Understanding Luke 10:13

In Luke 10 Jesus said, “13 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades."

In verse 13, Jesus made it clear that if the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon had observed the same mighty works as those done in Chorazin and Bethsaida, they would have repented.

Someone who wears Arminian or synergistic glasses as they view this text (verse 13) might argue that the Reformed doctrine of Total Depravity teaches that far more is needed than merely the observation of mighty works for someone to repent – it would need the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit – so what would the Reformed response be to this? How are we to understand Jesus’ words?

It’s a good question, and just for fun, I thought I would call Dr. James White on his live dividing line program earlier today to see what kind of answer he would provide.

Though we don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together, James and I are good friends and he starts out by calling me Silly Brit 2.

You might ask, “Why Silly Brit 2?”

I believe the answer is quite simple in James’ mind; the name Silly Brit 1 was already taken!!

Being called “Silly Brit 2″ though prompted a response from me, which was somewhat .. well… silly.

I immediately took the opportunity to start speaking with a quite outragous Chinese accent (which James, for some reason, mistakenly thought was Japanese), assuming the identity of a man named Zacky Poo Poo, telling James I would no longer be delivering sausages to him because he is a very poor tipper!

Yeah.. and its kinda downhill from there!!

But the answer James eventually provided to my question was well worth hearing.

If all you wish to do is hear the question and answer interaction between myself and James, once the program starts you can move the audio recording on to about the 16 or 17 minute mark. However, it’s an excellent show and I especially enjoyed James’ comments regarding Rob Bell later in the program.

You will find the program at this link. - JS