Bible Study series: Luke 18:1-8. You have to keep at it, in your prayer, whether you are praying for justice or healing or the salvation of your loved one.
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 18:1-8
1 He began to tell them a parable, in order to show that they must always pray and not be discouraged. 2 He said: “There was a judge in a particular town who did not fear God or respect any person. 3 There was a widow in that town who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary!’ 4 And for a time he was unwilling, but afterwards he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God nor respect any person, 5 yet because this widow is bothering me, I’ll give her justice, so that in the end she won’t shame me by her coming.’” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge said! 7 Won’t God give justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Indeed, he is waiting patiently for them to do this! 8 I tell you that he will give justice to them quickly! However, when the Son of Man comes, he won’t find faith on the earth, will he? (Luke 18:1-8)
Comments:
This parable is a study in contrast. God is unlike the unjust judge. The judge delayed and was unwilling at first, until the widow bugged him to act. He was impatient and churlish. He acted only to save face, so he would not get a social “blackeye” from a widow. God, in contrast, will quickly give his elect (his followers) justice, when they ask. He is waiting patiently for them to pray and not be discouraged about their prayer life. If he delays an answer, it may be because the circumstances or the prayer warrior’s soul isn’t ready yet. His delay comes from a kind Father, not a mean judge.
1:
“them” in the previous chapter he was talking to his disciples. There is no change of audience. He is still talking to them.
“parable”:
“pray”: as noted throughout this commentary series, Christians took over the word and directed it towards the living God; they leaned in toward him and prayed their requests fully expecting an answer. It is not a mere wish to a pagan deity.
Prayer flows out of confidence before God that he will answer because we no longer have an uncondemned heart (1 John 3:19-24); and we know him so intimately that we find out from him what is his will is and then we pray according to it (1 John 5:14-15); we pray with our Spirit-inspired languages (1 Cor. 14:15-16). Pray!
What Is Biblical Intercession?
Sometimes praying without seeing instant results can be discouraging, and we can lose heart or become weary as we wait for God to answer. Jesus told this parable to encourage us not to be discouraged or lose our enthusiasm. We have to keep praying even when we see a delay in our answer. Don’t despair, because he will answer you in his timing. And if he says no, he has something (or someone) better than what (or who) you prayed for. I have been zigzagging my way through life, having to make small or big adjustments, as I prayed. You do not always need what you pray for. It could damage your life. God knows what’s best for you. Trust him.
This verse and pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section of Scripture may come from Ps. 25:2-3:
1 In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.
2 I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause. (Ps. 25:2-3, NIV)
On the last day, delay is ended and the mystery completed. But for right now, we still have the problem of evil. In these circumstances “we must pray and not give up” (Liefeld and Pao, comments on v. 1).
Be persistent in your prayers. Never give up until God tells you otherwise.
2:
So Jesus introduces the first main character in this parable: the unjust judge. He does not fear God is defers to or cares about anyone. God will act in the opposite manner. No, he does not fear puny humankind, but he has regard for and cares about them.
Background verses to what a judge is called to do:
5 He [King Jehoshaphat] appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. 6 He told them, “Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for mere mortals but for the Lord, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. 7 Now let the fear of the Lord be on you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.” (2 Chron. 19:6-7, NIV)
3:
Now Jesus introduces the second character in the story: the never-give-up widow. She teaches us to keep going in our requests before the heavenly Lawgiver and Judge (Jas. 4:12).
“justice”: it is not quite the right translation, because the widow may be actually asking for punishing revenge extracted from her adversary. The Shorter Lexicon says it means, depending on these contexts: (1) “take vengeance for, punish” (2 Cor. 10:6; Rev. 4:10; 19:2); (2) “avenge someone, procure justice for someone” (Luke 18:5) … “see that justice is done” (Luke 18:3) … “to take one’s revenge” (Luke 18:7; Acts 7:24). So it is used only seven times, in those verses. Rom. 12:19-20 says that vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us. And no, he will not use you as his instrument of vengeance against your neighbor.
4-5:
In these two verses, Jesus reveals the mental state of the judge. He didn’t waste his time with her, at first. But then he thought better of it, after a while. He repeated, somewhat proudly, that he doesn’t fear God or respect any person. The widow was going to bother or trouble him incessantly. He would lose face or be put to shame, because the longer he laughed her out of court, he would appear inconsistent if he finally gave in to her incessant demand. It was better to give in sooner rather than later. So he did.
“shame”: It means to “strike under the eye,” and “in a weakened sense it means annoy greatly, wear out” (Luke 18:5); figuratively it means “treat roughly, torment” (1 Cor. 9:27). Bock: Using the verb figuratively, “it means to wear down emotionally or to beat down someone’s reputation.” (p. 1449). The judge is not worried about his reputation, so the woman was wearing him down emotionally.
In the larger Greek world outside of the NT, it also means “to have a black eye … to bruise, mortify.” The verb comes from the adjective that means “the part of the face under the eye, but generally “the face, countenance” (Liddell and Scott). So the verb has to do with physical violence, but it means in some contexts an action that wears down someone’s resolve. Note that Jesus said the judge was at first unwilling, but he weakened. The judge was afraid he would get a “black eye” from this widow, socially speaking. How would the judge look with a black eye given by a widow? He had to “save face,” literally and figuratively!
Remember the friend’s request for some bread in the middle of the night (11:5-13). The man in bed got up and answered his neighbor’s request. “In each parable, the reputation of the one being petitioned is at stake. Therefore, though God is not compared to a crooked judge, these is a partial basis of comparison in that God will also guard his reputation and vindicate himself” (Liefeld and Pao, comment on v. 5). So God will answer your prayer (if it is his will).
6:
Now Jesus draws the lesson from his short illustration. I like how Luke inserts his respect for Jesus by calling him “the Lord.” Yes, one could object, “What else would he say?” He could have omitted the phrasing and said “he.” But it is as if Luke steps away from the writer’s desk and draws our attention to the big conclusion. Note what the Lord said.
“The point of application plays off this portrait in a lesser-to-greater argument … if such an insensitive character [the judge] responds to repeated pleas from someone he does not know or care about, how much more will a righteous God respond to his children” (Bock, p. 1450).
7:
Prophetess Anna: “She did not leave the temple, worshipping with fasting and praying night and day. 38 At the very hour, she suddenly appeared praising God and speaking about him to everyone waiting for the redemption of Israel” (Luke 2:37-38).
If you cry out night and day—old-fashioned all-night prayer meetings—then God will give you justice as you plead your case. When you wake up in the middle of the night, don’t pace the floor and worry. Pray for your request. Is the devil—your adversary—robbing you of justice? Is he deceiving your wayward son or daughter? Give him a black eye and pray often for your child. No, don’t whine or beg, but come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16). Pray with confidence, not with anxiety, as if God is reluctant.
I love—really love—how Jesus said God is waiting patiently for us to pray to him night and day. Are you willing to answer the call to pray? He is waiting for you.
“waiting patiently”: It means: “have patience, wait” (Heb. 6:15; Jas. 5:7); “be patient, forbearing” (Matt. 18:26, 29; 1 Cor. 13:4; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Pet. 3:9; Luke 18:7) (Shorter Lexicon).
“elect”: It could be translated as “chosen ones.” “To call the disciples of Jesus the ‘chosen ones’ is also significant when the election language of the OT is now applied to those who are included in God’s kingdom” (Liefeld and Pao, comments on v. 7). Yes, God knows who his elect are because he is omniscient, but we shouldn’t then overreach and draw the conclusion that God has a pack of people whom he has not elected. God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). People are able, out of their freewill, which is a gift from God, to resist his wooing. His grace is resistible. But once they decide to follow God, they become his elect or chosen ones.
The point of the verse [v. 7] is that God patiently listens to his elect as they pray in their continuing distress and waits for the proper time to act on their behalf … True believers who still wait with patient trust will seem few when the Son of Man comes (cf. vv. 24-25)” (Liefeld and Pao, comments on vv. 7-8).
8:
Jesus emphasizes the lesson with “I tell you ….” It repeats the force of “listen!” (v. 6). Here we have the contrast. First, Jesus assures us that God will answer our cry for justice quickly, which stands in contrast to the judge’s reluctance. Second, he asks a question that indicates, by the Greek syntax and a key word, that the answer is no. That’s why I translated it as I did. He does not know whether the Son of Man will find faith on the earth, when he returns. It is an open rhetorical question. We must do our part to answer the call to have faith—even faith as small as a mustard seed (Luke 17:6). You don’t need to ask God for faith as big as a pumpkin seed, but a tinier mustard seed will move mountains. If you have no faith, ask God for it and read the Word, for Scripture builds it up (Rom. 10:17).
“Son of Man”: it both means the powerful, divine Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14) and the human son of man—Ezekiel himself—in the book of Ezekiel (numerous references). Jesus was and still is in heaven both divine and human. It can also be rightly translated as “Son of Humanity.”
4. Titles of Jesus: The Son of Man
GrowApp for Luke 18:1-8
1. Have you ever had to wait a long time to get your answer to prayer? How did you endure in your prayer life to the end?
2. When the Son of Man comes back, will he find faith in you? Read Rom. 10:17. How do you build your faith?
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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.
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