Luke 6:19

And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) There went virtue out of him.—The use of the term “virtue” (or power) in this technical sense is peculiar to St. Luke, and may be noted as characteristic of the medical Evangelist. (Comp. Introduction.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:12-19 We often think one half hour a great deal to spend in meditation and secret prayer, but Christ was whole nights engaged in these duties. In serving God, our great care should be not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning of another. The twelve apostles are here named; never were men so privileged, yet one of them had a devil, and proved a traitor. Those who have not faithful preaching near them, had better travel far than be without it. It is indeed worth while to go a great way to hear the word of Christ, and to go out of the way of other business for it. They came to be cured by him, and he healed them. There is a fulness of grace in Christ, and healing virtue in him, ready to go out from him, that is enough for all, enough for each. Men regard the diseases of the body as greater evils than those of their souls; but the Scripture teaches us differently.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Virtue - Healing power. See the notes at Mark 5:30.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. healed—kept healing, denoting successive acts of mercy till it went over "all" that needed. There is something unusually grand and pictorial in this touch of description.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 6:17"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the whole multitude sought to touch him,.... That is, the multitude of those that were sick and possessed; for they were persuaded, and they found it true by experience, that if they could but touch any part of his body, or his garments, they should be cured of their diseases:

for there went virtue out of him; in great abundance, as water from a fountain; without his speaking a word, or using any gesture, such as laying his hands on them:

and they were healed; in this secret and private way, of whatsoever disease they were afflicted with.

Geneva Study Bible

And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 6:19. δύναμις may be nominative both to ἐξήρχετο and to ἰατο (A. V[64] and R. V[65]), or we may render: “power went forth from Him and He healed all”.

[64] Authorised Version.

[65] Revised Version.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. to touch him] Compare Luke 8:44; Matthew 14:36; Mark 5:30.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. The words here used are few, and we pass them over often without pausing to think of what they involve. It was, perhaps, the hour in the ministry of Jesus when his miraculous power was most abundantly displayed. Luke 6:19

Vincent's Word Studies

Sought - went out (ἐζήτουν - έξήρχετο)

Both imperfects. The A. V. and Rev. lose in vividness by not rendering them accordingly. The multitudes were all the while seeking to touch him, for virtue was going out of him.

Healed (ἰᾶτο)

Compare Matthew 14:36; Mark 6:56, where διεσώθησαν, were thoroughly saved, and ἐσώζοντο, were saved, are used. Luke is more technical, using the strictly medical term, which occurs twenty-eight times in the New Testament, seventeen of these in Luke. Luke also uses the two words employed by Matthew and Mark, but always with some addition showing the nature of the saving. Thus Luke 7:3, where διασώσῃ (A. V., heal) is explained by Luke 7:7, ἰαθήσεται, the technical word, shall be healed, and by Luke 7:10, "found the servant whole (ὑγιαίνοντα, another professional word - see on Luke 5:31) that had been sick." Compare, also, Luke 8:35, Luke 8:36, Luke 8:44, Luke 8:47, Luke 8:48. Medical writers do not use σώζειν or διασώζειν, to save, as equivalent to ἰᾶσθαι, to heal, but in the sense of escaping from a severe illness or from some calamity. Luke employs it in this sense - Acts 27:44; Acts 28:1.