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Luke 9 General Notes
Special concepts in this chapter
"To preach the kingdom of God"
No one knows for sure what the words "kingdom of God" here refer to. Some say it refers to the reign of God on earth, and others say it refers to the gospel message that Jesus died to pay for his people's sins. It is best to translate this as "to preach about the kingdom of God" or "to teach them about how God was going to show himself as king." (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)
Elijah
God had promised the Jews that the prophet Elijah would return before the Messiah came, so some people who saw Jesus do miracles thought Jesus was Elijah (Luke 9:9, Luke 9:19). However, Elijah did come to earth to speak with Jesus (Luke 9:30). (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/prophet and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/christ and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/names/elijah)
"Kingdom of God"
The term "kingdom of God" is used in this chapter to refer to a kingdom that was still in the future when the words were spoken. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/kingdomofgod)
Glory
Scripture often speaks of God's glory as a great, brilliant light. When people see this light, they are afraid. Luke says in this chapter that Jesus's clothing shone with this glorious light so that his followers could see that Jesus truly was God's Son. At the same time, God told them that Jesus was his Son. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/glory and rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/fear)
Other possible translation difficulties in this chapter
Paradox
A paradox is a true statement that appears to describe something impossible. An example in this chapter is: "Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." (Luke 9:24).
"Son of Man"
Jesus refers to himself as the "Son of Man" in this chapter (Luke 9:22). Your language may not allow people to speak of themselves as if they were speaking about someone else. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/sonofman and rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-123person)
"Receiving"
This word appears several times in this chapter and means different things. When Jesus says, "If someone receives a little child like this in my name, he also is receiving me, and if someone receives me, he is also receiving the one who sent me" (Luke 9:48), he is speaking of people serving the child. When Luke says, "the people there did not receive him" (Luke 9:53), he means that the people did not believe in or accept Jesus. (See: rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/believe)