Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 8:24

"And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. And he awoke, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm." — Luke 8:24 (ASV)

Master, master.—We note another characteristic feature of Luke’s phraseology. The Greek word (epistatès), which he alone uses in the New Testament, is his equivalent, here and elsewhere, for the “Rabbi” or “Master” (didaskalos), in the sense of “teacher,” which we find in the other Gospels. Luke also uses this latter word, but apparently only in connection with our Lord’s actual work as a teacher. For other occasions, he adopts epistatès (literally, the head or president of a company, but sometimes also used for the headmaster of a school or gymnasium). It was, as this fact implies, the more classical of the two words.

The raging of the water.—Literally, the wave or billow of the water. The term is peculiar to Luke’s Gospel.