Bible Study series: Luke 16:14-18. Jesus included this brief teaching to show how the Old Law connects with his kingdom community. We need this teaching because the Torah is being pushed heavily right now in the American church.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 16:14-18
14 The money-loving Pharisees were listening to all these things and were ridiculing him. 15 And he said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before God, but God knows your heart because that which is exalted among people is detestable before God.
16 The law and prophets were until John; from here on, the kingdom of God is proclaimed as good news, and everyone is urgently invited into it. 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the law to fail.
18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” (Luke 16:14-18)
Comments:
Tying in the previous section and the next one about the Rich Man and Lazarus with these series of statements is difficult to pin down. This section here seems unrelated. After reviewing the options, Bock writes:
A better approach is to tie the section together by the theme of Jesus’ values and authority. Tiede [another commentator] shows that the authority of God’s kingdom should influence one’s value. The kingdom causes one (1) to renounce divided loyalties (16:10-13), (2) have idolatries revealed (16:14-15), and (3) raise standards of obedience (16:18). The issue of how 16:16-17 the picture is not clear from this perspective. Perhaps the point is that promise and authority have come in the kingdom and in Jesus’ teaching. Yet the kingdom’s coming fulfills the law’s promise and still calls for ethical living. The kingdom picture is crucial here, and the issue of Jesus’ authority and its values it leads to unifies the passage. (pp. 1344-45)
And Stein writes about the puzzle of finding a unifying theme in this passage and the previous one and the next one:
The tie between these early verses and the remaining ones (16:16–18), however, is unclear. It has been suggested that the last one dealing with divorce might be connected either to 16:16–17 as an example of how the law was not made void or to 16:9–15 as an example of how to handle possessions, since first-century wives were thought of more as possessions. It has also been suggested that these verses may have been placed here in order to prepare for the following parable that refers to the law and the prophets (cf. 16:27–31). Quite likely Luke brought together various sayings of Jesus in this section that stood isolated in the tradition to help his readers understand what it means to act “shrewdly” in light of the final judgment. (p. 416)
As usual, Bock is reasonable. If we pull the lens of the camera back, the ethical values and demands of the kingdom unites this passage with the previous one and the next one. But looking for a closer connection will come up empty.
14:
“ridiculing”: it literally means “turning up their noses” at him. They loved money, and the previous pericope or section, challenged them to see money as an implement or tool to do good and secure future, eternal dwellings. Money is not the problem, but the love of money is the problem. 1 Tim. 6:10 says, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (ESV). Be faithful with worldly wealth, but don’t serve it. As noted, it should serve God, and you should serve God. And then you can stand on top of money, as you look up to him.
“Pharisees”: You can learn more about them at this post:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
They were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (cf. Garland, p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7, ESV). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others.
Now what about Jesus replying to them instead of cowering away (in v. 15, next)?
As noted in previous chapters, first-century Israel was an honor-and-shame society. Verbal and active confrontations happened often. By active is meant actions. Here the confrontation is both verbal and acted out. Jesus healed the man with dropsy, so he won the actual confrontation, and this victory opened the door to his verbal victory with religious leaders who were binding people up with traditions. They needed to be loosed from them. Jesus shamed the leaders to silence. He won. It may seem strange to us that Jesus would confront human opponents, because we are not used to doing this in our own lives, and we have heard that Jesus was meek and silent.
More relevantly, for many years now there has been a teaching going around the Body of Christ that says when Christians are challenged, they are supposed to slink away or not reply. This teaching may come from the time of Jesus’s trial when it is said he was as silent as a sheep (Acts 8:32). No. He spoke up then, as well (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:32; Luke 23:71; John 18:19-23; 32-38; 19:11). Therefore, “silence” means submission to the will of God without resisting or fighting back. But here he replied to the religious leaders and defeated them and their bad traditions. Get into a discussion and debate with your challengers. Stand toe to toe with them. In short, fight like Jesus!
Of course, caution is needed. The original context is a life-and-death struggle between the kingdom of God and religious traditions. Get the original context, first, before you fight someone in a verbal sparring match. This was a clash of worldviews. Don’t pick fights or be rude to your spouse or baristas or clerks in the service industry. Discuss things with him or her.
15:
“justify”: BDAG, considered the authoritative Greek lexicon of the NT, offers these definitions of the verb, depending on the context: (1) “to take up a legal cause, show justice, do justice, take up a cause”; (2) to render a favorable verdict, vindicate or treat as just, justify (3) “to cause someone to be released from personal or institutional claims that are no longer to be considered pertinent or valid, make free / pure”; “to demonstrate to be morally right, prove to be right, e.g. God is proved to be right (e.g. Rom. 3:4; 1 Tim. 3:16). In some contexts, it can mean to practice righteousness (Rom. 6:7; 1 Cor. 4:4; Luke 18:14). The verb is used when God justifies the sinner after he repents and puts his faith in Christ. That direction goes from God (subject) to man (object). Here, however, the verb goes from man (subject) to God (object). The Pharisees believed they were vindicated before God. However, God knew their hearts and looked past their external, religious shows. And he said they were not vindicated or justified.
Justification: What It Is and What It Is Not
“knows”: God is omniscient, so he breaks through all the definitions.
“exalted … detestable”: it expresses the Great Reversal in the Gospel of Luke. In 1:51-53 Mary sang that Jesus and his kingdom would bring down the high and mighty and raise up the poor and humble. In 2:34, Simeon prophesied that Jesus was appointed for the rising and falling of many in Israel. Here the Pharisees believed they were vindicated before God, so they were exalted—self-exalted. However, before God they are an abomination or detestable. Those are strong words, but when they were publicly ridiculing him, he had to take action and expose them for what they were: pious before people, but wrong before God. The kingdom of God’s mission was to reverse or overturn (defective) common beliefs. Jesus would cause the fall of the mighty and the rise of the needy, and the rich would be lowered, and the poor raised up. It is the down elevator and up elevator. Those at the top will take the down elevator, and those at the bottom will take the up elevator.
16:
Verse 16 says people are pressed to enter the kingdom. Does this mean loss of free will, or is something else at work in the verb?
The “law and prophets” mean the entire Old Testament. It was in force until John and now a shift is happening. John represents the old order, and Jesus is the embodiment of the new order. The Old Testament was built on laws and rules to compel people to remain within the Sinai Covenant, while the gospel is being proclaimed to compel people to enter the New Covenant for the first time. Abraham in the next parable (16:29) says that Moses and the prophets are sufficient to teach people to repent. It is an allusion to these Pharisees that if they truly believed in the law and prophets, they too would repent and follow Jesus.
What Does the New Covenant Retain from the Old?
Do Christians Have to ‘Keep’ the Ten Commandments?
Ten Commandments: God’s Great Compromise with Humanity’s Big Failure
One Decisive Difference Between Sinai Covenant and New Covenant
“kingdom of God”: What is it? As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s realm and dominion over which he exerts his power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5).
It also includes the Great Reversal in Luke 1:51-53, where Mary said that Jesus and his kingdom were bringing to the world. The powerful and people of high status are brought low, while the humble and those of low status are raised up. It also fulfills the reversal in 2:34, where Simeon prophesied that Jesus was appointed for the rising and falling of many. It is the right-side-up kingdom, but upside-down from a worldly perspective.
Here it is the already and not-yet. The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
“proclaimed as good news”: Here the good news stands in contrast to the law and prophets. And it is so powerful that it compels people to enter the kingdom.
“everyone”: it is either rhetorical hyperbole, which means strategic exaggeration to make a point (see Luke 6:41-42 for another example of hyperbole), or it refers to the Gentiles, much like the Parable of the Great Banquet included them as the final invitees (Luke 14:15-24). In the culture Jesus was speaking to, people could be born into the Chosen People, and when the Israelite kings reigned in the past, the Israelites were born into the kingdom of God (of sorts). The gospel, on the other hand, must be preached and people must be compelled by powerful persuasion to enter it. It shakes and upsets people to their core. No more kingdom privileges by natural birth.
“pressed”: it comes from the verb that it take to be passive (the Greek form of the verb in this verse can be passive or middle). But I went back and forth on the optional translations, until I finally settled on mine.
Here in 16:16, as the forerunner, John the Baptist powerfully proclaimed Jesus who was the groundbreaking pioneer and “usher” of the kingdom. John was the servant, while Jesus was the master of the kingdom. Both of them strongly urged people by compelling preaching to enter the kingdom.
See this post for more exegesis.
“Everyone Is Pressed into” the Kingdom
17:
Will heaven and earth pass away? Heaven and earth will be re-created (2 Pet. 3:7, 10-13), but it will not pass away completely. God will rebuild and remake it along similar lines. Objection: then why did Jesus say this? Reply: this is hyperbole or a rhetorical device to startle the listener. He is simply saying that you can rely on God backing up his law. His law is reliable. Jesus’s words are also eternally reliable (see Luke 21:33).
“one stroke”: The Greek here actually means “one horn.” Some Hebrew letters have the tiniest stroke going upwards, like a horn. So this is, rhetorically speaking, an extra-strong statement about the law. Though I don’t know Hebrew very well at all, here are a few letters.
כ ב
So what is retained from the old Sinai Covenant Scriptures (Old Testament)? That is a subject of debate. More law-oriented teachers say many things are retained. They believe in “strong continuity.” More grace-oriented teachers say very few things are. They adhere to “discontinuity.” As I read the New Covenant Scriptures (New Testament), here is what is and is not retained:
Therefore, the good news is that even through the ancient cultural context God superintended the Bible to reveal who he was and who we are in relation to him. Some Bible interpreters believe in strong continuity between the Torah and the NT, while others believe in weak continuity.
However, as the old saying goes:
The New is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the discarded and retained items in the list in the links below. How? He kept them and they get “channeled” into him, so to speak. Picture him on the cross, and all of those items flowing into him, one at a time. And now he shows us how to keep the retained items. All we have to do is follow him and walk in the Spirit. And we can read the Old Testament through the filter of the New.
How Jesus Christ Fulfills the Law: Matthew 5:17-19
How Christians Should Interpret the Old Testament
18:
Before we begin, it is imperative that you belong to a church and ask them about their divorce policy. I’m just a teacher with no pastoral oversight, but I merely teach what I believe the Scriptures tell us.
Please note: Many of my comments here are taken from my earlier one at Matt. 5:31-32, but with some edits for this pericope or section of Scripture. You can click back there for different emphases.
Now let’s begin.
This verse comes out of the blue, or so it seems. How is it connected to the rest of the pericope? NT specialists don’t like to read between the lines, so they assume Luke cobbled together this verse without much thought to context of the flow of the narrative. However, I’m not a member of that tribe, so I will attempt to read between the lines.
I believe these specific Pharisees who were tagging along and looking for their chance to put Jesus down may have been in dialogue with him, or someone may have reported to him that these Pharisees, who were rich, strutted around and used the law of Moses for their own benefits. These rich men may have divorced their wives and made arrangements to marry younger and possibly richer women. The men’s money ensured they got a good deal in their arranged marriages. Of course this is speculation, but Jesus is in the process of rebuking these Pharisees who were laughing at him. Rich men can do much of what they want, then as well as now. Perhaps their Mosaic liberty about divorce and money led these men to get divorces.
Also see these post for further study:
Brief Overview of Divorce and Remarriage in New Testament
Warning to Evolving, Progressive Churches: Marriage and Sex
The Biblical Norm for Marriage
Jesus was helping womankind from frivolous divorces, which always seemed to favor the man, in his days.
Bottom line: Marriage is a covenant not only between the man and the woman, but between God, the man and the woman. Involve God in your marriage. If you do not, then sin enters and destroys the covenant, and civil, legal divorce may ensue.
Go to church, get counseling, and pray! Divorce—break the three-person covenant—is the last resort!
GrowApp for Luke 16:14-18
1. Have you ever exalted something that you found out later was displeasing to God? How did you come to realize this? How did you correct your misunderstanding?
2. How did God compel your heart to enter the kingdom of God? What is your story?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 