Luke 3:10

10 The crowds repeatedly asked him, "What then are we to do?"

Luke 3:10 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 3:10

And the people asked him
Not the same as in ( Luke 3:7 ) the Sadducees and Pharisees, for they seemed not to be at all affected with, and wrought upon, by the ministry of John; but rather were displeased with him, and turned their backs on him, and rejected him and his baptism; but the common people, that stood by; who hearing John speak of wrath to come, and of repentance, and fruits worthy of it, were filled with concern about these things, and inquire,

saying, what shall we do?
either to escape the wrath and vengeance coming on the nation, and also eternal ruin and destruction; and Beza says, that in two of his copies, and one of them his most ancient one it is added, "to be saved", and so in two of Stephens's; which confirms the above sense, and makes their inquiry to be the same with the jailor's, ( Acts 16:30 ) or else their meaning is, what are the things we are to do, or the fruits we are to bring forth, the duties we are to perform, in order to testify the truth and genuineness of our repentance? which latter seems most agreeable.

Luke 3:10 In-Context

8 Live lives which shall prove your change of heart; and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our forefather,' for I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.

9 And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree which fails to yield good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire."

10 The crowds repeatedly asked him, "What then are we to do?"

11 "Let the man who has two coats," he answered, "give one to the man who has none; and let the man who has food share it with others."

12 There came also a party of tax-gatherers to be baptized, and they asked him, "Rabbi, what are we to do?"