Luke 7:35

But wisdom is justified of all her children.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:19-35 To his miracles in the kingdom of nature, Christ adds this in the kingdom of grace, To the poor the gospel is preached. It clearly pointed out the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, that the messenger he sent before him to prepare his way, did it by preaching repentance and reformation of heart and life. We have here the just blame of those who were not wrought upon by the ministry of John Baptist or of Jesus Christ himself. They made a jest of the methods God took to do them good. This is the ruin of multitudes; they are not serious in the concerns of their souls. Let us study to prove ourselves children of Wisdom, by attending the instructions of God's word, and adoring those mysteries and glad tidings which infidels and Pharisees deride and blaspheme.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 11:16-19. "And the Lord said." This clause is wanting in almost all the manuscripts, and is omitted by the best critics.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

31-35. the Lord said, &c.—As cross, capricious children, invited by their playmates to join them in their amusements, will play with them neither at weddings nor funerals (juvenile imitations of the joyous and mournful scenes of life), so that generation rejected both John and his Master: the one because he was too unsocial—more like a demoniac than a rational man; the other, because He was too much the reverse, given to animal indulgences, and consorting with the lowest classes of society. But the children of Wisdom recognize and honor her, whether in the austere garb of the Baptist or in the more attractive style of his Master, whether in the Law or in the Gospel, whether in rags or in royalty, for "the full soul loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" (Pr 27:7).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 1:31"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But wisdom is justified of all her children. That is, Christ, who is the wisdom of God, and who acted the wise part, in behaving in such a free manner with all sorts of men, and even with publicans and sinners, whereby he became useful to their souls, called them to repentance, converted and saved them: and these are his children, which were given him by the Father; for whose sake he partook of flesh and blood, and whom he redeemed, that they might receive the adoption of children; and to whom, believing in him, he gives power to become the children of God: and these justify him from all such scandalous imputations, and by their lives and conversations show, that the doctrine of Christ is not a licentious one, or leads to libertinism, and indulges men in their carnal sensual lusts and pleasures; but, on the contrary, teaches them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly: the word "all", is inserted by Luke, which is not in Matthew; signifying, that this is the universal sense and practice of all the real offspring of Christ, the sons of wisdom, who are wise to do good.

Geneva Study Bible

But wisdom is justified of all her children.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 7:35. καὶ, etc., and wisdom is wont to be justified by all her children; by all who are themselves wise, not foolish and unreasonable like the “generation” described. On this adage vide notes on Matthew 11:19. Bornemann thinks that this verse is part of what the adverse critics said, of course spoken in irony = their conduct shown to be folly by results; what converts they made: the refuse of the population!

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. But] Literally, “And,” but the Greek kai often has the force of ‘and yet.’

wisdom] The personification of God’s wisdom was common in the later Jewish literature, as in the Book of Wisdom. It is also found in the Old Testament (Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 1:9, &c.).

is justified of all her children] Rather, was justified by, i.e. has from the first been acquitted of all wrong and error, receives the witness of being just, at the hands of all her children. The “children of wisdom” genei-ally (Proverbs 2:1; Proverbs 3:1, &c.) are those who obey God, and here are those of that generation who accepted the baptism of John and the ministry of Jesus, without making a stumbling-block of their different methods. The Jews, like the petulant children, refused to sympathise either with John or Jesus—the one they condemned for exaggerated strictness, the other for dangerous laxity: yet the Wise,—Wisdom’s true children—once for all declare that she is righteous, and free from blame: for they know that wisdom is polu- poikilos, ‘richly-variegated,’ ‘of many colours,’ Ephesians 3:10. The world’s wisdom was foolishness; those whom the world called fools were divinely wise, John 3:33. Wisdom is thus justified by her children both actively and passively; they declare her to be just and holy, and the world ultimately sees that her guidance as exemplified by their lives is the best guidance (Wis 5:5; Wis 5:4; Psalm 51:4; Romans 3:4). The reading ἔργων ‘works’ for τέκνων “children” in א may be derived from the variant reading in Matthew 11:19.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 7:35. Καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς πάντων) and wisdom has been (habitually) justified by [on the part of, owing to] all who are her sons. Καὶ has the force, and; for Jesus manifestly continues His complaint (comp. Matthew 11:19, where He does not express until the end of Luke 7:25 that which these words might otherwise be thought to denote, but all her children have justified wisdom): and moreover transfers, as it were indirectly, the complaint from the hypothesis, viz. concerning the perverseness of the men of that time, to the thesis, viz. concerning the perpetual and habitual characteristic of the Jewish people, just as He has also transferred it in ch. Luke 11:47-48. It is to this that the adjective πάντων, all, has reference: this also is the intention of the use of the past time (wherein often is included the force of the verb, is wont) in has been (habitually) justified (whereas, ye say, in the present time, precedes: Luke 7:34): this also is the reason of the employment of the term, Wisdom [viz. as appropriate when speaking, as here, of a fact habitual in all times]; for He is no longer now called the Son of man, as in the preceding verse, but Wisdom: and of these terms the one (Son of man) is suitable to Christ’s manifested state; the other (Wisdom) to all times: ch. Luke 11:49. Furthermore He is called in this place Wisdom, inasmuch as He Himself best knows what is to be done; and His own actions, replete with the purest accommodation [adaptation] to sinners, ought not to have been called to account. Add Proverbs 8:1; Proverbs 8:32. The children of this Wisdom are not Pharisees, and those like them (which otherwise would not be inappropriate to be said here; comp. ch. Luke 13:34, at the end, and Matthew 8:12); but the Apostles, as well as all publicans and sinners who had been converted to Jesus out of the whole people; whom He thus names, in order to show His own tie of connection with them, and His right of associating with them, and the perverseness of the calumniators. In Thucydides and other writers, δικαιοῦν, to justify, when used of a person, denotes to pass sentence or fix a punishment against (to be inflicted on) any one, and that a just sentence or punishment; when used of a thing, it denotes to account anything just. Gataker, Diss. de stilo Novi Instr. cap. 8, proves this in opposition to Pfochenius, and considers this to be an altogether striking instance of Biblical Græcism beins different from the Greek style of the heathen classics: for in the sacred writings הצדיק, δικαιοῦν, signifies to give one’s judgment in favour of any one, or in other words, to pronounce one just, whether by a just or unjust judgment. Comp. note on Romans 3:20. Δικαιοῦσθαι, Sir 18:22, is the same as ἀποδοῦναι: for he who owes a debt is as it were arraigned [a defendant]; he who pays it [ἀποδίδωσι], or makes good what he was bound to make good, is set free [δικαιοῦται]. French, s’acquitter [to pay off, lit. to acquit one’s self]. And yet we are not to think that both senses of the term cannot be reduced to the one notion, justifying; for the judge accounts that satisfaction has been given him, both in the case of him who has borne his full punishment, and in the case of him who has been acquitted, and thence that both are in his eyes just. There is in the former use of the word the additional element of an Euphemism, which is not needed in the latter. In this passage also δικαιοῦν is employed in the good sense: and ἐδικαιώθη, has been justified, contains a Metonymy of the consequent for the antecedent (for every justification presupposes an accusation, a cause at issue and some controversy, Romans 3:4; Genesis 44:16, LXX.: [and so here the consequent, has been justified, is put instead of the antecedent, has been subjected to trial]), combined with a strong Euphemism. Wisdom has been justified; that is to say, accusers have brought her to trial, have been offended at her, Luke 7:23, and have brought the matter to such a pass, that she has been at length obliged to have herself justified, and to be vindicated as just, and that it should be shown, that all her actions have been so ordered as to swallow up (counteract) injustice, and fulfil righteousness; whereas, however, she ought to have been embraced without any objection being raised to need justification of her. A similar passage occurs, Romans 10:21; 1 Corinthians 4:12-13. Wisdom has been defended and justified from the taunts of gluttony and wine-bibbing, thrown out against her; and that too by (ἀπὸ) her own children, and by them all: on the part of all her own sons arose to her the necessity of justifying herself, and of defending all her actions along with them [as well as defending them]. See ch. Luke 5:22; Luke 5:30; Luke 5:33, Luke 6:2; Luke 6:7, and in this 7th chapter itself Luke 7:40; Luke 11:17; Luke 13:16; Luke 15:3; Luke 19:7; Matthew 15:2. Comp. the use of a ἀπὸ, Luke 19:3 [He was not able, ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου, owing to the throng]; 2 Corinthians 2:3,[76] Luke 10:7; Hebrews 10:22; LXX. Ecclesiastes 8:11; Isaiah 25:9; Job 35:9; Psalm 28:1 (Psalm 27:1), Psalm 33:8, Psalm 119:53, and Isaiah 49:19; Isaiah 2:3, in the Hebr. מדרכיו. So ἀπὸ, on account of, LXX. Psalms 67(Hebr. 68):29 [ἈΠῸ ΤΟῦ ΝΑΟῦ ΣΟῦ ἘΠΊ ἹΕΡΟΥΣΑΛῊΜ, on account of, because of, thy temple at Jerusalem; as here, Because of her children, Wisdom has had to be justified], where מ and על are parallel.

[76] “Have sorrow, ἀφʼ ὧν ἔδει με χαίρειν, arising from those from whom I ought to have cause of joy.” So here, Wisdom has needed to justify her actions, the need arising on the part of her children, whom, as well as herself and her actions, with respect to them she has had to justify.—ED. and TRANSL.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 35. - But wisdom is justified of all her children. One of those bright, wise sayings of the Son of mail which belong not to the society of Capernaum and Jerusalem, but which are the heritage of all ages. The words find their fulfilment in all those holy and humble men of heart - rich as well as poor - who rejoice in goodness and purity, in self-denying love and bright faith, whether it be preached or advocated by a Fenelon or a Wesley. Luke 7:35