Luke 3:10 records the crowds asking John the Baptist what they must do in response to his warning about judgment. The question is a sincere request for practical direction: people who have heard a call to repentance want to know what that repentance looks like in their daily lives. John is preaching in the wilderness near the Jordan River, and the people coming out to be baptized by him are the ones asking.
The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”
Luke 3:10 (WEB)
What Luke 3:10 Means
The phrase “the multitudes” points to a large, mixed group of ordinary people, not a particular class or profession. The word “asked” describes a real question coming out of real concern. Then comes “What then must we do?” The word “then” ties the question to what John has just said: if the coming judgment is real and the tree that bears no fruit will be cut down, then what is the response? The question assumes that God expects a changed life, not only a changed mind.
The verse does not promise anything yet. It records a question, and the answer comes in the verses that follow, where John speaks plainly about sharing with those in need and dealing honestly with money and power. So the verse itself is best read as an opening door. It shows people taking the first step of asking for guidance instead of simply feeling guilty or defensive.
The Context of Luke 3:10
Luke wrote this Gospel as an orderly account for a readership he addresses as Theophilus, probably a Gentile believer, and he gives a careful account of Jesus’s life and the events that prepared for it. He places John’s ministry at the start of the public story, and his preaching makes clear that the Messiah’s arrival will bring both mercy and judgment. The crowds in verse 10 are the people who came to be baptized, a public sign of turning from sin.
The verses just before and after help explain the question. In verses 7 to 9 John warns his listeners not to rely on their heritage as children of Abraham, and insists that repentance must produce real fruit. The answers in verses 11 to 14 then show what that fruit looks like for different people: those with extra clothing and food, tax collectors, and soldiers. Read this way, the question in verse 10 is the hinge between a warning and its practical application.
Key Phrases in Luke 3:10
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
(WEB)
This verse answers a similar question about what God requires, pointing to justice, mercy and walking humbly with God. Read beside Luke 3:10, it shows that the crowd’s question has a long history in the prophets and a clear answer in God’s character.
Matthew 3:8
Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
(WEB)
In this parallel warning from John, he calls for fruit that matches repentance. Reading it alongside Luke 3:10 reinforces that the question about what to do is really a question about producing visible change in everyday life.
A Short Prayer From Luke 3:10
Lord, I come with the same question the crowds asked John. I know that turning toward you means more than feeling sorry, and I want my life to show the change you are working in me. Show me where I have held back what I could share, where my choices have been dishonest or self-serving, and where I have trusted in my own background instead of in you. Give me the courage to take the next honest step, however small it seems, and the humility to keep asking you what I must do. Amen.
