Luke 4:16-19

Our Anointing

Our Purpose

Our Audience

Study Note—includes comments about historical or cultural background, explanation of obscure phrases or brief discussions of context, discussions of the theological point made by the biblical author, cross references and references to Old Testament quotations or allusions in the New Testament, or other miscellaneous information helpful to the modern reader.

(18) The phrase he has anointed me is an allusion (an implicit or indirect reference) back to Jesus’ baptism in Luke 3:21–22.

(18) Grk “to evangelize,” “to preach the gospel.”

(18) The poor is a key term in Luke. It refers to the pious poor and indicates Jesus’ desire to reach out to those the world tends to forget or mistreat. It is like 1:52 in force and also will be echoed in 6:20 (also 1 Pet 2:11–25). Jesus is commissioned to do this.

Poverty in the Hebrew Bible denotes (1) a lack of economic resources and material goods; and (2) political and legal powerlessness and oppression. Neither a social class nor a political party in ancient Israel, the poor constituted a diverse body of social actors: small farmers, day laborers, construction workers, beggars, debt slaves, village dwellers.

Poverty in such contexts (New Testament) refers to “the inadequacy of life without honor, with consequent social and personal inability to participate in the activities of the community, the inability to maintain self-respect as defined by community social standards.”

(18) The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted”

mss manuscripts

(18) The release in view here is comprehensive, both at a physical level and a spiritual one, as the entire ministry of Jesus makes clear (Luke 1:77–79; 7:47; 24:47; Acts 2:38; 5:31; 10:43).

(18) Again, as with the previous phrase, regaining of sight may well mean more than simply miraculously restoring physical sight, which itself pictures a deeper reality (Luke 1:77–79; 18:35–43).

(18) The essence of Jesus’ messianic work is expressed in the phrase to set free. This line from Isa 58 says that Jesus will do what the nation had failed to do. It makes the proclamation messianic, not merely prophetic, because Jesus doesn’t just proclaim the message—he brings the deliverance. The word translated set free is the same Greek word (ἄφεσις, aphesis) translated release earlier in the verse.

(18) Again, as with the previous phrases, oppressed may well mean more than simply political or economic oppression, but a deeper reality of oppression by sin (Luke 1:77–79; 18:35–43).

(19) The year of the Lord’s favor (Grk “the acceptable year of the Lord”) is a description of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:10). The year of the total forgiveness of debt is now turned into a metaphor for salvation. Jesus had come to proclaim that God was ready to forgive sin totally.

(19) A quotation from Isa 61:1–2a. Within the citation is a line from Isa 58:6, with its reference to setting the oppressed free.

Biblical Studies Press. The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005. Print.

Hanks, Thomas D. “Poor, Poverty: New Testament.” Ed. David Noel Freedman. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary 1992 : 415. Print.

Pleins, J. David. “Poor, Poverty: Old Testament.” Ed. David Noel Freedman. The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary 1992 : 402. Print.