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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 17:1

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Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe [unto him,] through whom they come!

Luk 17:1-4. The Peril of causing Men to Stumble.

1. It is impossible ] i.e. in the present condition of the world it is morally impossible.

offences ] See on Luk 7:23. While the world remains what it is, some will always set snares and stumblingblocks in the path of their brethren, and some will always fall over them, and some will make them for themselves (1Co 11:19; 1Pe 2:8).

woe unto him, through whom they come ] No moral necessity, no predestined certainty, removes the responsibility for individual guilt.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:31 . Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance.

This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, Joh 10:22) which is partially Luk 9:51-56. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he touched upon in Mat 18:1 to Mat 20:16 and Mar 10:1-31. It contains many incidents recorded by this Evangelist alone, and though the recorded identifications of time and place are vague, yet they all point (Luk 9:51, Luk 13:22, Luk 17:11, Luk 10:38) to a slow, solemn, and public progress from Galilee to Jerusalem, of which the events themselves are often grouped by subjective considerations. So little certain is the order of the separate incidents, that one writer (Rev. W. Stewart) has made an ingenious attempt to shew that it is determined by the alphabetic arrangement of the leading Greek verbs ( , Luk 10:25-42; , Luk 11:1-5; Luk 11:8-13, &c.). Canon Westcott arranges the order thus: The Rejection of the Jews foreshewn; preparation, Luk 9:43 toLuk 11:13; Lessons of Warning, Luk 11:14 toLuk 13:9; Lessons of Progress, Luk 13:10 toLuk 14:24; Lessons of Discipleship, Luk 14:25 xvii. 10; the Coming End, Luk 17:10 toLuk 18:30.

The order of events after ‘the Galilaean spring’ of our Lord’s ministry on the plain of Gennesareth seems to have been this: After the period of flight among the heathen or in countries which were only semi-Jewish, of which almost the sole recorded incident is the healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman (Mat 15:21-28 ). He returned to Peraea and fed the four thousand. He then sailed back to Gennesareth, but left it in deep sorrow on being met by the Pharisees with insolent demands for a sign from heaven. Turning His back once more on Galilee, He again travelled northwards; healed a blind man at Bethsaida Julias; received St Peter’s great confession on the way to Caesarea Philippi; was transfigured; healed the demoniac boy; rebuked the ambition of the disciples by the example of the little child; returned for a brief rest in Capernaum, during which occurred the incident of the Temple Tax; then journeyed to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which occurred the incidents so fully narrated by St John (Joh 7:1 to Joh 10:21). The events and teachings in this great section of St Luke seem to belong mainly, if not entirely, to the two months between the hasty return of Jesus to Galilee and His arrival in Jerusalem, two months afterwards, at the Feast of Dedication; a period respecting which St Luke must have had access to special sources of information.

For fuller discussion of the question I must refer to my Life of Christ, ii. 89-150.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

It is impossible – It cannot but happen. Such is the state of things that it will be. See these verses explained in the notes at Mat 18:6-7.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 17:1-4

It is impossible but that offences will come

Where sin occurs, God cannot wisely prevent it

The doctrine of this text is that sin, under the government of God, cannot be prevented.

1. When we say IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREVENT SIN UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD, the statement still calls for another inquiry, viz.: Where does this impossibility lie? Which is true: that the sinner cannot possibly forbear to sin, or that God cannot prevent his sinning? The first supposition answers itself, for it could not be sin if it were utterly unavoidable. It might be his misfortune; but nothing could be more unjust than to impute it to him as his crime. Let us, then, consider that Gods government over men is moral, and known to be such by every intelligent being. It contemplates mind as having intellect to understand truth, sensibility to appreciate its bearing upon happiness, conscience to judge of the right, and a will to determine a course of voluntary action in view of Gods claims. So God governs mind. Not so does He govern matter. The planetary worlds are controlled by quite a different sort of agency. God does not move them in their orbits by motives, but by a physical agency. I said, all men know this government to be moral by their own consciousness. When its precepts and its penalties come before their minds, they are conscious that an appeal is made to their voluntary powers. They are never conscious of any physical agency coercing obedience. Where compulsion begins, moral agency ends. Persuasion brought to bear upon mind, is always such in its nature that it can be resisted. By the very nature of the case, Gods creatures must have power to resist any amount of even His persuasion. There can be no power in heaven or earth to coerce the will, as matter is coerced. The nature of mind forbids its possibility. God is infinitely wise. He cannot act unwisely, The supposition would make Him cease to be perfect, and this were equivalent to ceasing to be God. Here, then, is the case. A sinner is about to fall before temptation, or in more correct language, is about to rush into some new sin. God cannot wisely prevent his doing so. Now what shall be done? Shall He let that sinner rush on to his chosen sin and self-wrought ruin; or shall He step forward, unwisely, sin Himself, and incur all the frightful consequences of such a step? He lets the sinner bear his own responsibility. Thus the impossibility of preventing sin lies not in the sinner, but wholly with God. Sin, it should be remembered, is nothing else than an act of free will, always committed against ones conviction of right. Indeed, ii a man did not know that selfishness is sin, it would not be sin in his case. These remarks will suffice to show that sin in every instance of its commission is utterly inexcusable.

II. We are next to notice some OBJECTIONS.

1. If God is infinitely wise and good, why need we pray at all? If He will surely do the best possible thing always, and all the good He can do, why need we pray? Because His infinite goodness and wisdom enjoin it upon us.

2. Objecting again, you ask why we should pray to God to prevent sin, if He cannot prevent it? We pray for the very purpose of changing the circumstances. If we step forward and offer fervent, effectual prayer, this quite changes the state of the case.

3. Yet further objecting, you ask–Why did God create moral agents at all if He foresaw that He could not prevent their sinning? Because He saw that on the whole it was better to do so.

Concluding remarks:

1. We may see the only sense in which God could have purposed the existence of sin. It is simply negative. He purposed not to prevent it in any case where it does actually occur.

2. The existence of sin does not prove that it is the necessary means of the greatest good.

3. The human conscience always Justifies God. This is an undeniable fact–a fact of universal consciousness. (C. G. Finney, D. D.)

The evil and danger of offences

1. The first is a time of persecution. Offences will abound in a time of persecution to the ruin of many professors.

2. A time of the abounding of great sins is a time of giving and taking great offence.

3. When there is a decay of Churches, when they grow cold, and are under decays, it is a time of the abounding of offences. Offences are of two sorts.

I. SUCH AS ARE TAKEN ONLY, AND NOT GIVEN. The great offence taken was at Jesus Christ Himself. This offence taken, and not given, is increased by the poverty of the Church, These things are an offence taken and not given.

II. THERE ARE OFFENCES GIVEN AND TAKEN.

1. Offences given: and they are mens public sins, and the miscarriages of professors that are under vows and obligations to honourable obedience. Men may give offence by errors, and miscarriages in Churches, and by immoralities in their lives. This was in the sin of David; God would pass by everything but offence given: Because thou hast made My name to be blasphemed, therefore I will deal so and so. So God speaks of the people of Israel: these were My people, by reason of you My name is profaned among the Gentiles. These are the people of the Lord; see now they are come into captivity, what a vile people they are. Such things are an offence given.

2. Offences taken. Now offences are taken two ways.

(1) As they occasion grief (Rom 14:1-23.). See that by thy miscarriage thou grieve not thy brother. Mens offences who are professors, are a grief, trouble, and burden to those who are concerned in the same course of profession. Offences will come; and therefore let us remember, that God can sanctify the greatest offences to our humiliation and recovery, and to the saving of our Church. Such is His infinite wisdom.

(2) Given offences occasion sin. But offences given are an occasion of sin, even among professors and believers themselves. The worst way whereby a given offence is thus taken, is, when men countenance themselves in private sins by others public sins; and go on in vices because they see such and such commit greater. Woe unto us if we so take offence. Again, a given offence is taken, when our minds are provoked, exasperated, and carried off from a spirit of love and tenderness towards those that offend, and a]l others, and when we are discouraged and despond, as though the ways of God would not carry us out. This is to take offence to our disadvantage. I shall give you a few rules from hence, and so conclude.

(a) The giving offence being a great aggravation of sin, let this rule lie continually in your hearts, That the more public persons are, the more careful they ought to be that they give no offence either to Jew or Gentile, or to the Church of Christ.

(b) If what I have laid down be your first and your main rule, I doubt where this is neglected there is want of sincerity; but where it is your principal rule, there is nothing but hypocrisy. Men may walk by this rule, and have corrupt minds, and cherish wickedness in their hearts.

(c) Be not afraid of the great multiplication of offences at this day in the world. The truths of the gospel and holiness have broke through a thousand times more offences.

(d) Beg of God wisdom to manage yourselves under offences: and of all things take heed of that great evil which professors have been very apt to run into; I mean, to receive and promote reports of offence among themselves, taking hold of the least colour or pretence to report such things as are matter of offence, and give advantage to the world. Take heed of this, it is the design of the devil to load professors with false reports. (J. Owen, D. D.)

Of the necessity of offences arising against the gospel

I. In the first place, it will be proper TO CONSIDER WHAT THE PRINCIPAL OF THOSE OFFENCES AIDE WHICH HINDER THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH. And though everything that is faulty in any kind does in its measure and degree contribute to this evil; yet whoever considers the state of the Christian world, and the history of the Church in all ages from the beginning, will find that the great offences which have all along chiefly hindered the progress of true Christianity, are these which follow.

1. Corruption of doctrine. The Jewish believers, even in the apostles own times, contended for the necessity of observing the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses; and this gave just offence to the Gentiles, and deterred them from readily embracing the gospel. After this, other offences arose from among the Gentile converts, who by degrees corrupting themselves after the similitude of the heathen worshippers, introduced saints and images, and pompous ceremonies and grandeur into the Church, instead of true virtue and righteousness of life.

2. The next is divisions, contentions, and animosities among Christians, arising from pride, and from a desire of dominion, and from building matters of an uncertain nature and of human invention upon the foundation of Christ. The great offence, I say, which in all nations and in all ages has hindered the propagation of the gospel of truth, has been a hypocritical zeal to secure by force a fictitious uniformity of opinion, which is indeed impossible in nature; instead of the real Christian unity of sincerity, charity, and mutual forbearance, which is the bond of perfectness.

3. The third and last great offence I shall mention, by which the propagation of true religion is hindered, is the vicious and debauched lives, not of Christians, for that is a contradiction, but of those who for forms sake profess themselves to be so.

II. Having thus at large explained what is meant in the text by the word offences, I proceed in the second place to consider IN WHAT SENSE OUR SAVIOUR MUST BE UNDERSTOOD TO AFFIRM THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT SUCH OFFENCES WILL COME; or, as it is expressed in St. Matthew, that it must needs be that offences come. And here there have been some so absurdly unreasonable as to understand this of a proper and natural necessity; as if God had ordained that offences should come, and bad accordingly predestinated particular men to commit them. But this is directly charging God with the sins of men, and making Him, not themselves, the author of evil. The plain meaning of our Saviour, when He affirms it to be impossible but that offences will come, is this only–that, considering the state of the world, the number of temptations, the freedom of mens will, the frailty of their nature, the perverseness and obstinacy of their affections; it cannot be expected, it cannot be supposed, it cannot be hoped, but that offences will come; though it be very unreasonable they should come. Men need not, men ought not, to corrupt the doctrine of Christ; they need not dishonour their religion by unchristian heats, contentions, and animosities among themselves; much less is there any necessity that they should live contrary to it, by vicious and debauched practices; and yet, morally speaking, it cannot be but that all these things will happen.

III. I proposed to consider in the third place, WHY A PARTICULAR WOE IS, BY WAY OF EMPHASIS AND DISTINCTION, DENOUNCED AGAINST THE PERSONS BY WHOM THESE OFFENCES COME. Thus it appears plainly in general, that the necessity here mentioned of offences coming, is no excuse for those by whose wickedness they come. It is because they are offences of an extensive nature.

IV. THE INFERENCES I SHALL DRAW FROM WHAT HAS BEEN SAID, ARE–

1. From the explication which has been given of these words of our Saviour–It is impossible but that offences will come–we may learn, not to charge God with evil, nor to ascribe to any decree of His the wickedness and impieties of men.

2. Since our Saviour has forewarned us that it must needs be that such offences will come as may prove stumbling-blocks to the weak and inattentive, let us take care, since we have received this warning, not to stumble or be offended at them.

3. And above all, as we ought not to take, so much more ought we to be careful that we never give, any of these offences. (S. Clarke.)

On the vitiating influence of the higher upon the lower orders of society

If this text were thoroughly pursued into its manifold applications, itwould be found to lay a weight of fearful responsibility upon us all. We are here called upon, not to work out our own salvation, but to compute the reflex influence of all our works, and of all our ways, on the principles of others. And when one thinks of the mischief which this influence might spread around it, even from Christians of chiefest reputation; when one thinks of the readiness of man to take shelter in the example of an acknowledged superior; when one thinks that some inconsistency of ours might seduce another into such an imitation as overbears the reproaches of his own conscience; when one thinks of himself as the source and the centre of a contagion which might bring a blight upon the graces and the prospects of other souls beside his own–surely this is enough to supply him with a reason why, in working out his own personal salvation, he should do it with fear, and with watchfulness, and with much trembling. But we are now upon the ground of a higher and more delicate conscientiousness than is generally to be met with; whereas our object at present is to expose certain of the grosset offences which abound in society, and which spread a most dangerous and ensnaring influence among the individuals who compose it. Let us not forget to urge on every one sharer in this work of moral contamination, that never does the meek and gentle Saviour speak in terms more threatening or more reproachful, than when He speaks of the enormity of such misconduct. There cannot, in truth, be a grosser outrage committed on the order of Gods administration, than that which he is in the habit of inflicting. There cannot, surely, be a directer act of rebellion, than that which multiplies the adherents of its own cause, and which swells the hosts of the rebellious. And, before we conclude, let us, if possible, try to rebuke the wealthy out of their unfeeling indifference to the souls of the poor, by the example of the Saviour. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

Our liability to cause others to offend

A father tells us how he once started alone to climb a steep and perilous hill, purposely choosing a time when his children were at play, and when he thought that they would not notice his absence. He was climbing a precipitous path when he was startled by hearing a little voice shout, Father, take the safest path, for I am following you. On looking down, he saw that his little boy had followed him, and was already in danger; and he trembled lest the childs feet should slip before he could get to him, and grasp his warm little hand. Years have passed since then, he writes, but though the danger has passed, the little fellows cry has never left me. It taught me a lesson, the full force of which I had never known before. It showed me the power of our unconscious influence, and I saw the terrible possibility of our leading those around us to ruin, without intending or knowing it; and the lesson I learned that morning I am anxious to impress upon all to whom my words may come. (Archdeacon Farrar.)

Cause of offence to the young

The owner of the famous Wedgwood potteries, in the beginning of this century, was not only a man of remarkable mechanical skill, but a must devout and reverent Christian. On one occasion, a nobleman of dissolute habits, and an avowed atheist, was going through the works, accompanied by Mr. Wedgwood, and by a young lad who was employed in them, the son of pious parents. Lord C sought early opportunity to speak contemptuously of religion. The boy at first looked amazed, then listened with interest, and at last burst into a loud, jeering laugh. Mr. Wedgwood made no comment, but soon found occasion to show his guest the process of making a fine vase; how with infinite care the delicate paste was moulded into a shape of rare beauty and fragile texture, how it was painted by skilful artists, and finally passed through the furnace, coming out perfect in form and pure in quality. The nobleman declared his delight, and stretched out his hand for it, but the potter threw it on the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces. That was unpardonable carelessness! said Lord C , angrily. I wished to take that cup home for my collection! Nothing can restore it again. No. You forget, my lord, said Mr. Wedgwood, that the soul of that lad who has just left us came innocent of impiety into the world; that his parents, friends, all good influences, have been at work during his whole life to make him a vessel fit for the Masters use; that you, with your touch, have undone the work of years. No human hand can bind together again what you have broken. Lord C—-, who had never before received a rebuke from an inferior, stared at him in silence; then said, You are an honest man, frankly holding out his hand. I never thought of the effect of my words. There is no subject which many young men are more fond of discussing than religion, too often parading the crude, half comprehended atheistic arguments which they have heard or read before those to whom such doubts are new. Like Lord C—-, they do not think. They do not, probably, believe these arguments themselves, and they forget that they are infusing poison into healthy souls, which no after-efforts of theirs can ever remove, A moments carelessness may destroy the work of years. (Christian Age.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XVII.

Christ teaches the necessity of avoiding offences, 1, 2.

How to treat an offending brother, 3, 4.

The efficacy of faith, 5, 6.

No man by his services or obedience can profit his Maker, 7-10.

He cleanses ten lepers, 11-19.

The Pharisees inquire when the kingdom of God shall commence;

Christ answers them, and corrects their improper views of the

subject, 20-37.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVII.

Verse 1. It is impossible but that offences will come] Such is the corrupt state of the human heart that, notwithstanding all the influences of grace, and the promises of glory, men will continue to sin against God; and his justice must continue to punish. See Clarke on Mt 18:6.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

See Poole on “Mat 18:6-7“. See Poole on “Mar 9:42“. This term is used in the New Testament very variously; in general it signifies any thing which may be an occasion of mischief to another. Man, consisting of body and soul, may by something be made to stumble and fall, either with reference to the one, or to the other: thus, Lev 19:14. Thou shalt not put a stumblingblock before the blind: Hebrew: so Pro 24:17. The mischief done to our souls is by sin; so as in the New Testament it often signifies any action of ours by which our brother is made to sin: which actions may be,

1. Good and necessary, and then the scandal is taken, not given. Or:

2. Wicked and abominable; hence we call some sins scandalous sins, such as give offence to others, and are examples alluring them to sin. Or:

3. Actions which in themselves are of an indifferent nature, neither commanded nor forbidden in the word. Our taking one part in these actions, rather than another, may be a scandal, that is, an offence.

What our Saviour here saith is certainly true concerning all these kinds of offences: considering the complexion of the world, and the corruption which is in mans hearts,

it is impossible but that offences will come. But I must confess that I incline to think, that the offences primarily intended by our Saviour here are those of the second sort; and that by them are meant persecutions of the people of God; to the authors of which our Saviour denounces woe. So that our Saviour by this lets the world know, the special protection under which he hath taken his people; so as though he knew there would arise those who would hurt and destroy in his holy mountain, yet he declares that they shall not go unpunished, but they had better die the most certain death imaginable, (such must be the death of him who is thrown into the sea with a millstone about his neck), than to that degree expose himself to the vengeance of God; a guilt of that nature that there is not much more hope for him to escape Gods vengeance, than there would be of a man escaping with his life whom we should see thrown into the sea with a millstone appendant to him. I do very well know that it is also highly dangerous to tempt or solicit a child of God to sin, either by our words or actions; but I do not think it the design of our Lord in this place so much to express that as the other.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1, 2. (See Mat 18:6;Mat 18:7).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then said he unto his disciples,…. In the Alexandrian copy, and in “three” of Beza’s exemplars it is read, “his disciples”; and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; that is, Jesus said to his disciples what follows, as the Syriac and Persic versions express, and the latter reads, he said “again”. About the time that he delivered the above parable concerning the rich man and Lazarus, he repeated to his disciples what he had before said to them on another occasion, Mt 18:7

it is impossible but that offences will come; considering the decree of God, the malice of Satan, the wickedness of men, the corruption both of their principles and practices. The Ethiopic version renders it, “temptation will come”; that which will be trying to the faith of the saints, and a stumblingblock to weak minds, as reproach and persecution, errors, and heresies, and the evil lives of professors:

but woe [unto him] through whom they come;

[See comments on Mt 18:7]

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Treatment of Offences.

1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. 7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? 8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. 10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

We are here taught,

I. That the giving of offences is a great sin, and that which we should every one of us avoid and carefully watch against, Luk 17:1; Luk 17:2. We can expect no other than that offences will come, considering the perverseness and frowardness that are in the nature of man, and the wise purpose and counsel of God, who will carry on his work even by those offences, and bring good out of evil. It is almost impossible but that offences will come, and therefore we are concerned to provide accordingly; but woe to him through whom they come, his doom will be heavy (v. 2), more terrible than that of the worst of the malefactors who are condemned to be thrown into the sea, for they perish under a load of guilt more ponderous than that of millstones. This includes a woe, 1. To persecutors, who offer any injury to the least of Christ’s little ones, in word or deed, by which they are discouraged in serving Christ, and doing their duty, or in danger of being driven off from it. 2. To seducers, who corrupt the truths of Christ and his ordinances, and so trouble the minds of the disciples; for they are those by whom offences come. 3. To those who, under the profession of the Christian name, live scandalously, and thereby weaken the bands and sadden the hearts of God’s people; for by them the offence comes, and it is no abatement of their guilt, nor will be any of their punishment, that it is impossible but offences will come.

II. That the forgiving of offences is a great duty, and that which we should every one of us make conscience of (v. 3): Take heed to yourselves. This may refer either to what goes before, or to what follows: Take heed that you offend not one of these little ones. Ministers must be very careful not to say or do any thing that may be a discouragement to weak Christians; there is need of great caution, and they ought to speak and act very considerately, for fear of this: or, “When your brother trespasses against you, does you any injury, puts any slight or affront upon you, if he be accessary to any damage done you in your property or reputation, take heed to yourselves at such a time, lest you be put into a passion; lest, when your spirits are provoked, you speak unadvisedly, and rashly vow to revenge (Prov. xxiv. 29): I will do so to him as he hath done to me. Take heed what you say at such a time, lest you say amiss.”

1. If you are permitted to rebuke him, you are advised to do so. Smother not the resentment, but give it vent. Tell him his faults; show him wherein he has not done well nor fairly by you, and, it may be, you will perceive (and you must be very willing to perceive it) that you mistook him, that it was not a trespass against you, or not designed, but an oversight, and then you will beg his pardon for misunderstanding him; as Jos 22:30; Jos 22:31.

2. You are commanded, upon his repentance, to forgive him, and to be perfectly reconciled to him: If he repent, forgive him; forget the injury, never think of it again, much less upbraid him with it. Though he do not repent, you must not therefore bear malice to him, nor meditate revenge; but, it he do not at least say that he repents, you are not bound to be so free and familiar with him as you have been. If he be guilty of gross sin, to the offence of the Christian community he is a member of, let him be gravely and mildly reproved for his sin, and, upon his repentance, received into friendship and communion again. This the apostle calls forgiveness, 2 Cor. ii. 7.

3. You are to repeat this every time he repeats his trespass, v. 4. “If he could be supposed to be either so negligent, or so impudent, as to trespass against thee seven times in a day, and as often profess himself sorry for his fault, and promise not again to offend in like manner, continue to forgive him.” Humanum est errare–To ere is human. Note, Christians should be of a forgiving spirit, willing to make the best of every body, and to make all about them easy; forward to extenuate faults, and not to aggravate them; and they should contrive as much to show that they have forgiven an injury as others to show that they resent it.

III. That we have all need to get our faith strengthened, because, as that grace grows, all other graces grow. The more firmly we believe the doctrine of Christ, and the more confidently we rely upon the grace of Christ, the better it will be with us every way. Now observe here, 1. The address which the disciples made to Christ, for the strengthening of their faith, v. 5. The apostles themselves, so they are here called, though they were prime ministers of state in Christ’s kingdom, yet acknowledged the weakness and deficiency of their faith, and saw their need of Christ’s grace for the improvement of it; they said unto the Lord, “Increase our faith, and perfect what is lacking in it.” Let the discoveries of faith be more clear, the desires of faith more strong, the dependences of faith more firm and fixed, the dedications of faith more entire and resolute, and the delights of faith more pleasing. Note, the increase of our faith is what we should earnestly desire, and we should offer up that desire to God in prayer. Some think that they put up this prayer to Christ upon occasion of his pressing upon them the duty of forgiving injuries: “Lord, increase our faith, or we shall never be able to practise such a difficult duty as this.” Faith in God’s pardoning mercy will enable us to get over the greatest difficulties that lie in the way of our forgiving our brother. Others think that it was upon some other occasion, when the apostles were run aground in working some miracle, and were reproved by Christ for the weakness of their faith, as Matt. xvii. 16, c. To him that blamed them they must apply themselves for grace to mend them to him they cry, Lord, increase our faith. 2. The assurance Christ gave them of the wonderful efficacy of true faith (v. 6): “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard-seed, so small as mustard-seed, but yours is yet less than the least; or so sharp as mustard-seed, so pungent, so exciting to all other graces, as mustard to the animal spirits,” and therefore used in palsies, “you might do wonders much beyond what you now do; nothing would be too hard for you, that was fit to be done for the glory of God, and the confirmation of the doctrine you preach, yea, though it were the transplanting of a tree from the earth to the sea.” See Matt. xvii. 20. As with God nothing is impossible, so are all things possible to him that can believe.

IV. That, whatever we do in the service of Christ, we must be very humble, and not imagine that we can merit any favour at his hand, or claim it as a debt; even the apostles themselves, who did so much more for Christ than others, must not think that they had thereby made him their debtor. 1. We are all God’s servants (his apostles and ministers are in a special manner so), and, as servants, are bound to do all we can for his honour. Our whole strength and our whole time are to be employed for him; for we are not our own, nor at our own disposal, but at our Master’s. 2. As God’s servants, it becomes us to fill up our time with duty, and we have a variety of work appointed us to do; we ought to make the end of one service the beginning of another. The servant that has been ploughing, or feeding cattle, in the field, when he comes home at night has work to do still; he must wait at table,Luk 17:7; Luk 17:8. When we have been employed in the duties of a religious conversation, that will not excuse us from the exercises of devotion; when we have been working for God, still we must be waiting on God, waiting on him continually. 3. Our principal care here must be to do the duty of our relation, and leave it to our Master to give us the comfort of it, when and how he thinks fit. No servant expects that his master should say to him, Go and sit down to meat; it is time enough to do that when we have done our day’s work. Let us be in care to finish our work, and to do that well, and then the reward will come in due time. 4. It is fit that Christ should be served before us: Make ready wherewith I may sup, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drink. Doubting Christians say that they cannot give to Christ the glory of his love as they should, because they have not yet obtained the comfort of it; but this is wrong. First let Christ have the glory of it, let us attend him with our praises, and then we shall eat and drink in the comfort of that love, and in this there is a feast. 5. Christ’s servants, when they are to wait upon him, must gird themselves, must free themselves from every thing that is entangling and encumbering, and fit themselves with a close application of mind to go on, and go through, with their work; they must gird up the loins of their mind. When we have prepared for Christ’s entertainment, have made ready wherewith he may sup, we must then gird ourselves, to attend him. This is expected from servants, and Christ might require it from us, but he does not insist upon it. He was among his disciples as one that served, and came not, as other masters, to take state, and to be ministered unto, but to minister; witness his washing his disciples’ feet. 6. Christ’s servants do not so much as merit his thanks for any service they do him: “Does he thank that servant? Does he reckon himself indebted to him for it? No, by no means.” No good works of ours can merit any thing at the hand of God. We expect God’s favour, not because we have by our services made him a debtor to us, but because he has by his promises made himself a debtor to his own honour, and this we may plead with him, but cannot sue for a quantum meruit–according to merit. 7. Whatever we do for Christ, though it should be more perhaps than some others do, yet it is no more than is our duty to do. Though we should do all things that are commanded us, and alas! in many things we come short of this, yet there is no work of supererogation; it is but what we are bound to by that first and great commandment of loving God with all our heart and soul, which includes the utmost. 8. The best servants of Christ, even when they do the best services, must humbly acknowledge that they are unprofitable servants; though they are not those unprofitable servants that bury their talents, and shall be cast into utter darkness, yet as to Christ, and any advantage that can accrue to him by their services, they are unprofitable; our goodness extendeth not unto God, nor if we are righteous is he the better,Psa 16:2; Job 22:2; Job 35:7. God cannot be a gainer by our services, and therefore cannot be made a debtor by them. He has no need of us, nor can our services make any addition to his perfections. It becomes us therefore to call ourselves unprofitable servants, but to call his service a profitable service, for God is happy without us, but we are undone without him.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

It is impossible ( ). See in 13:33. Alpha privative (–) and , verbal adjective, from . The word occurs only in late Greek and only here in the N.T. The meaning is inadmissible, unallowable.

But that occasions of stumbling should come ( ). This genitive articular infinitive is not easy to explain. In Ac 10:25 there is another example where the genitive articular infinitive seems to be used as a nominative (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1040). The loose Hebrew infinitive construction may have a bearing here, but one may recall that the original infinitives were either locatives (–) or datives (–). is simply the accusative of general reference. Literally, the not coming as to occasions of stumbling. For (a trap) see on Matt 5:29; Matt 16:23. It is here only in Luke. The positive form of this saying appears in Mt 18:7, which see.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Impossible [] . Inadmissable. Only here in New Testament. See on it cannot be, ch. 13 33.

Offenses. See on offend, Mt 5:29; and compare on Mt 16:23.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

INSTRUCTION IN FORGIVENESS V. 1-6

1) “Then said he unto the disciples,” (eipen de pros tous mathetas autou) “Then he said directly to his disciples,” His company of church followers. He turned to them, from His immediate, previous discourse to the Pharisees, Luk 16:14-31.

2) “It is impossible but that offences will come:” (anendekton estin tou ta skandala me elthein) “It is impossible that offences may not come,” an occasion of stumbling, repeatedly occur. As long as one has the carnal nature, sin and trouble will exist in him, as surely as sparks fly upward; Job 5:7; Ecc 7:20, Yet each is responsible for his own sins before God and toward his fellowman, Mat 18:7; Rom 14:11-12; 1Pe 2:8.

3) “But woe unto him, through whom they come!” (ouai de di hou erchetai) “Yet, woe be to him through whom they come or occur,” 2Co 11:18-19; Mat 18:7; Mar 9:42.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk. 17:1. Then said he.Rather, And he said (R.V.). The previous discourse had been addressed to the Pharisees; we have now detached sayings addressed, probably on various occasions, to the disciples. This section is more fully given in Mat. 18:6-35. It is impossible, etc.So long as the world lasts, sins and occasions of sin will exist; but this fact does not destroy the personal responsibility of each individual for his own sin (Speakers Commentary). Offences.Rather, occasions of stumbling (R.V.). The recent behaviour of the Pharisees (Luk. 16:14), to whom so many looked up with respect, was an instance of stumbling-blocks being cast in the way of those weak in the faith (little ones, Luk. 17:2).

Luk. 17:2. It were better.Or It were well (R.V.). Lit. It were gain for him. Offend.As before, cause to stumble (R.V.). Little ones.Not necessarily children, though it applies to them; perhaps here the reference is specially to the publicans and sinners.

Luk. 17:3. Take heed.This is to warn them not to be too readily dismayed at offences, nor to meet them in a brother with an unforgiving spirit (Alford). Against thee.Omit these words (omitted in R.V.); probably taken from Mat. 18:15, or from the following verse. Rebuke.Perhaps one of the reasons why offences abound is the neglect of this dutythat of rebuking them in a proper spirit.

Luk. 17:4. Seven times.A general expression, not to be taken literally. Some of the Rabbis fixed three times as the limit of forgiveness.

Luk. 17:5. Increase our faith.Rather, Give us more faith. This request was doubtless prompted by a sense of weakness in overcoming offences and in exercising so large a measure of forgiveness.

Luk. 17:6. If ye had.Rather, If ye have (R.V.). A grain of mustard seed.A proverbial expression for a very small amount. The phrase implies that the apostles had some, but not sufficient, faith. Sycamine tree.The words were evidently spoken in the open air. The sycamine is the mulberry tree; it is different from the sycamore or Egyptian fig-tree of Luk. 19:4. Planted in the sea.There to grow; a stronger expression than in the parallel passage in St. Matthew. The whole passage may be thus paraphrased: You think the duties I enjoin too hard for your faith, but this shows you have as yet no faith of the high order you ought to have, for the smallest measure of such faith would enable you to do what seems altogether impossible in the natural world; and so much the more in spiritual things, since real faith is pre-eminently spiritual power (Popular Commentary).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 17:1-6

Counsels to Disciples.Various attempts have been made, but without success, to connect together the utterances of Christ on this occasion, and to trace the line of thought which links the one to the other. It seems probable that St. Luke here groups together fragments of teaching, without any attempt at arranging them in order, and without giving any note of the circumstances that gave rise to them. Perhaps he found them just as he here gives them, in some record of the life of Christ such as he alludes to in the opening verses of his gospel. Three distinct topics are treated of in these verses.

I. Concerning offences (Luk. 17:1-2).He speaks to His disciples, and especially to those who were strong in the faith, and warns them against setting stumbling-blocks in the way of the weak. Many were drawing near to Him and attaching themselves to Him whom the disciples were in danger of despising and affronting, unless they took especial care to avoid doing so; such were publicans and outcast classes of the population, Samaritans and strangers from the heathen world, and also persons who had faith in Christ and did good work in His name without formally connecting themselves with the company of believers. It was only too easy for prejudices of race, class, and office, to prompt a harsh treatment of such little ones. Then, too, it was no doubt the case that among the first generation of disciples, as in later times, there were some who were loud in their professions of faith, but lax in their moral conduct, and who could not fail to bring discredit upon the Masters cause, and to hinder some from embracing it. Scandals of this kind are far graver and more pernicious than those which arise from mere prejudice and want of consideration for the feelings of others. Hence probably it was this class of scandals which our Saviour had here in view, and which excited His indignation so strongly. His words reveal both His tender sympathy for the little ones whose hearts are troubled and whose salvation is imperilled by the misconduct of others, and His righteous anger that those who do such deadly mischief should bear His name and be ranked among His followers. Scarcely stronger terms could be chosen to express the terrible punishment which such conduct deserves, and will receive. The infinite value of the human soul, the especial pity which He has for the weak and timid, and His indignation against wilful offenders, are most clearly brought to light in this saying of His.

II. Concerning forgiveness (Luk. 17:3-4).Our Saviour has in view here the sins of which a man may be guilty in ordinary intercourse with his brethren. They may excite feelings of anger or irritation, but are not serious or heinous enough to be brought before a judicial tribunal. And for dealing with them Christ advises a mild, brotherly admonition, in order to bring the offender to a sense of the wrong he has done, and prescribes forgiveness to be extended to him on his repenting and confessing his error. However often offence may be given, forgiveness is to be exercised whenever asked for by the offending party. Both indignation against sin and compassion towards a sinner find a place in the course of procedure here laid down. In ordinary society, men are accustomed to pass over many such offences good-naturedly, and to omit the friendly admonition; so that neither is the offender brought to a sense of his wrong-doing, nor is the love that prompts to forgiveness brought into play. The forgiveness which Christ prescribes for His disciples is to be inexhaustible, like that which He Himself exercises towards penitent sinners. He chooses a symbolical number to describe the extent to which it is to be carried, and therefore the rule He here lays down is practically equivalent to that which He gave on another occasion, when, instead of seven times He spoke of seventy times seven.

III. Of faith (Luk. 17:5-6).The request which the apostles offered to Christ was probably suggested by seeing some extraordinary manifestation of the Saviours power, which they desired to imitatesuch, for example, as the withering of the barren fig-tree (Mat. 21:20); or by experiencing some failure in work which they had attempted to doas when, for example, they attempted to heal the epileptic boy (chap. Luk. 9:40). The reply of Christ taught them that it was not a matter of little and more. Let them have real faith in any degree and they would be able to accomplish the greatest marvels. Faith establishes a connection between the human and the Divine, and all the power and resources of omnipotence are brought to supplement and aid our weakness. Yet, just as Christ Himself did not use His supernatural power for purposes of display or for His own personal benefit, so the fulfilment of this promise is only to be seen in the history of what His disciples have done for the extension of His kingdom. The triumphs of the gospel, in overthrowing deeply rooted systems of idolatry and in defeating the malice of its enemies, are as wonderful as the miracles in the physical sphere which Christ here and elsewhere gives as examples of the power of faith.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 17:1-6

Luk. 17:1-10. The Spirit of Extra Service.Even in the highest place, and doing the highest and heartiest service

I. There is need of a lowly spirit.Our Lord gives very express teaching on this point. Our highest service may sometimes be in the spirit with which we regard a brother who has offended us, in pushing past us, perhaps, or trying to take our place. Roots of bitterness, however strong, may easily be uprooted, even by a weak faith, and acts of love planted, as it seems, in the very sea.

II. Such service may be very suddenly required of us.It may not seem part of our proper work, far less direct service to our Lord. Our ploughing or pasturing may seem so to fill up our time and to wear out our strength that we may feel excused from such calls to extra service or sacrifice as the ambition or the rudeness of a brother may render needful. So our Lord gives the parable of a servant thus ordinarily occupied during the day. But is he to hold himself discharged from personal service in the house if his Master should require it? Would he not willingly postpone any gratification, as of rest and refreshment for himself, if called to wait while his Master was refreshed, and to minister to His pleasure? And this is the way in which our Lord represents some of those extra services, hard and trying in one sense, but full of joy when rightly viewed.McColl.

Luk. 17:1-4.

I. Obstacles cast maliciously in the way of the weak.Which demand severe punishment.

II. The sins of brethren.Which call for gentle reproof and continued forgiveness.

Luk. 17:1-2.

I. We should beware of occasioning offences.

II. We should beware of being overthrown by such offences.

Luk. 17:1. Impossible.I.e., morally impossible in a world so largely under the influence of sin. Yet the responsibility of those who cause offences is not thereby removed or diminished.

Offences.I.e., things which the sincere disciple may with reason stumble at, because they are dishonouring to his Lord and hurtful to the Church.

These may be

(1) acts of persecution;
(2) sophistry or false reasoning;
(3) heretical and extravagant opinions; or
(4) immoral and inconsistent conduct on the part of those who make a religious profession.

We must distinguish between offences taken and offences given: it is against the latter that this woe is directed. Offence may be taken on very frivolous grounds.

Luk. 17:2. It were better for him.There is a profound difference between the sentiment expressed in this verse and that current in worldly society, concerning there being worse things than death. Death rather than dishonour, rather than disgrace brought upon ones family, are supposed to be heroic expressions. But here it is death rather than wrong-doing, rather than casting a stumbling-block in the way of the weak. Pride animates the worldly sentiment, whereas the Christian is interpenetrated by a deep sense of the heinousness of sin.

Luk. 17:3-5. Faith Getting in and Giving Out. Loves labour consists of two parts, doing and bearing. These two are different but inseparable. They may be compared to the right and left hands of a living man. The Christian life is sometimes mainly a laborious activity, sometimes mainly a patient enduring, and sometimes both at the same time and in equal measure. I could not venture to decide which is the greater Christian, the man who bears injuries patiently, in a forgiving spirit, or the man who labours heroically in some department of active duty The doers are better known in the Church and the world than the bearers. The results of active love bulk more largely in history than those of passive love. But perhaps in the inherent merits of the case, and in the judgment of the Omniscient, faith has borne as much and as precious fruit in enduring evil as in doing good. The meek, Christ-like bearer of evil is as much needed, and as much used in the work of the kingdom, as the actual Christ-like doer of good. In the present case it was on the side of bearing injury that the heavy demand was made. Assuredly those early disciples of the Lord found the duty as difficult as any positive work in which they had ever engaged. In trying to fulfil it, they speedily reached the end of their own resources; and, finding that they possessed not the sufficient supply for meeting and satisfying this new demand, they said to the Lord, Increase our faith.Arnot.

Luk. 17:3. Take heed.These words are to be connected with Luk. 17:1-2. Take heed:

1. Because it is so easy to cause others to stumble.
2. Because of the terrible penalty attaching to the sin of overthrowing anothers faith; the lost soul is like a weight fastened to him who has ruined it, and drags him, in his turn, down into the abyss.

Luk. 17:3. If thy brother, etc.The disciple is to be animated by

(1) holiness in reproving sin, and
(2) by love in forgiving it. Holiness becomes censoriousness when it is divorced from love; love degenerates and loses its Divine character when it is divorced from holiness.

Forgive him.Forgiveness, to be adequate, should be

(1) instant,
(2) frank,
(3) complete.

Motives for Forgiveness.

I. From a regard to our own peace of mind.

II. From a regard to the happiness of the world at large.

III. From a regard to the express injunctions of Scripture.

IV. From a regard to our own need of Divine forgiveness.

Luk. 17:4. Forgiveness.Repentance seems to be required here before forgiveness is granted by us; and consequently it would seem to be implied that we may refuse to pardon obstinate offenders. We need, however, to keep in mind that there are two kinds of forgiveness.

1. We may lay aside every idea of revenging an injury, and suppress feelings of hatred, and show kindness to the offender, without modifying the unfavourable opinion we have formed of his conduct; and
(2) we may be able to receive the offender again into favour, and to be fully persuaded that all hindrances to intimate fellowship with him are fully withdrawn.

Luk. 17:5. And the Apostles said.They who were so often divided among themselves, and animated by a spirit of petty rivalry, now unite in humble supplication for the supply of their spiritual necessity.

Increase our faith.I. Some measure of true faith is needed for safety and holiness.

II. True faith is of a progressive nature.
Certainly they did never have any grace who did not complain to have too little (Hall).

I have no grace till I would have more (Donne).

Prayer and Faith.For faith they ask; and, by asking, show their faith. Thus prayer ever increases faith, and faith ever inclines to prayer.Williams.

The Disciples Prayer.In this short prayer the disciples assumed

I. That they already believed, asking for an addition to the faith they already possessed.

II. That it is more faith that will produce more obedience.

III. That the faith which worketh by love is not of themselves, but is the gift of God through His Son.In these assumptions, having been secretly taught of the Spirit, the apostles were deeply intelligent and completely correct. And our Lord, in His reply, acknowledges that their inferences are correct.Arnot.

Luk. 17:6. If ye had faith.Some faith they had, yet not such great faith as to give the command specified and be obeyed. The illustration of the power of faith here given is intelligible only on the principle that spiritual miracles are greater than those wrought, in the material world.

As a grain of mustard seed.Small, yet living and capable of rapid increase.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Butlers Comments
SECTION 1

Be Good (Luk. 17:1-10)

17 And he said to his disciples, Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come! 2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung round his neck and he were cast into the sea, than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin, 3Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; 4and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, I repent, you must forgive him.

5 The apostles said to the Lord, Increase your faith! 6And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.

7 Will any one of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, say to him when he has come in from the field, Come at once and sit down at the table? 8Will he not rather say to him, Prepare supper for me, and gird yourself and serve me, till I eat and drink; and afterward you shall eat and drink? 9Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.

Luk. 17:1-2 Forbearance: Jesus warns His disciples against the careless, intemperate lack of self-control that puts a stumbling-block in the way of someone else. The Greek word Luke uses here is skandala; it is the word from which we get the English word, scandal or scandalize. The Greek word literally means, a trap, or snare. The Greek word most often used in the New Testament for temptation is perisamos, which means to test, try and sometimes means the subjective desire to sin and thus put Gods warnings to the test. God sometimes sends or allows a perisamos (temptation or test) to come (cf. Heb. 11:17; Jas. 1:2-4; Jas. 1:12). But God does not entice or lure anyone to break His commandments (Jas. 1:13-15); enticement to sin is the work of Satan (Rev. 2:9; 1Pe. 5:8-9; 1Th. 3:5; 1Co. 7:5; Mat. 4:1; Luk. 4:2; Mar. 1:13). The Lord is warning that men may allow themselves to become tools of Satan and put stumbling-blocks in the way of other men. Even disciples of Jesus are vulnerable, if they do not trust completely in His word, to enticing others to sin.

So long as there are people in rebellion against Gods will stumbling-blocks are inevitable. Anything done contrary to the will of God is a potential enticement to sin for someone else. Age, social status, economic circumstances and educational level has no bearing on whether a disciple may or may not be instrumental in putting a stumbling-block in anothers way. Temptation to entice someone else does not discriminate. It may come upon us in a rush, galloping boldly at us, trying to overpower usor it may come seductively, discreetly, slithering through the brushbut it comes. It comes every day and in all circumstances! Temptation is almost always camouflaged. Evil artfully masquerades as good. Evil appropriates the highest levels of life (sex, food, possessiveness) even religion, as its vehicles of expression.

Temptation may distort reality. This is the way the devil worked on Eve; . . . has God said. . . . Satan distorted the nature of God, portraying Him as a bully or an egomaniac. Some distort the real nature of God by imagining Him to be an indulgent grandfather type. Distort the nature of God and the reality of sin gets distorted. Temptation is more intense when we are near that which entices us to rebel against God. The case of David with Bathsheba is a classic. This is so obvious but so seldom acknowledged by men. As one person puts it: It is not wise for a dieter to hang around a bakery! Flee youthful lusts. . . . (2Ti. 2:22) is exemplified in Josephs refusal to be seduced by Potiphars wife. Temptation may be more effective when we have no fellowship with other believers. We are dependent upon the other members of the body for proper function (1Co. 12:14 ff.). Temptation may come at a time of great spiritual experience or triumph. It was right after Davids greatest victories that he was tempted with Bathsheba; Israels deliverance from Egypt was just before they made their golden calves; Elijahs despondency came right after his victories over the prophets of Baal; Jesus most intense temptations apparently came right after His baptism and Gods approving voice. Temptation may be based on the assumption that Gods word is subject to our judgment, (cf. Jer. 5:12; Amo. 9:10). The Corinthians fell into the trap. This is the temptation to read the Bible to prove our point of view rather than to honestly determine what the author actually intended to say! The more we contemplate that which tempts us, the more apt we are to fall to it. Sin is like a birth. First the temptation is conceived through the wish or desire (lust); then it grows as it is harbored or nursed; finally it is born as the sinful act itself. Just as a child is alive before birth, so sin is alive in the conception stageit doesnt have to be an action to be a sin! Repentance from sin necessitates a change of mind, a change or renunciation of the desire.

The subject of stumbling-blocks is very serious. The apostles had a great deal to say about it. The possibility that any man might tempt another to sin is always there. No man is an island. . . . said the poet, but the Holy Spirit said it long before the poet when Paul wrote, None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself, (Rom. 14:7). Paul wrote this in a context dealing with stumbling-blocks (Rom. 14:1 to Rom. 15:13). Things innocent enough in themselves, engaged in without regard for another persons scruples, may become stumbling-blocks and therefore sins. If we cause another to stumble, even though the thing we have done may not be against our own conscience, we have sinned against Christ (cf. 1Co. 8:11-13). There are four main chapters in the New Testament which amplify and elucidate Christs warnings herethey are Rom. 14:1-23, 1Co. 8:1-13; 1Co. 9:1-27; 1Co. 10:1-33. The reader must study these chapters in connection with the Lords imperative warning in Luk. 17:1-2.

To be trapped by a stumbling-block is sin. The man who succumbs to a temptation is guilty. But Jesus goes even further behind the sin to search out the one who put the temptation there! The one who put the stumbling-block in the way of the sinner is even more guilty than the sinner. There are those who not only do sinful things but also approve of others practicing them (Rom. 1:32). Peters refusal to accept the will of God for the crucifixion of the Messiah became a stumbling-block to Jesus (Mat. 16:23; Mar. 8:33). Now the Lord did not say that the punishment of such a one is that he should have a great millstone hanged about his neck and cast into the sea. He said it would be better for such a one if that happened to him! It would be better to cut off ones right hand than allow it to cause anyone to stumble (Mat. 5:29-30)! It would be better to starve to death than to cause someone to stumble (Rom. 14:13-21; 1Co. 8:13; 1Co. 9:12, etc.). No wonder Jesus said, . . . woe to him by whom they (stumbling-blocks) come!

The little ones are not necessarily children, but all little or weak or beginning ones in their relationship to God. The apostles discuss the weak brother in their writings on stumbling-blocks. Some, because of conscience or custom, see things and actions as contrary to Gods will which others do not so see. The truly mature Christian will forbear and even forego his own liberty in such areas rather than cause another to violate his conscience, and cause him to be enticed to sin. On the other hand the weak brother must not be guilty of a legalism which insists on binding his scruples (opinions) on the other who has been set free in Christ. Legalism may be equally as serious as carelessness. Legalism may in itself become a stumbling-block!

Luk. 17:3-4 Forgiveness: What if the reverse should be true; suppose some one puts a stumbling-block in your way, sins against you or offends you. What is to be your attitude toward him? First, I am to rebuke him (Gr. epitimeson, lit. charge him to do the honorable thing). I am to point out to him that the thing he has done is wrong, dishonorable. Then, if he repents, I am to forgive him. Actually, we must have a willingness to forgive even if our enemy does not repent. If he does not repent, our willingness to forgive will not profit him but it will certainly profit us, for it will make us sons of our Father who is in heaven (Mat. 5:43-48). Christ died willingly forgiving all men their sins against God, but His forgiveness is of no avail to those who do not repent. One cannot forgive another unless he is willing, in some sense, to bear the consequences of the offense done to him. The only way Christ could forgive us was to bear our sins in His body on the tree. If we are unwilling to forgive until the humiliation, hurt or offense is transferred back to the offender, we really have not forgiven!

One of our greatest temptations is to be unforgiving. As a matter of fact, to be unforgiving casts a sure stumbling-block in the path of another. Forgiveness is not a virtue of the worldly-minded. The pagan philosophy is: Be kind to friends, take vengeance on enemies. Even in the Old Testament, mans forgiveness of man is seldom mentioned. Some Jews appealed to Deu. 23:6 and Ezr. 9:12 to indicate that forgiveness of some was not necessary. Forgiveness is uniquely a Christian virtue. Forgiveness is a must for Christs followers (Mat. 6:12). No limit can be set to the extent of forgiveness (Mat. 18:21-22). Even if a man says he repents, and offends you seven times in one day, and says he repents seven times, you are to forgive him seven times. Love does not keep records of the evil done against it (1Co. 13:5). Better for your character to forgive seven times, even if the offender appear to you to be insincere, than by refusing to forgive and thus cast a stumbling-block in his way.

To forgive one another as God in Christ forgives us . . . (Eph. 4:32) demands humility and self-denial. It requires a realistic acknowledgement of sin and stumbling-blocks. It requires loving others as we love ourselves. The Christians responsibility toward someone who has offended him is not created by the fact that he has been wronged, but by the fact that the sinner has sinned and harmed himself! That is how God forgives us. Forgiveness is a two-way street. It is one part of a relationship that must be mutual if both parties are to be profited. Repentance is the other part. The desired effect of forgiveness is to restore a relationship of harmony and peace. But that effect cannot be accomplished without repentance by the one forgiven. Failure of the offender to repent does not release the offended from his obligation to extend forgiveness because an unforgiving heart is also an impenitent heart! The unforgiving heart is not prepared for the end of the world!

Luk. 17:5-6 Fidelity: All the apostles were shocked. Jesus had spoken startling words. He had challenged them to a life on the level of heaven itself. He was preparing them for the end of this world and the coming of the next. When the initial shock had passed, they cried out, Increase our faith! What they were saying was, Lord, if we are to live like that, to forgive like that, we must have more faith. Their appeal was an intelligent one. Faith is what it takes to live like that. Any man can live without concern for others. Any person can say selfishly, What I do is my business, and if anyone is offended by it, that is their tough luck. Any person who thinks this world is all there is to life is sure to seek vengeance, hold grudges and be unforgiving. Only the person who believes Gods word about atonement, judgment and the world to come has the power to live on the spiritual level Jesus described.

Jesus reply is very much in contrast with the way men think of faith. Men say, increase our faith. . . . as if more or bigger is better. Jesus said, in essence, It is not more faith you need, it is better faith. Faith is not quantative, but qualitative. He did not even give them any formula by which they might increase the amount of faith. He said faith as a grain of mustard seed was what they needed. Note, He did not say faith as big or as small as a grain of mustard seed. Jesus used the mustard seed to illustrate a faith that has life in itseedlike faith. Life that is in a grain of mustard seed is powerful enough to overcome obstacles which seem insurmountable and produce a plant. Put a mustard seed into fertile soil and it will grow. If a clod or a rock gets in the way it will grow around it and come forth. The answer of Jesus was a strong rebuke which underscored the fact of their own personal responsibility for the quality of their faith. Christ cannot do for them what they must willingly do for themselves. He never gave them faith. He performed some miracles to prove Who He was and that His every word could be believed. But they had to do the believing. He always left people (including the apostles) to wrestle with their problems themselves by applying whatever lived in their hearts. If faith in Him lived there, any obstacle could be overcome; if unbelief lived there, even the smallest obstacle spelled defeat. Jesus is not talking about miracles of faithbut works of faith. He did not mean that everyone who believes can go around uprooting trees and dropping them into the oceans, literally. After all, trees and mountains are not mans real obstacles anyway! The real mountains to men are temptation, sin, guilt, death. Men can move mountains and trees with bulldozersbut not guilt. The most impossible things are possible and the absolutely unattainable things may belong to men who believe and follow the will of God. To keep from falling into temptation or from tempting someone else a person needs not miracles but a living, working faith. Jesus Himself overcame temptation, not by miracles, but by faith in Gods word (cf. comments on Luk. 4:1-13). To forgive unlimitedly one needs not miracles, but a working trust in Christs promises. We can live on heavens plane if we believe. The kingdom of God on earth, the church, is supposed to be living on heavens planeit is in the world, but not of the world.

Luk. 17:7-10 Fealty: Jesus told the parable of the Unprofitable Servant to warn all His disciples against thinking they can ever merit equal status with their Lord. God, by His grace through Jesus, may grant men joint heirship with Him, but they can never merit it. They may be called in at some time to sit down and eat, but they can never go in demanding it. Because they can never do more than they are obligated to do. The obligation of man is to believe and obey perfectly the Creator. Man is commanded to produce perfect servicehe does not do so, therefore, he is an unprofitable servant. Until a servant has done more than is expected of him or that which is commanded of him he can expect no merit or reward. God owns us outright. We are His by right of creation. We are doubly His by redemptive grace. He does not owe us anythingwe owe Him everything and more. This parable is aimed at erasing that kind of self-righteousness Jesus saw in the Pharisees and all who follow in their steps. The Pharisees arrogantly considered themselves to have done all they were commanded to do. They believed they had earned the right to demand from God a seat at the Masters table. This is no way to prepare for the end of the world. The way to prepare for being called in by the Master is to consider oneself an unprofitable servant, dependent totally upon the grace and goodness of God!

We must constantly remind ourselves that whatever God cares to give us is up to Him. There is nothing coming to us of good which we deserve! We can take no credit for our world, our wisdom, our opportunities. We are indebted to Him for everything. Even our expressions of thanks to Him add to our indebtedness to Him because even our thanks is borrowed. We would not even know how to say thanks as we should without his revealed Word. There are many things we would like to say to Him and should say to Him, but cant, which His Spirit says for us (cf. Rom. 8:26-27)! If we give Him our life we are only letting Him have what already belongs to Him. Only when we admit that we are born destitute (cf. 1Ti. 6:6-7) of all merit and that we earn are we prepared to appreciate God. Only when we recognize He gave us our freedom to choose Him or not shall we be good servants. When we have this perspective, work in His vineyard is welcomed as a privilege and not as a necessary evil. Work ceases to be work and become a way to express appreciation when we acknowledge that we are unprofitable servants.

To the non-Christian, everything must seem quite a price to pay for serving Jesus. But, in the light of Gods everything it is nothing at all (cf. Rom. 8:31-39). It is the least we can do and live with our consciencesand not be depressed with unexpressed gratitude.

Appleburys Comments

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Outline

Luke told about Jesus instruction on the subject of forgiveness (Luk. 17:1-10).

The duty of His disciples to forgive (Luk. 17:1-4).

Occasions of stumbling are inevitable.

Warning to the disciples in view of this.

(1)

Woe to him through whom they come.

(2)

It would be better for him to have a millstone put around his neck and be cast into the sea than to cause one of the little ones (young in faith) to stumble.

What they were to do if a brother should sin.

(1)

Watch themselves.

(2)

Rebuke the brother who sins.

(3)

Forgive the brother who repents.

(4)

Forgive him even if it should happen seven times a day, if he says I repent.

The inference of His disciples that it was too much for them to obey such an order (Luk. 17:5-10).

It is implied in their request for increased faith.

It is answered in Jesus remarks:

(1)

About faith as a grain of mustard seed.

(a)

He assumed that they had such faith.

(b)

By exercising it, they could command the tree to be unrooted and planted in the sea and it would obey them.

(2)

About the unprofitable servant.

(a)

The servant who after working all day in the field came in and served his master was not thanked because he had done what he was commanded to do.

(b)

In the same way, the disciples should treat the command to forgive; they were unprofitable servants; this was their duty.

Luke told about the incident of healing the ten lepers (Luk. 17:11-19).

The marvel of their being healed (Luk. 17:11-14).

It happened on their way to Jerusalem in a village in the area between Samaria and Galilee.

The lepers from afar begged Jesus for mercy.

He told them to go and show themselves to the priests.

As they went they were cleansed.

There was one, a foreigner, who returned to thank the Lord for what He had done (Luk. 17:15-19).

When he saw that he was healed, he turned back and with a loud voice glorified God and fell at Jesus feet and thanked Him.

He was a Samaritan.

Jesus said, The ten were cleansed, were they not? The nine, where are they? Were there none who returned to give glory to God except this stranger?

Jesus said to him, Arise, go your way; your faith has saved you, that is, from the plague of leprosy.

He told about Jesus lesson concerning the coming of the kingdom (Luk. 17:20-37).

What He said to the Pharisees (Luk. 17:20-21).

The kingdom was not to come with observation; it could not be pointed to as being here or there.

The kingdom of God is within you.

What He said to His disciples (Luk. 17:22-37).

He warned about deceptive claims that would be made about His second coming (Luk. 17:22-25).

(1)

The warning was necessary for the disciples would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.

(2)

They were not to follow those who would say, say, Lo, here! Lo, there!

(3)

They were to remember that His coming would be as clear as lightning from heaven; there would be no need to follow false reports.

(4)

He said that He must first suffer and be rejected by that generation.

He told of conditions that would prevail at the time of His coming (Luk. 17:26-37).

(1)

It would be like the days of Noah when life went on normally until the day he entered the ark.

(2)

It would be like the days of Lot when life went on normally until God rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed Sodom.

(3)

It would be too late to prepareRemember Lots wife.

(4)

It would be a time of separation.

(5)

It would be where the condition existed that merited it: they asked, Where, Lord? He answered, Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Summary

Occasions of stumbling are inevitable, but there is a fearful penalty involved in causing the little ones who believe in Christ to fall. The brother who sins and repents is to be forgiven, even if it happens seven times a day.
This is a command that is to be obeyed. It took no miracle to do so. The disciples had been given power to perform miracles and the faith through which that power was made operative. They could even command a tree to be planted in the sea and it would obey them. They, then, as intelligent followers of Christ could obey His command to forgive. Jesus illustrated the point with the story of the servant whose duty it was to do all that his master told him to do.
As Jesus and His disciples were traveling along the route that lay along the border between Samaria and Galilee, they met ten men who were lepers. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest. As they went they were healed. Only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank Him. Jesus said, There were ten healed, were there not? Why was it that only the Samaritan returned? Ingratitude? Jesus language seems to indicate that it was. Their failure does emphasize the gratitude of the foreigner who came back to glorify God for what happened to him.
The Pharisees asked Jesus, When is the kingdom coming? They may have been taunting Him, or again they could have been sincere. He said, It is within you. Evidently they were not submitting to Gods rule or they would have known this.
This became an occasion for Jesus to teach His disciples about His second coming. As they faced persecution, they would long for the triumph of the gospel and the eternal kingdom of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He warned them against those who would say that it is here or there, for when He comes all will know about it. But it will be at an unknown time and a time of separation. Judgment, of course, will come wherever there is a condition that merits it.

Questions

What is the connection between Jesus command to forgive, the disciples request for increased faith, and the story of the unprofitable servant?

How often should one be forgiven?

On what condition is one to be forgiven?

What responsibility does the one who is sinned against have?

What does James say about the erring brother?

What did the disciples imply by their request for increased faith?

Why didnt they need to have their faith increased?

What did they need?

What may be done to help those who are weak in faith?

10.

What is the lesson of the story of the unprofitable servant?

11.

Why did the lepers stand afar off?

12.

Why did Jesus tell them to show themselves to the priest?

13.

When did their healing take place?

14.

Who was the one who returned to glorify God?

15.

What about the nine?

16.

Explain the fact that the faith of the Samaritan made him whole.

17.

Why did the Pharisees ask Jesus about the kingdom of God?

18.

Why did He say that it was not here or there?

19.

Where, then, is the kingdom?

20.

Why didnt the Pharisees know this?

21.

What phase of the kingdom did Jesus have in mind as He spoke to the disciples?

22.

What did He mean by one of the days of the Son of man?

23.

What would happen before that time?

24.

Why were they to pay no attention to those who would say that it is here or there?

25.

What does the reference to lightning from heaven indicate about the coming of Christ?

26.

What does the reference to Noah teach about His coming?

27.

What marks the difference between the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the second coming of Christ?

28.

How did Jesus show that there will be no time to prepare when He comes?

29.

Why did He say, Remember Lots wife?

30.

How did He show that His coming will be at a time of separation?

31.

What is meant by, Where the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together?

Appleburys Comments

The Duty to Forgive
Scripture

Luk. 17:1-10 And he said unto his disciples, It is impossible but that that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2 It were well for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he sin against thee seven times in the day, and seven times turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you. 7 But who is there of you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say unto him, when he is come in from the field, Come straightway and sit down to meat; 8 and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? 9 Doth he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded? 10 Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which it was our duty to do.

Comments

And he said unto his disciples.Some assume that there is no connection between the three thoughts that follow: (1) offenses; (2) the request for increased faith; (3) the story of the unprofitable servant. It does make sense, however, to take them as a unit. Offenses are impossible to avoid, but one must forgive a brother who sins and repents even if it is seven times a day. Such an order was so astounding that the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith. But it was not increased faith that they needed; all they needed was to obey His command to forgive. The story of the unprofitable servant illustrated this very point.

It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come.Since it is impossible to avoid occasion that lead to giving offense, one must be ready always to forgive when the offender says, I repent. To be guilty of causing another to sin is a serious offense. It would be better if one were drowned in the sea rather than suffer the consequences of causing one who is immature in the faith to sin, Sin can lead to eternal death. What awful danger and responsibility are involved in occasions of stumbling!

If your brother sin.Watch out! This is a very real possibility. What are you to do to avoid the consequences of it? Two things are suggested: (1) rebuke him, and (2) forgive him.

It is wrong to let a brother go on in sin without trying to lead him to repent. James has a word to say about this: My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins (Jas. 5:19-20).

And if he sin against thee seven times a day.This means that there is no limit to forgiveness if he repent. The one who sins has an obligation in the matter also. If he sins, he should repent and seek forgiveness. But an unforgiving attitude on the part of the offended party could cause the sinner to be lost eternally. See 2Co. 2:5-11; Mat. 5:23-24; Mat. 18:35; Eph. 4:31-32; Col. 3:13.

Increase our faith.The response of Jesus disciples seems to suggest that they felt that His command was too much for them to obey. But what did they mean by the request to increase their faith? Were they suggesting that it would take a miracle to carry it out? One thing is certain: Jesus reply indicates that all they needed was to obey His order.

If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed.See also Mat. 17:21 where this expression is found in connection with the miracle of casting out the demon from the epileptic boy. See also Luk. 9:37-45 for meaning of faith as grain of mustard seed. The least of this faith would cause the sycamine tree to obey them. No increase in faith in connection with power to perform miracles was necessary; all they needed was simply to believe Him and show that they did by obeying what He said about forgiveness. This faith involves a total commitment to Christ that is intellectual, volitional, and emotional. This is the faith that takes the Lord at His word and does what He says. See it illustrated in the lives of the great men of faith as reported in Heb. 11:1 to Heb. 12:2.

The reference to faith in Marks account of healing of the epileptic boy helps us to see the difference between faith in connection with miracles and faith that is trust in the Lord. See Mar. 9:22-24. The disciples had failed to help the grief-stricken father. When Jesus arrived, he said, If you can do anything, help us; have pity on us. Our text seems to suggest that Jesus rebuked him for saying If you can. It is quite possible, however, that Jesus response should be translated: As to your suggestion, If you can, why, all things are possible to the one who believes. Then the father said, I do believe; help my unbelief. His unbelief had to do with his questioning Jesus ability to perform the miracle. This is not the little faith of the disciples, for that concerned the ability on their part to perform the miracle.

Our own unbelief may need to be overcome on many occasions. It can be done by knowing what He would have us do and by a willingness to trust Him even though we may not always see the immediate outcome. Knowing what He would have us do depends on studying His revealed will, the Bible. The examples of those who have acted by faith can help to encourage us to trust the Lord. As we see in our own experience what it means to trust Him we are strengthened in our desire and determination to live the life of faith.

But who is there of you, having a servant plowing.This illustration shows that the disciples were under obligation to obey the command to forgive. The servant does not tell the master what he will do. Even when he has worked hard all day, he may have additional services to perform in the evening. But not even for that is he thanked, for it is his duty to do whatever his master commands. It was the duty of Jesus disciples to do whatever He commanded themforgive even seven times in a dayeven though it might seem difficult.

Even so ye also.There could be no mistake about the purpose of the story: Jesus meant for them to obey His command to forgive. This was their duty, for they were like unprofitable servants. The reason which lies back of this is seen in the story of forgiveness which is presented in Mat. 18:21-35. When God forgives those who sin against Him, He does so not because of duty but of grace. That puts the forgiven sinner under obligation to forgive his fellowman from the heart.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XVII.

(1) It is impossible but that offences will come.In this instance, the absence of any apparent connection might, perhaps, justify us in looking on the two precepts as having been noted by St. Luke for their own intrinsic value, without regard to the context in which they had been spoken. (See Notes on Mat. 18:7.) Even here, however, we must remember that there may have been what we have called dropped links. It is not hard to see that the self-indulgent life, after the pattern of that of the rich man in the preceding parable, was an offence which, in one sense, must needs come, in the history of the Christian Church, as it had come in the Jewish, and yet would bring a woe on the man through whom it came.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 17

LAWS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE ( Luk 17:1-10 )

17:1-10 Jesus said to his disciples, “It is impossible that snares to sin should not arise; but woe to him through whom they do arise! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to trip up.

“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in the day, and if seven times he turns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us also faith!” The Lord said, “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

“If any of you has a slave ploughing or watching the flock, and the slave comes in from the field, will he say to him, ‘Come at once and take your place at table’; or rather, will he not say to him, ‘Get ready my evening meal, and gird yourself and serve me, until I eat and drink, and after that you shall eat and drink yourself’? Does he thank a servant because he has done what he was ordered to do? Even so, you too, when you have done everything you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done what it was our duty to do.'”

This passage falls into four definite and disconnected sections.

(i) Luk 17:1-2 condemn the man who teaches others to sin. The Revised Standard Version talks in these verses about temptations to sin. The Greek word (skandalon, G4625) is exactly the same word as the English scandal. It has two meanings.

(a) It originally meant the bait-stick in a trap.

(b) It then came to mean any stumbling-block placed in a man’s way to trip him up. Jesus said that it was impossible to construct a world with no temptations; but woe to that man who taught another to sin or who took away another’s innocence.

Every one must be given his first invitation to sin, his first push along the wrong way. Kennedy Williamson tells of an old man who was dying. Something was obviously worrying him. He told them at last what it was. “When I was a lad,” he said, “I often played on a wide common. Near its centre two roads met and crossed, and, standing at the cross-roads, was an old rickety sign-post. I remember one day twisting it round in its socket, thus altering the arms and making them point in the wrong direction; and I’ve been wondering ever since how many travellers I sent on the wrong road.”

God will not hold the man guiltless, who, on the road of life, sends a younger or a weaker brother on the wrong way.

(ii) Luk 17:3-4 speak of the necessity of forgiveness in the Christian life. It tells us to forgive seven times. The Rabbis had a saying that if one forgave another three times, one was a perfect man. The Christian standard takes the Rabbinic standard, doubles it and adds one; but it is not a matter of calculation. It simply means that the Christian standard of forgiveness must immeasurably exceed the best the world can achieve.

(iii) Luk 17:5-6 tell us that faith is the greatest force in the world. We must again remember that it was the eastern custom to use language in the most vivid possible way. This saying means that even that which looks completely impossible becomes possible, if it is approached with faith. We have only to think of the number of scientific marvels, of the number of surgical operations, of the feats of endurance which today have been achieved and which less than fifty years ago would have been regarded as utterly impossible. If we approach a thing saying, “It can’t be done,” it will not; if we approach it saying, “It must be done,” the chances are that it will. We must always remember that we approach no task alone, but that with us there is God and all his power.

(iv) Luk 17:7-10 tell us that we can never put God in our debt and can never have any claim on him. When we have done our best, we have done only our duty; and a man who has done his duty has done only what, in any event, he could be compelled to do.

Were the whole realm of Nature mine,

That were an offering far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

It may be possible to satisfy the claims of law; but every lover knows that nothing can ever satisfy the claims of love.

THE RARITY OF GRATITUDE ( Luk 17:11-19 )

17:11-19 When Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, he was going along between Samaria and Galilee; and, as he entered a village, ten lepers, who stood far off, met him. They lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have pity upon us.” When he saw them, he said, “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. One of them when he saw that he was cured, turned back, glorifying God with a great voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and kept on thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. Jesus said, “Were the ten not cleansed? The nine–where are they? Were none found to turn back and give glory to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go! Your faith has made you well.”

Jesus was on the border between Galilee and Samaria and was met by a band of ten lepers. We know that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans; yet in this band there was at least one Samaritan. Here is an example of a great law of life. A common misfortune had broken down the racial and national barriers. In the common tragedy of their leprosy they had forgotten they were Jews and Samaritans and remembered only they were men in need. If flood surges over a piece of country and the wild animals congregate for safety on some little bit of higher ground, you will find standing peacefully together animals who are natural enemies and who at any other time would do their best to kill each other. Surely one of the things which should draw all men together is their common need of God.

The lepers stood far off. (compare Lev 13:45-46; Num 5:2.) There was no specified distance at which they should stand, but we know that at least one authority laid it down that, when he was to windward of a healthy person, the leper should stand at least fifty yards away. Nothing could better show the utter isolation in which lepers lived.

No story in all the gospels so poignantly shows man’s ingratitude. The lepers came to Jesus with desperate longing; he cured them; and nine never came back to give thanks. So often, once a man has got what he wants, he never comes back.

(i) Often we are ungrateful to our parents. There was a time in our lives when a week’s neglect would have killed us. Of all living creatures man requires longest to become able to meet the needs essential for life. There were years when we were dependent on our parents for literally everything. Yet the day often comes when an aged parent is a nuisance; and many young people are unwilling to repay the debt they owe. As King Lear said in the day of his own tragedy.

“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is

To have a thankless child!”

(ii) Often we are ungrateful to our fellow-men. Few of us have not at some time owed a great deal to some fellow-man. Few of us at the moment, believed we could ever forget; but few of us in the end satisfy the debt of gratitude we owe. It often happens that a friend, a teacher, a doctor, a surgeon does something for us which it is impossible to repay; but the tragedy is that we often do not even try to repay it.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man’s ingratitude.

(iii) Often we are ungrateful to God. In some time of bitter need we pray with desperate intensity; the time passes and we forget God. Many of us never even offer a grace before meat. God gave us his only Son and often we never give to him even a word of thanks. The best thanks we can give him is to try to deserve his goodness and his mercy a little better. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” ( Psa 103:2.)

THE SIGNS OF HIS COMING ( Luk 17:20-37 )

17:20-37 When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God does not come with signs that you can watch for; nor will they say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ For–look you–the kingdom of God is within you.”

He said to his disciples, “Days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not depart, and do not follow them. For, as the flashing lightning lights up the sky from one side to another, so shall be the Son of Man in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Even as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day on which Noah entered the ark and the flood came and wiped them all out. In the same way, so it was in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building, but, on the day on which Lot went out of Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from heaven and wiped them all out. It will be the same on the day on which the Son of Man is revealed. If, on that day, anyone is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them. In the same way, if anyone is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will preserve it alive. This is the truth I tell you–on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” They said to him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the vultures will be gathered together.”

Here are two very difficult passages.

In Luk 17:20-21 Jesus answered the question of the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God would come. He said that it would not come with signs that watch for. The word he used is the word used for a doctor watching a patient for symptoms of some disease which he suspects.

We are not quite sure what Jesus went on to say. The Greek may mean two things.

(a) It may mean, the kingdom of God is within you. That is to say, the kingdom of God works in men’s hearts; it is to produce not new things, but new people. It is not a revolution in material things that we are to look for, but a revolution in the hearts of men.

(b) It may mean, the kingdom of God is among you. That would refer to Jesus himself. He was the very embodiment of the kingdom, and they did not recognize him. It was as if he said, “The whole offer and secret of God are here–and you will not accept them.”

Luk 17:22-37 speak of the Second Coming of Jesus. Out of this difficult passage we can pick only the things which are certain–and in truth they are enough.

(i) There will be times when the Christian will long for the coming of Christ. Like the martyred saints he will cry out, “How long?” ( Rev 6:10.) But he will need to learn to light a candle of patience and wait. God takes his own time.

(ii) The coming of Christ is certain, but its time is quite unknown. Speculation is vain. People will come with false prophecies and false predictions; but we must not leave our ordinary work to follow them. The best way that Christ can come upon a man is when he is faithfully and humbly and watchfully doing his duty. As a great commentator said, “No man will foresee it, and all men will see it.”

(iii) When that day comes the judgments of God will operate, and of two people, who all their lives lived side by side, one will be taken and the other left. There is a warning here. Intimacy with a good person does not necessarily guarantee our own salvation. “No man can deliver his brother.” Is it not often true that a family is apt to leave the duties of church membership to one of its number? Is it not often true that a husband leaves the duties of the church to his wife? The judgment of God is an individual judgment. We cannot discharge our duty to God by proxy nor even by association. Often one will be taken and another left.

(iv) When they asked Jesus when all this would happen, he answered by quoting a well-known proverb. “Where the body is, there the vultures will be gathered together.” That simply meant that a thing would happen when the necessary conditions were fulfilled. That means for us that God will bring Jesus Christ again in his good time. We cannot know that time; we dare not speculate about it. We must live so that whenever he comes, at morning, at midday or at evening, he will find us ready.

-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible

94. JESUS FURTHER INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLES, Luk 17:1-10 .

1. Then said he unto his disciples At the close of the awful parable of the last chapter there seems to have been no answer from the conscience-stricken Pharisees, and the assembly, doubtless, broke up and departed in silence. It was not, however, a silence of reflection and repentance, but of perseverance in their course of impeding the conversion of the multitudes to Jesus, and of throwing stumbling-blocks in the way of his disciples. See notes on Luk 15:1. It was, therefore, on an occasion but little later, and probably after commencing his departure, that we suppose our Lord, in view of these efforts of theirs, to have addressed the following cautions to his disciples. See note on Luk 13:32.

Unto his disciples Not to his apostles only, as in Luk 17:5. These disciples were the publicans and sinners; and perhaps others converted during our Lord’s Peraean ministry.

It is impossible but that More literally, it is not to be expected but that offenses will come. This certainly arises not from a necessity upon the human agent or the human will to commit them. It is a necessity upon us to expect them, because we find that man will freely and responsibly commit them. The necessity does not make the will, but the will makes the necessity.

Offences See our note on Mat 18:7. The offence here is not simply an insult, but an incitement to anger. It is a betrayment into any sin, whether by temptation or by angering. It is any interposed impediment in our pursuit of truth and righteousness.

Woe unto him Because he makes wicked not by necessity, but by his own free, voluntary wickedness.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

THE PERAEAN MINISTRY, BETWEEN THE FEAST OF DEDICATION AND THE RETIREMENT TO EPHRAIM. Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10. See Harmony, p. 101.

Jesus went to the Feast of Dedication, Joh 10:22-40. After which, according to Joh 10:40, he went to beyond Jordan, (Peraea,) where John at first baptized, and there abode. Many, as John assures us, who had the original testimony of the Baptist, were convinced of its fulfilment in him, and became believers on him. Of this PERAEN MINISTRY Luke here gives an account; covering apparently, however, but the two or three closing days. Jesus, then, as we learn from John, departed to raise Lazarus, and then retired to Ephraim.

A marked fact in this brief account of the Peraean ministry is the conversion of many Jewish publicans and [Gentile] sinners, and the Lord’s defences of them against the malignity of their Phariseean assailants. This contest draws out from Jesus a series of most striking discourses and parables. Jericho and the Jordan region probably abounded in Publicans and a Gentile population.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Causing Stumblingblocks For Children (17:1-2).

The first warning is against putting causes for stumbling in people’s way, especially in the way of weak disciples and believing children.

Analysis.

a And he said to his disciples, “It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come (Luk 17:1 a).

b But woe to him, through whom they come! (Luk 17:1 b).

b It were well for him if a millstone was hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea (Luk 17:2 a).

a Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble (Luk 17:2 b).

Note how in ‘a’ occasions of stumbling will come, and in the parallel they should beware of making little ones stumble. In ‘b’ there is a woe on those who do cause others to stumble, and in the parallel it is declared that it would be better to drown themselves quickly rather than do so.

Luk 17:1-2, ‘And he said to his disciples,

It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come,

But woe to him, through whom they come!

It were well for him if a millstone was hung about his neck and he were thrown into the sea,

Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.’

It is first stated that life and a sinful world is such that it is impossible to avoid occasions of stumbling. They must necessarily come because of what people are. But the point here is to warn against being the cause of such stumbling. The word used here is skandala which indicates the stick which causes a bait trap to function. It is a warning against ‘entrapping’ people, in this case disciples, into temptation and wrongdoing, by false teaching and bad example.

One example of such a stumblingblock is found in chapter 16. The Pharisees might scoff at Jesus’ views about wealth, but wealth was unquestionably a stumblingblock to many (Eze 7:19). It certainly was to the rich man in the preceding story (Luk 16:19-31). It will be to the rich young ruler (Luk 18:18-26). It takes a special kind of person to be both wealthy and truly spiritual, which is why Jesus spoke so forcefully concerning it. Thus the Pharisees caused others to stumble by their attitude to wealth, even when they did not stumble themselves. Let the disciples beware that they do no do the same.

Another stumblingblock can arise from the example we set to others. Paul warned against allowing what we eat or drink to become a stumblingblock to others (Rom 14:21). We may know that food offered to idols is nothing, and we may be able to control how much we drink, but the more we are used in Christian service the more our example is watched and copied, and the more we therefore have to think about how our actions might affect others. We will not be comfortable in that Day if an alcoholic declares that it was our example that started him on his way to ruin. To the non-believer it sounds incredible that we should think like this, for to them their right to do what they like is all, but the Christian thinks differently, for he has to give account to his Master.

A third way of causing people to stumble would be by false teaching. They must ensure that they are not being led astray like the Pharisees were seen to be in Luk 16:14-18, and as a result of it leading astray those who looked to them for guidance. They must beware of the hypocritical ways (leaven) of the Pharisees (Luk 12:1).

Jesus treated the matter of causing others to stumble so seriously that He declared a ‘woe’ on a person who did it. Indeed He says that it would be better for that person to be instantly drowned than for them to cause a weaker person to stumble. Being a Christian teacher and guide is no light matter. We must study to show ourselves approved to God, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The millstone was the top stone used for grinding in the mill. It would have a hole in it and could thus be tied around the neck. If it were a large stone, as it would regularly be, the person would sink instantly. The emphasis is on a swift drowning (it was a severe warning, not actually intended to be carried into effect). See for a slightly different example Jer 51:63. Being cast into the sea is an indication of judgment, compare Mat 21:21; Mar 11:23.

It should, however, be noted that if such rough treatment is preferable to the alternative, then the alternative must be pretty gruesome. We should not treat lightly the idea of God’s punishments. On the other hand the severity of the punishment must be seen in the light of the fact that to the repentant forgiveness is available.

‘Rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.’ Clearly anything is seen as better than causing the weak to stumble, either by what we say or what we do. ‘Little ones’ or ‘lesser ones’ (mikron) might indicate children, or weak disciples, or the poor. ‘These’ suggests that they were present and could be indicated. But there could well have been children who were with their parents among the disciples, whom He uses as an object lesson. But all classes of ‘weak ones’ are in the end to be included. For the strong must have a regard for the weak (Rom 15:1). For although Jesus valued children, He also valued the weak (compare Isa 42:3). The parallel in the section chiasmus favours the idea that it is little ones who are mainly in mind, for in the chiasmus it parallels the bringing of children to Jesus (Luk 18:15-17). Compare also Mat 18:5 where it is clearly indicated that the millstone treatment is recommended for those who cause child believers to go astray.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Disciples’ Responsibility Towards God’s People And The Warning Not To Get Above Themselves Because Of What They Will Accomplish (17:1-10).

Some have spoken here of ‘separate sayings’ but there is no reason why this passage should not be seen as a unity. It is a string of connected sayings of a type regularly put together in Jewish teaching. It first warns against putting a cause for stumbling in front of the weak, which is fairly similar to the Old Testament warning against doing the same with the blind (Lev 19:14; Deu 27:18), and this is followed by the need to be ready to forgive weaker brothers and sisters, a failure in which might well cause a weaker person to stumble. This is then seen as making the Apostles aware that their own faith is weak, which results in a desire for increased faith. And it is at this point that they receive the assurance that their faith is large enough to accomplish what God wants to accomplish, because even faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient for that.

Nevertheless their cry for increased faith is a welcome sign of growing humility. But Jesus is well aware that what they are to accomplish in the future, the planting of the Kingly Rule of God among the nations, might give the Apostles a sense of superiority, so He follows all that he has said with a warning not to get above themselves because they are able to do these things. They are not to see it as making them super-saints. They must keep in mind that they will only be doing what it is their duty to do, and that therefore all the glory must go to God. Having learned the secret of overcoming riches in the previous chapter, they are now to learn the secret of overcoming pride in their accomplishments.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Men Must Live In The Light Of The Coming Of The Son of Man In His Glory (15:1-19:28).

Having established in Section 1 that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the city of David where He was proclaimed ‘Saviour’ and ‘Lord Messiah’; and in Section 2 that as ‘the Son of God’ Jesus had faced His temptations as to what His Messiahship would involve and defeated the Tempter; and that in Section 3 He had proclaimed in parables the secrets of ‘the Kingly Rule of God’; and had in Section 4 taught His Disciples the Lord’s Prayer for the establishment of that Kingly Rule and for their deliverance from the trial to come; and having in Section 5 seen in the healing of the crooked woman on the Sabbath a picture of the deliverance of God’s people from Satan’s power; this section now centres on His coming revelation in glory as the glorious Son of Man (compare Dan 7:13-14).

(For the evidence that these points are central to the narrative see Introduction).

Section 6 follows the chiastic pattern that we have already seen abounds in Luke. It may be analysed in detail as follows:

a Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him (Luk 15:1).

b The parables concerning the seeking Shepherd who goes out into the wilderness, the woman with the coins, and the three, the father and the two young men, who each make their choice as to what they will do, and Heaven’s rejoicing when tax collectors and sinners repent (Luk 15:2-32).

c The steward who used his lord’s wealth wisely, and thoughts on using money wisely in preparation for the eternal future in the everlasting dwellings (Luk 16:1-13).

d The Pharisees are blind to the truth about Jesus and cavil at His teaching, but all who see the truth press into the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 16:14-18).

e The story of the rich man, and the beggar Lazarus, is a pointer to the wrong use of wealth in the light of the eternal future and to the unwillingness of many even solid Jews to truly listen to the Law of God, which will result in their being lost for ever (Luk 16:19-31).

f The danger of putting stumblingblocks in the way of others, especially of children, in the light of the eternal future (Luk 17:1-5).

g The servant who only does his duty in the expansion of the Kingly Rule of God does not expect a reward, for that is his duty (Luk 17:6-10).

h Ten lepers come seeking deliverance and are healed – but there is only one, a Samaritan, who afterwards seeks out Jesus with gratitude so as to give thanks. Among the many the one stands out. He alone finally seeks Jesus in faith and is abundantly vindicated. Jesus asks, ‘where there not ten cleansed, where are the nine?’ and stresses his faith (Luk 17:11-19).

i The Kingly Rule of God does not come with signs (Luk 17:20-21)

j After first being rejected the Son of Man, when He comes, will come in His glory (Luk 17:22-24), men must therefore beware of false Messiahs. After this we have a cluster of Son of Man sayings (Luk 17:26; Luk 17:30; Luk 18:8; Luk 18:31; Luk 19:10).

i The coming of the Son of Man will be unexpected (and thus without signs) (Luk 17:25-37).

h In parable there is an unrighteous judge, (who represents God), and he is faced by one who comes to him seeking for vindication, a picture of God’s elect seeking vindication. God’s elect must persevere in prayer and seek Him with faith that they too might find vindication. Among the many, the few stand out. Jesus asks, ‘when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?’ (Luk 18:1-8).

g The Pharisee who thinks he does his duty and expects thanks for it, is contrasted with the one who comes humbly and is justified (Luk 18:9-14).

f The Kingly Rule of God must be received as a little child (Luk 18:15-17).

e The approach of the rich young ruler and the difficulty of entering under the Kingly Rule of God, stressing the wise use of wealth for the sake of the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 18:18-30).

d While the Apostles remain partially blind to the truth about Jesus, (the fact that what is written about the Son of Man must be accomplished), the blind man at Jericho recognises Him as the Son of David and insists on being brought to Jesus and his eyes are opened, He insistently presses into the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 18:31-43).

c The chief tax collector Zacchaeus uses his wealth wisely and yields it to the Lord, demonstrating that the Son of Man has successfully come to seek and save the lost (Luk 19:1-10).

b The king goes to a far country to receive Kingly Rule, he gives coins to his servants to trade with, and his three servants have each to make their choice (Luk 19:11-27).

a ‘And when He had said thus He went on before, going up to Jerusalem’ (Luk 19:28).

Note how in ‘a’ the section opens with the tax collectors and sinners drawing near ‘to hear Him’, and ends with Him ‘concluding His words’ before moving on towards His death in Jerusalem. In ‘b’ the shepherd goes into the wilderness, the woman looks after her coins, and a father and his two sons make their choices, while in the parallel a king goes into a far country, he dispenses coins to be looked after, and three servants make their choices. In ‘c’ the steward uses money wisely and in the parallel Zacchaeus uses his money wisely. In ‘d’ The Pharisees are ‘blind’ to the truth about Jesus and cavil at His teaching, while those who see the truth press into the Kingly Rule of God, and in the parallel the disciples are ‘blind’ to Jesus’ teaching, while the blind man presses insistently into seeing Jesus. In ‘e’ we have the rich man who used his wealth wrongly and in the parallel the rich young ruler who refused to use his wealth rightly. In ‘f’ we are told of the danger of putting stumblingblocks in the way of others, especially of children, while in the parallel the Kingly Rule of God must be received as a little child. In ‘g’ the servant who only does his duty does not expect a reward, while in the parallel the Pharisee is confident that he has done his duty and boasts about it, but is seen as lacking. In ‘h’ ten men cry out for deliverance, but one man stands out as seeking Jesus and is commended and his faith alone is emphasised, in the parallel one woman seeks to a judge (God) and His elect are to seek out God for deliverance and are commended but lack of faith on earth is feared. In ‘i’ the Kingly Rule of God does not come with signs, and in the parallel His coming will be unexpected (and thus without signs). In ‘j’, and centrally, the rejected Son of Man is to come in His glory and false Messiahs are to be avoided (Luk 17:22-24).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Teaches His Disciples On Offences ( Mat 18:6-9 , Mar 9:42-48 ) – Jesus then turns to His disciples and warns them about offences (Luk 17:1-4). The emphasis of this passage is found within the context of its narrative material where Jesus is teaching us how to enter into the narrow gate that leads to Heaven by keeping our hearts pure. The need to avoid offences is another virtue that leads us towards a pure heart after humility (Luk 14:7-11), benevolence (Luk 14:12-14), forsaking the cares of this world (Luk 14:15-24), forsaking family bonds (Luk 14:25-25), loving others as God loves (Luk 15:1-32), being faithful stewards of God’s blessings (Luk 16:1-13) and avoiding covetousness (Luk 16:14-31).

Luk 17:3-4 Jesus Teaches His Disciples on Forgiveness In Luk 17:3-4 Jesus teaches on forgiveness. In Mar 11:22-26 Jesus explains how forgiveness must be operating in order for faith to operate. Thus, we see Jesus teaching on faith in the next passage in Luk 17:5-10.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Witnesses of Jesus Justifying Him as the Saviour of the World (God the Father’s Justification of Jesus) Luk 4:31 to Luk 21:38 contains the testimony of Jesus’ public ministry, as He justifies Himself as the Saviour of the world. In this major section Jesus demonstrates His divine authority over man, over the Law, and over creation itself, until finally He reveals Himself to His three close disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration as God manifested in the flesh. Jesus is the Saviour over every area of man’s life and over creation itself, a role that can only be identified with God Himself. This was the revelation that Peter had when he said that Jesus was Christ, the Son of the Living God. Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 begins with His rejection in His hometown of Nazareth and this section culminates in Luk 9:50 with Peter’s confession and testimony of Jesus as the Anointed One sent from God. In summary, this section of material is a collection of narratives that testifies to Jesus’ authority over every aspect of humanity to be called the Christ, or the Saviour of the world.

Luke presents Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world that was presently under the authority of Roman rule. He was writing to a Roman official who was able to exercise his authority over men. Thus, Luke was able to contrast Jesus’ divine authority and power to that of the Roman rule. Jesus rightfully held the title as the Saviour of the world because of the fact that He had authority over mankind as well as the rest of God’s creation. Someone who saves and delivers a person does it because he has the authority and power over that which oppresses the person.

In a similar way, Matthew portrays Jesus Christ as the Messiah who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the King of the Jews supports His claim as the Messiah. John gives us the testimony of God the Father, who says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John uses the additional testimonies of John the Baptist, of His miracles, of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and of Jesus Himself to support this claim. Mark testifies of the many miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ by emphasizing the preaching of the Gospel as the way in which these miracles take place.

This major section of the public ministry of Jesus Christ can be subdivided into His prophetic testimonies. In Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:49 Jesus testifies of true justification in the Kingdom of God. In Luk 7:1 to Luk 8:21 Jesus testifies of His doctrine. In Luk 8:22 to Luk 10:37 Jesus testifies of divine service in the Kingdom of God as He sets His face towards Jerusalem. In Luk 10:38 to Luk 17:10 Jesus testifies of perseverance in the Kingdom of God as He travels towards Jerusalem. Finally, in Luk 17:11 to Luk 21:38 Jesus teaches on glorification in the Kingdom of God.

The Two-Fold Structure in Luke of Doing/Teaching As Reflected in the Prologue to the Book of Acts – The prologue to the book of Acts serves as a brief summary and outline of the Gospel of Luke. In Act 1:1 the writer makes a clear reference to the Gospel of Luke, as a companion book to the book of Acts, by telling us that this “former treatise” was about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” If we examine the Gospel of Luke we can find two major divisions in the narrative material of Jesus’ earthly ministry leading up to His Passion. In Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 we have the testimony of His Galilean Ministry in which Jesus did many wonderful miracles to reveal His divine authority as the Christ, the Son of God. This passage emphasized the works that Jesus did to testify of Himself as the Saviour of the world. The emphasis then shifts beginning in Luk 9:51 to Luk 21:38 as it focuses upon Jesus teaching and preparing His disciples to do the work of the Kingdom of God. Thus, Luk 4:14 to Luk 21:38 can be divided into this two-fold emphasis of Jesus’ works and His teachings. [186]

[186] We can also see this two-fold aspect of doing and teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus always demonstrated the work of the ministry before teaching it in one of His five major discourses. The narrative material preceding his discourses serves as a demonstration of what He then taught. For example, in Matthew 8:1 to 9:38, Jesus performed nine miracles before teaching His disciples in Matthew 10:1-42 and sending them out to perform these same types of miracles. In Matthew 11:1 to 12:50 this Gospel records examples of how people reacted to the preaching of the Gospel before Jesus teaches on this same subject in the parables of Matthew 13:1-52. We see examples of how Jesus handled offences in Matthew 13:53 to 17:27 before He teaches on this subject in Matthew 18:1-35. Jesus also prepares for His departure in Matthew 19:1 to 25:46 before teaching on His second coming in Matthew 24-25.

Jesus’ Public Ministry One observation that can be made about Jesus’ Galilean ministry and his lengthy travel narrative to Jerusalem is that He attempts to visit every city and village in Israel that will receive Him. He even sends out His disciples in order to reach them all. But why is such an effort made to preach the Gospel to all of Israel during Jesus’ earthly ministry? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to hear and believe. For those who rejected Him, they now will stand before God on the great Judgment Day without an excuse for their sinful lifestyles. Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to believe and be saved. This seemed to be His passion throughout His Public Ministry. Another aspect of the answer is the impending outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the sending out of the Twelve to the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus understood the necessity to first preach the Gospel to all of Israel before sending out the apostles to other cities and nations.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Perseverance: Jesus Testifies of Striving to Enter Into Heaven In Luk 10:38 to Luk 17:10 Jesus testifies of striving to enter into Heaven through perseverance.

Outline: Note the proposed outline:

1. Narrative: Jesus Demonstrates Perseverance Luk 10:38 to Luk 13:21

2. Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance: Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance: Persecutions (Towards Jerusalem) In Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10 Jesus moves further towards Jerusalem as He makes His way through the villages of Samaria and Galilee. In this section, Jesus trains His disciples in the area of perseverance in the midst of persecutions. The way into the Kingdom of God is narrow (Luk 13:22-30). The decision to leave all behind and follow Jesus begins with humility (Luk 14:7-11) and benevolence (Luk 14:12-14). A disciple of Christ forsakes the cares of this world (Luk 14:15-24) as well as his family bonds (Luk 14:25-35). A disciple begins to seek and to save the lost souls (Luk 15:1-32). Good stewardship to this calling is needed (Luk 16:1-13) and managing the riches that God entrusts to us (Luk 16:14-31). Only then can a disciple begin to understand what true faith in God involves (Luk 17:5-10). This kind of faith is not a one-time decision, but a series of daily decision of being a faithful servant.

Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10 contains a continuous discourse by the Lord Jesus on perseverance in relation to the office of the prophet. The fundamental duty of the prophet is to preach the Gospel to the lost (Luk 15:1-32), being good stewards of one’s prophetic gifts (Luk 16:1-13), not covetous (Luk 16:14-31), neither offensive (Luk 17:1-4), so that their gifts may grow and flourish (Luk 17:5-10).

Outline – Here is a proposed outline:

1. Jesus Instructs on Striving to Enter the Kingdom Luk 13:22-30

2. Corrects Pharisees on Fulfillment of His Ministry Luk 13:31-35

3. Jesus Heals & Corrects the Pharisees on the Law Luk 14:1-6

4. Jesus Teaches on Humility Luk 14:7-11

5. Jesus Teaches on Benevolence Luk 14:12-14

6. Jesus Teaches on Forsaking Cares of the World Luk 14:15-24

7. Jesus Teaches on Forsaking All Luk 14:25-35

8. Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10

a) Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Seeking the Lord Luk 15:1-32

i) Parable of Lost Sheep Luk 15:1-7

ii) Parable of Lost Coin Luk 15:8-10

iii) Parable of Lost Son Luk 15:11-32

b) Jesus Instructs Disciples on Stewardship Luk 16:1-13

c) Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Covetousness Luk 16:14-31

d) Jesus Teaches Disciples on Offences Luk 17:1-4

e) Jesus Teaches the Apostles on Faith & Duty Luk 17:5-10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance In Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10 Jesus teaches a continuous discourse that places emphasis on perseverance. He discusses our need to love the sinner (Luk 15:1-32), to be good stewards of what God has given us in this life (Luk 16:1-13), to avoid covetousness (Luk 16:14-31) and offenses (Luk 17:1-4), and to live a lifestyle of servanthood as an expression of faith in God (Luk 17:5-10).

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Seeking the Lord Luk 15:1-32

2. Jesus Instructs Disciples on Stewardship Luk 16:1-13

3.) Jesus Rebukes Pharisees on Covetousness Luk 16:14-31

4. Jesus Teaches Disciples on Offences Luk 17:1-4

5. Jesus Teaches the Apostles on Faith & Duty Luk 17:5-10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

A Lesson on Offenses and Forgiveness.

On offenses:

v. 1. Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come; but woe unto him through whom they come!

v. 2. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea than that he should offend one of these little ones.

In this chapter we have a number of lessons which were given, and incidents which took place, during the last journey of the Lord to Jerusalem. He did not take the direct route, but traveled back and forth in Southern Galilee and into Samaria, as occasion offered. The Pharisees had been reproved and silenced once more, and Jesus had leisure to teach His disciples without interference. See Mat 18:6-7. It is not possible, Jesus says, for offenses not to come. The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth, and all the evil thoughts that take their rise in the heart come forth and show themselves in evil deeds, unless a person is on the watch all the time to subdue every sinful movement. But the majority of people in the world have no interest in doing this. So long as they do not come into conflict with the law of the state, they live and act pretty well as they choose. And the result is that occasions for stumbling are given. Things are done continually in the world at which the sincere disciples of Christ take justifiable offense, since they are dishonorable to the Lord and harmful to the Church. To these offenses belong all the deliberate and unpremeditated blasphemies of the Lord and His Word, the many transgressions of the Sixth Commandment in word, dress, picture, and deed, and other sins. The fact, however, that offenses are inevitable does not excuse the offender nor condone his sin, but the Lord pronounces a woe upon him. It would be a more fortunate end for such a one, it would be more to his advantage, if a millstone were placed about his neck, one of the two small millstones such as were in use for grinding in the houses, and that he were thrown out into the sea. This fate would be preferable to the other, by which the sinner that has offended would be condemned into the deepest abyss of hell. For the offense against one of the little ones of the Lord, against the children and the simple believers in the Scripture and its truths, belongs to the transgressions of the first rank. If the children of the world were at all conscious of the guilt and the damnation they load upon themselves by the many methods which they have devised for tripping the feet of the unwary, they would probably be more careful with the opportunities for sin in both the gross and fine forms which they are holding out on all sides, in theaters, dance-halls, pool-rooms, saloons, through suggestive pictures and stories, and in thousands of other forms.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Luk 17:1-37

The Master‘s teaching on the subject of the injury worked on the souls of others by our sins. The disciples pray for an increase of faith that they may be kept from such sins. The Lord‘s reply. His little parable on humility. The healing of the ten lepers. The ingratitude of all save one. The question of the Pharisees as to the coming of the kingdom. The Lord‘s answer, and his teaching respecting the awful suddenness of the advent of the Son of man.

Luk 17:1, Luk 17:2

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come: It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. The thread of connection here is not very obvious, and many expositors are content with regarding this seventeenth chapter as simply containing certain lessons of teaching placed here by St. Luke without regard to anything which preceded or succeeded them in the narrative, these expositors regarding the contents of this chapter as well authenticated sayings of the Master, which were repeated to Luke or Paul without any precise note of time or place, and which appeared to them too important for them to omit in these memoirs of the Divine life. Notwithstanding this deliberate opinion, endorsed by Godet and others, there does seem a clear connection here with the narrative immediately preceding. The Divine Master, while mourning over the sorrowful certainty of offences being committed in the present confused and disordered state of things, yet pronounces a bitter woe on the soul of the man through whose agency the offences were wrought. The “little cues” whom these offences would injure are clearly in this instance not children, although, of course, the words would include the very young, for whom Jesus ever showed the tenderest love; but the reference is clearly to disciples whose faith was only as yet weak and waveringto men and women who would be easily influenced either for good or evil. The offences, then, especially alluded to were no doubt the worldliness and selfishness of professors of godliness. The sight of these, professedly serving God and all the while serving mammon more earnestly, would bring the very name of God’s service into evil odour with some; while with others such conduct would serve as an example to be imitated. The selfish rich man of the great parable just spoken, professedly a religious man, one who evidently prided himself on his descent from Abraham the friend of God, and yet lived as a heartless, selfish sinner, who was eventually condemned for inhumanity, was probably in the Lord’s mind when he spoke thus. What fatal injury to the cause of true religion would be caused by one such life as that! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he east into the sea. This was a punishment not unknown among the ancients. The ancient Latin Version, and Marcion in his recension of St. Luke, read here, “It were better for him that he had never been born, or that a millstone.” etc. The awful sequel to a life which apparently had given the offence to which the Lord referred, endorses this terrible alternative. Yes; better indeed for him had that evil life been cut short even by such a death of horror as the Master pictures here, when he speaks of the living being cast into the sea bound to a millstone.

Luk 17:3

Take heed to yourselves: If thy Brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. “But do you take heed,” the Lord went on to say, “my disciples; you too are in danger of committing deadly sin yourselves, and of doing my cause irreparable injury. Soft living m selfish luxury, about which I have been speaking lately, is not the only wrong you can commit; there is sore danger that men placed as you are will judge others harshly, even cruelly, and so offend in another way ‘the little ones ‘ pressing into the kingdom: this is your especial snare.” Things Jesus had noticed, perhaps congratulatory, self-sufficient comments he had heard them make on the occasion of the lately spoken parable of Dives, very likely had suggested this grave warning. So here he tells them, the future teachers of his Church, how they must act: while ever the bold, untiring, fearless rebukers of all vice, of every phase of selfishness, they must be never tired of exercising forgiveness the moment the offender is sorry. The repentant sinner must never be repelled by them.

Luk 17:5

And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. The disciples, moved by the severe and cutting rebuke of their Mastera rebuke they probably felt their harsh, self-congratulatory state of mind had well merited-come to him and ask him to give them such an increased measure of faith as would enable them to play better the difficult and responsible part he had assigned them. They evidently felt their weakness deeply, hut a stronger faith would supply them with new strength; they would thus be guided to form a wiser, gentler judgment of others, a more severe opinion too of themselves.

Luk 17:6

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. The Lord signifies that a very slight real faith, which he compares to the mustard seed, that smallest of grains, would be of power sufficient to accomplish what seemed to them impossible. In other words, he says, “If you have any real faith at all, you will be able to win the victory over yourselves necessary for a perpetual loving judgment of others.” The sycamine tree here mentioned in his comparison is not the sycamore; he was probably standing close by the tree in question as he spoke. The sycamine is the black mulberry, Morus nigra, still called sycamenea in Greece.

Luk 17:7, Luk 17:8

But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by-and-by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? and will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? And here we have the Lord’s answer to his disciples’ request to increase their faith. They were asking for a boon he would not, nay, could not, grant them yet. A small measure of real faith was sufficient to teach them that God would give them strength enough to keep themselves from committing this offence against love and charity of which he warned them so solemnly; but they prayed for more. “They were asking for faith, not only in a measure sufficient for obedience, but for a faith which would exclude all uncertainty and doubt. They were looking for the crown of labour before their work was done, for the wreath of the conqueror before they had fought the battle In other words, the ‘increase of faith’ ‘for which the apostles prayed was only to come through obedience to their Master’s will” (Dean Plumptre). The little parable was to teach them that they were not to look to accomplishing great things by a strong faith given to them in a moment of time, but they were to labour on patiently and bravely, and afterwards, as in the parable-story, they too should eat and drink. It was to show them that in the end they should receive that higher faith they prayed for, which was to be the reward for patient, gallant toil. And gird thyself, and serve me. It is scarcely wise, as we have before remarked, to press each separate detail of the Lord’s parables. Zeller, quoted by Stier,” makes, however, an application of this to the ‘inner world of the heart,’ in which there is no going straightway to sit down at table when a man comes from his external calling and sphere of labour, but we must gird ourselves to serve the Lord, and so prepare ourselves for the time when he will receive us to his supper.” This is interesting, but it is doubtful if the Lord intended these special applications. The general sense of the parable is clear. It teaches two things to all who would be, then or in the ages to come, his disciplespatience and humility. It reminds men, too, that his service is an arduous one, and that for those really engaged in it it not only brings hard toil in the fields during the day, but also further duties often in the evening-tide. There is no rest for the faithful and true servant of Jesus, and this restless work must be patiently gone through, perhaps for long years.

Luk 17:9, Luk 17:10

Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. And for the loyal, patient, unwearied worker there must be no saying, “What shall we have therefore?” (Mat 19:27). No spirit of self-complacency and of self-satisfaction must be allowed to brood over the faithful servant’s thoughts. In much of the Lord’s teaching at this period of his life the position of man as regards God seems to have been dwelt on. God is all; man is nothing. In God’s great love is man’s real treasure; man is simply a steward of some of God’s possessions for a time; man is a servant whose duty it is to work ceaselessly for his Master, God. There are hints of great rewards reserved for the faithful steward in heaven, promises that a time should come when the unwearied servant should sit down and eat and drink in his Master’s house; but these high guerdons were not earned, but were simply free, gracious gifts from the Divine Sovereign to his creatures who should try to do his will. This patient, unwearied toil; this deep sense of indebtedness to God who loves man with so intense, so strange a love; this feeling that we can never do enough for him, that when we have taxed all our energies to the utmost in his service, we have done little or nothing, and yet that all the while he is smiling on with his smile of indescribable love;this is what will increase the disciples’ faith, and only this. And in this way did the Lord reply to the disciples’ prayer, “Increase our faith.”

Luk 17:11

And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem. Just a note of time and place inserted by St. Luke to remind the reader that all these incidents took place, this important teaching and the momentous revelations concerning man’s present and future were spoken, during those last few months preceding the Crucifixion, and generally in that long, slow progress from the north of Palestine through Galilee and Samaria to the holy city.

Luk 17:12, Luk 17:13

And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their vetoes, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. These met him somewhere outside the village-separated by the fact of their unhappy malady, leprosy, from their fellows, in accordance with the old Mosaic Law of Le 13:46, “He is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.” These had no doubt heard of the many lepers who had been healed by the Galilaean Teacher who was then drawing nigh the village. They did not venture to approach him, but they attracted his attention with their hoarse, sad cry. The legal distance which these unfortunates were compelled to keep from passers-by was a hundred paces. He does not seem to have touched them, or talked with them, but with an impressive majesty bids them go and return thanks for their cure, which his will had already accomplished. They evidently believed implicitly in his healing power, for without further question they went on their way as he had commanded, and as they went the poor sufferers felt a new and, to them, a quite strange thrill of health course through their veins; they felt their prayer was granted, and that the fell disease had left them. They were not sent to the capital city; any priest in any town was qualified to pronounce on the completeness of a cure in this malady (Le Luk 14:2-32).

Luk 17:16

And he was a Samaritan. Apparently nine of these lepers were Jews, and only one a Samaritan. This man would not have been allowed to associate with Jews but for the miserable disease with which he was afflicted, and which obliterated all distinction of race and caste. It is the same now at Jerusalem; in the leper-houses, termed “Abodes of the Unfortunate,” Jews and Mohammedans will live together. Under no other circumstances will these hostile peoples do this.

Luk 17:17

Where are the nine? It has been suggested that the priests, in their hostility to Jesus, hindered the return of the nine. The one who was a Samaritan would naturally pay little heed to a remonstrance from such a quarter. From the terms of the narrative it is, however, more likely that the strange Samaritan, as soon as he felt he was really cured, moved by intense, adoring gratitude, at once turned back to offer his humble, heartfelt thanks to his Deliverer. The others, now they had got what they so earnestly required, forgot to be grateful, and hurried off to the priests to procure their certificate of health, that they might plunge at once again into the varied distractions of everyday lifeinto business, pleasure, and the like. The Master appears especially moved by this display. He seems to see in the thanklessness of the nine, contrasted with the conduct of the one, the ingratitude of men as a whole, “as a prophetic type of what will also ever take place” (Stier).

Luk 17:19

Thy faith hath made thee whole. This was something more than the first noble gift, which he, in common with his nine fellow-sufferers, had received. A new power was his from that day forth. Closely united to his Master, we may think of the poor unknown Samaritan for ever among the friends of Jesus here and in the world to come. There are degrees in grace here. The nine had faith enough to believe implicitly in the Master’s power, and in consequence they received his glorious gift of health and strength; but they cared to go no further. The one, on the other hand, struck with the majesty and the love of Jesus, determined to learn more of his Benefactor. From henceforth we may consider the Samaritan was one of “his own.” SS. Luke and Paul gladly recorded this “memory,“ and no doubt not once or twice in the eventful story of their future lives used the incident as a text for their teaching when they spoke to the stranger Gentiles in far cities. Being a hated Samaritan, they would say, argued no hardness of heart, nor was it any bar to the bestowal of Jesus’ most splendid gifts, first of life here, and then of life glorious and full in the world to come.

Luk 17:20

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come. The following discourse of the Lord in reply to the Pharisee’s question, ‘When cometh the kingdom? was delivered, clearly, in the closing days of the ministry, probably just before the Passover Feast, and in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The query was certainly not put in a friendly spirit. The questioners had evidently caught the drift of much of our Lord’s late teaching, and had seen how plainly he was alluding to himself as Messiah. This seems to have been the starting-point of their bitter, impatient inquiry. We must remember that the great rabbinic schools in which these Pharisees had received their training connected the coming of Messiah with a grand revival of Jewish power. If in reality this Galilaean Rabbi, with his strange powers, his new doctrines, his scathing words of reproach which he was ever presuming to address to the leaders in Israel,if in reality he were Messiah, when was that golden age, which the long looked-for Hope of Israel was to introduce, to commence? But the words, we can well conceive, were spoken with the bitterest irony. With what scorn those proud, rich men from Jerusalem looked on the friendless Teacher of Galilee, we know. We seem to hear the muttering which accompanied the question: “Thou our King Messiah!” The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. This answer of our Lord’s may be paraphrased: “The kingdom of God cometh not in conjunction with such observation and watching for external glorious things as now exist among you here. Lo, it will burst upon you suddenly, unawares.” The English word “observation“ answers to the signification of the Greek as meaning a singularly anxious watching.

Luk 17:21

Neither shall they say, Lo here: or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. That kingdom will be marked out on no map, for, lo, it is even now in your midst. It may be askedHow “in your midst”? Scarcely not as Godet and Olshausen, following Chrysostom, think, in your hearts. The kingdom of God could not be said to be in the hearts of those Pharisees to whom the Master was especially directing his words of reply here. It should be rather understood in the midst of your ranks; so Meyer and Farrar and others interpret it,

Luk 17:22

And he said unto the disciples. The Master now turns to the disciples, and, basing his words still upon the question of the Pharisees, he proceeds to deliver a weighty discourse upon the coming of the kingdom which will be manifest indeed, and externally, as well as internally, exceeding glorious, and for which this kingdom, now at its first beginning, will be for long ages merely a concealed preparation. Some of the imagery and figures used in this discourse reappear in the great prophecy in Mat 24:1-51. (a shorter report of which St. Luke gives, Luk 21:8-36). Here, however, the teaching has no reference to the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish polity, but only to “the times of the end.” The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it. In the first place, our Lord addressed these words to the disciples, who, in the long weary years of toil and bitter opposition which lay before them, would often long to be back again among the days of the old Galilaean life, when they could fake their doubts and fears to their Master, when they could listen without stint to his teaching, to the words which belonged to the higher wisdom. Oh, could they have him only for one day in their midst again l But they have a broader and more far-reaching reference; they speak also to all his servants in the long Christian ages, who will be often weary and dispirited at the seemingly hopeless nature of the conflict they are waging. Then will these indeed long with an intense longing for their Lord, who for so many centuries keeps silence. These will often sigh for just one day of that presence so little valued and thought of when on earth.

Luk 17:23

And they shall say to you, See here; or, See there: go not after them, nor follow them. Again addressed to the disciples in the first instance, but with a far more extended reference. In the early days of Christianity such false reports were exceedingly frequent; false Messiahs, too, from time to time sprang up; unhealthy visions of an immediate return disturbed the peace and broke into the quiet, steady work of the Church. Nor have these disturbing visions been unknown in later ages of Christianity. Dean Alford has a curious comment here. He sees in the words of this verse a warning to all so-called expositors and followers of expositors of prophecy who cry, “See here! or, See there! every time that war breaks out or revolutions occur.

Luk 17:24

For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. “Yes,” went on the Master, “let not delusive expectations interrupt you or turn you aside out of the narrow way of patient faith, for my’ coming will, like the lightning, be sudden, cud will gleam forth on every side. There will be no possibility of mistake then.“

Luk 17:25

But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. But, and here again he repeats “as a solemn refrain to all his teaching,” the warning to his own of the fearful end fast coming on him. If he is to come again with glory, he must first go away with shame, persecuted, forsaken, by the generation then living. The suffering Messiah must precede the glorified Messiah. After this rejection and suffering would begin the period alluded to above (Luk 17:22) as the time when men should long to have him only for one day in their midst. During this period Messiah should continue invisible to mortal eye. How long this state was to continue, one century or(eighteen have already passed), Jesus himself, in his humiliation, knew not; but he announced (Luk 17:26-30) that a gloomy state of things on earth would be brought to a close by his reappearance. Ah! “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?’

Luk 17:26-28

As it was in the days of Nee (Noah) as it was in the days of Lot. The prominent sin of the antediluvian, he reminds them, was sensuality in its varied forms. The torch of religious feeling will have waned in that unknown and possibly distant future when Messiah shall reappear, and will be burning with a pale, faint light. The bulk of mankind will be given up to a sensuality which the higher culture then generally reached will have been utterly powerless to check or even to modify. Men, just as in the days when the ark was building and Noah was preaching, as in the days when the dark cloud was gathering over the doomed cities of the plain and Abraham was praying, will be entirely given up to their pursuits, their pleasures, and their sins. They will argue that the sun rose yesterday and on many yesterdays; of course it will rise to-morrow. Perfect security will have taken possession of the whole race, just as, on a smaller scale, was the case in the days of Noah and of Lot, when the floods came and the fire, and did their stern, pitiless work; so will that day of the second coming of Messiah, with its’ bloody and fiery dawn, assuredly come on man when he is utterly unprepared.

Luk 17:30

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. “Is revealed,” that is to say, he has been present all along, through those long ages of waiting; only an impenetrable veil has hid him from mortal eyes. In that day will the veil be lifted, “and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced” (Zec 12:10).

Luk 17:31, Luk 17:32

In that day, he which shall be upon the house-top, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot’s wife. The Lord, with this striking imagery, describes, not the attitude which men who would be saved must assume when he appears with power and great glorythere will be no time then to shape any new way of lifebut it pictures the attitude they must always maintain, if they would be his servants, towards the things of this world. His servants must be ready to abandon all earthly blessings at a moment’s notice; none but those who have been sitting loosely to these will be able, when the sudden cry comes, at once to toss away all, and so to meet the long-tarrying Bridegroom. The reminder of Lot’s wifea very familiar story to Jewswarned all would-be disciples of the danger of the double service, God and the world, and how likely the one who attempted it would be to perish miserably.

Luk 17:33

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. Very deep must have been the impression which this saying made upon the early Church. So literally did many interpret it, that the wiser and more thoughtful men in the congregations during the days of persecution had often to prevent persons of both sexes recklessly throwing away their lives in the conflict with the Roman authorities. Very many in the first three centuries positively courted martyrdom.

Luk 17:34, Luk 17:35

I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, the other left. How taken? Not, as some scholars have supposed, taken only to perish, but taken away by the Lord in the way described by St. Paul in 1Th 4:17, where he paints how the faithful servant who is living when the Lord returns in glory, will be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. The other will be left. Thus, as it has been strikingly observed, “the beings who have been most closely connected here below shall, in the twinkling of an eye, be parted for ever.”

Luk 17:36

is wanting in nearly all the oldest authorities. It was subsequently inserted in this place by copyists from Mat 24:40a passage in which much of the imagery here used was repeated by the Master. In one important feature this discourse differs from that delivered at Jerusalem a little later, and reported at length by St. Matthew in his twenty-fourth chapter. There is no reference here (in St. Luke) to the siege of Jerusalem; the whole teaching is purely teleological, and deals exclusively with what will take place at the close of this age.

Luk 17:37

And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? The disciples were still unable to grasp the full meaning of their Master’s words when he spoke of his second advent being visible in all parts of the world, comparing it to a flash of lightning which gleams at the same instant in every point of the horizon. “Where, Lord, will all this take place which thou hast been telling us about?” And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. The imagery is taken from Job 39:30, “Where the slain are, there is she” (the eagle); the bird intended being most probably the great vulture, well known in Syria. It is seen, for instance, travellers tell us, in hundreds on the Plain of Gennesaret; it is a hideous looking bird, equal to the eagle in size and strength, and acts as a scavenger to purify the earth from the putrid carcases with which it would otherwise be encumbered. “Do you ask where all this will take place? As the curtain of the future rolls up be fore my inward eye, I see the vultures of Divine vengeance flying in flocks athwart the whole area of the earth; the sky is darkened with their numbers; far as my eye can reach, I still see them. Alas l for the habitable earth, my Father’s goodly world it is rank everywhere with corruption…, wheresoever the carcase is, there the vultures will gather together” (Dr. Morrison). The Lord’s answer to the question”Where?” was that his words applied to the whole earth. The terrible and awful scenes he had pictured would take place everywhere. The carcase, as Godet phrases it, is “humanity, entirely secular and destitute of the life of God The eagles (vultures) represent punishment alighting on such a society.” There is another interpretation of these words, which, although many great expositors favour it, must be rejected as improbable, being so alien to the context of the whole passage.” The dead body (the carcase), according to these interpreters, is the body of Christ, and the eagles are his saints, who flock to his presence, and who feed upon him, especially in the act of Holy Communion.

HOMILETICS

Luk 17:1-10

The Addition Besought.

We are not informed of the circumstances which called forth the discourse condensed in the first ten verses of the chapter. An occasion was, by some incident, provided for a solemn warning against the sin of an unforgiving and uncharitable spirit. And this warning apparently intensified a conviction which had been simmering in the minds of the disciples, and led to the prayer, “Lord, Increase [or, ‘add to us’] faith.” Have we not a part in this cry? Are there not some of us who feel that, although we live in the light of Christ’s Word and kingdom, we yet need one great additionfaith?

“The childlike faith that asks not sight,
Waits not for wonder or for sign.”

I. THE PRAYER SUPPOSES A WANT. Trace this want from two or three positions.

1. Reflect how sorely we are wanting in a lively sense of the great truths of our holy faith. These truths are not mere opinions; they are facts. The seat of the doctrine is the fact; it is with the facts that faith has primarily to do. Are we receiving the facts with our whole mind and strength? That God is; that Jesus Christ is; that the Holy Spirit of God is witnessing with our spirits and helping our infirmities;what of these fundamental verities? Realize what a thorough grasp of these facts would involve; what manner of persons they ought to be to whom they are matters of experience and consciousness. And what are we? Alas! is it not too certain that, between the truths in which we declare our belief, and the affections and attitudes of our minds, there is a sad disproportion; that whilst we say, “Lord, I believe,” we have need of the addition, “Help our unbelief; add to us faith”?

2. Reflect again, how constantly we are reminded that the words of Christ are “too deep, too high,“ for us. Even when we follow him as our Master, how dim are our apprehensions of his truth! Perhaps this was the immediate reason of the apostles’ prayer. They had been listening to wonderful teachinge.g, the cycle of parables in the fourteenth and fifteenth chaptersand, after hearing all, how poor was the vision of the realities with which the sayings were charged! And the demand made on them in respect of forgiveness, how could they meet such a demand in a world like this? “O Lord, thy thoughts are very deep, thy commandment is exceeding broad; add faith!” Can we not sympathize? Do we not often feel that Christ’s doctrine is pitched on a note far above the level of our mind? We think that it will not do to interpret it too literally, that we must take only broad and general views. The teaching as to conduct seems too fine, too pure and otherworldly for the state of things about us. How can we realize it? “Lord, add to us faith.”

3. Reflect, once morewhen we look around, what is one of the chief wants of the time? Is it not faith? How much of the instruction given in Christian churches is halting and confused!the sceptic,- too evidently looking over the shoulder l Religion is a thing talked about rather than lived in. And when we scrutinize the countenances of the “anonymous many-sided” force which we call society, what furrows appear in it! what lines betokening the absence of trustman in man, having its root in the absence of trust; man in the living God! Is not this signified in the conflict of interestslabour and capital, class against class. To bridge the yawning social chasms, oh for a new spirit of faith! We need a chasm-bridging Churcha Church presenting, with a new force, the ideal of Christian brotherhood. “Lord, add to those who call on thy Name the faith by which the just live, through which ‘they work victories, obtain promises, stop the mouths of lions’!” It is because of the lack of an heroic trust in the living God and his government that so few sycamine trees are plucked up by the root, so few mountains of sin and pride are cast into the sea. “Lord, bid us stretch forth our palsied hand, that we may take the fulness of thy grace! Add to us faith! “

II. So much for the want which the prayer supposes. Consider THE SCOPE AND IMPORT OF THE PRAYER ITSELF. First, it suggests the way of the addition; secondly, it reminds us of the conditions on which the increase sought is realized.

1. The way of the addition. “The apostles said unto the Lord.“ It is the only example of a common appeal, the only instance of the apostles, as distinct from the disciples, having a special concerted supplication. Sometimes there was a holy restraint on them, and they durst not ask him. But this is a matter on which they could speak; it came out of the sense of their relation to him that they should go, with their great weakness, direct to his presence. Sometimes, when the hard saying was uttered, they reasoned one with another. But this is not a matter for conference. Only the hand of the Lord opened wide can supply the needed addition. For so it is. In pressing with the little we have to the Lord himself, we get the addition, we have the faith. Any faith, any trust whatsoever in the eternal love and righteousness, is a gift of God, a hold which God has on you, and which, if you only go whither it would lead, will bear you to a confidence more complete and unreserved. The one thing is, do not stop, mourning over what you have not; use what you have; it is enough to lead you to the Lord. Little-faith, at least thou canst cry. Cry the more, the more that the noisy world within or without bids thee hold thy peace. Cry the more, the less thou dost seem to have. “To them that have no might, he increaseth strength.” “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.”

2. Further, connecting the apostles’ prayer with the Lord’s reply, we see the condition on which the increase sought is realized. The reply is given in Luk 17:8-10. There is a twofold type, with a twofold promise.

(1) The mustard seed, smallest of all seeds, which yet grows into the tallest of trees. Let there be faith, even of the dimensions of this seed, any measure whatsoever, then be sure of a Divine power co-operating, which is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that can be asked. As the seed is the promise of the tree, so is this your small faith the promise of a greater and ever greater. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

(2) Nay, says the Lord, pointing to some mulberry tree at hand, “does that seem strong? Strength which may be compared to that of tearing the tree up by the roots and casting it into the sea is, through Divine co-operation in that grain-like faith. It can tear up by the roots and cast into the sea the selfishness against which the commandment of love has struck.” But now follows the condition. What I take the words from Luk 17:7 to mean is, “If you would have that faith, if you would have more faith, you must cease from all self-trust, you must renounce all self-complacency, you must be as nothing before God. The highest possible excellence is only the fulfilment of an obligation. You are only unprofitable servants. Your life is a bright life only when, instead of thinking of what you are to get from God, or of thanks from God for service, you take the servant’s place, and are only and wholly God’s. Do not aim at accomplishing great things. Let your one point be an unwearied continuance. Work now, and rest afterwards when all is done. The less there is of self and self-feeling, the more you are busied with him as his servants and sons, the purer, larger, and more victorious will be your faith. All true faith has the certainty of addition; and this addition will be in the measure in which the faith leaves the heart alone with God, worshipping and obeying his holy will.

“So in the darkness I may learn

To tremble and adore,

To sound my own vile nothingness,

And thus to love thee more.

“To love thee, and yet not to think

That I can love so much,

To have thee with me, Lord, all day,

Yet not to feel thy touch.”

Luk 17:11-19

The ten lepers.

Our minds have been so occupied by the fulness of teaching contained in the three last chapters, that we have almost lost sight of the progress of our Lord to the capital. Now the evangelist recalls our attention. He presents the little party, followed no doubt by many who were attracted from one motive or from another, as “passing through the midst of,” or rather “between Samaria and Galilee “Samaria on the right, Galilee on the left, and before them the river Jordan. It is in the immediate neighbourhood of a certain village, no name given, that the company are met by the fellowship of misery. A sad spectacle indeed, but one not unfrequent in the sunny isles of Southern seas, and in Eastern cities and thoroughfares. “Sauntering down the Jaffa road,” says Dr. Thomson, “on my approach to the holy city, in a kind of dreamy maze, with, as I remember, scarcely one distinct idea in my head, I was startled out of my reverie by the sudden apparition of a crowd of beggars, without eyes, nose, hair. They held up to me their handless arms, unearthly sounds gurgled through throats without palates; in a word, I was horrified.” It is a group of these miserables which clamours to Jesus as he nears the village walls. Those with him had heard the wild “Tame, tame! Unclean, unclean!” when suddenly the cry was exchanged for “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” These ten, each a homeless man; some with the recollection, perhaps, of happy homes, of other days, of the solaces of human love,all drawn together by virtue of that gregarious instinct which acts on even the wretched. Class distinctions, even the estrangement of opposite nationalities, are forgotten in the one uniting circumstancea common woe. No man would have allowed the dust of the Jew to have the same place of sepulture as the dust of the Samaritan; but these men, dead while they live, may herd as they please. Oh, what a sight to that heart in whose consciousness there survived the feeling of the morning stars and the triumph of the sons of God over the creation on which God had pronounced his “Very good”! What resistless eloquence in the cry, “Jesus, Master, have mercy”! He hears, and he answers in his own way; for in the Gospels there is a striking variety in the dealings of the Lord with those who call on him. Each person is a specialty to him. His way with these ten is not to respond as he did to the leper who knelt to him, beseeching, “If thou wilt, thou canst.” To them he gives no direct answer; he bids them at once go and show themselves to the priests. This was the trial of their faith. The priests could only pronounce a person cured; for the ten to obey was equivalent to a trust that the power of the cure lay with Jesus the Master. They go; and shortly the limbs no longer drag, the sensations of health, as of new fresh currents coursing through the frame, tell them that they are cleansed. And now for the point of the incident. One, and only one, turns back, and he a Samaritan; and with a loud voice he gives God the glory, and, falling down before his Benefactor, renders thanks and praise. “Were there not the ten cleansed? Where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.” It is the old story of the thankless heart. Note some of the lights and shadows of the picture of ingratitude.

I. ALL HAD BEEN EARNEST UNDER THE PRESSURE OF THE GREAT WANT AND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE DELIVERER. There was faith enough for prayer, not for praise. Is this uncommon? We have heard that, overtaken by unexpected calamityfire, shipwreck, etc.knees which for long years refused to bow, have bowed, and lips that uttered the adorable Name only in blasphemy have uttered the most fervent pleadings for mercy. The record of the great plague in London is a most graphic description of a new earnestness which nearly the whole population manifested, so that there were not clergy enough, services enough, to meet the demand for prayer. Have we not the tokens of this same state of feeling in ourselves? Oh, there is no difficulty in a cry when the life hangs in doubt, when the shadow of death creeps up the wall of the home and lies across the bed of the dearly beloved. The heart needs no book then to teach to pray; it will cling to any plank; somehow, anyhow, the voice must rise like a fountain, “Jesus, Master, have mercy!”

II. WHERE ARE THE NINE WHO WERE EARNEST

“Even he who reads the heart
Knows what he gave and what we lost,
Sin’s forfeit, and redemption’s cost
By a short pang of wonder crost,
Seems at the sight to start.”

They are cleansed. The need is relieved. They are so far on their way. Perhaps there had been some discussion between the one and the nine, and they may have argued,” Let us get to our homes. Grateful to him? Certainly; but he will never miss us.” Have we not all illustrated the reasoning? How did the writing of Hezekiah when he was sick condemn him when he was well! “I will go softly all my days” was part of the writing which contained the reflections and purposes of the recovery. How did that harmonize with his pride and ostentation to the messengers of Baladan? Alas! how quickly is the love which special moments originate overborne by the return of the old things, or the influence of new scenes and circumstances?

“Not showers across an April sky

Drift when the storm is o’er,

Faster than those false drops and few
Fleet from the heart, a worthless dew.”

Most of all is this true when the record borne is of blessings bestowed, when the prayer which brought to the feet of Jesus has been answered even in a manner which can be traced. What healings are received! and yet there is no turning back of the soul to glorify the Healer! What plenteousness of redemption! and yet there is no loud voice to confess the Redeemer! The proportion is the nine thankless to the one thankful. And is not ingratitude among the most common of vices?the Aaron’s rod which swallows up and comprises in itself all the baser vices? Archdeacon Farter quotes the lines of Wordsworth

“I’ve heard of hearts unkind
Kind deeds with coldness still returning:
Alas I the gratitude of men
Hath left me oftener mourning.”

And he adds, “If Wordsworth found gratitude a common virtue, his experience must have been exceptional.” “Give thanks unto the Lord at the remembrance of his holiness. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name. Bring an offering, and come into his courts:’

Luk 17:20-37

The kingdom and the day of the Son of man.

This passage is not to be isolated as if it were a definition complete in itself of Christ’s view of the kingdom of God. Some, doing this, have found in it a justification of the teaching that God’s kingdom has no external character, that the coming of the Lord is only a revelation of truth in and to the heart of man. This is to do violence to the language of Jesus. In what he says afterwards to his own, in the solemn discourse reported two chapters hence, he refers to the coming of the Son of man as a fulfilment which would have its outward signs and effects, and for which his people are to wait. On the occasion before us he sets his Word in the sharpest possible antagonism to the carnal and unworthy notions which prevailed among the Pharisees who had demanded a statement from him as to how the kingdom should come. E.g. the Pharisees conceived of this kingdom as a victorious world-power. “Not so,” is the assertion (Luk 17:20); “God’s kingdom does not come with observation, does not lend itself to such outwardness as your vision contemplates.” The Pharisees separated the citizenship in the Divine kingdom from character. The right to partake of its glories was a political right. It measured the extravagance of their social caste. It was not a chastening and purifying expectation. It was a dream of conquest and outward abundance which kept their minds on the stretch, which made them dupes of those who claimed to be Messiahs or forerunners of Messiahs. “The kingdom of God,” says Jesus, “is not heralded by loud professions, by cries of, ‘Lo here! or, lo there!’ Unobserved, often unthought of, are its marches and movements, its surprises and its conquests” (Luk 17:21). As the concluding touch of the answer, Jesus warns against a restless asking “when the kingdom shall come,” as if it were a prospect wholly future. He reminds us (Luk 17:21) that the kingdom is here and now, that it is verily and indeed among us. And the caution is as timely for us to-day as it was for the Pharisee then. For we are all apt to associate God’s kingdom with some distant prospect or some condition removed from the world in which we live. And the doctrine of the Lord’s advent is too often mixed up with schemes of prophecy, with calculations of catastrophes and the like, which men profess to expound or to forecast, crying, “Lo here! or, lo there!” Not, therefore, without meaning for more than the old Hebrew separatists is the counsel, “Look into the region of character for the reality of the kingdom. Where the King is, there is the court. If God has possessed your souls, his kingdom is among, is in you.” Observe the solemn discourse to the disciples suggested by the demand which he has met. The words which follow from Luk 17:22 may be regarded either as an epitome of longer addresses, or as an address in itself complete. Look on it as an instruction preliminary, and preparatory, to the fuller opening up of the time of the end. The shadows are getting longer and longer; Jerusalem is not far ahead; the night is at hand in which, under the form of his first appearing, the Son of man cannot work. The look forward in the verses before us is to

(1) a day of distress;

(2) a day calling for patient faith;

(3) a day of retribution and judgment.

I. A DAY OF DISTRESS. When (Luk 17:22) the mind would cast a regretful retrospect on the time when the Lord was with themtheir Sun and Shield. Ah I would that he, the Bridegroom of our souls,

“Our Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
Our Prophet, Priest, and King,”

were going before us as in the days of old! But no; the shadow on the dial of time cannot be put back. The Church must face perplexities and follow its path through them. It hears voices crying, “Lo here! and lo there!” and the voices are so delusive that even the elect are often bewildered. The Master’s word is, “Onwards!” He bids us look up where Stephen beheld himstanding, bending forward in sympathy and help. In the struggle, through the din, although it seems as if he were not, he is with his Church until the end of the age.

II. A DAY CALLING FOR PATIENT FAITH. There are incertitudes and excitements which sometimes almost suspend the action of faith. There are complications in the Church and the world which induce a feverishness of tone. What the Lord enjoins (Luk 17:25) is a calm, although wakeful, vigilance. He reminds his followers that the way to the crown is by the cross, that the offence of the cross must be exhausted, and then the end shall come. Thus, whilst the sentence is (Luk 17:26-30), “The coming may be at any moment, it will be, as was prefigured in the days of Noah and Lot, when men are least expecting it,” the balancing thought is added, that a testimony must be given to all the nations. And the right kind of waiting is that which seeks to fill up what remains of his sufferings, so that, when he shall appear, his people may be found “not sleeping in sin, but diligent in his service, and rejoicing in his praises.” It is in this connection that the reference is made (Luk 17:29) to the tradition concerning the wife of righteous Lot. “She looked back, and became a pillar of salt.” The world-clinging heart was stiffened into a very column of worldliness. Remember, there are to be no regrets, no glances behind. A heart single, and free for the Lord, is the condition of the disciple who shall escape all these things that shall come to pass, and stand before the Son of man. “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it” (Luk 17:33).

III. A DAY OF JUDGMENT. The revelation of Christ is a judgmentin the fuller meaning of the word, a making manifest, a bringing to light of the hidden bents of mind and separation of the true from the false. Whenever Christ is presented, the judgment is set and the books are opened. The end is simply the full apocalypse of the judgment which is now proceeding. The lightning (Luk 17:24) “that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven, shining to the other,” is the manifestation of the electricity with which the atmosphere is charged. What of this day of judgment? It is (Luk 17:27, Luk 17:28) the condemnation of the world as to its worldliness in both its more sensual and its more cultured aspectsthe sensuality typified in the days of Noah; the culture, with coarseness, typified in the wealthy citizen of Sodom. It is (Luk 17:34, Luk 17:35) the disjunction of the closest of life’s fellowshipsthe two in the bed, the two at the mill, the two in the field. The issues that, unobserved by many, are being adjusted and completed will be set forth in their reality. What men would not believe men will be brought to know. “The Lord cometh; he cometh to judge the earth.” “Where?” ask these simple men, affrighted”where, Lord?” and the enigmatical response (Luk 17:37) is given. Wherever there is corruption, wrong, death, there is the scene of the judgment of God. Jerusalem was the carcase more immediately in view, and the eagle, sign of the Roman empire, that was raised over its battlements was the sign of other eagles that were already gathering. But may we not ask whether the Jerusalem that is in bondage, the Christendom that is, is not ripening for judgment? “Receiving the kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire.”

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Luk 17:1, Luk 17:2

Spiritual resistance.

Our Lord here delivers very weighty truth of a practical kind to the whole body of his adherentsto “the disciples.” It is truth which remains as appropriate and as necessary as it was when it was uttered.

I. OUR NEED OF THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE. “It is impossible but that offences will come.” Knowing the human world as Christ knew it, he perceived that his disciples would, through many generations, be subjected to continual and severe trial of their faith. With such error, such selfishness, such despotism, such heartlessness, such iniquity in the world, it was inevitable that temptations should abound. The path of Christian life must lie through a country beset with moral evil; the journey home must be attended by the most serious perils.

1. The aim of the enemy. This would be, as it is still, to lead the disciples of Christ into

(1) doubt, disbelief, denial, apostasy;

(2) indecision and irreligion;

(3) half-heartedness in worship, in sacred service, in domestic and individual devotion;

(4) worldliness of tone and spirit;

(5) unworthy and (ultimately) injurious and even fatal methods of presenting the truth and advocating the cause of Christ;

(6) laxity of speech and of behaviour, leading down to positive and destructive sin.

2. The weapons of his attack. These are

(1) evil suggestion;

(2) bad example;

(3) specious argumentation;

(4) commandment and constraint.

3. Our resources of resistance. These are

(1) a simple sagacity; such a knowledge of the evil that is in men as will ensure vigilance, a wise carefulness, a hesitation to commit ourselves to every plausible spokesman, to every inviting and well-sounding doctrine (1Jn 4:1).

(2) A spirit of fidelity; a steadfastness of purpose and earnestness of spirit that is born of pure devotedness to a Divine Saviour, and that is sustained by intimacy of fellowship with him.

(3) Strength in Godthat strength which comes from God’s own indwelling in the soul and direct action upon it (Isa 40:29-31).

II. OUR LORD‘S REGARD FOR HIS DISCIPLES OF HUMBLER RANK. “Woe unto him” through whom it results that the stumbling-block is in the way and the weak disciple falls! “It were better for him” that the worst disaster should befall him than that he should contract such guilt as that and be open to such condemnation. Nothing could more strongly mark the deep interest our Lord takes in his humbler disciples than the severity of this his indignation against those who wrong them. The intensity of his wrath is the measure of the depth and tenderness of his love. Among his followers are those who occupy high placesin ecclesiastical position, in social honour, in mental equipments, in constitutional strength. But there are also those who take the lower place; not the children onlythe “little ones” in years and sizebut the inexperienced, the unsophisticated and unsuspecting, the mentally weak, the spiritually feeble; those who are much at the mercy of the strong; those who, for some cause and in some one respect, are unendowed and unequipped with the ordinary means of defence. These “little ones” are often:

1. The object of disregard. Many pass them by as unworthy of consideration; they will not repay attention; they will not contribute anything considerable to the cause in hand.

2. The mark at which iniquity aims. For it is one that can be easily hit; it is a victim ready for the blow.

3. But it is for us to remember that they are always the object of our Lord’s peculiar interest and affection, he cares for them the more that men care for them so little, lie remembers them in “their low estate;” and as a mother lets her heart go most freely to her weakest child, so does he bestow upon these members of his Church all the fulness and all the tenderness of his Divine love. He indicates to us here how he feels toward those that do them harm; and, conversely, it is safe for us to infer that he is peculiarly pleased with those who, entering into his own spirit, love and guard and guide these disciples of lowlier rank.

III. CHRIST‘S ESTIMATE OF SIN AND SUFFERING. “It were better,” etc. We have sometimes to choose between sinning and suffering; e.g. the martyr in time of persecution; the son or servant commanded to do that which to him would be sin because “not of faith.” This word of our Lord reminds us that any physical suffering, any bodily evil, any temporal misfortune, of whatever magnitude it be, is much to be preferred to any serious sin. Be sunk in the sea, be utterly extinguished, let the worse come to the worst, but do not descend to anything which is mean, which is unholy or impure, which would stain your own conscience or injure and perhaps slay a brother’s or a sister’s character, which would grieve the Father and Saviour of us all.C.

Luk 17:3, Luk 17:4

Our duty when wronged.

The opening words of this passage, “Take heed to yourselves,” point to our Lord’s sense of the great difficulty we are likely to experience in learning the forthcoming truth, or to the great stress he lays upon its illustration in our livesit might well be either or both of these. For it is a difficult lesson to learn well; and our Master does make much, as other passages show, of this particular grace.

I. OUR OPENNESS TO INJURY.

1. We come into the world with a strong sense of what is due to us. We all feel that there is due to us a certain measure of respect as human beings, as those made in the image of God; also that we can claim just and equitable treatment. Men may not withhold or remove from us that which we consider to belong to us. If they do we are aggrieved; we have a sense, more or less deep, of having been wrongedour sense of injury rising and falling with the sensitiveness of our nature and the character of the offence. There is neither virtue nor vice, honour nor shame, in this. It is an instinct of our nature which we have in common with our kind.

2. There are many possibilities of offence. In our present condition we touch one another at so many points that there is great likelihood of offence being given and taken. At home; in all the complications of our business life; in all our social relations; in the Church of Christ and the worship of God; in the field of philanthropy;-in all these domains we e, have to do” with one another; and it is improbable in a very high degree, it is almost impossible, that we should always comport ourselves as our neighbours would expect; it is inevitable that we should occasionally differ as to what is due from one to another.

II. OUR DANGER UNDER A SENSE OF INJURY.

1. The mistake we are likely to fall into when we have a sense of injury is that of instantly concluding that we have been wronged; we are apt to hurry to the conclusion that some one has slighted or injured us. But before we give way even to a strong feeling, we should make quite sure that things are as they seem to be. There are many possibilities of mistake in this world of error and misunderstanding.

2. The sin into which we are tempted to tall is that of giving way to unbecoming anger and unchristian retaliationa feeling of bitter resentment, vindictive, passionate, such as does not become the children of God; and action which is intended to result in suffering on the part of the wrong-doer; we proceed to “avenge ourselves.”

III. OUR DUTY WHEN WRONGED.

1. Direct communication, and, where it is necessary, friendly remonstrance. Matthew tells us that Christ enjoined upon us that, under a sense of injury, we should “go and tell our brother his fault between ourselves and him alone.” This is surely most wise. Instead of dwelling upon it and magnifying it in our own mind; instead of talking about it and causing it to be spread abroad and discoloured and misrepresented,the one right thing to do is to go at once to our offending neighbour and tell him our grievance. It is very likely he will explain everything, and there will be no need of any overlooking on our part; or, if wrong has been done, it is very likely he will appreciate our fairness and friendliness in coming straight to him, and will make the apology that is due on his part. Then must come:

2. Free and full forgiveness. “If he repent, forgive him.” If he should refuse to repent, we must pity him and pray for him, that his eyes may be opened and his action amended, and himself raised by doing the right and honourable thing. But if he repent, then it is our high and Christian duty to forgive. And how shall we forgive? Even as God, for Christ’s sake, forgives us (Eph 4:32).

(1) Immediately.

(2) Frankly and heartily; reinstating the one who has wronged us in the place he occupied before in our confidence, affection, kindness.

(3) Uncalculatingly. “Seven times in a day.” However often our child, our servant, our neighbour, may offend, if there be sincere penitence on his part, and therefore an honest effort to amend, we do well to forgive. The more of this grace we have in our heart and life, the closer is our resemblance and the fuller is our obedience to our forgiving Saviour.C.

Luk 17:5, Luk 17:6

Effective faith.

It is the part of a wise teacher to endeavour both to elevate and to humble his disciples. He will not discharge his whole duty nor realize his full opportunity unless he imparts elevating aspirations and unless he promotes a deep humility of heart; he will thank God and congratulate himself when he knows that his hearers are happily sensible of progress, and also when he learns that they are profoundly dissatisfied with their attainments. Both these results ensued from the teaching of our Lord.

I. THE DISCIPLES‘ DISSATISFACTION WITH THEMSELVES. Evidently the apostles of our Lord felt that there was something lacking in their souls which they would gladly possess. The doctrine of the great Teacher, perhaps, was not so clear to them as they could have wished; or perhaps they felt themselves a painfully long distance behind their Leader in their spirit and bearing; or it may be that they found themselves unable to do such works as they judged they ought to be able to do, in and through the Name of the great Healer. But whencesoever their source of dissatisfaction, they agreed that they were in spiritual want.

II. THEIR CONCLUSION AS TO THE REMEDY THEY NEEDED. They agreed that what was wanted was an increase of faith. And they were perfectly right in their judgment.

1. They wanted to believe in Christ in a way not then open to them. They became “greater in the kingdom of heaven” afterwards, more enlightened, more spiritual, more devoted, more useful, because afterwards they had a deep and a firm faith in Jesus Christ as their almighty Saviour, as their Divine Lord. But they did not know him yet as such; for as such he had only begun to reveal himself to them.

2. But they needed a fuller faith in him as they did then know him. A more complete and implicit confidence in him

(1) would have led them to eject from their minds all their own oh! prejudices and prepossessions, and so have made way for the reception of his truth in its fulness and in its power;

(2) would have evoked a profounder reverence and a more fervent affection, and thus have led to a nearer likeness to him in spirit and in character;

(3) would have given them power over the forces of evil outside them, and made them equal to the emergencies to which they were unequal (see Mat 17:19, Mat 17:20), They did well, therefore, to make of their Lord the request they made, “Increase our faith,”

III. THE TRUTH CONTAINED IN OUR LORD‘S REPLY. “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed,” etc. This truth is surely not that the possession of a faith as slight as the mustard seed is small will suffice, but that the faith which is full as is the mustard seed of life and power of appropriation will avail for all occasions. For it is not true that a slight and feeble faith does suffice. It failed the apostles on one memorable day (Luk 9:40). It has been failing ever since. Only a faith which is a living and a growing power, like the mustard seed in the soil, will triumph over the difficulties to be met and mastered. The fact is that:

1. A formal faith is worth nothing at all; indeed, less than nothing, for it deludes and misleads.

2. A feeble faith will accomplish little. It sinks in the hour of trial (Mat 14:30); it shrinks from open avowal, and makes feeble fight in the hour of battle (Joh 3:1; Joh 7:50; Joh 19:38); it enters upon, but abandons, the goodly enterprise (Act 13:13).

3. A living, appropriating faith is the only effective power. A faith that, like the mustard seed in the soil, puts forth the power of life, and appropriates to itself the riches that are around it in order that, further on, it may bear fruitthis is a power that will be felt. It will accomplish great and even wonderful things; it will surprise the unbelieving as much as if it actually did the very thing which the Master speaks of in his illustrative language.

(1) It will uproot great evils in God’s Name and strength.

(2) It will upraise noble structures of good, when inspired at the same source.

1. Is there anything seriously lacking in our spirit, character, life, work?

2. May it not be traced to the absence or to the feebleness of our faith? If we believed more truly in Jesus Christ, if we realized more thoroughly what we accept, should we not be more to God and do more for him?

3. Shall we not come to our Saviour, unhesitatingly, earnestly, perseveringly, with this prayer of the apostles?C.

Luk 17:7-10

The spirit of Christian service.

The hardest nut may have the sweetest kernel; the least inviting and most difficult parable may have the most strengthening and stimulating truth beneath the surface. So with this passage. We may be even repelled from treating it because it seems to represent our Father in a light in which we do not like to look at him. It seems as if we were required to regard him as a hard taskmaster, indifferent to the past labour and present weariness of his servants, accepting their service without sign or token of recognition. We don’t recognize the portrait in this picture. But when we look longer and see more, we understand that Jesus Christ did not for a moment intend to convey this impression of his Father and ours.

1. It is inconsistent with the revelation of God which Christ gave us both in his doctrine and in his own Person and life. For in both of these God is revealed to us as a Father who gives rather than receives. Jesus Christ himself was “amongst us as he that serveth;” he “came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life;” it is not from him that we can receive the impression that God is one that exacts everything and makes no response.

2. Christ’s method of teaching does not require us to interpret the parable in this sense, He argued not only from comparison, but from contrast; not only from the less to the more worthy, but also from the unworthy to the excellent. He said, “If an unjust judge for a bad reason will do right, how certainly will the just Judge for a high one!” He said, “If an ungracious neighbour, prompted by a selfish consideration, will listen and comply, how much more surely will the gracious God, from beneficent considerations!” So here. The slave, when he returns from his day’s laborious duties, prepares, unthanked, for his master’s comfort before he thinks of his own necessities; and he does this unquestioningly, uncomplainingly. How much more ready, more eager, should we be to serve our God!we who are not slaves, but children; to serve him, who is no unresponsive and inconsiderate taskmaster, but who is Considerateness itself, who is Responsiveness itself, who is Encouragement itself. We should be ready and eager to serve him to the uttermost, and when we have done everything we can do, be prepared to say, “It is nothing of all that we should do and would do for thee.” Now, there are certain occasions to which this more particularly applies; and here we have a touch of resemblance in the parable. As the master there requires of his slave something over and above his day’s work in the field, so does our Lord sometimes ask of us more than we thought he would when he first said to us, “Follow me,” and we said, “Lord, I will.” This may be in the way

I. OF ACTIVE SERVICE; e.g. when parents have clothed and fed, taught and trained their own children, they may be directed, in God’s providence, to take charge of the children of others; or when the minister, superintendent, missioner, teacher, finds that the duty he has undertaken involves a great deal more of costly work than he had counted uponmore time, trouble, patience, self-mastery, self-sacrifice.

II. OF SACRIFICE; e.g. when the young man leaves home or college for work in the foreign field, he finds that the privations he has to endure, the scenes he has to witness, the discouragements he has to bear, the parting with his children he has to go through, are a great deal more than he realized when he started on his way.

III. OF SUBMISSION. When life seems to have been lived through, its strength spent and its work done, the weary human spirit craves rest, the rest of the heavenly home; but God may allot many months or even years of patient waiting before the summons is sent to “come up higher.” And in whatever way, or to whatever degree, the heavenly Father may ask of his children the service which they did not look for, such should be and may be their spirit of

(1) perfect trustfulness, and of

(2) fervent love, that they will gladly and faithfully respond; doing with alacrity and bearing with cheerfulness all his holy will, and quite disposed at the end to say, “All is not half enough to give unto the ‘Lamb that was slain,’ who is worthy to receive the riches of our hearts and of our lives.”C.

Luk 17:11-19

The commonness of ingratitude, etc.

Under the guidance of this narrative, we think of

I. THE COMMONNESS OF INGRATITUDE. Only one of these ten men had a sufficient sense of indebtedness to return to Christ to offer thanks. The ingratitude of the remaining nine touched, smote, wounded our Lord, and he used the reproachful words of the text (verse17). This ingratitude was not a remarkably exceptional illustration of our nature; it is one of those things in respect of which “he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.” For that which youth refuses to believe, experience obliges us to acknowledge, viz. that to accept a great boon from the hand of love, and to show no proper sense of gratitude, is not a rare but a common thing. It is likely enough that we may go much out of our way to do a man a kindness, and that when we look for his response we shall be disappointed. What then? Shall we be diverted from the path of beneficence by this unlovely fact? Shall we say, “Since it is very likely that my services will not be appreciated, they shall not be rendered”? Certainly not. For:

1. There is gratitude to be gained and to be enjoyed. This proportion is not representative. It is not the case that nine men out of ten are insensible to kindnesses shown them. It is as likely as not, perhaps more likely than not, that if we do help out brother in his hour of need, if we do sustain him in sorrow, succour him in distress, stand by him in temptation, lead him into the kingdom of God, we shall win his gratitude, and we may secure the profound, prayerful, lifelong affection of a human heart. And what better reward, short of the favour and friendship of God, can we gain than that?

2. If we fail to obtain this, we shall stand by the side of our Divine Master; we shall share his experience; we shall have “fellowship with the sufferings of Christ.” He knew well what it was to serve and be unappreciated, to serve and be disparaged. To be where he stood, to

“Tread the path our Master trod,
To bear the cross he bore,”

this is an honour not to be declined.

3. If man our brother does not bless us, Christ our Saviour will. The most heroic deed of love may go, has gone, unrewarded of man. But the smallest act of kindness rendered to the humblest child will not go unrewarded of him. “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only shall in no wise lose his reward.”

II. THE UNCOUNTED DEBT DUE TO JESUS CHRIST. These nine men having received the greatest good one man could receive from anotherdeliverance from a living deathfailed to recognize their obligation, did not stop to consider it. They were not the last to be guilty in this respect.

1. How much more do many owe to Christ than they think they do! They say, “We do not choose to range ourselves under him and call him ‘Master;’ we can construct our own character, can build up rectitude and purity and benevolence of spirit apart from his truths or his will; we can do without Christ.” But suppose we subtract from the elevating and purifying influences which have made these men what they are all those elements which are due to Christ, how much is left? How little is left? The influences that come from him are in the air these men are breathing, in the laws under which they are living, in the literature they are reading, in the lives they are witnessing; they touch and tell upon them at every point, they act silently and subtly but mightily upon them; they owe to Jesus Christ the best they are and have; they ought to come into direct, living, personal relations with the Lord himself.

2. How much more do some men owe to Christ than they stay to consider! These nine men would not have disputed their obligation had they been challenged, but they were so anxious to get home to their friends and back to their business that they did not stay to consider it. Have we stayed to consider what we owe to him who, though he has not indeed cured us of leprosy, has at infinite cost to himself prepared for us a way of recovery from that which is immeasurably worsefrom sin and death? to him who, “though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich?”

III. THE PERIL OF EARLY PRIVILEGE. It is significant enough that the tenth leper who did return to give glory to God was a Samaritanwas “this stranger.” Taking this fact with that concerning the Roman soldier whose faith surprised our Lord, and that of the Syro-Phoenician woman whose importunity prevailed over every obstacle, we may conclude that the Hebrew mind was so familiarized with “signs and wonders,” that those outside the sacred circle were far more impressed by what they witnessed than the people of God themselves. It is well to he the children of privilege; but there is one grave peril connected with it. We may become so familiar with the greatest of all facts as to become insensible to their greatness. The Swiss peasant who lives on the Alpine slopes sees no grandeur in those snow-clad summits on which his eyes are always resting; the sailor who lives by the sea hears no music in “old ocean’s roar.” We may become so familiar even with the story of the cross that our minds are unaffected by its moral grandeur, by its surpassing grace. It behoves us to take earnest heed that we fall not into this fatal snare; lest many should come “from the north, and the south, and the east, and the west, and sit down in the kingdom of God,” and we, the children of the kingdom, be excluded. We must do our utmost to realize the great truths which have so long been uttered in our hearing.C.

Luk 17:20, Luk 17:21

Radical mistakes respecting the kingdom of God.

Pharisaism took its hostile attitude toward Christianity because it entirely failed to understand it. It made two radical mistakes which completely misled it.

I. THE MISTAKES WHICH PHARISAISM MADE.

1. As to the character of the coming kingdom. It thought it was to be outward, earthly, political, temporal; it was looking and longing for the time when another David, another Judas Maccabaeus, should come, should liberate the Holy Land from the grasp of the pagan power, and make Jerusalem the metropolis, the centre and glory of the earth.

2. As to the evidences and signs of its coming. It looked for a grand display of power, for overwhelming evidences that would strike every eye and startle and convince every mind that One was at hand who should assume the sovereignty awaiting him. And so it came to pass that when Jesus was born at Bethlehem, a Babe cradled in a manger; when he grew up to be a Carpenter at Nazareth; when he gathered no army, and struck no blow for national deliverance; when there was no ostentation about his method; when he lived to bless and teach individual men and women, and wrought his work quietly and unpretendingly;Pharisaism decided that he was not the Coming One, and that his reign was not to prove the kingdom of God. Pharisaism entirely mistook God’s purpose, and fatally misinterpreted his procedure.

II. THE MISTAKES INTO WHICH WE ARE LIABLE TO FALL. Not, of course, the same but similar, and equally disastrous.

1. When we look for blessedness in out ward circumstances instead of in inward peace. We say, “If I could but win that prize, gain that post, secure that friendship, earn that income, how bright would be my lot, how glad my heart, how radiant my life I” But we are wrong. Gladness of heart and excellency of life are not to be found in sunny circumstances, but in a pure heart, a heart that is at rest, a heart at home with God. “Out of the heart are the issues of life;” the fountain of lasting joy rises from our own breast; the kingdom of God is within us.

2. When we look for blessedness in the time that is beyond. “Man never is, but always to be blessed.” There is even an unchristian longing for the heavenly future. When” to abide in the flesh” is more needful for those for whose welfare we are largely responsible, then the “kingdom of God” for us is not in the distance; it is in the present sphere of duty; it is in present peace, present joy, present service, in the blessedness which Christ gives to his servants “Before they reach the heavenly fields, Or walk the golden streets,” in those “heavenly places” of holy service and happy fellowship in which he “has made them to sit” (Eph 2:6).

3. When we wait for heavenly influences to fall upon us instead of availing ourselves of those we have. Not only is there no need for any soul to wait for some remarkable and overwhelming influences before entering the kingdom, not only is it wholly unnecessary, but it is positively wrong to do so. It is in those quiet influences which are now working within your heart that God comes to you. He will never be nearer to a human soul than when his Spirit fills it with a holy longing, and makes it eager to know what it must do to enter into life. Wait not for anything that is coming: act on the promptings that are within you, and your feet shall then surely stand within the kingdom of God.C.

Luk 17:22-25

The brief day of opportunity.

The thought of our Master in this passage (as I understand it) is this: “I have been asked when the kingdom of God will come: my reply is that it has come already; that you have not to look about in this and that direction; here, in the midst of you, impersonated in him that speaks, is the kingdom. It is present in the Present One. But,” he says to his disciples, “he is present in a very strict sense. The time will soon be here when you will greatly long for his fellowship, and you will not be able to possess it. Do not believe those who will tell you that the Son of man is still on earth; it will not be true. His life below will be of the very briefest; it will be but as a lightning-flash which passes through the darkened heavens in a moment, and is gone again; so brief will be his stay, so soon will he be gone. But before he goes he must suffer many things; much must be done, for much must be endured, before his short day is done.”

I. THE BRIEF DAY OF OUR LORD‘S OPPORTUNITY. When we think of the long centuries that preceded, and of those that have already succeeded, the day of Christ, we may well regard his short visit to our world as a mere flash of light for transitoriness. What were those few months of his short stay among men compared with all those dark ages, and to all those that have been illumined by the light which his truth has shed upon them! But, transient as it was, it sufficed. It does not take long to utter or to illustrate the most Divine and the most vital truths; it did not take long to undergo the most mysterious and the most availing sorrowsit took but a few agonizing hours to die the death of atonement. Into that short day of opportunity our Divine Redeemer compressed:

1. The utterance of all needful truthall the truth we need for our guidance into the kingdom of God, and for our passage through life and death into the kingdom of glory.

2. The illustration of every human grace; the living of a human life in all its perfect loveliness and grandeur.

3. The endurance of sorrow such as constituted him for ever the Man of sorrows, and the High Priest of human nature, touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Heb 4:15).

4. The dying of that death which is the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. A few months of time sufficed to complete his work and make him the Divine Teacher, Leader, Friend, Saviour, of the whole race of man for all time to come.

II. OUR BRIEF DAY.

1. Measured by hours, our day is very brief. Human life is abort at the longest. We are “but of yesterday,’ and to-morrow we shall not be. The rocks and even the trees look down on many generations. And in all the bustle and battle, in all the pursuits and pleasures of our lira, the little time we have hastens away and is gone far sooner than we thought it would go. It is not only our poetry that sings, but our experience that testifies of the swiftness of our course beneath the sun.

2. Yet it holds manifold and precious opportunities of regaining our position as the children and heirs of God; of doing “many things” that shall tell even in future years for truth and God; of “suffering many things” after Christ our Lord, and in holy and noble fellowship with him (Php 3:10).

3. Its transiency is an urgent reason for

(1) immediate decision, and

(2) constant and earnest action in the cause of righteousness,

Whilst we have the light that shines, let us walk and let us work in the light.C.

Luk 17:26-30

The unlearnt lesson.

Man differs from the brute creation in that he learns and profits by experiencehe advances. He passes through stage after stage toward the perfection of his life upon the earth. He is the hunter at one period, then the shepherd, then the agriculturist. From the lowest barbarism he reaches, in time, the most refined civilization. But he is very slow indeed to learn, if he does learn at all, moral and spiritual truths. The excellency of thrift, of temperance, of purity, of patience,how long a time it is taking man to acquire these virtues! Our text opens to us the truth of the danger of spiritual trifling, and indicates that what men were long ages ago, that they still are in this respect.

I. SPIRITUAL TRIFLING. The men of the time of Noah were living in a state of utter worldliness and impiety. They were not without remonstrance and rebuke; Noah was himself “a preacher of righteousness” unto them. But they hearkened not, nor heeded; they made light of his admonitions and his warnings. They found some pretext under which they could easily hide the truth he reminded them of, and they went on their way of materialism and enjoyment. The same with the people of Sodom, and the character and instruction of Lot. And so with us.

1. Men are living in sinful selfishness and worldlinessmany in crime, many more in vice; but a very large multitude in practical godlessness. God is not in all, he is not in many if in any of their thoughts. His will is not the object of their inquiry, is not the rule of their life.

2. The religious teacher comes and admonishes; he says, “Man cannot live by bread alone;” the claims of the Divine Father, of the holy Saviour, are the supreme claims, etc.

3. But still the same course is pursued; the better thoughts that are momentarily stirred in the heart are silenced; sacred truths are extinguished; the truth of God is treated lightly; the world and the things that are in the world are uppermost and are victorious.

II. THE PALPABLE FOLLY OF SUCH TRIFLING AS THIS.

1. It is attended with immediate and certain injury. For it is impossible for a human soul to reject the truth or to quench the Spirit of God, and not be seriously the worse for such an act.

2. There is the grave peril of a great disaster. The generation is eating and drinking and marrying, and behold! the Flood sweeps them away. The cities are trading and feasting, and lo! the fires of heaven come down and consume them. They who trifle with the most sacred things are sure to find that, suddenly, in such an hour as they think not, the end arrives. The business plans are all broken off; the brilliant career is concluded; the flow of pleasures is arrested. Death suddenly appears, and deals his fatal blow. These sacred opportunities which have been so little prized, so much disparaged, recede with terrible rapidity and disappear. Opportunity that waited by the side, and waited all in vain, melts and vanishes in a moment. The soul awakes from its long lethargy to see that its powers have been wasted and that its chance is gone!

III. THE ELUSIVENESS OH THIS SOLEMN LESSON. Men have always known this, and they have always acted as if they were ignorant of it. “As it was so shall it be.” So is it to-day. By spiritual trifling men fritter away the golden chance that Divine love puts into their hands. Be wise in time. Realize what you are doing, what injury you are working, what risk you are running.C.

Luk 17:34-36

Accidents.

“The one shall be taken, and the other left.” And who or what is it that decides which one shall be taken and which left? Events are often occurring which convey to us the impression of

I. THE LARGE AMOUNT OF ACCIDENT which enters into the fabric of human life. Take, for example, a bad railway accident. How accidental it seems that one man should just miss that train and be saved, and that another should just catch it and be killed; that one should take a seat in the carriage which is crushed, and another in the carriage which is left whole; that one should be sitting exactly where the bent and twisted timber pierced him, and another exactly where no injury was dealt, etc.! It is the same with the battle-field, with the thunderstorm, with the falling house. One is taken, and another left; and the taking of the one and the leaving of the other seems to be pure accidentnot the result of reason or forethought, but entirely fortuitous.

II. OUR CORRECTED THOUGHT CONCERNING IT.

1. Of accident in the sense of chance we know there is nothing. Everything is “under law;” and even where there is no law apparent, we are assured, by the exercise of our reason, that there must be the operation of law, though it is out of our sight. In this world of God’s, pure chance has not an inch of ground to work upon.

2. There is usually much more play of reason and habit in “accidental events” than seems at first sight. Things result as they do because habit is stronger than judgment, or because foolish men disregard the counsel of the wise; because thoughtful men take the precautions which result in their safety, and because thoughtless men take the action which issues in their suffering or death.

3. The providence of God covers the entire field of human life. May we venture to believe that the hand of God is in the events and issues of life? I think we may.

(1) It is clearly within the range of the activities of an Infinite Being to whom nothing is small as nothing is great.

(2) His Fatherhood would lead him to follow the course of every one of his children with parental interest, and to interpose his hand wherever he saw it was wise to do so.

(3) Scripture warrants the conclusion: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints;” “The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps;” “Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without your Father: ye are of more value than many sparrows.”

III. THE LARGE MEASURE OF UNCERTAINTY THAT REMAINS AND MUST REMAIN. Human science has introduced many safeguards, but it has also introduced new perils. The “chapter of accidents” is as long as it ever was in the contemporary history of mankind. God is supreme, but he lets many things happen we should antecedently have supposed he would step in to prevent; he lets good men take the consequence of their mistakes; he permits the very holy and the very useful to be overtaken by sad misfortunes and even by fatal calamities. We cannot guarantee the future; we cannot ensure prosperity, health, friends, reputation, long life. To one that seems to be heir to all these good things they will fall; to another who seems equally likely to inherit them they will be denied: one is taken, the other left. Therefore let us turn to

IV. THE ONE GOOD THING ON WHICH WE CAN ABSOLUTELY COUNT. There is “a good part which shall not be taken away.” This is a Christian character; its foundations are laid in repentance and faith; it is built up of reverent study, of worship, of the obedience of love. Its glory is in resemblance to Jesus Christ himself. This is within every man’s reach, and it cannot be taken; it must be left. He who secures that is safe for ever. No accident can rob him of his heritage. His treasure and himself are immovable; for “he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”C.

HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR

Luk 17:1-19

Graces stimulated and strengthened.

The preceding chapter urges most powerfully, by precept and parable, consideration for others. Money is to be used for this end. But consideration may be shown in many other ways. And want of consideration may be one of those “occasions of stumbling” (so in Revised Version) to the Lord’s little ones which shall be visited with such overwhelming retribution. Our Lord consequently begins by teaching

I. THE GREAT DANGER OF CAUSING A LITTLE ONE TO STUMBLE. (Luk 17:1, Luk 17:2.) In this way he urges his disciples to watchfulness. He plainly implies that defenceless individuals who fall through stumbling-blocks placed in their path shall have in God a most terrible Avenger. Better the most fearful physical death than the fate of those who cause them to stumble. Of Judas it was expressly stated it would have been better if he had never been born; and the same might be said of every one who, like him, throws stumbling-blocks in his brother’s way. The ruin of the innocent, through exposing them to temptation, will be visited by God’s most terrible indignation.

II. THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST MUST GUARD AGAINST AN UNRELENTING AND UNFOR GIVING TEMPER. (Luk 17:3, Luk 17:4.) The disciples are to take heed to themselves. They are not to be avengers. They have not the solidity of judgment or of character to exercise vengeance. It is to be left to God. If, therefore, a brother trespass against us, we are to pursue such a path as will result in forgiveness and reconciliation. We are to rebuke him courageously; then, if he repents, if he shows signs of sorrow and confesses his fault, even though it should be repeated seven times a day, we are to forgive him. Now, this forgiving spirit is Divine. It is God-like. It is the spirit God has manifested in Christ, and which we should cultivate most diligently.

III. OUR LORD‘S EXHORTATIONS LED THE DISCIPLES TO SEEK AN INCREASE OF FAITH. (Luk 17:5-10.) When we have discovered how small our forgiving spirit is, we then begin to see how small other graces are, and to cry, “Lord, Increase our faith.” It is most instructive to notice how our Lord responds to the disciples’ desire. And:

1. He shows them how very small their faith is. His statement implies that it was less than a grain of mustard seed, for, if they had even so little a measure of genuine faith, they could remove any difficulty out of their path. Even a sycamine tree might be plucked up by the roots, or any difficulty which such an obstacle would represent, and be cast by faith into the sea. The first lesson we have got to learn is how small our faith is, and then it will soon increase.

2. tire impresses on them the cultivation of a sense of their own unprofitableness to God. He likens them to a farm-servant who, when he has finished in the field, comes home and is then put to wait at table on his lord. His work is never done. He turns from one occupation to another; and only laments at the close that he could not do more and better. Now, this sense of unprofitableness really arises out of the magnificence of the Christian ideal. The Christian system sets before us such incomparable excellency, that we are always coming short of it. All Christian progress is just conditioned upon this sense of unprofitableness. Our faith will grow exceedingly when this sense of unprofitableness has been secured and is maintained. Of course, this teaching of our Lord is quite consistent with the reward promised in his grace, of “Well done, good and faithful servant.” The servant looks at his labours in the light of strict justice, and acknowledges his shortcoming. The Master looks at them in the light of grace and love, and rewards them with overflowing bounty. Even when receiving the reward at last, it will be with surprise, and with the consciousness that we have been but unprofitable servants.

IV. THE DISCIPLES ARE INSTRUCTED AT THE SAME TIME REGARDING HUMAN INGRATITUDE. (Luk 17:11-19.) It so happened that ten lepers cross the Saviour’s path, and their cry for mercy meets with immediate response. But their cure is given on their way to the priests, who could only give them a certificate of cure. The sense of cure came upon the ten, we may believe, at the same time. But only one, and he a Samaritan, returned to express his gratitude. The other nine, all Jews, passed on to the priest with a joyful sense of cure, but little sense of gratitude. It was such ingratitude as called for the animadversion of Jesus, while the Samaritan’s gratitude led our Lord to say his faith hath made him whole. It seems clear that he became attached to Jesus in a way the others did not. The expression of his gratitude led to an assurance of faith. Now, this was a wholesome lesson for the disciples, as it is also for us. How many blessings have we all got from the hands of Christ, for which we have returned no thanks at all! And, if we have been ungrateful to our Lord, should we not put up with a good deal of ingratitude? It is a sense of personal ingratitude which will stimulate the grace within us, and make us less surprised when we are the objects of ingratitude on the part of others we have befriended. In this plain and practical fashion our Lord stimulated and strengthened the graces of his disciples, and indicates how our graces may be stimulated likewise.R.M.E.

Luk 17:20-37

The advent of the kingdom and the King.

Jesus was on journey to Jerusalem when the ingratitude of the nine lepers, just noticed, took place, and this gave rise to speculation as to the near approach of his kingdom. His enemies, the Pharisees, put the sarcastic question when the kingdom of God should come, as much as to say, “We have heard of it long; we should like to see it.” This leads our Lord to unfold the nature of his kingdom’s advent and of his own.

I. HIS KINGDOM COMES IN THE HEARTS OF MEN. (Luk 17:20, Luk 17:21.) The characteristic of worldly kingdoms has always been ostentation. They try to impress the senses by noisy advents, brag, advertisement, the blare of bugle and roll of drum. And some think that there is nothing worth talking about which can come in any milder way. The Jews expected a kingdom of God to supersede the Roman, and that its advent would be seen in the defeat and expulsion of the conquerors of Canaan. But, no; the kingdom was coming in men’s hearts; it was there it had its sphere and home.

1. How superficial is the sovereignty which is not founded in the heart I This is the world’s experience daily. The outward sovereignty is a name and based on fear.

2. How noble is the sovereignty which is based upon people‘s hearts! It is here Jesus reigns. We love him. We would die for him. Thus his kingdom progresses wherever a heart is touched by Christ’s love. His triumph is over the selfishness of mankind. He conquers them by self-sacrificing love.

II. THE KING HIMSELF IS TO COME AS SUDDENLY AS THE LIGHTNING–FLASH. (Luk 17:22-24.) He is not to give warning of his approach. There will be no need to go here or there under the impression that he has come quietly and privately, to prepare for his public manifestation; but suddenly like the lightning-flash, and publicly like its heaven-enlightening beam, is he to come for judgment. Hence the awful suddenness of his advent is distinctly implied. He will give no premonitory warnings, but overwhelmingly sudden and awful will be his approach. No wonder in such circumstances that many shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, one of those seasons of quiet philanthropy such as the Saviour was now leading among men. The Pharisees were mistaking altogether the significance of his present mission.

III. THE RESULTS OF THE PRESENT MISAPPREHENSIONS. (Luk 17:25-30.)

1. The first sad result will be the rejection and martyrdom of Jesus (Luk 17:25). Misapprehending the significance of his meek and lowly philanthropic life, his generation united in rejecting him, and secured his crucifixion on the tree. They would not have the King when actually among them in flesh and blood.

2. Men will act like the antediluvians and Sodomites up to the very time of our Lord’s advent. A sense of carnal security characterized these sinners. They thought in Noah’s day that no harm would overtake them. There was no sign of the Deluge except Noah’s precautions against it, and they would not act upon such signs. In Sodom it was the same. The inhabitants thought no change would come over their selfish, sensual dream. But the Deluge came, and the fire and brimstone descended, notwithstanding. So will it be with the advent of Christit will come as a sudden, unexpected judgment upon many. And this carnal security is a present danger with many. They fancy they are safe, that nothing will interfere with their security; but the Saviour makes his advent suddenly, and they are overwhelmed.

IV. THE REALITIES OF THE ADVENT. (Luk 17:31-37.) Now, the truth is clearly brought out that some shall be saved and others lost at the advent.

1. Let us look at the lost. They are brought under our notice here in several ways. Thus Lot‘s wife is taken as a type of the lost. Now, we know that she was lost through looking longingly back to her worldly things. God, by his angels, had set the family’s faces towards the mountains and himself. Were they prepared to take him and his favour as their portion, and give up all their property in Sodom? If they looked longingly behind them, it would show that the world was still more to them than God. The poor wife could not resist the temptation, and so she was changed into a pillar of salt. She is, then, the type of those who are almost saved, but worldliness gets the better of them, and they are lost. Again, the lost ones are represented as food for eagles (Luk 17:37) This brings out the corruption characterizing them. They have become moral carrion which only the eagles can consume. There is, doubtless, a reference to the Roman invasion under Titus, and to the destruction of corrupt Jerusalem. The Roman armies were God’s scavengers to destroy a corrupt people. This was one way in which Christ made an advent to judgment. Lastly, we have the lost described as those who are continually seeking to save themselves (verse 33). Those whose one aim in life is self-preservation, the saving of themselves at every turn, who think of self as the supreme concern, are only losing themselves. The curious paradox is that those who save themselves at every turn lose themselves; while those who do not count their lives dear, but Christ’s concern as supreme, find themselves safe at last. Let us see to it, therefore, that we are neither worldly minded, nor corrupt, nor given up to selfishness, else we are among the lost.

2. But let us look at the saved ones. These are those who have kept Christ before them as their Lord and Master, whose interests should be supreme (verse 33). They value him more than life, and so he saves them. The nature of salvation is thus plainly unfolded. The saved ones are those with whom Christ is all in all. They prefer him to everything else. The instinct of self-preservation has in them given place to an instinct to preserve the honour and promote the kingdom of the Master. And those who have trusted him and honoured him so thoroughly shall find that he will not disappoint them. Let us wait for his appearing, then, and love it; and when it flashes across the world, we shall be allowed to escape the judgments that come upon the earth, and to stand before the Son of man.R.M.E.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Luk 17:1. Then said he unto the disciples, Having been derided by the Pharisees as a visionary, and insulted on account of his doctrine concerning the pernicious influence of the love of money, our Lord took occasion to speak of affronts and offences, , stumbling-blocks, provocations to sin; and though he represented such things as highly useful in respect of the exercise and improvement which they afford to holiness and virtue; and unavoidable by reason of the pride, anger, revenge, malice, and other jarring passions of men, he did not fail to set forth their evil nature in their dreadful punishment. To understand our Lord in the passage before us, it is necessary that we attend to an obvious distinction. All offences or temptations are not of the same nature; some of them are things in themselves sinful; others of them are things innocent: Jesus speaks of the first sort; nor has he denounced against the authors of them a greater punishment than they deserve; because to their own intrinsicmalignity such things have this added, that they prove stumbling-blocks to others; and so are of the most atrocious nature. When the other sort of offences happen to be mentioned, they are spoken of in milder terms: if the offence be given to a fellow-Christian, the person guilty of it is peculiarly blamed for wanting that love towards his brother, which the Christian religion enjoins. If it be given to a heathen, he is charged with being deficient in due concern for the glory of God: in the mean time, it must be observed on this head, that though the weakness of well-meaning persons,who, by relying on our example, may be led to imitate us in things which they think sinful,is a strong reason in point of charity, why we should forbear those actions, however innocent, (unless we are under the greatest necessity of doing them;) yet the perverseness of malicious minds, that are apt to misrepresent things, does by no means lay any obligations on a good man to forbear what he finds convenient for him, provided he himself knows it to be innocent; for the difference of the persons, who are apt to be affected by our example, greatly alters the case of offences, and our behaviour with relation to them. See the note on Mat 18:5-6.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 17:1-4 . The Pharisees (Luk 16:14 ) are despatched and dismissed (Luk 16:15-31 ), and Jesus now again turns Himself, as at Luk 16:1 , to His disciples, and that with an instruction and admonition in reference to , a subject which He approached the more naturally that it was precisely the conduct of the Pharisees which had occasioned the entire set of discourses (Luk 15:2 ), and especially had introduced the last portion (Luk 16:14 ), that was of a very offensive nature to the disciples of Jesus, and might become injurious to their moral judgment and behaviour. Comp. already Theophylact. The course of the previous discourse therefore still goes on, and it is unfair to Luke to deny to the formula . . . the attestation of the point of time, and to maintain that there is no connection with the entire section, Luk 17:1-10 (de Wette, Holtzmann; comp. Michaelis, Paulus, Kuinoel).

The contents of Luk 17:1-4 are of such a kind that these sayings, especially in a dissimilar form, might be used several times on various occasions (comp. Mat 18:7 ; Mat 18:6 ; Mat 18:15 ; Mat 18:21 f.). In the form in which Luke gives them, he found them in his original source of the journey. [213]

] equivalent to , Luk 13:33 , not preserved elsewhere than in Gregor. Cor. and Artem. Oneir . ii. 70. The expression occurs in Apollonius, de Constr . p. 181, 10, de Adv . p. 544, 1.

] the genitive dependent on the neuter adjective used as a substantive (Khner, II. p. 122): the impossible (impossibility) of their not coming occurs. Winer views it otherwise, p. 293 [E. T. 412].

, ] it is profitable for him, if . In what follows observe the perfects, cast around, and he is thrown , by which the matter is declared as completed, and in its completion is made present.

] as Luk 15:7 .

] than to deceive, i.e. than if he remained alive to deceive . The being drowned is here conceived of as before the completion of the deceiving. Matthew has it otherwise, Luk 18:6 .

] pointing to those present , not, however, children (Bengel and others), but disciples , who were still feeble, and therefore easily led astray, little ones among the disciples, beginners and simple ones. According to Luk 15:1-2 , it is to be supposed that some of them at least were converted publicans and sinners. To explain the expression from Mat 18:6 or Luk 10:42 is not allowable, since there it has in its connection a reason for its insertion, which does not occur here.

Luk 17:3 . “Considering that offences against the weak are thus inevitable and punishable, I warn you: Be on guard for yourselves , take care of yourselves lest offences occur in your own circle.” In what way especially such offences are to be avoided, the following exhortation then declares, to wit, by indefatigable forgiving love , by that disposition therefore which was, in fact, so greatly wanting to the Pharisees, that they could murmur, as at Luk 15:2 .

] shall have committed a fault , namely, against thee , which the context proves by and Luk 17:4 .

. ] censure him , , Euthymius Zigabenus. Comp. 2Ti 4:2 .

] a graphic touch, shall have turned round, i.e. shall have come back to thee ( belongs to this). He has previously turned away from him, and departed.

The representation by means of . . . (comp. Psa 119:164 ) finds its justification in its purpose , to wit, to lay stress upon forgiveness as incapable of being wearied out ; hence we are not to think of the possible want of principle of such an offender, nor to regard the expression either as a misunderstanding (Michaelis) or as a transformation from Mat 18:21 f. (de Wette, Weiss). Whether Luk 17:4 stood in the Logia after Mat 18:15 is an open question, at least it does not form the necessary presupposition of Mat 18:21 .

[213] According to Holtzmann (comp. Weisse), Luke attempts the return to Mar 9:42 (Mat 18:6 ), but finds the assertions of Mar 9:43-47 “too glaring and paradoxical.” But these assertions were already from the Logia too widely known and current for this; and how wanting in motive would be that return, which still would not be carried out! Comp. Weiss in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol . 1864, p. 101.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

6. Parabolic Address to the Disciples concerning Genuine Faith, which overcomes Offences (Luk 17:1-10)

1Then said he unto the [his1] disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! 2It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend [or, cause to offend] one of these little ones. 3Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass againtst thee, rebuke him; 4and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee,2 saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. 5And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

7But which of you, having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by [immediately], when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat 8[recline at table]? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou 9shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that [the3] servant because he did the things that were commanded him4? I trow not.5 10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk 17:1. Then said He.It remains a difficult question whether we, in Luk 17:1-10, meet with a connected discourse of the Saviour or a collection of sayings which are here communicated without historical connection, and are arranged together chrestomathically by a somewhat loose thread. We might be almost tempted to see here not much more than a brief summary of the teachings which the Saviour, according to Mat 18:6 seq., gave more in detail on another occasion. But if we consider that the parable of the Ploughing Servant, Luk 17:7-10, is entirely peculiar to Luke; that the parabolic expression of the sycamine tree may have been in a modified form repeatedly used by the Saviour (comp. Mat 17:20; Mat 21:21); that moreover the precept, Luk 17:3-4, is not exactly equivalent in substance with Mat 18:21-22, and that the probable temper of the Pharisees after that which they had heard, Luk 15:1 seq., afforded a natural occasion for the warning against , we then see the scruples against the internal unity of Luk 17:1-10, vanish more and more. Several attempts to explain the connection of the different parts of the discourse in an internally probable manner are found in Stier, R. J. iii. p. 390. Comp. Lange, L. J. iii. p. 466.

Unto His disciples.Comp. 16:1. Doubtless to be distinguished from the , Luk 17:5, since now it is rather in part publicans only lately converted, Luk 15:1, who for this reason are named, as being yet weak in faith, , Luk 17:2.

Offences.Perhaps with definite reference to what had just taken place, Luk 16:14. , in the sense here meant, is that which the sincere disciple of the Lord with reason stumbles at, because it is dishonorable to the Lord and harmful to the church. The non-occurrence of these scandals is , disadvantageous or impossible, , non usu venit, Luk 13:33. It is of course understood that the Saviour speaks not of an absolute but of a relative necessity, proceeding from the sinful state of the world. But although the case is now by no means to be altered, yet this lessens not the responsibility of him who induces the coming and increase of the .

Luk 17:2. It were better for him.The Perfects indicate that the Saviour will describe the condition of a man, around whose neck the millstone has been already hung, and who has been already drowned. He finds this fate, terrible as it is, yet still more desirable than if he were yet in life, in order () to give offence.A millstone, . , so must we doubtless read with Lachmann, Tischendorf, a. o., instead of , which appears to be taken from the Recepta, Mat 18:6. The signification of the imagery is in both cases the same, only it must be remarked that here not only a simple drowning, but at the same time a sinking into the deepest abyss of hell, whose image the sea is, is meant Comp. further Lange on Mat 18:6.

Luk 17:3. Take heed to yourselves.According to the connection, Take heed especially of the giving scandals, against which such heavy punishments are threatened. Just such scandals they would give, if they were lacking in forgiving love. The Saviour foresees that, notwithstanding His endeavors to speak a word for the publicans, the chasm between these and the proud Pharisees will still continue. Therefore His new disciples must exhibit more than common love, if the friction with the others is not to be renewed every moment, and for this reason He now gives to them also the precept which He, according to Mat 18:21-22, had previously already given in another form to Peter. If they were of one accord among themselves, and willing to forgive, then it could not be hard for them to take many a stone of stumbling out of the way even of their enemies.

Luk 17:3. If thy brother.From the whole connection it appears that the Saviour is not speaking of sins in general, but particularly of such as one brother commits in intercourse with another. For this case He ordains no judicial rebuke, but a milder brotherly admonition (), a helping him to come right and to amend himself, in all long-suffering of love. Comp. 1Th 5:14. If such correction brings him to humble acknowledgment of fault, forgiveness must not then be withheld, even if the trespass had already been six times repeated. If the Saviour here speaks only of a sevenfold trespass, He means essentially nothing else than when He spoke at another time of seventy times seven, and expresses therefore here also the qualitative infinity of forgiving love, in a symbolical number. But there prevails here greater moderation in the form of His saying, because He will not, by a seemingly overstrained requirement, repel and offend the , to whom He speaks. It is moreover worth while to compare the precept which He here gives for private intercourse, with that which He ordained for the exercise of discipline in the church, Mat 18:15-18. To the individual brother, there is not permitted what at last may be allowed to the church, namely, to put one out as a publican and heathen. The forgiveness must be repeated as often as even the least trace of repentance is shown.

Luk 17:5. And the Apostles.No wonder that in hearing such requirements of the Saviour, which really first of all concern themselves, the apostles feel a pressing necessity of inward strengthening, and with shame acknowledge how much they were yet lacking in that higher principle which could alone enable them in the severe conflict with flesh and blood really to gain the victory. As one man they utter the prayer for increase of faith; and it is noticeable how those who at other times could be so wretchedly divided by pride and emulation, now agree in so amiable a manner in this humble supplication, really the sole example of such common so designated address in the Gospels, Stier. As often, Luke here names Jesus emphatically The Lord, comp. Luk 7:31; Luk 22:61, et alic. in order to bring into view in what light He stood before the eyes of His apostles, when they felt themselves constrained to address themselves to Him with this supplication.

Increase our faith.Literally, Add faith to us, . With thankfulness they feel that they are not wholly lacking in faith, but at the same time they humbly consider that the intensive power of their faith is not yet great enough to enable them for such a work as was proposed to them, Luk 17:3-4. To understand here especially the faith of miracles (Kuinoel, a. o.), is entirely arbitrary. The Saviours answer also by no means requires this. It was something higher than external wonders; it was a victory over themselves that had just been spoken of, a triumph of love that could only be the fruit of an augmented faith. Whether they with this prayer desire a direct immediate strengthening of faith, is hard to state, but certain it is that the Saviour grants immediately a direct hearing to their prayer, and strengthens their faith, inasmuch as He gives them to hear first the word of encouragement (Luk 17:6), then afterwards also a word of humiliation (Luk 17:7-10).

Luk 17:6. If ye had faith.The Saviour does not deny that they had any faith, but only gives them to feel how far they are removed from faith in the highest ideal sense, which alone can make them capable of fulfilling His own so strict requirement. How much faith accomplishes in the spiritual world, He indicates to them by pointing them to what alterations faith, when it is really necessary, brings forth in the natural world.To this sycamine tree, . Perhaps a proof that this address was delivered in the open air, while the Saviour was continuing His journey. By a strong personification, the fig-tree is represented as a rational being which is capable of understanding such a command of faith, and obeying it. The , a tree frequently met with in Palestine. Comp. De Wette, Archol., 83. Perhaps, however, here the , Luk 19:4, is meant, which, like our oak, has a sturdy trunk and strong branches, deep and powerful roots, so that it is in a certain sense something as great to command such a tree, as to command a mountain: . Nay, the Saviour here expresses Himself still more strongly than in the parallel passage, Mat 17:20, since the tree is not to sink itself, but actually to plant itself in the sea, where an ordinary tree can neither take root nor grow; and there is therefore a plain intimation, that often that which according to the ordinary laws of nature is entirely impossible, may in a higher order of things, in which faith has the dominion, come immediately to pass. As to the question how far we may expect a literal fulfilment of such promises, without falling into absurdities, Stier deserves to be compared on Mat 17:20.

Luk 17:7. But which of you.The old complaint of lack of connection with what precedes (De Wette), is, with an attentive psychological exegesis, sufficiently disposed of. The Saviour could not have known His disciples, if He had not at once considered that even the bare prospect of the accomplishment of so great deeds was capable of making them immediately again selfish and haughty. He therefore, without delay, calls their attention to the truth, that even if faith strengthened them to the highest deeds they on their part could never talk of a special merit. The parable of the Ploughing Servant, also, may have been occasioned by the view of one laboring at the plough, under the eyes of the Saviour and the Twelve, and the question: which of you, is the less incongruous, since at least the sons of Zebedee belonged to a class above the lowest, and might therefore well have , comp. Mar 1:20.

A servant ploughing or feeding cattle.Two kinds of work are mentioned, in order definitely to designate the apostolical labor to which they should afterwards be called, and that on its more difficult as well as on its easier side. By the servant, , we are not to understand a , but a serf, who was entirely dependent on His lord, and was most strictly bound to do in blind obedience what was imposed upon him, Quid magni facit ad arandum positus, si arat; ad pascendum, si pascit? Grotius.

When he is come. is not to be connected with (De Wette, a. o.), but with (Stier, Meyer), as appears evident from the antithesis in the following verse. The work must be indefatigably accomplished. Rest follows afterwards, and there is no need of hurrying for that. When the work on the field is accomplished the domestic labor must then be performed, before one can be seated, and the masters meal of course precedes that of the servant. The slave must be content to remain girded till the lord has at his leisure finished eating and drinking., a figurative mode of speech taken from the long garments of the Orientals, which they had to lay aside or gird up, if they wished to journey or to do any work.

Luk 17:9. Doth he thank that servant?A question of holy irony, by which the Saviour does not precisely mean to approve the fact, that so many acts of service in daily life are performed without even a word of thanks, but simply reminds of what is continually wont to happen. On the added , the stamp of originality is in our eyes too strongly impressed for us, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, to doubt its genuineness. For the interpolation there is no reason, but the omission is easy to explain. Meyer, ad loc.

Luk 17:10. So likewise ye.The Saviour will have His disciples, even after their work is faithfully accomplished, not esteem themselves higher than such servants.Which are commanded you.As well in the field as in the house. Everything, even the hardest not excepted. They have even in this case, instead of expecting special thanks, to say in deep humility: we are unprofitable servants, , not poor, insignificant (Rosenmller), and as little in the unfavorable sense in which this word is used, Mat 25:30, but simply such as have done nothing more than might be expected from . If they had accomplished less they would have been even the cause of loss; had they accomplished more than what they were charged with, they would then have been ; but now they could, as , expect, it is true, the food and drink which was the servants portion after his days work was done, but no reward such as was conceded only to an extraordinary service. The Saviour does not demand that His people shall despise and reprobate themselves; He says still less that He Himself is disposed to view them as unprofitable servants; He disputes least of all that a rich reward awaits them, such as He had promised, Luk 12:31; but here only every meritum e condigno is denied, and they are expressly reminded that whatever reward they may at any time receive, it is always a reward of grace, which they are in no case to demand. How very especially this instruction was adapted to the case of the Twelve, and how their faith would increase in the measure in which humility grew in their hearts, they have perhaps even at once felt, and certainly afterwards experienced.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. What the Saviour says about the necessity of , shows us what a living consciousness He had of the antithesis which exists between the holy kingdom of God and the sinful world of man. An ordinary moral teacher would have said: It is not fit that scandals should come; the King of the kingdom of God on the other hand: It is not fit that offences should fail to come: even the stone of stumbling will be the means of effecting My exalted aim; comp. 1Co 11:19. Yet although He here out of evil causes good to proceed, the moral responsibility of him who occasions the remains terribly great, andis by far too little considered. We must, however, take good heed not to apply arbitrarily to offences taken, the Saviours threatening respecting offences given.

2. It is remarkable how, in this didactic discourse of the Saviour, the direction to exercise forgiving love and that to practise unfeigned humility are connected with one another by the prayer for increase of faith. In order to be able to exhibit love, faith must first exist, but in order for us to have faith, humility must first be deeper and more grounded. It appears here, at the same time, how the Saviour strengthens the faith of His people not in a magical but in an ethical way. He leads them towards the mountain heights of a more developed life of faith, through the obscure depths of self-knowledge. Out of the narrow place into the broad, out of the depth unto the height.
3. The Saviours declaration about the transplanting of the sycamine-tree, must not be overlooked when the question, so variously answered, in respect to the possibility of a continuous gift of miracles in the church of the Lord, is discussed. Without any limitation whatever, He connects the gift of miracles with faith, and the assertion that this promise is exclusively applicable to the Twelve and their immediate successors, is purely arbitrary. The hyperbolical form of the imagery does not entitle us to deny the essence of the fact. And if history offers no perfectly attested proofs of the literal fulfilment of the promise, this comes from the fact that the greatest hindrances which faith must overcome, do not commonly show themselves in the physical, but in the ethical, sphere. It is true, so high a development of the force of faith will ever belong to the rarer facts, so long as there is yet so great lack of that humility which the Saviour here so emphatically commends.
4. The saying respecting the unprofitable servant remains a locus classicus for the main doctrine of the gospel, and of Protestantism,the doctrine of the justification of the sinner by grace alone; and it is therefore for this reason fully in its place in the Pauline gospel of Luke. If the existence of a thesaurus supererogationis were possible, then the language which the Saviour here will put in His disciples mouths would only be the expression of a hypocritical humility. We may, on the other hand, evidently see that whoever refuses to call himself, in the here-indicated sense, a , makes Christ Himself a . Comp. Gal 2:21. With the assertion (J. Mller, Chr. Lehre von der Snde, 1. p. 48) that here at least the possibility of a virtue is presupposed by which one can do more than what is commanded, since otherwise even Christ would have had to bring His holy life under the category of , we cannot agree. For Christ stood to the Father in an entirely different relation from that of servant, with whom He here puts His people on a level. Nor is there a proof for the view that here it is a limited Jewish obedience that is spoken of, which, on an evangelical position, one could raise himself far above. On the other hand it is plainly shown, that he who believes himself to be able to do more than he is under obligation to do, must have very singular notions of the ideal perfection which the law demands. As to the rest, this commendation of humility contradicts the passage Luk 12:37 only in appearance, inasmuch as Christ at that time wished to encourage, at this time to humble. De Wette.

5. The parable of the Ploughing Servant is even yet of special significance for the pastoral office. The Saviour here shows plainly that His disciples are to be used for different labors in His service; the one for hard ploughingthe other for quiet pasturing; that they must never be disgusted if their work in a certain sense is never ended; that all which they really need and can justly expect, even for their temporal life, will be provided for them at the suitable time; but that they, even after the most faithful labor, must forever give up the hope of their receiving a recompense as their right, which they have represented to others as a gift of grace. How much fewer would have been the desolations caused by the cancer of the spiritual pride of hierarchs and clergy, if no minister of the church had ever desired or assumed for himself another point of view than that of the Ploughing Servant.
6. This whole instruction of the Saviour is justly used to controvert the doctrine of the holiness of works in the Ap. Augsb. Conf. 3: Hc verba clare dicunt, quod Deus salvet per misericordiam et propter suam promissionem, non quod debeat propter dignitatem operum nostrorum. Christus damnat fiduciam nostrorum operum, arguit opera nostra, tanquam indigna. Et prclare hic inquit Ambrosius: agnoscenda est gratia, sed ignoranda natura, promissioni grati confidendum est, non natur nostr. Servi inutiles significant insufficientes, quia nemo tantum timet, tantum diligit Deum, tantum credit Deo, quantum oportuit. Nemo non videt, fiduciam nostrorum operum improbari.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

A religion without scandals is in this sinful world impossible.The woe uttered upon the man through whom scandals come: 1. Terrible; 2. righteous; 3. salutary.There is a punishment which is infinitely heavier than harm to body and loss of life.The high value which the Saviour attributes to the little ones in the kingdom of heaven.The greatest man who gives scandals, stands below the lowest who suffers them.The requirement of willingness to forgive our brother, in its length, breadth, depth, and height, Eph 3:18.Under the Old Covenant, sevenfold vengeance, Gen 4:23-24; under the New Covenant, sevenfold forgiveness.Rebuke of sin must be united with compassion for the sinner.No wealth in love without growth of faith.In the prayer for increase of faith all Christians must join, like the apostles.How far this prayer is necessary: 1. In particular for the Twelve; 2. how far it remains necessary in general for all believers.What this prayer, 1. Presupposes: a. that one already has faith, b. but has yet too little, and c. that the Saviour is the only one from whom we can receive more. What this prayer, 2. demands: a. more light, b. more power, c. more fellowship of faith. What the prayer, 3. effects: a. the disciple becomes through the hearing of it perfect, b. the kingdom of God is advanced, c. the Lord is glorified.Fitting text for a communion sermon: this prayer the best communion prayer, because it was faith which, a. before the communion was most lacking to us, b. because it at the communion is first demanded, c. after the communion may be put to many severe tests.The all-overcoming power of faith: 1. From what it is visible; 2. why it is not more seen.A faith like a mustard-seed has power enough to transplant a whole tree.The relation of labor to recompense in the kingdom of God.The minister of the kingdom of God like a ploughing servant, one who 1. Is called to various, often wearying labor; 2. can never regard his work as entirely accomplished; 3. in his service receives and enjoys what is needful; 4. but even after the faithfully accomplished task, can never establish any claim to well-deserved reward.The unprofitable servant very profitable, the most profitable servant unprofitable.How true recompense for labor in the kingdom of God only begins when one has given up all prospect of reward.The Saviour esteems His servants more in proportion as they have learned to esteem themselves less.

Starke:Quesnel:God, with whom all things are possible, could easily prevent all scandals, but He admits them for holy reasons.Bibl. Wirt:Take care that thou to no one, but especially to young children, give the least scandal.Love never grows weary in forgiving.Brentius:Christians may well be elevated above all prosecutions for trespass, because God the Lord has in such holy wise reserved to Himself all vengeance.Faith grows not like tares; because it has its root in God, it must also grow through God.Zeisius:Even weak faith is a Divine power, does miracles, saves, and is not rejected, Mar 9:24-25.Let one examine himself whether he be in the faith, that he may not account his unbelief for a weak faith.Nova Bibl. Tub:It is not enough for us to begin our spiritual labor and service of God well,we must also continue it uninterruptedly till the Lord Himself gives us our holiday.Canstein:A devoted and faithful servant gives his lord the honor, and concedes to him in all things of good right the preminence.First the work, after that the reward. The first we owe, the latter follows from grace.Hedinger:Away spiritual pride: where is perfection? Genuine servants of God never in their own view do enough; they would ever be glad to have done yet something more, so great is their desire to serve God and to win souls.

Heubner:Faith is the power as for all good, so also for invincible placableness.Prayer the means of strengthening faith, and therefore daily necessary.It is not the chief concern that faith should be at the very beginning strong, if it is only fresh, sound, impelling.To uproot even that which is deeply rooted and appears impossible to move, is through faith in Christ possible.Without labor no repose, without conflict no enjoyment.He is the worthiest who esteems himself unworthiest.Faith bids: Ever at rest; love, faiths daughter: Never at rest.Arndt:The utterance of humility in reference to the good that we have done: 1. It confesses that all good which we do is only our duty; 2. that we succeed in it only through Gods grace; 3. that it ever remains imperfect.Lisco:How necessary for every citizen of the kingdom humility is.

Footnotes:

[1]Luk 17:1. has a decided weight of authority. See Tischendorf, ad locum.

[2]Luk 17:4.The more this is required by the connection, the more probable is the conjecture that, strongly as it is attested, it is an interpolation a seriore manu.

[3]Luk 17:9.The of the Recepta is lacking in A., B., D., [Cod. Sin.,] L., X, &c., and appears to be only an explicative addition.

[4]Luk 17:9.. The spuriousness of this word is pretty certain [only found in D., X. of the uncials], and is conceded by most of the modern critics.

[5][Luk 17:9. . This sentence is not found in B., Cod. Sin., L., X., although it has 11 other uncials for it, with most of the cursives, the Vulgate, most copies of the Itala, both the Syriac versions, &c. Tischendorf retains it, Lachmann brackets it; Tregelles, Alford omit it. Meyer vindicates it, and Bleek is doubtful. Alford meets Meyers allegation that it might have been inadvertently left out on account of its resemblance to the following , by remarking that this is always written in the ancient MSS. if we suppose it an interpolation, it must be the marginal ejaculation of some ancient scribe at the hypothetical presentation of so preposterous an inversion of relations. But it appears more natural to take them as our Lords own words.C. C. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

Some very blessed Discourses of Christ are contained in this Chapter. The History of the Ten Lepers. Some of Christ’s Prophecies.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

(1) Then said he unto the disciples. It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him through whom they come! (2) It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

It was exceedingly to be wished that the carnal and ungodly part of mankind were to consider this. If they did, would they dare to do as they now too often do, to smite the Lord’s little ones? But whether they will regard this counsel or not, let no child of God forget how highly Jesus prizeth the humblest and poorest of his people. Whoso toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye. Zec 2:8 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Luk 17:3

Sir James Stephen describes Wilberforce’s Practical View of Christianity as ‘the expostulation of a brother. Unwelcome truth is delivered with scrupulous fidelity, and yet with a tenderness which demonstrates that the monitor feels the pain he reluctantly inflicts. It is this tone of human sympathy breathing in every page which constitutes the essential charm of this book.’

Luk 17:3

This is certaine: That a Man that studieth Revenge, keepes his owne Wounds greene, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Bacon.

He that repents is angry with himself: I need not be angry with him.

Benjamin Whichcote.

Reference. XVII. 3, 4. Expositor (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 498.

Luk 17:5

We can no more detach what we do in our lives from what we are in our souls, than we can separate heat or light from their essential principles, or expect to enjoy either in the absence of the conditions in which their existence is involved. The disciples showed they were aware of this by that remarkable answer, when enjoined by their Master to the practice of forgiveness, ‘Lord, increase our faith’; we might have expected, when a moral duty difficult to the natural man was in question, the words would have been, ‘Increase our charity,’ but in the conviction that obedience was only practicable through a strength and virtue that did not reside in themselves, their prayer was for an increase of the faculty through which alone the Divine aid can be made available by the soul.

Dora Greenwell.

I persuade myself also that I have faith, though it is but so so, and might well be better.

Luther.

References; XVII. 5. W. H. Hutchings, Sermon-Sketches, p. 134. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2nd Series), vol. ii. p. 42. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i. No. 32, and vol. xxii. No. 1318. Expositor (5th Series), vol. ii. p. 455.

The Grain of Mustard Seed

Luk 17:6

I. It is not the quantity of faith, but the quality, which is important. A grain of mustard seed and a pellet of dust may appear at a distance to be much the same, but the difference between the two is immense, because the one has no life burning at the heart of it, whilst the other contains life as God has kindled it. The one thing that you need is to have faith, as small as you like, but faith which has in it the principle of life, namely, faith with God in it. The one thing that shows whether or not your faith is of the right quality is whether it is directed towards the right object, which is Jesus Christ.

II. Your faith is like the tiny grain. You think you will never be able to produce a holy and useful life. But if only your soul can come into living union with the eternal God, there is nothing that He will not be able to effect by your instrumentality. There are five processes. (1) There must be contact. As long as you are apart from God, though trying to serve God in a strange anomaly, you are missing the true power of your life. (2) There must be solitude. (3) There must be death. (4) Receptivity. There is simply nothing impossible to the man who has learned the art of being a channel for God. (5) Individuality. The mustard seed produces mustard growth; the grain of wheat, wheat growth; the acorn, oak growth. George Mller lets God into his soul, and Ashley Down is covered with orphan houses. Spurgeon lets God into his soul, and you have the Tabernacle, and volumes of Sermons, and the orphan house, and Pastors’ College.

F. B. Meyer, The Soul’s Ascent, p. 277.

Luk 17:6

Faith, no larger than the tiniest mustard seed, but able to toss the mountains, as pebbles, from their foundations into the sea, is the determination to do the thing chosen to be done or to die literally to die in the trying to do it. Death is farther from most of us than we fancy, and if we would but risk all, to win or lose all, we could almost always do the deed which looks so grimly impossible. Those who have faced great physical dangers, or who have been matched by fate against overwhelming odds of anxiety and trouble, alone know what great things are to be done when men stand at bay and face the world, and fate, and life, and death, and misfortune, all banded together against them, and say in their hearts, ‘We will win this fight or die’. Then, at that word, when it is spoken earnestly, in sincerity and truth, the iron will rises up and takes possession of the feeble body, the doubting soul shakes off its hesitating weakness, is drawn back upon itself like a strong bow bent double, is compressed and full of a terrible latent power, like the handful of deadly explosive which, buried in the bosom of the rock, will presently shake the mighty cliff to its roots, as no thunderbolt could shake it.

F. Marion Crawford, in The Cigarette-Maker’s Romance, ix.

References. XVII. 6. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. i. p. 119. XVII. 7-10. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. i. p. 271. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No. 2334. XVII. 8. Expositor (6th Series), vol. x. p. 283. XVII. 9, 10. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke, p. 119.

Luk 17:10

Zachary Macaulay, says Sir George Trevelyan in the opening chapter of his Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, ‘worked strenuously and unceasingly, never amusing himself from year’s end to year’s end, and shrinking from any public praise or recognition as from an unlawful gratification, because he was firmly persuaded that, when all had been accomplished and endured, he was yet but an unprofitable servant, who had done that which was his duty to do. Some, perhaps, will consider such motives as old-fashioned, and such convictions as out of date; but self-abnegation, self-control, and self-knowledge that does not give to self the benefit of any doubt, are virtues which are not old-fashioned, and for which, as time goes on, the world is likely to have as much need as ever.’

‘Civilisation,’ writes Mr. Shorthouse in the first chapter of Sir Percival, ‘civilisation pursues its beneficent march, forwarded, for the most part, by this glorious English race forwarded too, for the most part, by these little nameless wars. Three lines only in the Gazette, but some bright young life is laid down without a murmur not a vulgar life, but a life the offspring of a family, the flower and type of the human race some home is made desolate, with no thought save “we have done that which it was our duty to do”. I have been told by clever men that in the days when Rome was the mistress of the world something like this was also known.’

True love never thinks it has done enough.

F. W. Faber.

‘The dominant note of Herbert’s poetry,’ says Mr. S. R. Gardiner, ‘is the eagerness for action, mingled with a sense of its insufficiency.’

It is well to believe silently in our possibilities, but to talk critically at our actual performances…. Humility is the attitude of mind which accompanies the perception that the human perfection possible to ourselves is, after all, inadequate to the ideal perfection which the conception of it implies. After we have done all we are ‘unprofitable servants,’ falling far short of that ideal the fulfilment of which is imposed upon us by the law of our moral and intellectual nature. Our vision of good is broader, and our aspirations higher than our powers can reach. Hence, if we are true faithful to the spiritual aspirations which claim us, and honest in the estimate of our actions and ourselves, it must be that we see ourselves always, and even necessarily, as ‘unprofitable servants,’ always and necessarily lower than we aspire and feel we ought to be.

Dr. Sophie Bryant.

References. XVII. 10. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 167. J. Martineau, Endeavours after the Christian Life (2nd Series), p. 73. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi. No. 1541. W. G. Rutherford, The Key of Knowledge, p. 247. Expositor (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 120; ibid. vol. ix. p. 44; ibid. (7th Series), vol. v. p. 341. XVII. 11-19. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke, p. 127. XVII. 12-14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1635. XVII. 14. W. H. Evans, Short Sermons for the Seasons, p. 156.

The Grateful Leper

Luk 17:17

I. There are few things that we feel more than ingratitude. Some of us who work and labour are very sensitive about this. We seem always to be looking for showers of recognition and appreciation to descend upon us, and we get disheartened because we do not get much thanks. If you look at the witness of our Lord Himself, He was subject to the same thing He is always a Refuge; you can find all your troubles in the heart of your Saviour. ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.’ And this was a very bad case, an extreme case, because the disease that these men suffered from was the very worst. And then, not only was the disease such an extreme case, but the cure was absolutely complete. At a word they were made whole. When the Lord Jesus Christ cures, He cures indeed. The light of His countenance was health. To look upon His face is to live. He made them whole! If you surrender yourselves to the Saviour in all the difficulties of life, His work in the soul is always complete; He never does things by halves new hopes, new longings, new wishes, new desires, new joys, new heart.

Yet out of the ten who were cleansed only one returned to thank Him.

II. And now notice another thing. They all of them prayed very earnestly. They all of them said, ‘Have mercy on us’. They all prayed, but only one of the ten praised.

III. The only one who redeemed the occasion was a Samaritan! Does not that correct something within our souls? Deep down beyond all our religious distinctions there is humanity the touch of nature which makes all men kin.

IV. And, last of all, let us just notice a few aspects of the thanksgiving. He returned and gave thanks himself in person. If you are to thank God, do it personally. Say to yourself, God has been good to me; I must thank Him. And it must come light out of the heart. You know what this man did. He turned back and threw himself down at Jesus’ feet worshipping. He could not go a step farther before he had thanked God. It came from his heart. It was the expression of his soul. It was not that Jesus needed the thanks, but the man needed to thank Him. Thanksgiving to God is the need of a soul that knows God has blessed him. He turned round and fell at His feet, and thanked God.

The Most Popular Sin in the World

Luk 17:17

I. Ingratitude seems to be the most popular sin in the world. It is one of the worst crimes in the big black catalogue of wrong-doing. And the sin of ingratitude is the broad highway to envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, to the cowardly denials of Peter and the bloody treachery of Judas. Our Lord was called upon to taste its bitterness in a thousand ways. Between the carelessness of the lepers and the vileness of Iscariot, He suffered to the fullest from man’s ingratitude. In every phase we see the same ingratitude repeated before our eyes. (1) We see it in the home. What blows has a boy struck at his mother’s tender heart! What dagger-thrusts has a father received from those to whom he had given life! Perhaps this cruel ingratitude is not at heart so cruel as we think. Perhaps, that is to say, it is not conscious, deliberate, understood cruelty at all. It is lack of imagination; it is the sin of stupidity; it is sheer thoughtlessness, not sheer wickedness. Let us hope that this is true. It is bad enough then. (2) We see this ingratitude in common service, the service which, in the ordinary course of life, man renders to man in the community. A strong man says in the pride of achievement: ‘Never since I was a boy have I been under obligation to any human being’. Nonsense arrant nonsense! You are under obligation to a hundred unknown lowly workers, and under obligation, too, to the greatest of mankind. We are debtor to the Greek and to the barbarian, to men of thought as well as men of action, to the highly placed as to the lowly born.

II. The spirit in which ingratitude must be endured. It is not necessary to minimise the pain with which experience of ingratitude, developing treachery and hate, wrings our suffering hearts. But the ills of life must be borne. And without delivering ourselves into the custody of a silly optimism, it is good gospel and good sense to inquire where we may find the right spirit in which to face them all. And I suggest to you (1) that sometimes the one who suffers from ingratitude has not been altogether free from blame. There is a way of doing a kindness which is detestable. (2) But assuming that your kindness has been perfect with the perfection of the God who prompted it, let me urge this upon you: Do not condemn the whole world for the sins of a few. (3) Again, Why should you expect gratitude? Your reward is in the good that you have done. If you feel as though your heart was broken by the thanklessness of those whom you have helped, consider. When you live on, in service, in sacrifice, pouring your rich, conquering life into the spiritually anaemic, into the weak, the helpless, and the lost, when you do this amid failure, mortification, bafflement, you link yourself with the truest, bravest, noblest heroes of all time.

C. F. Aked, The Courage of the Coward, p. 153.

References. XVII. 17. S. Gregory, How to Steer a Ship, p. 97. Brooke Herford, Courage and Cheer, p. 42. F. St. John Corbett, The Preacher’s Year, p. 144. J. Aspinall, Parish Sermons (2nd Series), p. 37. J. B. Mozley, University Sermons, p. 288. H. P. Liddon, Sermons on Some Words of Christ, p. 206. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. li. No. 2960. Expository Sermons on the New Testament, p. 93. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons, p. 250. W. J. Brock, Sermons, p. 209. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2nd Series), vol. ii. p. 117. XVII. 18. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p. 298. XVII. 19. R. Higinbotham, Sermons, p. 136. XVII. 20. R. C. Trench, Sermons New and Old, p. 196. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 88. XVII. 20, 21. C. Bradley, Faithful Teaching, p. 68. D. N. Beach, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlviii. p. 189. XVII. 20-23. G. Littlemore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 42.

The Seat of Authority

Luk 17:21

The sense of liberty, the acute consciousness of responsibility, are essential to the individual and the race; without the conviction of personal sufficiency as against circumstance our whole nature is impaired. Let us, then, remind ourselves of this spiritual sovereignty, so that we may claim and exercise it to our great advantage. We address ourselves: I. To those whose chief fight in life is with their inherited nature. (1) Let us realise distinctly and vividly what our true nature is. Our deepest nature is not animal or fiendish, but Divine; it therefore brings with it the obligation to high conduct, and competence for such conduct. ‘Being then the offspring of God, we ought not….’ What negatives arise out of that relationship! ‘Being then the offspring of God, we ought….’What positives are implied in that relationship! (2) We so continually fail in the war with world, flesh, and devil, because the kingdom within us has fallen into anarchy. (3) The doctrine of evolution is on the side of health, rationality, and virtue. Heredity, in the deeper meaning, is not destructive but constructive. The feeblest of us, endued with the power of Christ, can triumphantly resist and overcome the motions of sin which are in our members, even when they are most entrenched and rampant.

II. A word with those whose chief peril seems to lie in their untoward circumstances. (1) It is obvious that we are not physically at the mercy of the environment, as is popularly supposed. Our body is endowed with wonderful powers of resistance: it is capable of subtle adaptations, it secretes antiseptics, it sets up reactions, and remains strangely immune in tainted atmospheres. (2) In the intellectual world we see not less impressively the mastery of unfriendly environment. (3) If, then, in our physical and intellectual life we withstand inimical environments, shall we not prevail against them in our highest life? The scientist assures us that, ‘without suitable conditions life could not exist’. The rose must bloom in the sun, the fern be planted in the shade, the willow spring by the watercourses. But this law of environment ceases with physical life. We see roses blushing through cold snows, ferns flourishing in fire, honeysuckle wreathing icicles, orchids in Siberia, May flowers in December: or, to drop the imagery, we find saints living the most beautiful lives in conditions which seem utterly to forbid faith, spirituality, greatness, and nobleness. The kingdom of God is within them, and they are little concerned with the temporal environment. The pressing duty is continually to strengthen the interior against the exterior.

W. L. Watkinson, The Supreme Conquest, p. 189.

Luk 17:21

To an inquirer, who proposed to come and visit him, William Law once wrote a modest letter of dissuasion, closing with these words: ‘I have wrote very largely on the spiritual life, and he that has read and likes it has of all men the least reason to ask me any questions about, or visit me on that occasion. He understands not my writings, nor the end of them, who does not see that their whole drift is to call all Christians to a God and Christ within them as the only possible life, light, and power of all goodness they can ever have; and therefore, as much turn my readers from myself as from any other Lo here! or, lo there! I invite all people to the marriage of the Lamb, but no one to myself.’

References. XVII. 21. C. S. Home, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlviii. p. 148. S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 1901-2, p. 1. R. Winterbotham, The Kingdom of Heaven, p. 219. D. M. Ross, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 409. E. De Pressens, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xviii. p. 183. J. M. Whiton, Summer Sermons, p. 35. B. Reynolds, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xiv. p. 552. Reuen Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p. 156. C. J. Ridgeway, The King and, His Kingdom, p. 11. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iv. p. 380; ibid. vol. viii. p. 441. XVII. 22. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1323. Expositor (4th Series), vol. x. p. 193. XVII. 23. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. ii. p. 334. XVII. 24. Ibid. (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 335; ibid. (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 388. XVII. 24-37. Ibid. vol. x. p. 349. XVII. 26, 27. T. Arnold, Christian Life: Its Hopes, p. 82. XVII. 31. Expositor (4th Series), vol. vi. p. 195.

Lot’s Wife

Luk 17:32

This picture, etched so sharply on the Bible page, may well help to illustrate for us truths that should be burned into our minds and our memories.

I. Note, first, that God saves all He can. For Lot was not saved alone, in mercy that overlooked all others beside. His wife’s deliverance had been cared for too, and measures taken to secure her with the rest. One of the angels clasped her hand and drew her out of the conflagration by main force. Almost against her will she was hurried so far out of danger, and the mountain-road, with its hastening fugitives, stretched out clear before her, when, in that one glance behind, her incurably corrupt nature came out, and the stroke fell.

In other words, she was nearly saved, and would have been wholly saved had that heavenly rescue-party had their will.

II. Note, secondly, how men hanker after old sins. That was the fatal flaw in this instance; and how frequently it shadows lives full of promise in the Bible! Recall some of the more prominent examples. Rachel becomes the wife of Jacob, and like him engages thereby to worship the one true God; but when she leaves her home the old idols are packed away in the baggage. The Israelites acclaim Moses as leader, and promise obedience, and set out eagerly for the desert; but the Red Sea is hardly out of sight before they are weeping for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and ready to stone their deliverer. And when we cross over to the New Testament, there is the career of Demas first feeling the strange attraction of the Gospel and waiting upon St. Paul as a familiar friend, then recaptured by the old fascination and plunging back into the world. It is a weakness all too common, this craving lust for earlier self-indulgence; and it suggests that Christ spoke to every human soul when He uttered the solemn words: No man, putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.

III. Lastly, note how sin can be committed in desire. At first sight, perhaps, one might suppose this woman had been dealt with very hardly; and we are tempted to say that the punishment was out of all proportion to the crime. But, if we feel that, it is because we fail to realise all that her longing glance implied. It was a clear proof that, if she could, she would have turned back to her old haunts; and that, indeed, so far as will and choice were concerned, she had turned back already. So there are instances where God cannot but take the will for the deed. H. R. Mackintosh, Life on God’s Plan, p. 115.

Lot’s Wife

Luk 17:32

There are few more solemn warnings in Holy Scripture than the warning of our text, ‘Remember Lot’s wife’. She was a professing follower of God. Her husband was a righteous man. It is very solemn when you remember who it is that gives to us this warning. Our Lord Jesus Christ was full of love and pity and compassion. And yet He would not have us shut our eyes to future doom, and He said, ‘Remember Lot’s wife’. It is very solemn when you remember the occasion upon which He gives this warning. It is very solemn when you remember to whom He gave this warning. And it is very solemn when you remember the sin against which He warns us.

I. In the first place, remember that she was Lot’s wife. He was a distinctly God-fearing man. She was bound to him by the closest ties, and yet when our Lord looks back into the lurid fires of Sodom and Gomorrah, He singles out this woman from the general destruction as a warning for us Christians, and He says, ‘Remember Lot’s wife’. You may be the husband of a saint of God, and yet you may be an outcast from the realms of glory.

II. Now this woman not only was the wife of Lot, but she had great privileges. It was not only that her husband was a godly man. Her uncle was the ‘friend of God’. There was not one out of ten thousand who had had such privileges as had this woman. And yet privileges do not save. And now when the day of doom comes you see her sin.

III. And what is the doom? Nearly all that we know about the future punishment of those who have been long warned, and have resisted the warning, comes from the lips of Christ Himself. Jesus Christ, speaking of the hereafter, speaks of ‘hell,’ ‘hell fire,’ ‘the damnation of hell,’ ‘eternal damnation,’ ‘the resurrection of damnation,’ ‘everlasting fire,’ ‘the place of torment,’ ‘destruction,’ ‘outer darkness,’ ‘the worm that never dies,’ ‘the fire that is not quenched,’ ‘the place of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth,’ ‘everlasting sin’.

E. A. Stuart, The New Commandment and other Sermons, vol. vii. p. 129.

The words are few, and the sentence short; no one in Scripture so short. But it fareth with Sentences as with C oynes: In coines, they that in smallest compasse conteine greatest value, are best esteemed: and, in sentences, those that in fewest words comprise most matter, are most praised…. So that, we must needs be without all excuse, it being but three words and but five syllables, if we do not remember it. There are in Lot’s storie,’ continues Bishop Andrewes, preaching before Queen Elizabeth, ‘two very notable monuments of God’s judgment. The Lake of Sodome and Lot’s Wife’s Pillar. The one, the punishment of resolute sinne; the other of faint virtue.’

References. XVII. 32. C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p. 244. Brooke Herford, Courage and Cheer, p. 79. W. J. Brock, Sermons, p. 249. J. Aspinall, Parish Sermons (1st Series), p. 180. J. A. Alexander, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, p. 88. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No. 1491. XVII. 33. Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p. 275. J. Huntley Skrine, Sermons to Pastors and Masters, p. 118. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 278. XVII. 36, 37. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 135.

Luk 17:37

This is the guiding text of Bishop King’s ‘Meditations on the Seven Last Words’. He appeals to ‘the eagle-spirited’….’All who are striving to strengthen their spiritual sight; all who have been striving this Lent and through the past year to keep off the film of sin all such will naturally come and gather round the cross today.’… ‘There was a battlefield indeed! it was the last great assault all the power of the enemy was there. The Prince of this world and the Lord of glory fought upon the Cross.’ ‘Within the man invisibly was God; the Lamb of God was also the Rock of Ages, and the jaw-bone of the lion broke.’

Let us try, those who would be truly eagle-spirited, those who really desire the higher spirit of St. John, to see the body of our Lord as St. John speaks of Him when he says, ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory’. We saw, as it were, the tabernacle of His flesh full of grace and truth. In point of fact, pure-hearted people have the reward which our Saviour promised, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’. And pure-hearted people who become eagle-spirited, keep around the Cross, as eagles in the roughest and most stormy weather move with a kind of royal independence and power. So the more eagle-spirited, and those of the deepest spiritual sight, would keep round the suffering Body of Christ, and are not merely content to see the outward things, but they see Him, in spite of suffering, much more as He is. They see more of the Divine nature.

References. XVII. 37. Archbishop Magee, The Gospel and the Age, p. 223. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 12. T. G. Bonney, Death and Life in Nations and Men, p. 1. D. Fraser, Metaphors in the Gospels, p. 232.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

Faith Power

Luk 17:6

You either believe these words, or you do not. Probably there is not a man who has not neglected them. Was there ever such a declaration made by human lips? How we hasten over verses of this range and quality, and get into easy reading as soon as we can! But here stands the solemn, incredible word. Words of this kind should not be read once only, for the ear may refuse them full admission, and the memory may perform quite a miracle of forgetfulness; we should say the words themselves over and over again until they become part of our very consciousness. “And the Lord said….” It requires an introduction not less august. Had it been “And Peter said,” we should have made short work of the speech. “And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” If this is not a fanciful speech it is the most neglected doctrine in all the book. Not a Christian soul in the wide universe believes a tittle of it: so we cannot call ourselves Christian. We only become Christians at the difficult points: along the common road we belong to all denominations of thinkers; it is at hard places, at new departures, at cross-roads, at the Cross, that we become real Christians. We always seek to lessen the meaning of supernatural declarations; we call them figures of speech, we refer to them as mystic idealities; things written in clouds, and framed with stars; we are willing to give them any amount of transcendental honour, but we never accept them as direct, imposing immediate responsibilities, and offering an instantaneous heaven. What wonder that spirituality is at a discount? We hold our religion with the fingers of our reason; we take it up and set it down as an argument, we surround it with many learned books we have never read, and think that so surrounded it is perfectly secure. The one thing we have not done is the only thing we are asked to do, and that is to live our piety. It is for the men of faith to recall and re-establish the doctrine of faith. Even believers that seem to be supreme carry with them a measuring-rod with which to mark off the ideal, the spiritual, and the infinite into inches. We are never lost in God. We exclude the supernatural, and then praise God; we write moaningly and remuneratively about the decay of supernaturalism, and then never think of using our soul’s wings, but always do we walk with the feet of our body. All this must be reformed and driven away. Nothing is clearer to me than that the Church is dying. The Church ought to die when it loses its distinctiveness; when it ceases to represent faith, it is effete, it has survived its function, it is fit only to be cast down and trodden under foot of men. When the Church is only one of a number of kindred institutions, decent, respectable, self-protecting, self-promoting, the Church has ceased to have any reason for existence. We need the voice of the Lord great, noble, resonant, musical; a majestic voice to speak to us some doctrine the reception of which will give us distinctiveness and therefore holy influence.

What can be more rational than the basis of the doctrine which the Lord thus declares? What is it when put into other than distinctively religious words? It is simply that mind is greater than matter. “If ye had faith” a high mental condition, a new spiritual consciousness, the faculty which lays hold upon God you could uproot mountains, and transfer forests to the midst of the sea; you could give eyes to the blind, you could wake the dead from their undreaming sleep. Thus divested of theological colour and prejudice, we come face to face with a new philosophy, namely, that mind in its spiritual fire, in its conscious dominance, is greater than all things we denominate material. Yet we have put our necks under these things, and have accepted the yoke of a humiliating bondage. We who ought to have played with the laws of nature have lassoed ourselves with them, and asked what they were going to do next, We have lived inverted lives, we have given away our heritage, and have not received even a mess of pottage in return. Is it possible that we have not faith as a grain of mustard seed? Does that refer to quantity or to quality? In the first instance evidently to quantity, for the apostle said in the preceding verse, “Lord, increase our faith”: give us more faith; and the Lord said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed,” which is the smallest among seeds, ye should work miracles with it. Yet, in the next place, it may be a question of quality; for, though the mustard seed is the least among seeds, yet when it is grown it becomes an exceeding great tree, and the birds of the air lodge in its branches. So with this Christian faith: though quantitatively small, yet in its quality it is vital, expansive, always ascending into largeness, fruitfulness, hospitality. We are not called upon to ask for a little faith, small as a grain of mustard seed, but we are called upon to ask for the mustard-seed-like faith, that being planted will not die, but will rise and grow and strengthen, and be a church for the singing birds. It ought to be possible to receive from our Father in heaven direct guidance as to all the practical affairs of life. Observe the expression “direct guidance,” not some hazy, cloudy, impalpable impression. Otherwise history is living backwards. We have less communion with God than the old prophets had; where they heard the word of the Lord we simply catch an impression which we translate according to our uppermost instinct or our most recent prejudice. Let the Church lay down this doctrine: It is possible to receive from our Father in heaven direct guidance in all the practical affairs of life; then the Church has a distinct position to occupy. Those who do not belong to the Church admit an intellectual action in life; they speak of having impressions, convictions, and refer with great confidence to the action of instinct and the play of reason: it is only after that we must look for the beginning of Christian faith, and the distinctiveness of spiritual action and reliance. If we pass through all the tragedy of Calvary merely to accept the nostrums and the dogmas of old paganisms, or current rationalities, we have squandered our strength, and by elaborating our circumlocution we have lost time and pith and quality.

We must, perhaps with a ruthless hand, clear the ground of certain misconceptions. For example, this doctrine will not admit the proposition of frivolous inquiries. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” The Lord will not listen to inquiries that are not burning with sincerity, and that do not relate to the very centre and dignity of life. Nor will this doctrine for one moment tolerate presumptuous inquiries, as to what shall happen on the morrow, or as to who shall live or die ten years hence, or what is the mystery of the universe. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” God will not allow violation of boundaries, trespass of limitations, which are good for us as little children, as lives trained on a cloudy day to aspire after forgiveness and immortality. Nor will the doctrine for one instant tolerate prejudiced inquiries. For example, a man might come saying, that he knows in his heart what he will do, whatever the divine answer may be supposed to be. A man so coming will be disappointed; his inquiry will be regarded as an impiety and will be disallowed. How difficult it is to get rid of prejudice in our inquiries, and even in our prayers! We pray for certain events, but we spoil our prayer by a bias; we want them, but not for the right reason; we suggest certain possibilities to the Lord, but he knows by the reading of our heart that we do not want those possibilities to transpire, but that we are really craving for another set of possibilities and facts. To no such inquiries will the Lord respond. Nor will he answer those who turn evident duties into moral perplexities and spiritual problems. When things are plainly revealed there is no need to pray about them or to inquire concerning them. No man need pray saying, Lord, send me an answer to this inquiry: shall I pay my debts? shall I forgive my penitent enemies? shall I continue in Christian worship and spiritual aspiration? shall I really love my neighbour as myself? questions that have no real point, no sacrifice in the heart of them, no Calvary at any point of their statement. Thus we lay down limitations, and within those limitations I do not hesitate to propound the doctrine that to an honest and true heart there should be no difficulty whatever in ascertaining the right course, in business, in enterprise, or in any practical department of life. If you have the childlike, sincere, loving heart, you can have an answer tomorrow as to whether you should take up that venture or not: but if you want to take up the venture, and then make a mock of prayer for heavenly guidance, you will have no reply, or God will make a fool of you. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” What is your heart? Is it childlike, obedient, docile, without a thought, a prejudice, a bias? Then you can have an answer direct from heaven as to whether you ought to take up that new business, enter into that new enterprise, accept that glittering offer. When the Church lays down this doctrine, and lives it, the Church will have a distinct function in society; but at present the Church is in danger of having nothing to do but repeat its old ceremonies, its old dogmas, its old propositions, every pulse of life having gone out of them, and nothing being left but a dead form of dead words. All men cannot, it may be, attain this supremacy of faith. But the men who have attained it should be the ministers and the prophets of their age. Men should hasten to them for guidance and direction: but they should come in a spirit of docility and faith. Men who can ask God for us are the greatest ministers of the time: no honour too great for them, no tribute too costly. We pay musicians for music, and chaplains for prayers, and preachers for sermons: what should be given to the man who can guide us in the practical affairs of life?

How will the answer come? I cannot tell. What will be the process through which the divine being will communicate with the suppliant soul? I do not know. By mental impressions, by a series of events following each other in a certain order, by uncalculated and unconscious coincidences, by some definite physical action, or in some way that cannot be mistaken for a merely human sensation or event. The answer will be according to the sincerity of the inquirer. Bad faith on the part of the inquirer will receive nothing of the Lord. The Lord will even deceive the prophet himself, and will lead the foolish or selfish inquirer astray. “I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” And the prophet himself may have his security endangered by the wickedness of the wicked applicant. I have never hesitated to act upon this doctrine in my own life, and it has never led me astray. I have risked everything upon it. To the sight of men I have in one or two instances or more played the fool that I might magnify faith in God. The answer may not always justify itself by immediate results: God takes time for the declaration of his economies and inspirations. I have sat down the day after committing myself thus to God, and cried like a disappointed child, and have said aloud, Surely in this case my faith has been misplaced, or God has trifled with me. But in another day, or month, or year, a vision has glorified the whole heaven, and all doubt has been dispersed, and they who mocked me as a foolish man have come round to offer their tribute too late, and have even then sought to magnify a man’s sagacity above the inspiration of God. Do you feel that you cannot rise to this elevation of faith? Then do not attempt it. Does some tempter say to you, “after all ” Then you are in the tempter’s hands, and do not contract the guilt of venturing to speak to spiritual men on spiritual subjects. You have no right to use such language; it is a currency unknown in your world.

Might not false prophets arise? Certainly. What then? If you cannot keep false prophets down, do what you may; you may lay down the doctrine. You fear there will be men who will scoff at it, or misappropriate it, or pervert it, or degrade it? Here is a man who has given up all commercial life because he once knew an individual who attempted to pass a bad half-crown: how noble he looks, how lofty in reason! He had his ground for retiring from the world; nothing we may say can persuade him to return to commercial usages. Here is another man who has given up all friendship and all society because he once proved a man to be a hypocrite. Now he never speaks now he simply waits for extinction. If he thinks, it is after this fashion, namely: Friendship may beget hypocrisy; men may presume upon it, men may misuse it, may degrade it into selfish and mischievous perversions: therefore I have ceased to have anything to do with the culture of friendly relations. Here is a noble soul who has retired to a hermitage unknown to every human being because he found self-seekers in politics. He could not bear it he has gone! We must not therefore be afraid of a doctrine simply because false prophets would arise to trade upon it, because the element of betting, and gambling, and speculation might be introduced into it. What we are in search of is sound, true, spiritual doctrine.

If the Lord Jesus Christ has not taught some such doctrine as we are now attempting to state, he has taught nothing. Therefore I see no scriptural argument against faith-healing. I have never seen any healing by faith, but to my knowledge there is not a single verse in all the Bible which forbids that the prayer of faith will heal the sick. Let us admit that. I do not see any scriptural argument against the possibility of mind communicating with mind, spirit holding sacred relations with spirit: are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? The angel of the Lord encompasseth round about them that love him. Surely there are more passages of Scripture that would seem to indicate the possibility of spiritual communion than would seem to disallow that possibility. I see no scriptural argument against personal inspiration. God surely does not live backwardly, going from much to less, and from less to nothing. The other course of revelation and providence would seem to be more in harmony with what we know of human consciousness, and human history, and divine revelation. The Spirit of God was promised to the Church, and was promised for the express purpose of leading the Church into all truth; men were told not to think about what they should say when they were brought before human tribunals for faith’s sake, as if the Lord had said, You will not be convicted or condemned on the ground of cleverness, or on account of faculty, intellectual inventiveness or personal eloquence. All these things have nothing to do with the case; in the hour of your agony you shall have an answer which cannot be finally gainsaid. This is the upper life; this is the life of faith. I see greater danger in the discouragement of faith than in its stimulus and even exaggeration. Do not imagine that we escape all danger by disallowing the possibility of communing with God, in the sense of receiving from above direct answers to direct inquiries. Do not suppose that we live a noble life by saying to young and ardent hearts: Do not expect answers from God of a direct and pertinent kind, but construe events, look at the outlines of Providence as they are indicated in the history of the current day. There is a danger in all such discouragement of faith, more danger than in the doctrine which says, Increase your faith; distrust your senses; be sure that your reason cannot comprehend the whole economy and meaning of things. But may not that end in fanaticism? Certainly. Still, what does that prove? If it prove anything it proves too much, and by proving too much it proves nothing. I contend that the sound reason points to the culture of faith, and encourages that marvellous plunge which a man takes when he says, My reason can do no more for me, my senses cannot go one stride further: now, my God, I leap! Take me: leave me not, O thou great Jehovah! To the world that is insanity, but the world never understood faith.

Let no man imagine that this gift is dissociated from obedience. It is not a solitary gift, it is not an eccentricity, it is not given to one man and withheld from another by any merely arbitrary arrangement or purpose. There is a distribution of functions and gifts in the Church; Christ gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. You do not find all these specialities consummated and expressed in one ministry. To one man Christ gave the keys. The man who really holds this trust will be most modest, most faithful, most consciously dependent upon God. The high office to which this doctrine points is, let us repeat, not open to gamblers, speculators, curiosity-mongers, and fortune-tellers. The argument that such people would abuse it, let us further repeat, proves nothing by proving too much: for what holy office or sacred trust have not such people abused? They have prostituted every natural instinct, they have broken every honourable compact, nay, they have sacrificed their children unto devils. Not for fear of them, therefore, must Christians either lower their flag or shade their light.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

FIVE PARABLES: THE LOST SHEEP; THE LOST COIN; THE LOST BOY; THE UNJUST STEWARD; DIVES AND LAZARUS

Harmony, pages 123-125 and Luk 15:1-17:10 .

We are now in the section treating generally of the closing ministry of our Lord in all parts of the Holy Land, but particularly of his Perean ministry. We have already (in The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION) learned what is a parable, etymologically and by usage; we have stated clearly the distinctions in the meaning between the word “parable” and such other words as proverb, allegory, illustration, fable, myth, and legend; we have given the principles of interpreting parables, particularly noting the discrimination between what is important and what is the mere drapery of the illustration, and we have noted the wisdom of our Lord in grouping parables so that the many sides of a great truth or of a complex subject may be shown.

It has been my custom, hitherto, particularly when considering our Lord as the great Teacher, to lay special stress on his method of teaching by parables. And to this end I have prepared a large chart showing, in the order of their occurrence and in the setting of their occasion, all of his parables, citing for each the page of the Harmony, the chapter and verse, and the leading thought, or principal lesson. Every Bible student, every Sunday school teacher should have such a chart. (For this chart see The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION.)

Since there has been so much injudicious and even wild interpretation of the parables, I warn the reader against certain books purporting to expound them, and especially commend certain other books which treat generally of the whole subject in a masterly way and expound each particular parable on sane and profitable lines. And even now I delay the present discussion long enough to urge the reader to put into his library and to master by close study, the books of both Taylor and Trench on the parables. I do not endorse every particular statement, or detail, in either of the books, but on the whole I can commend them most heartily. To those who are more advanced in scholarship and general information, I commend in the same general way Edersheim’s discussion of the parables in his really great work The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. What a pity that many young preachers, following the promptings of an unripe judgment, waste their scanty means for purchasing good books, and fill up their few shelves with not only profitless, but poisonous literature. But now to our subject.

It would not be difficult to show some connection between these parables and the others closely following in Luke’s Gospel, but it is more important just now to note the close connection between the two last parables of this group and the three parables immediately preceding, namely, the lost sheep, or one of a hundred; the lost coin, or one of ten; the lost boy, or one of two.

There five parables arise from one occasion, to wit, the censure of the Pharisees on our Lord’s receiving sinners, and make an incomparable group, surpassing in value all of the uninspired wisdom of the ancients and the philosophies of all heathen sages since the world began.

The first exhibits the attitude of mind toward sinners and his special work in their behalf, of God the Son, who, like a good shepherd, seeks and saves the lost. The second illustrates the part of God the Holy Spirit in the same salvation as a shining light which discovers the lost coin. The third discloses the heart of God, the Father, in receiving the penitent prodigal. The third also exhibits, in an inimitable way, the experience of the sinner himself in passing from death unto life, and all three vividly exhibit heaven’s joy at the salvation of the lost, in sharp contrast with earth’s scorn and censure. (For detailed explanation of the parable of the prodigal son see author’s sermon in Evangelistic Sermons .)

It is the purpose of the fourth, that is, the unjust steward, to teach a forward lesson to these saved publicans, viz., as God the ‘Son had come down from heaven to seek out and save them; as God the Spirit had shined into their hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of his Son; as God the Father had embraced them coming in their penitence, and, as all the bells of heaven ring out their welcome, so, after salvation, they should offer their service and, the particular lesson is that the wisdom which prompted them as publicans to make provision for the future in time must now be applied to making provision for the future in eternity, else the “children of this world in their generation will be wiser than the children of light in their generation.”

The reader must not fail to note the mixed audience listening to these parables. The lesson of the unjust steward is indeed addressed primarily to his disciples, that is, mainly to the recently disciplined publicans, but yet in the hearing of the Pharisees, while the warning lesson of Dives and Lazarus is addressed primarily to the Pharisees, but yet in the hearing of the others. It is important to note that both parables have one theme, namely: “How the use or misuse of money in this world affects our status in the world to come, whether in heaven or hell.” But we must bear in mind that, while the parables in Luk 16 discuss-service and rewards, we must carefully hedge against the idea of any power in money to purchase heaven or evade hell. I repeat that the three preceding parables in Luk 15 teach us the way of salvation; the parable of the unjust steward, on the other hand, is addressed to saved men to show how their lives as Christians may yet affect their status in heaven. It is a matter of rewards, not salvation. Just so, the parable of Dives and Lazarus does not teach that the rich man was lost because of the wrong use of money, but that being already lost, his misuse of money in time aggravates his status in hell. Apart from salvation and damnation is the question of awards when saved or of aggravated suffering when lost. And as both parables have one theme, so one moral links them together indissolubly. That moral is, “And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they [the friends made by it] may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.”

In the case of both parables the leading thought is that a reasonable mind should provide for the future, and that the use or abuse of what we have in time, whether opportunities, or talents, or money, does in some way affect our status in eternity. Other important things may be taught incidentally; and in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, particularly, other quite important things are certainly so taught but sound principles of interpretation require that first of all there should be due stress on the main point. With these premises in mind we now consider

THE PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD

As has been said, it is addressed primarily to “his disciples,” that is, particularly to the publicans recently discipled; that its purpose is to show that after their salvation comes service, with its appointed rewards in glory; that since the publicans, before their conversion, had endeavored to provide for their future on earth, so now as disciples they must with the same foresight, only better directed, provide for an eternal future; that for only a little while on earth they are blessed with opportunities and means of usefulness, and that these are held in trust. How then shall they be transmuted into eternal exchange? This grave question is answered by this illustrative parable. The substance of the story is this: A rich lord, on learning that his steward was wasting the substance entrusted to him, notifies him that he may no longer be steward, and orders him to give an account of his stewardship. This dishonest servant had no illusions, attempted no self-deceptions, but in a candid, practical way, looked the facts and the logic of the situation squarely in the face. He knew that his own books would confirm the accusation against him; that his office was inevitably lost; that there was no defense possible; and that there was no hope of future employment from his lord. He must, therefore, rely wholly on himself. He saw clearly and rejected both of the ordinary alternatives, hard manual labor or beggary. He felt himself unable to dig and was ashamed to beg. What remained then? In some way he must provide for his future. He was as quick to decide what to do as he was clear in his apprehension of the facts. Being only a child of this world, no moral scruples hampered his decision. Moreover, as the time was short he must be as prompt in action as in decision. Having yet the power of attorney that accompanies stewardship, his disposition of his employer’s interests would be legal. That point he must safeguard. So he proceeded at once to make friends in another direction by further misuse of his employer’s means, according to the saying, “In for a penny, in for a pound,” or “One may as well hang for a sheep as for a lamb.” Rapidly and separately he approached his lord’s debtors and by sharp reduction of the amount due in each case he succeeded in securing the good will and gratitude of each debtor. By that creative faculty, the imagination, he could vividly see each relieved debtor going home, and hear him tell the delighted family all about the kind offers of the friendly steward who sympathized with labor against capital; with the oppressed tenant against the bloated landlord. He argued: “Now, when I am cast out of this office these grateful debtors will receive me into their homes with welcome and hospitality, and so I shall be provided for the rest of my days with shelter and food without the necessity of digging or begging.” It is also true that he could hold in terror over these tenants the fact that they had knowingly conspired with him to defraud the landlord, but there is no hint in the parable that he relied upon exciting fear in the tenants, but friendship only. When his lord (not our Lord) heard of this new exploit of rascality, he could not but admire the sagacity and shrewdness with which the cornered steward had escaped from his dilemma and caught upon his feet with catlike dexterity. We must not for a moment suppose that in relating this story our Lord approves either the rascality of the steward or shares the employer’s commendation of his shrewdness. He is merely showing how children of this world, without thought of heaven or hell, do from their worldly viewpoint, make shrewd provision for the future in this life and how they apply a shrewdness that wins by any means without technically breaking any human law. He is showing how with practical business sense they are clear in their apprehensions of the facts of a case, quick to decide on a course, prompt to act on their decision, and ready to use all available means to attain their object.

The application is that “the children of light” from a higher viewpoint of the future, extending into an eternity of heaven and with higher moral standards, should so wisely use their fleeting wealth as to make it a friend, not an enemy; to make friends by it, who passing ahead into eternal habitations await to greet and welcome them when they arrive.

There is a difference between a mere entrance and an abundant entrance. Two ships sail from one harbor and are bound for the same port. Much depends upon skillful seamanship and the prompt use of all available means. Both reach the port of destination. One of them by bad seamanship arrives at last, a battered hulk, masts broken, shrouds riven, cargo damaged, and is towed by a tug into safe anchorage. It is much to get there at all. But the other arrives with every mast standing, every sail filed, freighted to the water’s edge with precious cargo, and flags flying. How joyous her welcome! Friends crowd the wharf to greet her coming. Salvos of artillery salute her. So, while salvation is one definite thing for all, the heavenly status of the saved is not one uniform, fixed quantity. In my Nashville, Tennessee address on the death of Spurgeon I gave an illustration of the meaning of the scripture, “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the everlasting tabernacles.” Spurgeon was saved by grace, not money; but he made wise use of his money in building orphanages, almshouses for widows, and his pastoral college. Orphans, widows, preachers were not only beneficiaries of his bounty, but many of them had been led to Christ by him, and others comforted and strengthened by his ministrations. Many of these died before he died, and waiting up there, welcomed him when the Master called him home.

THE PARABLE OF DIVES AND LAZARUS The parable of Dives and Lazarus shows another side of the same picture. It is addressed to the scornful Pharisees who were lovers of money and callous to human suffering, who lived with reference to this world and not at all with reference to the world to come. Keeping in mind first the main thought, that the misuse, or ill use, of money on earth will affect the final status in eternity, we may by a diagram make visible this leading thought, as the words make it audible (diagram on next page). From the upper left hand corner (marked A) is a line to the lower right hand corner (marked C). So from the lower left hand corner (marked B) is a line to the upper right hand corner (marked D). Then two perpendicular lines in the center, inclosing the crossing point of the diagonal lines. The perpendicular space is death; all to the left in this world; all to the right, the eternal world. In this world Dives has the upper place at A, faring sumptuously every day, while Lazarus has the lower place at B) starving with hunger for even the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. In the other world the position of the two is reversed: Lazarus has the upper place (marked D) reclining at the heavenly banquet with Abraham, while the rich man has the lower place (marked C) starving with hunger and burning with thirst. It will be observed that death does not break the continuity of being in either case, nor interrupt the exercise of the senses of the disembodied soul. Both are alive, conscious, sensible (the one to enjoyment, the other to pain), seeing, speaking, hearing, feeling, remembering. It will further be observed that there is no midway stopping place for either after death, but both pass at once to a final place and state; to the one, a place and state of happiness; to the other, a place and state of wretchedness. It will be noted that in this world Lazarus may pass to the rich man and the rich man to Lazarus; not so after death; neither can pass to the other. Here wealth may help poverty and poverty may serve wealth. The rich man may send crumbs to hungry Lazarus. Yonder the opportunity is dead; Lazarus may not bring water to thirsty Dives. It will be more particularly observed that neither Dives nor Lazarus may return to this world for any service to the living; that opportunity is dead. The rich man, conscious that hell’s restrictions prevent his own return, pleads that one from heaven may return and bear a message for him. But the one from heaven is not permitted to return. Each has gone to a bourne from which no traveler, except One, has ever returned. If, therefore, we desire to make friends with our money or our service, we must do it in this world or never. If we desire to keep the lost from hell and lead them to salvation we must do it while we are living in the body and they are living in the body. If they die first, from earth we cannot help them by prayer, money, or service. If we die first, we cannot return to help them from either heaven or hell. In either case, so far as we are concerned, “their redemption must be let alone forever.”

The main thought is that while Dives and Lazarus were both living the rich man had an opportunity by means of the wealth entrusted to his stewardship to make a friend of Lazarus. But failing to use the means, when, at death his wealth failed, he, in his eternal habitation of woe could not have the friendly service of Lazarus. The parable implies that Lazarus was a Christian and the rich man an unconverted Jew, relying upon fleshly descent from Abraham. It does not teach that Lazarus went to heaven because he was poor in this world, but because in this world he prized future good above present good. Nor that Dives went to hell because he was rich in this world, but that he prized present good above future good. This is implied in the words of Abraham: “Son remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou art in anguish.” Each man made deliberate choice. The rich man, according to the saying, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” preferred his good in time and despised eternity; the poor man elected eternal good instead of temporal good, and each reaped according to his sowing.

But let us consider more particularly the details of the story. Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate. This fact stops Dives from pleading ignorance of the special case. The opportunity to do good with his wealth was brought home to him who would not seek it. The destitution was real and great. The poverty, hunger, rags, and sores advertised themselves and all pleaded for help, though Lazarus, in the parable, utters no word. It is related that a traveler in Ireland coming upon a diseased, emaciated wretch, ill-clad in dirty rags, silently standing by the wayside, said, “Why are you dumb? Why don’t you ask for help?” “Can my mouth,” replied the miserable one, “speak louder than my rags and sores and skeleton bones?” Dives was abundantly able to help without impoverishing himself, as even crumbs falling from his table were desired. But he so fully trusted in his wealth he could not conceive that he ever might, himself, be in want. He had no realization that death would strip him of all he possessed and send him bankrupt into eternity. He could not conceive that he ever would be in a situation to desire the help of Lazarus. We can almost hear him saying, “What impertinent busy-body thrust this disgusting nuisance upon my attention? Let every man take care of himself. When I put money out it is to make more money. It is absurd to think that I should ever need, in return, anything that this diseased and helpless beggar could do. I do not care for his friendship or good will. And so let him die the sooner the better.” And the beggar died; the rich man never expected to see or hear of him again. He could not see the angels bearing the disembodied soul to heaven. He could not see heaven’s banquet table awaiting the starved pauper. He could not see his place of honor, resting his head on Abraham’s bosom as he reclined at the table, even as the head of the beloved John rested on the bosom of his Lord at the Last Supper. “The rich man also died,” and, what a revelation! All his wealth gone! Gone all his purple and fine linen, all his obsequious servants! And, oh, this burning thirst, this eternal hunger! With uplifting eyes seeking help he sees the sore-smitten, rag-covered, starving Lazarus of earth, now healed, now in shining apparel whose sheen out-glistens all his fine linen in time, now feasting at a banquet whose viands far surpass his own sumptuous, everyday fare on earth, now resting his head on the heart of glorified Abraham.

What a revelation! What a reversal of earth’s conditions! What an overthrow of his time confidence that he was a true child of Abraham! But shall he not still think to himself that Abraham is his father? Is he not a Jew and shall not a Jew claim relationship with the father of the Jews? In his torment may he not appeal to his father?

HE PRAYS Mark where he prays. In hell.

Mark to whom he prays. To one of the heavenly saints, Abraham.

Mark for what he prays. One drop of water.

Mark for whose service he prays. “Send Lazarus.”

Mark how small a part of Lazarus. “The tip of his finger.”

These questions thunder:

May prayers in hell avail?

May prayers to saints avail?

Can the thirst of hell be quenched?

May the saved in heaven minister to the lost in hell?

THE ANSWER “Son” The fleshly relation acknowledged.

“Remember” So memory survives death.

Remember what? The supreme choice of time. “In yonder world you preferred your good things and Lazarus had his evil things.”

The appeal to reason: “Now here he is comforted and thou there art in anguish.” So reason survives death. So time fruits in eternity. So is the law of cause and effect inexorable: “What a man sows that shall he also reap.”

The answer reveals another law, viz.: One may not invoke the service of friendship where no friend was made. The rich man, wretched in eternity, had no title to the services of Lazarus, whose wretchedness he had ignored in time.

The answer reveals a far greater law: Between the saved in heaven and the lost in hell yawns a fixed and impassable gulf. No saint in heaven may pass to hell on a mission of mercy. No lost soul may after death enter heaven.

HE PRAYS AGAIN

Mark what he accepts that his own case is without remedy. “I pray thee therefore Father” i.e., since no help can come to me.

Mark what he remembers: “I have five brothers in yonder world,” not yet forever lost.

Mark what he implies: It is as if he said, “I am now at last concerned for their future. I am now troubled at the thought of my influence over them. They looked to me as the head of the family. They imbibed my spirit. They endorsed my business maxims. They are following in my footsteps. I hear them coming! They are under my delusions. They are nearing the boundary line of death. I am in great anguish already, but if they come here my anguish will be greater, my hell enlarged. Then, must I eternally remember that my influence dragged them here. Oh, my brothers! My brothers! I cannot myself return to warn them. Hell’s restrictions forbid. I am in prison, in everlasting chains.”

Mark what he prays for: “Send Lazarus to my father’s house.” Ah! He needs again the friendship and service of Lazarus. Send him for what? “That he may testify unto them; lest they also come into this place of torment.” Let us suppose that the testimony was permitted. He comes to the house he so well remembers, the house whose portals were shut against him in time when he was in need. He obtains an audience. “I am Lazarus, who died unpitied and unhelped at your gate. From that very gate angels carried my soul to recline at the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while you were carting off my body and rattling my bones in a pauper’s grave. In that glorious place and company we heard a voice from hell, the voice of your brother in torment. That voice said, ‘Send Lazarus to my father’s house to testify to the reality, certainty, and eternity of the heaven and hell in which they do not believe, and to tell my brothers not to come to this place of torment.’ So here I am, risen from the dead, with testimony and message from the eternal world. I testify that I saw your brother lost forever, and bring you his very words.” But be was not permitted.

The answer: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” That is, they have light enough. God’s written inspired Word is sufficient. Or, as teaches Paul: Every one of these holy writings is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching what one should believe or do, and for convicting one of any error in belief or deed, and for correcting the error of belief or deed, and for training one into right belief or deed that one should be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. What more light is needed?

THE DESPERATE PERSISTENCE of A LOST SOUL

“Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent.” Ah! The incorrigible blindness and delusions of the lost! They keep on affirming that they need more light, when what they need is an eye to see the light and a heart to walk in the light. If our God’s light be hid, it is hid to them whom the god of this world has blinded. Their condemnation is, that light has come into the world, but they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. All whose deeds are evil hate the light and shun it.

The final answer: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.” This very Moses suffered not a wizard, witch, necromancer, or soothsayer to live, because they taught the people that messages from the dead could be obtained throwing more light on the other world than shines in God’s revelation. Isaiah, the most evangelical of the prophets taught: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them” (Isa 8:19-20 ).

Now let us impress our minds with a brief restatement of some of its great doctrines, expressed or implied:

1. At death probation ends, character crystallizes, the constant tendency to fixedness of type reaches its consummation. This is evident because in all the Scriptures there is no hint that any man is brought into judgment for speech, thought, or conduct after death. The final judgment is only on “deeds done in the body.” But if there were probation after death there must needs be judgment for deeds done out of the body. As the tree falls, so it lies. He that dies just remains just, and he that dies unjust is raised unjust.

2. There is no half-way stopping place between death and the final place of happiness or woe. The banquet feast at which Lazarus reclined, leaning his head on Abraham’s bosom, is in “the kingdom of heaven.”

The tormenting flame into which the rich man was cast was the real and only hell for the soul. The body after the resurrection will go to the same place. It is true that the word in this parable is Hades, not Gehenna. But Hades means only the invisible world where disembodied spirits go, whether good or bad. The idea of hell is not in the word Hades, but in the torment and flame into which the rich man enters, its irretrievable nature and its eternal fixedness. There is no purgatory from which souls may ascend after purification unto heaven, or becoming confirmed in wickedness, pass on to hell. Therefore, all prayers for the dead are without scriptural warrant. Lazarus and Dives each passed at once without a pause to his final home.

3. No saint or sinner after death can return to earth in behalf of or against the living. Going from this world to the next, death is passable; returning from the other world, it is impassable.

All attempts through mediums, necromancers, wizards, and witches or spirit-rapping is expressly contrary to God’s law and does despite to the sufficiency of God’s revelation.

4. We should not pray to the saints, but unto God only. Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, and we need no human mediator between ourselves and Jesus. He is more approachable, more willing to hear than Mary or Peter or Paul. They are but sinners themselves saved by grace.

The stupendous system of Mariolatry is one of the most blasphemous heresies ever propagated by priestcraft. The only prayer to a saint in heaven recorded in the Bible is the prayer of Dives in hell to Abraham, and every request was denied.

5. We should stand upon the impregnable rock of the Holy Scriptures as the sufficient means of light in defining creed and deed.

6. Between the saved and lost, from death to eternity, there is a fixed and impassable gulf. On earth the saved may go to the lost in order to seek their salvation or the lost may hopefully appeal to the saved for help, but after death no saved man can pass over to the lost in any kind of helpful ministration, not even to carry on the tip of one finger a single drop of water to cool the tongue.

The parable, as a whole, and in all its parts, stresses the thought: Now, not hereafter, is the day of salvation.

QUESTIONS

1. Where are we in the discussion of the life of our Lord, generally and particularly?

2. What instruction on parables precedes the discussion at this point?

3. What books are commended on the parables?

4. What parables constitute the group which are discussed in this chapter, what was their occasion, and what is the direct connection of the two last with the preceding ones of the group?

5. What is the purpose of the parable of the unjust steward?

6. To whom was the parable of the unjust steward addressed, to whom the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and what is their common theme?

7. In interpreting these parables what teaching must be hedged against; and what is the moral of both?

8. What question is answered by the parable of the unjust steward?

9. What is the substance of the story?

10. What are the points illustrated by our Lord in this parable as it relates to the children of this world and what is the application?

11. Illustrate the difference between mere entrance and an abundant entrance into heaven.

12. How is this truth illustrated in the life of Spurgeon?

13. Give the diagram showing bow the misuse of money on earth affects the final status in eternity, as illustrated by the parable of Dives and Lazarus.

14. What three observations worthy of note relative to the change wrought by their exit from this world?

15. What changes have been wrought as to possibilities & opportunities each?

16. What does the parable imply, what does it not teach and what the basis of the implication?

17. Show how the opportunity came to Dives in this world, illustrate how he disposed of his responsibility and the reversed state of Dives and Lazarus in eternity.

18. Dives prays, where, to whom, for what, whose service asked, how much, and what four questions arise from this prayer?

19. What is the answer to this prayer and what three laws revealed?

20. What was his second prayer, what does he accept, what does he remember, and what does he imply?

21. What was the answer, what the meaning and application?

22. Show the desperate persistence of a lost soul and what the final answer.

23. What was the teaching of Moses and Isaiah on this very point?

24. What are the great doctrines of this parable expressed or implied?

QUESTIONS ON Luk 17:1-10

1. Why is it “impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come”? Answer: This arises from the sin of man and the domination of the devil.

2. What is the meaning of “stumbling”? Answer: Sin.

3. What is meant by “little ones” in Luk 17:2 ? Answer: Young converts.

4. What law of forgiveness is ‘here stated? Answer: That we must forgive those who repent of their sins against us. (See author’s discussion of this subject in The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION.

5. What kind of faith is referred to in Luk 17:6 and what its nature? Answer: Miracle-working faith, which was temporary & passed away with apostolic age.

6. What is the lesson of the parable on unprofitable servants, and what of the Romanist doctrine to the contrary notwithstanding? Answer: The lesson here is that we cannot go beyond God’s law in works, and is a strong teaching against the Romanist doctrine of supererogation.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him , through whom they come!

Ver. 1. See Trapp on “ Mat 18:6 “ See Trapp on “ Mat 18:7 “

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1 10. ] FURTHER DISCOURSES. The discourse appears to proceed onward from the foregoing.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1. ] . is perhaps owing to some offence which had happened; the departure of the Pharisees in disgust, or some point in their conduct; such as the previous chapter alluded to.

= , ch. Luk 13:33 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 17:1-4 . Concerning offences and forgiving of offences ( cf. Mat 18:6-7 ; Mat 21:22 ). : here only in N.T. and hardly found in classics; with = (Luk 13:33 ), it is not possible. : the infinitive with the genitive article may depend on viewed as a substantive = an impossibility of offences not coming exists (Meyer, J. Weiss), or it may be the subject to , . being the predicate = that offences should not come is impossible (Schanz; Burton, M. and T., inclines to the same view, vide 405).

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luke Chapter 17

Luk 17:1-4

The chapter opens with instruction which follows from what we have already seen. The Jewish system was judged. It was to be left entirely behind. Present favour and earthly prosperity were no test’s of God’s estimate. That which is unseen will entirely reverse the actual condition of things. Lazarus quits the world for Abraham’s bosom, the rich man is afterwards tormented in hell; but from both the infinite moment of the Word of God is seen for every soul.

Here the Lord lets the disciplestid=62#bkm425- know the certainty of stumbling-blocks in such a world as this, and the awful doom of those who cause them. “It would be more profitabletid=62#bkm426- for him if a millstone* were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea,” (Cf. Mat 18:6 f.) says the Lord about any one so offending others. Hence we have to take heed to ourselves, as His disciples; and while guarding against being caused to stumble by others, we have to cherish the grace of God which is as essential to Christianity as the law was to the Jews as their rule. “Take heed to yourselves; if thy brother should sin, rebuke him; and if he should repent, forgive him.” (Mat 18:15 .) It supposes that there is an evil course and current in the world, which may affect every one’s brother; but grace is never intended to weaken the moral reprobation of what is evil. “If thy brother should sin, rebuke him; and if he should repent, forgive him.”

*”Millstone”: so Edd. after BDL, 1, 69, Old Lat. Memph. Arm. In Mat 18:6 , and Mar 9:42 , it is millstone turned by an ass,” as here in A, etc., Syrr..

Repentance is a great word, altogether contrary to the bent of human will. Man may make efforts, but will never repent. Only grace gives real repentance, which, when used in its proper sense, means simply and invariably the judgment of self. Now, this man will never bend to. Amends he may offer, he may endeavour to do good, and repair the evil: but to own self thoroughly wrong without qualification, reserve, or endeavouring to throw the blame on others, is never the nature of man, but the result of the working of Divine grace, and true, therefore, of every soul that is truly renewed. It is impossible for a sinner to be brought to God without repentance. Faith, no doubt, is the spring of all; it alone gives power by the revelation of grace in the person and work of Christ; but repentance is the invariable consequence or concomitant. And so it is in particular cases, as here in trespass, as, “It he should repent, forgive him.” This was more especially needful to urge on a Jew, accustomed as he was to severity. And further, grace would hinder one from being wearied any more by ill-doing in others than in well-doing on our part. “If he should sin against thee* seven times in the day, and seven times should return to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.” (Mat 18:21 f.) It is seven times as showing the failure complete, and in a day, too, as adding to the trial. To men’s minds this would indicate the hopelessness of any good in forgiveness. But it is so that God deals with us: He is unwearied in His grace. If it were not so, it would be all over with us, not only when in our sins but even as believers.tid=62#bkm426a-

*”Sin.” DX, etc., most cursives (33, 69), add “against thee,” which Edd. omit, following ABL, 1, Syrr. Amiat. Memph.

“Seven times (second time). AGD, etc., most cursives, Syrr. Amiat. Aeth. add “in the day”; rejected by Edd. after BDLX, most Old Lat. Memph. Arm.

Luk 17:5-10 .

Cf. Mar 10:24 .

Nevertheless the apostles (for so it is expressed here for our instruction) – “the apostles said to the Lord, Give more faith to us.” They felt that such a demand was entirely beyond them.tid=62#bkm426b- “But the Lord said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard [seed] ye had said unto this sycamine tree,tid=62#bkm1427- Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would have obeyed you.” (Mat 17:20 ; Mat 21:21 Mar 11:23 .) Thus faith works what is impossible to man, to nature; and this, too, wherever there is a grain of reality, be it over so small. For whether faith be little or strong, if real, it brings in God; and God is the same God in answer to little faith as to great. There may be a great difference as regards the result for sensible enjoyment; but God answers in His grace the feeblest exercise of faith in Him. “If ye have* faith as a grain of mustard [seed], ye had said unto this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea [an entire contrariety to the course of nature], and it would have obeyed you.” We must always hold, as believers, the superiority of God to all circumstances.

*”Have”: so Edd. as ABFL, etc., 1, 33, 69. DEGH, Old Lat. “had.”

At the same time, we have a place of duty here; and the Lord reminds us, therefore, not only of the power of faith above every obstacle, but of the tone of conduct that becomes us in doing our duties, or rather when we have done them. “But which of you [is there] who, having a bondman ploughing or shepherding, when he cometh out of the field will say,* Come and lie down immediately to table? But will he not say unto him, Prepare what I shall sup on, and gird thyself and serve me that I may eat and drink; and after that thou shalt eat and drink?tid=62#bkm428- Is he thankful to the bondman because he hath done what was ordered? I judge not.” Grace in noway weakens the duty that we owe. There are certain proprieties which we must never give up, and of which the Lord here reminds His apostles. The master in such a case does not thank the servant; it is but his obligation, the discharge of the service he undertakes, what he cannot, therefore, forget or omit without wrong.tid=62#bkm429- “Thus ye, also, when ye shall have done all things that have been ordered you, say, We are unprofitable bondmen; we have done|| that which it was our duty to do.”

*”Will say.” Edd. (Revv.) add “unto him,” following BDLX, 1, 69, Syrr. Old Lat. Memph. Blass, with A, etc., Goth. omits.

“The”: so Edd. after corr ABDLX, Memph. E, etc., have “that.”

“Ordered.” DX, 69, Amiat. Memph. add “him,” which Edd. reject, after ABEL, etc., 1.

“I judge not”: so Weiss, after Meyer, with A, etc., most cursives, most Old Lat. (33, 69), Syrr. Amiat. Goth. Other Edd., with Alford and Milligan, omit, following BLX, 1, Memph. Arm. Aeth.

||”We h. d.” EX, etc., have “for w. h. d.” Text, as Edd., after ABDL, 1, Old Lat. Memph.

People are sometimes apt to think that the proper owning of our unprofitable service is when we do not the things commanded; so at least they speak. But the Lord teaches us to feel that we are but unprofitable servants when we have done all the things that are commanded. Not to do our duty is a real wrong to the Master; but when we have done all, it becomes us to say, “We are unprofitable bondmen, we have done that which it was our duty to do.” All we are commanded is short of that which Christ deserves; and we have to do with the Christ of God. When we have done that which was our duty to do, is love satisfied? It would go further. Christ loved to obey, ever doing what was enjoined, and hence suffered to the utmost in grace to us and to the glory of God. So love is the fulfilling of the law; and in it we are now called to walk as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. We are indeed unprofitable servants; yet how rich is the place into which grace brings us even now!tid=62#bkm430-

Luk 17:11-19 .

The incident that is here recorded completely falls in with what we have seen. The Spirit of God is indicating not only the break-up of Judaism but the introduction of better things, and very particularly of the liberty of grace. By and by we shall have the liberty of glory; but the saints of God are now entitled to the liberty of grace. Creation will never know this; it “will be delivered from the bondage of corruption to the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21 .)

“And it came to pass, as he was going up to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midsttid=62#bkm431- of Samaria and Galilee.” The scene lay in the despised quarters of the land. “And as he entered into a certain village, ten leprous men met him, who stood afar off.”tid=62#bkm432- This is a remarkable miracle, peculiar to our Evangelist, who brings before us several incidents of similar character, that are given nowhere else. The selection of the Spirit of God, to carry forward the object He had in view in so inspiring Luke, is thereby manifest. “And they lifted up [their] voice, saying, Jesus, Master, have compassion on us. And seeing [them] he said to them, Go, show yourselves unto the priests.” The Lord thereby exercised the faith of those addressed, while at the same time He maintained the order of the law for those who are under it. It was a requisition under the law that, if a man was cured, without saying how the cure could be, if the plague of leprosy was healed, the man must present himself to the priest and be cleansed. This was laid down with particular care and detail in Lev 14 . It was an important requirement in this way, for it became a testimony to the power of God that now wrought on earth. For the question would naturally arise: How came these lepers to be cured? This would at once draw attention to the fact that Jesus was there, and that He was really the vessel of God’s power in grace.

Hence, too, the Lord sometimes, as we read elsewhere, touched the leper. But here these men stood afar off. It was not that there was not grace enough in Christ to touch them, but their feeling according to the law was to stand afar off. It was perhaps right in them that it should be so, as it was certainly the grace of His heart that made Him touch the leper who prostrated himself at His feet. So we see in Mar 1:41 . These men, however, standing afar off, lifted up their voice and prayed for His mercy; and His answer was, as with a leper always, “Go show yourselves unto the priests.”

But there was another notable feature brought out in the present case, if there was no touch as the sign of the power that removed the leprosy without contracting. defilement, which could only therefore be the power of God, which was above the law, even while He maintained the law. In this case there was a trial of faith, so much the more because they were afar off, and they were bidden to go and show themselves to the priests, without such words as “Be ye cleansed.” The Lord did not use that expression in every case, as far as Scripture records. Hence it was, as they went, they were cleansed. They had to go first. They felt nothing the moment they were bidden to go. It was “as they were going they were cleansed.”

“And one of them, seeing that he was cured” – for this could not be hid – “turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice.” Surely this is highly remarkable, though given here only. The lepers were told to go and show themselves to the priests: one of them, and one alone, turned back, when he saw that he was healed, “glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell on [his] face at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.”tid=62#bkm432a- We have grace therefore in this place for the worst. But the lowest object of grace is very often the one who enters most into the fullness of grace in God. He may be the neediest among men; but the very depth of his need shows what God is; and hence grace is often seen and enjoyed more simply by a long way than by others who might boast of much better privileges. Certainly it was so here. This Samaritan was far more simple in his thoughts of God, and at once concluded what Jesus must be, not perhaps definitely and distinctly as to His personal glory. At least, he was quite sure that Jesus was the best Representative of God’s power and grace in that land. If, therefore, he was to show himself to any one, he would go to Him; if he was to glorify God, it must surely be at the feet of Jesus. He, consequently, who was the farthest removed from the formality of the law and ritual, could all the more readily go straight to Jesus.

“And Jesus answering said, Were not the ten cleansed? but* the nine, where are they! There have not been found to return and give glory to God, save this stranger.” Now, this is most worthy of our consideration. The Lord Jesus accepts the thanksgiving of this man as being the peculiar token of his faith. The others had equally received a blessing; it was not that they were not thankful, but this man alone had returned to give glory to God, this stranger. The others might show themselves to the priests, carrying out the letter of the word of Jesus; but this stranger’s heart was right and his spiritual instinct was of faith. There is nothing good for the soul without the sense of the glory of God. The Samaritan might not have been able to explain, but his heart was thoroughly true and Divinely guided. He was therefore far more right than others who seemed to reason better. The other nine might plead that he was presumptuous, disobedient, and not, like them, acting on the word of the Lord; for Jesus had distinctly told them they must go and show themselves to the priests; whereas he without any express command had turned back to show himself to Jesus, and give thanks at His feet. And appearances favour unbelief.

*”But”: so BLX, etc.; AD omit, as Nestle after Tisch., W. H., who questioned it.

But Jesus vindicated him in coming and approved the boldness of his faith, which acted at once on what he instinctively felt to be due to the Lord Jesus. What is still more striking, the Lord says to him, “Rise up and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” There is not a word of showing himself to the priest now. He had found God in his soul. He, in the healing of his leprosy, had proved the gracious power of God, he recognised it in Jesus, and so gave Him glory.

When a soul is thus brought to God, there is no question of showing oneself to priests on earth. Priests had their place once for those who were under the law. But when grace delivered from it (in principle only then, for it was not yet the precise time to break down the wall of partition for all), the delivered soul could not possibly be left, still less put, under the law. Therefore says the Lord, “Rise up, and go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” It is a striking prefiguration of the Gentile who is not under law like the Jew (never was, indeed), and who, when brought to God by His grace now and cleansed from all his defilements, is certainly not put under law. As the apostle says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace.” (Rom 6:14 .) He was to go his way in liberty of heart. This is the calling of a Christian. Christ does not call to the bondage of law. He makes us His freemen, though no doubt also bondmen to Himself. This is a very different thing from being under law, which the Christian is not, even if he had once been a Jew.

Luke 17: 20f.tid=62#bkm433-

The kingdom of God was the national hope of Israel. It was before the minds of all who looked for good from God. It was bound up with the Messiah’s presence. Such is the way in which the Kingdom is presented in the Old Testament. Nor does the New Testament in any way set this aside, but confirms the expectation only it discloses the Kingdom in another shape before it is introduced in power when the Lord returns in glory.

Of this, however, the Pharisees knew nothing. They demanded of Him when the kingdom of God should come, thinking only of that which is to be manifest when the Jews shall be brought back from all their wanderings, and restored in their full nationality to the land under the Messiah, and the new covenant. The Lord, as throughout Luke, shows something more and deeper, something that demanded faith, before the establishment of the Kingdom in power. He answers them therefore, “The kingdom of God doth not come with observation.” This was what was morally important to know now. The Kingdom would surely come as they looked for it in its own day, and the Lord distinctly lets us see this afterwards. But first of all He insists, as was most according to God, on that which they knew not, and which it most concerned them to know: “The kingdom of God doth not come with observation,” (Mat 24:23 ) or outward show.tid=62#bkm434- “Nor shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo* there; for lo, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Of this they were wholly ignorant, and this ignorance is fatal: for it was not to know God’s king, when He manifested the true power of the Kingdom in victory over Satan, and over all the results of man’s subjection to infirmity in this world-when He manifested it positively in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, the dependent and obedient Man, but in the unfailing power of God which wrought by Him. To all this they were blind; they valued it not, because they valued not God. They did desire as a nation that which would elevate them, and overthrow their enemies; they did not desire that which exalts God and humbles man.

*”Lo” (Treg. text) is attested by AD and all later uncials and cursives (1, 33, 69), Amiat.; but other Edd. omit, as BL.

The Lord, therefore, in this His answer, first meets the moral need of the Pharisees, and shows that in the most important sense now, from the time of His rejection till His return in glory, it is no question of “Lo here, and lo there,” but of faith to own the glory of His person, and to recognise that the power which wrought is God’s. “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” It was in their midst and they saw it not, because they saw not Him. They thought little of Jesus. This is ruin to every soul who hears but refuses the testimony.tid=62#bkm435-

It will be observed that it is the kingdom of God, not of heaven. It is never said, while Jesus was here, that the kingdom of heaven was come; but Matthew confirms this report in Luke, were that needed, and represents the Lord as saying (Mat 12:28 ), “If I by [the] Spirit of God cast out the demons, then, indeed, the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The character of the power proclaimed God’s kingdom. He was victor of Satan, and cast out his emissaries: none but the Seed of the woman, the Son of David, could do this. It was reserved for Him. (Mat 28:18 .) Others might, as God’s servants, but He, as the Beloved, in whom His soul delighted. Those who cast the devil out, by God’s gracious use of them, were their judges. Satan is not against Satan: else his kingdom would fall. But Messiah was there then, the King of God’s kingdom, yet the Jews recognised it not. They rejected Him and He accepts His own rejection, but is exalted in heaven. Thence the kingdom of heaven begins, the rule of the heavens over the earth, now only known really to faith, the responsibility for those who are baptized to walk accordingly. Indeed, thus comes what is commonly called Christendom, the great field where not only wheat but tares grow together. It is, of course, also called the kingdom of God, as always in Luke. Matthew alone speaks of the kingdom of heaven, but he never speaks of the kingdom of heaven save as preached or promised, until the Lord left the earth. In short the kingdom of God was there when Christ was there, the conqueror over Satan, and exhibiting in every direction morally the power of the Spirit. But the kingdom of heaven was not there till from heaven He introduced His rule over the earth.tid=62#bkm436- When He returns in glory, it will he still the kingdom of heaven: the rule of the heavens will never be lost, certainly not when the Kingdom comes in power and glory.

Luk 17:22-24 .Mat 24:23 f.

But the Lord next addresses the disciples, and says, “Days are coming when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see [it].”tid=62#bkm437- Here He can speak freely of the future form of the Kingdom, of which alone the Pharisees thought. The disciples had received the Lord by faith; and, however little intelligent they might be, they apprehended the kingdom of God among them. Hence the Lord could give them Divine light as to the future, when He should establish the Kingdom visibly. “Days are coming when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see [it].” He opens to them His rejection, as well as the efforts of Satan during his rejection. “And they will say unto you, Lo here; or, Lo there. Go not nor follow [them].” (Verse 23.) False Christs should arise; but they were forewarned. “For as the lightning which lightening from [one end] under heaven shineth to [the other end] under heaven, thus* shall the Son of man be in his day.” There will be no question of “Lo here, or, Lo there when Christ comes again any more than when He was here. It was unbelief to say, See here, and See there, when Christ was present in the power that revealed Who He must be and was. It will be unbelief by and by to say, See here, and See there; for the Kingdom will be established in power. They were not to follow such rumours but to heed His Word. He returns not merely as the rejected Messiah, but as the Son of man, the exalted ruler of all nations, peoples, and tongues. His Kingdom shall be manifested under the whole heaven as He comes from heaven.””

*”Thus.” D, with some minuscules, adds “also,” which Edd. reject, after ABL, etc., 1, 69, Syrr. Amiat. Memph.

“In his day”: so AL, later uncials, most cursives and versions (Syrrcu sin: “the day of the S. of m.”). Blass omits, following BD, Old Lat.

Luk 17:25-30 .

Mat 24:37-39 ; Mar 8:31 .

“But first he must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.” This was in principle going on then; the Cross would be its consummation. The moral order is thoroughly according to God: first must He suffer. So we read in 1Pe 1:11 of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. It must be so in a sinful world for one who seeks not his own glory, but God’s, and the real and eternal good of man. It would be impossible to take the Kingdom when man is in a state of sin and rebellion. In grace, then, He accepts the rejection which was inexcusable on their part: and in His rejection He accomplishes atonement. Hence God can righteously introduce the Kingdom with many a rebel pardoned. Only this goes on now whilst He is gathering out the Church, before the Kingdom is set up in visible power. “First he must suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” The Christ-rejecting generation was then and continues right through. In the crisis of the latter day, at the end of the age, this generation will still be there. “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” In the millennial age there will be a new generation who shall praise the Lord and glorify Him for His mercy. But “this generation” is a perverse one, children in whom is no faith. Such were and are the Jews; and such will they abide, till judgment shall have dealt with the mass, who will have fallen into an apostate state and have accepted the Antichrist, leaving only the true remnant – who shall become a strong nation, the “all Israel” – who “shall be saved” in that day.tid=62#bkm439-

The Lord next refers to the days of Noah: so should it be in His own days when He comes as the Son of man. It is no question either of receiving the Church or of judging the dead, though the latter will follow at the end, as the former precedes. Here it is distinctly the judgment of the quick on the earth, a truth which has very generally passed out of the mind of Christendom. “They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all [of them].” This cannot refer to any but those alive upon the earth surprised by the deluge. “And in like manner as took place in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.” There was progress in the world; civilisation had advanced, but was it better morally? “But in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all [of them].” Men too easily forget that a judgment incomparably more comprehensive, but after the pattern of these two Divine interventions, awaits the world, and more particularly that part of it which has been favoured with the testimony of God. There can be no delusion more ruinous than the notion that because there is much good in the midst of Christendom its doom will not come. The Lord lingers in order to save souls. Such is His long-suffering and grace, but He “is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness.” (2Pe 3:9 .) When His own are gathered out, judgment will proceed so much the more sternly because His grace was seen, its fruits manifested, and His warnings given in vain. As it was then in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot, – “after this [manner] shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed.” For the Lord speaks only of His revelation from heaven in the judgment of the world, not at all of translating the saints to be with Himself in the Father’s house.tid=62#bkm440-

Luk 17:31-33 .

Mat 24:17 f.

“In that day, he who shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not go down to take it away; and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.” It is no question of the destruction of Jerusalem,tid=62#bkm441- any more than that of the final judgment; and it is absurd to apply it to death. But the mind of man is fertile in expedients to parry the blows of the truth. It is a testimony which keeps the advent of the Lord Jesus to judge the habitable world ever hanging over the heads of careless men.

“Remember Lot’s wife.” This is a moral touch for those who might seem safer than others, but are not saved. It is peculiar to Luke, and a most searching word for every one whose face and heart are not steadily fixed on the Lord, for she was very near to Lot and seemed to have passed out of all reach of judgment. But her heart was in the city to which she looked back, and she heeded not the admonition of God’s messengers, but in her destruction proved the truth of the word which she believed not.”‘ “Whosoever shall seek to save* his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose it shall preserve it.” tid=62#bkm443- There is no security any more than real happiness save in faith, and faith is ever obedient to the Word of the Lord.

*”To Save” (): so ARX and yet later uncials, most cursives, Vulg. – Blass reads “to preserve” () with D. Other Edd.: “to acquire,” as BL and some Old Lat.

Luk 17:34-36 .

Mat 24:40 f.

“I say unto you, in that night there shall be two [men] upon one bed* one shall be takentid=62#bkm444- and the other let go. Two [Women] shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken and the other let go.” Here again the proof is complete and palpable, that it is no question of the Remains dealing with Jerusalem and the Jews, for the conqueror made no such discrimination among the conquered, nor is it any other providential judgment executed by man, for he is incapable of thus distinguishing. But it is not so with the Son of man, who will thus judge between cattle and cattle whether among the Jews or among the Gentiles.

*”One bed”: so most copies. BC omit “one.” “One” (Treg.) Blass retains “the one” of T.R., with B, 1, 69.

“The one”: so Elzevir (1624) with corr. BDR, 1, 69 (Edd.).

Judged by the witnesses, verse 36 would appear to have no sufficient authority in our Gospel, but seems plainly to have been imported from the Gospel of Matthew, where it finds its just place.*

*Cf. the uncials DU alone, the Syrr. (including sin.) and most Old Lat. have this verse (Elzevir), Edd. in general reject (from Matthew).

Luk 17:37 .

Mat 24:28 .

“And answering they say to him, Where, Lord? And he said to them, Where the body [is], there* the eagles will be gathered together.” The executors of God’s judgment will not fail to find themselves where an object demands it in that day. Power and righteousness are then together, and a wisdom adequate even to that great occasion. It is the day of Jehovah for the world. The area of judgment is not limited to Judea as in Mat 24 , where a similar but stronger phrase appears – and indeed there is much in common between the two passages. That the Jews may be before the Lord here, too, as the prominent persons warned, is very possible. It is always so where the dealings of God with man and the earth are found; for Israel is Jehovah’s son, His firstborn. When the Church or Christians are in view it is not so; for there the distinctions of the Jew or Gentile disappear before Him whom we have put on, and in whom is neither Jew nor Greek. The attempt to apply the passages to the Lord’s coming for us, or at least not to distinguish between this and His appearing for the judgment of man, Jew or Gentile, is, that people construe “the eagles” as “the saints”! from Ambrose and Chrysostom, etc., down to Luther and Calvin, etc., and even to Burgon and Wordsworth in our days. They are still more perplexed as to “the body,” some taking it as Christ!” others as the “Church,” no less than “the eagles others as “the Lord’s supper”; some as “the judgment”; others as “heaven”; and none really knowing anything rightly about the matter. Most moderns take “the eagles” as “the Romans,” and “the body” as Jerusalem and the Jews. This is nearer the truth, but inadequate when simply applied to the past. M. Henry thinks that “the eagles” may mean both “the saints” and “the Romans”; and Ryle thinks it very probable that all the interpretations hitherto proposed will prove at last incorrect! I have given not nearly all the opinions: but my readers will agree that I have given at least enough, and that miserable comforters are they all, especially such as think that the truth remains to be discovered only at the Second Advent. There is not much living faith in such thoughts. What a descent from our Lord’s promise, in Joh 16:13 , now fulfilled: “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all the truth . . . and he will show you things to come.”

*After “there,” Edd. add “also,” after BL, etc., 69, Memph.

NOTE. – Quotation marks agree with the author’s article in “Bible Treasury,” October, 1871, approved by himself, and were possibly intended to emphasise the number of conflicting interpretations.

NOTES ON THE SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER.

425 Luk 17:1 . – “Disciples”: see note on Luk 16:1 .

“All are included, from the severest persecutor to the inconsistent believer” (Neil).

There is a sermon by Dr. Chalmers on this verse.

426 Luk 17:2 . – “It would be more profitable,” , Matthew has , whilst Mark has . . . . Cf. note 98 on Mark.

426a Luk 17:3 f. – Cf. Mat 18:21 f. – Robert Chapman: “The man who seventy times seven forgives injuries, is he who best knows how to protect himself” (“Choice Sayings,” p. 148). F. W. Robertson had already said from his pulpit: “Judaism was the education of the spiritual child, Christianity that of the spiritual man. . . . Judaism said, Forgive seven times – exactly so much; Christianity said, Forgiveness is a boundless spirit – not three times nor seven – seventy times seven. It must be left to the heart” (“Lectures on the Epistles to the Corinthians,” p. 130). Augustine has a sermon on verse 3.

426b Luk 17:5 . – “The only recorded instance of the disciples asking a spiritual gift of Christ” (Neil).

427 Luk 17:6 . – “Sycamine tree,” Matthew and Mark have “mountain.” Sanday: “He assumed the existence of the same power in His disciples as in Himself” (“Life of Christ in Recent Research,” p. 223 f.). The American Revv. adhere to the Received Text (“D”) “If ye had faith . . . . it would obey you.”

Chas. Simeon preached on verse 5 f.

428 Luk 17:8 . – See Schor, p. 49.

429 Luk 17:9 . – See note 91 on Mark.

430 Luk 17:10 . – Bengel: “Woe be to him whom his Lord calls unprofitable servant, happy he who calls himself so.”

Mackintosh: “In the presence of the living God the very thought of merit fills away” (“Christian Ethics,” p. 44).

As to Messianic reward, see Abrahams, p. 20, and with regard to merely mercenary motive, cf. the saying of Antigonus of Socho in Pirg Aboth: “Be not as servants, who serve their master on the understanding that they will receive recompense.”

See Spurgeon’s Sermon, 1541.

431 Luke 17:, Luk 17:11 . – (Cf. Joh 12 : l.) Bengel by () understood “between” (R.V., margin). So van Oosterzee, Hahn, and Plummer, that is, along the borders (American Revv.) of each, either as the Lord was journeying from Galilee to Jerusalem, or on some journey north from Ephraim back to Galilee, in order to make His final ascent with Galilean pilgrims. Upon the question of locality discussed by critics Luk 18:15 may throw some light, because Mat 19:1 , Mat 19:13 and Mar 10:1 , Mar 10:13 show that the incident there recorded took place in Perea i.e., in the small strip of it shown in maps lying between Samaria and Galilee. Cf. Luk 9:52 and Luk 13:31 .

Luther has a sermon on verses 11-19: Isaac Williams, one on verse 17.

432 Luk 17:12 . – Lev 13:45 f. The distance prescribed by “tradition” was 100 paces (Wetstein).

432a Luk 17:15 ff. – The excellent remarks of Maclaren (B. C. E., p. 216 f.) should be consulted.

433 Luk 17:20 ff. – This discourse probably gave rise to the questions of the disciples in Mat 24:3 . Conjoined with Luk 18:1-8 here, between which and the last section of Luk 17 there should be no break as in R.V., the discourse may be divided into seven parts: verses 20 f., 22-24, 25-30, 31-33, 34-36, 37, 18: 1-8.

434 “Observation.” The word and its cognate verb were used medically for watching symptoms of a disease, and so express preliminary investigation; also in astrology, for observation of the stars. Luke’s employmerit of the verb (Luk 6:7 , Luk 14:1 , Luk 20:20 ) is to indicate hostile intent: cf. Psa 37:12 in LXX., and Weymouth’s note on present passage.

The idea that the Lord’s words mean that the Kingdom would not be physically visible is excluded by the after context, where the emphasis is laid on the future (Wernle, “Beginnings,” p. 68).

435 Luk 17:21 . – “In the midst of,” . So Syrsin, Grotius, Bengel, Meyer, Alford, Trench, Weizscker, B. Weiss (referring to Song of Son 3:10 ),. H. Holtzmann, Schanz, Farrar, Spence, Ltgert, Plummer, Wernle, and Loisy. Cf. Luk 11:20 . Wernle: “It is quite certain that the right translation is among” (loc. cit.). Warman “The Pharisees asked when, not where” (“New Testament Theology,” p. 22 f.). Boehmer: “The Lord does not say ‘already.’ “

The A.V., “within,” to which Revv. adhere in text, represents the view taken by Chrysostom, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin, Olshausen, Godet, Field, Candlish, Sanday, and Wellhausen. It is the rendering which has generally been favoured by mystics. Thus Fnlon recommends his reader who may perceive “natural impetuosity gliding in” to “retire quietly within, where is the kingdom of God.” This rendering accords with the usage of in Biblical Greek (Field); “among” represents its sense in the classical literature, with which this Evangelist must have been familiar. Wellhausen has to own that the sense of the present passage is different from the Matthaean passage as explained by him in commentary on that Gospel.

In whichever way the word be taken, it of course speaks of the Kingdom in its moral aspect (cf. Rom 14:17 ).

436 Cf. 19: 12 with note there.

437 Luk 17:22 f. – “One of the days,” etc.: cf. verses 24, 26, 30. Bengel, following Euthymius and Theophylact, took it as desire to recall one of the days of the Lord’s life on earth, when it would be too late. See, however, Olshausen, Meyer and J. Weiss. Hahn (cf. Plummer) takes the as Hebraistic for “first “: cf. Luk 24:1 and Act 20:7 .

Least of all do these words mean, as Stevens represents, “epochs in the progressive development of His Kingdom” (p. 173). It is Luke’s way of describing the of Mat 24:3 , Mat 24:27 , Mat 24:37-39 , the eschatological and abiding “presence” (R.V. margin passim).

438 Luk 17:24 . – As to the of the (2Th 2:8 ), cf. note 134 on Mark and note 524 below; also Harnack, “Sayings,” p. 106 f.

For “day” here (as also verse 30), compared with verse 22, see Gen 2:4 .

439 Luk 17:25 . – “This generation,” with a moral signification, as already in Luk 16:8 .

440 Luk 17:26-30 . – Here arises the question whether Lot’s retirement from Sodom typifies the removal of Christians from this world in the sense of 1Th 4:13 ff., or the deliverance of the future Jewish “Remnant” spoken of by the Apostle in Rom 9:27-29 . Wellhausen (ad loc.) treats Noah and Lot as representing Christians, whilst owning that in Mark at least the admonition is to Jews. The Expositor’s view is that of writers who explain it of the “Remnant.” Cf. note 444.

“Is revealed.” For the of the Lord Jesus, cf. 2Th 1:7 ; 1Co 1:7 , and 1Pe 1:7 .

441 Luk 17:31 . – The SON is here prominent, not “the Lord of the vineyard.” See note on Luk 20:15 f.

442 Luk 17:32 . – These are the words inscribed on the monument which Bunyan’s. “Hopeful” and “Christian” met with after parting with “Demas.”

443 Luk 17:33 . – Cf. Luk 9:24 , of which critics deem this a “duplicate.” It is one of the sayings of the Lord found in all four Gospels.

444 Luk 17:34 . – B. Weiss rightly compares 1Th 5:2 ; Norris wrongly, 1 Thess. 4: 19. In the preposition serves as well for take from the side of as for take to, etc. (Joh 14:3 ). Here it is for, not (as Plummer) from destruction.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 17:1-4

1He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Luk 17:1 “He said to His disciples” The context remains the same. Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees (cf. Luk 15:2; Luk 16:14), but at this point he addresses the disciples again (cf. Luk 16:1; Luk 17:5).

“It is inevitable” We live in a fallen, rebellious world. Get ready!

NASB”stumbling blocks”

NKJV”offenses”

NRSV”occasions for stumbling”

TEV”things that make people fall into sin”

NJB”causes of falling”

The term is skandalon, which in the LXX, translated a Hebrew term (BDB 430) “snare” (cf. Jos 23:13; Jgds. Luk 2:3; Luk 8:27), which denoted a baited trap stick. It can also be understood as a “stumbling block” (cf. Lev 19:14; 1Sa 25:31; Psa 119:165). The Anchor Bible (vol. 28A, p. 1138) notes that in time it came to mean to impel someone to “apostasy” or “abandonment of allegiance (to God or to His word as proclaimed by Jesus).”

“but woe to him through whom they come” This is paralleled in Matthew 18. Disciples are addressed and warned (cf. Mat 18:4-6; Mat 18:8-10). Jesus is referring to both the Pharisees and sinning believers. True believers are responsible for their brothers and sisters in Christ (cf. Rom 14:1 to Rom 15:13; 1 Corinthians 8-10; Gal 6:1-4).

Paul, in 1Co 11:19, even asserts that these false teachers and their followers are manifested so that the true believers are clearly revealed.

Luk 17:2 “if” This is a First class conditional sentence which, in this context, reaffirms the inevitability that stumbling blocks will come and, so too, will judgment.

“a millstone” In the OT grain was ground by hand mills, usually one flat stone (cf. Job 41:24) and one handheld rubbing stone (cf. Jdg 9:53). By NT times grinding was done by two round stones (18 to 20 inches). Wooden pegs held them in place and allowed the top one to rotate. The ground grain would work its way out around the edges.

It is possible that Jesus is referring to a larger pair of stones rotated by two men (cf. Mat 24:41) or en even larger one pulled by animals (cf. Jdg 16:21).

“thrown into the sea” Jews, being semi-desert dwellers, were always afraid of large bodies of water. Even Solomon’s fleet was manned by Phoenicians, not Jews. Drowning was a terrifying prospect.

The severity of the warning is surprising. It could possibly be

1. a way of showing how important these new believers are to God

2. a way of referring to apostasy or causing these new believers to renounce their new faith (see Special Topic at Luk 6:46)

3. simply an eastern hyperbole, so common in Jesus’ teachings

“one of these little ones” This is not referring to children, but to new believers (cf. Matthew 18 and I Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, chapter 46).

NASB, NRSV”to stumble”

NKJV”offend”

TEV”to sin”

NJB”the downfall”

This is the term skandaliz, which literally meant a baited animal trap trigger (the noun is used in Luk 17:1). It came to be used metaphorically of something that caused someone to be tempted, an impediment in one’s spiritual or moral growth, or an occasion for sinning.

It is often used of someone taking offense to Jesus or the gospel (cf. Mat 11:6; Mat 13:57; 1Co 1:23; Gal 5:11), but this does not fit in this context if it is addressing believers. If, however, the target audience is Pharisees, then this connotation is right on target.

If believers are the audience, then it refers to godly living and forgiveness (cf. Luk 17:3-4). The Christian community must be one of openness, godliness, forgiveness, and fellowship. Wounded believers are a major problem (cf. 1Co 8:12), then and now!

Luk 17:3

NASB, NRSV”Be on guard”

NKJV”Take heed to yourself”

TEV”So watch what you do”

NJB”Keep watch on yourselves”

This is a present active imperative, which denotes an ongoing command. Believers must guard their actions and personal choices (cf. Heb 2:1; 2Pe 1:19). We are our brothers’ (lost and saved) keeper!

Luke uses this term literally, “take heed to yourselves” (prosechete heautois) often in his writings (cf. Luk 12:1; Luk 17:3; Luk 21:34; Act 5:35; Act 20:28 and just the verb in Luk 20:46).

“If. . .if” These are Third class conditional sentences, which speak of potential action. It is amazing to me how much the Bible talks about forgiving as evidence of forgiveness (cf. Mat 6:12; Mat 6:14-15; Mat 18:21-35; Luk 6:38).

“your brother sins, rebuke him” This is an Aorist active imperative, which denotes urgency. This is paralleled in Mat 18:15-18 and is discussed in Gal 6:1-5. As the family of God, we are responsible for one another.

“if he repents” This is an aorist active subjunctive with ean, which denotes a third class conditional sentence. See SPECIAL TOPIC: REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT at Luk 3:3.

“forgive him” This is an another aorist active imperative, which denotes urgency. Believers are not to hold grudges or become bitter towards each other. Forgiveness always cleanses two hearts!

Luk 17:4 “And if he sins against you seven times a day” This is a third class conditional sentence. Peter asks this question in the parallel in Mat 18:21-22.

“returns to you seven times, saying ‘I repent” This may reflect the OT term for repent (shub, “turn”) and the Greek word “repent” (metanoe). Fellowship and restoration are not affected by numbers (7 x 70 in Mat 18:21-22), but by an attitude of acceptance, which is modeled by a gracious God and a sacrificial Messiah. Believers are to emulate the love and forgiveness of the Trinity (cf. 1Jn 3:16).

SPECIAL TOPIC: REPENTANCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

“forgive him” This is a future active indicative used in the sense of the aorist active imperative of Luk 17:3.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Then said He, &c. verses: Luk 17:1-2 contain matter which had been spoken by the Lord on a former occasion (Mat 18:6, Mat 18:7. Mar 9:42) and repeated here with a variation of certain words; verses: Luk 17:3, Luk 17:4 also had been spoken before, and recorded in Mat 18:21, Mat 18:22 (but not in Mark). The passage here is therefore not “out of its context”, but is repeated with special reference to Luk 16:14-30. See App-97.

unto. Greek. pros. App-104.

the disciples. All the texts read “His disciples”. This is to be noted in contrast with Luk 16:15.

impossible = inevitable. Greek. anendektos. Occurs only here.

offences = stumbling blocks.

through. Greek. dia. App-104. Luk 17:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1-10.] FURTHER DISCOURSES. The discourse appears to proceed onward from the foregoing.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Chapter 17

Now He turns again to His disciples.

Then said he unto his disciples, It is impossible but that offenses will come ( Luk 17:1 ):

You cannot help if you’re living in this world, you’re going to have offenses come your way. There are going to be people who will seek to put stumbling stones in your path. And that’s what the word offense here; it’s a stone of stumbling, a scandalon. It’s impossible to live your life without having these things happen. These offenses, as people challenge your faith, as people ridicule you for your walk with Jesus Christ, it’s gonna happen.

but woe unto him, through whom they come! ( Luk 17:1 )

You can’t live your life unscathed. You can’t live your life without having stumbling stones placed in your path, but woe to the person who put the stumbling stone there.

It was better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he was cast into the sea, than he should offend one of these little ones ( Luk 17:2 ).

It is a very serious thing to tamper with someone’s faith in Jesus Christ. To seek to put a stumbling stone or a block in their faith of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said much the same thing at another occasion in which He took a little child and was using a child for an example. And those that would try to rob a child of that pure, simplistic faith in Jesus. Quite often these scholarly theologians accuse me of preaching a simplistic gospel. Thank God for the charge, I hope it’s true. I hope that I’ll always preach a simplistic gospel. Because to me, the problem is that man has tried to make it so complex when God has made the believing in Jesus so simple that even a child can believe and be saved. And Jesus said unless you become as a little child you won’t be able to come in to the kingdom of Heaven. That’s pretty simplistic and I hope to keep it that way.

I love the spunk that Jesus has. He’s gonna take one of these big ole millstones, and I’ve seen them the size of the pulpit here, tie it around the guy’s neck and toss him in the Sea of Galilee. Better for him if that had happened to him than he should offend one of the little ones.

So take heed to yourselves ( Luk 17:3 ):

Be careful that you’re not a stumbling stone. Be careful that you don’t stumble your brother. Take heed to yourself if your brother trespass against thee. Rebuke him. There is a place for rebuke. Romaine has his place in the body. And for you who are listening on tape, Romaine is not my wife. We had some people come to Calvary a while back looking for my wife; they thought her name was Romaine, because of the reference that I have made to Romaine from time to time. Just keep the record clear.

If your brother trespass against you, rebuke him ( Luk 17:3 );

The Bible tells us that we should reprove, that we should rebuke. And if he repents forgive him. So your brother trespass against you, rebuke him, and say, “Hey, that isn’t right, you shouldn’t have done that.” “Oh, I’m sorry. Forgive me?” “Yes, I forgive you.” Should be just like that.

if he repents, forgive him ( Luk 17:3 ).

Now it doesn’t say anything if he doesn’t repent, does it? Do you have to forgive him if he doesn’t repent? I don’t think so. You say, “Oop, oh wait a minute.” Oh, let me ask you a question. Does God forgive a man without repentance? I don’t know of a single instance where God forgave a person without repentance. In fact, Jesus said unless you repent you’re gonna perish. So repentance is necessary for forgiveness. It’s an absolute necessary qualification for forgiveness. If I’m to be forgiven, I must repent. God will not forgive you if you don’t repent, therefore, God does not require that you forgive outside of repentance. But if they do repent, then you . . . it’s . . . the ball is in your park and you’ve got to forgive.

And even if he trespasses against you seven times in the same day, and seven times in the same day he turns to you again, and says, I repent; thou shalt forgive him ( Luk 17:4 ).

Thank you, Lord, I needed that. That’s so hard, isn’t it? You would be prone to think that the person wasn’t sincere. Just taking advantage of you. If seven times he does some rotten deed and then quickly says, “Oh, I repent, I repent,” and yet, if he repents seven times the same day, I’m to forgive him. I can’t do that unless the Lord helps me. And the apostles, no doubt, felt the same thing, because when Jesus said this, they said, “Oh,”

Lord, increase our faith ( Luk 17:5 ).

Help me, Lord. Can’t handle that one.

And so the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed ( Luk 17:6 ),

Now I think that we oftentimes make a mistake in this, thinking of faith in quantity and we think oh a mustard seed is so tiny, just a little tiny tiny bit of faith. And we think of it in quantity or in size. But He didn’t say if you had as much faith as the size of a grain of mustard seed, did He? He isn’t referring to size at all, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed. I didn’t know mustard seeds had faith. But if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed,

you might say to this sycamine tree ( Luk 17:6 ),

Or mulberry tree, whatever it might have been.

Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you ( Luk 17:6 ).

Now, whenever I read something like that, I wonder, “Lord, how much faith do I have?” But faith as a grain of mustard seed. Now in another place He said, “If your faith as a grain of mustard seed you can say to yon mountain be thou removed into the sea and it would happen.”

Let me suggest to you that a mustard seed is quite small. And when it is planted in the ground and covered with dirt and there germinates. As that mustard plant begins to grow from the little seed, it begins to move, in a sense, especially to its size the mountains of dirt above it that it might break forth and grow up into a mustard bush. So faith as a grain of mustard seed. There is that life principle there that can move mountains. Another place the disciples said, “Lord, increase our faith,” and perhaps He’s just showing them how little they really do have, and if this be a standard then I must take my place with them. I do wish that the Lord would increase my faith.

Now this business of faith, though, becomes a very tough issue, because so many times we find ourselves trying to generate faith. Have you ever been in the position of trying to generate faith? You know, you go trying to get the turbines turning and get things rolling. But you can’t generate faith. Now a lot of times we are made to feel very guilty…”Well, brother, if you just had enough faith. Surely you wouldn’t be in the mess that you’re in if you just had enough faith. You wouldn’t be as sick as you are if you just had enough faith.” Now, if at any time a person needs comfort and help is when they’re sick and they’re weak and they’re down. And it’s no help to tell a person, “Well, if you just had enough faith you wouldn’t be in this condition, brother.” That’s no help at all. You’re as bad as those guys who came to comfort Job. You’re kicking a guy when he’s down.

I cannot generate faith; I cannot produce faith. Faith is a gift of God. It is listed in I Corinthians chapter 12 as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now it is glorious when God plants that faith in your heart, but if He doesn’t I don’t know what you can do about it. So I think it’s proper with the disciples just say, “Lord, increase my faith.”

Now the Lord is talking to them about what it is to be a servant. You’re the servant of the Lord. He’s called these disciples to be a servant. And He’s talking to them a little about what a servant . . . what it entails being a servant. Let’s leave it there.

But which of you, who has a servant plowing or feeding your cattle, will say to him by and by, when he’s come in from the field, Go and sit down and eat your dinner? But will you not rather say unto him, Prepare my supper, gird yourself, and serve me, until I have eaten and drunken; and afterward you can eat and drink? Now does he thank that servant because he did those things which were commanded him? ( Luk 17:7-9 )

And Jesus said, “No way.”

I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we haven’t done any more than what was our duty to do ( Luk 17:9-10 ).

My attitude after I come in from serving the Lord, and the Lord gives me another task to do, and I’m so tired I feel oh I can’t move. But I go to the hospital, I make the call, I pray for them and encourage them. And I’m about fall asleep driving home. Catch myself a couple of times almost running off the road. And I’m trudging upstairs to bed and, “Oh, Lord, You ought to really lay a heavy one on me now. Look how good I am, look what I’ve done for You. Surely, Lord, You ought to bless me now. I’m so good.” Lord says, “No, no.” Say, I’m an unprofitable servant. I’ve only done that which was my duty to do. I’m a servant. What is my duty? To obey my master. Not to be looking for glory, not to be looking for thanks, not to be looking for pats on the back.

They tell me that I’m a difficult one to work for. Because I don’t pat people on the back. Now I know that’s difficult in marriage, and God help me, I’m trying. I know it is a failing of mine, because my wife isn’t my servant. She’s my wife. And it is a great failing of mine not to give her more recognition for those good traits, those beautiful traits that she has. I just, you know, expect it and, but I don’t give her recognition and don’t say, “Oh, sweetheart, that was the most delicious dinner. You seasoned that roast just perfectly, oh that was good.” I just don’t say those things. I wish I could, I wish I did, but I don’t. But if she burns the carrots, I say, “Oh you burned the carrots, huh?” No one makes it so stupid that we can’t learn, but yet, as a position of a servant I shouldn’t really be looking for these little perks. I’ve only done what is my duty to do.

Now it came to pass, as he was on his way to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood a far off ( Luk 17:11-12 ):

Which, of course, was the law of the land. If you were a leper you had to cry, “Unclean,” and could not allow anyone to approach you.

And they lifted up their voices ( Luk 17:13 ),

They cried, they yelled.

they said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, Go your way and show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, as they went, they were cleansed ( Luk 17:13-14 ).

Again, I like this because it shows us the variety with which Jesus worked His works among men. He was never in a pattern. He didn’t do things by set patterns because He didn’t want us to get set into rituals or into patterns. He wanted us to just be free to the working of God in different ways. In another case a leper came and said, “Lord, if You will, You can make me clean.” And Jesus touched him and said, “I will. Be thou clean. Go show yourself to the priest.” And immediately his leprosy left him.

Now here they stood afar off. It doesn’t say anything about Jesus touching them. They just cried out and Jesus called back and said, “Go show yourself to the priest.” Now this was the necessary thing when a . . . this is the law of the leper and the day of his cleansing, Lev 13:1-59 . He is to go to the priest and he’s to show himself to the priest to examine him. If he finds no new skin blotches and so forth, he puts him in the house and he sits there for seven days. Comes back again before the priest, and he looks over him again, and there’s no new eruptions or blotches then the man is proclaimed cleaned by the priest. And he goes out and gets a couple of doves and he brings one in. The priest kills the dove, pours the blood in water basin, he takes the other dove and dips it in this bloody water and turns it free. And the bloody water dove flies away with the blood sprinkling down and the guy is cleansed of his leprosy and he’s able to go back into the community. So that was the first step back to restoration, go show yourself to the priest.

So by faith, as they started towards the priest. Now doesn’t say they were cleansed immediately, but as they went they were cleansed. They started out in faith towards the priest, and as they were going, some guy said, “Look, wow, it’s gone, unreal.”

And one of them, returned when he saw that he was healed, he turned back, and with a loud voice he glorified God. And he fell down on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan ( Luk 17:15-16 ).

Now the Jews had no dealings with a Samaritan nor the Samaritans with the Jews. But misery had made common brothers of these men. But it’s significant that out of the ten only one gave thanks.

And Jesus said unto him, Were there not ten who were cleansed? where are the nine? ( Luk 17:17 )

This indicates that the Lord is looking for thanks when He has worked in a person’s life. He’s looking for that response, and He misses it when He is . . . when it is not there. Weren’t there ten that were cleansed? Where are the nine? And He said unto him,

There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said to him, Arise, go your way: your faith has made you whole ( Luk 17:18-19 ).

He received more than just the healing of his leprosy. He received salvation.

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come ( Luk 17:20 ),

He’s heading now towards Jerusalem. When’s the kingdom of God gonna come? When He gets to Jerusalem? You gonna do it?

and he answered and said unto them, The kingdom of God does not come with observation ( Luk 17:20 ):

The word there in the Greek is a word that means with outward manifestation or an outward show. You’re not gonna see an outward display of the kingdom at this time.

Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is [entos you, among you] ( Luk 17:21 ).

“Within you” is a poor translation here. It’s really, “the kingdom of God is among you.” It would be wrong to say that the kingdom of God was in the Pharisees. The kingdom of God is in the life of every man who has submitted to the King, or to God as King. But with Jesus, there the kingdom of God was among them. He was a demonstration of a man submitted to the authority of God.

And he said unto his disciples, The days will come, when you shall desire to see one of the days the Son of man, and you will not see it. And they shall say unto you, Look it’s here; look it’s there: now don’t go after them, or follow them. For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part of the heaven, shines to another part under the heaven; so shall the Son of man be in his day ( Luk 17:22-24 ).

Oh, the kingdom of God is coming, it’s over here, let’s go over and see the kingdom, it came secretly. No, it’s gonna be like lightening, everybody is gonna see it when it happens.

But before He comes in this glory,

He first must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man. For they were eating, they were drinking, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all ( Luk 17:25-29 ).

What is Jesus saying? The kingdom of heaven when it comes, it’ll be as in the days of Noah. It will be in the days of Lot. People will be going on with business as usual, eating, drinking, marrying wives, buying, selling, planting, building; business as usual. Now, verse Luk 17:29 I feel is significant, “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” I do not believe that God’s judgment will come upon the earth until the church is taken out. I do not believe that the church is going to face the wrath of God, the Great Judgment period mentioned in the Bible, or the Great Tribulation period. But I believe that Lot is a classic sign of God’s ability to deliver the righteous while reserving the ungodly for the day of judgment as Peter tells us in his second epistle.

Even thus shall it be in a day that the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. For remember Lot’s wife ( Luk 17:30-32 ).

Who, of course, in turning back turned to a pillar of salt. Get out of there, escape.

Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. I tell you, in that night there’ll be two in one bed; the one will be taken, the other will be left. Two shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, the other left. Two shall be in the field; one shall be taken, the other left. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together ( Luk 17:33-37 ).

Now this last portion is difficult of interpretation. And there are two basic interpretations. There are those who interpret this as the person who is taken is the one in, who is in trouble, because he is taken to the judgment. One is taken, where Lord? Wherever the body is there will the eagles be gathered together. And so they say they are taken to be put into the great battle of Armageddon where the birds are going to come and feast upon the body of the people. One interpretation. The other interpretation is that this actually is a reference to the rapture of the church. Taken up to escape the Great Tribulation period. So you can see that the two interpretations are exactly opposite. For in the second interpretation the one who is taken is blessed, because he won’t have to be in the Great Tribulation. The problem with the first interpretation is eagles are not a bird of prey, that is, upon the human bodies. They do prey upon livestock, live animals. But they are not as the vultures who eat human flesh. They do not eat the carcasses of people. So to interpret the aetos, which is eagles, as vultures is wrong, but yet, those who make the first interpretation are always translating aetos, as vultures. But that is not a true translation of the Greek aetos, which is eagles. There is another word for the vultures that feed upon the flesh of men at the great battle of Armageddon. What is being referred to wherever the body is there will the eagles be gathered together. There are those who see that as the body of Jesus Christ, wherever the body of Christ is there will the eagles, His victorious saints, be gathered together. And so you have two interpretations. You have a choice between the two. They are diametrically opposed. Both can’t be right, and when you get into a place like that I just find that it’s probably best to file it away and say, “Well, I’ll just wait for further information.”

Shall we pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word, a lamp unto our feet, a light into our path to guide us as we walk with Thee. And Lord, we pray that we might walk in the light of Thy truth, the path illumined by Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Lord, for Your truth that has set us free. Bless now, Lord, and may we grow in grace and in our knowledge of You. And Lord, we would with Your disciples pray, increase our faith. Work in our lives, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

May the Lord be with you, bless you. We praise the Lord for His goodness to us. The opportunity of just growing in our walk and in our fellowship. And may you be enriched this week as the love of Christ works in your life and works through your life. And let your light so shine before men, that when they see your good works they’ll glorify your Father which is in heaven. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Luk 17:1. Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come:

We are so strangely made that even good men do not always agree, and there are so many bad men about that they will cast a stumbling-block in our way if they can.

Luk 17:1-2. But woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

To do grievous damage to the soul of the very least of Christs people, is a great and ruinous sin; nothing can be worse. God grant that we may not do this even inadvertently! Let not the strong indulge in that which would be unsafe for the weak, lest the weak be led into sin through that which the strong brother might find lawful, but which certainly would not be expedient. May none of us ever willfully grieve any child of God!

Luk 17:3. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent,

Thou shalt not believe in his penitence No, surely, say you, that is incorrect. Yes, it is incorrect; but that is what many of you do. I was only reading as things generally are; but that is not Christs direction.

Luk 17:3-4. Forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day,

That is seven times too often.

Luk 17:4. And seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.

Do you say, That is too many times in a day to forgive him? Let me ask,- How many times in a day have you sinned? How many times in a day does God forgive you? Ah! the seven times a day that you have to forgive your brother are but a small number compared with the innumerable forgivenesses granted to you by our ever-gracious God.

Luk 17:5. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

For this kind of patient forgiving seemed too much for them, unless they had a larger stock of faith; and therein they were right. Strength of faith gives strength of love, and strength of love makes forgiveness easy.

Luk 17:6. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Now, if faith as a grain of mustard seed can do this, what cannot strong faith do? What a mercy it is for us that there is so much power in such little faith! A very small piece of dynamite can work great wonders; and within the tiniest morsel of faith, if it be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed, there lies concealed almost omnipotent force. Why do we not exercise that faith more? Nothing is impossible to him that believeth. We could blast the very strongholds of Satan with this powerful powder if we would but try it.

Luk 17:7-8. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?

See, brethren, our position as believers; we are here as servants. It is not the time for feasting yet. Whatever work we have done, even if it is getting towards the evening of our lifes day, we must not think of sitting down yet, and expecting our Master to wait upon us. No, we must go on with our service, and reckon it to be our highest privilege still to gird ourselves, and wait on him. This is not the place of resting or of feasting; this is the day of our holy servitude. Let us work on, ploughing while we have strength for it; and when the sun goes down at eventide, then waiting like servants at the table of their Lord.

Luk 17:9. Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.

Do you take off your hat to your servants, and say, I am very grateful to you for doing your duty? Not so. And even be who serves God best, may he expect honour as his due? Ah! no; he shall have honour because of the grace of his Master; but it is not his place to look for it, much less is it right for him to expect it as his due.

Luk 17:10. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

And who shall praise us for that? The most self-denying servant of the Saviour, the most ardent labourer for the Lord, will expect nothing of God except to be blessed by his abounding grace. What can we deserve of the dear hands of him who bought us with his blood? Are we not the bondservants of Christ? Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price. Therefore, whatever service you can render is due to him; and unto him let it be freely given without one thought of self-praise or pride because it is given without one thought of self-praise or pride because it is done so well.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Luk 17:1. , disciples) as in ch. Luk 16:1.- ) So , it is not a thing usual to happen [ ], ch. Luk 13:33 [lit. a thing not admissible in the common course of things].-, come) especially through the instrumentality of the Pharisees. [And their deriding cavils, ch. Luk 14:14.-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 17:1-10

23. WARNINGS TO HIS DISCIPLES

Luk 17:1-10

1 And he said unto his disciples,-This chapter was probably spoken while Jesus was still in Perea, or on his way from Perea to Jerusalem;some, however, think that he was in Galilee. It does not matter, as we cannot trace the steps of Jesus with accuracy; it is not necessary to do this. This was spoken to his disciples; some of them had proved unfaithful; this may have called up the warnings given to the disciples at this time. The wickedness of men is such that it cannot well be otherwise than that “occasions of stumbling should come.” The original from which “impossible” comes is only found here in the New Testament. The wickedness of men, the snares and temptations of the devil, give rise or produce the occasion to cause people to stumble. (Rom 14:13.) A condemnation is placed upon the one “through whom they come.”

2 It were well for him if a millstone-“Millstone” here means a common hand stone, not a large millstone which was turned by an ass, as in Mat 18:6. Meal was ground in ancient times by taking one stone in the hand and pounding the grain on another stone which was firmly fixed on the ground or pavement; this was a hand mill. However, the stone was large enough to hold one down in the water. It was better then and is now that one suffer physical death rather than to cause any of God’s children to stumble, even the least one of them. Hence, it is a fearful thing to cause any of God’s people to stumble.

3, 4 Take heed to yourselves:-Here the warning comes with great force. They are to “take heed” to themselves; it is well to watch the conduct of others that one does not stumble, yet it is better to take heed to ourselves. Christians may be the occasion of other’s stumbling. Jesus had just spoken of the causes of stumbling and the fearful consequences that await the one who causes stumbling; he now warns his disciples that they need not look so far away from themselves; that they will find these occasions among themselves. “If thy brother sin, rebuke him.” The word “rebuke” is the same here in the original as in Luk 9:21; it implies an emphatic and solemn charge; strictly, it means to “lay a penalty upon one” or “to charge under penalty.” This rebuke should be administered in such a way as to bring about repentance. “If he repent, forgive him.”

And if he sin against thee seven times-“Seven” is a term that must be taken indefinitely; it means “very frequently,” “very often.” (Mat 12:45; Mat 18:22; Luk 11:26.) “Seven” is often used to denote a complete number; it is called a sacred number and is closely connected in the scriptures with forgiveness and retribution. (Lev. 4:6; 16:14 26:18, 21, 24, 28; Psa 79:12; Dan 4:16; Rev 15:1.) The meaning is that as often as one sins and repents and asks forgiveness, so often shall forgiveness be extended. The disciples of Jesus should exercise forbearance and forgiveness at all times; by keeping in this frame of mind, one will not be caused to stumble by others sinning against him. Mutual concessions and mutual forgiveness are generally needed. It is well to compare this precept for the private intercourse of Christians. (See Mat 18:15-18.)

5 And the apostles said unto the Lord,-The apostles felt that they were deficient in this spirit of forgiveness, which Jesus had enjoined upon them this has been pointed out as the only instance that we have of “the apostles” as a body saying anything to our Lord, or making any request. Doubtless they did make requests “as a body”; Mat 17:19 and Act 1:6 seem to be other instances when they made requests of Jesus. Their request here is that their faith be increased. It is a prayer: “Lord, increase our faith.” Jesus had frequently rebuked the lack of faith. (Matt. 8:26; 14:31 17 :19-21.) This is a prayer that all should pray; the literal meaning of the Greek seems to be “add to us faith”; that is, “give us more faith.” Possibly these disciples could have answered their own prayer.

6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith-Jesus now shows what faith would do; this was his way of answering their prayer. If they could see what faith could do, they could see how they could increase their faith. Jesus does not deny that they have faith, but said, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up, and it would be rooted up.” “Grain of mustard seed” was a term used to indicate a very small degree of faith. (Mar 11:23 Luk 13:19.) “Sycamine tree” was similar to the mulberry tree; it was different from the “sycomore tree” in Luk 19:4; however, the names are sometimes confused, but a physician, as Luke was, would make a distinction, as both were used medically. In Mat 17:20 we have “mountain” in place of “sycamine tree.” This faith manifestly has reference to that special fatih which was necessary to work miracles. It seems that the least degree of this faith was sufficient to perform such a miracle.

7 But who is there of you, having a servant plowing-It is difficult to see the relation of these verses with that which precedes. However, it is introduced with “but” which institutes a contrast. Yet as it is brought by Jesus in this connection, we may see that it comes in close connection. Even if the disciples should have such faith as to perform miracles, they should not be elated over such achievements and filled with pride. In exercising such faith and such an unselfish spirit as to forgive a penitent brother, though he should sin against one seven times a day, and one should think that he did not merit anything, yet one has only done his duty when forgiveness is extended. So in exercising miraculous faith, one has only done one’s duty and merits no reward and should not be puffed up. A servant is supposed to obey his master, and when he is commanded to do anything when he has come into the house from the field, and is told to do something else, it is only his duty to do that.

8 and will not rather say unto him,-The plowing and feeding the sheep were common duties of servants; serving the master in the house may be considered extra duties imposed on those who have served in the field; yet it is the duty of the servant to serve his master in the house. The additional service to the laborers of the field illustrates the patience and untiring obedience of the servants. The field labor was ordinary service; the preparation for the evening feast demanded of them, when they returned weary with toil, tested the principles of their zeal and fidelity to their master. We are to take this parable or illustration in the sense which lies on its surface, of the obligations strictly implied in the relation of a servant to a master. A faithful servant will obey promptly every command of the master.

9 Doth he thank the servant-No special thanks are to be extended the servant for doing his duty. Being a faithful servant, he gladly gave the extra time and the larger measure of service, expecting nothing except the good will of the master. The servant will provide his master’s meal and serve him while eating it, and then consider that he has done only his well-understood duty, but nothing that calls for special gratitude from his master.

10 Even so ye also, when ye shall have done all the things- Jesus makes his own application. His disciples are to serve him faithfully; it matters not what the service may be; some services will be delightful-such as worshipping God and praising him; other services will be unpleasant-such as bearing burdens, suffering persecutions in his name, and ministering to the afflicted. With the apostles there were services of the ordinary disciple of Jesus; then there were the special works of the apostles, and miraculous gifts and other work of the Holy Spirit. However, after they had done everything, they were to say: “We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do.” “Unprofitable” does not mean “useless,” but having rendered no service beyond what was due.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The thinking of the Master for His disciples is always that they should live in love. He knew, however, that offenses must come. In that connection He uttered the solemn word of warning, “Woe unto him through whom – they come.” He then gave instructions on our attitude toward the offender.

There follows the story of the lepers. Ten men with a common need lifted a cry of agony in petition to the Son of God. Ten men were directed by Him to do what appeared absurd. The law required to show themselves to the priest when they were cleansed. These men were still lepers. Nevertheless, ten men trusted Him, and started on the journey. Ten men were miraculously healed through obedience, and then one man turned back to glorify God. Because of this, the question of Jesus, “Where are the nine?” becomes arresting and revealing, showing, as it does, that He waits for the worship of healed sods, and often is robbed of it.

The Pharisees asked Him when the Kingdom of God would appear, while it was right in their midst because the King Himself was there. This the Lord declared: “The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Turning to His disciples, He spoke of the day that lay far ahead in which He would no longer be unrecognized, but revealed in His glory to a faithless and unbelieving age.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

17:1-10. Four sayings of Christ. These are, The Sin of Causing Others to Sin (1, 2); The Duty of Forgiveness (3, 4); The Power of Faith (5, 6); and, The Insufficiency of Works (7-10). They have no connexion with the much longer utterances which precede them. Some of them are given by Mt. and Mk. in other positions. And the four sayings appear to be without connexion one with another. It is possible to make them into two pairs, as RV. does by its paragraphs. But the connexions between the first and second, and between the third and fourth, are too uncertain to be insisted upon.

1, 2. The Sin of Causing Others to Sin. These two verses are found in reverse order; and somewhat differently worded, Mat 18:6, Mat 18:7, and ver. 2 is found Mar 9:42.

1. . Here only in bibl. Grk., and rare elsewhere, excepting in writers who knew this passage. In 13:33 we have , from which this comes; and the intermediate is found in Apollonius. The meaning is it is unallowable, it cannot be, .

The gen. in may be variously explained, but best as an expression of design, implied in what is not allowed, a construction of which Lk. is very fond: see on 2:21. Win. xliv. 4. b, p. 408. Others refer it to the notion of hindering implied in (Burton., 405); while Meyer makes . a substantive on which the gen. depends, There is an impossibility of offences not coming. Here only does occur in Lk. It is a late form of (Aristoph. Ach. 687), the bait-stick in a trap, and combined the ideas of ensnaring and tripping up. It is bibl. and eccles. word, freq. in LXX.

. See on 6:24, and comp. 22:22.

2. . It is well for him, is worth his while: lit. it pays the taxes ( ), repays the outlay. Here only in N. T., but found Tobit 3:6; Ecclus. 20:10, 14, 29:14, and quite classical.

In Tertullian (Adv. Marcion. iv. 35) we have an insertion from Mat 26:24: expedisse ei, si natus non fuisset, aut si moline saxo ad collum deligato, etc. A similar mixture of texts is found in Clem. Hom. (Cor. 46.), who has for .

A stone fit for a mill (). Mat 18:6 and Mar 9:42 we have for . Neither occurs in LXX.

. Mk. has . The change from pres. to perf. is graphic: It is good for him if a millstone is hanged about his neck and he has been hurled. As to the double see Greg. Proleg. p. 121.

. Rather than: see small print on 15:7, and comp. (Tobit 3:6). Such constructions are common in LXX (Gen 49:12; Jon 4:3, Jon 4:8; Tobit 12:8; Ecclus. 20:25, 22:15, etc.), but are found also in class. Grk. (Menander). Nothing is to be understood with , such as rather than (to remain alive) in order to. It is the late use of with the telic force lost. Win. 46:8. c, p. 424; 124. Comp. Mat 5:29, Mat 5:30; 1Co 4:3.

. As the saying is addressed to the disciples (ver. 1), it is unlikely that the whole body of the disciples is included in these little ones. It is more natural to understand it of the more insignificant among them (comp. 7:28), or those who were young in the faith, or possibly children. The comes last with emphasis. To lead even one astray is an awful responsibility.

. These words come better as a conclusion to the previous warning than as an introduction to the exhortation which follows. They are analogous to He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. For the constr. see on 12:1. For instances in which there is discrepancy as to the division of verses see Greg. Proleg. p. 175.

3, 4. The Duty of Forgiveness. Those who connect this saying with the one which precedes it, make an unforgiving spirit to be set forth as a common way of causing others to stumble. Others regard it as an fortiori argument. If we must avoid doing evil to others, much more must we forgive the evil which they do to us. A better link is found in the severity of vv. 1 and 2, when thou sinnest against another, and the tenderness of vv 3 and 4, when others sin against thee.

The , which A etc. insert after , is perhaps an attempt to mark a contrast between the two sayings and thus link them. Or it may come from Mat 18:15.: om. A B L; X, Latt.Boh. Aeth. Arm. Goth. Neither here nor Mat 18:15 is the , which D and some Latin authorities insert after , genuine: om. A B L C D, Cod. Am. Cod. Brig. Syr. Goth. Nevertheless, what follows shows that offences are specially meant.

. The tenderness is not to be weakness. The fault is not to be passed over without notice (Lev 19:17).

4. . In Peters question (Mat 18:21, Mat 18:22) there is no , which is genuine here after the first only: and there is no . See on 15:7. The seven times is of course not to be taken literally. Comp. Seven times a day do I praise thee (Psa 119:164). Unlimited forgiveness is prescribed. But too much meaning is put into , when it is explained to mean that the mere expression of repentance is to suffice. Professed repentance may be ostentatiously unreal.

5, 6. The Power of Faith. There is no sign of connexion with what precedes. The fact that we have in ver. 1 and here points to different occasions. Mt. connects this saying of Christ with the Apostles question, Why could not we cast it out? (17:19, 20). Mk. has a similar saying after the withering of the barren fig tree (11:23). Marcion omitted vv. 5-10.

5. . See on 17 and 7:13. The expression has point here. The Apostles ask the Lord who had given them their office to supply them with what was necessary for the discharge of that office.

Give us faith in addition: add it to the gifts already bestowed. The faith here meant is faith in Christs promises. It is very forced to make it refer to what precedes; the faith that enables one to forgive a brother seven times in a day. Power to fulfil that duty would have been otherwise expressed. See Sanday on Rom 1:5 and additional note pp. 31-34.

6. . Irregular sequence, which has produced the reading (D E G H) as a correction. In the protasis the supposition is left open: in the apodosis it is implicitly denied. See Moultons note 5. Win. p. 383. We have a further change of tense in , implying that the obedience would at once have followed the command. Comp. Xen. Anab. v. 8, 13.

It is not a question of additional faith. Is there genuine faith to any extent? See on 13:19.

. At the present time both the white and the black mulberry are ommon in Palestine; and in Greece the latter is still called . It is not certain that the here is a different tree from the (19:4).1 But in any case both are different from the English sycomore, which is a maple. The is mentioned 1Ch 27:28; 2Ch 1:15, 2Ch 1:9:27; Psa 78:47; Isa 9:10. In Mat 17:20 we have for , the saying being uttered just after the descent from the Mount of Transfiguration. Comp. Mat 21:21||. Here Christs reply seems to indicate that it is faith in His promise that they should work miracles that is desired by the Apostles.

To treat the saying as a parable, and make the tree mean the Kingdom of God and the sea the heathen world, is fanciful.

7-10. The Insufficiency of Works, or, the Parable of the Unprofitable Servant. The attempts to find a connexion between this and the preceding saying are forced and unsatisfactory. Obviously these four verses are not concerned with miracles, which cannot be meant by (ver. 10). It is the ordinary duties of the Christian life that are meant. See the illustration in Hermas (Sim. v. 2. 1-11), and comp. Seneca, De Benef. 3:18.

7. . There is no need to seek for explanations as to why Jesus speaks to the poor Apostles as if they had slaves who ploughed for them, or to point out that Zebedee had had hired servants (Mar 1:20). There is no evidence that these words were addressed to the Twelve; and the words almost necessarily imply that they were addressed to a mixed audience of well-to-do persons. For see on 11:5, 6.

: belongs to rather than to , as is shown by the afterwards, which balances : Come straightway and sit down to eat Wic. Tyn. Cov. Cran. Rhem. RV. with Vulg. and Luth. adopt this arrangement. AV. follows Gen. with say unto him by and by, where by and by has its original meaning of immediately: AV. of 21:9; Mat 13:21; Mar 6:25 Comp. presently, Mat 26:53; 1Sa 2:16 (T. L. O. Davies, Bible English, p. 109; Lft. On Revision, p. 196, 2nd ed.; Trench, On the A. V. of N. T. p. 48).

. Come forward and sit down to meat. This use of is classical, but in N.T. is peculiar to Lk. (12:37). Comp. the insertion Act 24:7 and 2Ch 25:7 A.

8. . Change from aor. to pres. Prepare once for all continue to serve. With comp. Mat 10:19: in class. Grk. we should have , as in Act 9:6.

The forms and are analogous to (16:25) and (Mat 5:36). They belong to the popular Greek of the time, but are not quite constant; Mar 9:22 we have . See Veitch, s.v.; Win. 15 pp. 109, 110; WH. 2. p. 304. Both and are found Rth 2:9, Rth 2:14; Eze 12:18

With comp. 1Ti 1:12; 2Ti 1:3; Heb 12:28: the expression is classical. The of A D, Vulg. etc. is an insertion.

10. , . A purely hypothetical case. Nothing is gained by placing a full stop at . With comp. . (3:13; Act 23:31).

. Not vile as in 2Sa 6:22, nor good for nothing as in Ep. Jer_15, the only places in which the word occurs in LXX; but unprofitable, because nothing has been gained by them for their master. He has got no more than his due. Comp. Mat 25:30, the only other passage in N.T. in which the word is found. That God does not need mans service is not the point. Nor are the rewards which He gives in return for mans service here brought into question. The point is that man can make no just claim for having done more than was due. Miser est quem Dominus servum inutilem appellat (Mat 25:30); beatus qui se ipse (Beng.). Syr-Sin. omits .

17:11-19:28. The Third Period of the Journey

11-19. Here begins the last portion of the long section (9:51-19:28), for the most part peculiar to Lk., which we have called the Journeyings towards Jerusalem: see on 9:51. For the third time (9:51, 52, 13:22) Lk. tells us that Jerusalem is the goal, but we have no means of knowing whether this represents the beginning of a third journey distinct from two previous journeys. Marked breaks may be made at the end of 13:35 and 17:10. But we have no data for determining what the chronology of the different divisions is; and the geography is almost as indistinct as the chronology. This last portion, however, brings us once more (10:38) to Bethany, and to the time which preceded the triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

11-19. The Healing of the Ten Lepers. The gratitude of the Samaritan leper illustrates the special theme of this Gospel. The opening of the narrative indicates an Aramaic source: but that it is placed here to contrast mans thanklessness to God with the sort of claim to thanks from God, which is asserted by spiritual pride, is not probable.

11. . As He was on His way. See on 3:21 and comp. 9:51, the beginning of this main portion, where the construction is similar. The is probably a gloss (om. B L), but a correct gloss. As no one else is mentioned it is arbitrary to translate as they were on their way. Latin texts all take it as singular: dum iret, cum iret, dum vadit, dum iter faceret. So also Syr-Sin., which omits .

. The apodosis of : see on 5:12, 14, 6:20; also on 2:15. There is no emphasis on .

. This is the reading of B D L, accepted by Tisch. Treg. WH. and RV. It means through what lies between, i.e. along the frontier, or simply, between. This is the only passage in N.T. in which c. acc. has its original local signification. Even if were the right reading, we ought to translate it between and not through the midst of. This use is found in Xenophon: (Anab. 1:4, 4), of a river flowing between two walls; and in Plato: (Leg. 7. p. 805 D), of an intermediate course. Through midst of Samaria and Galilee wouldimply that Jesus was moving from Jerusalem, whereas we are expressly told that He was journeying towards it. Samaria, as being on the right would naturally be mentioned first if He was going eastward along the frontier between Samaria and Galilee possibly by the route which ends at Bethshean, near the Jordan. In order to avoid Samaritan territory (9:52-55), He seems to have been making for Pera, as Jews often did in going from Galilee to Jerusalem. On the frontier He would be likely to meet with a mixed company of lepers, their dreadful malady having broken down the barrier between Jew and Samaritan. See Conder, Handbk. of B. p. 311; Tristram, Bible Places, p. 222; Eastern Customs, pp. 19, 21. In the leper-houses at Jerusalem Jews and Mahometans will live together at the present time.

There is no doubt that ver. 11 forms a complete sentence. To make from to a parenthesis, and take as the apodosis of , is quite gratuitous clumsiness.

12. . Elsewhere we read of four (2Ki 7:3), but so large a company as ten was perhaps at that time unusual. Now it would be common, especially in this central region. These ten may have collected on hearing that Jesus was approaching. No meaning is to be sought in the number.

. In accordance with the law, which the leper of 5:12 possibly did not break: see notes there. The precise distance to be kept was not fixed by law, but by tradition, and the statements about it vary. See Lev 13:45, Lev 13:46; Num 5:2, and the evidence collected in Wetst. The adv. occurs Heb 11:13 and often in LXX, esp. in Isaiah (10:3, 13:5, 33:13, 17, 39:3, etc.). On the authority of B F, WH. adopt in the text, with in the margin. Lk. is very fond of this compound.

13. . They took the initiative. Here agrees with , just as in 16:24 agrees with . Comp. (11:27) and (Gen 39:15, Gen 39:18). This phrase occurs Act 4:24; Jdg 21:2; 1Sa 11:4. For see on 5:5.

14. . And directly He saw: which seems to imply that, until they cried out, He had not perceived who they were. This previous supernatural knowledge was not necessary. But He knows, without seeing or hearing, that they all were cleansed (ver. 17). This knowledge was necessary.

. Show yourselves to the priests appointed for this purpose. Each of the ten would go to the priest near his own home. In 5:14 we have , there being then only one leper. The Samaritan would go to a priest of the temple on Mount Gerizim.

. Their faith was shown in their obedience to Christs command, and on their way the cure took place. As they were no longer companions in misery, the Jews would rejoice that the Samaritan turned back and left them.

15. . See on 4:14 and 7:10. Even Hahn follows Schleiermacher in referring this to the Samaritans return from the priest. In that case he would have inevitably returned without the others. It was because he saw () that he was healed (not after he had been declared to be clean) that he came back to give thanks. The may mean that he still stood afar off (see on 1:42), as having not yet recovered the right to mix with others: for (see on 7:38) need not imply close proximity. But if the loud voice be only an expression of great joy, a man in the jubilation of such a cure would not be punctilious about keeping the exact distance, especially when he knew that he was no longer a leper. It is most improbable that he did not see that he was cleansed till the priest told him that he was.

16. . Here the has point: and he was a S. The only one who exhibited gratitude was a despised schismatic. That all the others were Jews is not implied.

17. . See small print on 1:19, p. 16. Here first we learn that Jesus was not alone; for His answer is addressed to the bystanders, and is a comment on the whole incident rather than a reply to the Samaritan.

. Were not the ten, etc.-all the ten who had asked Him to have mercy on them. The with emphasis at the end, like in ver. 8. These questions imply surprise, and surprise implies limitation of knowledge (7:9; Mat 8:10; Mar 6:6).

18. This sentence also may be interrogative: so WH. and RV. text. The is not a mere substitute for : it marks or implies the discovery or notice of the quality in question (1Pe 2:22; Rev 14:5).

. The classical word would be (Alas 10:28) or , But is very freq. in LXX, especially of the heathen (Exo 12:43, Exo 12:29:33, Exo 12:30:33; Lev 22:10, etc).

The Samaritans were a mixed people, both as regards race and religion. They were Israelites who had been almost overwhelmed by the heathen colonists planted among them by the Assyrians. Those from Cuthah (2Ki 17:24, 2Ki 17:30) were probably the most numerous, for the Jews called the Samaritans Cuthites or Cutheans (Jos. Ant. ix. 14. 3, 11:4, 4, 7, 2, 13:9, 1). These heathen immigrants brought their idolatry with them, but gradually mixed with it the worship of Jehovah. Both as regards race and religion it was the Jewish element which grew stronger, while the heathen element declined. Refugees from Judea settled among them from time to time; but we do not hear of fresh immigrants from Assyria. The religion at last became pure monotheism, with the Pentateuch as the law of worship and of life. But in race the foreign element no doubt predominated, although Christs use of does not prove this. He may be speaking with a touch of irony: this man, who is commonly regarded as little better than a heathen. See Schrer, Jewish People in T. of J. C. 2:1, pp. 6-8; Edersh. Hist. of Jewish Nation, pp. 249, 486, 499, ed. 1896; Derenbourg, Hist. de la Psa_1. p. 43; Jos. Ant. 11:8, 6, 12:5, 5.

19. . He did well to be thankful and publicly express his thankfulness; but he had contributed something himself, without which he would not have been cured. Comp. 8:48, 18:42. Others refer the saying to some benefit which the Samaritan received and which the nine lost, and explain it of moral and spiritual salvation. Comp. 7:50, 8:48, 50.

20-37. The Coming of the Kingdom of God and of the Son of Man. The introductory verses (20-22) are peculiar to Lk. For the rest comp. Mat 24:23 ff.; Mar 13:21 ff.

20. . There is no evidence that the question of the Pharisees was asked in contempt. Jesus had taught that the Kingdom was at hand, and they ask when it may be expected. Perhaps they wanted to test Him. If He fixed an early date, and at that time there were no signs of the Kingdom, they would know what to think. His reply corrects such an idea. There will be no such signs as would enable a watcher to date the arrival. A spiritual Kingdom is slow in producing conspicuous material effects; and it begins in ways that cannot be dated.

With this rather loose use of for in an indirect question comp. 12:36; Mar 13:4, Mar 13:33, Mar 13:35; Mat 24:3. Nowhere in N.T. is found.

. Here only in bibl. Grk. and not classical, although is not rare either in N.T. or LXX, and occurs in medical writers of watching the symptoms of a disease (Hobart, p. 153). It implies close rather than sinister watching, although the latter sense occurs. See on 14:1. The interpretation cum multa pompa, cum regio splendore, fits neither the word nor the context. The meaning is that no close observation will be able to note the moment of its arrival, which will not be marked by external sounds.

21. . Neither will they say (with any reason): non erit quod dicatur (Grot.). In ver. 23 they do say this; but it is a groundless statement. The before (A D, Vulg.) is an insertion from ver. 23.

. See on 1:44. This introduces the true statement in contrast to the previous , which introduced a false one. The marks the reason why Lo here or There cannot be accepted. Note the solemn repetition of .

. Usage sanctions either translation: within you, in your hearts (Psa 38:4, 108:22, 103:1; Isa 16:11; Dan 10:16 (Theod.); Ecclus. 19:23[26]: comp. Mat 23:26); or, among you, in your midst (Xen. Anab. 1:10, 3; Hellen. 2:3, 19; Plat. Leg. 7:789 A). The latter seems to suit the context better; for the Kingdom of God was not in the hearts of the Pharisees, who are the persons addressed. The meaning will then be, so far from coming with external signs which will attract attention, the Kingdom is already in the midst of you (in the person of Christ and of His disciples), and you do not perceive it. Note the contrast between , the supposition that the Kingdom is still in the future, and , the fact that it is really present. But this rendering of lacks confirmation in Scripture, and the context is not decisive against the other. If within you be adopted, the meaning will be, Instead of being something externally visible, the Kingdom is essentially spiritual: it is in your hearts, if you possess it at all.

All Latin texts have intra vos est. But the interpretation of within you varies considerably. Gregory Nyssen explains it of the image of God bestowed upon all men at their birth (De Virg. 12.; comp. De Beat. 1.), Which cannot be right. Cyril of Alexandria makes it mean, lies in your power to appropriate it, (Migne 72:841). Similarly Maldonatus, quia poterant, si vellent Christum recipere. But this is translating within you, and interpreting within you as much the same as among you. If they had not received Christ or the Kingdom, it was not yet within them. Against in your hearts Maldonatus points that not only does Lk. tell us that the words were addressed to the Pharisees, in whose hearts, the Kingdom was not; but that he emphasizes this by stating that the next saying was addressed to the disciples. Among moderns, Godet arguesably for within you (see also McClellan): Weiss and Hahn for among you. Syr-Sin. has among. Comp. 10:9, 11:20.

22. . Apparently this is the same occasion (comp. 12:22); and perhaps the Pharisees have retired. But we cannot be certain of either point. Christ takes up the subject which the Pharisees had introduced, and shows that it is the Second Advent that will be accompanied by visible signs. But with regard to these, discrimination must be used. Comp. Mat 24:23, Mat 24:26 and Mar 13:21, to which this is partly parallel.

. No article: Days will come: as in 5:35, 21:6; Mat 9:15; Mar 2:20. Even RV. has The days will come. Comp. the Johannean phrase, , There cometh an hour (Joh 4:21, Joh 4:23, Joh 4:5:25, Joh 4:28, Joh 4:16:2, Joh 4:25, Joh 4:32). But it is erroneous to make this passage mean the same as 5:35; Mat 9:15; Mar 2:20:-Days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them; then will they fast in those days. This means, not that hereafter there will be a time when the disciples will long in vain for one day of such intercourse with Christ as they are constantly enjoying now; but that there will be days in which they will yearn for a foretaste of the coming glory, a glory which must be waited for and cannot be anticipated. Oh for one day of heaven in this time of trouble! is a futile wish, but it will be framed by some. It is clear from ver. 26 what the days of the Son of Man must mean. But what does , …, mean? The common rendering, one of the days, etc., makes good sense. But the possibility of taking the expression as a Hebraism, one being used for first, as in (Mar 16:2), is worth noting. Comp. 24:1; Mat 28:1; Act 20:7; 1Co 16:2; Joh 20:1. In this case he desire would be for the first of the days of the Son of Man, the day of His return.

. Not because it will never come; but because it will not come in those days of longing.

23. There is no contradiction between this and ver. 21. That refers to true signs of the First Advent; this to false signs of the Second. It covers all premature announcements of the approach of the Last Day. All predictions of exact dates, and all statements as to local appearances, are to be mistrusted.

. Do not leave your ordinary occupation, still less go after those who offer to lead you to the place of the Son of Mans appearing.

24. . As sudden, and as universally visible. None will foresee it, and all will see it at once; so that no report respecting it can have any value. Non ejus ergo venturi tempus aut locus potest a mortalibus observari, qui fulguris instar omnibus coruscus videlicet et repentinus adveniet (Bede). See on 2:8, 11:46, 23:46 for Lks fondness for cognate words. The wording here is almost identical with Mat 24:27.

The art. before is probably an insertion; om. B L C G. Without it translate, when it lightens. For fulgur e has choruscatio and d has scoruscus. In what follows we again have an amphibolous expression (9:17, 18, 27, 57, 10:18, etc.); but should be taken with rather than with . For the ellipse of after or comp. Deu 25:9; Job 1:7, Job 2:2, Job 18:4, Job 34:13, Job 38:18, Job 42:15. The words after are of doubtful authority: om. B D, a b c d e i Aeth., while I has in adventu suo (comp. Mat 24:27): om. filius hominis in die sua ff2. Syr-Sin. has so shall be the day of the Son of Man.

25. . But there is no need to be expecting this now: the events immediately impending are very different. For see on 4:43, and for see on 9:22, and comp. 18:31. Just as the hought of impending suffering needs to be cheered by that of future glory, so the thought of future glory needs to be chastened by that of impending suffering. Comp. 9:44.

26. Having told the disciples that the Son of Man will not come as soon as they wish (22), in what way He will not come (23), in what way He will come (24), and what will happen first (25), Christ now states in what condition the human race will be when He comes.

. Not , as in ver. 24. There something analogous was introduced; here something exactly similar is cited. Just as, even as. Comp. 11:30; Joh 3:14; 2Co 1:5, 2Co 10:7, etc. In Attic Greek we should rather have (Rom 8:26), (Mat 27:10), or (Rom 12:4).

27. , , , . The imperfects and the asyndeton are very vivid: They were eating, they were drinking, etc. The point is not merely that they were living their ordinary lives, but that they were wholly given up to external things.

It is of no moment whether is made to depend upon or not: probably it is independent. But certainly belongs to (similiter sicut factum est, Vulg.), and not to (perdidit omnes pariter), which is pointless. The anticipates in ver. 30.

28, 29. There is no parallel to this in Mat_24. It is a second instance of careless enjoyment suddenly overwhelmed. Comp. 2Pe 2:5, 2Pe 2:6.

29. . The subject of is , Which is, expressed in Gen 19:24 (comp. Mat 5:45) and must be supplied here, because of . The verb is not impers., as in Jam 5:17. Grotius makes the nom. and compares (Rev 11:6). Gen 19:24 and the sing. verb are against this. Comp. Hom. Od. 22:493.

30. . A technical expression in this connexion (1Co 1:7; 2Th 1:7; 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 1:13, 1Pe 1:4:13). The present indicates the certainty of the veil being withdrawn. Up to that day He is hidden from mans sight: then at once He is revealed.

31. In Mat 24:17, Mat 24:18 and 13:15, 16 these words are spoken of flight before the destruction of Jerusalem. Here flight is neither expressed nor understood. The point is absolute indifference to all worldly interests as the attitude of readiness for the Son of Man. We need not discuss whether the words were spoken in a literal sense, as in MK. and Mt., and Lk has applied them spiritually; or in a spiritual sense, and Mt. and MK. have taken them literally. Christ may have used them in both senses. The warning about flight from Juda is recorded by Lk. elsewhere (21:21). On the oratio variata of the constr. see Win. lxiii. 2. 1, p. 722, 723.

32. . Lots wife looked back with a wish to recover worldly possessions and enjoyments. She proved herself to be unworthy of the salvation that was offered her. In like manner the Christian, whose first thought at the Advent of the Son of Man was about the safety of his goods, would be unfit for the Kingdom of God.

Note that Christ says, Remember, not Behold. Nothing that is in existence is appealed to, but only what has been told. Attempts have been made to identify the Pillar of Salt. Josephus believed that he had seen it (Ant. i. 11, 4). Comp. Wisd. 10:7; Clem. Hom. Cor. 11.; Iren. iv. 31, 3; CyrHier. Catech. xix. 8.

33. . To preserve for himself: elsewhere to gain for oneself (Act 20:28; 1Ti 3:13). The reading (A R) comes from 9:24.

. Shall preserve alive: Act 7:19; 1Ti 6:13; Exo 1:17; Jdg 8:19; 1Sa 2:6, 1Sa 2:27:9, 1Sa 2:11; 1Sa_1 Kings 21:31. The rendering shall bring to a new birth has been rightly abandoned by Godet. In bibl. Grk. it is not used of bringing forth alive, viviparous. From 9:24; Mat 10:39, Mat 10:16:25; Mar 8:35; Joh 12:25 it appears that this solemn warning was often uttered: for most of these passages refer to different occasions. It is the one important saying which is in all four.

34, 35. The closest intimacy in this life is no guarantee of community of condition when the Son of Man comes. The strangest separations will take place between comrades, according as one is fit to enter the Kingdom and another not.

34. . This must not be pressed to mean anything, whether a time of great horror or actual night. Christ is not intimating that His return will take place in the night-time. Night is part of the picture, for it is then that people are in bed.

. Two on one bed. Not necessarily two men, although that is probably the meaning. AV. was the first English Version to insert men, and RV. retains it. The being taken probably means taken from destruction (Joh 14:3), (Eus.), as Lot from Sodom; while left means left to his fate (13:35). Or, taken into the Kingdom and left outside may be the meaning.

35. This image presupposes day rather than night, and refers to a fact which is still of everyday occurrence in the East. Whether people be sleeping or working when the Lord comes, those who still cling to things earthly will be left without share in the Messianic joy. And in this matter no man may deliver his brother: (Cyr.).

36. An ancient (D, Latt. Syrr.) insertion from Mat 24:40: om. A B Q R, Aeth. Copt. Goth.

37. , ; The question is one of curiosity which Christ does not gratify. Moreover, it assumes, what He has just been denying, that the Second Advent will be local-limited to one quarter of the earth.

, . This was perhaps a current proverb. The application is here quite general. Where the conditions are fulfilled, there and there only will the revelation of the Son of Man take place. Or possibly, Where the dead body of human nature, clinging to earthly things, is, there the judgments of God will come: ubi peccatores, ibi Dei judicia. Jesus thus sets aside all questions as to the time (ver. 20) or the place (ver. 37) of His return. One thing is certain; that all who are not ready will suffer (VV. 27, 29). Upon all who are dead to the claims of the Kingdom ruin will fall (37). The of Mat 24:28 expresses more definitely than that the body is a dead one: comp. Mat 14:12; Mar 6:29, Mar 6:15:45; Rev 11:8, Rev 11:9. But for a dead body is quite classical, and is always so used in Homer, a living body being : comp. Act 9:40.

. The vultures. Here, as in Mic 1:16, the griffon vulture (vultur fulvus) is probably meant: comp. Job 39:27-30; Hab 1:8; Hos 8:1, and see Tristram, Nat. Hist, of B. p. 172; D. B.2 art. Eagle. Eagles neither fly in flocks nor feed on carrion. During the Crimean War, griffon vultures, which had previously been scarce round Sebastopol, collected in great numbers, from the ends of the earth, as the Turks said. In the less general interpretation of this saying of Christ the are the ministers of judgment which overtake the ungodly. A reference to the eagles of the Roman standards is not in point here, although it is possible Mat 24:28. The patristic interpretation of the saints gathering round the glorified body of Christ is equally unsuitable to the context.1 See Didon, JC ch. 9. p. 613, ed. 1891; also Hastings, DB. i. p. 632.

RV. Revised Version.

Sin. Sinaitic.

Win. Winer, Grammar of N.T. Greek (the page refers to Moultons edition).

Burton. Burton, N.T. Moods and Tenses.

Clem. Hom. Clementine Homilies.

Greg. Gregory, Prolegomena ad Tischendorfii ed. N. T.

Found in Luke alone.

om. omit.

Cod. Sinaiticus, sc. iv. Brought by Tischendorf from the Convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai; now at St. Petersburg. Contains the whole Gospel complete.

A A. Cod. Alexandrinus, sc. v. Once in the Patriarchal Library at Alexandria; sent by Cyril Lucar as a present to Charles 1. in 1628, and now in the British Museum. Complete.

B B. Cod. Vaticanus, sc. 4. In the Vatican Library certainly since 15331 (Batiffol, La Vaticane de Paul 3, etc., p. 86).

L L. Cod. Regius Parisiensis, sc. viii. National Library at Paris. Contains the whole Gospel.

X X. Cod. Monacensis, sc. ix. In the University Library at Munich. Contains 1:1-37, 2:19-3:38, 4:21-10:37, 11:1-18:43, 20:46-24:53.

Latt. Latin.

Boh. Bohairic.

Aeth. Ethiopic.

Arm. Armenian.

Goth. Gothic.

D D. Cod. Bezae, sc. vi. Given by Beza to the University Library at Cambridge 1581. Greek and Latin. Contains the whole Gospel.

C. Cod. Ephraemi Rescriptus, sc. 5. In the National Library at Paris. Contains the following portions of the Gospel: 1:2-2:5, 2:42-3:21, 4:25-6:4, 6:37-7:16, or 17, 8:28-12:3, 19:42-20:27, 21:21-22:19, 23:25-24:7, 24:46-53.

These four MSS. are parts of what were once complete Bibles, and are designated by the same letter throughout the LXX and N.T.

Cod. Am. Codex Amiatimus.

Syr Syriac.

1 Two points may be urged in favour of those who identify the two trees: (1) In LXX every instance in which the Hebrew has Shikmin the Greek has , although the fig, and not the mulberry, is certainly intended. (2) As to the mulberry it has yet to be shown that it was then known in Palestine: and further the mulberry is more easily plucked by the roots than any other tree of the size in the country, and the things is oftener done (Groser, Trees and Plants in the Bible, pp. 121, 123).

Wic. Wiclif.

Tyn. Tyndale.

Cov. Coverdale.

Rhem. Rheims (or Douay).

Vulg. Vulgate.

Luth. Luther.

AV. Authorized Version.

Gen. Geneva.

WH. Westcott and Hort.

Beng. Bengel.

Tisch. Tischendorf.

Treg. Tregelles.

Wetst. Wetstein.

F F. Cod. Boreeli, sc. ix. In the Public Library at Utrecht. Contains considerable portions of the Gospel.

Jos. Josephus.

Grot. Grotius.

G G. Cod. Harleianus, sc. ix. In the British Museum. Contains considerable portions.

Iren. Irenus.

R R. Cod. Nitriensis Rescriptus, sc. 8. Brought from a convent in the Nitrian desert about 1847, and now in the British Museum. Contains 1:1-13, 1:69-2:4, 16-27, 4:38-5:5, 5:25-6:8, 18-36, 39, 6:49-7:22, 44, 46, 47, 8:5-15, 8:25-9:1, 12-43, 10:3-16, 11:5-27, 12:4-15, 40-52, 13:26-14:1, 14:12-15:1, 15:13-16:16, 17:21-18:10, 18:22-20:20, 20:33-47, 21:12-22:15, 42-56, 22:71-23:11, 38-51. By a second hand 15:19-21.

Eus. Eusebius of Csarea

D. B. Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd edition.

1 , , , , (Cyr. Alex., Migne, 52:848). Justorum anim aquilis comparantur, quod alta petant, humilia derelinquant, longvam ducere ferantur atatem (Ambr., Migne, 15:1781). Comp. Paschasius Radbertus on Mat 24:28.

Didon, Pre Didon, Jsus Christ

Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament

Take Heed to Yourselves

Luk 17:1-10

The world is full of stumbling-blocks. Men are perpetually placing them in each others way; and especially before little children, the simple and the weak. Let us take heed to ourselves and endeavor to make lifes pathway easier for others. Let us spend lives of helpfulness and sympathy, full of love and forgiveness, of light and joy.

Do these precepts seem too difficult? Does a sevenfold forgiveness seem impossible? Then learn the lesson of the mustard seed, which opens its tiny door to the inflow of Natures energy and is therefore enabled to produce what, to its unaided strength, would be impossible. Open your soul to God! His love through you will forgive and save to the uttermost!

But when you have done all, you have nothing to be proud of, and neither God nor man is under any obligation to you. Love is the elementary duty of the follower of Christ.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Subjection To Christ — Luk 17:1-10

Then said He unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do- Luk 17:1-10.

Our blessed Lord has given us a great deal of practical instruction in the four Gospels. This is something we shall never get beyond as long as we are down here in this world. Everything that is spiritual in any part of the Bible is for us. There are certain things, we know, that have a special dispensational application; but all the great moral and spiritual truths apply at all times. As Christians we ought to come back again and again to the teaching given by Jesus in the Gospels that we may learn of Him how to walk and to please God as we pass on through this scene.

He speaks here of four different subjects. First He gives us a solemn warning concerning stumbling-blocks. We read that Jesus said unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! The word translated offences really means stumbling-block. From time to time there will come occasions of stumbling. Some will forget their responsibilities and allow themselves to be guilty of things that will prove to be stumbling-blocks to others. They will offend or scandalize their weaker brethren, but we are not to excuse these things in ourselves or in others. We may find it easy to say, I did not mean any harm. But we are responsible to so walk that others following our example may not go astray into the path of sin through our bad example. We shall have to answer for it if we offend in this way. Jesus said, It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. One might be terrified almost at these words. They should cause us to walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. One might say, I live my own life, and I do not care what people think. I live according to my own judgment. But that is not the spirit of Christ, and it is not the spirit that should characterize those who profess to be His disciples. There may be many things which we think are all right, but we are to consider our weaker brother. The apostle Paul dealt with this at great length in his Epistles. In Rom 14:21 he said, It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Do not parade your liberty before another who is likely to be influenced wrongly by your behavior. In the second instance our Lord speaks of the forgiveness of injuries, real or fanciful. In verses three and four He says, Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. Let us stop here for a moment. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. That is, if you feel your brother has said something or done something to injure you, do not talk about it to other people; do not seek some sympathetic person and pour your troubles into his ear, lest in a little while he spread it all through the church. There is an old saying:

If you are wise youll advertise;

And here are all the points essential:

First, tell your business to a friend;

Then say, Its strictly confidential.

So if somebody has offended you, do not tell it to anyone else. Go to him who has done the wrong and rebuke him for it. And if he repent, forgive him. Go straight to the one who has offended you; tell him exactly what he has said or what he has done that is grieving you. That takes real manhood. Sometimes it is so much easier to go round muttering and talking to other people about offences instead of going to the one who has done the wrong and telling him what is on your mind. We are great for avoiding our own responsibility. We would rather pass it on to someone else. We would rather bring a charge before the church. But Jesus plainly tells us we are never to bring a matter like that to the church until we have first gone to the person himself. Go to your brother and rebuke him, and if he says, I am sorry; I did not mean it that way, or I am sorry, forgive me, then you will be able to straighten the matter out at once, and you are not to say anything about it again; that should be the end of it. If we would act on these words more fully how many hurt feelings would be saved; how many church strifes would be avoided! You say, Well, I talked to him about it, and he said he repented, and I forgave him; but he did the same thing again. What am I to do now? The Lord says, And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. This is enough to make almost anybody lose confidence in a man: he says, I repent, and then he does it again and again. I cannot believe in a person like that, you say. Never mind that; you do not have to believe in him if you will only forgive him. If he trespasses seven times in a day and says, I repent, then you are to forgive him. Remember on another occasion (Mat 18:21-22) Peter said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, until seventy times seven. I am afraid none of us have ever had to forgive that many times. Of course, we are not called upon to proclaim forgiveness until the other person professes to repent. I do not have to run after someone, calling, I forgive you! I forgive you! He is likely to say, I do not want you to forgive me; I do not need your forgiveness. But we are to maintain always an attitude of mercy and to love him until at last he breaks down and says he repents. Then we are to forgive as freely as God forgives us.

The third lesson we have here is that of the power of faith. When Jesus told these things to His disciples, they looked at Him, as much as to say, You are setting up a standard so high we cannot attain to it. They exclaimed, Lord, increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you. Do not misunderstand that. He did not mean that we are to go about demonstrating our power over nature. Faith, you know, is believing God, and faith leads one to act in accordance with His revealed will. Now if God reveals to you that you should pray that some sycamine tree be plucked up and cast into the sea, He will give faith for it; but that is not the customary thing. What the Lord is teaching is that if you have real faith you will be able to triumph in spite of all outward circumstances. You have heard of the Irishman who said, I learned to trust God, and He has done such wonderful things for me that if He tells me to jump through a stone wall Ill jump, and I know He will make a way through. But do not jump if God has not told you to do it! Faith leads us to act in accordance with the Word of God, and when we do God can be depended upon to see us through.

In the fourth instance, the Lord says some things to keep us from over-estimating our own devoted-ness, or the value of our own service. He uses a very simple illustration: He speaks of a farm-hand working in the field, plowing, or feeding the cattle, and doing other duties, then coming back to the house where it is his business to help prepare the meal and to wait upon the owner of the farm. He says in a case like that, after you have done your plowing, carried food to the cattle and finished a number of other duties that are yours and you come to the house, you do not expect the owner to say to you, Sit down here while I prepare the meal, and I shall be glad to wait on you. No; you are not looking for that. You are a hired hand, a servant, and you are appointed to do certain things for which the owner pays you. You do not feel that any special commendation is due to you for doing that for which you are being paid. The arrangements were made when you came to work on the farm, and so you do not expect any special consideration. You do not say, I have given my time, and I think I deserve a great deal more attention. So the Lord warns His disciples not to allow themselves to be carried away with the idea that because of their service they deserve special commendation. We are bought with His precious blood, and our work is to serve with gladness. We are but imperfect workmen at best. He says, When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. It is our duty to continue in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. We leave it to Him to appraise our work. He will take note of all service for Himself, and everything that has been done out of love for Him will be rewarded, even to a cup of cold water given in His name.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Luk 17:1

I. We understand from such a sentence as this, what a true, calm judgment of life the New Testament furnishes. It tells us the worst; it does not gloss things over. Its writers and teachers are not carried away by enthusiasm. They do not paint the world, even as it is to be in the light of Christian truth as a Utopia, a happy dreamland of perfection. We remember who it was that pronounced this sentence. Not one who despaired of humanity, not a cynic to whom its weaknesses were matter for sarcasm, but one who, for all its vice and weakness, “so loved the world,” and so hoped all things and believed all things of the world, that He came from heaven to live in it and to die for it. And yet, in spite of this, He could say calmly, “It is impossible”-so God had allowed it to be-and proceed to warn and to persuade and to work for men and with men, as though the necessary existence of temptation did not lessen human responsibility, or make impossible the preservation of innocence or the growth of holiness.

II. Notice two or three applications of our Lord’s words. (1) A life of selfish enjoyment can hardly escape being a life through which offence comes. It is hard to live before others a life which is easier than theirs-more guarded and furnished with appliances of comfort and pleasure-without causing some harm to them, it may be by rousing envy, it may more easily be by setting before them a wrong ideal, strengthening in them the dangerous sense that a man’s life consists in the abundance of the things that he possesses. (2) Our Lord’s words give the key to one side of human sin and wretchedness. “It is impossible but that offences will come”-impossible but that one man’s wickedness or folly should lead to sin and wretchedness in others; impossible even in a world Christian in name and profession; impossible even when men are trying in a sense and degree to live as Christians. It is a question that we must be always asking ourselves, whether we are so living as to help or to injure these near us-those who look up to us, those who breathe the same air with us, those who will in any way form a standard from our acts and character.

E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons, p. 232.

Reference: Luk 17:3-5.-Good Words, vol. iii., p. 700.

Luk 17:5

There is a twofold difficulty in this passage: (1) The manner in which Christ receives the prayer of the Apostles seems to be not such as we should have expected; and, (2) the connection of thought between the prayer for increase of faith and the Parable of the Unprofitable Servant is far from obvious. I ask then-

I. What was there wrong,-or, if not wrong, at least unsatisfactory or ignorant-in the prayer which the Apostles made to Christ in the text? I believe the explanation is this, that the Apostles betrayed in their prayer an ignorance of the true meaning and province of faith; the Lord had just been impressing upon them a plain practical duty, that of forgiving each other their offences, and the Apostles feeling how hard it would be for human nature to fulfil this command, admitting that justice of the Lord’s injunction, and fearing lest they should be tempted to forget it, make the prayer that He would increase their faith-as though faith were a kind of preservative from sin of which the more we had the better, as though a certain amount of faith would prevent a man from falling, just as a certain amount of medicine might cure a complaint; and as though if they had only faith enough given to them by God’s grace they could be perfect in their walk through this world, and sure of life in the world to come. What is the Lord’s reply? He tells them that if they have faith at all, they have in them that principle which can work miracles, faith no doubt admits of growth, but how? just by the performance of those practical duties which the Lord had enjoined; it is not for a man to say, “I cannot do such and such things, because I have not faith enough;” but rather to strive to increase His faith by doing God’s will.

II. Faith, then, is represented by Christ as that which, if only possessed in the magnitude of a mustard seed, may be capable of great spiritual results; it is not the size of the seed which determines its importance, a portion of a large seed is not the same as the whole of a small one; no, the seed contains a principle of life; and so faith in the heart, if it be but genuine, may grow and bear most wonderful fruits. The prayer of the Apostles in the text is at least one which requires caution in the use; and it becomes positively mischievous if it implies the thought that any gift of faith from God, any supernatural influence, any inspiration from above, can be a substitute for the patient development of the seed of God’s grace, the watering of it with prayer, the keeping it clear from noxious intertwining weeds, the pruning and dressing of the tree-in fact, the thorough devotion of our spiritual energies to carrying on the work of grace.

Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 168.

Not quite sure-There are no sadder words; none at all. Every other trouble could be borne, if we were but delivered from doubt; if we were but perfectly sure of certain things which good people often say. The prayer of the text for many men and many women is a very old one. Day and night it ought to go up, to where prayer goes; the prayer the Apostle made to Jesus Christ: “Increase our faith.”

I. I put quite aside the special use which they, perhaps, wished to make of a strong faith. Perhaps they thought to work mighty works, which we have not the least desire to do. It is faith to believe which we desire and ask for: faith to be perfectly sure. Give us more faith; firmer faith, constant faith; faith that does not ebb and flow: faith that is always there. It is a great thing to ask. There is a thread of the sceptic, even of the infidel, in many a good Christian. There come the agnostic moments into many a saintly life. So we come, we who are professed Christians, to God Almighty, with the prayer made in solemn earnestness: “Give us more faith.”

II. It will not do in these days, to pretend that there are no difficulties in the way of a firm belief. But in the face of all difficulties, we take our stand here: that there is evidence adequate to the healthy mind, which proves the grand doctrines by which we live; that there is a God; a future life; that Christ was here; and if here at all, our Sacrifice and Saviour. I need not try to reckon up, or rehearse, the many truths which come of these, which multiply and are ramified into every detail of our daily life, always more and more as we grow older. These are the things we pray to believe. These are the things we have imperfectly in our minds, when we go to God and cry to Him with an earnestness beyond all words: “Oh give us more faith.”

III. By what means shall we get increase of faith? (1) By asking it from God in earnest and continual prayer. (2) By keeping out of harm’s way. There is a moral atmosphere laden with unbelief. Keep out of the society of unbelievers. Irreverence and flippancy and self-conceit are the characteristics of any whom you are likely to know. Such company cannot possibly do you good. It is almost certain to do you harm. (3) Stand in fear of any permitted sin. Not morally only, but intellectually too, you do not know how it may harm you, incapacitate you, pervert you. Pray with the Psalmist, “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults; keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”

A. K. H. B., Towards the Sunset, p. 1.

References: Luk 17:5.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1318; J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 17; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 420. Luk 17:6.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 253; Expositor, 1st series, vol. ix., p. 307; Ibid., 2nd series, vol. iii., p. 207. Luk 17:7-10.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 350; G. Macdonald, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 149; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic teaching of Christ, p. 168.

Luk 17:8

We want some method of investigating spiritual ideas which will give us enough of results to satisfy the intellect, not fully, but sufficiently to permit the spirit to go on in its course without the sacrifice of the intellect. For we are bound to educate and bring into play all the capabilities of our nature; and to sacrifice any one of them is to injure the whole of our being.

I. There is a spiritual world as extended as humanity, and to assert its existence is no more to beg the question than the assertion of a physical world. I mean by it the world of the human heart in its relations to the idea of God, and to all the feelings and actions which cluster round that idea. Then there are the innumerable facts which have been recorded of the varied and passionate feelings of individuals in their relation to their idea of God, and of the lives which flowed from these feelings: every appetite mental or physical, every passion of humanity being profoundly modified and changed by being brought into contact with certain large religious thoughts. It is ridiculous to deny the existence of these phenomena, or to explain them as diseases of the mind. What should be the method of the sceptic who is desirous of finding truth? He should take all the facts he can find, he should classify them as far as possible, he should not blind himself to any, and he should bring them up to the theories and say to them, “Do you explain that?” He should test religious theories by religious facts. I cannot imagine, keeping myself strictly within logical limits, how the atheistic theory in any form can stand that test It does not explain a millionth part of the phenomena; and in place of any proof, it substitutes another theory, which it gives no proof, that the facts are not what they seem, or that they know nothing about their explanation, which is giving up the whole affair-a very unscientific mode of proceeding.

II. But there are certain grand Christian ideas, which go naturally with each other, which, as it were, infer each other, and which, taken together, form a theory of the relation between God and man, which I do think explains the greater part of the spiritual phenomena of the world of man. Take, then, the facts of the spiritual history of the world and of your own personal life. Bring them to these ideas-to this theory. See if it will explain them, see if it does not of itself arrange them into order, see if it does not harmonise them into a whole; and I venture to say that you will find things growing clearer and clearer, difficulties melting away-or, at least, such light coming upon them that you seem to know that they will melt away. We have faith enough now not to despair, and our cry is this, “Lord, increase our faith.”

S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 108.

Luk 17:10

Reliance on Religious Observances. Consider how this danger of over-reliance on religious observances is counteracted in the case of serious minds.

I. The evil in question-supposing it to exist-is singularly adapted to be its own corrective. It can only do us injury when we do not know its existence. When a man feels and knows the intrusion of self-satisfied and self-complacent thoughts, here is something at once to humble him and destroy that complacency. To know of a weakness is always humbling. Now humility is the very grace needed here. Knowledge of our indolence does not encourage us to exertion, but induces despondence; but to know we are self-satisfied is a direct blow to self-satisfaction. Here is one great safeguard against our priding ourselves on our observances. Evil thoughts do us no harm, if recognised, if repelled, if protested against by the indignation and self-reproach of the mind.

II. But, again, if religious persons are troubled with proud thoughts about their own excellence and strictness, I think it is only when they are young in their religion, and that the trial will wear off; and that for many reasons. It does not require much keenness of spiritual sight to see how very far our best is from what it ought to be. Try to do your whole duty, and you will soon cease to be well-pleased with your religious state. If you are in earnest, you will try to add to your faith virtue, and the more you effect the less will you seem to yourself to do. The more you neglect your daily domestic, relative, temporal, duties the more you will pride yourself on your formal, ceremonial observances.

III. The objection that devotional exercises tend to self-righteousness, is the objection of those-or, at least, is just what the objection of those would be-who never attempted them. A religious mind has a perpetual humiliation from this consciousness-namely, how far his actual conduct in the world falls short of the profession which his devotional exercises involve.

IV. But, after all, what is this shrinking from responsibility, which fears to be obedient lest it should be, but cowardice and ingratitude? To fear to do our duty, lest we should become self-righteous in doing it, is to be wiser than God; it is to distrust Him; it is to do and to feel like the unprofitable servant, who hid his lord’s talent and then laid the charge of his sloth on his lord, as being a hard and austere man.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iv., p. 66.

References: Luk 17:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1541; J. Thain Davidson, Sure to Succeed, p. 279; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life, vol. i., p. 182; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 132; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 32. Luk 17:11-14.-W. Wilson, Christ setting His Face to go to Jerusalem, p. 126. Luk 17:11-19.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 152; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. viii., p. 85. Luk 17:12-14.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1635. Luk 17:14-16.-Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 161.

Luk 17:15-18

The Ten Lepers. There are, speaking broadly, three chief reasons for unthankfulness on the part of man towards God-

I. An indistinct idea or an under-estimate of the service that He renders us.

II. A disposition, whether voluntary or not, to lose sight of our Benefactor.

III. The notion that it does not matter much to Him whether we acknowledge His benefits or not.

Gratitude is our bounden duty, because it is the acknowledgment of a hard fact-the fact that all things come of God; the fact that we are utterly dependent upon Him; the fact that all existence, all life, is but an overflow of His love; because to blink this fact is to fall back into the darkness and to forfeit that strength which comes always and everywhere with the energetic acknowledgment of truth. Morally speaking, the nine lepers were not the men they would have been if, at the cost of some trouble, they had accompanied the one who, “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God… giving Him thanks.”

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 455.

References: Luk 17:15-19.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxii., No. 1935. Luk 17:17.-Homilist, 3rd series, vol. ii., p. 161. Luk 17:17, Luk 17:18.-C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 375; Homilist, vol. vii., p. 207.

Luk 17:19

I. Of the unthankfulness which so seriously depresses and blights our whole modern Christian life, one reason, in many cases, is that we do not see our great Benefactor. I do not forget that some of us may feel true gratitude to those human friends who have been kind to us in years past, and who are now out of sight. But take men in the mass, and it is quite otherwise. Little by little, as the years pass, too many of us forget the benefits that we owe to the dead. The pressure, the importunity of the present and of the seen makes us overlook the great debt of thought and love which we owe to the past and the unseen. Then God’s very generosity only provokes our unthankfulness. He keeps out of sight, and we take it for granted that He would show Himself if He could, that His agency is only invisible because it is shadowy or unreal.

II. A second cause of unthankfulness is our imperfect appreciation of God’s gifts. The true source of this is that dulness, that harshness of spiritual perception which health and prosperity too often inflict upon the soul. We cannot see clearly through the thick film which has thus been formed over the spiritual eye. If we did see, we should own with full and thankful hearts that love is love, blessings are blessings, salvation is salvation, whether we share them with the many or the few.

III. And a third reason in many minds against cultivating and expressing thankfulness to God-men do not mention it, but it is the utilitarian one-men do not see the good of thankfulness. The value of prayer, of course, in Christian eyes is plain enough. Christians believe that certain blessings are to be obtained from God through the instrumentality of prayer, and not to obey is to forfeit the blessings which prayer obtains. “But thankfulness,” men say to themselves, “what does it win for us that is not already ours without it? God blesses us out of the joy of doing so; and whether we thank Him or not must be of small concern to such a Being as He is.” Certainly, God does not expect to be repaid for His benevolence by any equivalent in the way of thanksgiving that you or I can possibly offer Him. And yet He will have us thank Him, not for His own sake, but for ours. Just as prayer is the recognition of our dependence upon God amid the darkness and uncertainties of the future, so thankfulness is the recognition of our indebtedness to God for the blessings of the past. And to acknowledge truth like this is always moral strength; to refuse to acknowledge truth like this is always moral weakness.

H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 129.

Reference: Luk 17:19.-G. Macdonald, Miracles of Our Lord, p. 93.

Luk 17:20

Secrecy and Suddenness of Divine Visitations.

I. It is impossible that the visitations of God should be other than secret and sudden, considering how the world goes on in every age. Men who are plunged in the pursuits of active life are no judges of its course and tendency on the whole. They confuse great events with little, and measure the importance of objects, as in perspective, by the mere standard of nearness or remoteness. It is only at a distance that one can take in the outlines and features of a whole country. It is but holy Daniel, solitary among princes, or Elijah, the recluse of Mount Carmel, who can withstand Baal, or forecast the time of God’s providences among the nations. To the multitude all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. The business of state affairs, the movements of society, the course of nature, proceed as ever, till the moment of Christ’s coming. Pride infatuates man, and self-indulgence and luxury work their way unseen-like some smouldering fire, which for a time leaves the outward form of things unaltered. At length the decayed mass cannot hold together, and breaks by its own weight, or on some slight and accidental external violence. This inward corruption of a nation seems to be meant in our Lord’s words when He says of Jerusalem, “Where soever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

II. From the occurrences of this day let us take comfort when we despond about the state of the Church. Perhaps we see not God’s tokens; we see neither prophet nor teacher remaining to His people; darkness falls over the earth, and no protesting voice is heard. Yet, granting things to be at their very worst, still, when Christ was presented in the Temple, the age knew as little of it as it knows of His providence now. Rather, the worse our condition is, the nearer to us is the advent of our Deliverer. Even though He is silent, doubt not that His army is on the march towards us. He is coming through the sky, and has even now His camp upon the outskirts of our world. The greater His delay, the heavier will be His vengeance, and the more complete the deliverance of His people.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. ii., p. 107.

I. “Not with observation.” “God manifest in the flesh” was a phenomenon the like of which had never yet been seen, and which throws every other event in the annals of man utterly into the shade. And what amount of public notice did it attract? The villagers of Bethlehem could find no room for the heavenly Visitant in their hostelry; they little heeded the manger-grotto outside where He, the, Infinite in human form, was laid alongside of the ox and the ass. Truly then the kingdom of God had come, but “not with observation.”

II. And when He who was the Centre and Sun of the Church, Jesus our Lord, had been crucified and had risen and founded His kingdom as His own Church, it still for many a year continued to illustrate this its early and Divine characteristic: it came among men “not with observation.”

III. As with the Church so with the soul, the law holds good that the kingdom comes not with observation. The great change of conversion most assuredly “cometh not with observation.” All the more solemn and precious incidents in the life of the spirit of man do not court observation, but they elude, they shrink from it.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,126.

We must be careful to distinguish concerning what kingdom and what coming our Saviour is speaking.

I. The Pharisees-who in common not only with their own countrymen, but almost with the whole Eastern world, were looking at that moment, though not according to knowledge, for the expectation of Israel-demanded one day of Christ “when the kingdom of God should come.” And to them He made the answer, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” Now the answer must have run in the line of the question; and therefore it must have referred to the first and then expected advent of our Lord; and it was concerning the establishment of the kingdom of grace that He said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”

II. It is interesting and very important to trace-for it contains a deep, spiritual lesson-how unobservableness is the characteristic of all God’s great approaches to man. The workings of God’s grace are, for the most part, not only beyond but contrary to, our calculation. God is mounting up to His grand design; but we cannot see the steps of His ascent. We look back, but we marvel at the line of the processes; and as each came in its order it was so simple that it escaped our observation, or so minute that it baffled our perception.

III. It seems to be the general rule of all that is sublime that its motions shall be unseen. Who can discern the movements of the planets-whose evolutions we admire, whose courses guide our path? The day breaks, and the day sets, but who can fix the boundaries of the night, the boundaries of the darkness? You may watch the departing of summer beauty- as the leaves are swept by the autumn wind-but can the eye trace its movements? Does not everything on the earth and in the earth proclaim that “the kingdom of God cometh not with observation”? We must remember that the principle of God’s universal government is to produce the grandest issues by the unlikeliest of means. Only give your best and do your best, and thus, by these little ripples, the great tide of truth sets in upon this world. Great opportunities pass by noiselessly, the highest claims plead quietly, and the deepest responsibilities roll in their stillnesses-“for the kingdom of God cometh not with observation.”

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 2nd series, p. 257.

Luk 17:20-21

God’s Kingdom Invisible.

The true character of God’s kingdom is ghostly and inward. It has its seat in the hearts of men, in their moral habits, in their thoughts, actings, and affections, in the form and the bias of their moral being; the visible forms we see are but the shadow of the reality. God’s kingdom is the obedience of the unseen spirit of man to the unseen Lord of all. We see, then, what it is; and we see, therefore, how we may fall into a fault like that of the Jews, by transmuting the true idea of its spiritual character into the base alloy of earthly notions.

I. If we look for Christ’s kingdom among the popular theories of religious and political speculators, we shall look for the living among the dead. We have great need to guard against this danger, for the popular opinion of this day, whether in politics or religion, leads to an earthly conception of the Church, as of a thing subject to the senses and understanding of man. A second danger to which men are now tending is, to think that God’s kingdom is to be spread by visible excitement of people’s minds. The whole scheme of modern religion is visible motion. All its machinery is on the surface; all its momentum is from without. There has been, from the beginning of the Gospel, an inwardness, an invisibleness, about all great movements of Christ’s Church which ought to abash the hasty, talkative zeal of men into a reverent silence.

II. Knowing, then, the character of God’s kingdom we shall know how to keep ourselves from these delusive schemes, and how to spread it on the earth. We shall know (1) that the way to spread it is to have it ruling in ourselves, to have our own spirit brought into harmony with its secret workings. It is still by the strength of a holy character that we must leave the stamp of God upon the world. (2) And by knowing the character of that kingdom, we shall know, too, how to make that character our own; that is, chiefly by a life of inward holiness. (3) And to sustain this character within us, at all times, we must remember that God’s kingdom is at all times present with us.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 172.

References: Luk 17:20.-H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 353; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life, vol. ii., p. 76. Luk 17:20, Luk 17:21.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi. p. 173; Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 121.

Luk 17:21

Let us consider the kingdoms which are not material, but of a finer substance than matter, and whose forces and powers are represented by other than materialistic ones. Of these kingdoms we mention three-

I. The kingdom of Mind. (1) Its creations are immortal; (2) its kings suffer no dethronement. At the motion of their hands our thoughts start up for service. Their kingdom is like a sea that has no shore; it is limitless. The race of man, irrespective of local boundaries, irrespective of governmental divisions, acknowledges the supremacy of their dominion.

II. The kingdom of the Heart. Where, in this kingdom, will you find any signs of age, any evidence of weariness, any vestige of decay, any proof that it has an end? Look where you will; sight it from whatever point of view you choose; measure it by whatever standard your ingenuity can invent, and you will find that this kingdom is a kingdom that knows not the measurement of time, that suffers not the infringements of age, that has never felt, and may never feel, the weakening of duration.

III. The kingdom of Soul. The kingdom of the mind naturally suggests man; the kingdom of the heart naturally suggests companionship and social communings; the kingdom of soul represents eternity. It represents God and the beings that are allied to God, and are of Him as the Son is of the Father. But the forces of the kingdom of soul are not to be seen in action like the former, and the reason is because this is not the sphere and the realm of their action. What refers to matter here has reference to earth and time; but soul refers to spirit, and has reference to heaven and eternity; and it is only by a mighty swing upwards, of ourselves, that we can reach that level of contemplation. Ranging our sight along which we behold the multitudinous activities of the soul. It is over this inward kingdom that Christ rules. It is within this kingdom that He energises. It is out of this kingdom that His glory has to proceed. And they who search to discern Him in spirit and life, in holy expression of consecrated faculty, in the energy of capacities dedicated to God, shall find Him; and they shall find that in these He is all in all.

W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 334.

Though the “kingdom of God,” in its highest sense, certainly occupies space, we are quite sure, nevertheless, that we shall find heaven much more a state than a place. We know already, even here, that happiness does not depend on where we are. Happiness is a condition of mind. We carry about with us a feeling which makes the atmosphere, which determines the colour of the prospect. And what is all this? What is this great moral truth, which commends itself to every man’s experience, but an approach to, and a part of, that truth, “The kingdom of God is within you”? But only a part; we have to look at it in a far higher meaning.

I. I believe that every one, in this present world, is gradually but surely ripening, and getting like the state-whichever the state may be-where he is to live for ever and for ever. The final condition of a saint in glory is only the growth and the increase and the extension of his life on earth. He has been constantly assimilating to his own perfected condition in another world. The heaven is in him long before he goes to heaven.

II. Heaven, we are led to expect, will be: (1) Light. But what are the emanations of that light? Truth, clearness, uprightness. And that is heaven. If you are a child of God, there is in your heart, transparency, strict justice, perfect truthfulness. The kingdom of heaven is within you. (2) Harmony. If you are a man that loves unity, if you hate variance, if you are doing all that in you lies to make the Church’s unity-then, in so far, the kingdom of God is within you. (3) Singleness of purpose. Whichever of us can say, “One thing I do-whether I eat or drink, whatever I do, I try to do it to the glory of God”-then of that one I assert, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (4) Humility-every angel covering his face with his wing. If I see a man very little in his own eyes I know that the kingdom of God is within him. (5) Through all heaven, it is the one felt Presence of Christ which is, to all hearts, all their joy; because He is there, therefore it is what it is. And, just according to what Jesus is to you, and you are to Jesus-the more would an angel of truth, if he visited this church to-night, say of that soul of yours, “The kingdom of God is within you.”

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 15.

References: Luk 17:21.-E. Johnson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxii., p. 163.-G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 219; C. Kingsley, National Sermons, p. 176; Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Church of England Pulpit, vol. iii., pp. 56, 92; Homilist, new series, vol. ii., p. 371. Luk 17:22.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1323. Luk 17:22, Luk 17:23.-D. G. Watt, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 104.

Luk 17:32

We have in this text a warning of a peculiar character; we see in it a type of the just wrath of God against those who, having been once mercifully delivered, shall afterwards fall back. Lot’s wife was, by a distinguishing election of God, and by the hands of angels, saved from the overthrow of the wicked. We by the same deep counsel of God have been translated from death to life. She perished in the very way of safety. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Lot’s wife is the type of those who fall from baptismal grace.

I. Any measure of declension from our baptismal grace is a measure of that same decline of which the end is hopelessly a fall from God. I say, it is a measure of the same movement; as a day is a measure of a thousand years. It is a state and inclination of heart which differs from absolute apostacy not in kind, but only in degree.

II. We must also learn from this example, that all such fallings back from our baptismal grace are great provocations of God’s most righteous severity. The sin of Lot’s wife was not only disobedience, but ingratitude. There are two things which God hates-backsliding and lukewarmness; and there are two which He will avenge-an alienated heart, and a will at war with His.

III. If these things be so, how shall we hold fast our steadfastness? There is no other sure way, but only this-ever to press on to a life of deeper devotion, to a sharper repentance and more earnest prayers, to a more sustained consciousness of God’s continual presence, and to a keener watchfulness against the first approaches of temptation; but one or two plain rules is all that can now be offered in particular. (1) First of all, then, beware of remembering past faults without repentance. The recollection of our sins is safe only when it is a part of our self-chastisement. To look back upon them without shame or sorrow, is to offend again. (2) Another thing to beware of is, making excuses for our present faults without trying to correct them. Nothing so wears down the sharpness of conscience, and dulls its perception of our actual state, as self-excusing. (3) Lastly, beware of those particular forms of temptation which have already once held you in their power, or sapped your better resolutions.

H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. i., p. 34.

References: Luk 17:32.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1491; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 421; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 1st series, p. 303; Homilist, new series, vol. iii., p. 591.

Luk 17:34, Luk 17:36

I. Our Lord in order to press upon us the great law of our self-determination, to help us to be honest with ourselves, carries us into the heart of things as they are in a startling fashion. He holds up to us three typical instances of sudden, sharp, and decisive separations which the crisis of His coming will produce. People that look the same now will be seen to be different. The day will declare them. Great occasions evolve character and create divergencies, but these divergencies had their roots long before, in the dark places of many and many a secret determination. In the closest friendship, in the most familiar intercourse, in the meeting of the same kind of circumstances divergencies grow and grow, separations are being evolved more and more decisively and infinitely. So powerless, so less than nothing are circumstances, so impotent to produce a result. So imperious is character, so free from the control of the very circumstances which are its daily occasions.

II. When Christ comes, when He meets me, then shall I know myself. Underneath us now yawns the pit of failure, close to us is the weakness born of past indulgence, but above us and with us is God, our Refuge, our Strength, our Hope. God, who will not be trifled with, who will not let us make excuses because He loves our real selves too well, and sees that they will not help us. Let us turn to Him who is our only Hope amid the treasons of our wills and the disloyalties of our hearts; let us turn to Him as those who have trodden the same road before us turned in their desolation. “Nevertheless, I am always by Thee; Thou hast holden me by Thy right hand.’ Thus kept and consecrated the busiest life may be the truest to God, and the most monotonous occupation may be the most fruitful, and the very distractions and infirmities that beset us, and the memories of old sins that haunt us, may drive us closer to God; and we, with all our consciousness of weakness and sin, may be found to be His own in wish and heart and aspiration in that day of separation, when the eagles shall be gathered together, when every life shall openly declare its only true and real desire.

R. Eyton, Cambridge Review, Feb. 24th, 1886.

References: Luk 17:37.-H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Sermonettes for a Year, p. 12; D. Fraser, Metaphors of the Gospels, p. 233. Luke 17-Homilist, new series, vol. iii., p. 359; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 263. Luk 18:1.-J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 33; E. W. Shalders, Ibid., vol. xxiv., p. 124; T. B. Stevenson, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 394; T. Child, Ibid., vol. xi., p. 51; F. O. Morris, Ibid., vol. xvii., p. 88; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 320; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 293.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 17

1. Concerning Offenses and Forgiveness. (Luk 17:1-4)

2. Increase of Faith and Lowly Service. (Luk 17:5-10)

3. The Ten Lepers. (Luk 17:11-19)

4. Concerning the Kingdom and His Second Coming. (Luk 17:20-37)

Luk 17:1-19

The story of the ten lepers is only found in Luke. All were cleansed by the power of God and the nine obeyed the Word of the Lord and went to the priests (Lev 13:1-59; Lev 14:1-57). But the tenth did not go but instead turned back and glorified God with a loud voice and fell on his face at the feet of the Lord. He took the attitude of a worshipper; and he was a Samaritan. He turned his back upon the ceremonial law and owned the Giver of the blessing he had received. We have in this healed, worshipping Samaritan, who does not worship in the mountain of Samaria, nor in the temple in Jerusalem, an earnest of the new dispensation to come. (Joh 4:22-24.)

Luk 17:20-37

The question when the Kingdom of God should come is answered by the statement the Kingdom of God is within you. The translation is faulty. The within means among; so that we read the Kingdom of God is among you. It had appeared in their midst in the Person of the King. Then He spoke of His second coming. He reminds them of the days of Noah and the days of Lot. His coming here is His visible coming at the end of the age and not His coming for His Saints, which is a subsequent revelation. (1Th 4:13-18.) Then one will be taken (in judgment as the People perished in Noahs and Lots day) and the other left (on earth to be in the Kingdom).

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Chapter 16

Strong Doctrine

These few verses contain the strongest doctrine set forth in holy scripture. Here are the deep things of God. There is nothing here but strong meat. By comparison, the things taught here make predestination, election, reprobation, limited atonement, and efficacious grace appear to be mere milk for newborn babies in the kingdom of God.

Certain Offences

Then said he unto the disciples. The Master is addressing his disciples, those who trust him, believe his doctrine, follow his Word, serve him and seek to honour him. Our Lords words, then, are to you and me, people who profess to be his disciples, who claim to be washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, and saved by his grace. Now, watch what he says

It is impossible but that offences will come. What are the offences he is talking about? How is it that these offences must come? Let me answer the second question first.

Offences must come because God has purposed them and has purposed to use them and overrule them for the salvation and everlasting good of his elect and the glory of his own great name. Multitudes are of the opinion expressed by Charles Finney in his sermon on this text. Finney said, The doctrine of this text is that sin, under the government of God, cannot be prevented. Of course, Finneys assertion is utter blasphemy. To suggest that there is something, anything beyond the absolute control of God is to deny Godhood altogether. The scriptures declare, Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain (Psa 76:10). Our God asserts, I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things (Isa 45:7).

Offences come because God has purposed that they come for the benefit of his elect; and offences must come because by these things the Lord God distinguishes true believers from false professors (1Co 11:19; Act 20:30; 1Ti 4:1; 2Pe 1:1-2).

What are the offences our Lord has in mind in this passage? What are these offences that must come? The word that is translated offences means stumbling blocks, things that cause people to fall. It is a word that we would use to refer to the trigger device that makes the trap door of a snare catch its victim.

We must read these words in their context. They immediately follow the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Our Lord is talking about offences that deceive the soul, offences that carry eternity bound men and women to hell. The offences our Lord is talking about here are not mere hurt feelings or injured pride, but damning heresies like those of the Judaisers at Galatia and the will-worshippers at Colosse. And the offences in this passage certainly include behaviour that leads others to ruin. The scriptures make it clear that the offences of one generation are visited upon succeeding generations in divine judgment (Exo 20:5; Exo 34:7; Num 14:8; Deu 5:9).

The whole world is a stumbling-block. There is not one thing in it which is not calculated to turn the heart from God. The dress, the vanities and vulgarities in the street, the political and educational systems, the flatteries of men, the fame and riches the world offers, and its religion, all tend to elevate the flesh, as in the case of the rich man in the parable.

Christs Warning

But woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Our Lord Jesus here refers to an ancient form of capital punishment reserved for only the most reprehensible criminals. He is saying that it would be better for a man to be guilty of any horrid crime, for which men are justly executed, than to be guilty of causing another to perish in hell.

Who are these little ones? Again, the answer must be determined by the context. The little ones of whom our Lord is speaking here are those poor, despised publicans and sinners, who were sitting before him. Our Saviour has been talking to the scribes and Pharisees, who despised these little ones and would by their religion shut them out of heaven. Now, as he addresses his disciples, he waves his hand over the sinners sitting before him and says, Woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

When do men cause offences to come? Certainly this is done any time they persecute believers, or endeavour to deter others from serving Christ. And offences come by heretical doctrine, which subverts the souls of men. But offences are not limited to such actions. We lay snares by which Satan traps the souls of many whenever we bring reproach upon the gospel by our behaviour.

That was the result of Davids sin when he took Bathsheba and had Uriah killed (2Sa 12:14). Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. That was the crime Paul laid against the Jews, when he said, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you (Rom 2:24). Let us take care that we give no offence to eternity bound sinners, that we lay no snare before them, that we destroy none (1Co 10:31-32).

Forgiveness

Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. Here our Lord moves on to another of the deep things of God. He warns us to carefully avoid giving offence to eternity bound men and women in Luk 17:1-2. In Luk 17:3-4 he tells us (his disciples, you and me, all who believe the gospel) not to take offence at the actions of our brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Take heed to yourselves. It is ever our proud tendency to take heed to others, to guard others, and to correct others. The scriptures constantly teach us to take heed to, to guard, to discipline, and to correct ourselves.

If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. If your brother or sister in Christ says, or does something by which he wrongs you, graciously, kindly speak to him about it, and no one else, make him aware of it, and no one else, always presuming that there was no intention on his part to hurt, injure, or offend you.

The word rebuke does not mean, ream him out, but show him what he has done. He may be shocked to discover it. In fact, the word carries with it the idea of showing honour. Yes, when I have been hurt, injured, or offended by my brother, it is my responsibility to show him honour.

And if he repent, forgive him. As soon as he says, Im sorry. Im so sorry. I would not intentionally hurt you for the world, forgive him. Drop all anger, show him nothing but sweetness of temper, the kindness of love, the respect of one who has done no wrong; and do it immediately!

Perhaps you think, Lord, thats tough. Oh, no. That is not tough. The next line is tough on our proud flesh!

And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. Our brothers and sisters are just exactly like us. Like us, they do the same, dumb things over and over again (Pro 24:16).

Yet, nothing is more constantly urged in the New Testament than the practice of forgiveness. Why? Because there is nothing to which we are more naturally disinclined. Our flesh wants vengeance. Grace teaches forgiveness. Pride wants to punish. Mercy teaches forgiveness. Self-righteousness demands retribution. Love demands forgiveness. If I cannot forgive my brother the few trifling offences he may have committed against me, I know nothing experimentally of that free and full forgiveness that sinners have by the grace of God in Christ (Mat 6:9-15; Mat 18:35).

Our Lord warns, Take heed to yourselves, because nothing is so harmful to your soul, nothing makes you so miserable and useless as a proud, hard, unforgiving heart. Nothing makes a person more utterly wretched on the inside as nursing hurt feelings and feeding malice with the manure of resentment.

Our Lords word to us here is, Do yourself no harm. The least degree of malice, hatred, or revenge is altogether contrary to the gospel we believe and totally inconsistent with the character of our blessed Lord.

But he knows what is in us. He remembers that we are dust, ever encumbered by our flesh. He knows how very prone we are to offend one another, how quick we are to hurt and injure each other, how repeatedly we say and do things to quench the Spirit, disrupt the peace, and injure the fellowship of his body.

Therefore, he tenderly teaches us how to correct the evil. When your brother does something against you, do not resent him for it, but pity him, pray for him. Call his name before your heavenly Father, his heavenly Father. If he aggravates his offence by frequent repetition, still, do not resent him, but pity him, pray for him, and do whatever you can to help him (Gal 6:1-3). As often as he offends, that often forgive. If he repents, forgive him. If he does not repent, let that be his problem. Forgive him any way. William Mason wrote

We must not, at our peril, entertain anger, or let the sun go down on our wrath, but in our hearts freely and fully forgive an offending brother. But what if he remains stubborn and persists in a spirit of bitterness? Even then we are to forgive him in our hearts, and be desirous of embracing him in love.

As Gods thoughts of love are toward us before we turn to him, so our thoughts of love should be to our offending brethren before they turn to us. Does the Son of God require us to forgive every repeated offence, even until seventy times seven, 490 times a day? I find something wonderfully glorious in that. Surely he will magnify his love and display his mercy in pardoning the innumerable offences of all who turn to him!

Prayer For Faith

Our Lord has been addressing his disciples in general. When the apostles, the preachers among them, heard his strong doctrine, this was their response: And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

They understood that this was strong doctrine, far too strong for flesh to embrace. Flesh can grasp eternal justification, distinguishing grace, sovereign predestination, reprobation, and limited atonement. By comparison, those things are a piece of cake. Flesh can understand and promote the most rigidly orthodox dogma. Flesh loves and revels in church doctrine and the mysteries of prophecy.

But forgives requires a continual supply of grace, grace experienced deep in our souls, by which the Lord God continually increases our faith. And the more our faith in Christ increases, the more fully we learn that our only hope before God is free, constant, absolute forgiveness by the blood of the cross, flowing to our souls from the ever-springing fountain of his everlasting love, the more ready and able we will be to forgive one another (Eph 4:32 to Eph 5:2).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

It is: Mat 16:23, Mat 18:7, Rom 14:13, Rom 14:20, Rom 14:21, Rom 16:17, 1Co 8:13, 1Co 10:32, 1Co 11:19, 2Th 2:10-12, Rev 2:14, Rev 2:20, Rev 13:14-18

Reciprocal: Mat 18:5 – receive Mat 18:6 – offend Mar 9:42 – offend 1Co 8:9 – take 1Ti 6:1 – that the 1Jo 2:10 – occasion of stumbling

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

OFFENDERS OF OTHERS

Luk 17:1-2

Notice one or two applications of our Lords words

I. A life of selfish enjoyment can hardly escape being a life through which offence comes.It is hard to live before others a life which is easier than theirsmore guarded and furnished with appliances of comfort and pleasurewithout causing some harm to them; it may be by rousing envy, it may more easily be by setting before them a wrong ideal, strengthening in them the dangerous sense that a mans life consists in the abundance of the things that he possesses.

II. Our Lords words give the key to one side of human sin and wretchedness.It is impossible but that offences will comeimpossible, but that one mans wickedness or folly should lead to sin and wretchedness in others; impossible even in a world Christian in name and profession; impossible even when men are trying in a sense and degree to live as Christians. It is a question that we must be always asking ourselves, whether we are so living as to help or to injure these near usthose who look up to us, those who breathe the same air with us, those who will in any way form a standard from our acts and character.

Dean Wickham.

Illustration

It is not for us to limit the possible range of Gods restoring mercy. But what do facts tell us? Nay, what does fiction tell us (for fiction dare only reflect the light of fact) of any hopes of reformation in this world for the arch-tempters delegatesthose who ply their victims with drink, that they may mock at their degradation; for the cold-blooded seducers; the touts of gambling-hells; the smiling, damned villain who pours into the innocent ear the leprous distilment of his vile suggestiveness, or lures unsuspecting simplicity to ruin under the mask of good fellowship and geniality? Are such men curable in fiction or in fact? Dare Dickens have restored the educating demons of his den of thieves, or Scott his Varney or Dalgarno, or George Eliot her Grandcourt, or Thackeray his Marquis of Steyne or Lord Hellborough to repentance, or even to remorse? I fear that such a transformation would stamp their fictions as untrue to life. They may invest such characters, if they please, with all the external charms of grace and dignity; for though there are hideous shapes among the fiends, yet Miltons master-fiend is no loathsome-looking reptile, but

Created aloft and carbuncle his eye,

With burnished neck of verdant gold, erect

Amid his circling spires, that on the grass

Floated redundant. Pleasing was his shape and lovely.

Yes, it is the case that when a mans inner nature becomes so impregnated with poison as to become actively contagious, he may actually gain in attractiveness, though he has become corrupt beyond redemption.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

THE LATTER PART of the previous chapter, verse Luk 17:14 to the end, was spoken to the Pharisees: at the beginning of this chapter the Lord again addresses His disciples. The rich man had stumbled over his possessions into hell, and now the Lord tells His disciples that, the world being what it is, offences, or occasions of stumbling are inevitable. The great thing is to avoid being an offence to anyone else, to even the least important. The consequences are so serious that anything is better than that.

Yet this does not mean that we should never speak to our brother for fear of stumbling him. The very opposite: if he should go astray into sin, we are to rebuke him, and immediately he repents forgive him; and this, even if it should repeatedly happen. We might imagine that we should run the risk of stumbling him by rebuking him, but we should really do so by not rebuking him. It is of course assumed that the rebuke is administered not in human anger but in the power of Divine love.

Teaching such as this made the disciples feel that they needed to have their faith increased. The Lords reply seems to infer that it is not a question of the quantity of faith but of its vitality. A mustard seed is very small but it is alive! Live faith accomplishes results of a supernatural order. Many a time have heavy paving stones been forced up by tender sprouts, proceeding from live seeds embedded beneath them. Even vegetable life has powers which appear miraculous, and much more so faith which is living. Nevertheless no faith that we have and no service that we render gives us any kind of claim upon God. We can never accomplish more than it was our duty to do. This seems to be the truth inculcated in verses Luk 17:7-10.

The Lord was now on His way to Jerusalem, and we come to the touching incident concerning the ten lepers. All of them had some measure of faith in Him, for they appealed to Him as Master and they obeyed His direction to go to the priests, in spite of the fact that there was at the moment no change in their condition. Yet when the cleansing reached them nine of them continued their journey to the priests, so as to complete their ceremonial cleansing at the earliest moment. Only one deferred the ceremonial part in order to give the first place to his Benefactor. The Jewish mind was more bound by what was ceremonial: the poor Samaritan was free to render praise and thanksgiving to the Saviour in the first place and receive his ceremonial cleansing afterwards. Sovereign mercy had been dispensed, and he got lifted above the customs of the law by a glimpse of the Person who dispensed the mercy. In result he got the assurance of being made whole from the Lords own lips, with the acknowledgement that his faith had been the instrument of it. This was worth far more than any assurance he could get from the priests. Intelligent faith always puts Christ first.

In verses Luk 17:20-21, Luke sets the obtuse unbelief of the Pharisees in contrast with the faith of the Samaritan. They only thought of the kingdom of God arriving with outward show, so as to be observed of all. The Lord told them that it was not at that time coming in that way, but that already it was amongst them, inasmuch as He-the King-was in their midst. The kingdom was amongst them for He was amongst them. The Pharisees were quite blind to this, but the Samaritan had evidently got a sight of it, hence his hurried return to give thanks at His feet.

In verse Luk 17:22, Jesus again turns to His disciples, speaking of the days of the Son of Man, and of course it is the Son of Man who is to take the kingdom, when the hour does arrive for its public establishment, as had long before been made known in Dan 7:13, Dan 7:14. Now they, like the Samaritan, had faith and already saw the power and authority of God vested in the Lord Jesus. They would also in due season see the Son of Man revealed in His glory, and of this verse Luk 17:30 speaks as well as verse Luk 17:24. But meanwhile His rejection was going to supervene, and the sayings reported to the end of the chapter were evidently addressed to them as representing saints who should be here until the time in which He is revealed in glory. Many there have been who have desired to see one of His days, and have not seen it.

As the time of His advent approaches two things will become prominent. First, there will be much activity on the part of the powers of evil. Imposters will present themselves in this place and in that, as verse Luk 17:23 indicates. Second, there will be on the part of men generally absorption with the things of earth. In the days of Noah and of Lot men were absorbed in their pleasures, their business and their schemes; consequently judgment caught them unawares and they all perished. Thus it will be in the day of the revelation of the Son of Man.

The great thought embodied in verse Luk 17:33 occurs no less than six times in the Gospels, and the Lord seems to have uttered it on four different occasions.

The context here makes it very striking. Men immerse themselves in the things of earth seeking to save their lives. In result they only lose them. The believer is to let go these things in favour of the far greater things that are revealed to him. He preserves his life, as will be very manifest when the Lord comes. Lots wife illustrated this principle. The angels pulled her body out of Sodom, but her heart was still there. She lost everything, and her own life as well. We do well to remember her.

Those who are on earth when the Lord comes will do well to remember her also. If they do they will not think of attempting to retrieve their stuff from the house, or to return from their field. That day will come with the swiftness of an eagles swoop. Just as the eagles congregate wherever their prey is found, so the judgment of God will reach all who are subject to it. The kingdom, when established, will be marked by discriminating judgment against evil. The sinner will be taken in judgment, and the righteous left to enjoy the blessing, no matter how closely they have been associated together. Had the Pharisees realized that the public establishment of the kingdom would involve this, they might not have wished to raise the question as to when it would come.

It is worthy of note that the three cases mentioned by the Lord in verses Luk 17:34-36, suppose night-time, early morning and full day-time respectively. When He comes men will be instantaneously arrested in all parts of the earth, just as they are.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Impossible is from ANENDEKTOS which occurs in no other place in the Greek New Testament. However, the same thought is expressed in Mat 18:7. (See the comments at that place.) There is nothing that God cannot do as far as power or strength is concerned. But He would need to be continuously performing miracles if all offenses (causes of stumbling) could be avoided, and that would prevent man from developing the kind of characters fit for the kingdom of heaven. Because of this, the Greek word should be rendered “inadmissible,” which is one word in Thayer’s definition.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

WE are taught for one thing in these verses, the great sinfulness of putting stumbling-blocks in the way of other men’s souls. The Lord Jesus says, “Woe unto him through whom offences come! It were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”

When do men make others stumble? When do they cause “offences” to come? They do it, beyond doubt, whenever they persecute believers, or endeavor to deter them from serving Christ.-But this, unhappily, is not all. Professing Christians do it whenever they bring discredit on their religion by inconsistencies of temper, of word, or of deed. We do it whenever we make our Christianity unlovely in the eyes of the world, by conduct not in keeping with our profession. The world may not understand the doctrines and principles of believers. But the world is very keen-sighted about their practice.

The sin against which our Lord warns us was the sin of David. When he had broken the seventh commandment, and taken the wife of Uriah to be his wife, the prophet Nathan said to him, “Thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme.” (2Sa 12:14.) It was the sin which Paul charges on the Jews, when he says, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” (Rom 2:24.) It is the sin of which he frequently entreats Christians to beware:-“Give none offence, neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.” (1Co 10:32.)

The subject is a deeply searching one. The sin which our Lord brings before us is unhappily very common. The inconsistencies of professing Christians too often supply the men of the world with an excuse for neglecting religion altogether. An inconsistent believer, whether he knows it or not, is daily doing harm to souls. His life is a positive injury to the Gospel of Christ.

Let us often ask ourselves whether we are doing good or harm in the world. We cannot live to ourselves, if we are Christians. The eyes of many will always be upon us. Men will judge by what they see, far more than by what they hear. If they see the Christian contradicting by his practice what he professes to believe, they are justly stumbled and offended. For the world’s sake, as well as for our own, let us labor to be eminently holy. Let us endeavor to make our religion beautiful in the eyes of men, and to adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things. Let us strive daily to lay aside every weight, and the sin which most easily besets us, and so to live that men can find no fault in us, except concerning the law of our God. Let us watch jealously over our tempers and tongues, and the discharge of our social duties. Anything is better than doing harm to souls. The cross of Christ will always give offence. Let us not increase that offence by carelessness in our daily life. The natural man cannot be expected to love the Gospel. But let us not disgust him by inconsistency.

We are taught, for another thing, in these verses, the great importance of a forgiving spirit. The Lord Jesus says, “if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him: and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.”

There are few Christian duties which are so frequently and strongly dwelt upon in the New Testament as this of forgiving injuries. It fills a prominent place in the Lord’s prayer. The only profession we make in all that prayer, is that of forgiving “those who trespass against us.”-It is a test of being forgiven ourselves. The man who cannot forgive his neighbor the few trifling offences he may have committed against him, can know nothing experimentally of that free and full pardon which is offered us by Christ. (Mat 18:35; Eph 4:32.)-Not least, it is one leading mark of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. The presence of the Spirit in the heart may always be known by the fruits He causes to be brought forth in the life. Those fruits are both active and passive. The man who has not learned to bear and forbear, to put up with much and look over much, is not born of the Spirit. (1Jn 3:14; Mat 5:44-45.)

The doctrine laid down by our Lord in this place is deeply humbling. It shows most plainly the wide contrariety which exists between the ways of the world and the Gospel of Christ. Who does not know that pride, and haughtiness, and high-mindedness, and readiness to take offence, and implacable determination never to forget and never to forgive, are common among baptized men and women? Thousands will go to the Lord’s table, and even profess to love the Gospel, who fire up in a moment at the least appearance of what they call “offensive” conduct, and make a quarrel out of the merest trifles. Thousands are perpetually quarreling with all around them, always complaining how ill other people behave, and always forgetting that their own quarrelsome disposition is the spark which causes the flame. One general remark applies to all such persons. They are making their own lives miserable and showing their unmeetness for the kingdom of God. An unforgiving and quarrelsome spirit is the surest mark of an unregenerate heart. What says the Scripture? “Whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (1Co 3:3; 1Jn 3:18-20; 1Jn 4:20.)

Let us leave the whole passage with jealous self-inquiry. Few passages ought to humble Christians so much, and to make them feel so deeply their need of the blood of atonement, and the mediation of Christ. How often we have given offence, and caused others to stumble! How often we have allowed unkind, and angry, and revengeful thoughts to nestle undisturbed in our hearts! These things ought not so to be. The more carefully we attend to such practical lessons as this passage contains, the more shall we recommend our religion to others, and the more inward peace shall we find in our own souls.

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Notes-

v1.-[Then said he unto the disciples.] Let it be observed that our Lord here turns again to His disciples and specially addresses them, as He had done at the beginning of the last chapter. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus had been specially spoken to the Pharisees. Christ now turns away from them to his own followers.

It is not easy to trace the connexion between the beginning of this chapter and the end of the last. Yet the two chapters seem to contain a continuous discourse of our Lord’s without any pause, break, or intermission.-It is possible that our Lord may have had in His mind the stumbling block that conduct like that of the rich man towards Lazarus put in the way of weak believers, and meant to warn His disciples not to be discouraged if they met with similar treatment.-It is possible that our Lord may be referring again to His lesson about “faithfulness in little things” in the parable of the unjust steward, and be warning his disciples not to give occasion to the enemy to blaspheme.-Both these conjectures, however, may perhaps be needless. A great teacher, like our Lord, has an undoubted right to open up entirely new subjects at His discretion. Perhaps this is the case here.

[It is impossible…will come.] This expression means, that human nature is such, and the world is such, that it is useless to expect there will be no offences. There will be, as long as the world stands. Yet this does not lessen the guilt of those who cause them. Human infirmities are no excuse for the evil that is in the world, though they may explain its presence.

[Offences.] The Greek word so translated is rendered else where in the New Testament, “stumbling block,”-“occasion to fall,”-and “occasion of stumbling.” (Rom 11:9; Rom 14:13; 1Jn 2:10.)

[Woe unto him, &c.] This woe has probably a wide application. It includes all who cause Christ’s people to stumble and be discouraged, from the fiercest persecutor, like Nero, down to the least inconsistent believer.

v2.-[A mill-stone hanged about his neck, &c.] This is a proverbial expression. Anything is better than to give offence to a believer and make him stumble.

[These little ones.] This expression means here “believers.” They are God’s children, and as tenderly cared for by him, as the little infants in a man’s family. (See Mar 9:42.) It is probable that our Lord pointed to some of the weak and unestablished followers who accompanied him and the twelve apostles. There are always many who are “babes in Christ.” (1Co 3:1.)

v3.-[Take heed to yourselves, &c.] The connection of this verse with that which precedes it is, again, not very clear. It would seem to imply that the “offences” of which our Lord had just been speaking, were such as are specially occasioned by the want of a charitable and forgiving spirit among Christians. It is like John’s expression, “he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.” (1Jn 2:10.)

[Rebuke him.] This expression shows the Christian duty of plain, straightforward, faithful dealing with those who injure us. To say that of a brother behind his back which we are not prepared, if needful, to say before his face, is not the conduct of a true servant of Christ.

[If he repent, forgive him.] This expression is remarkable. It doubtless cannot mean, that we are not to forgive men unless they do repent. At this rate there would be much bitterness constantly kept alive. But it does mean that when there is no repentance or regret for an injury done, there can be no renewal of cordial friendship, or complete reconciliation between man and man.

v4.-[Seven times in a day.] Here, as in other places, we cannot doubt that the number “seven” must be taken indefinitely. It means, “very frequently,” “very often.” (See Mat 12:45; Mat 18:22; Luk 8:2; and Luk 11:26. See also 1Sa 2:5; Rth 4:15; Isa 4:1; Psa 12:6; Mic 5:5.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 17:1. To his disciples. All the followers of our Lord who were present; since Luk 17:5 mentions the Apostles.

It is impossible, etc. See on Mat 18:6-7. The connection is plain: the Pharisees had already derided Him (Luk 16:14), and, having taken greater offence at the last parable, had probably gone off. The design was to counteract the influence which this behavior might have upon the new disciples (the publicans and sinners), who had been accustomed to look up to the Pharisees.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Section 4. (Luk 17:1-37; Luk 18:1-8.)

The Ways which result from the Experimental Knowledge of this manifestation, and from the world’s rejection of it.

1. God then has manifested Himself: no lost soul from its far off place of misery shall ever be able to challenge Him in this respect. He swears it even: “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.”

But while His word remains to testify for Him, how often, alas, are even His people found false witnesses! And among the ranks of professing disciples how many causes of stumbling arise! The Lord goes on now to speak of these in a way that shows His earnestness to have all stumbling-blocks removed from before the feet of the least of all. Whom men despise for their littleness, of these His tender compassion would have special care, and this He presses now upon His disciples.

Occasions of stumbling will indeed come: these are sad certainties in so sad a world; but that does not make them less grave, or easier to be passed over: nay, “woe unto those through whom they come.” Better were it for one of these to have a mill-stone hung about his neck, and so to be cast head first into the sea, than to be a stumbling to one of these little ones.

But whence do occasions of stumbling most arise? To answer that, must we not ask, to what, then; above all are we witnesses? Failure here will surely be the gravest, as it will be that also of which men will most take note, and which the arch-plotter will seek most of all to get us into. Scripture, then, teaches us that we are to “show forth,” even “in the ages to come the exceeding riches of God’s grace.” Grace characterizes the dispensation; as in contrast with law, the rule of the schoolmaster which preceded this (Gal 3:24-25). What, then, can be so great a failure as to fail in grace? It is to this, then; that the Lord goes on with an emphatic “take heed to yourselves:” “If thy brother sin against thee, reprove him; and if he repent, forgive him.” Some of the earliest MSS. omit “against thee,” with several of the earliest versions; and yet it seems plain that it should be at least understood: for it is only a personal offence that we can individually forgive; and it is just these personal offences that we most betray inability to deal with aright.

Love is to act in the reproof; and this is cared for by the spirit of forgiveness enjoined; while the holiness of grace is seen in the condition of repentance. But if it were seven times a day he sinned, and seven times a day he turned, saying, I repent, he must be forgiven. This, of course, could not happen in a case of discipline in the assembly, where fitness for the table and the fellowship of the whole are involved, and where the authority of the Lord in the assembly is to be maintained. Individually we have no such authority over one another, and the service of love is the best constraint that can be used.

2. In view of the difficulties of the path which the certainty of such causes of stumbling would imply, the apostles -named as such, as those to represent the Lord in a special way as leaders of His people -ask Him to increase their faith. He replies that to faith, small as a grain of mustard-seed, the sycamine tree with its strong spreading roots would yield obediently, and plant itself in the sea. But they must be servants in all this, not masters, nor thinking to take their ease and satisfy themselves before their Master was fully served. Having done all, they were still to confess themselves those who had done no work of supererogation; but their duty only. And this is the way, in fact, in which increase of faith surely will be found. When we are doers of Christ’s work, and not our own, -not valuing ourselves upon the doing it, but lowly in spirit -then will the needed faith for all the way be found: faith is for God’s way and will: we cannot expect it for our own.

3. The story of the cleansed worshipper follows this. Ten lepers, standing afar off, beseech Him to have mercy. He bids them show themselves to the priests, and on their way they are cleansed. One, and one alone, turns back to glorify God and give thanks for his healing; and he is a stranger, a Samaritan. It is evident he is not hampered by the law that carries the others away from Christ, although belonging to a like system. But Christ has by the deliverance realized become an object for his heart: he returns to Him a worshipper; the others remain in the dead ritualism centering in an empty temple, while he obtains open recognition of a faith in which God is glorified.

In fact these cleansed worshippers, worshipping neither at Samaria nor Jerusalem, and not in temples made with hands, but in the presence of God revealed in the Man Christ Jesus, are typical of the new dispensation coming in; indeed the heart of it. The mere human priests are gone: there is access through grace by faith, -a faith owned of God openly, all distance done away. Of course, it is not meant that the cleansed leper knew all this; but he foreshadowed it, Gentile as he was also, the nine Israelites having turned their back on Christ. It is to these, as one may say, that we now turn; to a people that have rejected Him, and that are now in the evils springing out of that rejection.

4. He is asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God shall come. He tells them that it has in fact come, and without being perceived by them. It was there, presented to them in the Person of the King, in their midst.

But as rejected, He says no more to them of this; but turns to His disciples, to tell them of the days of His absence: not of Christian times, but carrying them on to when Israel’s long night would be hastening to its close; days when there would be disciples longing to see one of the days of the Son of man, but not seeing it. Rumors there would be that He was here or there, but they were not to heed them. The Son of man would come, but manifestly to all, as when the lightning lightens the whole breadth of the heavens. But first He would have to suffer and be rejected.

Again He passes on to the time of the end, comparing it to the careless days before the flood, and the similar days before Sodom was destroyed. Judgment came sudden; sweeping, irresistible, and so it would be when the Son of man should be revealed. The warning to one upon the house-top not to come down into the house is given, as in Mat 24:17, but not the events with which it is there connected. Only we see from the next admonition not to seek to save their lives that enemies are in question. The final judgment would be as discriminative as sudden: one man taken in bed, and his fellow left; one woman taken away by it at the mill, and another left. They ask, where? and He answers, wherever the carcase is, the eagles (or vultures) will assemble; wherever the corruption is, the judgment which is to purify the earth will find it out.

5. That judgment will be the complete settlement of the long reckoning for the persecuted saints who have been so long crying to God under it, and as yet without the full answer which will surely come. The Lord illustrates by the parable of the unjust judge the good of importunity with God, and presses on all under all circumstances that men should always pray and never faint. God’s patience is not slowness nor indifference, as the event will show. Faith may count upon Him. In fact, when the Son of man comes, the darkness is such as to suggest the question; Will He find faith upon earth?

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Two things are here observable, 1. The necessity of scandalous offences: It must needs be that offences come, if we consider men’s corruptions, Satan’s malice, God’s permission and just judgment.

Observe, 2. The misery and mischief which comes by these scandals: Woe unto the world because of offences; woe to such as give the scandal: this is the woe of one denouncing: and woe to such as stumble at offences given; this is the woe of lamenting.

From the whole, note, 1. That scandals or offensive actions in the church of Christ will certainly happen, and frequently fall out among those that profess religion and the name of Christ: It is impossible but that offences will come.

Secondly, that scandalous and offensive actions from such as profess religion and the name of Christ, are baneful and fatal stumbling blocks to wicked and worldy men.

Thirdly, that the offences which wicked men take at the falls of the professors of religion, for the hardening of themselves in their wicked and sinful practices, is matter of just and great lamentation: Woe unto the world because of offences, Mat 18:7

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 17:1. Then said he unto the disciples Our Lord, about this time, thought proper to repeat to the people, who then attended on his ministry, and were desirous of being instructed by him, several particulars of his doctrine, which he had formerly delivered in a more private way to his apostles, and some others of his disciples, as follows: It is impossible but that offences will come Considering the general corruption of human nature, the snares of the world, and the temptations of Satan, it cannot be but that one way or other offences will be given and taken: stumbling- blocks will be laid in the way of such as are travelling to the heavenly Jerusalem, and many will stumble at them, and fall over them; will be hindered in the way, or turned out of it; for many professing my religion will act in a manner very unsuitable to it, unworthy of themselves, and disgraceful to the holy name they bear. But wo unto him through whom they come Let me warn you, therefore, as you love your own souls, to guard against the guilt and danger of being stumbling-blocks in the way of others. It were better for him, &c. I assure you that such a one, especially he that by an immoral life proves a reproach and scandal to my cause, had better die by the hand of violence, and suffer the most shocking execution, than that he should offend, or cause to stumble and fall, one of these little ones, that is, one weak believer, or any other of my despised and persecuted followers. See on Mat 18:7-9.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

7. Various Sayings: Luk 17:1-10. This piece contains four brief lessons, placed here without introduction, and between which it is impossible to establish a connection. Olshausen and Meyer have attempted to connect them with one another and with what precedes. The offence, Luk 17:1-2, according to them, is either that which the rich man gave to his brethren, or that which the Pharisees gave to weak believers, by preventing them from declaring themselves for Christ. But how is the expression, one of these little ones (Luk 17:2), applicable to the rich man’s brethren? And in the second sense, should not the warning be addressed to the adversaries rather than unto the disciples (Luk 17:1)?

The teaching regarding pardon (Luk 17:3-4) is taken to refer to the arrogant harshness of the Pharisees, who did not allow the publicans to appropriate the pardon of sins (the offence, Luk 17:1-2); or rancour is regarded as one of those offences of which we must beware; or, finally, a climax is supposed: it is not enough not to do evil to others (Luk 17:1-2); we should also pardon the evil which they do to us (Luk 17:3-4). These connections, more or less ingenious, are artificial; they are like those by which one succeeds in tagging together given rhymes.

The petition of the apostles (Luk 17:5-6) is held to find its occasion in the feeling of their powerlessness to pardon. But in this sense, Jesus should have spoken in His reply, not of the faith which works external miracles, but of that which works by love. Lastly, the doctrine taught of the non-meritoriousness of works (Luk 17:7-10) is alleged to be introduced by this idea, that the greatest miracles wrought by faith confer no merit on man. But how could miracles of faith be described as , things commanded?

De Wette is therefore right in declining to find a connection between those different sayings. Let us add that several of them are placed by Matthew and Mark in historical circumstances, where they have their entire appropriateness. We shall be able to state the critical result when we come to sum up.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XCII.

SECOND GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES.

(Probably in Pera.)

Subdivision G.

CONCERNING OFFENSES, FAITH, AND SERVICE.

cLUKE XVII. 1-10.

c1 And he said unto the disciples [Jesus here ceases to speak to the Pharisees, and begins a new series of sayings addressed to the disciples, which sayings are, however, pertinent to the occasion, and not wholly disconnected with what he has just been saying], It is impossible [in a world where Pharisees abound, etc.– 1Co 11:19] but that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe unto him, through whom they come! [See Rom 14:1] to stumble. [See Psa 143:2), it is impossible that he can do more than his duty. We may be rewarded for the discharge of our duty, but the reward is of grace and not of merit. Compare Luk 12:3-48. The theme is no doubt suggested by Luk 17:6. When one’s faith endows him with great gifts he need not consider himself as an unusually profitable servant for he can do no more than it is his duty to do. Godet denies this connection with Luk 17:6, contending that miracles are not among “the things that are commanded” in the terms of Luk 16:10; but miracles were commanded, and for those who could bestow it, a gift of healing was as much an obligation as a gift of alms ( Mat 10:8, Act 3:1-6). The paragraph is a fitting close to a discourse so much of which relates to Phariseeism.]

[FFG 517-518]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luke Chapter 17

Grace is the spring of the Christians walk, and furnishes directions for it. He cannot with impunity (chap. 17) despise the weak. He must not be weary of pardoning his brother. If he have faith but as a grain of mustard seed, the power of God is, so to speak, at his disposal. Nevertheless, when he has done all, he has but done his duty (Luk 17:5-10). The Lord then shews (Luk 17:11-37) the deliverance from Judaism, which He still recognised; and, after that, its judgment. He was passing through Samaria and Galilee: ten lepers come towards Him, entreating Him, from a distance, to heal them. He sends them to the priests. This was, in fact, as much as to say, You are clean. It would have been useless to have them pronounced unclean; and they knew it. They take Christs word, go away with this conviction, and are immediately healed on their way. Nine of them, satisfied with reaping the benefit of His power, pursue their journey to the priests, and remain Jews, not coming out of the old sheepfold. Jesus, indeed, still acknowledged it; but they only acknowledge Him so far as to profit by His presence, and remain where they were. They saw nothing in His Person, nor in the power of God in Him, to attract them. They remain Jews. But this poor stranger-the tenth-recognises the good hand of God. He falls at the feet of Jesus, giving Him glory. The Lord bids him depart in the liberty of faith-Go thy way; thy faith hath saved thee. He has no longer need to go to the priests. He had found God and the source of blessing in Christ, and goes away freed from the yoke which was soon to be judicially broken for all.

For the kingdom of God was among them. To those who could discern it, the King was there in their midst. The kingdom did not come in such a manner as to attract the attention of the world. It was there, so that the disciples would soon desire to see one of those days which they had enjoyed during the time of the Lords presence on earth, but would not see it. He then announces the pretensions of false Christs, the true having been rejected, so that the people would be left a prey to the wiles of the enemy. His disciples were not to follow them. In connection with Jerusalem they would be exposed to these temptations, but they had the Lords directions for guidance through them.

Now the Son of man, in His day, would be like the lightning: but, before that, He must suffer many things from the unbelieving Jews. The day would be like that of Lot, and that of Noe: men would be at ease, following their carnal occupations, like the world overtaken by the flood, and Sodom by the fire from heaven. It will be the revelation of the Son of man-His public revelation-sudden and vivid. This referred to Jerusalem. Being thus warned, their concern was to escape the judgment of the Son of man which, at the time of His coming, would fall upon the city that had rejected Him; for this Son of man, whom they had disowned, would come again in His glory. There must be no looking back; that would be to have the heart in the place of judgment. Better lose all, life itself, rather than be associated with that which was going to be judged. If they should escape and have their lives spared through unfaithfulness, the judgment was the judgment of God; He would know how to reach them in their bed, and to distinguish between two that were in one bed, and between two women who ground the corn of the household at the same mill.

This character of the judgment shews that it is not the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus that is meant. It was the judgment of God that could discern, take away, and spare. Neither is it the judgment of the dead, but a judgment on earth: they are in bed, they are at the mill, they are on the housetops and in the fields. Warned by the Lord, they were to forsake all, and to care only for Him who came to judge. If they asked where this should be-wherever the dead body lay, there would be the judgment that would come down like a vulture, which they could not see, but from which the prey would not escape.

Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament

CHAPTER 14

OFFENSES

Luk 17:1-2. And He said to His disciples, It is impossible that offenses should not come; but woe unto him by whom they come! It is better for him if a millstone is hanged about his neck, and he has been precipitated into the sea, rather than that he may offend one of these little ones. Offense is scandalon, a stumbling-block, laid in the way of any one, over which he stumbles and falls. Jesus has much to say about the little ones, always giving them prominent recognition as members of His kingdom, whether natural infants or spiritual babes in Christ. The world, and even the Church, is under a deep sleep in reference to this awful responsibility. The greatest possible care and vigilance should be on us all at this point, lest we, even inadvertently, should prove the unfortunate instrument in leading little children and young converts into sin. How innocent and unsuspecting they are, and consequently their fearful susceptibility of being led astray! Little things may induce or provoke them to do what they know -to be wrong, thus grieving the Holy Spirit, falling under condemnation, and becoming backsliders. O what a delicate point, and what an awful responsibility! The reason why it is impossible that offenses should not come is because of human probation, which implies trial, and of course temptation. So long as we are in this world, we are all on trial, and liable to run over a stumbling-block and fall. O how we need the genuine sanctification, which gives us the wings of perennial victory, and qualifies us, by the help of the blessed Holy Spirit, to fly over every stumbling-block, even though as broad as the Rockies and as high as Pikes Peak!

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 17:1. It is impossible but that offences will come. Such as the disciples had just seen, the contempt and derision evinced by the pharisees; but woe to the man, and woe to the nation which shall despise the gospel. At the same time be of a forgiving temper; pardon on apology, and do not think that by practising the higher graces of true religion, in overcoming evil with good, that you merit any thing as a debt of your heavenly Father. By rendering evil for evil you would multiply sins, and bring your own souls into condemnation. On the other hand, the world have a right to expect those graces in you, else how are they to know that a divine principle now operates in your heart. Man who owes all to his Maker, can never be a creditor to heaven; he is still an unprofitable servant. Even angels, whose services are perfect, never talk of merit, but veil their faces in presence of the Lord.

Luk 17:2. Better that a millstone, used in the handmills of families, were hanged about his neck, and he drowned as a culprit, that he may no more rob, slander and stumble, and drive one of these young converts out of the way. This was an ancient punishment among both the Greeks and the Romans for detestable offenders, as Suidas records. Mat 18:7.

Luk 17:12. There met him ten men that were lepers. This was an incurable disease, and has generally been reckoned so by physicians of every age. See on Leviticus 13. Mar 1:41.

Luk 17:20. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, or parade. The accession of a prince to a throne, and the conquest of a kingdom, fill the world with noise and eclat; but the conversion of a poor fisherman in Galilee, and of a young man in Damascus, were to the church much greater events; and yet they were not noticed by the world. By and bye however, the kingdom of God shall come with power, and all flesh shall see his salvation. By and bye, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish all the glorious things spoken of the city of God.

Luk 17:21. The kingdom of God is within you. The Messiahs kingdom, the cheering theme of the prophets, and the key-word of Johns preaching, Mat 3:2; which shall gain the judgment by truth, and win the heart by grace. As Satan and all moral evil entered the heart by the fall, so Christ shall bind the strong one, and cast him out, and spoil his goods, that is, destroy the works of the devil. Then grace shall reign through righteousness, and be the power of God to an endless life. The Father and the Son will make his promised abode in our heart, and fill us with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. With men thus converted Christ will fill the church, and populate the earth.

Luk 17:34. There shall be two in one bed. See the note on Mat 24:40.

REFLECTIONS.

In addition to what is said in Lev 13:14. and Matthew 8., on the case of leprosy, we may here add, that the virtue of Christ was infinite: it was not diminished by healing ten or ten thousand. This is a most encouraging consideration to induce poor sinners to come to Jesus, either alone or in crowds. He can assuredly purge the conscience of guilt, and cleanse the heart of leprosy by a word, or a touch.

But let sinners approach him with reverence and prayer. The lepers, like the publican, stood afar off and cried. Deep humility and abasement before the Lord are the qualifying dispositions for the reception of grace.

Faith is essential in order to pardon and purity. Go show yourselves to the priests. This, the lepers did not dare to do, till their flesh exhibited some marks of healing; for the penalty of violating their precincts of separation was forty stripes. Hence the ten lepers obeyed the Lord in faith; and behold, as they went, their skin assumed its fair and natural appearance. Their faith, imperfect as it was, produced a greater and a more speedy effect than they themselves had expected. So when mercy dissipates the frowns of vengeance, she smiles with comfort exceeding the hopes and conceptions of men.

Gratitude must follow conversion; it becomes the just to be thankful. One of the ten, a Samaritan, felt his heart glow with a gratitude which obstructed, his journey. Something whispered in his heart to make the first offering of his praise to him who had cleansed his body, and refreshed his soul. Gratitude is the sweetest incense a saint can offer to God, and its fragrance fills the whole church with a cloud of delight and joy. Oh my soul, offer thou the praise of all thy mercies at thy Saviours feet, for he pointedly complains of those men touched by his grace, who do not return to give glory to God. Were there not ten cleansed; but where are the nine? Sinner, moved by the Lords complaint, stop and count thy mercies, thy cures, thy comforts; and ask what returns are expected, yea what base and most ungrateful returns thou hast made. Alas, thou art numbered with the nine who returned not to give glory to God.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Luke 17. The chapter illustrates the difficulty experienced by Lk. in using the material at his disposal. He here brings together without any clear connexion of thought a selection of sayings of Christ, mostly paralleled in Mt., together with a miracle.

Luk 17:1 f. stumbling-blocks. Mar 9:42*, Mat 18:6 f.* (note the reversed order).

Luk 17:3. Take heed to yourselves probably belongs to Luk 17:2.

Luk 17:3 f. The Duty of Forgiveness (Mat 18:15; Mat 18:21 f.*).Mt. is altogether fuller and adds the illustrative parable.

Luk 17:5 f. The Power of Faith (Mar 11:22 f.*, Mat 17:20; Mat 21:21*).Mt. connects the saying with the disciples failure to cast out demons, and again (like Mk.) with the withering of the fig tree. Note that Lk. has a tree here (sycamine, i.e. fig, or perhaps mulberry) for Mt. and Mk.s mountain.

Luk 17:7-10. Parable of the Servant Plowing (Lk. only).You do not wait on your slaves, so why should you, who are Gods slaves, claim any reward for what you do in His service? Syr. Sin. omits unprofitable in Luk 17:10; the stress in any case is on the noun. It is interesting to find Jesus speaking of God and man as Master and slave (Mat 21:28-32*). Whatever good a man can do he can never exceed his obligation. Merit does not live from man to God; what we receive from Him is all of grace. Cf. the complementary teaching of Luk 12:37. Merx suggests that Luk 17:9 originally ran Has that servant any thank (i.e. special favour, cf. Luk 6:32 ff.) because, etc.

Luk 17:11-19. Healing of Ten Lepers.A. time note is introduced (Luk 17:11) to remind us that Lk. is, in this main section of his Gospel (Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:14), professedly dealing with the journey to Jerusalem though Jesus is not far advanced on it (see below on Luk 17:11). Lk. alone gives us this incident. If it is a variant of Luk 5:12-16 (=Mar 1:40-45, Mat 8:1-4) it is a very wide one. The sufferers are healed without a touch (cf. Naaman, 2Ki 5:11) Of the ten only one shows any gratitude, and he is a Samaritan, a foreigner as compared with Jews. This incident thus typifies the Gentile appreciation of Christianity in contrast with the Jewish disregard of it.

Luk 17:11. the midst of Samaria and Galilee, the boundary between the two districts, perhaps in the valley of Bethshan leading to the Jordan.

Luk 17:20-37. Apocalyptic Sayings.There are several parallels with Matthew 24. In ch. 21 Lk. takes up the subject again.

Luk 17:20 f., addressed to the Pharisees, is found in Lk. only. To a question about time Jesus gives an answer about manner. The Kingdom is not coming as you hope to catch sight of it (Moffatt).with observation: so that its signs can be externally seen or foreseen. Only such tokens are given to this generation as belong to the nature of the Kingdom itself. Cf. Mat 12:38 ff.

Luk 17:21. within you, i.e. the Kingdom is here regarded (a) as already present, cf. Luk 11:20, (b) as a spiritual principle working in mens hearts like the leaven in the meal (Luk 13:21). It is strange that Jesus should say this to the Pharisees, but the you is not necessarily confined to them. Some scholars insist that Lk.s preposition means among; even then the Kingdom is already present (though some hold that Jesus only means that it is imminent; you discuss it and look eagerly for it, but lo! it is upon you, cf. Scott, The Kingdom and the Messiah, pp. 108f.), but only in an outward objective form. A further suggestion in this direction is to read will be for is; men need not be anxious about signs, when the Kingdom comes it will be suddenly present to all. This is to force the saying into conformity with the following section (esp. Luk 17:23 f.).

Luk 17:22. Lk. only. A time will come when the disciples will look in vain for the Advent; cf. 2Pe 3:4

Luk 17:23 f. Mat 24:23-27*.

Luk 17:25. Lk. only; possibly an interpolation.

Luk 17:26 f. Mat 24:37-39*.

Luk 17:28-30. This additional illustration from the destruction of Sodom is given by Lk. only.

Luk 17:31 f. Mar 13:15 f.*, Mat 24:17 f.* Lk. clinches the warning by a reference to Lots wife, whose fate was due to her reluctance to leave her property. The verses have a better context in Mk. (flight from the destruction of Jerusalem).

Luk 17:33. Cf. Luk 9:24, Mar 8:35, Mat 10:39, Joh 12:25.gain: preserve for oneself.preserve: endue it with life.

Luk 17:34 f. Mt. (Mat 24:40) sets the two men in the field; some inferior authorities (cf. AV) add this here as Luk 17:36.taken: saved from the catastrophe; left: to be overwhelmed, to perish as those who are slain and devoured by the carrion vultures.

Luk 17:37. Mat 24:28*. Wherever there is corruption (as in the world of Noah and Lot), the Advent with its Judgment will be operative. The saying holds true of morally dead hearts and of decadent nations. It may not be unnecessary to note again that in this chapter Lk. is stringing together sayings uttered on various occasions and having reference to different aspects of the coming of the Son of Man.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

GRACE IN VIEW OF OFFENSES

(vs.1-4)

We have seen the grace of God clearly and beautifully declared, yet the world rejecting it. The Lord Jesus then spoke to His disciples. What should be their attitude in view of the reality of this marvelous grace, and in view of the fact that it was commonly despised? No matter how greatly grace may be abused, we are called upon to maintain it always in its fresh purity and truth in every personal relationship. Offenses (or causes of stumbling) will arise: there is no doubt of this; but the ignoring of grace is to blame. “Woe to him through whom they (offenses) do come!” Are we as sensitive to such evil as to agree that death by drowning is better than our being the cause of stumbling little ones (v.2)?

If grace is not operative in another, this does not excuse any lack of grace on my part. In the case of personal trespass, grace wilt rebuke the offender, not haughtily, but in genuine love, for it is not grace or love to allow sin to continue. If there is repentance, then grace fully forgives. Lest we should set a limit if the offense is repeated, the Lord insists on forgiving seven times in a day, so long as the offender turns again to the offended in repentance (v.4).FAITH AND SERVICE

(vs.5-10)

It is little wonder that the apostles ask in such a case, “Lord, increase our faith,” for grace and faith are inseparable companions. Only faith can draw the resources of God’s grace. The Lord answered that if their faith was only as large as a tiny mustard seed, their word could root up “this mulberry tree” (which is noted for its deep, spreading roots), and cause it to be planted in the sea. Evidently He was referring to the deep-rooted sin that re-asserts itself even seven times in a day. There is such power in the grace of God, when laid hold of by faith, as to root out and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Certainly this is naturally impossible, but faith recognizes that God’s grace is greater than every obstacle: it depends on God.

Verses 7 to 10 remind us that we must be servants, not masters. Faith does not act independently, but in obedience to God and His Word. One may say he has faith to do great things, but if those things are not definitely the will of God, his claim is not faith at all. As servants we must keep a servant’s place: this is vital when seeking to act by faith. A servant may be working in the field, plowing or feeding cattle (typical of gospel work and pastoral work connected with men), but when coming in to his master’s house he was still a servant, and in Israel he was then to serve his master before receiving his own meal. Let us take this principle to heart. Whatever good work we may have done for the blessing of others, this does not entitle us to a higher place than servants. Rather, such work should be followed by direct service to the Lord Himself, that is, a spirit of submissive communion and worship that puts His pleasure first.

When a servant has done what the master commanded, does he expect special recognition, special thanks and praise? No! He simply did what was normally expected of him. So we too, after we have done all that was commanded us, have no reason to expect to be the objects of God’s special favor: it is better to think of ourselves as unprofitable servants, for we know we could have done more. Real profit would be in doing more than what was commanded out of honest love for our Lord; and when such a thing is true we would never think of boasting of it. On the other hand, if we have not done all that has been commanded, what kind of servants are we? We saw in verses 1-4 a forgiving spirit, now in verses 5-10 a humble spirit, which is also a becoming feature of the knowledge of the grace of God in a world that rejects that grace.

TEN LEPERS CLEANSED

(vs.11-19)

Now in verses 11 to 19 a thankful spirit is added. The Lord passed through Samaria and Galilee enroute to Jerusalem. Notice that Luke puts Samaria first, though Galilee was the more distant from Jerusalem. It is another reminder that Luke does not write chronologically, but uses a moral order. At one of the villages along the way, ten lepers pled for mercy, though they spoke from a long distance because of their sad physical condition. The Lord Jesus told them to show themselves to the priests, for it was the priests in Israel who were to judge as to whether one’s leprosy was cured (Lev 14:1-3). As the lepers went in obedience to His word, they experienced the great miracle of the healing of their leprosy. One can imagine their excitement as they saw the miracle take place before their eyes!

One of them realized immediately that the Lord Jesus was entitled to a place higher than the priests; and while he probably went to them later, yet he gave the Lord first place by turning back and loudly glorifying God, falling at the Lord’s feet with thanksgiving. Here was spontaneous, genuine appreciation of the Benefactor. Grace was rightly received and realized: whatever others did, he would express his unfeigned thankfulness before satisfying men’s judgment as to his being healed. It is added that he was a Samaritan (v.15).

We may be sure the Lord valued this response; but He asked “where are the nine?” How easy it is to be glad for what one receives while having virtually no appreciation of the Giver! Sad, selfish condition! Also, at least some of the nine were Jews, because the Lord spoke of the Samaritan as “this stranger,” so even Jews, being blessed as they were by Him, had still no real heart for their Messiah!

The Samaritan received from the Lord an assurance given to none of the others, “you faith has made you well.” The Lord was clearly not referring to the man’s physical condition, for the nine others also had been healed, even apart from faith. The man was spiritually heated, brought in reality of faith to God, and given this precious assurance. Again, only faith can rightly appreciate and respond to the pure grace of God.

THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

(vs.20-37)

Verses 20-37 show that grace produces a watchful spirit in those who know it, and who know grace has been refused by the world. The Pharisees demanded to know when the kingdom of God should come. Very likely they hoped that He would give an opinion as to which they might be able to find Him wrong. How little were they prepared for His answer! He told them that the kingdom of God does not come with observation. This truth was paramount for the time: the kingdom of God was among them (marginal reading), and they did not observe it. For what is a kingdom without a king? The King Himself was there, the Son of Man; and there were some at least whose hearts had been drawn in subjection to His authority, without display, without ostentation. While the millennial kingdom will be introduced in great power and glory, observed by all creation, yet God’s kingdom was and is now being formed in a vital, moral, quiet way by hearts responding to the lowly grace of Him who is King, but asserting no claims to a throne at present. The Pharisees, however, looked for the kingdom while refusing the King!

The Lord then addressed His disciples. There were days in the future that would cause a yearning for one of the days of the Son of Man, that is, His coming in great power to deliver His people Israel from the terrible throes of the great tribulation.

Because the time would seem long (and indeed almost 200 years have gone by), there would be deceivers to ensnare souls with false hopes: “see here, or see there,” that is, some plausible substitute for the promise of the Messiah. The disciples were warned to refuse to follow such things. For when the Son of Man comes to reign it will be as apparent as lightning flashing across the sky. While this will introduce the millennial kingdom, yet notice that the emphasis is not on the kingdom, but on the King Himself, the Son of Man.

They were not to expect this coming in the near future. First the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected, which would involve His being put to death. How long this rejection would continue is not suggested at all, yet this has continued following His resurrection for almost 2,000 years, and verse 26 is still future.

Events leading up to His coming to reign will not impress the world as being unduly spectacular. Normal living will continue as it did in the time of Noah, although (as in Noah’s day) in a time of great evil and distress, which Scripture calls the great tribulation (Rev 7:14). Certainly people were aware of the testimony of Noah as to judgment, and there will be no lack of testimony then also, but people of the world will continue in an independent way, still concentrating on the material things of life, eating and drinking and marrying — things not wrong in themselves, but too often the only object of men’s existence. Forgetting God, they will be suddenly shocked by His unexpected intervention in their affairs as He comes to judge them (2 Thes 5:3).

Similar things are said as to the days of Lot, when men were occupied with their own prosperity and pleasure. We know in fact from the history (Gen 19:4-10) that Sodom was also guilty of the dreadful moral corruption of homosexuality, but the Lord only spoke here of their concentration on living for this life (v.28), adding to the previous verse that they bought, sold, planted and built, which things indicate their preparation for continued living on earth, but with no concern for eternity. But when believing Lot went out of Sodom (practically dragged out), the city was suddenly destroyed by fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven.

Such will be the sudden intervention of the Son of Man when He is revealed in power and glory at the end of the great tribulation (Rev 19:11-21). As in the case of Lot, when the signs become evident as to judgment, let no one linger, even to collect his belongings before fleeing. “Remember Lot’s wife.” She had gotten outside of Sodom, but looked back and became a pillar of salt (Gen 19:26). She was not decisive but half-hearted in leaving Sodom. The Lord was pressing a moral lesson for all mankind, as is usual in Luke; though this refers to the same time as does Mat 24:16-18, for when judgment sweeps over the land of Judea it will be sudden and swift, and following immediately in the wake of the setting up of “the abomination of desolation,” an idolatrous image, in the temple area of Jerusalem.

One who sought to save his life would lose it, because he considered his possessions his life (v.33). This is a moral lesson for all times, but to be strikingly seen at that future time of the tribulation. God, in view of and prior to the revelation of the Son of Man, will use the ungodly to carry out His own discriminative judgment. Of two men sleeping in one bed, one will be taken in death, the other spared for blessing. Of two women grinding together, one will be killed, the other spared, her life preserved (v.35). Verse 36 is not included in most Greek manuscripts, so there is a question as to its being scripture. In fact, since the subject is prefaced “in that night,” it is hardly likely that men would be working in the field. But the emphasis of this whole portion is on the fact of God so overruling the sweeping carnage of the land of Israel that those will be singled out for death whom He has decreed to die.

To answer the question as to where the one in each case is taken, the Lord spoke of the eagles being gathered together where the body is. In other words, when judgment is called for, God will have the executors of that judgment prepared to carry it out.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

Verse 1

Unto him, &c.; that is, unto him who tempts or entices others to sin.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

CHAPTER 17

Ver. 5.-And the Apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith. The Apostles said this, when, from their little faith, they had been unable to cast out the devil from the lunatic. They then asked for greater faith, as appears from the above words compared with those of S. Mat 17:19, &c., for Christ made the same reply in each place, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed you would move mountains.”

Ver. 6.-If ye had faith. “This indeed,” says S. Chrysostom, “is small in quantity but great in power. He means that the least portion of faith can do great things.” And Bede, “Perfect faith is a grain of mustard seed: in appearance it is small, in the heart it is fervent.”

You would say unto this sycamine tree (a mulberry tree (moro) close at hand, to which Christ pointed). Be thou rooted up and be thou east into the sea, and it would have obeyed you.-For mulberry tree, Mat 17:20 has mountain. Christ therefore said both. It is called the mulberry tree allegorically, as if (foolish); that is by antithesis, because it is the wisest of trees; not putting forth its leaves till the frost is over, lest they should be cut off. The mulberry signifies the gospel of the cross of Christ, which to the Gentiles appears foolishness, but to the faithful is “the power of God and the wisdom of God,” 1Co 1:24. Hence S. Augustine (Lib. II, Qust. Evan.: qust. 39): “Let those servants speak through the grain of mustard seed, to this mulberry tree; that is, to the gospel of the cross of Christ through the blood-coloured apples hanging like wounds on that tree which is to give food to the nations. Let them say that it is rooted up by the unbelief of the Jews, and transferred to the sea of the Gentiles and planted there, for by this home service they will minister to the hungering and thirsting Lord.” So too Bede. “The mulberry tree,” he says, “by the blood colour of the fruit and shoots, is the gospel of the cross of Christ, which, through the faith of the Apostles, when it was held as it were in the stem of its kind, was rooted up from the Jews, and planted in the sea of the Gentiles.” The Gloss adds, “The leaves of the mulberry, offered to the serpent, bring death upon him, as the word of the cross destroys all hurtful and venomous things of the soul.” On the other hand, SS. Ambrose and Chrysostom and the Gloss understand by the mulberry tree, the devil, whom the faith of Christ casts out and sends into hell. “The fruit of the mulberry, tree,” says S. Ambrose, “is firstly white, when in flower, when fully blown red, and when ripe it becomes black. The devil also, from the white flower of his angelic nature and power, when cast out by his reddening wickedness, grew horrible from the foul odour of sin. Behold Christ saying to the mulberry tree, ‘Be thou rooted up and cast into the sea;’ when He cast the Legion out of the man, He permitted them to enter into the swine which, being driven by the spirit of the devils, cast themselves into the sea.”

Hear also S. Chrysostom in the Catena: “As the mulberry feeds worms (silkworms) which spin silk from its leaves, so does the devil, from thoughts springing from those leaves, nourish in us an undying worm; but faith has power to root this tree out of our souls, and to plunge it into hell.”

Lastly, the Arabic for the mulberry has “sycamine,” or “sycamore,” of which, chap. xix. 4. Christ, moreover, exalts the power of faith, that He might implant in the Apostles an additional desire of increasing its keenness, and of praying for its gift to them; for He who gave to men the mind and desire of praying, wished also to increase the faith of those who prayed. Hence He subsequently increased their faith, especially when He sent the Holy Spirit upon them at Pentecost. Hence too, by the strength of their excelling faith, they wrought so great wonders and miracles, converting the whole world; and, lest they should grow proud of such deeds, and become vainglorious, Christ, by the following Parable, teaches them to be humble-minded, and to say, “we are unprofitable servants.”

Ver. 7.-But who is there of you, having a servant ploughing or keeping sheep. Christ represses the vainglory of the Apostles, lest, when by their exalted faith they had performed wonderful and stupendous acts, they might glory in them and not ascribe to God, whose it is, the honour. “He,” says Euthymius,” who attains the result, plucks up the effect of boasting. The servant was not a slave as the heretics say, but one who was hired, and who, in addition to the service agreed upon or ordered by his master, might perform another for him to which he was not bound.” Here observe that the heretics abuse this passage to the opposing of good works, but wrongly. For this servant, as clearly appears, truly deserved the daily payment due to him by agreement, but did not deserve that his master should render him thanks; for masters are not accustomed to bestow thanks upon those whom they pay for their labour. Thanks are only given to assistance rendered gratuitously and without payment. We who are the servants of God, through the works ordered by Him, if we offer them, merit eternal life, as the hired servant who has laboured throughout the day deserves his daily payment. Mar 9:41; Mat 10:41; Rev 11:18. For although our works, as far as they are ours, are of little or no value, yet so far as they flow from the grace of Christ, and are therefore the works of Christ, our head, they are of great worth and desert, and do merit, as such, eternal glory; for grace is the seed of glory; especially as God, of His immeasurable goodness, has been pleased to promise to them, as done by the grace of Christ, eternal glory.

Vers. 8, 9.-And will not rather say unto him. That is, I suppose, because he does not owe thanks to his servants. “For it is incumbent upon such an one to do his master’s will,” says Theophylact. “So there is laid upon us,” as Bede says, “the necessity of doing all things that God has commanded, and by fresh diligence, of always increasing our former services.” The meaning is, as S. Ambrose says, “As we not only do not say to our servant, Take thy repose (recumbe), but require of him a further service, and give him no thanks, so neither does the Lord permit in us one only work, for all while living ought to work always. Acknowledge we ourselves therefore to be servants, lending very many acts of obedience on interest. Nor should we exalt ourselves, because we are called the sons of God. Grace is to be acknowledged, but nature is not to be passed over (ignoranda), nor should we boast ourselves, if we have served well in that which we ought to do. The sun obeys, the moon submits, the angels serve.”

Ver. 10.-Even so ye also. “Woe unto us if we do it not,” says S. Bernard in his fourth sermon on Psalm xv. So the Apostle, 1Co 9:16, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel,” because God has commanded me to do so.

The heretics object, “Christ here calls His faithful, useless servants, therefore by their merits they deserve nothing, nay, they do nothing good, because they contribute nothing useful ” I .answer, Their first premiss is false, for Christ does not call His own servants unprofitable, nay, in Mat 25:23, He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” &c. But He warns each one of the faithful to call himself unprofitable, to the avoidance of vainglory, and to the greater increase of humility and equally so of their merit, as say SS. Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Bede, and others, passim; and that, in a sense not false and pretended but true and sincere. Because the faithful servant, in merely fulfilling the precepts of God, does nothing peculiar or remarkable, but only that which by the law of God he ought to do, and to which he was bound under the penalty of sin. He therefore both is, and is called, unprofitable, because he has fulfilled the commandments alone, but has omitted the counsels and works of supererogation, as Christ Himself explains: “All things that are commanded,” and “what we ought to do we have done.” He therefore gains only the ordinary reward of such observance of His commands; but to that exceptional glory, and crown, and aureole of the observance of the Evangelical counsels he does not attain; as says S. Paul, whose words I will shortly cite. Again, says S. Chrysostom, “When we say, with humility, we are unprofitable servants,” Christ says, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

S. Bernard again, in his treatise de Prcept et Dispens., thus explains the matter, “We are unprofitable servants, we have done what we ought;” i.e. If you are content with the mere precept and traditions of the law, and do not give yourselves up to the counsels and persuasions of perfection, you are free indeed from debt, but you are not praiseworthy for merit; you have escaped punishment, you have not gained the crown.

It is this which S. Paul, when preaching the Gospel freely, and when he might have required food from the faithful, 1Co 9:15, calls his glory.

Secondly, Even S. Paul himself, the other Apostles, and the Religious, in observing not only the precepts but also the counsels of Christ, can truly say, “We are unprofitable servants: we have done what we ought to do.” Firstly, because we owe to God our souls, our bodies, our lives, and all that we have, which, whatever good we do, we can never pay back. This debt is infinite and manifold, but it is especially fourfold. First, there is the debt of creation, for as we were created out of nothing by God, the whole that we are we owe to God our Creator. Thus Plato in his Phdo, “Man is one of the possessions of God.” “Behold,” says S. Bernard on “Our Fourfold Debt,” “He is at the door who made the heavens and the earth. He is thy Creator and thou art His creature: thou art the end of His work.” The second is the debt of emption and redemption, for Christ redeemed us from death and hell at the price of His own blood. We are therefore slaves of purchase, nay, “the purchased servants of Christ,” 1Co 6:20. S. Bernard, in the sermon already cited: “Firstly, we owe all our lives to Christ Jesus, for He laid down His life for us, and endured bitter torments, that we might not have to undergo eternal ones.” He sums up thus: “When I give to Him all that I am, all that I can do, is not this as a star to the sun, a drop to the river, a stone to the mountain, a grain to the heap?” So in his tract, De Deo dilig.: “If I owe my whole self for my first creation, what shall I add for my second, and that brought about as it was? For a second creation is not effected as easily as a first. He who made me once and only by a word, in creating me a second time spoke many words and did wonderful things and endured hard things, and not only hard but even undeserved things. In the first creation He gave me to myself, in the second He gave Himself to me, and when He gave Himself to me He restored me to myself. Given, then, and restored, I owe myself for myself, and I have a double debt. What reward shall I give to God for Himself, for if I were to weigh myself a thousand times, what am I to God?”

The third debt is, that renouncing Satan in our baptism we have given ourselves wholly over to the obedience of Christ; He in regenerating us in Himself has made us new men, and divine, who are the Temple of God and of the Holy Ghost.

The fourth is that He is our beginning and final end, and He to whom we ought to direct all our actions. For He has promised us the happiness of heaven, and everlasting glory, which is nothing else than the vision and fruition of God. See Jerome (Platus, Book I., On the Grace or a Religious State, chapters iii. iv.), where he recounts seven titles of our service, on account of which we are not of our own right, but are God’s and Christ’s.

To these add that we are unprofitable servants in respect of God; for, to God who is immense, most rich, and most blessed, we can add no good thing. Hence S. Augustine on Psalm xxxix. “He possesses thee that thou mayest possess Him. Thou wilt be His land, Thou wilt be His house. He possesses thee, He is possessed by thee, that He may profit thee. Canst thou profit Him in any way? For I said to the Lord, ‘Thou art my God, therefore shall I want no good thing.'”

Again, we are unprofitable, because we sin in many things, and many of our words are infected by negligence or vainglory or some other fault. In addition to this, our actions, if looked upon with strictness, as they proceed from men, are without value to the meriting of the grace and glory of God: according to the Apostle, Rom 8:18. So S. Augustine, whose words I will shortly produce. Lastly, all our actions derive the dignity of worth and merit from the grace and promise of God, and are useful to ourselves, not to Him. Hence the Arabic reads, “We are indeed useless servants, for we have done that which was our interest to do.” So Euthymius, S. Cyril in the Catena, and others.

And thus did those monks of the Alps to whom S. Bernard wrote his 152d Epistle; “You account yourselves unprofitable, and you have been found to be humble. To act rightly, and yet to think themselves without value, is found in few, and therefore many admire it. This I say, this assuredly makes you, from illustrious, even more illustrious; from holy, more holy; and wherever this report is published it fills all things with the odour of sweetness;” for, as the same author says in his 42d Sermon on Canticles, “Humility, like the ointment of spikenard, scatters its sweet scent, growing warm in love, flourishing in devotion, smelling pleasantly to the senses of others.”

S. Augustine indeed, for useless servants (inutiles) reads super-vacui, men at leisure, who after their labour look for repose; that eternal reward and glory which far surpass and exceed all their toil. “Nothing remains for us to do: we have finished our trial, there awaits us a crown of righteousness. We may say all things of that ineffable perfruition, and the more all things can be said the less can anything be said worthily; for it is the light of the illuminator, the repose of the toiler, the country of the returned wanderer, the food of the needy, the crown of the conqueror, whatever the temporal goods of unbelievers the holiness of the sons of God will find others more true, and such as will remain in the Creator to all eternity.” Hence the conclusion of Theophylact, “If when we have done all things, we ought not even then to have any lofty thoughts; how deeply do we sin when we do not perform the greatest part of the commandments of God, and yet are praised not the less.”

Ver. 11.-And it came to pass as He was going up to Jerusalem from the borders of Csarea Philippi or Paneas, as is clear from S. Mat 17:22, to Jerusalem; to the feast of tabernacles, as appears from S. Joh 7:2. He went through the midst of Samaria and Galilee; for this was the direct road for one journeying from Csarea to Jerusalem. Mention is made of Samaria to suggest a reason why, among the ten lepers that were healed by Christ, one was a Samaritan; namely, that as Christ was going through Samaria, although He had been inhospitably received by the Samaritans, nay, shut out from one of their towns, ix. 53, He yet wished to do good to a Samaritan, that He might return kindness for ill-treatment. See the chronological order of events which I have prefixed to this commentary.

Ver. 12.-And as He entered into a certain village. Lepers, as being unclean, were not able to enter cities, towns and villages, lest they should communicate their leprosy to the inhabitants, as well as their legal defilement, which under the old law was communicated by contact with a leprous and unclean person; as in Num 5:2. Hence they met Christ before the village.

There were ten lepers, says Euthymius, whom their disease had united together; for otherwise the Jews hold no communication with the Samaritans, Joh 4:9. These ten leper’s seem to have agreed, as soon as they met Jesus, to demand to be healed with one voice. They made an attack upon the clemency of Jesus.

They stood afar off, as being unclean and out of communion with the clean, being banished lest they should affect them by their breath. In figure leprosy is concupiscence, heresy, and every kind of sin, as is shown in Lev 13:14 xiv. and Mat 8:2.

Ver. 13.-And they lifted up their voices. They cried out aloud, because they stood afar off. The voice was one and proceeded from all, “Jesus, Master,” have mercy on us, and free us from this heavy and incurable disease. Master here does not so much mean teacher as Lord, one who directs his servants and tells them his wishes. The Greek is , that is Prfect-Prses; one whose right it is to rule and command: for they do not ask Christ to teach them, and give them precepts of virtue, but to command the leprosy and cause it to depart from them. So the Hebrew, Rabbi, means not only master but also Lord, and Mighty, and One of the first rank. Moreover, S. Luke everywhere calls Christ , as is seen Luk 5:5, Luk 8:24, Luk 8:45,Luk 9:33, Luk 9:49; S. Matt. also, Mat 8:25, Mat 17:4, and elsewhere, has , that is Lord. So the Gauls, Germans, and Belgians call their masters Lords, Domini, mon maistre, mein meister.

And when He saw them He said unto them. Theophylact says, “They stood afar off indeed in position, but they were near in speech, for ‘The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him,'” Psa 145:18.

Ver. 14.-He said unto them, Go and shew yourselves unto the priests. That is, if you go to them and obey Me, you shall assuredly be healed of your leprosy by My power and providence.

And it came to pass, as they went. Christ commanded them to go to the priests, not that they might be healed by them, for this was impossible, but firstly, for the honour and deference due to the priest-hood; secondly, because the law commanded lepers, if they were healed, to show themselves to the priests, that by their means they might be brought back to the city and temple, and to the society of men. The priests, moreover, had their own signs by which they might know whether a man were a leper or not, as I have shown before. Thirdly, to prove the faith and obedience of the lepers, for they knew themselves to be lepers, and that they could not be healed by the priests, but only that their leprosy could be declared. Yet they went to them at the command of Christ, believing that they would thus be healed by Him before they came to the priests. For if they had not so believed they would assuredly not have gone to them. Fourthly, that Christ might make the priests witnesses of the miraculous healing done by Him, and that from this they might know that He was the Christ.

Allegorically. Christ wished to signify that mystical lepers, that is sinners in the New Law, ought to come to the priests that they may be healed by penance, and absolved from the leprosy of sin. “It is not,” says S. Chrysostom, “the duty of the priest, under the New Law, to prove the leprosy, as it was under the Old, but to cleanse and expiate it when proved.” Lib. iii. de Sacerdotio.

And as they went, they were cleansed. “In certain faith and blind obedience, not judging of the command,” says Euthymius. It is probable that immediately on their going they were healed, that they might know it to have been done by Jesus. Hence the Samaritan, perceiving what had happened, and that he was cured, returned to Jesus and gave thanks. Thus is God wont to reward prompt faith and obedience.

They were cleansed. From their leprosy, which among the Jews was the greatest of uncleannesses, both natural and legal; especially because it was contagious, and made those who came near, leprous and unclean.

Ver. 15.-And one of them, when he saw that he was healed. He left the road and went back to Jesus, the Author of his healing, magnifying God with a loud voice, who, through Jesus, had healed him.

Ver. 16.-And fell down on his face at His feet. That by profound humiliation he might show his great reverence to Him, as in the Greek and Syriac. And he was a Samaritan: a Samaritan, and therefore an alien from and abhorrent to the Jews, a schismatic moreover, so that it was wonderful that he alone gave thanks so earnestly to Jesus, who was a Jew, when the other lepers, who were Jews by nation and religion, passed Him by and gave no thanks for so great a benefit.

Ver. 17.-And Jesus answering said, Why do not the nine, equally with this Samaritan, return and acknowledge their cure, and give Me thanks? In truth the nine were rejoiced at their cure, and went to the priests, that they might be declared to be clean, and restored to the society of men, thinking wholly of themselves, and caring very little for the glory of Jesus.

Ver. 18.-There are not found that returned. By confessing and declaring themselves cured by God through Christ of their leprosy, which was a great glory to God.

Save this stranger. That is, except this Samaritan, who was a stranger to the nation and religion of the Jews. For the Samaritans were Babylonians, Assyrians and Medians, and were transferred by Shalmanezer to Samaria. 2Ki 17:24. The Syriac says, “Why were they separated, so that none gave glory to God except this one?” He represents the Gentiles, who were to believe in Christ, and give Him thanks, when the unbelieving Jews would hold Him in contempt. We thus see that strangers are often more grateful than natives, because strangers wonder at strange benefactors more, and pay them greater respect than natives, who, as familiar with their benefactors, think that benefits are their due from the right of country. Moreover, they were ashamed to humble themselves before their own countrymen, and to acknowledge the misery from which they had been delivered. Rightly therefore does Christ blame them; and He might with justice have deprived them of the benefit of the cure, and allowed them to fall back again into their leprosy. But He would not do this, because His mercy was so great that it extended even to the ungrateful. S. Bernard sharply rebukes the Wickedness of ingratitude, Serm. li. on Canticles. He says, “It is the enemy of our souls, the inanition of our merits, the dispenser of our virtues, the ruin of our benefactions. Ingratitude is a burning wind, drying up the Fountain of Holiness, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.”

Ver. 19.-And He said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith. Faith, by which you have believed that I am able to save you, nay that I will do so, if you obey Me, and go to the priests. For this faith has worked with your healing, even though I be the primary author. Hence very likely the prompting of God elicited from this leper some act of contrition by which he was justified; and that he then left the schism of the Samaritans, and joined the true religion of the Jews. In the end he became a disciple of Jesus, and received His baptism, and became a Christian and preached the power and miracle of Christ and converted many to Him.

Ver. 20.-And when He was demanded of the Pharisees. The Kingdom of Israel, which had now indeed fallen, but which was to be raised up again by the Messiah.

The kingdom of God cometh not with observation. “Cometh,” that is, will come. It is a Hebraism, in which the present is put for the future. Observe that Christ said, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” This Pharisee, therefore, either from a desire of knowledge, or to mock Jesus, said, “Thou Jesus preachest Thy kingdom in heaven, but when will it come? When shall we see Thee reigning in it? When shall we see Israel, who is now subjugated by the Romans, breathe again through Thy means and recover her liberty and live happily under Thee as her kin?” “They asked Him when He would reign,” says Euthymius, “as to deride Him, who appeared as one of low estate.” But Christ answered mildly and briefly at first as in this verse, but afterwards at more length (verse 22 to the end of the chapter). He spoke of the glory of His kingdom in the heavens, to which that of grace should first be subordinated on earth, for we proceed to glory through grace. He said therefore,

The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God and the Messiah cometh not with previous preparation, nor with the outward pomp of soldiers, horses, and chariots, as you can see, from itself. You know a king to be at hand when you see his attendants preceding him. With such as these you thought that the kingdom of the Messiah would come, and you look for it as now nigh at hand.

Ver.21.-Neither shall they say. They shall not say, In Jerusalem is the royal throne of Christ, He reigns there in magnificence like another Solomon; because Christ does not reign on a bodily throne, but in a spiritual soul, which by His grace He rules and directs into all good, and so guides it to the kingdom of heaven. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom 14:17. I would understand all these sayings of the same thing: that is, of the first Advent of Christ in which He reigns in the souls of the faithful as a king through His grace; for thus do His sayings, as a whole, best agree together and cohere. Some, however, understand the kingdom of glory, because He will adorn even the bodies of the just with His own brightness, and other gifts, as all may see.

Secondly, This kingdom of God is within us: that is, it is in our own power if we embrace the faith and grace of Christ, and work with Him, for, as Titus says, “It is of our own will and power to receive the kingdom of God.”

Thirdly, The kingdom of God is within us, because Christ, as our God and king, lives among us preaching and endowing this kingdom. Thus speaks Theophylact: “The kingdom of God on the whole is to live after the manner of the angels, when nothing of this world occupies our souls. We need no long time and no distant journey, for faith is near us, and after faith the divine life.” The same also said the Apostle, “The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith,” Rom. x. 8. For to believe, and to walk worthily of our belief and of our calling, is within us. The Pharisees therefore derided the Lord, but He turned them into ridicule, showing that they were ignorant of that which was within them and which is very easy to any one who wishes for it. “For now when I am in the midst of you, you are able to possess the kingdom of God if you believe in Me and will live according to My commandments.”

Ver. 22.–And He said unto His disciples, The days will come. That is, the time will come and is now at hand, when for My faith and the preaching of the gospel you will suffer many adversities, persecutions, and distresses; the errors and heresies, moreover, of the innovators; and be oppressed by straits of body and mind, and know not what consolation or counsel to take. Hence you shall seek to see Me, and to consult Me, if only once, but in vain: for after I shall have ascended into heaven, I shall no more appear on earth. Thus the things you now hear from Me you ought to teach, and to console, and to direct, until, at my second coming to judgment, I return to you, that is, to your successors. Thus He spoke to warn them that they could only come to the kingdom of glory through tribulations, that they might neither fail in heart nor fall from the faith. So Theophylact, Euthymius, Titus, Bede, and others.

Ver. 23.-And they shall say to you. False prophets shall come feigning themselves to be Christ or sent from Christ. Go not out, neither follow those deceivers or their rumours. The Arabic has, “See them not, nor hasten to them.”

Ver. 24.-For as the lightning. The Syriac has, “As the lightning shines from heaven and lightens all things under heaven.” As the lightning most suddenly, swiftly, and openly descends from heaven and shines out, so shall I suddenly and unexpectedly return to judgment. There will be no need of watching for Me, or sign, or mark, for I shall appear conspicuous and glorious to all in the whole earth. This and the following we have read in Mat 24:27 and following, where I have explained it.

Ver. 25.-But first must He suffer many things. The Arabic has, “Before this He shall endure much suffering, and be rejected by this generation.”-“That is,” says Euthymius, “by this nation of a few Jews. He said this firstly, lest the Apostles, seeing Him suffering and being put to death on the cross, should be offended, and doubt whether He were the Christ.” Secondly, as Bede says, “that when they saw Him dying, who, they thought should be glorified, the pain of His sufferings might be lightened to them by the hope of the promised glory.” Thirdly, that He might arm them against future sufferings by this prophecy. “As if He had said,” says Theophylact, “Wonder not if troubles come upon you, so great as to make you wish for the days when I was with you. For even I myself, who will come as the lightning, must first suffer many things, and be rejected, and so come into that glory. Let this be your example, for to you also shall come glory from perils.”

Ver. 30.-Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. “Well does Christ say,” says Bede, “that He shall be revealed as one who, not being seen, sees all things, and then appearing, shall judge all things.”

Ver. 32.-Remember Lot’s wife. She perished because she looked back. “Lest,” says S. Ambrose, “as she looked back on the burning Sodom, against the command of the angel, and was changed into a pillar of salt, so you also, against these commandments of mine, may return to the life of the world, and perish with that which is perishing and burning.” S. Augustine (Lib ii. Qust. Evang. qust. 43): “What is the meaning of Lot’s wife? She represents those who look back in tribulation and separate themselves from the hope of the Divine Promise, and who are therefore changed into a pillar of salt, that by admonishing men not to do the same, they may, as it were, season their hearts, and not become fools.”

Ver. 34.-In that night there shall be two men in one bed. By the word night it may be thought that the universal judgment of Christ will take place at night, for the greater terror of men. But I reply, That which in verse 31 is called day, is here called night. First, Because the day of judgment will be to very many, and certainly to all who have fallen away, fatal and most calamitous. For night and darkness are symbols of calamity. Secondly, As night closes the day and the time of labour, so will that day also close the time of labouring and meriting, according to the words, “The night cometh when no man can work.” John ix. 4. Rightly then is the day of judgment called night.

Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary

17:1 Then said he unto the disciples, {1} It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe [unto him], through whom they come!

(1) The Church is of necessity subject to offences, but the Lord will not suffer them unpunished, if any of the least be offended.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

H. Jesus’ warning about disciples’ actions and attitudes 17:1-19

Jesus had been teaching the disciples about avoiding what men esteemed highly but which God viewed as detestable, namely, the pursuit of money (Luk 16:15). By pursuing money hypocritically the Pharisees had turned many of their fellow Jews away from Jesus (Luk 11:52). Jesus now warned the disciples about the possibility of their own improper actions and attitudes.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The prevention of sin and the restoration of sinners 17:1-4

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The introductory "and" (de in the Greek text, not translated in the NIV) indicates a logical connection with what has preceded. It is inevitable that disciples retard the spiritual progress of others occasionally because none of us is perfect. However that does not excuse personal responsibility when someone causes another to stumble into sin or apostasy (cf. Luk 11:52). It is a very serious offense to hinder the progress of a spiritually immature believer whom Jesus spoke of here as a child (cf. Mat 18:6). "Woe" recalls Jesus condemnation of the Pharisees in Luk 6:24-26. It indicates the seriousness of this offense.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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