The Bible Says
Luke 2:21-24 Meaning

There are no apparent parallel Gospel accounts of Luke 2:21-24.

Luke 2:21-24 describes two events of Jesus’s infancy: His circumcision and His official naming according to the angel’s instruction; and His presentation at the temple with a purification offering in accordance with the Law of Moses.

Jesus’s Circumcision and Official Naming Ceremony

The first event was Jesus’s circumcision and naming ceremony which took place when Jesus was eight days old.

And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb (v 21).

Luke begins by saying what he is about to report happened when eight days had passed from the night Mary delivered her firstborn son and laid Him in a manger (Luke 2:6-7).

Eight days after Jewish boys are born, they are circumcised and given their official name.

Circumcision of the flesh is the removal of foreskin from the penis (Genesis 17:11a).

Circumcision was first commanded by God in the Abrahamic Covenant, which is set forth in this passage from Genesis where God spoke to Abraham:

“This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generation….”
(Genesis 17:10-12a)

Circumcision was a sign that a male was a member of Abraham’s household. It was an external sign that he was an Israelite, a Jew, and a member of the Abrahamic covenant.

Any Jewish male that was not circumcised was cut off from his people and not a partaker of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17:14).

Circumcision was also commanded in the Law of Moses and was to take place on the eighth day of the boy’s life,

“On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”
(Leviticus 12:3)

Circumcision was required to eat the Passover and was required of any Gentile who wished to become a Jew (Exodus 12:43-48). Circumcision was used as an act to enter into the Mosaic Covenant and to submit oneself to the Law of Moses. The Apostle Paul used this point in Galatians 5:3 emphasizing that becoming circumcised for the sake of the Law would require that person to keep the entire Law of Moses.

Eight-day-old boys do not have the agency to decide whether to be circumcised; their parents decide this for them. Jesus’s parents were righteous people (Matthew 1:19) who had found favor with God (Luke 1:30). They followed the custom and obeyed Law and had their son circumcised eight days after He was born.

It was right that Jesus’s parents followed this custom and obeyed the Mosaic Law. Having their son circumcised eight days after He was born meant that Jesus was a full-fledged member of the Jewish community and the Abrahamic covenant, and that He would be bound to the Law of Moses.

This was important since, as the Messiah, Jesus was the fulfillment of both the Abrahamic Covenant and the Law of Moses.

Jesus’s circumcision qualified Him to be part of the Abrahamic Covenant. It was through Jesus, Abraham’s descendant, that the promise would be fulfilled that all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

Jesus’s circumcision bound Him to the Law of Moses and it was the first act of His fulfillment of the Law. Jesus would go on to perfectly fulfill the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:17-18, John 19:30, Romans 8:3-4, 10:4, Galatians 4:4). This made Him God’s perfect sacrificial Passover lamb.

In addition to being circumcised on the eighth day of their life, Jewish males are also officially given their name. The circumcision and naming ceremony for baby boys is an occasion for major celebration in Jewish culture. Families invite friends and relatives to share a feast. Jesus’s cousin, John, was circumcised and named six months earlier, which turned out to be a particularly notable ceremony (Luke 1:57-59). To this day, Jews often rent out celebration venues to help them commemorate the circumcision and naming of their sons.

Luke does not provide further details about Jesus’s circumcision ceremony. He does not say if this took place in Jerusalem or Bethlehem, in the temple, in a synagogue, or residence. But it seems to have been a small and intimate ceremony, possibly only shared between Jesus’s parents and a priest.

Mary and Joseph were far from their community of support back home, which was their hometown of Nazareth. Nazareth was several days travel northward from Jerusalem. The new parents also appear to have been poor and lived relatively obscure lives. A clue we get for this is that they were unable to afford to offer a one-year-old lamb (Leviticus 12:6a). Instead, Jesus’s parents offered the less expensive but perfectly acceptable sacrifice (Leviticus 12:6b) of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (v 24b). Because of their poverty and distance from home, they likely did not have a widely attended celebration for their son’s circumcision ceremony. Thus, one of the most important and significantly Jewish events of the Messiah’s early life went largely unheralded.

Luke reports that Mary and Joseph then called their Son—Jesus.

In Hebrew, the name “Jesus” means “God saves” or “God’s salvation.” In Hebrew, the name transliterates to “Yeshua” which is the same as the Old Testament name “Joshua.” The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses the Greek word translated to English as “Jesus” to translate the Hebrew name we know as “Joshua.” This is an indication that Jesus the Messiah is the second Joshua. He will fulfill this prophetic picture when He returns again and conquers the earth (Revelation 19:11-21).

Jesus was the name that was given to Mary by the angel Gabriel before her son was conceived in the womb (Luke 1:31). The angel later told Joseph that Mary’s son would be called Jesus, after her son was conceived in the womb (Matthew 1:18-21).

Therefore, as was the case with John, Jesus’s cousin (Luke 1:13), Jesus’s human name was assigned by God, not Mary or Joseph. And His parents obeyed the angel of God’s instruction. When the time came for them to name their son when He was eight days old, they officially named Him—Jesus—in obedience to the Lord.

Interestingly, Luke, in keeping with this Jewish tradition, does not refer to Mary’s firstborn son as Jesus in his narrative until after verse 22 when He is given this name.

The only time the name Jesus appears in Luke’s Gospel before Luke 2:22 is when the angel Gabriel instructs Mary to call her son by this name (Luke 1:31). Between Luke 1:31 and Luke 2:22, Luke refers to Jesus as the Child, son, baby, with personal pronouns, etc.

Jesus’s Presentation and Mary’s Purification Offering

The second event was Jesus’s presentation in the temple and Mary’s purification offering.

And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” (vv 22-24).

Mary’s purification and Jesus’s presentation in the temple were a separate event from Jesus’s circumcision and naming ceremony. Luke mentions a period of days between Jesus’s circumcision and His presentation in the temple. Luke expresses this distinction through the clause:

And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed…

In this context, the pronoun—their—refers to Mary and Joseph, Jesus’s mother and adoptive father.

Luke explicitly stated that Jesus’s circumcision and official naming occurred when He was eight days old. And he also stated that Mary’s purification and Jesus’s presentation were completed according to the number of days prescribed by the law of Moses.

The law of Moses commands that a mother’s purification occurs forty days after she gives birth to a son. The number of forty days is reckoned accordingly:

• A son is circumcised on his eighth day of life which is seven days after he is born (Leviticus 12:3).
• Then she is to wait thirty-three days after her son’s circumcision for her purification (Leviticus 12:4).
• Seven plus thirty-three equals forty days after her son is born.

If a mother delivers a daughter, her purification is to happen sixty-six days after she gives birth (Leviticus 12:5).

So, Jesus’s presentation in the temple and Mary’s purification occurred about a month after He was circumcised, when He was forty days old according to the law of Moses.

The law of Moses also describes the requirements for a mother’s purification.

“When the days of her purification are completed… she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.”
(Leviticus 12:6)

Luke indicates that Mary and Joseph offered a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (and not a one-year-old lamb) according to the Law of the Lord. This fact suggests that Mary and Joseph did not have enough money to afford a lamb. They sacrificed the less expensive offering of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

The priest then sacrifices the lamb or birds to make atonement for the new mother and she is considered clean after giving birth to her child (Leviticus 12:7). In the first century A.D. this sacrifice took place in the temple of Jerusalem. This was why they (Mary and Joseph) brought Him up to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is only a few miles north (less than a half-a-day’s walk) from Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

Luke explicitly states that Mary and Joseph offered their sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord.

Interestingly Luke subtly switches from using the term the law of Moses to using the Law of the Lord.  The reason Luke makes this shift is to clarify for his primarily Greek audience that the Lord is the One who gave this Law and not Moses. Moses was a prophet through whom the Law was given, but its substance was from the Lord.

Had Luke not made this clarification, his Greek audience may have misunderstood the expression law of Moses and incorrectly concluded that Moses was the giver of this Law rather than God. The Greeks lionized great heroes and lawgivers—Solon of Athens and Lycurgus of Sparta were two of the more well-known Greek lawgivers. Luke shifted from law of Moses to Law of the Lord to help his readers not mistake or put the Law of Moses on the same level as another great figure of Law—i.e. the Law of Solon or the Law of Lycurgus.

It appears that at that same time, when Mary and Joseph offered their purification sacrifice in the temple, they also presented Jesus, their firstborn child.

The consecration and presentation of a firstborn male was also according to the Law of the Lord. This is written in the Law of the Lord in Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16.

Luke references the commands of Exodus 13:2 and 13:12 when he writes: Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

The Book of Exodus explicitly links the tenth plague in Egypt to the commands to sanctify to God every firstborn (Exodus 13:2) and to “devote to the LORD the first offspring of every womb… the males belong to the LORD” (Exodus 13:12).

During the tenth and final plague, “the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast” (Exodus 13:15a).

Because the Lord killed Egypt’s firstborn during His deliverance of Israel, every firstborn male of Israel is to be sacrificed to the Lord. This is why Moses goes onto explain:

“Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb…”
(Exodus 13:15b)

But mercifully, the Lord does not kill Israel’s firstborn sons. He allows them to be redeemed:

“but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.”
(Exodus 13:15c)

The Book of Numbers describes the price of redemption of Israel’s firstborn sons.

“As to their redemption price, from a month old you shall redeem them, by your valuation, five shekels in silver…”
(Numbers 18:16a)

During the firstborn male’s presentation ceremony, the parents handed their child over to the priest to dedicate him to the Lord. The firstborn child then was set apart and holy and belonged to God, and not his parents. But the priest would then ask the parents if they would like to redeem their firstborn son for five shekels of silver. The parents would pay the redemption fee to redeem their firstborn son and the priest would give the boy back to his parents.

This redemption ceremony and ordinance symbolized how every firstborn son of Israel rightfully belonged to the Lord, because God spared them during the tenth plague in Egypt while striking down the firstborn of Egypt. It was a visible and personal reminder of God’s deliverance and ownership over His people. By presenting their firstborn son and then redeeming him with five shekels of silver, the parents acknowledged both God’s mercy in allowing redemption and His rightful claim on the life of their child.

Every Israelite who had a firstborn son from the time of Moses was to obey this ordinance. Jews today continue to obey this command and pay a redemption price equivalent to five shekels to the priest when they dedicate their firstborn sons to the Lord.

This was how firstborn sons of Israel were sanctified (Exodus 13:2), devoted (Exodus 13:12), and/or presented to the Lord. And this act of worship reminded parents of firstborn sons of the dear cost of Israel’s salvation from Egyptian slavery. And it pointed ahead to the even dearer cost of God’s firstborn Son who would be slain to deliver Israel from sin and death.

Mary and Joseph also paid this redemption price with their firstborn son, Jesus, when they presented Him to the Lord according to the law of the Moses. In so doing, it signified that their son was dedicated to the Lord from birth.

But in the case of Jesus, this dedication ceremony was extra significant for four reasons:

1. Jesus was the redemption price this ceremony commemorated.
   
   This is perhaps the most important of the four reasons. Unlike every other firstborn male, Jesus would not be redeemed back to His earthly parents. He was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). One day God would crush Him on the cross (Isaiah 53:10) and Jesus would offer Himself as a sacrifice and die to become the Redeemer of all (Isaiah 53:11-12).
   
   
2. As the Messiah, Jesus was particularly dedicated to the Lord.
   
   Jesus came to do the will of His Father (John 6:38). He did nothing on His own initiative, but only what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), and He delighted to fulfill God's will even when it led to suffering and death (Luke 22:42). Like the Servant in Isaiah’s prophecies, Jesus listened to the Lord as a disciple and never turned back from the mission God gave Him (Isaiah 50:4-5).
   
   
3. As the perfect human, Jesus fulfilled the Law as no one else could.
   
   Indeed Jesus, unlike every other human, would actually fulfill the Law of the Lord and He would fulfill it perfectly. Jesus came for the purpose of fulfilling the Law (Matthew 5:17) so that He might redeem those under the Law (Galatians 4:4).
   
   
4. As the Son of God, Jesus was offered by His earthly parents to God the Father.
   
   Mary and Joseph were entrusting the very Son of God into the hands of His heavenly Father. They may or may not have grasped this when they presented Jesus, Mary’s firstborn son, in the temple.

The entire dedication ceremony of the firstborn to the Lord and its scriptural ordinances pointed to who Jesus was and what He would accomplish for us.

As mentioned in The Bible Says commentary for Luke 2:7—the term firstborn is full of significance.

Firstborn is the English translation of the Greek word: πρωτότοκος (G4416—pronounced—“pro-tot-ok'-os.” The English word “prototype” comes from this word and Jesus is the prototype human.

• Jesus is the firstborn of Mary.
  (Luke 2:7, 2:22-23)
  
  
• Jesus is the firstborn of all creation.
  (Colossians 1:15)
  
  
• Jesus is the firstborn from the dead.
  (Colossians 1:18, Revelation 1:5)
  
  
• Jesus is the firstborn son who is the one to inherit the world as a reward for His faithfulness.
  (Hebrews 1:6, 2:9-10)
  
  
• Jesus is the firstborn of many brethren. Jesus desires that many of those who trust in Him and become children of God join Him as an overcomer to reign with Him in the earth.
  (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 2:9-10, Revelation 3:21)

The firstborn was to have a double blessing of inheriting the primary responsibility and authority over the family. Jesus is the firstborn of all humanity. Because of His faithfulness in obedience even to death, He has possessed His inheritance to reign over all the earth (Matthew 28:18, Philippians 2:8-10). Through His sacrifice all who believe in Him are redeemed and become children of God and gain an inheritance (1 John 3:1). And all children who are faithful servants also possess the reward of their inheritance (Colossians 3:23-24).

All this comes through Jesus, the Messiah and savior of the world.