Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:21
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
21. for behold, the kingdom of God is within you ] intra vos est, Vulg. As far as the Greek is concerned, this rendering of entos is defensible (comp. Mat 23:26), and the spiritual truth expressed by such a rendering which implies that “the Kingdom of God is…righteousness and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Rom 14:17) is most important. See Deu 30:14. So that Meyer is hardly justified in saying that the conception of the Kingdom of God as an ethical condition of the soul is modem not historico-biblical. But entos humon may also undoubtedly mean among you (marg.), ‘in the midst of your ranks,’ as in Xen. Anab. i. 10, 3; and this rendering is more in accordance (i) with the context as to the sudden coming of the Son of Man; and (ii) with the fact, for it certainly could not be said that the Kingdom of God was in the hearts of the Pharisees. The meaning then is the same as in Joh 1:26 ; Mat 12:28. But in either case our Lord implied that His Kingdom had already come while they were straining their eyes forward in curious observation, Luk 7:16, Luk 11:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lo here! or, Lo there! When an earthly prince visits different parts of his territories, he does it with pomp. His movements attract observation, and become the common topic of conversation. The inquiry is, Where is he? which way will he go? and it is a matter of important news to be able to say where he is. Jesus says that the Messiah would not come in that manner. It would not be with such pomp and public attention. It would be silent, obscure, and attracting comparatively little notice. Or the passage may have reference to the custom of the pretended Messiahs, who appeared in this manner. They said that in this place or in that, in this mountain or that desert, they would show signs that would convince the people that they were the Messiah. Compare the notes at Act 5:36-37.
Is within you – This is capable of two interpretations.
1. The reign of God is in the heart. It does not come with pomp and splendor, like the reign of temporal kings, merely to control the external actions and strike the senses of people with awe, but it reigns in the heart by the law of God; it sets up its dominion over the passions, and brings every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
2. It may mean the new dispensation is even now among you. The Messiah has come. John has ushered in the kingdom of God, and you are not to expect the appearance of the Messiah with great pomp and splendor, for he is now among you. Most critics at present incline to this latter interpretation. The ancient versions chiefly follow the former.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. Lo here! or, lo there!] Perhaps those Pharisees thought that the Messiah was kept secret, in some private place, known only to some of their rulers; and that by and by he should be proclaimed in a similar way to that in which Joash was by Jehoiada the priest. See the account, 2Ch 23:1-11.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The latter words of this verse seem fairly to admit of a double interpretation, as you here may signify the disciples of Christ, who had received Christ as their Lord, over whom he exercised a spiritual dominion and jurisdiction, or as it may respect the whole Jewish nation, amongst whom the kingdom of God was now exercised, by the preaching of the gospel, and the power of Christ put forth in the casting out devils, and other miraculous operations. I incline to the latter, as differing from those that think these words were spoken with a peculiar respect to the disciples; I rather think them a reply to the Pharisees, as corrective of their false notion and apprehension of the Messiah, as if he were yet to come, and to set up a temporal principality; for it is said, Luk 17:22, And he said unto the disciples, as if he did but then specially apply his discourse to them; thus signifieth, Luk 7:16; Joh 1:14. You (saith our Saviour) are much mistaken as to the nature of my kingdom, and indeed of the kingdom of the Messiah, in the expectation of which you live. It is not a kingdom of the same nature with the kingdoms of the world, it cometh not with pomp: and splendour, for men and women to observe; they shall not say, Lo here he cometh! Or, Lo there he goeth! The kingdom of God is now in the midst among you, though you observe it not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Lo here! . . . lo there!shutup within this or that sharply defined and visiblegeographical or ecclesiastical limit.
within youis of aninternal and spiritual character (as contrasted with theiroutside views of it). But it has its external side too.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Neither shall they say,…. Or shall it be said by any, making their observations, and pointing to this, or that place:
lo here, or lo there; in this, or that place, country or city, the kingdom of God is set up; the throne of the Messiah is there; and there are the “regalia”, or ensigns of his regal power; no such thing will fall under the observations of man, not but that this would be said, and was said by some persons, as it is suggested it should,
Lu 17:23 and it appears from Mt 24:26 that some would say he was in such a wilderness, and others, that he was in some private retirement in a house, or that he was in such a town or city; as particularly it was said in Adrian’s time, that he was in a place called Bither, where Bar Cochab set up himself for the Messiah: but the sense of the words is, that no such thing ought to be said; and if it was said, it would not be true; nor should it be credited: and the Cambridge copy of Beza’s adds, “believe not”; as in Mt 24:26
for behold the kingdom of God is within you: in the elect of God among the Jews, in their hearts; it being of a spiritual nature, and lying in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; in the dispossession of Satan, the strong man armed; in the putting down of the old man, sin, with its deceitful lusts, from the throne; and in setting up a principle of grace, as a governing one; and so escapes the observation of natural men, and cannot be pointed at as here, or there: hence it appears, that the work of grace is an internal thing; it is wrought in the hearts of men; it has its seat in the inward parts, and is therefore called the inner, and the hidden man: it does not lie in words, in an outward profession of religion: it is oil in the vessel of the heart, and is distinct from the lamp of a visible profession; it does not lie in external works and duties, but it is an inward principle of holiness in the soul, or spirit of man, produced there by the Spirit of God, and is therefore called by his name, Joh 3:6 and it also appears to be a very glorious thing, since it is signified by a kingdom: it is a rich treasure; it is gold tried in the fire, which makes rich; it is an estate, that good part, and portion, which can never be taken away; it is preferable to the greatest portion on earth men can enjoy; even the largest and richest kingdom in the world is not to be compared with it; it is a kingdom which cannot be moved; and as it is glorious in itself, it makes such glorious who are partakers of it: “the king’s daughter is all glorious within”, Ps 45:13 and it is high in the esteem of God; it is the hidden man of the heart, but it is in his sight; it is in his view, and is in his sight of great price: it is likewise evident from hence, that it has great power and authority in the soul; it has the government in it; it reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life; and by it, Christ, as king of saints, dwells and reigns in his people. Now this is not to be understood of the Scribes and Pharisees, as if they had any such internal principle in them, who were as painted sepulchres, and had nothing but rottenness and corruption in them: but the sense is, that there were some of the people of the Jews, of whom the Pharisees were a part, who had been powerfully wrought upon under the ministry of John, Christ, and his apostles; and were so many instances of efficacious grace, and of the kingdom of God, and of his Gospel coming with power to them. Though the words may be rendered,
the kingdom of God is among you; and the meaning be, that the king Messiah was already come, and was among them, and his kingdom was already set up, of which the miracles of Christ were a full proof; and if they could not discern these signs of the times, and evident appearances of the kingdom of God among them, they would never be able to make any observation of it, hereafter, or elsewhere.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Within you ( ). This is the obvious, and, as I think, the necessary meaning of . The examples cited of the use of in Xenophon and Plato where means “among” do not bear that out when investigated. Field (Ot. Norv.) “contends that there is no clear instance of in the sense of among” (Bruce), and rightly so. What Jesus says to the Pharisees is that they, as others, are to look for the kingdom of God within themselves, not in outward displays and supernatural manifestations. It is not a localized display “Here” or “There.” It is in this sense that in Lu 11:20 Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God as “come upon you” ( ‘ ), speaking to Pharisees. The only other instance of in the N.T. (Mt 23:26) necessarily means “within” (“the inside of the cup”). There is, beside, the use of meaning “within” in the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus saying of Jesus of the Third Century (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 426) which is interesting: “The kingdom of heaven is within you” ( as here in Lu 17:21).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Within. Better, in the midst of. Meyer acutely remarks that “you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. “The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom, is modern” (Trench, after Meyer).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Neither shall they say, “Lo here! or, lo there!” (oude erousin idou hode he ekei) “Nor will they say, look (behold) right here, or out there it is,” in physical strength and dazzling pomp and regalia, as earthly kingdoms appear.
2) “For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (idou gar he basileia tou theou entos humon estin) “For behold or take note, the kingdom of God (specifically called the “kingdom of heaven”, the church) is (exists already) within you, or within your midst,” the midst of the Jewish Pharisees or among them, Luk 17:20. For He had already called and chosen His church, His bride, and begun His house, Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Mat 16:18; 1Ti 3:15; Heb 3:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(21) The kingdom of God is within you.The marginal reading, among you. has been adopted, somewhat hastily, by most commentators. So taken. the words emphatically assert the actual presence of the Kingdom. It was already in the midst of them at the very time when they were asking when it would appear. The use of the Greek preposition is, however, all but decisive against this interpretation. It is employed for that which is within, as contrasted with that which is without, as in Mat. 23:26, and in the LXX. version for the inward parts, or spiritual nature of man, as contrasted with the outward, as in Psa. 103:1; Psa. 109:22; Isa. 16:11. It was in that region, in the life which must be born again (Joh. 3:3), that men were to look for the kingdom; and there, whether they accepted it or rejected it, they would find sufficient tokens of its power.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Lo, here As it would not show itself to the observation of watchers in the sky, so it would not break out in spots on the earth. The rumour that the Messiah was marching with the blood-red banner from Edom, or that he had already descended upon Mount Olivet, or that he was in secret council chambers with the sages of the Sanhedrim, would all prove falsehoods.
Is within you Is not an external and political one, but is a power and a realm within the soul. By using the second person plural, Jesus did not mean to concede that that kingdom was now actually within their hearts. He spoke to them generally as men. Some render the passage, the kingdom of God is among you. The Greek preposition well admits that meaning, but the context scarcely does. What our Lord appears to assert is, that his kingdom is not external but internal; that is, it is not a thing of observation and localities, but of consciousness, and within.
21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Ver. 21. The kingdom of God is within you ] It is spiritual, Rom 14:17 . Or, it is among you, but that you cannot see wood for trees. You seek me as absent, whom you reject present.
21. . ] Its coming shall be so gradual and unobserved, that none during its waxing onward shall be able to point here or there for a proof of its coming.
] for behold the kingdom of God is (already) among you. The misunderstanding which rendered these words ‘ within you ,’ meaning this in a spiritual sense, ‘ in your hearts ,’ should have been prevented by reflecting that they are addressed to the Pharisees , in whose hearts it certainly was not. Nor could the expression in this connexion well bear this spiritual meaning potentially i.e. is in its nature, within your hearts. The words are too express and emphatic for this. We have the very expression, Xen. Anab. i. 10. 3, ( ) : see also Joh 1:26 ; Joh 12:35 , both of which are analogous expressions. See the two renderings compared in Bleek’s note.
The kingdom of God was begun among them , and continues thus making its way in the world, without observation of men; so that whenever men can say ‘lo here or lo there,’ whenever great ‘revivals’ or ‘triumphs of the faith’ can be pointed to, they stand self-condemned as not belonging to that kingdom . Thus we see that every such marked event in the history of the Church is by God’s own hand as it were blotted and marred , so as not to deceive us into thinking that the kingdom has come. So it was at the Pentecostal era: so at that of Constantine; so at the Reformation.
The meaning ‘among you,’ includes of course the deeper and personal one ‘within each of you,’ but the two are not convertible.
Luk 17:21 . , nor will they say; there will be nothing to give occasion for saying: non erit quod dicatur , Grotius. , , here, there, implying a visible object that can be located. , within you, in your spirit. This rendering best corresponds with the non-visibility of the kingdom. The thought would be a very appropriate one in discourse to disciples . Not so in discourse to Pharisees. To them it would be most natural to say “ among you” = look around and see my works: devils cast out (Luk 11:20 ), and learn that the kingdom is already here ( ). Kindred to this rendering is that of Tertullian ( c. Marcionem , L. iv., 35): in your power, accessible to you: in manu, in potestate vestra . The idea “among you” would be more clearly expressed by . Cf. Joh 1:6 . . , etc., one stands among you whom ye know not cited by Euthy. to illustrate the meaning of our passage. Field ( Ot. Nor. ) contends that there is no clear instance of in the sense of “among,” and cites as an example of its use in the sense of “within” Psa 103:1 , .
Lo. Greek. idou. App-133.
behold. Figure of speech Asterismos (App-6), for emphasis. App-133.
within = in the midst of, or, among: i.e. already there in the Person of the King (whose presence marks a kingdom). Greek entos, the same meaning as Greek. en (App-104.), with the plural rendered “among” 115 times in N.T. The same meaning as in Mat 12:28. Joh 1:26.
you = you yourselves. His bitter enemies. Therefore not in their hearts; but the very opposite.
21. .] Its coming shall be so gradual and unobserved, that none during its waxing onward shall be able to point here or there for a proof of its coming.
] for behold the kingdom of God is (already) among you. The misunderstanding which rendered these words within you, meaning this in a spiritual sense, in your hearts, should have been prevented by reflecting that they are addressed to the Pharisees, in whose hearts it certainly was not. Nor could the expression in this connexion well bear this spiritual meaning potentially-i.e. is in its nature, within your hearts. The words are too express and emphatic for this. We have the very expression, Xen. Anab. i. 10. 3,- ( ) :-see also Joh 1:26; Joh 12:35, both of which are analogous expressions. See the two renderings compared in Bleeks note.
The kingdom of God was begun among them, and continues thus making its way in the world, without observation of men; so that whenever men can say lo here or lo there,-whenever great revivals or triumphs of the faith can be pointed to, they stand self-condemned as not belonging to that kingdom. Thus we see that every such marked event in the history of the Church is by Gods own hand as it were blotted and marred, so as not to deceive us into thinking that the kingdom has come. So it was at the Pentecostal era:-so at that of Constantine;-so at the Reformation.
The meaning among you, includes of course the deeper and personal one within each of you, but the two are not convertible.
Luk 17:21. , neither shall they say) viz. they who point out the kingdom. The verb put without the noun is consonant with this view. For the world does not recognise the messengers of the kingdom.-[-, here-there) Here includes under it the notion of the present time; there, that of the future.-V. g.[187]]- , for behold) Ye ought to turn your earnest attention to the fact: Then you will see that the kingdom of God is already within your reach. This true (well-grounded) Behold, is put in antithesis to the Behold [Lo, here or there] which is looked for without good ground.[188] For behold ( ) does not belong to (stand under) , they shall say.-, within) Ye ought not to look to times that are future, or places that are remote: for the kingdom of God is within you; even as the King Messiah is in the midst of you: Joh 1:26 [There standeth one among you ( ) whom ye know not], Luk 12:35. Within is here used, not in respect of the heart of individual Pharisees (although in very deed Christ dwells in the heart of His people: Eph 3:17), but in respect to the whole Jewish people. The King, Messiah, and therefore the kingdom, is present: ye see and ye hear [Him]. The LXX. use answering to of those things which are in a man; but in this passage He is speaking of more than one. So the LXX. ed Hervag.,[189] Deu 5:14, . Raphelius compares the words found in Xenophon, , whatever both property and men were inside (within), with them, in the camp.-, is) The Present, appositely, and with emphasis. It cannot be said, the kingdom cometh, but it is now present: see Joh 3:8.
[187] The note of the Gnomon on Luk 17:20, and the reference to Luk 17:37, implies that place, not time, is the leading idea of the answer as to the here and the there. Time is only a subordinate notion in it.-E. and T.
[188] ADabc Orig. 1,238c, 4,294c, Hil. Vulg. have , as Rec. Text and Lachm. read. But BL omit ; and so Tisch.-E. and T.
[189] This edition was brought out at Basle, , , by John Hervagius, 1545. The preface was by Melancthon. The text of Lonicerus is chiefly followed: there are in it some valuable various readings.-E. and T.
(Greek – = “in the midst).” It could not be said of a self-righteous, Christ rejecting pharisee, that the kingdom of God, as to its spiritual content, was within him. Our Lord’s whole answer, designedly enigmatic to the Pharisees (cf) Mat 13:10-13 had a dispensational meaning. The kingdom in its outward form, as covenanted to David 2Sa 7:8-17 and described by the prophets (See Scofield “Zec 12:8”) had been rejected by the Jews; so that, during this present age, it would not “come with observation” (lit. “outward show”) but in the hearts of men (cf); Luk 19:11; Luk 19:12; Act 1:6-8.
(See Scofield “Act 1:6”). See Scofield “Rom 14:17.
Meantime, the kingdom was actually “in the midst” of the Pharisees in the persons of the King and His disciples.
within you in the midst of.
Lo here: Luk 21:8, Mat 24:23-28, Mar 13:21
the kingdom: Rom 14:17, Col 1:27
within you: or, among you, Luk 10:9-11, Mat 12:28, Joh 1:26
Reciprocal: Mat 20:21 – in thy Mat 21:43 – The kingdom Luk 13:18 – the kingdom Luk 17:23 – General Joh 18:36 – My kingdom is Act 1:3 – speaking Rom 2:29 – which Heb 12:28 – a kingdom
1
It not being a kingdom with literal boundaries and material symbols, it would not be possible for any man to point to such evidences. Is within you. This phrase has been perverted by those who ma7ntain that the kingdom was set up in the lifetime of Christ, because the present tense (is) was used by Jesus. The kingdom as a government in fact was not built then, but one phase of the word did exist as Jesus was speaking. (See the long note at Mat 3:2.) The heart of man is the territory of the king from heaven, and that territory was and still is within or on the inside of human beings. Just when that territory was fully taken over by the king is another question. That fact took place on the day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2.
Luk 17:21. Lo here! or, there! Men have no right to point to anything as a proof of the speedy coming of this kingdom. They can never know the definite time, though they should ever pray: Thy kingdom come.
The kingdom of God is within you, or, in the midst of you. A future coming of the kingdom of God is referred to throughout, and it is implied that the second coming of Christ, the King, coincides with this coming of the kingdom. But here our Lord declares that the kingdom of God was already among them, for the King was present and working among them. This implies to a certain extent the other meaning: within you, so far as its presence among them involved the personal duty of each one to reject or accept it in his heart. Some suppose the meaning to be: the kingdom of God is an internal, spiritual matter. But our Lord goes on to speak of this coming as an external phenomenon. The crowning objection is, that the words were spoken to the Pharisees, in whose hearts this kingdom had no spiritual presence. Godet thus combines the two: Humanity must be prepared for the new external and divine state of things by a spiritual work wrought in the depths of the heart; and it is this internal advent which Jesus thinks good to put first in relief before such interlocutors.
Verse 21
Is within you. It is a spiritual kingdom, having its seat in the feelings and affections of the soul.
17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is {c} within you.
(c) You look around for the Messiah as though he were absent, but he is amongst you in the midst of you.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes