Luke 2:21 - Meaning and Application

Our Lord Jesus, being born of a woman, came under the law (Galatians 4:4). As the son of a daughter of Adam, he was under the law of nature. As the son of a daughter of Abraham, he was also under the law of Moses. He willingly placed himself under that heavy yoke, even though it was only a shadow of good things to come. Its rules were weak and temporary, as the apostle calls them, yet Christ submitted to them so that he could later cancel them and set them aside for us.

Here we see two examples of his submitting to that law. First, he was circumcised on the exact day the law required (Luke 2:21). When eight days had passed, the day he had been born, they circumcised him. Though circumcision was painful, Christ endured it for us. He did so to show his early obedience, even obedience to the point of blood. At that moment, he shed his blood in drops, before later pouring it out in full.

He also submitted to circumcision though it marked him as a stranger who had to be brought into the covenant with God. In truth, he had always been the Father’s beloved Son. It also treated him as if he were a sinner who needed cleansing, though he had no sin at all. Yet he accepted it, because he chose to be made like us, not only in human flesh, but in sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). Though this made him, in a sense, answerable to the whole law (Galatians 5:3), he still submitted. He did so because he had taken the form of a servant, even though he was free-born.

Christ was circumcised so that he could openly identify himself with Abraham’s family, from whom he came in the flesh, and whom he came to help (Hebrews 2:16). He also did it to show that he was taking responsibility for our sins and standing in for our safety. As Dr. Goodwin said, circumcision was like our bond, by which we admitted we owed obedience to the law. Christ, by being circumcised, as it were signed that bond for us, because he was made sin for us. The ceremonial law centered much on sacrifices, and by this act Christ committed himself to offer, not the blood of bulls or goats, but his own blood, something no one before him could do.

He also did this to honor the dedication of believers’ children to God. Circumcision was the appointed seal of the covenant and of the righteousness that comes by faith, and baptism serves that place now (Romans 4:11). His circumcision at eight days old gives much stronger support to the baptism of the children of believers in infancy than his baptism at thirty years old gives to waiting until they are grown. The outward sign has changed, but the meaning has not.

At his circumcision, he was also given his name, Jesus, or Joshua. The angel had named him this before he was conceived in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31), and Joseph was told the same after (Matthew 1:21). It was a common Jewish name, like John, and in this he chose to be made like his brothers. It was also the name of two important Old Testament figures who pointed to him: Joshua, Moses’ successor and Israel’s conqueror of Canaan, and Joshua the high priest, who was crowned in a way meant to picture Christ as a priest on his throne (Zechariah 6:11, Zechariah 6:13).

The name was also rich with meaning, because Jesus means Savior. He would be known, not by the glory of his divine nature, but by his gracious work as Mediator, the one who brings salvation. Second, he was presented in the temple. This was done in obedience to the law and at the time the law required, when he was forty days old, when Mary’s days of purification were completed (Luke 2:22). Many copies, and good ones too, read “their purification,” meaning the purification of both mother and child, because that is how the law intended it. Jesus had no uncleanness to be washed away, yet he still submitted, as he did to circumcision, because he was made sin for us. In this way, just as his circumcision helps us think of a spiritual circumcision made without hands (Colossians 2:11), his purification also points us to spiritual cleansing from the uncleanness and corruption we brought into the world.

According to the law, Jesus, as a firstborn son, was presented to the Lord in one of the temple courts. The law says, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord” (Luke 2:23). This command pointed back to the destroying angel’s passing over Israel when the firstborn of Egypt were struck down. So Christ, as firstborn, had a priestly title even surer than Aaron’s family. He was the firstborn among many brothers, and he was holy to the Lord in a unique way no one else ever was. Yet he was presented to the Lord like other firstborns, and only as they were.

Though he had just come from the Father’s own side, he was brought to God by the hands of a priest, as if he were a stranger needing an introduction. His presentation then pointed forward to his own act of presenting himself to the Lord as Mediator, when he was made to draw near to him (Jeremiah 30:21). But according to the law, he was also redeemed (Numbers 18:15). The firstborn had to be redeemed, and the price was five shekels (Leviticus 27:6; Numbers 18:16). In cases of poverty, the priest may have accepted less, or perhaps nothing, since no payment is mentioned here. Jesus was presented to the Lord, not to be brought back again, because he had already devoted himself to God’s service forever. He was not left in the temple like Samuel, but like Samuel he was given to the Lord for his whole life, and he serves in the true temple not made with hands.

The mother then brought her offering (Luke 2:24).

After she had presented her Son to the Lord, the one who would become the great sacrifice, Mary might have been thought free from any further offering. But the law of the Lord still stood in force, so she had to bring the appointed gift, a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons. If she had been able, she should have brought a lamb for a burnt offering and a dove for a sin offering, but because she was poor and could not afford a lamb, she brought two doves, one for each offering (see Leviticus 12:6, Leviticus 12:8).

This teaches us that when we come before God, especially on special occasions, we should both thank him for his mercy and humbly confess our sins with grief and shame. In both ways, we honor him, and we never lack reasons to do either. Christ was not conceived and born in sin as other people are, so there was no such need in his own case, yet because he was under the law, he obeyed it. In this way, it was fitting for him to fulfill all righteousness.

If this was fitting for him, it is far more fitting for the best of people to join in confessing sin, for who can say, “I have made my heart clean”?