Luke 9:6
From village to village, preaching the gospel
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.
And going forth they were going through the several villages, proclaiming good news, and healing everywhere.
제자들이 나가 각 촌에 두루 행하여 처처에 복음을 전하며 병을 고치더라
그들이 떠나서 고을들을 두루 다니며 복음을 선포하고 곳곳에서 병을 고치더라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Luke 9:1-9 as a whole
Christ sent his twelve disciples abroad, who by this time were able to teach others what they had received from the Lord. They must not be anxious to commend themselves to people's esteem by outward appearance. They must go as they were. …
Read the whole commentary →Church Fathers Luke 9:6
Eusebius: But when the Lord had girded His disciples as soldiers of God with divine virtue and wise admonitions, sending them to the Jews as teachers and physicians, they afterwards went forth, as it follows, And they departed, and went through the towns preaching the gospel,…
Read the whole commentary →Wesley
Nothing on this verse itself.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Until now in Luke the good news has been brought by angels, by John the Baptist and by Jesus. In this verse the disciples bring it for the first time. The Twelve are sent out, and they carry the gospel from village to village.
So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Luke 9:6Jesus had called the Twelve together and given them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, "And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9:2). He gave them orders for the road: "Take nothing for the journey," no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no second tunic (Luke 9:3); stay where they are welcomed, and shake the dust off their feet where they are not. This verse reports that the orders were carried out. In the very next verse Herod the tetrarch hears about all that is happening and is perplexed (Luke 9:7): news carried through villages has reached a palace. Then the apostles return and report to Jesus all that they have done (Luke 9:10).
When Jesus sent them, the word was "proclaim," , the herald's verb. When Luke tells what they did, he uses : looking back on the mission, he names it by what the news was. The form is a present middle participle, euangelizomenoi, under an imperfect main verb, diērchonto, "they were going through": a walk that went on, one village after another, carrying nothing for the road. Preaching the gospel and healing (therapeuontes) are joined as a pair. In Luke 8:1 Jesus went through town and village bringing the good news; now the disciples go through the villages doing the same, and healing as He healed. Mark tells the same mission by saying that they "preached that the people should repent" (Mark 6:12); Luke calls it good news.
The KJV reads "preaching the gospel, and healing every where," the BSB "preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere," and the LSV "proclaiming good news, and healing everywhere." The Greek ends with one word, pantachou, "everywhere," which can go with the healing alone or with both actions; all three English versions set it after the healing, as the Greek order runs. Either way the verse is about reach: village after village, everywhere they went.
In the Catena Ambrose says that by these orders is "marked out" what kind of man "he ought to be who preaches the Gospel of the kingdom of God" Ambrose. Gregory of Nazianzus explains the empty hands: they were to be so heavenly "that no less through their manner of living than their words, the teaching of the Gospel might be spread abroad" Gregory of Nazianzus. Chrysostom notes the difference from Moses and the prophets, who "promised a land and earthly goods, but these a kingdom, and whatsoever is contained in it" Chrysostom. Matthew Henry finds a promise in the sending: if the Lord Jesus goes with the word of His ministers in power, "they may be sure that he will care for their wants" Matthew Henry.
The gospel was entrusted to ordinary disciples before the cross and the resurrection, and the first who carried it went with nothing of their own. What made the news go was not the wealth of the messengers but the authority of the One who sent them.