brood of vipers

As a faith community, Christ in the City is walking through Luke, a chapter a day, for the month of August, and journaling about our readings. Some of us are using the S.O.A.P. method.

One person (Denise) asked about Luke 3:7 "brood of vipers". It's a good question. John is referring to a family or collection of snakes. John is calling the crowds offspring of vipers, rather than Abraham's offspring, sharing the characteristics of snakes, not trusting faith in God's deliverance, and showing actions consistant with that faith. Their behavior deviates radically from Abraham's, and is evil, with conflict, and poisonous. In Rev. 12, we see a connection between the image of a snake and the devil. John is making that inference here, I think, having already portrayed the conflict of light and darkness, and will later as well.
I hope this helps....
Pastor john