Luke 20

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 47 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:

• Papyrus 75 (written about AD 175–225)
• Codex Vaticanus (325–350)
• Codex Sinaiticus (330–360)
• Codex Bezae ( 400)
• Codex Washingtonianus ( 400)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400–440)
• Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus ( 450; extant verses 1–27).

Old Testament references

• : Psalm 118:22
• : : the Levirate law
• : : the passage about the burning bush
• : Psalm .

Jesus' authority questioned (verses 1–8)

Luke follows with some abbreviation, and with some material peculiar to himself.

:One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and telling the good news, the chief priests and the scribes came with the elders ... The New King James Version reads "on one of those days", reflecting the additional word εκεινων (ekeinōn), inserted into the Textus Receptus. This word, added "for greater precision", is missing "from the authorities of greatest importance, condemned by Johann Jakob Griesbach, and deleted by Karl Lachmann and Constantin von Tischendorf".

Luke presents Jesus continuing to teach 'the people' in the Temple, who are "presented as favourably disposed to him", but when the chief priests, scribes and elders question him about his authority, Jesus raises a question in return about the origin of John's baptism.

Verses 5-6

:And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven', he will say, 'Why did you not believe him?' 6 But if we say, 'From man', all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet." In the popular mind, John was a prophet, but the temple leaders had "refused to believe him" (verse 5). In Luke 7:30, the Pharisees and the lawyers had declined John's baptism. but do not suggest that the people would stone their leaders. William Robertson Nicoll argues that the suggestion that they would actually carry this out should be taken "cum grano" ("with a pinch of salt").

So those who have questioned Jesus decline to answer, stating that they "did not know where it came from". F. W. Farrar notes that there is a Hebrew proverb, Learn to say I do not know, which it is wise to use in a case of "real uncertainty", but wrong when, as in this case, they did hold an opinion on the matter and "it was their plain duty [in this case] to have arrived at a judgment".

Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers (verses 9–19)

Main article: Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen

This parable of Jesus, also known as the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen, is found in three of the four canonical gospels (, Mark , and Matthew ), and also in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. For Rudolf Bultmann, the passage is not a "parable" but an "allegory", and "intelligible only on that basis". It describes a householder planting a vineyard and letting it out to husbandmen, who failed in their duty. The owner sent various servants successively to collect a share of the proceeds of the harvest, but each time the husbandmen rejected them. Unlike the texts in Matthew and Mark, Luke states that "perhaps" (, isōs, "probably" in the NKJV and in Marvin Vincent's interpretation) they will respect the owner's son. The word ἴσως is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. It appears once in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible, at , where the Greek is translated as "perhaps", but as "surely" in many English translations based on the Hebrew text. As the parable continues, the wicked husbandmen conspire to kill the son, in the expectation that the vineyard would pass to them. Finally, the owner comes and "destroys" those husbandmen and gives the vineyard to others.

Verse 16

In the climax of the story it is announced that the owner will come, to "destroy" those husbandmen and gives the vineyard to others. In Matthew's version, the proposal is put forward by those listening to the parable. "Certainly not!", or "No - never!", (, mē genoito), is a characteristically Pauline phrase only used here within the Gospels, but frequently in Paul’s Epistles: see Romans 6#The Bearing of Justification by Grace upon a Holy Life.

Verses 17–18

These words, alluding to Isaiah 8:14–15, are tied to verse 16 as a response to μὴ γένοιτο. "What then ..." or "Why then ...", , ti oun, infers the negation of μὴ γένοιτο: "How then, supposing your wish to be fulfilled, could this which is written come to pass?"

This parable concerned the chief priests and Pharisees and was given to the people present in the Temple during the final week before the death of Jesus.

The Pharisees' question: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? (verses 20–26)

Main article: Render unto Caesar

A question about the tribute money: :And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly. Farrar's opinion is that "There is something in this fawning malice, and treacherous flattery, almost as repulsive as the kiss of Judas."

Verse 20

:So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. These tactics are slightly different from the way they are presented by Matthew () and Mark (): they sent some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him .... Luke is "on the one hand, less definite as to the parties to the conspiracy than the other Gospels, and on the other hand more explicit as to its aim". In this verse, Luke anticipates the events of Jesus' trial, when having questioned him before the Sanhedrin, they "arose and led Him to Pilate".

The Sadducees' question: What about the resurrection? (verses 27–40)

:Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked ... Using the example of a woman who has successively married seven brothers in accordance with the Mosaic rule of levirate marriage prescribed by Deuteronomy 25:5, the Sadducees put "something of a trick question" to Jesus, exploring "the sense in which life after death can be meaningful". Farrar notes that verses 27–39 relate the discomfiture of the Sadducees.

No further questions (verse 40)

, and similarly , record that after this series of partisan questions, the scribes concluded that they were not able to outwit Jesus and "after that they dared not question Him anymore".

American theologian Albert Barnes suggests that "never was wisdom more clear, never more triumphant"; Farrar, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, reflects that at this point events became more perilous for Jesus as his opponents recognised that they would be unable "to pose themselves as superiors to [him] in wisdom and knowledge", and contempt was therefore "deepened into real hatred".

Beware of the scribes (verses 41–47)

Verse 46 ("Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts ...") recalls the second of Luke's woes to the Pharisees: :Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

References

References

1. Halley, Henry H. ''Halley's Bible Handbook'': an Abbreviated Bible Commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
2. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
3. Kirkpatrick, A. F.. (1901). "The Book of Psalms: with Introduction and Notes". At the University Press.
4. [[Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer. Meyer, H. A. W.]], [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/meyer/luke/20.htm Meyer's NT Commentary] on Luke 20, accessed 13 August 2020
5. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:1. NRSV: [[NRSV]]
6. {{bibleverse. Luke. 19:47. NKJV
7. Franklin, E., ''59. Luke'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary], p. 952
8. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:5-6. ESV: [[English Standard Version]]
9. Matthew and Mark both refer generally to the leaders' fear of the people,{{bibleverse. Matthew. 21:26, {{bibleverse. Mark. 11:32
10. {{bibleverse. Luke. 19:7. NRSV: [[New Revised Standard Version]]
11. Crossan, J. D., [https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/jbl/1971-4_451.pdf The Parable of the Wicker Husbandmen], ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', volume 90, no. 4, December 1971, footnote 11, p. 455, accessed 25 October 2023
12. Vincent, M. (1886), [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/vws/luke/20.htm Vincent's Word Studies] on Luke 20, accessed 13 July 2018
13. BibleGateway.com, [https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Samuel%2025:21 Translations of 1 Samuel 25:21], accessed 13 July 2018
14. Bengel, J., [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/bengel/luke/20.htm Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament] on Luke 20, accessed 13 July 2018
15. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:16. NKJV: NKJV
16. {{bibleverse. Matthew. 21:41. NIV
17. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:16. HCSB: [[Holman Christian Standard Bible]]
18. Nicoll, W R, [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/luke/20.htm The Expositor's Greek Testament] on Luke 20, accessed on 31 January 2022
19. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:17–18. NKJV: [[New King James Version. NKJV]]
20. Kidner, Derek. (1994). "New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition". Inter-Varsity Press.
21. [[Henry Alford (theologian). Alford, H.]], [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/alford/luke/20.htm Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary - Alford] on Luke 20, accessed 2 February 2021
22. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:21. KJV: [[King James Version]]
23. Farrar, F. W., [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/luke/20.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Luke 20, accessed 14 July 2018
24. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:20. NKJV
25. [[E. H. Plumptre. Plumptre, E. H.]] (1905), [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/luke/20.htm Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers] on Luke 20, accessed 16 August 2020
26. {{bibleverse. Luke. 23:1. NKJV
27. {{bibleverse. Luke. 20:27. NKJV: NKJV
28. Franklin, E., ''59. Luke'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary], p. 953
29. Barnes, A., [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/matthew/22.htm Barnes' Notes on Matthew 22], references in his [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/barnes/luke/20.htm Notes on Luke 20], accessed 14 July 2018
30. {{bibleverse. Luke. 11:43. NKJV