Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Luke: Chapter 6]
publicans" and 5:47 "even the Gentiles." That completes the
list of the outcasts for "sinners" includes "harlots" and all the
rest.
6:34 {If ye lend} (\ean danis•te\). Third-class condition, first
aorist active subjunctive from \daniz•\ (old form \daneiz•\) to
lend for interest in a business transaction (here in active to
lend and Mt 5:42 middle to borrow and nowhere else in N.T.),
whereas \kichr•mi\ (only Lu 11:5 in N.T.) means to loan as a
friendly act. {To receive again as much} (\hina apolab•sin ta
isa\). Second aorist active subjunctive of \apolamban•\, old
verb, to get back in full like \apech•\ in 6:24. Literally
here, "that they may get back the equal" (principal and interest,
apparently). It could mean "equivalent services." No parallel in
Matthew.
6:35 {But} (\pl•n\). Plain adversative like \pl•n\ in verse 24.
Never despairing (\m•den apelpizontes\). \M•den\ is read by A B L
Bohairic and is the reading of Westcott and Hort. The reading
\m•dena\ is translated "despairing of no man." The Authorized
Version has it "hoping for nothing again," a meaning for
\apelpiz•\ with no parallel elsewhere. Field (_Otium Nor._ iii.
40) insists that all the same the context demands this meaning
because of \apelpizein\ in verse 34, but the correct reading
there is \elpizein\, not \apelpizein\. Here Field's argument
falls to the ground. The word occurs in Polybius, Diodorus, LXX
with the sense of despairing and that is the meaning here. D and
Old Latin documents have _nihil desperantes_, but the Vulgate has
_nihil inde sperantes_ (hoping for nothing thence) and this false
rendering has wrought great havoc in Europe. "On the strength of
it Popes and councils have repeatedly condemned the taking of any
interest whatever for loans. As loans could not be had without
interest, and Christians were forbidden to take it, money lending
passed into the hands of the Jews, and added greatly to the
unnatural detestation in which Jews were held" (Plummer). By
"never despairing" or "giving up nothing in despair" Jesus means
that we are not to despair about getting the money back. We are
to help the apparently hopeless cases. Medical writers use the
word for desperate or hopeless cases. {Sons of the Most High}
(\huoi Hupsistou\). In 1:32 Jesus is called "Son of the
Highest" and here all real children or sons of God (Lu 20:36)
are so termed. See also 1:35,76 for the use of "the Highest" of
God. He means the same thing that we see in Mt 5:45,48 by "your
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