Luke 12:1

“In the mean time” ties this teaching to the meal at a Pharisee’s house just before, where Jesus pronounced woes on the Pharisees and lawyers for their self-righteousness and the corruption their show of religion covered (Luke 11:37–54). Meanwhile a crowd too large to count has gathered, pressed so tight that people were treading on one another. With all that clamour around him, Jesus speaks “unto his disciples first of all.” The sin he has just exposed in the religious leaders is a temptation for his own followers too, and before they can serve the crowds they must guard their own hearts.

“Beware” translates proséchō, which means to hold the mind toward something, to pay attention and be on guard. Here it is a command to keep watch.

Leaven, zýmē, is yeast or ferment, from a word meaning to boil up. A little of it works quietly through a whole batch of dough and changes every part. Israel knew leaven as something to be put away: at Passover every household removed it (Exodus 12:15), a picture of being cleansed from sin and the old life. Paul uses the same picture to warn the church at Corinth that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” and he tells them to purge out the old leaven (1 Corinthians 5:6–8). In Matthew the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees stands for their corrupt teaching and ways (Matthew 16:6–12). Here Jesus names it himself: “which is hypocrisy.”

The word hypókrisis first described an actor playing a part on the stage behind a mask, and it came to mean pretence, playing a part that is false. The Pharisees were respected by ordinary people for their careful keeping of the law of Moses and their traditions, and Jesus often showed that their public piety covered an empty heart, as in his woes on the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:27–28). Like leaven, a little pretence spreads through a whole life and through a whole fellowship, until the face shown to others and the truth within have come apart.

God desires truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6), so hypocrisy dishonours him. It also misleads others into thinking that faith is a performance, and it hardens the one who practises it against repentance. That is why Jesus sets this warning first, and why the rest of the passage keeps returning to what is hidden and what is open.

Verse 2 gives the reason pretence is folly: “For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.” The verse says one thing twice. “Covered” is synkalýptō, to conceal altogether, and “revealed” is apokalýptō, to take off the cover, to disclose or make fully known, the word behind our “apocalypse.” In the second half “hid” is kryptós, what is concealed or private, and “known” is ginṓskō, to know or come to know. “Nothing,” oudeís, leaves no exception. The verbs “shall be revealed” and “shall be known” leave the one who reveals unnamed, and that one is God.

Scripture says this in many places. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). The psalm sets our secret sins before God (Psalm 90:8), and Paul tells us to judge nothing before the time, “until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). God will judge the secrets of men (Romans 2:16).

Paul’s last words there show that this cuts both ways. Hidden sin and hidden motives will come out, and so will hidden faithfulness. A disciple’s quiet loyalty, unseen by anyone, will be brought to light and honoured by God. For anyone wronged in secret, it is a promise that the wrong will be uncovered and dealt with.

Jesus now turns from the danger inside to the danger outside: “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” He calls the disciples his friends, phílos, those who are dear and held in affection, as he does when he says he calls them friends and no longer servants (John 15:15). He speaks this tenderly at the very point where he warns them of what will be done to them.

The threat was real. Jewish authorities would oppose his followers, and Roman authorities could be brutal. “Kill” is apokteínō, to kill, and the body is as far as that power reaches. “Have no more that they can do” uses poiéō, the common verb to make or do: once the body is dead, the enemy has done all he can. The believer’s life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and a psalm asks, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” (Psalm 118:6). Hebrews counts us among those who keep faith and do not shrink back (Hebrews 10:39), and Jesus has already told his disciples to take up the cross daily (Luke 9:23).

“But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear.” The word for forewarn, hypodeíknymi, means to show or set before the eyes, and so to instruct and admonish. “Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” The one to fear is God. “Power” is exousía, which covers authority and also plain power or ability, and God has both over what comes after death. “Fear him” comes twice in the verse, with “yea, I say unto you” between, so that no one can miss it. Matthew records the same teaching: God is able “to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

The God to be feared is the God who cares for the smallest of his creatures. “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” The sparrow, strouthíon, was among the cheapest and commonest birds, caught in nets and sold in the market as food for the poor. The farthing, assárion, was a small Roman copper coin of very low value. Five sparrows for two of them suggests a fifth bird thrown in with four, worth nothing at all to the seller. Jesus asks it as a question his hearers would answer with yes, and then adds what God does with these birds: “not one of them is forgotten before God.” The verb epilanthánomai means to lose out of mind or to neglect. God keeps every one of them in mind, and “before God” places each one under his eye.

Verse 7 moves from the birds to the disciples. “But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” The “But” is allá, and it turns from the sparrows to “you.” arithméō means to count or number. God knows us down to the hairs of our head, and nothing about us is too small for his attention. A psalm says, “he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14), and another speaks of God knowing our sitting down and rising up and every word on our tongue (Psalm 139:1–4).

“Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.” The command is mḗ with phobéō, the same verb Jesus used for fearing God in verse 5, now forbidding fear of everything else. “Therefore” is oûn, a particle of consequence: because God knows them so closely, they can stand without fear. “Of more value” is diaphérō, to differ or surpass, to be worth more. The argument runs from the lesser to the greater. If God keeps the market’s cheapest bird in mind, he will surely care for his children.

Matthew records the same words when Jesus sends out the twelve (Matthew 10:29–31), and Jesus uses the birds of the air in the same way when he tells his disciples to take no thought for their life (Matthew 6:25–34). Peter tells us to cast all our care on God, “for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

“Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God.” The verb “confess,” homologéō, means to assent or acknowledge, and the KJV renders it both “profess” and “confess.” It stands in both halves of the verse. To confess Jesus is to acknowledge openly who he is, as Lord and Saviour, in what we say and in how we live. Paul joins the two in a single sentence: confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in the heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9–10).

“Before,” émprosthen, means in front of, in the presence of, in the sight of, and it also stands twice in this verse. One confession happens in front of men, and the answering confession happens in front of the angels of God. The word ángelos comes from a word meaning to bring tidings, and so means a messenger. Here it is the angels of God’s heavenly court. Daniel saw that court, with thousands ministering before the Ancient of days and the books opened (Daniel 7:10), and in the same vision one like the Son of man receives dominion and a kingdom (Daniel 7:13–14). Jesus takes that title for himself, and the one who acknowledges us in heaven is the one with authority to judge. Revelation gives the same promise to the one who overcomes: “I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Revelation 3:5).

To confess Christ openly was costly for his first followers. It could mean being cast out by family and community, losing a living, prison or death. Jesus asks his disciples to be his witnesses to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8) and to let their light shine before men (Matthew 5:14–16), and he promises that every such confession, however small or costly, will be answered by his own in the presence of heaven. Matthew records both halves of the saying (Matthew 10:32–33).

“And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.” Many people misunderstood Jesus during his earthly ministry. They doubted who he was or opposed him out of ignorance or prejudice, without grasping where his power came from. Such words, sinful as they were, could be forgiven. The verb aphíēmi means to send away, and here to remit or pardon sin.

“Blasphemeth” is blasphēméō, to vilify or speak impiously, and in Israel blasphemy against God was a grave offence that could be punished by death. “Holy” is hágios, sacred and pure, and “Ghost” is pneûma, breath or wind and so a spirit, here the Spirit of God himself. In Matthew and Mark this saying comes after Jesus’ enemies had seen him cast out a devil and said he did it by the prince of the devils (Matthew 12:22–32, Mark 3:28–30). To blaspheme the Holy Ghost is to look at God’s own work, plainly shown, and call it the devil’s.

Jesus looks ahead to the trials his disciples will face. “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say.” Synagogues were the local centres of Jewish worship and also served as community courts, where a believer could be questioned, disciplined or put out. “Magistrates” (archē, rulers) and “powers” (exousía, those with authority) are the civil and governmental authorities, Jewish and Roman, who had the right to try a case. The book of Acts shows both: Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, answering the rulers and elders (Acts 4:8–13), and Paul making his defence before Felix (Acts 24).

“Take ye no thought” is merimnáō, to be anxious, to worry, to be distracted by cares, and with mḗ it becomes a prohibition. “Answer” is apologéomai, to give an account of oneself and make a defence, a word from the courtroom. Jesus covers every part of the burden with “how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say,” and lifts all of it from them.

Then he gives the reason: “For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.” “Teach” is didáskō, to instruct or impart. “In the same hour” means the very moment they are called on to speak. “Ought” is deî, it is necessary, one must, which covers duty and what is fitting. The Spirit will give them what is right and needful to say. Matthew and Mark record the same promise (Matthew 10:19–20, Mark 13:11). Jesus later calls the Holy Ghost the one who “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance” (John 14:26) and who will guide them into all truth (John 16:13). He promised that he would not leave them orphans (John 14:18), and the Spirit who speaks through his people is the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).

Jesus asks nothing of his disciples here that he did not do himself. He was without hypocrisy, tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), and the Spirit grows in his people the true fruit that pretence can only imitate (Galatians 5:22–23). He is the light that shines in darkness (John 1:5) and the light of the world (John 8:12), and he made the Father known (John 1:18). In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed (Romans 1:17), and the mystery kept secret since the world began is now made manifest (Romans 16:25–26). The hidden things are brought into the open in him, and he calls us to walk in the light as he is in the light (1 John 1:7).

He also showed what it is to fear God more than those who kill the body. He set his face to go to Jerusalem knowing what waited there (Luke 9:51), and he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). God raised him up, because it was impossible for death to hold him (Acts 2:24). He confessed the truth before Pilate (John 18:37). He faced the synagogue at Nazareth when it turned against him (Luke 4:28–29), the council of the chief priests (Mark 14:53–65) and the governor (John 18:33–37), and he answered with a wisdom from his Father or kept silent.

The one who promises to confess us before the angels now lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25), and he is able to present us faultless before the presence of his glory (Jude 1:24). Those who receive him are given power to become the sons of God (John 1:12). He has overcome the world (John 16:33), and as our high priest he is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, so that we come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:15–16). Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38–39).

This passage moves from the danger within to the danger without and back to God at every step. The God who sees every hidden thing is the same God who keeps every sparrow in mind and has counted the hairs of our heads. The one whose judgment reaches past death is the one who calls us his friends. Because we fear him, the people who can only kill the body lose their hold on us, and a life with nothing to hide becomes possible.

Jesus gives his disciples three things here. He gives the promise that what is said in secret will be heard in the light, which warns us against pretence and also assures us that faithfulness done in secret will be honoured. He gives his own word that whoever acknowledges him before men will be acknowledged by him before the angels of God. And he gives the Holy Ghost, who teaches his people in the very hour what they ought to say. “Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.”