Bible Commentaries

CHAPTER 11

1. The Prayer Given to the Disciples (Luke 11:1-4.)

2. The Friend at Midnight. (Luke 11:5-10)

3. Encouragement to Pray. (Luke 11:11-13)

4. A Demon Cast Out and the Blasphemous Accusation. (Luke 11:14-23)

5. The Return of the Unclean Spirit. (Luke 11:23-26)

6. The Blessedness of Hearing the Word. (Luke 11:27-28)

7. The Sign of Jonas. (Luke 11:29-32)

8. The Single Eye. (Luke 11:33-36)

9. The Pharisees Exposed and Denounced. (Luke 11:37-44)

10. The Lawyers Exposed and Denounced. (Luke 11:45-54.)

Luke 11:1-13

Prayer is here more fully dealt with. We have learned how the perfect man, the Son of God, who had taken the creature’s place, made use of prayer. Again we see Him praying and when His disciples request Him to teach them to pray, He gives them the form of prayer, commonly known as “the Lord’s prayer.” But the better name is “the Disciples’ Prayer,” for the Lord Jesus had no need to pray, “forgive us our sins.” Many teach that this form of prayer was given twice, once in the Sermon on the Mount and the second time here. This is of course not impossible, but far from probable. If the prayer had been previously given, why should the request be made again? The ending which appears in Matthew, “For thine is the kingdom, etc.,” is omitted here as it ought to be in the Gospel of Matthew, for it was undoubtedly added by someone else. The parable which follows is peculiar to Luke. The parable was spoken to encourage perseverance in prayer, to pray without ceasing, continue in prayer, to always pray and not faint, which are all exhortations to His people. The promise contained in the thirteenth verse was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. To plead this promise now is unscriptural. The Holy Spirit has been given; He has come and dwells in the believer.

The story of His rejection is followed much in the same way as in Matthew. Luke 11:24-26 are in Matthew’s Gospel applied to the nation. The unclean spirit of idolatry had left them and is to return with seven others. But here the words of the Lord have a wider application, for He speaks of the state of a man. Outward reformation without true conversion and the reception of the nature from above, but brings Satan back with seven other spirits. Self-reformation cannot save.

The chapter closes with the judgments pronounced upon the Pharisees and Lawyers. Luke 11:37-54. He had entered the lawyer’s house as his guest. When the Pharisee marvelled, that He had not washed His hands in the ceremonial way, as commanded by the traditional law, the Lord uttered these solemn woes. They remind us of Matthew 23:1-39, but a closer study reveals the fact that the words of judgment Luke reports here were uttered at another occasion entirely. The words in Matthew were uttered in Jerusalem, while the words in Luke were spoken when He was journeying towards Jerusalem.