Mark 13:32

περὶ δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης. This can hardly mean anything else than the great day which will bring to an end αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι (Mark 13:17; Mark 13:19; Mark 13:24), the day of the Advent (Mark 14:25; Luke 21:34; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 1:18; 2 Timothy 4:8). If for a moment the downfall of Jerusalem has been treated as representing the End, this verse (to which there is no parallel in Lk.) definitely distinguishes the two. Christ has given signs by which those who are on the alert may recognize the nearness of the downfall. He now, in very clear and emphatic language, tells His disciples that He can give no hint as to the time of His Advent. He Himself does not know. This is a saying which no Christian would have invented and attributed to Christ. Interpolation (Ambrose) is not credible.

οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι. Not even the Angels; cf. Mark 5:3; Mark 6:31; Mark 8:17; Mark 12:10. Here again Christ solemnly teaches that Angels exist (see on Mark 8:38; Mark 12:25) and He has just stated (Mark 13:27) that Angels will take part in the stupendous events of that Day. Cf. Matthew 13:41; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 25:31; Matthew 26:53.

οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός. Nor yet the Son. The other Evangelists represent Christ as speaking of “the Son” in the same absolute manner; Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 5:19; John 6:40; John 17:1. We have οὐ … οὐδὲ … οὐδὲ … Matthew 6:26; Matthew 12:19 and Revelation 5:3; cf. Revelation 9:4. It was not for any man, not even the Son of Man Himself, “to know times and seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority” (Acts 1:7). After the Resurrection Christ does not say that He is ignorant; but at this crisis He was not yet glorified, and in this, as in many other things, He condescended to share the ignorance of His disciples; see on Mark 6:5; Mark 6:38; Mark 8:5; Mark 8:22; Mark 9:21; Mark 11:13; John 11:34. The meaning would seem to be, “The Father has not revealed this, not even to Me, the Son.” This, of course refers to the Son as He then was, incarnate and not yet glorified. See Gore, Dissertations, pp. 77–88.

εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ. This goes back to οὐδεὶς οἶδεν: “no one, except the Father,” to which Mt. adds “alone” (μόνος), which covers οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός, words which in Mt. are omitted in important witnesses, but are probably to be retained. That the Father knows this season and day is stated in O.T. (Zechariah 14:7) and in Ps. Sol. 17:23, “Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their King, the Son of David, in the time which Thou, O God, knowest” (εἰς τὸν καιρὸν ὃν οἶδας σὺ, ὁ Θεός). Dalman, Words, p. 287.