Luke 4:41

4:41 Demons also came out ¹  of many, crying out, ²  “You are the Son of God!” ³  But he rebuked ⁴  them, and would not allow them to speak, ⁵  because they knew that he was the Christ. ⁶ 

Luke 8:27

8:27 As ⁷  Jesus ⁸  stepped ashore, ⁹  a certain man from the town ¹⁰  met him who was possessed by demons. ¹¹  For a long time this man ¹²  had worn no clothes and had not lived in a house, but among ¹³  the tombs.

Luke 8:35

8:35 So ¹⁴  the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus. They ¹⁵  found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Luke 13:32

13:32 But ¹⁶  he said to them, “Go ¹⁷  and tell that fox, ¹⁸  ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day ¹⁹  I will complete my work. ²⁰ 

---

¹ sn Demons also came out. Note how Luke distinguishes healing from exorcism here, implying that the two are not identical.

² tn Grk “crying out and saying.” The participle λέγοντα (legonta) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

³ tc Most mss (A Q Θ Ψ 0102 Ë^1,13 Ï) read “the Christ, the Son of God.” But the earliest and best mss, along with several other witnesses (א B C D L W Ξ 33 579 700 1241 2542 lat sa), lack “the Christ” here. It is likely that later scribes wished to bring the demons’ confession in line with what Luke says they knew later in the verse.

⁴ tn Or “commanded,” but “rebuke” implies strong disapproval, which seems to be more in keeping with the context here (L&N 33.419).

⁵ sn Jesus would not allow the demons to speak because the time for such disclosure was not yet at hand, and such a revelation would have certainly been misunderstood by the people. In all likelihood, if the people had understood him early on to be the Son of God, or Messiah, they would have reduced his mission to one of political deliverance from Roman oppression (cf. John 6:15). Jesus wanted to avoid, as much as possible, any premature misunderstanding about who he was and what he was doing. However, at the end of his ministry, he did not deny such a title when the high priest asked him (22:66-71).

⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn Note how Luke associates Son of God with Messiah (Christ) in this context, a regal connection with OT roots (Ps 2:7). Also, see the note on Christ in 2:11.

⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Grk “stepped out on land.”

¹⁰ tn Or “city.”

¹¹ tn Grk “who had demons.”

¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (the demon-possessed man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Or “in.”

¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the people’s response to the report.

¹⁵ tn Grk “Jesus, and they.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁷ tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuqente") has been taken as indicating attendant circumstance.

¹⁸ sn That fox. This is not fundamentally a figure for cleverness as in modern western culture, but could indicate (1) an insignificant person (Neh 4:3; 2 Esd 13:35 LXX); (2) a deceiver (Song Rabbah 2.15.1 on 2:15); or someone destructive, a destroyer (Ezek 13:4; Lam 5:18; 1 En. 89:10, 42-49, 55). Luke’s emphasis seems to be on destructiveness, since Herod killed John the Baptist, whom Luke calls “the greatest born of women” (Luke 7:28) and later stands opposed to Jesus (Acts 4:26-28). In addition, “a person who is designated a fox is an insignificant or base person. He lacks real power and dignity, using cunning deceit to achieve his aims” (H. W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas [SNTSMS], 347).

¹⁹ sn The third day is a figurative reference to being further on in time, not a reference to three days from now. Jesus is not even in Jerusalem yet, and the events of the last days in Jerusalem take a good week.

²⁰ tn Or “I reach my goal.” The verb τελειόω (teleiow) is a key NT term for the completion of God’s plan: See Luke 12:50; 22:37; John 19:30; and (where it has the additional component of meaning “to perfect”) Heb 2:10; 5:8-9; 7:28.