Luke 1:80 — Community Reflections

LUKE 1:80 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.”

And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel — the summary of John's childhood is the briefest possible narrative of thirty years: grew, became strong in spirit, lived in the wilderness, waited for the appointed time of public appearance. The wilderness preparation echoes Elijah's wilderness experience and Moses's desert preparation. Until he appeared publicly to Israel: the waiting and the preparation are real — the forerunner does not rush the appointed time.

Church Fathers on Luke 1:80

The future preacher of repentance, that he might the more boldly reclaim his hearers from the allurements of the world, passes the first part of his life in the deserts. Hence it is said, And the child grew.
Bede · 8th century

i.e. in bodily stature, and waxed strong in spirit, for together with his body at the same time his spiritual gift increased, and the workings of the Spirit were more and more manifested in him.
Theophylact · 11th century

Or he increased in spirit, remaining not in the same measure in which he had begun, but the Spirit was ever growing in him. His will ever tending to better things, was making its own advances, and his mind ever contemplating something more divine, while his memory was exercising itself, that it might lay up more and more things in its treasury, and more firmly retain them. But he adds, And he waxed strong. For human nature is weak, as we learn, the flesh is weak. It must…
Origen · 3rd century

Read all 5 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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