Lange Commentary - Luke 13:18 - 13:21

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Lange Commentary - Luke 13:18 - 13:21


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F. The Nature, the Entrance, the Conflict of the Kingdom of God. Luk_13:18-35

1. Parables (Luk_13:18-21)

18Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble 19[compare] it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed [became] a great tree; and the fowls [birds] 20of the air lodged in the branches of it. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal [flour], till the whole was leavened.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

General Remarks.—Comp. the remarks on the parallel passage in Matthew and Mark. The manner in which Luke connects these two parables with the preceding ( ἔëåãåí ïὖí ) is so loose that nothing constrains us to assume that the Saviour delivered them immediately after the previously mentioned miracle. The true historical connection in which they originally belong is found exclusively in Matthew and Mark; and on what ground Luke communicates them precisely here, is hard to determine otherwise than conjecturally. According to Meyer, Jesus, after the conclusion of the previous scene, Luk_13:17, sees Himself warranted in entertaining the most glorious hopes for the Messianic kingdom, which He then expresses in these parables. According to Lange, both parables in the sense of the Evangelist serve to explain the last narrative of healing, each one a particular side of it. According to Schleiermacher, these parables contain a reference to that which the Saviour had just been teaching in the synagogue. It is, however, hard to deny that Luk_13:17 makes the impression of a formula of conclusion (Strauss), and that with Luk_13:18 a new Pericope in Luke’s account of the journey begins.

Luk_13:18. Unto what is the kingdom of God like?—According to Mar_4:30 also, the parable of the Mustard-Seed begins with such a subjective and familiar exclamation; more objective is the representation in Matthew. That, moreover, the question of the Saviour does not give witness to actual uncertainty and perplexity, but rather belongs to the familiar and dramatic form of His address, is, of course, understood.

Luk_13:19. A grain of mustard seed.—See Mat_13:32. The scientific objection that the mustard-seed is by no means the smallest of all the species of seeds on earth, is doubtless most simply refuted by the observation that here it is by no means littleness in and of itself, but littleness in relation to the great plant which came forth from this seed, and which, especially in Palestine, reached often a considerable height. At the time of Jesus, also, the mustard-seed was sometimes used by the scribes as an image to indicate the extreme of littleness. So, for example, was the earth in comparison with the universe compared with a mustard-seed, and this was named “hardly a seed.” See Lightfoot, ad loc.

Into his garden.—In Matthew only “his field,” in Mark “the earth,” is mentioned. Moreover, the mustard-seed in Luke simply becomes åἰò äÝíäñïí ìÝãá , while the comparison with other plants mentioned in Mark and Luke is here omitted. Variations of this kind, however, do not entitle us to assume that the Saviour uttered this parable twice. We find, at least here in Luke, rather an express reference back to what has been previously uttered than, so soon again, a repetition of it. In Mark the beautiful conclusion of the parable is elaborated in a most graphic manner.

Luk_13:20. ÉÉáëßí , Again.—Now follows the parable of the Leaven, which Mark has passed over, and which only Matthew in addition, Luk_13:33, communicates, with whose account that of Luke agrees ad literam. See Lange, ad loc. The view of Stier, who here by the three measures of meal understands, with other things, the three sons of Noah, whose posterity must be thoroughly leavened with Christianity, and afterwards the three parts of the world according to ancient geography (so that Columbus, in 1492, would, in this respect, have destroyed the correctness of this parable), shows, perhaps, much genius, but yet is also tolerably arbitrary. Quite as groundless and untenable is it to find here an allusion to the trichotomy of man, as of a microcosm according to body, soul, and spirit. How much more simple, on the other hand, is Bengel’s remark as to this number three, “quantum uno tempore ab homine portari, vel ad pinsendum sumi soleret.” Comp. Gen_18:6.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Both parables, that of the Mustard-Seed and that of the Leaven, refer to the same fundamental thought, to the blessed spreading abroad of the kingdom of God, first in the extensive, afterwards, also, in the intensive, sense. They belong very especially to those parables of the Saviour which bear the prophetic character, and in every century of Christianity find in greater or less degree their fulfilment. With the first parable this was especially the case in the time of Constantine the Great; with the second, in the middle ages, on the diffusion of Christianity in different European states through the influence of the Catholic Church. Every interpretation, however, which assumes that these parables have been realized not only a parte potiori, but exclusively, in a single period of the Christian Church, is to be unconditionally rejected.

2. The intention with which the Saviour refers by a double image to the blessed extension of His kingdom could be no other than this, to take away scandal at the poor, weak, first beginnings of the same, and to encourage His disciples, when they should afterwards have to begin their work with a scarcely perceptible commencement.

3. The here-expressed principle: maximum e minimo, is unquestionably the fundamental idea of the kingdom of God, and presents a specific distinction between this and the kingdoms of the world, in whose history commonly the reverse, minimum e maximo, is contained.

4. It is from a Christological point of view remarkable how the Saviour here not only expresses an obscure expectation of a quiet faith, but the utmost possible certainty of the triumph of His kingdom, notwithstanding the most manifold opposition. Before the eye of His spirit the Future has become To-day, and the history of the development of many centuries is concentrated into a moment of time. If He now begins to inquire with what He shall best compare this kingdom, we cannot suppress the inquiry, with what shall we compare the King Himself? Compare Isa_40:25.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The history of the development of the kingdom of God: 1. From small beginnings; 2. with visible blessing; 3. to an astounding greatness.—The parable of the Mustard-Seed the image of the history: 1. Of the Founder of the kingdom of God; 2. of the Church generally; 3. of every Christian life in particular.—The Leaven: 1. Leaven leavens only meal (inward affinity of the Gospel to the heart); 2. the whole meal (harmonious development of all the powers of man and of mankind through Christianity); but, 3. only gradually, comp. 2Co_3:18, and 1Jn_2:12-14; 1 John 4. in secret (1Pe_3:4), yet Song of Solomon , 5. that it does not rest so long as yet a part of the mass of meal has not been leavened.—Does the parable of the Leaven give a good ground for the doctrine of an ἀðïêáôÜóôáóéò óðÜíôùí ?—The distinction between the working of the leaven in the mere mass of meal, and of the working of the Spirit of God in the heart; the sphere of physical necessity and of moral freedom to be carefully held separate.—The kneading woman the image of the restless activity which is required in the kingdom of God, and for the same.—Labor for the kingdom of God: 1. Apparently insignificant; 2. continually unwearying; 3. and finally, blessed labor.—If the meal has once been worked through, we must then leave the leaven time and quiet for its effect.—Resemblance of the Gospel and the leaven.—The leaven a minute, powerful, wholesome, penetrating substance.—The Word of God must be carefully mingled with everything human: “nil humani a se alienum putat.”—The kingdom of God follows, in the whole of mankind, no other course of development than in every individual.—The past, the present, and the future, considered in the light of these two parables.—The development of the kingdom of God from small beginnings a revelation of the glory of God. Even by this the kingdom of God stands above us: 1. As a creation of God’s own omnipotence; 2. an instructive theatre of the wisdom of God; 3. an inestimable benefit of the love of God.—The development of the kingdom of God from small beginnings an awakening voice: 1. To thankful faith; 2. to spiritual growth; 3. to enduring zeal.—These parables the image of Israel, the glory of Christendom, the hope of the heathen world.—The distinction between human philanthropy and the, delivering love of the Lord. The first turns itself as much as possible to the collective mass, and seeks in this way to work upon the individual; the second turns to the single individual, in order to press through to the collective mass.

Starke:—Hedinger:—Christianity infects by word, example, and conversation. Happy he who stands in the fellowship of the saints in light.—Brentius:—There are neither words nor similitudes enough to depict the beauty of the kingdom of God.—Bibl. Wirt.:—The Gospel changes and renews the man the more, the longer it works upon him.—We must guard well against this, that we be not like such a leavened dough which quickly rises and quickly falls again, and so our conversion and godliness be more a puffing-up than of a firm, abiding character.

Eylert:—The course of the development of the Divine kingdom on earth: 1. Little is the beginning; 2. gradual the progress; 3. great and glorious the issue.—Arndt:—The inward activity of the kingdom of heaven: 1. Where; 2. how; 3. what it works.—A. Schweizer:—From the least there comes the greatest.—The penetrating nature of the kingdom of God: 1. Because its aim is to lay hold of everything human; 2. because its power as Divine is victorious; 3. because the whole heart of its ministers is engaged for it (a sermon upon the kingdom of God, Zurich, 1851).—For other ideas see on the parallels in Matthew and Mark.

Footnotes:

Luk_13:20.—The êáß of the Recepta, expunged by Scholz and Tischendorf, but defended again by Meyer, appears to us very suspicious.