Luke 24 - Misplaced Pages

Chapter of the New Testament

Luke 24
← chapter 23 John 1 →
Luke 24:51-53, continued with John 1:1-16, on Papyrus 75, written about AD 175-225.
Book	Gospel of Luke
Category	Gospel
Christian Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Christian part	3

Luke 24 is the twenty-fourth and final chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke the Evangelist composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles. This chapter records the discovery of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his appearances to his disciples and his ascension into heaven.

Text

Greek text

Latin textLuke 23:47-24:1 in Codex Bezae (Cambridge University Library MS. Nn.2.41; ~AD 400).

The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

Papyrus 75 (AD 175-225)
Codex Vaticanus (325-350)
Codex Sinaiticus (330-360)
Codex Bezae (~400)
Codex Washingtonianus (~400)
Codex Alexandrinus (400-440)
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1-6, 46-53)

This chapter is divided into 53 verses.

Resurrection morning (24:1–12)

Context

The narrative in chapter 24 continues the events concluding chapter 23 without a break:

It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments ... But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb
— Luke 23:54–24:2: (New Revised Standard Version)

Verse 1

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

Frederic Farrar, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, suggests that the words "certain others" are "probably spurious", not being part of the text in the Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus or Codex Regius manuscripts.

Traditional sites of Jesus' tomb

Left: outside of Garden Tomb; right: inside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Verse 10

"The women who had come with him from Galilee" included "Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them".

It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles.
— Luke 24:10

The names of some women are mentioned in the canonical gospels, but only Luke's gospel mentions Joanna, implying that Luke receives his special information from "one (most likely Joanna) or more than one of" the women. In Luke 8:1–3 Mary called Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Chuza, and Susanna are named as women who provided material sustenance to Jesus during his travels, along with other unnamed women.

While Matthew, Mark and John mentioned the names of the women present at the cross, Luke only refers them as "the women that followed him from Galilee" (Luke 23:49), but name the women at the end in the story of the women's visit to the empty tomb (Luke 24:10). The two passages with the names of some women alongside the mention of the "twelve" and "apostles", respectively (Luke 8:1–3 and Luke 24:10), "form a literary inclusio" which brackets the major part of Jesus' ministry (leaving out only the earliest part of it).

Verse 12

But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

This verse and verse 34, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!", suggest that Peter (alone) went to the tomb, whereas verse 24, And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, implies more than one person.

American biblical scholar Kim Dreisbach states that Greek: οθονια (othonia), translated here as "linen cloths", is "a word of uncertain meaning ... probably best translated as a generic plural for grave clothes". The same word is used in John 19:40.

The road to Emmaus (24:13–35)

Main article: Road to Emmaus appearance

Luke 24:13–35 describes Jesus' appearance to two disciples who are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which is said to be 60 stadia (10.4 to 12 km, depending on the definition of stadion is used) from Jerusalem. One of the disciples is named Cleopas (verse 18), while his companion remains unnamed.

Jesus appears to the apostles (24:36–49)

Verse 36

Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you."

"Peace to you" (KJV: "Peace be unto you"): rendering the Greek phrase εἰρήνη ὑμῖν, eirēnē hymin, which is a literal translation of the customary Jewish salutation שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם, shalom lekom (cf. Matthew 10:12; Luke 10 :5). This account agrees with John 20:19, which notes that "the doors of the room had been closed for fear of the Jews".

Verse 37

They were fearful and terrified and thought they were seeing a ghost.

The ascension of Jesus (24:50–53)

Main article: Ascension of Jesus

Verse 51

Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.

The words "and carried up into heaven" are not included in some ancient texts of the gospel.

Verse 53

The end (explicit) of the Gospel of Luke in Codex Brixianus from 6th century.

and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.

Luke's gospel ends where it began, in the temple.

The King James Version ends with the word "Amen", following the Textus Receptus, but modern critical editions of the New Testament exclude this word, as do many modern English translations. In a manuscript copy of Beza's, there are added words:

The Gospel according to Saint Luke was published fifteen years after the ascension of Christ, a tradition also known to the eleventh-century Byzantine bishop Theophylact of Ohrid.

Gospel of Luke
Chapters Luke 1 Luke 2 Luke 3 Luke 4 Luke 5 Luke 6 Luke 7 Luke 8 Luke 9 Luke 10 Luke 11 Luke 12 Luke 13 Luke 14 Luke 15 Luke 16 Luke 17 Luke 18 Luke 19 Luke 20 Luke 21 Luke 22 Luke 23 Luke 24

Notes

Luke has another bigger inclusio using Simon Peter as "both the first and the last disciple to be named in his Gospel" (Luke 4:38; Luke 24:34), similar to Mark.

References

Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
Nicoll, W. R., The Expositor's Greek Testament on Luke 24, accessed 7 November 2023
Luke 24:1: King James Version
Farrar, F. W. (1891), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Luke 24, accessed 27 July 2018
^ Bauckham 2017, p. 131.
Luke 24:12 NKJV
^ Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm (1880). Commentary on the New Testament. Luke 24. Translation by Peter Christie from Meyer's sixth edition. Accessed February 14, 2019.
The Definitive Shroud of Turin FAQ, accessed 27 July 2018
Luke 24:36: NKJV
Luke 24:36 Greek text analysis. Biblehub.
^ Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905). Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers. Luke 24. London : Cassell and Company, Limited, Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019.
Luke 24:37: NCV
Luke 24:51: NKJV
Footnote g in the New Revised Standard Version at Luke 24:51
Luke 24:53 KJV
Luke 1:9
Jerusalem Bible (1966), footnote at Luke 24:53
BibleGateway.com, Translations of Luke 24:53
Gill, J., Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on Luke 24, accessed 28 July 2018
Theophylact of Ohrid, Preface to the Gospel of Matthew Archived 2018-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 28 July 2018