24 Shew G1925 me G3427 a penny. G1220 Whose G5101 image G1504 and G2532 superscription G1923 hath it? G2192 They answered G611 and G1161 said, G2036 Caesar's. G2541
But G1161 the same G1565 servant G1401 went out, G1831 and found G2147 one G1520 of his G846 fellowservants, G4889 which G3739 owed G3784 him G846 an hundred G1540 pence: G1220 and G2532 he laid hands G2902 on him, G846 and took him by the throat, G4155 saying, G3004 Pay G591 me G3427 that G3748 thou owest. G3784
Now G1161 in G1722 the fifteenth G4003 year G2094 of the reign G2231 of Tiberius G5086 Caesar, G2541 Pontius G4194 Pilate G4091 being governor G2230 of Judaea, G2449 and G2532 Herod G2264 being tetrarch G5075 of Galilee, G1056 and G1161 his G846 brother G80 Philip G5376 tetrarch G5075 of Ituraea G2484 and G2532 of the region G5561 of Trachonitis, G5139 and G2532 Lysanias G3078 the tetrarch G5075 of Abilene, G9
Is it lawful G1832 for us G2254 to give G1325 tribute G5411 unto Caesar, G2541 or G2228 no? G3756
And G1161 there stood up G450 one G1520 of G1537 them G846 named G3686 Agabus, G13 and signified G4591 by G1223 the Spirit G4151 that there should be G3195 G1510 great G3173 dearth G3042 throughout G1909 all G3650 the world: G3625 which G3748 G2532 came to pass G1096 in the days of G1909 Claudius G2804 Caesar. G2541
While he answered G626 for himself, G846 Neither G3754 G3777 against G1519 the law G3551 of the Jews, G2453 neither G3777 against G1519 the temple, G2411 nor yet G3777 against G1519 Caesar, G2541 have I offended G264 any thing at all. G5100 But G1161 Festus, G5347 willing G2309 to do G2698 the Jews G2453 a pleasure, G5485 answered G611 Paul, G3972 and said, G2036 Wilt thou G2309 go up G305 to G1519 Jerusalem, G2414 and there G1563 be judged G2919 of G4012 these things G5130 before G1909 me? G1700 Then G1161 said G2036 Paul, G3972 I stand G1510 G2476 at G1909 Caesar's G2541 judgment seat, G968 where G3757 I G3165 ought G1163 to be judged: G2919 to the Jews G2453 have I done G91 no G3762 wrong, G91 as G5613 G2532 thou G4771 very well G2566 knowest. G1921 For G1063 if G1487 G3303 I be an offender, G91 or G2532 have committed G4238 any thing G5100 worthy G514 of death, G2288 I refuse G3868 not G3756 to die: G599 but G1161 if G1487 there be G2076 none G3762 of these things G3739 whereof these G3778 accuse G2723 me, G3450 no man G3762 may G1410 deliver G5483 me G3165 unto them. G846 I appeal unto G1941 Caesar. G2541 Then G5119 Festus, G5347 when he had conferred G4814 with G3326 the council, G4824 answered, G611 Hast thou appealed unto G1941 Caesar? G2541 unto G1909 Caesar G2541 shalt thou go. G4198
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Luke 20
Commentary on Luke 20 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 20
Lu 20:1-19. The Authority of Jesus Questioned, and His Reply—Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen.
(See on Mt 21:23.)
2. these things—particularly the clearing of the temple.
4. baptism of John—his whole ministry and mission, of which baptism was the seal.
5. Why then believed ye him not?—that is, in his testimony to Jesus, the sum of his whole witness.
7. could not tell—crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer (Mt 7:6). But what dignity and composure does our Lord display as He turns their question upon themselves!
9-13. vineyard—(See on Lu 13:6). In Mt 21:33 additional points are given, taken literally from Isa 5:2, to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament authority.
husbandmen—the ordinary spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the fruits of righteousness might be yielded.
went, &c.—leaving it to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole length of the Jewish economy. (See on Mr 4:26.)
10. beat, &c.—(Mt 21:35); that is, the prophets, extraordinary messengers raised up from time to time. (See on Mt 23:37.)
13. my beloved son—Mark (Mr 12:6) still more affectingly, "Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved"; our Lord thus severing Himself from all merely human messengers, and claiming Sonship in its loftiest sense. (Compare Heb 3:3-6.)
it may be—"surely"; implying the almost unimaginable guilt of not doing so.
14. reasoned among themselves—(Compare Ge 37:18-20; Joh 11:47-53).
the heir—sublime expression of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined for, and in due time to come into the possession of, His Son in our nature (Heb 1:2).
inheritance … ours—and so from mere servants we may become lords; the deep aim of the depraved heart, and literally "the root of all evil."
15. cast him out of the vineyard—(Compare Heb 13:11-13; 1Ki 21:13; Joh 19:17).
16. He shall come, &c.—This answer was given by the Pharisees themselves (Mt 21:41), thus pronouncing their own righteous doom. Matthew alone (Mt 21:43) gives the naked application, that "the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"—the great evangelical community of the faithful, chiefly Gentiles.
God forbid—His whole meaning now bursting upon them.
17-19. written—(in Ps 118:22, 23. See on Lu 19:38). The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of which a certain stone, rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the keystone of the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling" and being "broken" (Isa 8:15), "sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone should fall upon them and grind them to powder" (Da 2:34, 35; Zec 12:3)—in their corporate capacity in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, but personally, as unbelievers, in a more awful sense still.
19. the same hour—hardly able to restrain their rage.
Lu 20:20-40. Entangling Questions about Tribute and the Resurrection—The Replies.
20-26. sent forth—after consulting (Mt 22:15) on the best plan.
spies—"of the Pharisees and Herodians" (Mr 12:13). See Mr 3:6.
21. we know, &c.—hoping by flattery to throw Him off His guard.
22. tribute—(See on Mt 17:24).
25. things which be Cæsar's—Putting it in this general form, it was impossible for sedition itself to dispute it, and yet it dissolved the snare.
and unto God—How much there is in this profound but to them startling addition to the maxim, and how incomparable is the whole for fulness, brevity, clearness, weight!
27-34. no resurrection—"nor angel nor spirit" (Ac 23:8); the materialists of the day.
34. said unto them—In Mt 22:29, the reply begins with this important statement:—"Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures," regarding the future state, "nor the power of God," before which a thousand such difficulties vanish (also Mr 12:24).
36. neither … die any more—Marriage is ordained to perpetuate the human family; but as there will be no breaches by death in the future state, this ordinance will cease.
equal—or "like."
unto the angels—that is, in the immortality of their nature.
children of God—not in respect of character but nature; "being the children of the resurrection" to an undecaying existence (Ro 8:21, 23). And thus the children of their Father's immortality (1Ti 6:16).
37, 38. even Moses—whom they had just quoted to entangle Him.
38. not … of the dead, … for all, &c.—To God, no human being is dead, or ever will be; but all sustain an abiding conscious relation to Him. But the "all" here meant "those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world." These sustain a gracious covenant relation to God, which cannot be dissolved. In this sense our Lord affirms that for Moses to call the Lord the "God" of His patriarchal servants if at that moment they had no existence, would be unworthy of Him. He "would be ashamed to be called their God, if He had not prepared for them a city" (Heb 11:16). How precious are these glimpses of the resurrection state!
39. scribes … well said—enjoying His victory over the Sadducees.
they durst not—neither party, both for the time utterly foiled.
Lu 20:41-47. Christ Baffles the Pharisees by a Question about David and Messiah, and Denounces the Scribes.
41. said, &c.—"What think ye of Christ [the promised and expected Messiah]? Whose son is He [to be]? They say unto Him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit [by the Holy Ghost, Mr 12:36] call Him Lord?" (Mt 22:42, 43). The difficulty can only be solved by the higher and lower—the divine and human natures of our Lord (Mt 1:23). Mark the testimony here given to the inspiration of the Old Testament (compare Lu 24:44).
46, 47. Beware, &c.—(See on Mt 23:5; and Lu 14:7).
47. devour, &c.—taking advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character, to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made them believe they were raised far above "filthy lucre." So much "the greater damnation" awaits them. What a lifelike description of the Romish clergy, the true successors of "the scribes!"