Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Bare him witness (emarturoun). Imperfect active, perhaps inchoative. They all began to bear witness that the rumours were not exaggerations (Luke 4:14) as they had supposed, but had foundation in fact if this discourse or its start was a fair sample of his teaching. The verb marturew is a very old and common one. It is frequent in Acts, Paul's Epistles, and the Johannine books. The substantive martur is seen in our English martyr, one who witnesses even by his death to his faith in Christ.
And wondered (kai eqaumazon). Imperfect active also, perhaps inchoative also. They began to marvel as he proceeded with his address. This verb is an old one and common in the Gospels for the attitude of the people towards Jesus.
At the words of grace (epi toiv logoiv thv xaritov). See on Luke 1:30; Luke 2:52 for this wonderful word xariv so full of meaning and so often in the N.T. The genitive case (case of genus or kind) here means that the words that came out of the mouth of Jesus in a steady stream (present tense, ekporeuomenoiv) were marked by fascination and charm. They were "winning words" as the context makes plain, though they were also "gracious" in the Pauline sense of "grace." There is no necessary antithesis in the ideas of graceful and gracious in these words of Jesus.
Is not this Joseph's son? (Ouxi uiov estin Iwshf outos). Witness and wonder gave way to bewilderment as they began to explain to themselves the situation. The use of ouxi intensive form of ouk in a question expects the answer "yes." Jesus passed in Nazareth as the son of Joseph as Luke presents him in Luke 3:23. He does not stop here to correct this misconception because the truth has been already amply presented in Luke 1:28-38; Luke 2:49. This popular conception of Jesus as the son of Joseph appears also in John 1:45. The puzzle of the people was due to their previous knowledge of Jesus as the carpenter (Mark 6:3; the carpenter's son, Matthew 13:55). For him now to appear as the Messiah in Nazareth where he had lived and laboured as the carpenter was a phenomenon impossible to credit on sober reflection. So the mood of wonder and praise quickly turned with whispers and nods and even scowls to doubt and hostility, a rapid and radical transformation of emotion in the audience.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Luke 4:22:
Matthew 4:13
Mark 1:21
Mark 5:17
Luke 1:30
John 7:5
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
