Luke 12:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we see a large crowd gathered to hear Christ preach. The scribes and Pharisees wanted to accuse him and harm him, but the people were not ruled by the prejudice and jealousy that shaped the leaders’ view. They still admired him, kept listening to him, and honored him. Even while he was in a Pharisee’s house, answering those who tried to trap him, the people gathered for an afternoon sermon. He did not send them away, even though he had already rebuked them strongly in the morning for being an evil generation that looked for a sign (Luke 11:29).

The people came back anyway, and that says much about them. They could bear Christ’s rebukes better than the Pharisees could bear theirs. The more the Pharisees tried to push people away from Christ, the more people crowded to him. There was such a huge gathering that people pressed against one another to get near enough to hear. It is a good sight when people are eager to hear God’s word and are willing to put up with discomfort or even danger so they will not miss a chance for their souls. It is like the picture in Isaiah, where people fly like doves to their windows (Isaiah 60:8). When the net is cast over such a great number of fish, there is hope that some will be caught.

In this setting, Christ taught his followers in front of the whole crowd. He began with a warning against hypocrisy, and he gave it first to his disciples. He may have meant the twelve, or the seventy. These were his closer companions, his own household and school, so he warned them especially as beloved sons. They made more open profession of religion than others, and hypocrisy was the danger they most needed to fear. They were to preach to others, and if they acted falsely or handled God’s word deceitfully, hypocrisy in them would be worse than in others. There was also a Judas among them, a hypocrite, and Christ knew it. By this warning, he would either stir Judas’s conscience or leave him without excuse.

Christ spoke these words to the disciples in front of the crowd, not in private. That made the warning stronger and showed the world that he would not support hypocrisy, even in his own disciples. He called hypocrisy “the leaven of the Pharisees.” Like leaven, it spreads through the whole person and affects everything he does. It also puffs people up with pride, makes them bitter and spiteful, and makes their worship unacceptable to God. It is specifically the leaven of the Pharisees, because hypocrisy was one of their chief sins. Christ is saying, “Do not copy them. Do not share their spirit. Do not pretend in Christianity the way they do in Judaism. Do not use religion as a cover for evil.”

He also gave a strong reason to avoid hypocrisy: “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed” (Luke 12:2, 3). It is useless to hide things, because sooner or later the truth will come out. A lying tongue does not last long. If you speak in darkness what does not match your public claims, it will be heard in the light. In some way it will be exposed. As Scripture says, a bird of the air may carry the voice (Ecclesiastes 10:20). The evil that is hidden beneath a show of godliness will be uncovered, perhaps in this life, as happened with Judas and Simon Magus, or at the last day, when God will expose the secrets of every heart (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Romans 2:16). If religion does not truly conquer the sin in a person’s heart, it will not always serve as a cover. The day is coming when hypocrites will be stripped of their fig leaves.

Christ then urged them to be faithful to the trust given to them, and not to betray it through cowardice or fear. Some take Luke 12:2, 3 as a command not to hide what they had been taught and were sent to declare to the world. Whether people listen or refuse, they were to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. What had been spoken to them privately, they were to proclaim openly, no matter who was offended. If they tried to please people, they would not be Christ’s servants, nor could they please him (Galatians 1:10). But the danger was larger than offense. This was likely to be a suffering cause, though never a failing one, so they needed courage.

Several reasons are given to strengthen them. First, their enemies have only limited power (Luke 12:4). Christ calls them his friends, and he gives this as friendly advice: do not be afraid, and do not wear yourselves out with anxious fear of human power and anger. Those whom Christ calls friends need not fear any enemies. Do not fear those who can kill the body, because even scoffers and murderers cannot keep you from your work. If you have learned to rise above death, you can say of such people, “Let them do their worst. After that, they can do no more.” The immortal soul lives on, is happy, enjoys God, and sets them at defiance. Those who can only kill the body cannot truly harm Christ’s disciples, because they only send the body to rest and the soul to joy, and they do so sooner than it would otherwise come.

Second, God is to be feared more than the most powerful people. Christ says, “I will warn you whom you should fear” (Luke 12:5). The point is to fear man less and fear God more. Moses overcame his fear of the king’s anger by keeping his eyes on the invisible God. If you own Christ, you may bring on human anger, but that anger can go no farther than death, and even that only by God’s permission. If you deny Christ and disown him, you bring on God’s anger, and that can send you to hell. Nothing can resist it. Since there are two evils, the lesser should be chosen and the greater feared. Therefore, Christ says, “Fear him.” As Bishop Hooper, a blessed martyr, once said, “Life is sweet, and death is bitter, but eternal life is more sweet, and eternal death more bitter.”

Third, the lives of good Christians and good ministers are under God’s special care (Luke 12:6, 7). When trouble and danger come, we must go back to first principles and build on them.

A firm belief in God’s universal providence, his careful rule over all things, will comfort us whenever we are in danger. It will also encourage us to trust God while doing what is right.

Providence notices even the smallest creatures, including sparrows. Though five sparrows were sold for two small coins, not one of them is forgotten by God. He sees to their needs and notices even their death. You are worth far more than many sparrows, so you can be sure you are not forgotten, even if you are imprisoned, exiled, or abandoned by friends. The death of believers is far more precious in the Lord’s sight than the death of sparrows.

Providence also notices the smallest concerns of Christ’s disciples. Even the hairs of your head are all counted (Luke 12:7). If God keeps track of that, then he surely keeps track of your sighs, your tears, and even the drops of blood you shed for Christ’s name. He also keeps account of all your losses, so they may be repaid, and no doubt they will be repaid far beyond what you lost.

You will be owned or disowned by Christ on the great day according to whether you now own or deny him (Luke 12:8, Luke 12:9). This should move us to confess Christ before people, whatever we may lose or suffer for our faithfulness. Those who confess Christ now will be confessed by him on the last day before the angels of God, to their lasting comfort and honor. Jesus Christ will not only say that he suffered for them and that they share in the benefit of his suffering, but also that they suffered for him and helped advance his kingdom on earth. What greater honor could be given?

This also warns us against denying Christ and cowardly turning away from his truth and ways. Those who deny him, whatever they may save by it, even life itself, and whatever they may gain by it, even a kingdom, will lose everything in the end. They will be denied before the angels of God. Christ will not know them, will not own them, and will show them no favor. That will bring them everlasting shame and terror.

The mention of being confessed or denied before the angels of God suggests that part of the happiness of glorified saints is that holy angels will esteem them highly. The angels will love them, honor them, and own them as Christ’s servants. They are fellow servants and will be welcomed as companions. On the other hand, part of the misery of lost sinners will be that holy angels will leave them to their judgment and witness their disgrace and misery, for they will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels (Revelation 14:10), who will give them no relief.

The task the disciples were soon to be sent on was of the highest and final importance for the people to whom they were sent (Luke 12:10). So they should be bold in preaching the gospel, because a much heavier judgment would fall on those who rejected them after the Spirit was poured out. That pouring out of the Spirit would be God’s last means of bringing them to conviction. Greater works would be done through the apostles, and greater punishment would come on those who blasphemed the gifts and work of the Holy Spirit in them.

Someone who spoke against the Son of Man might stumble at the lowly appearance of Christ and speak lightly or badly of him, and that could be pardoned to some extent, as in, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” But the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit, blasphemes the Christian message, and maliciously opposes it after the Spirit has been poured out and has testified that Christ is glorified (Acts 2:33; Acts 5:32), will not receive forgiveness. He will have no share in Christ or his gospel. The disciples could shake the dust from their feet against such people and leave them as hopeless, because they had rejected the repentance and forgiveness that Christ was exalted to give, and that the disciples were commissioned to preach.

No doubt this sin was more bold, and the case more hopeless, while the church still enjoyed the extraordinary gifts and work of the Spirit. Those gifts were meant as a sign for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22). Some people might not be convinced at first, yet still admire these works. But those who blasphemed them were given over.

Whatever trials the disciples were called to face, they would be given enough help for them and would come through them with honor (Luke 12:11, Luke 12:12). The faithful martyr for Christ has more to do than suffer. He must also bear witness, make a good confession, and make sure he does that well, so Christ’s cause is not harmed, even if he suffers for it. If that is his concern, he should trust God.

When they are brought into synagogues, before church rulers, before Jewish courts, or before magistrates and other authorities, to answer for their doctrine, they should not worry in advance about what they will say. Do not try to save yourself by clever speech or legal tricks. If it is God’s will that you should escape, and your time has not yet come, he will bring it about.

Aim to serve your Master, but do not trouble yourself about how. The Holy Spirit, as a Spirit of wisdom, will teach you what to say and how to say it, so that it will honor God and his cause.