What Does Luke 10:37 Mean?
And he said, The one who showed faithful love to him. Then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.THE KEY
The Greek repeats one verb in “shewed mercy” and “do likewise”: mercy is something enacted.
THE MEANING
The measure of neighborliness is the mercy enacted for the person in need. Jesus’ words address you now with an act as the pattern: mercy is made visible in what is done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that neighborliness belongs only to people already inside your circle; the one who acts with mercy is the neighbor.
THE ROOT
ποιήσας
poiēsas
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poieō
to do, make, or carry out
The Samaritan is described as “the one who did mercy,” and Jesus answers with the same verb: “do likewise.” English’s “shewed” and “do” look like separate actions, while the Greek repeats ποιέω, making mercy’s enactment the point.
ALSO GROWS
poiēsis: doing, making
ποίησις
This noun names the act itself, echoing the verse’s portrayal of mercy as something performed.
poiētēs: maker, doer
ποιητής
This word names a person through what they do, echoing the Samaritan as the one who did mercy.
THE PATTERN
Mercy becomes visible in actions that meet another person’s need.
But you shall open your hand wide to him, and you shall surely lend him enough for what he lacks.And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.And one of you says to them, Go in wholeness, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them what the body needs. What is the profit?THE THREAD
And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.Matthew uses the same Greek verb, ποιέω, for “have done,” the verb Luke repeats in “shewed mercy” and “do likewise.” Both verses make the act toward a person in need the heart of the encounter.
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