Luke 2:39 Commentary: Fulfilling the Law, Returning Home

Luke 2:39 comes at the end of a carefully structured section showing Jesus’ family keeping every provision of the law. After the forty days required by Leviticus 12 for purification after a male child’s birth, Mary offered the sacrifice of a poor family, two turtledoves or pigeons (Luke 2:24, citing Leviticus 12:8). The firstborn Jesus was also presented to God, following Exodus 13:2 and Numbers 18:16, though the family later redeemed him with the standard five shekels. Nazareth, called “their own town,” was a small, unremarkable village in lower Galilee, perhaps home to three hundred people. It lay a few miles west of the Sea of Galilee, away from the political and religious centers of Jerusalem and Sepphoris.

The historical background includes King Herod the Great’s final years, a time of paranoia and violence. Matthew records the visit of the Magi, Herod’s order to kill Bethlehem’s male infants, and Joseph’s flight to Egypt. Most commentators (Calvin, Barnes, Gill, Cambridge) hold that these events took place after the temple purification but before the final return to Nazareth. Luke’s decision to omit them does not mean they never happened; it reflects his literary purpose. He is not writing a full chronology but a theological narrative, emphasizing that from the earliest moments of his life, Jesus was raised in a family that walked “walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord” (Luke 1:6).

Because Nazareth was Joseph’s hometown and the place of his trade (carpentry), the family likely had a house and network there. Luke’s description of the city as “their own” (ἑαυτῶν) reinforces that in Luke’s view, this was the family’s permanent residence, not Bethlehem, where Joseph was born but had no settled home (Calvin). This detail sets the stage for Jesus’ public ministry, which will begin and be headquartered in Galilee.

The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Luke 2:39. The wording is stable across major manuscripts, with only minor orthographic differences such as Nazareth vs. Nazara; none affect interpretation.

From the early church, interpreters recognized that Luke 2:39 presents a compressed timeline. Irenaeus and later Augustine treated Luke and Matthew as complementary, with Augustine devoting a section of De Consensu Evangelistarum to the order of events. In the Reformation, Calvin followed this harmonizing approach, insisting that Luke’s silence about Egypt was a “leap across” the period. Later commentators like Gill and Barnes continued the tradition, explaining that an author need not mention events outside his scope. In modern academic study, the verse is often cited to illustrate each evangelist’s distinct theological emphasis: Luke on the law, Matthew on fulfillment of prophecy. Across all eras, the verse has been valued as a reminder that Christ’s family lived within the covenant community, obedient to Torah, and that the Messiah grew up far from the center of power.

Three-point outline

1. Work completed. The verb etelesan implies a full, careful fulfillment of every requirement. Joseph and Mary leave nothing undone, a model of attentive faithfulness to God’s commands.
2. Home again. After the drama of childbirth, angels, shepherds, and the temple encounter with Simeon and Anna, the family returns to the quiet obscurity of Nazareth. The ordinary life of parenting Jesus, feeding, teaching, growing, is itself part of God’s plan.
3. What Luke leaves out. The space between verses 38 and 39 is a reminder that Scripture does not tell us everything. Matthew supplies details Luke omits. We learn to trust the whole witness of the Gospels without forcing every sequence into a single timeline.

Five-point outline

1. Obedience as a habit. Mary and Joseph did “all things according to the law” not once but repeatedly, circumcision, purification, presentation, Passover visits (2:41). Faithfulness is built through small, consistent acts.
2. God’s provision in poverty The offering of two pigeons (v.24) marks Jesus’ family as poor. God chose a humble household, not a wealthy one, to raise the Messiah.
3. Nazareth and prophecy. Matthew 2:23 connects the family’s settlement in Nazareth to the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.” This obscure village becomes a symbol of Christ’s identification with the lowly.
4. The hidden years. Luke 2:39-40 flows directly into a summary of Jesus’ growth (wisdom, strength, grace). Most of the Son of God’s life was lived in privacy, a reminder that preparation often goes unseen.
5. Harmony, not contradiction. Luke’s silence about Egypt does not mean he rejects Matthew’s account. Both evangelists write true narratives with different emphases. We do not need to choose between them.

Illustration hooks

• A couple who has just completed all the paperwork for an adoption, home visits, background checks, court dates, and then simply drives home. The legal completion is the story, not the stop at the store on the way.
• A holiday family photo album that skips a tense argument that happened between two happy shots. Every account has a focus; absence of a detail is not denial.
• Moving back to a small hometown after years away. The familiarity of streets and neighbors anchors a new chapter of life.

Questions your congregation is asking

• Did Joseph and Mary go straight to Nazareth, or did some of the other events (wise men, Egypt) happen in between?
• Why didn’t Luke mention the flight into Egypt? Did he not know about it?
• What does it mean that Nazareth was “their own city”? Wasn’t Bethlehem their family home?

This verse brings the infancy narrative to a quiet close. After the glory of angels, the wonder of shepherds, and the prophetic words of Simeon and Anna, the holy family simply goes home. There they will raise Jesus in the ordinary rhythms of village life. As you discuss, notice what Luke chooses to include, and what he leaves out, and consider how God’s work often continues in the unremarkable.

Discussion questions

1. List everything Mary and Joseph did “according to the law” before this verse. Why does Luke make a point of mentioning their obedience? (Check Luke 2:21-24, 2:41-42.)
2. The Greek word etelesan means “they finished completely.” What does that tell you about Joseph and Mary’s attitude toward God’s commands?
3. Why do you think Luke calls Nazareth “their own town”? Read Luke 2:4 and Matthew 2:23. What is the significance of Jesus being raised in Galilee?
4. Matthew includes the flight into Egypt; Luke does not. How would you respond to a person who says the two accounts are contradictory?
5. If Luke’s purpose is theological, what point is he making by moving directly from the temple to Nazareth without mentioning Egypt?
6. Imagine being a parent of Jesus: what would it have been like to go back to normal life after such unusual events?
7. In what ways does this verse invite you to value the ordinary, hidden parts of your own walk with God?