The Meaning of Luke 2:40 Explained

Luke 2:40

KJV: And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

YLT: and the child grew and was strengthened in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Darby: And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and God's grace was upon him.

ASV: And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  the child  grew,  and  waxed strong  in spirit,  filled  with wisdom:  and  the grace  of God  was  upon  him. 

What does Luke 2:40 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Luke also noted Jesus" normal development as a human being ( Luke 2:40; cf. Luke 1:80; Luke 2:52). He was the object of God"s grace (help). Luke mentioned Jesus" wisdom perhaps in anticipation of the following pericope. Luke 2:40 describes what happened to Jesus between His presentation in the temple and His return there when He was12years old ( Luke 2:41-51).

Context Summary

Luke 2:40-52 - The Boy Jesus In The Temple
"Solitary floweret," says Stier, referring to this incident, "gathered from the wonderful enclosed garden of the thirty years and plucked precisely when the swollen bud, at the age of twelve years, was about to burst into flower."
The incident is specially valuable as indicating so perfect an understanding between our Lord and His mother. He wondered that, knowing Him as she did, she could have lost Him, or should have failed to seek Him in His Father's house. The stress is on Wist ye not? Here, however, He seemed to pass into a new attitude toward His life-work. May we not say that He caught sight of its absorbing character, to which all else must be subordinated?
Let us never suppose that we are in the company of Jesus, when, in fact, we may have lost Him. Never rest till you and He have found each other! [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 2

1  Augustus taxes all the Roman empire
6  The nativity of Jesus
8  An angel relates it to the shepherds, and many sing praises to God for it
15  The shepherds glorify God
21  Jesus is circumcised
22  Mary purified
25  Simeon and Anna prophesy of Jesus,
39  who increases in wisdom,
41  questions in the temple with the teachers,
51  and is obedient to his parents

Greek Commentary for Luke 2:40

The child grew [ηυχανε]
Imperfect indicative of a very ancient verb This child grew and waxed strong Both verbs Luke used in Luke 1:80 of the growth of John the Baptist as a child. Then he used also πνευματι — pneumati in spirit. Here in addition to the bodily development Luke has “filled with wisdom” Present passive participle, showing that the process of filling with wisdom kept pace with the bodily growth. If it were only always true with others! We need not be troubled over this growth in wisdom on the part of Jesus any more than over his bodily growth. “The intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth of the Child, like the physical, was real. His was a perfect humanity developing perfectly, unimpeded by hereditary or acquired defects. It was the first instance of such a growth in history. For the first time a human infant was realizing the ideal of humanity” (Plummer). [source]
The grace of God [χαρις τεου]
In full measure. [source]
The child grew, etc []
The Jews marked the stages of a child's development by nine different terms: the new-born babe (Isaiah 9:6); the suckling (Isaiah 11:8); the suckling beginning to ask for food (Lamentations 4:4); the weaned child (Isaiah 28:9); the child clinging to its mother (Jeremiah 44:7); the child becoming firm and strong (Isaiah 7:14, of the virgin-mother); the youth, literally, he that shakes himself free; the ripened one, or warrior (Isaiah 31:8). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 2:40

Luke 1:30 Grace [χάριν]
From the same root as χαίρω ,to rejoice. I. Primarily that which gives joy or pleasure; and hence outward beauty, loveliness, something which delights the beholder. Thus Homer, of Ulysses going to the assembly: “Athene shed down manly grace or beauty upon him” (“Odyssey,” ii., 12); and Septuagint, Proverbs 1:9; Proverbs 3:22. Substantially the same idea, agreeableness, is conveyed in Luke 4:22, respecting the gracious words, lit., words of grace, uttered by Christ. So Ephesians 4:29. II. As a beautiful or agreeable sentiment felt and expressed toward another; kindness, favor, good-will. 2 Corinthians 8:6, 2 Corinthians 8:7, 2 Corinthians 8:9; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Luke 1:30; Luke 2:40; Acts 2:47. So of the responsive sentiment of thankfulness. See Luke 6:32, Luke 6:33, Luke 6:34:; Luke 17:9; but mostly in the formula thanks to God; Romans 6:17; 1 Corinthians 15:57; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Timothy 1:3. III. The substantial expression of good-will; a boon, a favor, a gift; but not in New Testament. See Romans 5:15, where the distinction is made between χάρις , grace, and δωρεὰ ἐν χάριτι , a gift in grace. So a gratification or delight, in classical Greek only; as the delight in battle, in sleep, etc. IV. The higher Christian signification, based on the emphasis offreeness in the gift or favor, and, as commonly in New Testament, denoting the free, spontaneous, absolute loving-kindness of God toward men, and so contrasted with debt, law, works, sin. The word does not occur either in Matthew or Mark. [source]
Luke 1:5 There was [εγενετο]
Not the usual εν — en for “was,” but there arose or came into notice. With this verse the literary Koiné of Luke 1:1 to Luke 1:4 disappears. To the end of chapter 2 we have the most Hebraistic (Aramaic) passage in Luke‘s writings, due evidently to the use of documents or notes of oral tradition. Plummer notes a series of such documents ending with Luke 1:80, Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52. If the mother of Jesus was still alive, Luke could have seen her. She may have written in Aramaic an account of these great events. Natural reserve would keep her from telling too much and from too early publicity. Luke, as a physician, would take special interest in her birth report. The supernatural aspects disturb only those who do not admit the real Incarnation of Jesus Christ and who are unable to believe that God is superior to nature and that the coming of the Son of God to earth justifies such miraculous manifestations of divine power. Luke tells his story from the standpoint of Mary as Matthew gives his from the standpoint of Joseph. The two supplement each other. We have here the earliest documentary evidence of the origins of Christianity that has come down to us (Plummer). [source]
Luke 2:43 As they were returning [εν τωι υποστρεπειν αντους]
The articular infinitive with εν — en a construction that Luke often uses (Luke 1:21; Luke 2:27).The boy, Jesus (Ιησους ο παις — Iēsous ho pais). More exactly, “Jesus the boy.” In Luke 2:40 it was “the child “ (το παιδιον — to paidion), here it is “the boy” (ο παις — ho pais no longer the diminutive form). It was not disobedience on the part of “the boy” that made him remain behind, but intense interest in the services of the temple; “involuntary preoccupation” (Bruce) held him fast. [source]
Luke 2:43 The boy, Jesus [Ιησους ο παις]
More exactly, “Jesus the boy.” In Luke 2:40 it was “the child “ It was not disobedience on the part of “the boy” that made him remain behind, but intense interest in the services of the temple; “involuntary preoccupation” (Bruce) held him fast. [source]
Hebrews 5:8 Though he was a Son [καιπερ ων υιος]
Concessive participle with καιπερ — kaiper regular Greek idiom as in Hebrews 7:5; Hebrews 12:17. Yet learned obedience Second aorist active indicative of μαντανω — manthanō Succinct and crisp statement of the humanity of Jesus in full harmony with Luke 2:40, Luke 2:52 and with Hebrews 2:10. By the things which he suffered There is a play on the two verbs (εματενεπατεν — emathen -πασχω — epathen), paronomasia. Second aorist active indicative of paschō He always did his Father‘s will (John 8:29), but he grew in experience as in wisdom and stature and in the power of sympathy with us. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 2:40 mean?

- And the Child continued to grow and become strong being filled with wisdom [the] grace of God was upon Him
Τὸ δὲ παιδίον ηὔξανεν καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πληρούμενον σοφίᾳ χάρις Θεοῦ ἦν ἐπ’ αὐτό

Τὸ  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
παιδίον  the  Child 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: παιδίον  
Sense: a young child, a little boy, a little girl.
ηὔξανεν  continued  to  grow 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐξάνω 
Sense: to cause to grow, augment.
ἐκραταιοῦτο  become  strong 
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: κραταιόω  
Sense: to strengthen, make strong.
πληρούμενον  being  filled 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: πληρόω  
Sense: to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full.
σοφίᾳ  with  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular
Root: σοφία  
Sense: wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters.
χάρις  [the]  grace 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: χάρις  
Sense: grace.
Θεοῦ  of  God 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
ἐπ’  upon 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐπί  
Sense: upon, on, at, by, before.