Sign in
LUKE 3:8 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Luke 3:7Luke 3:9
“Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham — produce fruit worthy of repentance: the fruit test measures genuine transformation. Do not say we have Abraham as our father: covenant ancestry cannot substitute for personal response to the kingdom. Out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham: the divine power to create covenant community is not limited to biological descent.

Church Fathers on Luke 3:8

No one that remains in his old state, and forsakes not his old habits and practices, can rightly come to be baptized; whoever then wishes to be baptized, let him go forth. Hence are those words significantly spoken, And he said to the multitude that went forth to be baptized of him. To the multitudes then who are going forth to the laver of baptism, He speaks the following words, for if they had already gone forth, He would not have said, O generation of vipers.

Origen · 3rd century

The dweller in the wilderness, when he saw all the people of Palestine standing round him and wondering, bent not beneath the weight of such respect, but rose up against them and reproved them. The holy Scripture often gives the names of wild beasts to men, according to the passions which excite them, calling them sometimes dogs because of their impudence, horses on account of their lust, asses for their folly, lions and panthers for their ravening and wantonness, asps for…

Chrysostom · 4th century

Now it may be observed, that the following words natus and filius are spoken of animals, but genimen may be said of the fetus before it is formed in the womb; the fruit of the palm trees is also called genimina, but that word is very seldom used with respect to animals, and when it is, always in a bad sense.

Basil the Great · 4th century
Read all 22 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!
Luke 3:8 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy