Lukas 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

Lukas 16:13

16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate ⁶  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise ⁷  the other. You cannot serve God and money.” ⁸ 

Lukas 21:12

21:12 But before all this, ⁹  they will seize ¹⁰  you and persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues ¹¹  and prisons. You ¹²  will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.

Lukas 23:14

23:14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading ¹³  the people. When I examined him before you, I ¹⁴  did not find this man guilty ¹⁵  of anything you accused him of doing.

[3:8]  ¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[16:13]  ⁶ sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.

[16:13]  ⁷ tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”

[16:13]  ⁸ tn Grk “God and mammon.” This is the same word (μαμωνᾶς, mamwnas; often merely transliterated as “mammon”) translated “worldly wealth” in vv. 9, 11.

[16:13]  sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.

[21:12]  ⁹ sn But before all this. Another note of timing is present, this one especially important in understanding the sequence in the discourse. Before the things noted in vv. 8-11 are the events of vv. 12-19.

[21:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “will lay their hands on you.”

[21:12]  ¹¹ sn Some of the persecution is of Jewish origin (the synagogues). Some fulfillment of this can be seen in Acts. See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

[21:12]  ¹² tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[23:14]  ¹³ tn This term also appears in v. 2.

[23:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “behold, I” A transitional use of ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here.

[23:14]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “nothing did I find in this man by way of cause.” The reference to “nothing” is emphatic.