Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be t…
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine a…
1 Kings 9:4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have c…
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
Colossians 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Titus 3:3-7 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Luke 1:5-25
The two preceding evangelists had agreed to begin the gospel with the baptism of John and his ministry, which commenced about six months before our Saviour's public ministry (and now, things being near a crisis, six months was a deal of time, which before was but a little), and therefore this evangelist, designing to give a more particular account than had been given of our Saviour's conception and birth, determines to do so of John Baptist, who in both was his harbinger and forerunner, the morning-star to the Sun of righteousness. The evangelist determines thus, not only because it is commonly reckoned a satisfaction and entertainment to know something of the original extraction and early d…
commandments and ordinances--The one expressing their moral--the other their ceremonial--obedience [CALVIN and BENGEL], (Compare Eze 11:20; Heb 9:1). It has been denied that any such distinction was known to the Jews and New Testament writers. But Mar 12:33, and other passages, put this beyond all reasonable doubt.
Adam Clarke on Luke 1:6
They were both righteous - Upright and holy in all their outward conduct in civil life.
Before God - Possessing the spirit of the religion they professed; exercising themselves constantly in the presence of their Maker, whose eye, they knew, was upon all their conduct, and who examined all their motives.
Walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless - None being able to lay any evil to their charge. They were as exemplary and conscientious in the discharge of their religious duties as they were in the discharge of the offices of civil life. What a sacred pair! they made their duty to God, to their neighbor, and to themselves, walk constantly hand in hand. See the note…
And they were both righteous before God,.... Not as the Pharisees, only righteous before men, but in the sight of God, who sees the heart, and whose judgment is according to truth; and therefore were not justified by the deeds of the law; for by them no man can be justified in the sight of God; but were made righteous through the righteousness of Christ, by which the saints were made righteous before the coming of Christ, as those after it: see Acts 15:11. God beheld them in his Son, as clothed with that righteousness he engaged to bring in, and as cleansed from all sin in that blood of his which was to be shed: and they appeared to him, and in the eye of his justice, and according to his la…
The Church Fathers
John was born of just parents, that so he might the more boldly give precepts of justice to the people, which he had not learnt as novelties, but had received by right of inheritance from his ancestors. Hence it follows, And they were both just before God.
They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. Truly righteous before God: for not everyone who is righteous before men is righteous before God. Men see differently, God sees differently. Men see the face, God sees the heart. And therefore, it can happen that someone appears just to me with an affected popular goodness, but before God, he is not just if justice is not formed from the simplicity of the mind, but is simulated with flattery. But blessed is he who is righteous in the sight of God. Blessed is he of whom the Lord deigns to say: Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. For a true Israelite who sees God, and knows himself to be seen by the Lord, reveals to Him the secrets of the heart.
Having beheld your bishop, I know that he was not selected to undertake the ministry which pertains to the common [weal], either by himself or by men, or out of vainglory, but by the love of Jesus Christ, and of God the Father, who raised Him from the dead; at whose meekness I am struck with admiration, and who by His silence is able to accomplish more than they who talk a great deal. For he is in harmony with the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, even as the strings are with the harp, and is no less blameless than was Zacharias the priest. Wherefore my soul declares his mind towards God a happy one, knowing it to be virtuous and perfect, and that his stability as well as freedom from all anger is after the example of the infinite meekness of the living God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
John the Baptist — The “forerunner of our Lord.” We have but fragmentary and imperfect accounts of him in the Gospels. He was of priestly descent. His father, Zacharias, was a priest of the course of Abia (1 Chr.…
Barrenness · .El — .El
Character · .Righteous — .Righteous
Character Of Saints · Righteous — Righteous
Conduct, Christian · Obeying God — Obeying God
Elisabeth (Elizabeth) · The wife of Zacharias and the mother of — The wife of Zacharias and the mother of
Obedience · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Obedience To God · Exemplified: Zacharias &c — Exemplified: Zacharias &c
Perfection · .Zacharias and Elizabeth — .Zacharias and Elizabeth
Righteousness · Is obedience to God’s law — Is obedience to God’s law
Wives · Good — Exemplified: Elizabeth — Good — Exemplified: Elizabeth
Zacharias (Zechariah) · 2. The father of — 2. The father of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Luke 1:5-13
Luke 1:5-13
5. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7. And they had no child, because Elisabeth was barren, and they were now both at an advanced age. 8. And it happened, while he was discharging the priest's office in the order of his course before God, 9. According to the custom of the priest's office, it fell to him by lot to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. 10. And the whole multitude of the people were…
Luke’s first two chapters give an account of Jesus’ birth and introduce key themes that will appear later in Luke–Acts. The announcements and birth stories for Jesus and John the Baptist run side by side, showing their parallel roles in bringing God’s salvation. At each point, Jesus is shown to be greater. John is the forerunner announcing Jesus’ coming; Jesus is the Savior.
1:5 Herod was king of Judea: See “Herod the Great” Profile. • a Jewish priest named Zechariah: The priests were descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother (Exod 28:1). • the priestly order of Abijah: See study note on Luke 1:8-9; see also 1 Chr 24:10. • Elizabeth was also from the priestly line of Aaron: It was considered esp…
