Lukas 2:15

2:15 When ¹  the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem ²  and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord ³  has made known to us.”

Lukas 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ⁴  fruit ⁵  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ⁶  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁷  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁸ 

[2:15]  ¹ tn Grk “And it happened that when.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:15]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[2:15]  ³ sn Note how although angels delivered the message, it was the Lord whose message is made known, coming through them.

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

[3:8]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.