Bible Commentaries
Luke 17

Verses 2-21

1 The Lord is through with the unbelievers and now addresses His own disciples. He anticipates the fact that, even among themselves, there would be much to cause them to stumble and fall. He seeks to warn them against becoming the occasion of a brother's sin. And, in case of sin, He urges them to conform to the spirit of their proclamation, which promised a pardon or forgiveness on the ground of repentance. Repentance, or a change of mind, brought pardon from God for the unbeliever, and repentance should bring forgiveness among brethren, no matter how often it is required. The transcendent grace shown to us should lead us to a still more loving attitude. We are to be gracious to one another apart from any repentance.

3-4 Compare Mat_18:15 ; Mat_18:21-22 ; Lev_19:17 ; Eph_4:31-32 .

5-6 Compare Mat_17:20 ; Mat_21:21 ; Mar_9:23 .

5 Every-day conduct is a greater drain on faith than the working of miracles. It may be far more difficult to forgive a seventh offense than to say to a leper "Be clean! " The apostles realize their lack, and desire to augment their slender stock of faith.

6 Israel, politically, was figured by a fig tree. The black mulberry is a species of wild fig. It represents the sovereignty of Rome. The nations are compared to the restless sea, Israel to the stable land. So that the underlying thought in our Lord's mind seems to be that with faith sufficient they could uproot Rome's rule from the land of Israel and remove it to the nations where it belonged. In other words, the kingdom would come. It was lack of faith that kept the kingdom from being realized. The mustard kernel is also suggestive. He had already compared the kingdom to it ( Luk_13:19 ). In apostasy the nation will attain a place of rule in imitation of the kingdom. Great Babylon will be the mustard plant which attains to a sovereignty of the earth apart from God.

7 Slavery is not out of date in things divine. The true servant of God will delight to acknowledge that he has been purchased by God, and is not his own. All that he can do is not at all what he feels he ought to do.

10 Compare Job_22:2-3 ; Job_35:7-8 ; 1Co_9:16-17 .

12 Compare Lev_13:45-46 ; Num_5:2-3 .

12 Our Lord was on His last long journey to Jerusalem. He knew what kind of reception awaited Him there. This miracle seems to be directed as a testimony to the priests. It was a sign that He came in accord with the law of Moses. Though the priests could not cleanse away sin, they had the right to pass upon the cleansing. If the lepers were cleansed they could not deny the presence of the power of God. Not only do they fail to give Him the praise which, as His due, but it seems that they even dissuaded the lepers themselves from returning to Him. What a contrast is the despised Samaritan! He does not wait to show himself to his priest, but, as soon as he is cleansed, he returns and worships. The nine Jews had the correct formula for worship but a corrupt heart. The Samaritan was wrong in his religion, but he soon found that the true place of worship was at His feet.

14 Compare Lev_13:2 ; Lev_14:2 ; Mat_8:4 .

15 Compare Psa_30:11-12 .

20 That the coming of the kingdom of God will be a visible, observable event the Scriptures amply testify. It will come like a lightning flash (24), accompanied by signs and portents in heaven as well as on earth. But it will not be a small, local occurrence, known only to those who are watching closely. This is the force of the word usually rendered "observation". It denotes scrutiny , a careful inspection lest something elude observation. Thus they "watched" the gates of Damascus day and night in order to apprehend Saul of Tarsus. This suggests quite the opposite thought, that it comes with such apparent and public "observation" that careful scrutiny is useless.

21 Compare Rom_14:17 .

21 It will not be confined to any locality, but will instantly cover the whole earth. Hence it would be useless to investigate or follow up any report that the kingdom is here or there, for it will be everywhere. Moreover, unlike other kingdoms, which fail for lack of an inward response to outward regulations, the kingdom of God will be founded on a moral force within men's hearts. This does not deny it an outward polity. But the point for the Pharisees, to whom He was speaking, is that, like Nicodemus, they needed an inward renewal, rather than a keen and curious scrutiny of local occurrences, in order to enter the kingdom. It has been suggested that this should be rendered, "the kingdom of God is among you", that is, in the person of the King. But the word here used certainly means inside , as witnesses its only other occurrence ( Mat_23:26 ), which speaks of the inside of the cup and the plate in contrast with their outside .

Verses 22-37

22-25 Compare Luk_5:35 ; Mat_24:23-27 ; Mar_13:21-23 ; Joh_13:33 .

25 Compare Luk_9:22 .

26-27 Compare Mat_24:37-39 ; Gen. 7.

26 The unexpected suddenness of the coming of the Son of Mankind is further enforced by a comparison with the days of Noah. It will be a day of fancied security and swift destruction. Most of the divine processes are a gradual growth and changes are introduced slowly. The present economy of grace was brought in by installments during a considerable period of time, from Paul's call to his imprisonment. But God's judgments are always swift and sudden. Now that it is evident that the kingdom will not be established as a result of His proclamation, but will be introduced by judgment, its coming takes on the characteristics of the previous judgments of the irreverent.

28 Compare Gen_19:16 ; Gen_19:24-25 .

30 Compare 2Th_1:6-10 .

31-33 Compare Mat_24:15-18 ; Mar_13:14-16 Gen_19:26 .

31 Oriental houses usually have an outside stair to the roof, so that, in great haste, it is not necessary to go into the house to get down from the fiat roof.

32 The soul is distinct from the life, for we can hardly say that one who is destroying his life is causing it to live . It is those who shrink from suffering who seek to preserve their souls, and thus forfeit the joys of the kingdom.

34-36 Compare Mat_24:40-41 ; 1Th_4:17 .

37 Elsewhere the nations are represented as wild beasts. Here they are like birds of prey gathering about Israel in her last extremity.

37 Compare Mat_24:28 ; Job_39:30 .

1 This parable follows most naturally from the foregoing prophecy concerning the coming of the Son of Mankind, for then it is that the saints in Israel clamor for vengeance, as figured in the souls under the altar ( Rev_6:9-11 ). Indeed, it is the importunity of the blood of the martyrs which brings on the judgments of the sixth seal. We, too, are told to pray without intermission ( 1Th_5:17 ). But a prayer for vengeance is utterly foreign to the spirit of grace which is ours in Christ Jesus. We call quite understand that God should need much urging and continued importunity before He visits their adversaries with vengeance. That is His strange work. It is not in direct accord with His heart. But there is a question whether such urgency is necessary for Him to answer those of our prayers which are in accord with His will. Above all, let us not make this parable an excuse for senseless repetition or stubbornness in petitioning for that which is contrary to God's present attitude of grace. The closing words of the parable emphasize its close connection with the judgments which attend the coming of the Son of Mankind.

Compare 2Th_1:6-7 .

9 This Pharisee is intensely typical of those self-righteous ones, who imagine that God is pleased with their sham religion. Self is the center and the circumference of all their worship. Though so fully pleased with themselves, they are the most pitiable of men, blind to their sins, dead to their own corruption. The traitorous tax gatherer, on the other hand, showed a spiritual intelligence seldom seen during our Lord's ministry, as is indicated by his use of the word propitiate . From where he stood he could doubtless see the smoke of the sacrifice ascending to God, and he grasped the great truth of propitiation, that, sinner though he was, he could approach and obtain favor of God on the ground of sacrifice. Thus did the Saviour call their attention once again to the sacrifice He was about to offer so that He may become the great Propitiatory or meeting place of God and man.

13 Compare Psa_40:12 ; Psa_51:1-3 ; Jer_31:18-19 .

14 Compare Rom_3:19-26 .