Luke 2:11

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:8-20 Angels were heralds of the new-born Saviour, but they were only sent to some poor, humble, pious, industrious shepherds, who were in the business of their calling, keeping watch over their flock. We are not out of the way of Divine visits, when we are employed in an honest calling, and abide with God in it. Let God have the honour of this work; Glory to God in the highest. God's good-will to men, manifested in sending the Messiah, redounds to his praise. Other works of God are for his glory, but the redemption of the world is for his glory in the highest. God's goodwill in sending the Messiah, brought peace into this lower world. Peace is here put for all that good which flows to us from Christ's taking our nature upon him. This is a faithful saying, attested by an innumerable company of angels, and well worthy of all acceptation, That the good-will of God toward men, is glory to God in the highest, and peace on the earth. The shepherds lost no time, but came with haste to the place. They were satisfied, and made known abroad concerning this child, that he was the Saviour, even Christ the Lord. Mary carefully observed and thought upon all these things, which were so suited to enliven her holy affections. We should be more delivered from errors in judgment and practice, did we more fully ponder these things in our hearts. It is still proclaimed in our ears that to us is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord. These should be glad tidings to all.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The glory of the Lord - This is the same as a "great" glory - that is, a splendid appearance or "light." The word "glory" is often the same as light, 1 Corinthians 15:41; Luke 9:31; Acts 22:11. The words "Lord" and "God" are often used to denote "greatness" or "intensity." Thus, "trees of God" mean great trees; "hills of God," high or lofty hills, etc. So "the glory of the Lord" here means an exceedingly great or bright luminous appearance perhaps not unlike what Paul saw on the way to Damascus.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. unto you is born—you shepherds, Israel, mankind [Bengel]. Compare Isa 9:6, "Unto us a Child is born." It is a birth—"The Word is made flesh" (Joh 1:14). When? "This day." Where? "In the city of David"—in the right line and at the right "spot"; where prophecy bade us look for Him, and faith accordingly expected Him. How dear to us should be these historic moorings of our faith! With the loss of them, all substantial Christianity is lost. By means of them how many have been kept from making shipwreck, and attained to a certain external admiration of Him, ere yet they have fully "beheld His glory."

a Saviour—not One who shall be a Saviour, but "born a Saviour."

Christ the Lord—"magnificent appellation!" [Bengel]. "This is the only place where these words come together; and I see no way of understanding this "Lord" but as corresponding to the Hebrew Jehovah" [Alford].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 2:11"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For unto you is born this day,.... Day is here put for a natural day, consisting both of night and day; for it was night when Christ was born, and the angels brought the tidings of it to the shepherds. The particular day, and it may be, month and year, in which Christ was born, cannot be certainly known; but this we may be sure of, it was in the fulness of time, and at the exact, season fixed upon between God and Christ in the council and covenant of peace; and that he was born, not unto, or for the good of angels; for the good angels stand in no need of his incarnation, sufferings, and death, having never fell; and as for the evil angels, a Saviour was never designed and provided for them; nor did Christ take on him their nature, nor suffer in their stead: wherefore the angel does not say, "unto us", but "unto you", unto you men; for he means not merely, and only the shepherds, or the Jews only, but the Gentiles also; all the children, all the spiritual seed of Abraham, all elect men; for their sakes, and on their account, and for their good, he assumed human nature; see Isaiah 9:6.

in the city of David; that is, Bethlehem, as in Luke 2:4 where the Messiah was to be born, as being, according to the flesh, of the seed of David, his son and offspring; as he is, according to his divine nature, his Lord and root. The characters of this new born child follow, and which prove the tidings of his birth to be good, and matter of joy:

a Saviour; whom God had provided and appointed from all eternity; and had been long promised and much expected as such in time, even from the beginning of the world; and is a great one, being God as well as man, and so able to work out a great salvation for great sinners, which he has done; and he is as willing to save as he is able, and is a complete Saviour, and an only, and an everlasting one: hence his name is called Jesus, because he saves from sin, from Satan, from the law, from the world, from death, and hell, and wrath to come, and from every enemy,

Which is Christ the Lord; the Messiah spoken of by the prophets; the anointed of the Lord, with the Holy Ghost without measure, to be a prophet, priest, and king in his church; and who is the true Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord of all creatures, the Lord of angels, good and bad, the Lord of all men, as Creator, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Lord of lords, and King of kings; and who is particularly the Lord of saints by his Father's gift, his own purchase, the espousal of them to himself, and by the power of his grace upon them: and the birth of such a person must needs be joyful, and is to be accounted good news, and glad tidings.

Geneva Study Bible

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 2:11.—σωτήρ: a word occurring (with σωτηρία) often in Lk. and in St. Paul, not often elsewhere in N. T.—Κύριος: also often in Lk.’s Gospel, where the other evangelists use Jesus. The angel uses the dialect of the apostolic age.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. a Saviour] It is a curious fact that ‘Saviour’ and ‘Salvation,’ so common in St Luke and St Paul (in whose writings they occur forty-four times), are comparatively rare in the rest of the New Testament. ‘Saviour’ only occurs in John 4:42; 1 John 4:14; and six times in 2 Pet. and Jude; ‘salvation’ only in John 4:22, and thirteen times in the rest of the N. T.

Christ the Lord] “God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ,” Acts 2:36; Php 2:11. ‘Christ’ or ‘Anointed’ is the Greek equivalent of Messiah. In the Gospels it is almost invariably an appellative, ‘the Christ.’ But as time advanced it was more and more used without the article as a proper name. Our Lord was ‘anointed’ with the Holy Spirit as Prophet, Priest and King.

the Lord] In the lower sense the word is used as a mere title of distinction; in the higher sense it is (as in the LXX.) the equivalent of the Hebrew ‘Jehovah’—the ineffable name. “We preach Christ Jesus the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 4:5 (see Php 2:11; Romans 14:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6; “No one can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,” 1 Corinthians 12:3).

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 2:11. Ὑμῖν, unto you) the shepherds, unto Israel, and unto all mankind.—Χρισὸς, Christ) Luke 2:26. All ought to have retained in their memory so clear a communication [revelation], whilst the Lord was growing up to maturity. The name Jesus is not added, inasmuch as it afterwards was given Him at His circumcision, Luke 2:21 : but the force of that name is represented [is vividly expressed] in the term, Saviour. And so also in the Old Testament it is often virtually expressed under the term, Salvation.—Κύριος, the Lord) An argument for joy. An exalted appellation. [Matthew 2:6.]—ἐν πόλει, in the city) Construe with is born. By this word the place is pointed out, as by the expression, this day, the time is indicated.—Δαυὶδ, David) This periphrasis refers the shepherds to the prophecy, which was then being fulfilled.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - A Savior. Another favorite word with SS. Paul and Luke. The terms "Savior" and "salvation" occur in their writings more than forty times. In the other New Testament books we seldom find either of these expressions. Luke 2:11

Vincent's Word Studies

Is born (ἐτέχθη)

It adds to the vividness of the narrative to keep to the strict rendering of the aorist, was born.

A Saviour

See on Matthew 1:21.

Christ

See on Matthew 1:1.

Lord

See on Matthew 21:3.