The Meaning of Luke 6:45 Explained

Luke 6:45

KJV: A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

YLT: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart doth bring forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart doth bring forth that which is evil; for out of the abounding of the heart doth his mouth speak.

Darby: The good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good; and the wicked man out of the wicked, brings forth what is wicked: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

ASV: The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

A good  man  out of  the good  treasure  of his  heart  bringeth forth  that which is good;  and  an evil  man  out of  the evil  treasure  of his  heart  bringeth forth  that which is evil:  for  of  the abundance  of the heart  his  mouth  speaketh. 

What does Luke 6:45 Mean?

Verse Meaning

This short parable makes more explicit the same point about human conduct that Jesus had just made about trees (cf. Matthew 12:35). The conduct of people follows from their character, for good or for bad (cf. Luke 3:7-9). The man"s treasury is his heart. What makes the heart good is proper orientation to Jesus as a disciple. The good man has chosen to follow Jesus faithfully as His disciple, but the evil man has decided to pursue worldly wealth and happiness. A person"s speech normally expresses what fills his heart.

Context Summary

Luke 6:39-49 - The Test That Reveals Character
Yes, it is true! Some day we shall be perfected. The long discipline will be over, and we shall be able to close our lesson books and go home. We shall then be found to be like Christ, our Lord. The promise of Luke 6:40 is very beautiful, though it sometimes seems far away.
We need to look at home first, before we essay to judge or condemn others. It is blundering waste to deal with other people's eyes if you have a defect in yours. Colorblind men ought not to run trains. Speech betrayeth men; what they say, that they are. The man who is quickest to judge and discuss the faults of another does so because of his own experience of the same sin. How else could he know so much about it?
The rock is not the Church, nor doctrine, nor even the Bible, but Christ, Isaiah 28:16. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 6

1  Jesus reproves the Pharisees;
12  chooses apostles;
17  heals the diseased;
20  preaches to his disciples before the people: the beattitudes;
27  Love your Enemy
37  Do not Judge
43  A Tree and Its Fruit
46  The House on the Rock

Greek Commentary for Luke 6:45

Bringeth forth [προπερει]
In a similar saying repeated later. Matthew 12:34. has the verb εκβαλλει — ekballei (throws out, casts out), a bolder figure. “When men are natural, heart and mouth act in concert. But otherwise the mouth sometimes professes what the heart does not feel” (Plummer). [source]
Evil []
See on Luke 3:19. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 6:45

Luke 6:39 Also a parable [και παραβολην]
Plummer thinks that the second half of the sermon begins here as indicated by Luke‘s insertion of “And he spake Jesus repeated these sayings on various occasions as every teacher does his characteristic ideas. So Luke 6:40; Matthew 10:24, Luke 6:45; Matthew 12:34. [source]
John 14:1 Heart [καρδία]
Never used in the New Testament, as in the Septuagint, of the mere physical organ, though sometimes of the vigor and sense of physical life (Acts 14:17; James 5:5; Luke 21:34). Generally, the center of our complex being - physical, moral, spiritual, and intellectual. See on Mark 12:30. The immediate organ by which man lives his personal life, and where that entire personal life concentrates itself. It is thus used sometimes as parallel to ψυχή , the individual life, and to πνεῦμα theprinciple of life, which manifests itself in the ψυχή . Strictly, καρδία is the immediate organ of ψυχή , occupying a mediating position between it and πνεῦμα . In the heart ( καρδία ) the spirit ( πνεῦμα ), which is the distinctive principle of the life or soul ( ψυχή ), has the seat of its activity. Emotions of joy or sorrow are thus ascribed both to the heart and to the soul. Compare John 14:27, “Let not your heart ( καρδιά ) be troubled;” and John 12:27, “Now is my soul ( ψυχή ) troubled.” The heart is the focus of the religious life (Matthew 22:37; Luke 6:45; 2 Timothy 2:22). It is the sphere of the operation of grace (Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:15; Luke 24:32; Acts 2:37; Romans 10:9, Romans 10:10). Also of the opposite principle (John 13:2; Acts 5:3). Used also as the seat of the understanding; the faculty of intelligence as applied to divine things (Matthew 13:15; Romans 1:21; Mark 8:17). [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 6:45 mean?

The good man out of the good treasure of the heart of him brings forth that which [is] good and evil evil evil for the abundance of his heart speaks the mouth of him
ἀγαθὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θησαυροῦ τῆς καρδίας ‹αὐτοῦ› προφέρει τὸ ἀγαθόν καὶ πονηρὸς πονηροῦ πονηρόν γὰρ περισσεύματος καρδίας λαλεῖ τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ

ἀγαθὸς  good 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀγαθός 
Sense: of good constitution or nature.
ἄνθρωπος  man 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ἄνθρωπος  
Sense: a human being, whether male or female.
ἐκ  out  of 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐκ 
Sense: out of, from, by, away from.
ἀγαθοῦ  good 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: ἀγαθός 
Sense: of good constitution or nature.
θησαυροῦ  treasure 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θησαυρός  
Sense: the place in which good and precious things are collected and laid up.
τῆς  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
καρδίας  heart 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: καρδία  
Sense: the heart.
‹αὐτοῦ›  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
προφέρει  brings  forth 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: προφέρω  
Sense: to bring forth.
τὸ  that  which  [is] 
Parse: Article, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀγαθόν  good 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: ἀγαθός 
Sense: of good constitution or nature.
πονηρὸς  evil 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πονηρός  
Sense: full of labours, annoyances, hardships.
πονηροῦ  evil 
Parse: Adjective, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: πονηρός  
Sense: full of labours, annoyances, hardships.
πονηρόν  evil 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: πονηρός  
Sense: full of labours, annoyances, hardships.
περισσεύματος  the  abundance 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: περίσσευμα  
Sense: abundance, in which one delights.
καρδίας  of  his  heart 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: καρδία  
Sense: the heart.
λαλεῖ  speaks 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἀπολαλέω 
Sense: to utter a voice or emit a sound.
στόμα  mouth 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: στόμα  
Sense: the mouth, as part of the body: of man, of animals, of fish, etc.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.