Seemingly Unrelated Thoughts

Greetings everyone. 

Today, I will pick up where I left on on my last post in Luke 16:16-18.  Here is my translation:

16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then, the good news of the Kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is urged insistently to come into it. 17 But it is easier for Heaven and Earth to disappear, then for one pen stroke of the law to come to an end. 
18 Anyone who divorces and marries again, commits adultery.  And a man who marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

In verse 16, Jesus takes the conversation in a different direction, seemingly unrelated to what has preceded it. He had been talking about money, then in addressing the scoffing of the Pharisees, Jesus talks about how the love of money and pride are detestable to God.  Now, he starts talking about a few different things, like the coming of the Kingdom, the permenancy of the Word, and divorce. 

First, Jesus says that the Law that Prophets had been proclaimed for centuries, but beginning with John, the good news of the Kingdom of God was now being proclaimed.  John began what Jesus is now teaching and preaching: The Kingdom of God. 

The phrase Καὶ Πᾶς Εἰς Αὐτὴν βιάζεται  (kai pas eis autēn biazetai)  is very difficult to translate.  According to both Allen Thompson and Darrell Bock, there are four different ways that it can be translated.  The antecedent to “it” here is “the kingdom of God.” (Thompson, 257.) (Bock, 1352-1353.)

• ‘All act violently against it.”
• “Everyone is forced into it.”
• “Everyone tries to force his way into it.”
• “All are urged insistently to come in.”  

It is the last of these that makes the most sense to me. Bock seems to agree. In his comments on this option, he says, “Why is Jesus warning and exhorting his opponents, so constantly? Because he is attempting to persuade them to respond morally. In a sense, his mission is bound up in his proclamation to and effort toward those most opposed to him…The opportunity is always placed before them. The risk is always expressed to them.” (Bock, 1353.) This is very well stated, in that Jesus’ call spells out both risk and opportunity very well. 

Verse 17 is also difficult, because it seems to contradict what Jesus has just said. The question arises, “How can the Law be in effect only until John, and yet never pass away?” Robert Stein answers this question by saying, “Luke placed this saying next to the preceding one to affirm the continuity of the OT and NT eras.”  (Stein, 419.)  Jesus is talking here about the permanence of God’s word.  It is easier for the entirety of Creation to vanish than it is for God’s word to go unfulfilled. Luke uses the word κεραίαν (keraian), which means the stroke of a pen.  Like the difference between an O and a Q. God’s word is permanent and will not go unfulfilled.  God will not leave promises unkept.  

Stein says that Jesus is speaking in hyperbole here. A pen stroke, by itself, cannot be fulfilled, or left unfulfilled, and what Jesus likely means is that the moral law will remain, while the ceremonial and civil law do not. (Stein, 419.) Within the context of the rest of the NT, this is the meaning that makes the most sense to me. 

Then in verse 18, Jesus goes into the topic of divorce and remarriage.  Here, Luke records Jesus in a very simple straightforward statement, that anyone that divorces and remarries, commits adultery.  (Matthew 5:32 qualifies a little further.  Jesus allows divorce and remarriage here in the case of marital infidelity.)  Stein says that there was much debate in the Jewish schools of thought regarding the meaning of Deuteronomy 24:1.  A man was allowed to divorce his wife if he found something indecent in her.  The meaning of ‘something indecent,’ is not clear.  The thoughts on what this meant varied from very broad (burning supper or finding another woman more attractive) to very specific ( only in cases of sexual unchastity.) (Stein, 419.)  Taken by itself, Luke’s would seem to indicate that God opposes all divorce, no matter the circumstance.  We know from other scriptures that this is not the case, and Jesus’ words here are not a one-size-fits-all treatise on divorce and remarriage that applies to every circumstance.  What it does tell is that God takes the vows made before Him in marriage very seriously and they should not be broken lightly.  

So, in the short passage of Luke 16:14-18, Jesus covers a number of topics, seemingly almost a different topic in each verse.   It is difficult to sum up because of the varied nature of the topics.  We should make sure that we are in God's Kingdom, and taking Word and our vows before Him seriously. 

Tom