John Calvin Commentary Luke 13:11

"And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up." — Luke 13:11 (ASV)

And behold, a woman. This passage relates a miracle performed on a woman who was healed, and the offense that the Jews, in their malice, took because our Lord had healed her on a Sabbath day.

Luke says that the woman was held by a spirit of infirmity, so that her body was bent by the contraction of her nerves.

Since the nature of the disease is no further described, it is probable that it was not an ordinary kind of illness, or one understood by physicians; and therefore, Luke calls it a spirit of infirmity.

We know that diseases of an unusual and extraordinary kind are, for the most part, inflicted on people through the agency of the devil. This provided a more striking display of the divine power of Christ, which triumphed over Satan.

This is not to say that Satan rules over people as he pleases, but only insofar as God grants him permission to harm them.

Moreover, just as the Lord, from whom alone all our blessings flow, makes his glory shine with particular brightness in those blessings that are more remarkable and rare, so, on the other hand, it is his will that the power and tyranny of Satan should be chiefly perceived in extraordinary chastisements, though Satan's agency is also employed in those more gentle applications of the rod that we experience from day to day.