CHAPTER 17. A COLLECTION OF SAYINGS, INCLUDING THE PARABLE OF EXTRA SERVICE. This chapter gives the impression of being a group of fragments with little connection in place, time, or topic, and nothing is gained for exegesis by ingenious attempts at logical or topical concatenation. If we view the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Concerning offences and forgiving of offences_ (_cf._ Matthew 18:6-7; Matthew 21:22). ἀνένδεκτον : here only in N.T. and hardly found in classics; with ἐστι = οὐκ ἐνδέχεται (Luke 13:33), it is not possible. τοῦ μὴ ἐλθεῖν : the infinitive with the genitive article may depend on ἀνένδεκτον viewed as... [ Continue Reading ]
λυσιτελεῖ (λύω, τέλος), it profits or pays; here only in N.T. = συμφέρει in Matthew 18:6. λίθος μυλικός, a millstone, not a great millstone, one driven by an ass (μύλος ὀνικὸς, T.R.), as in Mt.: the vehement emphasis of Christ's words is toned down in Lk. here as often elsewhere. The realistic expre... [ Continue Reading ]
προσέχετε ἑ., take heed to yourselves (lest ye offend), a reminiscence of the original occasion of the discourse: ambition revealing itself in the disciple-circle.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἑπτάκις τῆς ἡμέρας, seven times a day. The number recalls Peter's question (Matthew 18:21), and the phrase seven times _a day_ states the duty of forgiving as broadly as Mt.'s seventy times seven, but not in so animated a style: more in the form of a didactic rule than of a vehement emotional uttera... [ Continue Reading ]
_The power of faith_ (_cf._ Matthew 17:20). οἱ ἀπόστολοι instead of μαθηταὶ. Luke 17:1. τῷ κυρίῳ : these titles for Jesus and the Twelve betray a narrative having no connection with what goes before, and secondary in its character. πρόσθες ἡμῖν πίστιν, add faith to us. This sounds more like a stereo... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ ἔχετε. εἰ with pres. in protasis, the imperf. in apodosis with ἄν. Possession of faith already sufficient to work miracles is here admitted. In Mt. the emphasis lies on the want of such faith. Another instance of Lk.'s desire to spare the Twelve. συκαμίνῳ, here only in N.T. = συκομορέα, Luke 19:4... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐθέως : to be connected not with ἐρεῖ but with παρελθὼν ἀ. = he does not say: Go at once and get your supper.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The parable of extra service_, in Luke only. For this name and the view of the parable implied in it see my _Parabolic Teaching of Christ_. It is there placed among the theoretic parables as teaching a truth about the Kingdom of God, _viz._, that it makes exacting demands on its servants which can... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ : ἀλλὰ implies the negation of the previous supposition. ἕως φάγω, etc., “till I have eaten,” etc., A.V [134]; or, _while_ I eat and drink. [134] Authorised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
μὴ ἔχει χάριν, he does not thank him, does he? the service taken as a matter of course, all in the day's work.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὕτως, so, in the Kingdom of God: extremes meet. The service of the Kingdom is as unlike that of a slave to his owner as possible in _spirit_; but it is like in the heavy demands it makes, which _we_ have to take as a matter of course. διαταχθέντα, commanded. In point of fact it is not commands but... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς Ἱερ.: the note of time seems to take us back to Luke 9:51. No possibility of introducing historic sequence into the section of Lk. lying between Luke 9:51 and Luke 18:15. αὐτὸς, He without emphasis; not He, as opposed to other pilgrims taking another route, directly through Samaria (so Meyer and... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ten lepers_.... [ Continue Reading ]
δέκα λεπροὶ : _ten_, a large number, the disease common. Rosenmüller (_das A. and N. Morgenland_) cites from Dampier a similar experience; lepers begging alms from voyagers on the river Camboga, when they approached their village, crying to them from afar. They could not heal them, but they gave the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπιστάτα : this word is peculiar to Lk., which suggests editorial revision of the story. ἐλέησον : a very indefinite request compared with that of the leper in Luke 5:12 f., whose remarkable words are given in identical terms by all the synoptists. The interest wanes here.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπιδείξατε ἑ.: the same direction as in the first leper narrative, but without reason annexed. ἱερεῦσι : plural, either to the priests of their respective nationalities (Kuinoel, J. Weiss, etc.) or to the priests of the respective districts to which they belonged (Hahn). ἐν τῷ ὑπάγειν, etc., on the... [ Continue Reading ]
δοξάζων τ. Θ.: general statement, exact words not known, so also in report of thanksgiving to Jesus.... [ Continue Reading ]
Σαμαρείτης : this, with the comment of Jesus, _the_ point of interest for Lk.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐχ (οὐχὶ, T.R.): asking a question and implying an affirmative answer. Yet the fact of asking the question implies a certain measure of doubt. No direct information as to what happened had reached Jesus presumably, and He naturally desires explanation of the non-appearance of all but one. Were not... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐχ εὑρέθησαν, etc., best taken as another question (so R.V [136]). ἀλλογενὴς, here only, in N.T.; also in Sept [137] = ἀλλόφυλος and ἀλλοεθνής in classics, an alien. Once more the Jew suffers by comparison with those without in respect of genuine religious feeling faith, gratitude. It is not indeed... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀναστὰς πορεύου : that might be all that Jesus said (so in [138]), as it was the man's gratitude, natural feeling of thankfulness, not his faith, that was in evidence. But Lk., feeling that it was an abrupt conclusion, might add ἡ πίστις σ. σ. σ. to round off the sentence, which may therefore be the... [ Continue Reading ]
μετὰ παρατηρήσεως : there is considerable diversity of opinion in the interpretation of this important expression. The prevailing view is that Jesus meant thereby to deny a coming that could be observed with the eye (“not with observation”). The older interpretation “not with pomp” (μετὰ περιφανείας... [ Continue Reading ]
_Concerning the coming of the Kingdom and the advent of the Son of Man_. In this section the words of Jesus are distributed between Pharisees and disciples, possibly according to the evangelist's impression as to the audience they suited. Weiffenbach (_Wiederkunftsgedanke Jesu_, p. 217) suggests tha... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐδὲ ἐροῦσι, nor will they say; there will be nothing to give occasion for saying: _non erit quod dicatur_, Grotius. ὧδε, ἐκεῖ, here, there, implying a visible object that can be located. ἐντὸς ὑμῶν, within you, in your spirit. This rendering best corresponds with the non-visibility of the kingdom.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The coming of the Son of Man_ (Matthew 24:26-28). πρὸς τ. μαθητάς : so in Mt., but at a later time and at Jerusalem; which connection is the more original cannot be decided. ἐλεύσονται ἡμέραι, there will come days (of tribulation), ominous hint like that in Luke 5:35. μίαν τ. ἡ., etc., one of the d... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκεῖ, ὧδε : _cf._ the more graphic version in Matthew 24:26, and notes thereon. μὴ διώξητε, do not follow them, give no heed to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκ τῆς, χώρας understood, so also χώραν after εἰς τὴν = from this quarter under heaven to that. Here again Mt.'s version is the more graphic and original = from east to west.... [ Continue Reading ]
πρῶτον δὲ δεῖ, etc.; the Passion must come before the glorious lightning-like advent. What you have to do I meantime is to prepare yourselves for _that_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The advent will be a surprise_ (Matthew 24:37-41).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤσθιον, etc.: note the four verbs without connecting particles, a graphic asyndeton; and note the imperfect tense: those things going on up to the very hour of the advent, as it was in the days of Noah, or in the fateful day of Pompeii.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁμοίως : introducing a new comparison = similarly, as it was in the days, etc. so shall it be in the day of, etc. (Luke 17:30). Bornemann ingeniously connects ὁμοίως with ἅπαντας going before, and, treating it as a Latinism, renders _perdidit omnes pariter_. ἤσθιον, etc.: again a series of unconnect... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔβρεξε (βρέχω): an old poetic word used in late Greek for ὕειν, to rain. βροχή is the modern Greek for rain (_vide_ Matthew 5:45).... [ Continue Reading ]
κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ, etc., the apodosis of the long sentence beginning Luke 17:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sauve qui peut_ (Matthew 24:17-18; Mark 13:15-16). The saying in Luke 17:31 is connected in Mt. and Mk. with the crisis of Jerusalem, to which in this discourse in Lk. there is no allusion. The connection in Mt. and Mk. seems the more appropriate, as a literal flight was then necessary.... [ Continue Reading ]
μνημονεύετε, etc.: the allusion to Lot's wife is prepared for by the comparison in Luke 17:28. It is not in Mt. and Mk., being inappropriate to the flight they had in view. No fear of looking back when an invading army was at the gates. Lk. has in view the spiritual application, as is shown by the n... [ Continue Reading ]
τ. τ. νυκτὶ, on that _night_; day hitherto, the Jewish day began with night (Hahn), and the reference to night suits the following illustration. No need to take night metaphorically = _imago miseriae_ (Kuinoel). ἐπὶ κλίνης μ., in one bed; in the field in Mt.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The final separation_ (Matthew 24:40-41).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλήθουσαι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό, grinding at the same place; in the mill, Mt. Proximity the point emphasised in Lk. near each other, yet how remote their destinies!... [ Continue Reading ]
σῶμα, the carcase = πτῶμα, Matthew 24:28; so used in Homer, who employs δέμας for the living body.... [ Continue Reading ]