Luke 12:1-5
Luke 12:1 (KJB)
In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of
people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his
disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy.
In Luke 11, Jesus had directly addressed the Pharisees and scribes but here in
this chapter, he continues His rebuke but this time He is addressing His
disciples as He warns them about the leaven of the Pharisees. He describes the
leaven of the Pharisees as hypocrisy. The word “hypocrisy” comes from the Greek
word “hupokrisis” which means “pretense, insincerity, and of course, hypocrisy.”
A hypocrite is one who pretends to be something they are not. It is a person who
is play acting. Jesus turning to His disciples were no doubt in ear shot of the
crowds that had assembled to hear Him plus the Pharisees were still in the
vicinity. A Christian who is a hypocrite will ruin the reputation of the
majority who are not. The world will lump us all together when they see someone
who claims to be a Christian and then does the opposite of what they should be
doing. This is why Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites because
their outward presentation was one of being very holy and totally dedicated to
the work of God but their inward lives were nothing but total opposite as all
they concerned themselves with their positions, wealth, and social status, and
could care less about the things of the Lord. Jesus was warning His disciples to
make sure they never adapt that mindset.
Luke 12:2 (KJB)
For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that
shall not be known.
Jesus is encouraging the disciples that they should not fear those who will
persecute them but they are to continue doing ministry as long as possible.
There is going to come a time when all the things they are preaching about will
come to pass openly and will be revealed to the entire world. What is hidden now
will be made known to all. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was one of
those events where hundreds had seen Him after He arose. The coming of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost which started the evangelism of the world at Jerusalem.
Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the hungry crowds, calmed the storm
on the Sea of Galilee, and many other things which would be made known, but the
greatest thing that would be made known would be that salvation would come
through the Lord Jesus Christ and not the keeping of the law. Just a secondary
look at this verse, the disciples need not fear the Pharisees because whatever
they are planning in secret will be revealed. (Isa 29:15 KJV) Woe unto them
that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the
dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Luke 12:3 (KJB)
Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and
that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the
housetops.
During the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus, much of His teaching was done in
private with the disciples or in discussion mode. What they learned in these
lessons were no longer going to be kept secret or quiet. Soon those lessons
would be proclaimed to the whole world and whatever they learned from Jesus was
not to be kept to themselves but soon they would begin to reveal those teachings
to the world. Jesus uses the examples of hearing something in the dark and then
proclaiming it in the light and using the housetops to proclaim. From the
housetops, you could bellow forth the Gospel to all in the streets. Today the
housetops would be the streets, a stadium, an auditorium, television, radio,
internet, and many other places where the greatest amount of people can hear.
Luke 12:4 (KJB)
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that have no more that they can do.
Jesus then returns to the subject of persecution and tells His disciples that
they need to refocus their fear. He tells them not to fear men because all they
can do is kill the physical body and once that occurs, they can do no more. Man
is actually severely limited in their persecution because if they kill a
Christian, they are only changing their residence from earth to Heaven.
Luke 12:5 (KJB)
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed
hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Jesus then tells them that they are not to fear men but they need to fear God
because He has the ability to destroy both body and soul in hell. I have heard
this verse used as a proof text for annihilation. This is very erroneous because
annihilation is not taught in Scripture. What is in view here is that the
unbeliever needs to fear God who is the one that can sentence them to eternal
damnation thus eternally destroying them. The word “destroy” in the Greek has
absolutely no references to annihilation.