Luke 10:28

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(28) Thou hast answered right.—The acceptance of the lawyer’s answer as theoretically true was part of the method of our Lord’s teaching. The words that followed, “This do, and thou shalt live,” were those of a Prophet who knew what was in the man, and read the secrets of his heart, and saw how little love was to be found there. In the command “This do . . . ,” however, our Lord does something more than accommodate Himself to the legal point of view. Love was really life, at once its source and its manifestation, if only the love were true, and the test of its being true was action.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:25-37 If we speak of eternal life, and the way to it, in a careless manner, we take the name of God in vain. No one will ever love God and his neighbour with any measure of pure, spiritual love, who is not made a partaker of converting grace. But the proud heart of man strives hard against these convictions. Christ gave an instance of a poor Jew in distress, relieved by a good Samaritan. This poor man fell among thieves, who left him about to die of his wounds. He was slighted by those who should have been his friends, and was cared for by a stranger, a Samaritan, of the nation which the Jews most despised and detested, and would have no dealings with. It is lamentable to observe how selfishness governs all ranks; how many excuses men will make to avoid trouble or expense in relieving others. But the true Christian has the law of love written in his heart. The Spirit of Christ dwells in him; Christ's image is renewed in his soul. The parable is a beautiful explanation of the law of loving our neighbour as ourselves, without regard to nation, party, or any other distinction. It also sets forth the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward sinful, miserable men. We were like this poor, distressed traveller. Satan, our enemy, has robbed us, and wounded us: such is the mischief sin has done us. The blessed Jesus had compassion on us. The believer considers that Jesus loved him, and gave his life for him, when an enemy and a rebel; and having shown him mercy, he bids him go and do likewise. It is the duty of us all , in our places, and according to our ability, to succour, help, and relieve all that are in distress and necessity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this subject explained in the notes at Matthew 22:37-40.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

28. he said, &c.—"Right; This do, and life is thine"—laying such emphasis on "this" as to indicate, without expressing it, where the real difficulty to a sinner lay, and thus nonplussing the questioner himself.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 10:25"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he said unto him, thou hast answered right,.... It is so written, and read; and this, as if he should say, is the sum and substance of the law, and what that requires men should do; wherefore,

do this, and thou shalt live; for the bare reading of it was not sufficient; though these men placed great confidence in reading this passage, or in reciting their phylacteries, of which this was a part, morning and night. Our Lord intimates by this, that, according to the tenor of the law, eternal life was not to be had without a complete and perfect performance of the duties of love to God, and to the neighbour, contained in these words; and this he suggests, in order to convict him of the impossibility of obtaining life by the works of the law, since such a performance cannot be made by man.

Geneva Study Bible

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 10:28-29. Τοῦτο ποίει] τοῦτο has the emphasis corresponding to the τί of Luke 10:25.

ζήσῃ] ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσεις, Luke 10:25. It is thus that Jesus declared the fundamental law of the divine retribution, as Paul, Romans 2:13. But as to the manner in which this moral, fundamental law leads to the necessity of the righteousness of faith (see on Romans, loc. cit.), there was no occasion for Him to explain further in the presence of the legal tempter.

Luke 10:29. δικαιῶσαι ἑαυτόν] namely, in reference to his question, to prove that he had put it with reason and justice; see on Luke 10:26 f. Comp. also Maldonatus, de Wette, Bleek, Schegg. The view that he wished to represent himself as being honestly disposed, Luke 16:15 (so usually), has against it[136] the purpose with which the scribe had presented himself, ἐκπειράζων αὐτόν, in spite of which he himself has still answered rightly, Luke 10:27.

ΚΑῚ ΤΊς Κ.Τ.Λ.] See on the ΚΑΊ occurring thus abruptly and taking up the other’s discourse, Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 146 f.; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 879 f.; “Mire ad ἦθος facit,” Bengel.

ΠΛΗΣΊΟΝ] without an article, hence: who is neighbour to me? Comp. Luke 10:36. See Bornemann, Schol. p. 69; Winer, p. 118 f. [E. T. 163]. The element of temptation consisted in this, that from the mouth of Jesus was expected some sort of heterodox reply which should deviate from the Rabbinical definition that the Jew’s nearest neighbour is his fellow-Jew.

[136] Lange, L. J. II. p. 1076, conjectures that the scribe wished, as the disciples had just returned from Samaria, to call Jesus to account in respect of this fellowship with the Samaritans—which could not be the way to life. But the Seventy had not been to Samaria at all. Comp. on ver. 1 and Luke 9:56.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

28. Thou hast answered right] “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” Genesis 4:7; “which if a man do, he shall live in them,” Leviticus 18:5; Romans 10:5; but see Galatians 3:21-22.

this do] As the passage from Deuteronomy was one of those inscribed in the phylacteries (little leather boxes containing four texts in their compartments), which the scribe wore on his forehead and wrist, it is an ingenious conjecture that our Lord, as He spoke, pointed to one of these.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 10:28. Τοῦτο ποίει, do this) Jesus in His turn πειράζει, tries, justly, rightly [tempts, in the sense puts to the proof, sounds, and tests, Genesis 22:1], the man who had ‘tempted’ Him with a wrong motive [Luke 10:25]: see Luke 10:37. [In doing, he might have experience of the real fact, namely, what things were wanting in his obedience, and so might be led to seek fuller instruction. It is not said, Thou art adequate to the doing.—V. g.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 28. - This do, and thou shalt live. The learned Jew was evidently confounded at the Galilaean Rabbi's first answer referring him to the sacred Mosaic Law. His perplexity is increased by the Lord's quiet repartee when he had rehearsed the two duties, to his God and his neighbour, "This do, and thou shalt live." It seems as though the clever, unfriendly critic of Jesus of Nazareth now forgot the hostile purpose with which he stood up to question, and, really conscience-stricken, willing to justify himself, in real good faith put the query which called out the famous parable. Luke 10:28