Luke 17:20-21

1 st. Luke 17:20-21. The Spirituality of the Kingdom. “ And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. 21. Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. ”

It is known with what impatience the Pharisees waited for the manifestations of the Messianic kingdom. It is natural that they should desire to know the opinion of Jesus on the subject. Besides, they would have been glad to embarrass Him in the matter, or to drag from Him some heresy. Their question rested on a purely external view of this divine kingdom; His advent appeared to their mind as a great and sudden dramatic act. In the gospel point of view, this expectation is certainly not altogether false; but humanity must be prepared for the new external and divine state of things by a spiritual work wrought in the depths of the heart; and it is this internal advent which Jesus thinks good to put first in relief before such interlocutors. The side of the truth which He thinks proper to set forth is, as usual, that which is mistaken by the parties addressing Him. To the Pharisee Nicodemus, who came to Him with a question analogous to that which His confrères are now putting, Jesus replies exactly in the same way. The expression: μετὰ παρατηρήσεως, in such a way as to be observed, relates to the observation of objects falling under the senses. The present ἔρχεται, cometh, is that of the idea. Now, since the kingdom is not established in a visible manner, it might happen that it should be present without men suspecting it (Luke 11:20). And this is exactly the case (Luke 11:20: has surprised you).

Lo here, lo there, these words express the impression of those who think they see it coming; Jesus puts in opposition to them His own behold. This last relates to the surprise which should be felt by His hearers on learning that the kingdom is already present. The words ἐντὸς ὑμῶν are explained by almost all modern interpreters in the sense of, in the midst of you. Philologically this meaning is possible; it may be harmonized with the γάρ. But the verb ἐστιν would in this case necessarily require to be put before the regimen; for this verb is would have the emphasis, “ it is really present. ” The idea among you would be secondary. If the regimen ἐντὸς ὑμῶν has the emphasis (and its place proves that it has), it can only be because these words contain the reason introduced by for. They should therefore serve to prove that the kingdom of God may have come without its coming being remarked; and this is what follows from its internal, spiritual nature. The meaning of this regimen is therefore, within you. Besides, the prep. ἐντός, within, always includes a contrast to the idea without. If, therefore, we give to it here the meaning of among, we must still suppose an understood contrast, that between the Jews as people within, and the Gentiles as people without. There is nothing in the context giving rise to such an antithesis. In giving to ἐντός the meaning within, we are led back to the idea expressed in the answer of Jesus to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” which confirms our explanation. ᾿Εστί is, like ἔρχεται, the present of essence.