“To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,”
To give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins — the content of John's preparatory ministry: the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins. Knowledge (gnōsis) here is not intellectual information but the experiential recognition of the salvation that the forgiveness makes available. Through the forgiveness of their sins: the mechanism of salvation is forgiveness — the release of the debt that estranges the people from God.
Church Fathers on Luke 1:77
For the manner in which the forerunner prepared the way of the Lord he explains, adding, To give knowledge of salvation. The Lord Jesus is salvation, but the knowledge of salvation, i.e. of Christ, was given in John, who bore witness of Christ.
For as if desiring to explain the name of Jesus, i.e. the Savior, he frequently makes mention of salvation, but lest men should think it was a temporal salvation which was promised, he adds, for the forgiveness of sins.
Read all 4 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!