Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 13:3
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
3. except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish ] The first meaning of the words was doubtless prophetic. As a matter of historic fact, the Jewish nation did not repent, and myriads of them in the siege of Jerusalem perished by a doom closely analogous to that of these unhappy Galilaeans (see Jos. B. J. v. 1, 3, 7, 11, 12, and especially 13; vi. passim, vii. 3). And since all life and all history are governed by the same divine laws, the warning is applicable to men and to nations at all periods.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I tell you, nay, c,] They were not greater sinners than others of their neighbours, nor is it to be concluded from the bloody slaughter that was made of them others might be much more deserving of such an end than they, who yet escaped it:
but except ye repent; of sin, and particularly of the disbelief of the Messiah:
ye shall likewise perish; or perish, in like manner, as these Galileans did: and so it came to pass in the destruction of Jerusalem, that great numbers of the unbelieving Jews, even three hundred thousand men were destroyed at the feast of passover c; and that for sedition, as these men very likely were.
c Vid. Joseph. de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 11. & l. 7. c. 17. Euseb. l. 3. c. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Except ye repent ( ). Present active subjunctive of , to change mind and conduct, linear action, keep on changing. Condition of third class, undetermined, but with prospect of determination.
Ye shall perish (). Future middle indicative of and intransitive. Common verb.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “I tell you, Nay;” (ouchi lego humin) “No, I tell you all,” emphatically, not at all are they less certain to condemnation or more certain for hell than you all are unless you too repent of your sins, Rom 2:1; Rom 2:4-5. This alludes to the doom of all Israel and all who like them repent not of their sins.
2) “Except ye repent,” (all’ ean me metanoete) “But unless you all repent,” as all have sinned and in sinning come short of the glory-presence of the Lord, even so must all repent, Mat 3:2; Luk 15:7; Act 17:30.
3) “Ye shall all likewise perish.” (pantes homoios apoleisthe) “You will all perish after a similar manner,” Luk 13:5, go to the same hell as Pilate and those ceremonial worshippers who permitted slain Galilaean blood to be offered in their worship, Rom 6:20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. Ye Not Galileans only, but ye Judeans and Jerusalemites. And this neutralizes the sneer at Jesus as a Galilean.
Likewise perish This we hold to be addressed to them primarily as individuals, however true it was of the entire nation as such. The likewise does not imply that they will die by a shot from Pilate, or a fall of the tower, or by any violent death; but by death under the wrath of God, which is but the gateway to a death eternal. It was forty years later than the utterance of these words that Jerusalem was destroyed; and but very few then at years of accountability could have suffered its terrible woes. But it is a somewhat singular fact that Jewish writers say that the Emperor Trajan, in the final war with the Jews, mingled the blood of the Jews with their sacrifices!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“I tell you, No. But, except you repent, you will all similarly perish.”
Jesus’ reply is that that their deaths do not indicate that they were worse sinners than anyone else. They were not necessarily the more guilty because they died violently. Judgment is not always so direct. And then He seizes the opportunity to apply the lesson. Let them in fact recognise that unless they repent they will all perish similarly. Let the judgments that are in the earth teach them righteousness before it is too late.
Some have seen in this a hint concerning the coming desolation of Jerusalem when many would perish ‘in the same way’ because they had failed to respond to Jesus’ message of love and forgiveness. Had they done so the destruction of Jerusalem would never have happened. But it seems more likely that He is thinking rather of the last Judgment.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Ver. 3. Except ye repent ] Aut poenitendum, aut pereundum. Either repent or perish. Men must either turn from sin or burn in hell.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 13:3 . , an emphatic “no,” followed by a solemn “I say to you”. The prophetic mood is on the speaker. He reads in the fate of the few the coming doom of the whole nation. , in a similar way. , the reading in T.R., is stronger = in the same way. Jesus expresses Himself with greater intensity as He proceeds = ye shall perish likewise; nay, in the same way (Luk 13:5 , ), your towers and temples falling about your ears.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
tell = say to.
Nay. Greek. ouchi. App-105.
except ye repent = if (App-118) ye repent (App-111) not (App-105).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5. , I tell you) The Lord puts forth this from His treasures of Divine knowledge.-, all) Galileans and inhabitants of Jerusalem alike.-) This signifies, in the same manner: means, in like manner. means something more than [Engl. Vers. loses this by translating , likewise]. The event accordingly corresponded to the prediction: for the Jews were punished by the same nation to which Pilate belonged: and also at the same time, viz. the Passover time, when the offering of sacrifices prevailed: and also with the sword.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
except: Luk 13:5, Luk 24:47, Mat 3:2, Mat 3:10-12, Act 2:38-40, Act 3:19, Rev 2:21, Rev 2:22
ye shall: Luk 19:42-44, Luk 21:22-24, Luk 23:28-30, Mat 12:45, Mat 22:7, Mat 23:35-38, Mat 24:21-29
Reciprocal: Num 29:7 – afflict Deu 8:19 – I testify against Psa 37:20 – But the Jer 18:8 – that nation Jer 25:5 – Turn Eze 3:18 – I say Eze 18:30 – so Eze 33:14 – Thou shalt Mar 6:12 – preached Luk 16:30 – repent Luk 17:34 – I tell Joh 3:5 – cannot Joh 6:53 – Except Joh 8:11 – go Act 20:21 – repentance Act 26:20 – repent Rev 16:9 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5
The murder of the Galilans is an event of which we know nothing certain. The motives of those who told our Lord of the event we are left to conjecture. At any rate, they gave Him an opportunity of speaking to them about their own souls. He bade His informants look within, and think of their own state before God. He seems to say, What though these Galilans did die a sudden death? What is that to you? Consider your own ways. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
I. People are much more ready to talk of the deaths of others than their own.The death of the Galilans, mentioned here, was probably a common subject of conversation in Jerusalem and all Juda. It is just the same in the present day. A murder, a sudden death, a shipwreck, or a railway accident, will completely occupy the minds of a neighbourhood, and be in the mouth of every one you meet. And yet these very persons dislike talking of their own deaths and their own prospects in the world beyond the grave. Such is human nature in every age. In religion, men are ready to talk of anybodys business rather than their own.
II. Our Lord lays down the universal necessity of repentance.Twice He declares emphatically, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. The truth here asserted is one of the foundations of Christianity. If we have already repented in time past, let us go on repenting to the end of our lives. There will always be sins to confess and infirmities to deplore, so long as we are in the body. Let us repent more deeply, and humble ourselves more thoroughly, every year. Let every returning birthday find us hating sin more, and loving Christ more. He was a wise old saint who said, I hope to carry my repentance to the very gate of heaven.
Illustration
It is evident that our Lords informants were filled with the vulgar opinion that sudden deaths were special judgments, and that if a man died suddenly he must have committed some special sin. Our Lord bids them understand that this opinion was a mere baseless delusion. We have no right whatever to conclude that God is angry with a man because He removes him suddenly from the world. Ford gives a quotation from Perkins which deserves reading: The common opinion is, that if a man die quietly, and go away like a lamb (which in some diseases, as consumption, any man may do), then he goes straight to heaven. But if the violence of the disease stirs up impatience, and causes frantic behaviour, then men use to say, There is a judgment of God, serving either to discover a hypocrite or to plague a wicked man. But the truth is otherwise.A man may die like a lamb, and yet go to hell; and one dying in exceeding torment and strange behaviour of body, may go to heaven.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE GALILANS WARNINGS
Our Lord does not say, Those Galilans were not sinners at all. Their sins had nothing to do with their death. Those on whom the tower fell were innocent men. We know nothing of the circumstances of either calamity.
I. The warning to the Jewish nation.This we know, that our Lord warned the rest of the Jews that unless they repented they would all perish in the same way. And we know that that warning was fulfilled within forty years, so hideously and so awfully that the destruction of Jerusalem remains as one of the most terrible cases of wholesale ruin and horror recorded in history.
II. The warning to individuals.These Galilans were no worse than the other Galilans; yet they were singled out as examples, as warnings, to the rest. Pestilences, conflagrations, accidents of any kind which destroy life wholesale, even earthquakes and storms, are instances of this law; warnings from God, judgments of God, in the very strictest sense; by which He tells men, in a voice awful enough to the few, but merciful and beneficent to the many, to be prudent and wise.
III. The warning to evil systems.The more we read, in histories, of the fall of great dynasties, or of the ruin of whole classes or whole nations, the more we feelhowever much we may acquiesce with the judgment as a wholesympathy with the fallen. It is not the worst, but often the best specimens of a class or of a system who are swallowed up by the moral earthquake which has been accumulating its force, perhaps, for centuries. May not the reason be that God has wished to condemn, not the persons, but their systems? that He has punished them, not for their private, but for their public faults?
Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Illustration
The folly and uncharitableness of mankind are in nothing more clearly seen than in their disposition to blame every one who is unfortunate, and to think themselves surely in the right as long as they are prosperous. While he lived, said the Psalmist of the worldly-minded, he counted himself an happy man; and so long as thou doest well unto thyself men will speak good of thee. On the other hand, let one be smitten with disease or poverty, he shall never want some to ascribe his sufferings to the intemperance of his youth, to his extravagance, carelessness, or vicious indulgences while he had money, or to the judgments of God on his covetousness and want of generosity. And yet every days experience proves, both in public and private life, that the wisest of us is deceived, and the best man disappointed in three out of four of his worldly hopes and expectations. The reason of this is, that the present life is a state of trial, and not of reward and punishment; and the use to be made of it is, that the afflicted learn patience, the prosperous godly fear, and all men charity and candour in judging of others.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3
Likewise does not mean they were to meet the same fate, but that they would perish just as surely if they did not repent of their sins.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 13:3. Unless ye repent. It does not follow that those addressed were Galileans. If Joh 11:47-54 refers to a time preceding this incident, then this intelligence may have been brought to our Lord to warn Him against the danger awaiting Him and His disciples at Jerusalem. He warns His hearers of their danger. He corrects their mistake in Luk 13:2, but here bases His warning upon the truth which lay back of it, namely, that sin is often punished in this world. Hence each should repent of his own sins, rather than be over-anxious to interpret calamities, as judgments upon others for their sins.
Ye shall all in like manner perish, i.e., by the Roman sword. At the destruction of Jerusalem, it was the temple especially that ran with blood.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3
Likewise; also.