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Luke 1:5–7
“Zechariah . . . [and] Elizabeth . . . were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.”
Luke’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus does not begin with Jesus or even with the parents of Jesus. Instead, the evangelist starts with our Lord’s extended family, with Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, a “relative” of Jesus’ mother, Mary (Luke 1:5–7, 36).
We meet Zechariah and Elizabeth near the end of the reign of King Herod the Great, the Roman-appointed ruler of Judea from 37 to 4 BC. Zechariah himself was a priest and thus a member of the Israelite tribe of Levi and a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses and first high priest of Israel. Elizabeth is also a descendant of Aaron (v. 5). Jesus Himself was not a Levitical priest, but He had priests in His family.
In Luke 1:6, we read that Zechariah and Elizabeth were both righteous before God, walking in all His commandments. This might strike us as odd, since the Bible also says that none is righteous (Rom. 3:10). Remember, however, that the Bible talks about righteousness in at least two different ways. First, we enjoy a positional or legal righteousness before God in His heavenly law court. We do not have this righteousness, which secures for us eternal life, in ourselves. We have this righteousness by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as the perfect obedience of Jesus is imputed to us. Paul speaks at length about this righteousness (Rom. 1:16–5:21; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3; Phil. 3:8–9). When the Bible says that none is righteous, it means that none (except Jesus) has obeyed God perfectly and merited eternal life.
Scripture also speaks of an experiential righteousness that is not sinless perfection but our good-faith attempts to keep God’s law and to repent when we fail. Often, the Bible uses the term “blameless” for this kind of righteousness, as in Luke 1:6 regarding Zechariah and Elizabeth. This imperfect experiential righteousness does not give us the right to eternal life; still, it is a real righteousness made possible by God’s grace for those whose sins are forgiven because they trust in Christ. John Calvin comments that Zechariah and Elizabeth “are accounted righteous and blameless, because their whole life testifies that they are devoted to righteousness, that the fear of God dwells in them. . . . The righteousness which is commended in them depends on the gracious forbearance of God, who does not reckon to them their remaining unrighteousness.”
Zechariah and Elizabeth are exemplary, though imperfect, servants of God. They were advanced in years and have no children as Luke’s gospel begins (v. 7), but their childlessness would soon end.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
We as Christians are called to be blameless, to have hearts that seek to obey God and that are quick to repent when we fall short. This blamelessness does not secure heaven for us, but it is the outward demonstration of authentic faith, which is how we receive the perfect righteousness of Christ. One of the ways that we know that our faith is real is that we are pursuing blamelessness in our lives.
for further study
- 2 Chronicles 16:9
- Psalm 119:1
- Proverbs 11:20
- Philippians 2:14–16
the bible in a year
- Genesis 6–7
- Matthew 3–4