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  • Writer's pictureRowan Collins

Meaning of Luke 5:17

Updated: Apr 19, 2023

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

‭‭Luke‬ ‭5:17‬ ‭ESV‬‬


Understanding this verse requires to study the immediate context and several other passages by Luke to fully understand. There are three sections to the verse that can be addressed independently:


  • When and what was he teaching?

  • To whom and where was he teaching?

  • What does the power of the Lord was with him to heal mean?


The first and second questions are considerably easier to answer than the third. Jesus was teaching on a day that was unlikely the Sabbath. Otherwise, had it been the Sabbath, Luke likely would have mentioned it, like he does repeatedly. As for the teaching; in Mark's gospel it is described as "the word" which remains ambiguous. Lastly, Jesus was teaching to the crowd, pharisees and scribes in his home town, also described in the other gospel accounts as Capernaum.


You can find out more about this contextual information in my article dedicated to the entire story of the paralysed man.


The more difficult to understand question is "what does it mean by the power of the Lord was with him to heal?"


In my opinion, Luke is only drawing comparison to his previous two verses where Jesus had been withdrawn from the crowds:


But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

Luke 5:15-16 ESV


However, an alternative viewpoint as presented by Jack Deere is that this verse proves Christ lacked autonomy to heal independently of the Father. Here are Jack Deere's own words taken from his book "Surprised by the Power of the Spirit" (page 59):


"Why would Luke say that "the power of the Lord was present for him to heal" if Jesus could heal at any time, under any condition, and solely at his own discretion? This statement only makes sense if we view healing as the sovereign prerogative of God the Father, who sometimes dispenses his power to heal and at other times witholds it"

I disagree with Jack Deere. This verse seems to be more contextual than doctrinal. Luke has not highlighted these words as being the lesson that Jesus taught, nor framed it as the climax of his story. Instead, this verse seems to be mundane in nature; ill equipped for constructing a doctrine and particularly as it pertains to Christ's eternal subjection to the Father.

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