Luke 1:77

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people in the remission of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, Whereby the dayspring from on high shall visit us.

In the remission of their sins ... This is the salvation Jesus came to provide. In this sector only is man powerless to do anything for himself. It is forgiveness that the soul cries for, and it is available nowhere except in Jesus Christ the Saviour. When either churches or individuals lose sight of this, total moral blindness is the result. It is not the standard of living, nor political freedom, nor rights, nor economic parity - or anything else, which distinguishes the salvation of Christ - "it is the forgiveness of sins." This focuses attention upon the great prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31ff, in which forgiveness of sins is the distinctive mark of the new covenant. The term here rendered forgiveness is found eight times in the Lukan writings, and only seven times in the rest of the New Testament.[37]

Dayspring from on high ... Neither the English Revised Version (1885) nor the RSV has properly translated this phrase; as Summers noted:

The RSV is not a translation, but a smooth paraphrase of a Greek expression which literally translated would be, "in which shall shine upon us the light rising from on high."[38]

Thus again we have a close correspondence with the Gospel of John which also identified Jesus as "the true Light lighting every man, coming into this world" (John 1:9). In view of the actual meaning, "Dayspring from on High" (as in the KJV) is the best rendition. Christ is indeed the Light of the world; and it was appropriate that he should thus have been identified by the very first prophet to speak after the promise of Malachi (Malachi 4:2) that "the Sun of righteousness" should arise "with healing in his wings." There is a strong resemblance here to 2 Peter 1:19, in which Christ is compared to a lamp shining in a squalid room.

Shall visit us ... should in all probability be rendered "hath visited us," as in many ancient authorities; but, since prophetic tense refers to future events, no violence to the true meaning was done. It is fully the truth, stated either way.

[37] Anthony Lee Ash, op. cit., p. 50.

[38] Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 35.