Luke 18:1-8

3 d. Luke 18:1-8. The Widow and the Unjust Judge.

This parable is peculiar to Luke. The formula ἔλεγε δὲ καί, “Furthermore, hear this also,” announces it as the conclusion of the whole discourse Luke 17:20 et seq.

Weizsäcker (p. 139) and Holtzmann (p. 132) think that the introduction, Luke 18:1, gives this parable a commonplace application (the duty of perseverance in prayer), which does not belong to the original idea of this discourse (the imminence of the Parousia). But is there not a very close correspondence between the duty of persevering prayer, and the danger which the Church runs of being overcome by the carnal slumber which has just been described in the preceding portraiture? The Son of man has been rejected; He has gone from view; the masses are plunged in gross worldliness; men of God are become as rare as in Sodom. What is, then, the position of the Church? That of a widow whose only weapon is incessant prayer. It is only by means of this intense concentration that faith will be preserved. But such is precisely the disposition which, Jesus fears, may not be found even in the Church at His return. The parable is therefore placed here most appropriately, and the introduction is in perfect keeping with its first intention. Comp. Luke 21:34-36, where we find the same ideas in correspondence the danger of being spiritually overcharged in the last times, and the duty of unceasing vigilance and prayer. ᾿Εκκακεῖν, to relax, to let go, not to hold determinedly to one's rights, like the widow.

There lies at the foundation of this parable, as in those of the indiscreet friend and the lost sheep (chap. 11 and 15), an argument à fortiori: “Were God like this judge, He would not resist the Church's believing prayer; how much less, being what He is!” The condition of the Church after the Lord's departure is like that of a widow, and of a widow deprived of her rights. The Lord has acquired for His own glorious prerogatives, which have not yet passed into the domain of facts, and the enjoyment of which, if they esteem them at their just value, they should claim without ceasing. ᾿Εκδικεῖν (Luke 18:3): to deliver (ἐκ) by a judicial sentence (δίκη). This term does not therefore include the notion of vengeance, but that of justice to be rendered to the oppressed.

If ὑπωπιάζειν, to disfigure the face, be taken in the weakened sense of importuning, it will be necessary to understand εἰς τέλος, to the end: “Lest she importune me to the end (indefinitely).” But Meyer prefers keeping the strict sense, both of the verb and of εἰς τέλος (at last): “Lest she come at last to strike me.” The participle ἐρχομένη, coming to me, decides in favour of this second meaning. There is in this saying a touch of pleasantry.

Ver. 6. “ Hear: for there is a lesson to be drawn even from this impious language.”

Ver. 7. The continual crying of the elect recalls the ardent desire of believers to see one of the days of the Son of man, Luke 17:22.

The elect are those whom God has drawn by the calling of Jesus from the bosom of lost humanity, agreeably to the eternal plan of salvation.

If we read μακροθυμεῖ (Alex.), we must give this proposition the interrogative meaning: “Will He not do right..., and will He be slow in their behalf, that is to say, to punish those who oppress them?” But the sense which must thus be given to ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς is not natural. It is much better, therefore, to read: μακροθυμῶν, the meaning of which is (with καί): “ Though He restrain His anger on account of His [oppressed] elect. ” God suffers with them (Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?); and therefore Jesus can say of God, that He restrains Himself on their account. If, then, He does not interpose immediately to deliver them, it is not from indifference; it is from long-suffering to their oppressors. Comp. 2 Peter 3:9. It is nowhere said that the object of the unceasing cry of the elect is the punishment of their adversaries, which would not be in keeping with the figure of the parable; it is their own deliverance by their being put in possession of the heritage to which they are entitled. But God, it is true, cannot grant this petition without breaking the power of those who stand in the way of this act of justice. It is to this aspect of His answer that allusion is made by the μακροθυμεῖν.

᾿Εν τάχει, speedily, does not at all mean that the limit of divine forbearance is near, which would be inconsistent with the long interval of time announced in the words, days will come...(Luke 17:22). The word rather signifies, that the hearing once given, the deliverance will be accomplished with small delay, in the twinkling of an eye; comp. Romans 16:20 (where, too, we should translate not shortly, but very quickly). Πλήν : “I am not afraid of the Judge failing in His duty. The only thing which makes me anxious is this, lest the widow fail in hers.” Τὴν πίστιν : not some faith in general, but the faith, that special faith of which the widow's is an image, which, in spite of the judge's obstinate silence and long apparent indifference, perseveres in claiming its right.

On the earth, in opposition to the Son of man who comes again from heaven.

We must here remember the sad picture of the state of humanity at this epoch (Luke 17:26-30). Is it not to such a state of things that Jesus also makes allusion, Matthew 25:5: “And they all slumbered and slept?”

Hilgenfeld and others find in this parable a thirst for vengeance, which corresponds rather with the furious zeal of the Apocalypse than the true Pauline feeling of Luke. This passage must therefore be “one of those most ancient parts of our Gospel” which Luke borrowed from a Jewish document. Others, like De Wette, see in it, on the contrary, the traces of a later period, when the Church had become the victim of persecution. But, 1. This alleged thirst for vengeance nowhere appears in the text. 2. Our passage is full of gentleness in comparison with expressions of indignation used by Paul himself (Romans 2:4-5; Romans 2:8-9; 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16; 2Th 1:8). The spirit of this parable is therefore not in the least opposed to that of the Pauline Luke 3. There is allusion, no doubt, to the abnormal position of the Church between Christ's departure and His return, but not to persecution strictly so called.

While Hilgenfeld affects to distinguish in this piece the originally Ebionite passages (Luke 17:1-4; Luke 17:11-19; Luke 18:1-8) from those which are of Luke's composition (Luke 17:5-10; Luke 17:20-37; Luke 18:1-14), Volkmar (Evangel. Marcions, p. 203) maintains that the arrangement of the piece is systematic, and rests on the well-known Pauline triad: love (Luke 17:1-4), faith (Luke 18:5-19), hope (Luke 18:30 et seq.). But it is easy to see how forced it is to apply any such scheme to those different accounts.