made to Christ, for
the strengthening of their faith, Luk_17:5. The apostles themselves, so they are here
called, though they were prime ministers of state in Christ's kingdom, yet
acknowledged the weakness and deficiency of their faith, and saw their need of
Christ's grace for the improvement of it; they said unto the Lord, “Increase our faith,
and perfect what is lacking in it.” Let the discoveries of faith be more clear, the
desires of faith more strong, the dependences of faith more firm and fixed, the
dedications of faith more entire and resolute, and the delights of faith more pleasing.
Note, the increase of our faith is what we should earnestly desire, and we should offer
up that desire to God in prayer. Some think that they put up this prayer to Christ
upon occasion of his pressing upon them the duty of forgiving injuries: “Lord,
increase our faith, or we shall never be able to practise such a difficult duty as this.”
Faith in God's pardoning mercy will enable us to get over the greatest difficulties that
lie in the way of our forgiving our brother. Others think that it was upon some other
occasion, when the apostles were run aground in working some miracle, and were
reproved by Christ for the weakness of their faith, as Mat_17:16, etc. To him that
blamed them they must apply themselves for grace to mend them; to him they cry,
Lord, increase our faith.
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JAMISON, "Lord — (See on Luk_10:1).
increase our faith — moved by the difficulty of avoiding and forgiving
“offenses.” This is the only instance in which a spiritual operation upon their souls
was solicited of Christ by the Twelve; but a kindred and higher prayer had been
offered before, by one with far fewer opportunities. (See on Mar_9:24.)
BENSON, "Luke 17:5-6. And the apostles said, Lord, increase our faith — That
we may thus forgive, and neither offend nor be offended. And he said, If ye had
faith as a grain of mustard-seed — You would be able to overcome all
temptations, even those, the conquering of which may be compared to the
plucking up of trees and planting them in the ocean, that is, compared to things
impossible. Some, taking this example (by which the efficacy of faith is
illustrated) in a literal sense, have supposed, that the apostles desired Jesus to
increase their faith of working miracles. But the expression is undoubtedly
proverbial, signifying, not the working of miracles, but the doing of things
extremely difficult.
COFFMAN, “This is the third of the four pronouncements. The apostle's
reaction to the command of Jesus for what amounts to unlimited forgiveness
appeared to them such a monstrous task that they supposed they needed a
special measure of faith to be able to comply with it. The teaching here is that the
faith they had was more than enough to enable it, provided only that they got on
with the DOING of it.
Apostles ... Lord ... Those commentators who suppose that these terms were
retrospectively incorporated in Luke's Gospel at a time long after the events, and
at a time when the early church had "developed" these words are wrong. Jesus
himself named the Twelve "apostles" (Luke 6:13); and they referred to Jesus as
"Lord," using the word as a reference to the Godhead. Drowning Peter cried
out, saying, "Lord, save me," and this student of the word of God will never
consent to view these words as the equivalent of "Rabbi, save me" (Matthew
14:30).
Sycamine tree ... "This word sometimes means the mulberry tree, sometimes the
sycamore."[7]
What did Jesus means by this promise? There are two things in it: (a)the
forgiveness of those who sin against us is, humanly speaking, an impossibility,
comparable to the outlandish wonder in view here; and (b) the faith of
Christians, without any providential increase of it, is more than enough to enable
it to be done.
Miller was right in affirming that such a wonder as Jesus promised here suggests
"that genuine faith can accomplish what experience, reason, and probability
would deny, if it is exercised within God's will."[8] Hobbs was sure that no
miraculous ability was promised Christians in this; because, said he, "We cannot
even transplant violets in a garden, to say nothing of transplanting trees from the
land into the sea."[9] Jesus' true meaning is found in the Jewish usage of such
extravagant figures of speech. "Rabbis of intellectual eminence were often called
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`uprooters of mountains' in allusion to their powers of solving difficult
questions";[10] and, significantly, Matthew quoted Jesus using the term
"mountain" in this same context on another occasion (Matthew 17:20). This, of
course, is the same figure and should be understood spiritually.
[7] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1937), p. 762.
[8] Donald G. Miller, The Layman's Commentary (Richmond: John Knox Press,
1959), p. 125.
[9] Herschel H. Hobbs, op. cit., p. 247.
[10] John William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 182.
COKE, “Luke 17:5. The apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.— Our
Lord's discourse in the preceding verses, being very opposite to the common
notions concerning the Messiah and his followers, seems to have staggered the
faith of the disciples a little. They began possibly to fear,that Jesus, who talked in
such a manner, was not the person they had hitherto taken him for. They prayed
him therefore to increase their faith; meaning, perhaps, that he should put an
end to their doubts, by erecting his kingdom speedily, and distributing the
rewards which they were expecting for their services. Or we may take the word
faith, in its ordinary sense, for the true principle of holiness and virtue, which
the disciplesdesired their Master to strengthen in them, because the duty that he
had recommended was extremely difficult. Wontzogenius himself acknowledges,
that the disciples applying to Christ to strengthen their faith, shews that they
believed him to have a divine influence over the spirits of men.
ELLICOTT, “(5) The apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.—The form
in which the fragment that thus commences is brought before us suggests, as has
been stated before (see Notes on Luke 7:13; Luke 10:1), that it was a
comparatively late addition to the collection of “the words of the Lord Jesus”
(Acts 20:35), and this is confirmed by the exceptional use of “the Apostles” for
“the disciples.” It may have stood originally in an absolutely isolated form. On
the other hand, its position here indicates a sufficiently traceable sequence. That
command of a seven-fold—i.e., an unlimited—forgiveness seemed to make almost
too great a strain on their faith. Did it not imply an almost miraculous victory
over natural impulses, that could be wrought only by a supernatural grace? Was
not the faith that could “remove mountains” wanted, if ever, here—a faith in the
pardoning love of the Father, and in their own power to reproduce it? And so,
conscious of their weakness, they came with the prayer that has so often come
from the lips of yearning, yet weak, disciples of the Christ—reminding us of him
who cried, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief” (see Note on Mark 9:24)—
“Increase our faith.” May we not possibly think of Peter as having struggled to
obey the rule which had been given to them before (Matthew 18:22), and as
having found himself unequal to the task?
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PETT, "Verse 5-6
‘And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
And the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed,”
You would say to this sycamine (mulberry) tree, ‘Be you rooted up, and be you
planted in the sea,’
And it would obey you.”
The plea for increased faith is by ‘the Apostles’ in contrast with ‘the disciples’ in
Luke 17:1. The Apostles are growing in their awareness of the importance of
their position, and of their own weakness for the task. They feel therefore that
they need their faith to be made stronger. But Jesus, who sees much further
ahead, wishes to bring home to them that it is not the strength of their faith that
matters. What matters is the One in Whom they have faith. If their faith is in the
right Person, and they see Him for what He is and recognise their own position
within His purposes, then even the tiniest faith will accomplish mighty things.
But in order for this to be so they must be people of a forgiving spirit. We should
note in this regard that in the passage in Mark which deals with a similar subject
exercising faith and forgiveness are closely connected (Mark 11:23-25).
Their appeal for increased faith arouses in Jesus a desire to prepare them for the
future that lies ahead. For He knows that they will not always just be ministering
among a small group of spiritual ‘babes in Jesus’ in Palestine who need to be
tended, and guided over obstacles (Luke 17:1-2), and forgiven when they fail
(Luke 17:3-4). They will shortly be facing the greater task of going out to the
world with the Good News of the Kingly Rule of God.
This sudden introduction of words which transcend their context has been noted
earlier, compare Luke 10:17-22; Luke 12:49-53. We have another example here.
So now is the time for them to stop looking at their own faith and to recognise
that they serve the One Who can do great things, and because He has chosen
them, will do even greater things through them. For as they serve God in
obedience to His commands even the tiniest of faith will accomplish the
impossible. If they have faith as small as a mustard seed they will be able to
command a ‘sycamine tree’ to be rooted up and replant itself (phuteuo) in the
sea.
At a minimum this is telling the Apostles that in the future they are going to do
wonderful things. There would be no point in it otherwise. And aware of this he
is concerned that they do not as a result become proud and arrogant. That is why
He follows up this statement with a parable on humbleness of service. But there
is probably more to it than that as we now see.
For in the Old Testament the replanting of a tree is regularly symbolic of the
establishment of a nation (see Psalms 80:8 (kataphuteuo); Psalms 80:15
(phuteuo); Isaiah 5:2 (phuteuo); Jeremiah 2:21 (phuteuo); Ezekiel 17:3-15
(phutos), Ezekiel 17:22-24 (kataphuteuo); Luke 19:10-14 (phuteuo)).
The sycamine, probably the black mulberry tree, was a large tree, common in the
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Shephelah, with very strong and enduring roots, and that had a very long life. It
was the equivalent in Palestine to the cedar in Lebanon, and the oak in Bashan.
It was seen as immovable and almost indestructible. Moreover the coming Kingly
Rule of God has been likened to a similar mighty tree in Ezekiel 17:22-24 (in that
case a cedar). Furthermore the Kingly Rule of God has already been likened in
Luke to a mustard tree which grew large from a mustard seed (Luke 13:19),
while Israel is likened elsewhere to the vine, the olive tree and the fig tree when
fruitfulness is in mind. So a mulberry tree (sycamine) would be a suitable picture
of the strong, expanding and firmly rooted Kingly Rule of God, for it was a
common tree in Palestine and often spoken of alongside the olive and the vine,
and seen as the recognised Palestinian equivalent of the cedar, even if a little
inferior to it (1 Kings 10:27; 1 Chronicles 27:28; 2 Chronicles 1:15; 2 Chronicles
9:27; Psalms 78:47; Isaiah 9:10 in LXX). Being ‘planted in the sea’ could
represent being established among the tumult of the nations. For the sea is
regularly seen as representing the nations. See Psalms 65:7; Isaiah 17:12-13;
Daniel 7:2-3; Revelation 13:1; compare Isaiah 57:20. Thus the thought here may
be either of transplanting the new Israel and setting it among the nations, or of
transplanting the Kingly Rule of God from its beginnings in Palestine and setting
it among the nations. In the context of ‘faith like a grain of mustard seed’, which
has previously been linked with the growth of a tree representing the Kingly
Rule of God (Luke 13:19), the thought of the transplanting of a strong and
powerful and enduring tree may well be an expansion on that idea.
Here then the mulberry tree may be seen as representing the Kingly Rule of God,
as the vine and the fig tree can also do (John 15:1-6), the mulberry tree being
cited here because of its being a symbol of strength and permanence (when the
vine and fig tree are called on it is to illustrate fruitbearing, not permanence).
The idea is thus that just as they are to nurture the infant new Israel by
preventing stumblingblocks (Luke 17:1-2) and by a constantly forgiving
relationship towards those who are genuine believers and repent of sin daily
(Luke 17:3-4), so they will also establish the mulberry tree of the Kingly Rule of
God among the tumult of the nations. And He wants them to know that they do
not require increased faith for this purpose, just confidence in a mighty God.
Compare here Acts 4:24-30. It is a declaration that the faith that they already
have is sufficient for the task in hand.
This rooting up and replanting of the Kingly Rule of God is clearly depicted in
Acts where Jerusalem is finally rejected and replaced as the source of the
proclamation of the Kingly Rule of God by Syrian Antioch (Acts 12-13; Acts 21 -
see our commentary on Acts).
Note On How This Contrasts With Mark 11:20-25.
In Mark 11:20-25 we have a passage with a similar emphasis on what a little
faith can do, but there the picture is of the ‘casting’ of a mountain into the sea,
rather than that of ‘replanting’ a tree there. In the context of the cursing of the
fig tree, which represents God’s curse on Jerusalem for rejecting the Kingly Rule
of God, the disciples are told there that by their faith they will be able to cast a
mountain into the sea. In context the mountain is the Temple mount. The casting
28

of it into the sea thus refers to its being subjected to the tumult of the nations as a
result of its resistance to the establishment of the Kingly Rule of God as revealed
in its behaviour towards Jesus and its persecution of His followers. We can
compare here what He would say shortly concerning the destruction of
Jerusalem (Mark 13; Luke 21:20-24). It is the negative side of what in this
statement in Luke is the positive side.
BURKITT, "Observe here,
1. The supplicants, the apostles.
2. The person supplicated, the Lord.
3. The supplication itself, Increase our faith.
4. The occasion of this supplication, our Saviour urging the duty of forgiving
injuries.
Learn,
1. That as all graces in general, so the grace of faith in particular, is weak and
imperfect in the best of saints.
2. That the most eminent saints (apostles not excepted) are very sensible of the
imperfection of their faith, and very importunate with God daily for the increase
of it: Lord, increase our faith.
3. That faith strengthened enables the soul to the most difficult duties of
obedience, and particularly helps to the practice of that hard duty of forgiving
injuries. When our Saviour had preached the doctrine and duty of forgiveness,
the apostles, instantly pray, Lord, increase our faith.
SBC, "There is a twofold difficulty in this passage: (1) The manner in which Christ
receives the prayer of the Apostles seems to be not such as we should have expected;
and, (2) the connection of thought between the prayer for increase of faith and the
Parable of the Unprofitable Servant is far from obvious. I ask then—
I. What was there wrong,—or, if not wrong, at least unsatisfactory or ignorant—in the
prayer which the Apostles made to Christ in the text? I believe the explanation is this,
that the Apostles betrayed in their prayer an ignorance of the true meaning and
province of faith; the Lord had just been impressing upon them a plain practical
duty, that of forgiving each other their offences, and the Apostles feeling how hard it
would be for human nature to fulfil this command, admitting that justice of the
Lord’s injunction, and fearing lest they should be tempted to forget it, make the
prayer that He would increase their faith—as though faith were a kind of preservative
from sin of which the more we had the better, as though a certain amount of faith
would prevent a man from falling, just as a certain amount of medicine might cure a
complaint; and as though if they had only faith enough given to them by God’s grace
they could be perfect in their walk through this world, and sure of life in the world to
come. What is the Lord’s reply? He tells them that if they have faith at all, they have
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in them that principle which can work miracles, faith no doubt admits of growth, but
how? just by the performance of those practical duties which the Lord had enjoined;
it is not for a man to say, "I cannot do such and such things, because I have not faith
enough;" but rather to strive to increase His faith by doing God’s will.
II. Faith, then, is represented by Christ as that which, if only possessed in the
magnitude of a mustard seed, may be capable of great spiritual results; it is not the
size of the seed which determines its importance, a portion of a large seed is not the
same as the whole of a small one; no, the seed contains a principle of life; and so faith
in the heart, if it be but genuine, may grow and bear most wonderful fruits. The
prayer of the Apostles in the text is at least one which requires caution in the use; and
it becomes positively mischievous if it implies the thought that any gift of faith from
God, any supernatural influence, any inspiration from above, can be a substitute for
the patient development of the seed of God’s grace, the watering of it with prayer, the
keeping it clear from noxious intertwining weeds, the pruning and dressing of the
tree—in fact, the thorough devotion of our spiritual energies to carrying on the work
of grace.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 168.
Not quite sure—There are no sadder words; none at all. Every other trouble could be
borne, if we were but delivered from doubt; if we were but perfectly sure of certain
things which good people often say. The prayer of the text for many men and many
women is a very old one. Day and night it ought to go up, to where prayer goes; the
prayer the Apostle made to Jesus Christ: "Increase our faith."
I. I put quite aside the special use which they, perhaps, wished to make of a strong
faith. Perhaps they thought to work mighty works, which we have not the least desire
to do. It is faith to believe which we desire and ask for: faith to be perfectly sure. Give
us more faith; firmer faith, constant faith; faith that does not ebb and flow: faith that
is always there. It is a great thing to ask. There is a thread of the sceptic, even of the
infidel, in many a good Christian. There come the agnostic moments into many a
saintly life. So we come, we who are professed Christians, to God Almighty, with the
prayer made in solemn earnestness: "Give us more faith."
II. It will not do in these days, to pretend that there are no difficulties in the way of a
firm belief. But in the face of all difficulties, we take our stand here: that there is
evidence adequate to the healthy mind, which proves the grand doctrines by which
we live; that there is a God; a future life; that Christ was here; and if here at all, our
Sacrifice and Saviour. I need not try to reckon up, or rehearse, the many truths which
come of these, which multiply and are ramified into every detail of our daily life,
always more and more as we grow older. These are the things we pray to believe.
These are the things we have imperfectly in our minds, when we go to God and cry to
Him with an earnestness beyond all words: "Oh give us more faith."
III. By what means shall we get increase of faith? (1) By asking it from God in earnest
and continual prayer. (2) By keeping out of harm’s way. There is a moral atmosphere
laden with unbelief. Keep out of the society of unbelievers. Irreverence and flippancy
and self-conceit are the characteristics of any whom you are likely to know. Such
company cannot possibly do you good. It is almost certain to do you harm. (3) Stand
in fear of any permitted sin. Not morally only, but intellectually too, you do not know
how it may harm you, incapacitate you, pervert you. Pray with the Psalmist, "Cleanse
Thou me from secret faults; keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins."
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A. K. H. B., Towards the Sunset, p. 1.
BI 5-6, "Increase our faith
Increased faith prayed for
1. Observe, that faith is susceptible of being increased.
2. There are important reasons why an increase of faith should be desired,
(1) An increase of faith is connected with an increase of holiness.
(2) The increase of faith is connected with the increase of comfort.
(3) The increase of faith is connected with the increase of usefulness. (The
Preachers’ Treasury.)
Prayer for increase of faith
I. THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST POSSESS FAITH. There can be no increase where
there is no possession.
II. AN INCREASE OF FAITH IS POSSIBLE. This will appear from—
1. The power and goodness of its Author.
2. The progressive nature of religion.
3. The admonitions of the Bible.
4. The experience of the saints.
III. AN INCREASE OF FAITH IS GREATLY TO BE DESIRED. We infer this—
1. From its nature. It is a Divine gift, and its existence is attributed to the
operation of God (Col_2:12). That which God works in us must be desirable: as
He is an infinitely good Being, His works must necessarily bear a resemblance to
Himself.
2. From its effects. These refer—
(1) To our own personal salvation. We are justified by faith—saved by faith-
Christ dwells in our hearts by faith—we stand by faith—live by faith—Walk by
faith—and have boldness of access to God by faith.
(2) To the victories we gain over our enemies. By the shield of faith we
quench the fiery darts, etc. (Eph_6:16). We conquer the world by 1Jn_5:4).
The ancient worthies by faith “subdued kingdoms,” Heb_11:33-34).
(3) To the moral influence of our example.
IV. MEANS SHOULD BE USED TO SECURE AN INCREASE OF FAITH. To
accomplish this object—
1. Study the character of its Author. Meditate on the power, wisdom, and
goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think meanly of the Saviour, and you will
have little confidence in Him; but think greatly and highly of Him, and you will
trust in Him heartily, and believe in Him fully.
2. Get a more extensive acquaintance with the promises of God.
3. Be on your guard against everything that will deaden or damp the ardour of
your faith. Carnal company, worldly cares, spiritual supineness, filthy and foolish
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conversation—all tend to sap the foundation of your faith, and destroy your
dependence upon God.
In conclusion, we address a word—
1. To those who have no faith.
2. To those whose faith has declined.
3. To those whose faith remains in full vigour.
(Theological Sketchbook.)
Prayer for more faith
A prayer adapted to every part of the Christian life.
I. CONSIDER THE GENERAL IMPORT OF THE PRAYER: “LORD, INCREASE
OUR FAITH.”
1. Faith has respect to revealed truth as its immediate object; and in the New
Testament it more especially relates to Christ as the substance of all the promises.
2. In praying for an increase of this principle, the apostles acknowledged that
their faith was weak.
3. In praying for more faith, they also acknowledged their own insufficiency to
produce it (Eph_2:8; Php_2:13).
4. In directing their prayer to Christ, they virtually acknowledge His Divinity.
5. This prayer might in some measure be answered at the time, but was more
especially so after our Lord’s ascension.
II. THE REASONS WHICH RENDER THIS PRAYER SUITABLE TO ALL
CHRISTIANS. If we are truly the followers of Christ, yet our faith is weak at best, and
needs to be increased, and that for various reasons—
1. On account of its influence in obtaining other spiritual blessings, for they are
bestowed according to the measure of faith.
2. Its influences under dark and trying providences—Nothing but faith can
sustain us under them (Psa_97:2).
3. Its influence on the deep mysteries of Divine truth, which faith only can
receive and apply.
4. The influence of faith on our life and conduct renders this prayer peculiarly
suitable and ira portant.
5. Our spiritual enjoyments, as they are derived wholly from the promises, are
proportioned to the degree of faith.
6. Its importance in the hour of death renders it unspeakably desirable.
(Theological Sketchbook.)
The increase of faith
I. THE NATURE OF FAITH. An influential belief in the testimony of God. This
necessarily implies in all cases the absence of all indifference and hostility to the
truth which is its object, and also a state of heart or moral sensibility which is
32

adapted to receive its appropriate influence. It is easy to see what the character must
be, formed by the power of such a principle. Holiness, perfect holiness in man, in all
its peace and hopes and joys, is nothing more nor less than the truths of the gospel
carried into effect by faith. Let there be the impress of the gospel on the heart and
life, and what dignity and perfection of character—what noble superiority to the
vanities of the world—what lofty conceptions of God and the things of a future
world—what a resemblance to the Son of God would be furnished by such a man I
Such is the nature of faith.
II. THE MEANS OF ITS EXISTENCE.
1. Prayer. The suppliant at God’s throne is surrounded by Divine realities. Nor is
there a spot on earth where the tendencies of the heart to depart from God are
more effectually counteracted, and where the soul comes in more direct contact
with the objects of faith, than the closet. Prayer directly leads to the mortifying of
unbelief in its very root and element, by opening a direct intercourse with heaven.
2. Our faith may be increased by examining the evidence of Divine truth. God
always deals with us as intelligent beings.
3. To the same end we must cherish a deep and an abiding sense of the mean and
degrading nature of earthly things.
4. Closely connected with this subject is the kindred one of keeping death and
eternity continually in view.
5. Another means of increasing faith is its repeated exercise, in retirement and
meditation, as well as in the business of life.
6. Important to the same end are just views of the truth and faithfulness of God.
God has given to His people exceeding great and precious promises. The only
ultimate foundation on which faith can rest in these promises is the
unchangeable truth of God.
III. CONSIDER THE DESIRABLENESS OF INCREASING OUR FAITH. This
appears—
1. From the character it gives. All the defects and blemishes of Christian
character may be traced to the want or the weakness of faith as their cause. It is
through the imperfection of this principle that the character of man is formed so
much by the influence of objects that here surround him. Every man is what his
object is.
2. From the consolations which faith imparts. It is not only the prerogative of
faith that it adds to our peace and our joys in the prosperous scenes of life. Its
power is still more triumphant in scenes of affliction and trial. To the eye of faith
every event has a tendency and an aim.
3. From the glory for which it prepares. Preparation for the glory that shall
hereafter be revealed must be begun in this world. It must be begun in that
character, which is the only true appropriate preparation for the services and joys
of heaven. If the character be formed here by the exclusive influence of the
objects of sense, if all the desires and affections be confined to these, there can be
nothing in the world of spirits to meet and satisfy a single desire of the soul. The
character, then, must be formed by other objects—the desires and affections of
the soul must be fixed on things above—it must thus become capable of heavenly
joys, or in vain were it admitted into heaven itself. But it is by faith, and by faith
only, that the influence of these Divine and glorious realities can be felt in our
present state. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)
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Luke 17 commentary

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Luke 17 commentary