Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 12:5
“But I will warn you whom you shall fear. Fear him, who after he has killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, Fear him.” The One they should rather go in awe of is the One Who after He has killed the body has power to cast the person into Gehenna, the eternal rubbish dump, the place of fire (Mark 9:43-47; Isaiah 66:24). That is something men cannot do. The name is based on ge-Hinnom, ‘the valley of Hinnom’ which was the rubbish dump and incinerator outside the walls of Jerusalem.... read more
Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 12:4
“And I say to you my friends, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” This is the only place in the first three Gospels where Jesus calls His disciples His ‘friends’, but compare also John 15:13-15, where we learn that those are His friends who obey His words, and that to them He reveals His secrets. This tenderness is in order to strengthen them to face the stark fact, baldly stated, that they might be martyred. But even in the face of that... read more