ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν – ‘‘The Kingdom of God is Within You’’ What Does Luke 17:21 Mean?
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After healing the ten lepers, Luke then presents (17:20-21) the Pharisees as questioning Jesus about when the Kingdom of God would come. Jesus’ response is interesting because he tries to show them their expectations are inaccurate in how they perceive what is to happen. The discussion of the meaning of the Greek statement βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν – ‘‘The Kingdom of God is within you,’’ in biblical scholarship circles is fascinating. It is ambiguous and various interpretations give shades of meanings that teach us a very important lesson. Based on syntactical, linguistic, and grammatical considerations, there is simply no one single correct way to interpret this statement. Dogmatism has to be laid aside with the realization that the Bible itself is never clearly one sided and simple in its meaning. Nor is there always a single correct interpretation and meaning. It isn’t the fault of the scholars, it is the very nature of the way Greek is constructed (and recorded as well as written by the ancient authors styles and choices of expression!) and how it can legitimately be translated into various ways, perfectly logic and coherent, and yet sometimes arriving at contradictory readings and meanings. ‘‘Ernst Kasemann argues that such theological variety in the early church is ‘so wide even in the New Testament that we are compelled to admit the existence not merely of significant tensions, but, not infrequently, of irreconciliable theological contradictions.’ Krister Stendahl agrees that such differences cannot and should not be resolved through clever exegesis because ‘when they are overcome by harmonization, the very points intended by the writers are dulled and distorted.’’’[1]
James H. Charlesworth perhaps presents the summary of the scholarly position in relation to what Luke does with the records. First, it is interesting to recognize that ‘‘unlike any other book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke specifically claims to be a carefully crafted text based on meticulous research.’’[2] Here then we have Luke the historian, researching and using the records which were available to him. Charlesworth, based on the evidence of the Gospels themselves, noted, ‘‘The evangelists were not mere compilers of tradition; They were editors of tradition. Each shaped his own work according to certain easily recognized tendencies.’’[3] The great Catholic scholar Raymond E. Brown noted ‘‘each evangelist has ordered the material according to his understanding of Jesus and his desire to portray Jesus in a way that would meet the spiritual needs of the community to which he was addressing the Gospel. Thus the individual evangelists emerge as full authors of the Gospels, shaping, developing, pruning the tradition, and as full theologians, orienting that tradition to a particular goal.’’[4] According to one recent author, the eschatalogical apocalyptic hopes of the Jewish/Christians of Jesus’ day that the Kingdom of God would come, and hence save them from their enemies, are the hopes which Luke precisely here at 17:20-21, ‘‘counters the whole idea... tossing a wet blanket over eager eschatalogical hopes [which] is part of Luke’s agenda.’’[5] Let’s take a closer look at what Luke may have been driving at.
Georg Braumann described the apocalyptic feeling and situation in the second half of the first century. This apocalyptic fever ‘‘is documented in both Christian sources and other writings (cf. Josephus, War 6,5,4; Tacitus, History 5,13; Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Vespasian 4; 2 Thessalonians 2:2). It is against this background that Luke records 17:20-21... the Lucan eschatology is set within the context of a two-stage manifestation of the Kingdom of God as present and future.’’[6] And from here on, there are various divergent interpretations as to what Luke meant. Lets take a look at some of them.
Rudolf Bultmann warned against the ‘‘spiritualizing’’ of the meaning away in Luke so that Luke is saying ‘‘when the Kingdom comes, no one will ask and search for it anymore, but it will be there on a sudden in the midst of the foolish ones who will still want to calculate its arrival.’’[7]
The prolific Catholic scholar Joseph A. Fitzmyer noted that Jesus’ response to the Pharisees is ‘polemical’ and that ‘‘it does not so much tell them when the kingdom will come as imply that they are misunderstanding what it is all about... his answer clearly tells them that they are not to look for the time of its coming or the place of its arrival. Jesus rejects all useless speculation about the coming of the kingdom. Rather, the kingdom of God is among you. This affirmation repeats in effect what he had said in 11:20. The sense of the phrase entos hymon has been much discussed, but one of two senses of it is likely in the Lucan Gospel: Either ‘among you,’ i.e. in the midst of you, in the presence of the person of Jesus himself and his ministry of preaching and healing; Or ‘among you.’ i.e. within your grasp, reach... in effect, Jesus would be putting his inquirers on the spot: Either they have not recognized what is in their presence or they have not allowed themselves to be accosted by his Kingdom-preaching.’’[8]
H. Meyer likwise noted that the person of Jesus in their midst was what was understood by the phrase ‘‘the kingdom of God is within you.’’[9] Beale and Carson note in favor of the idea ‘in your midst’ ‘‘possibly echoes Isaiah 45:14 – ‘God is among you,’ if Jesus indeed enphasizes that the kingdom of God is closely related to his person, message, and activity.’’[10] M. R. Vincent agreed with Meyer in acutely remarking that ‘‘‘you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God.’ Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom is modern.’’[11]
Frederick Field described the various uses of the Greek for ‘‘within you,’’ in some of the classical Greeks’ use, and concluded that if the kingdom was not within the Pharisees hearts, that is precisely where it should be in the hearts of Christians. ‘‘Theophylact said let every man retire into himself, and see if he can find this kingdom in his heart; For if he find it not there, in vain will he find it in all the world besides.’’[12] Robert Hanna noted that of the two interpretations, the majority favor the meaning ‘within you,’ meaning in a person’s heart, rather than ‘among you,’ in the person of Jesus.[13] A. B. Bruce said the expression ἐντὸς ὑμῶν – ‘within you’ meaning ‘in your spirit’ is ‘‘the rendering [that] best corresponds with the non-visibility of the kingdom. The thought would be very appropriate one in discourse with disciples. Not so in discourse with Pharisees. To them it would be most natural to say ‘among you,’ = look around and see my works: devils cast out (Luke 11:20) and learn that the kingdom is already here.’’[14]
Ceslas Spicq noted the teaching of Jesus at Mark 1:15 that the kingdom of God was drawn near (engiken) and hence the verb being in the perfect indicative means an extreme closeness and immediate imminence, even a presence (‘it is here’). The reason for this is because of the ministry of Jesus himself. The ‘‘curious link between coming, being close, and being present occurs in John 4:23; 5:25 – ‘the hour is coming and now is.’ Finally the basileia entos hymon estin (Luke 17:20-21) which can be taken either as ‘among you, in your midst,’ meaning that the reign of God is present in Israel: or, ‘in you,’ meaning in each person who acts spiritually.’’[15]
The saying in Luke has a powerful parallel in one of the sayings of the Gospel of Thomas, as Helmut Koester noted. The Gospel of Thomas reads: ‘‘The disciples said to him, ‘When will the kingdom come?’ Jesus said, It will not come by looking for it. It will not be a matter of saying here it is, or there it is. Rather, the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.’’ Koester notes that ‘‘Thomas sees this coming of the kingdom primarily as an event that takes place as the disciples gain a new understanding of themselves.’’[16]
In this respect, the Gnostic view and understanding would be similar to what Jean-Yves LeLoup has written concerning this parallel with saying 113 and Luke. ‘‘ It is a matter not of searching here or there for some special manifestation, but of opening our eyes to what is already before us, here and now and caring for all that is. Yet one place where God is prevented from manifesting is in the heart that is closed to love, the heart that refuses forgiveness and revels in betterness. Hell is truly the incapacity to love. Another place from which God is banished is the intellect that closes itself off from the light of its source, the mind that no longer seeks true understanding and indulges in doubt that is only a defense of its ignorance.’’[17] Interestingly, regarding Elaine Pagels discussing Luke’s passage and Thomas’s interpretation of it shows that this personal ‘‘voice within us all,’’ this kingdom of God, which sometimes is interpreted as within and sometimes among us, is actually taken by John and Thomas, with echoes in Luke, not as the end but back to the beginning with the Logos! The kingdom begins with the light, and is the focus of John and Thomas, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, en arche en ho Logos – ‘In the beginning was the word.’ This is the true light that enlightens everyone who comes into the world. ‘‘According to Thomas, Jesus says this primordial light not only brought the entire universe into being but still shines through everything we see and touch. For this primordial light is not simply impersonal energy but a being that speaks with a human voice – with Jesus’ voice.’’[18]
Marvin Meyer, the Gnostic scholar, noted that ‘‘similar expressions [like Luke’s Kingdom of God is within you] are known from the Manichaean Psalm Book, particularly 160, 20-21: ‘Heaven’s Kingdom, look, it is inside us, look, it is outside us. If we believe in it, we shall live in it forever.’’’[19] Another analysis that sheds a bit more light on this is Culy, Parsons, Stigall, who note ἐντὸς ὑμῶν is ‘‘spatial. This expression cold either mean (1) ‘within you,’ or (2) ‘in your presence,’ presumably as a self-reference. Option (2) is supported by the fact that ἐν ἡμῖν (LXX), ἐντὸς ὑμῶν (Aquila) and ἐν μεσῷ (Symmachus) are apparently all viewed as synonymous renderings of Exodus 17:7. Option (1), on the other hand, has considerable support from ancient commentators (e.g., Origen, Chrysostom, Athanasius, and Jerome. The fact that Luke uses only ἐντὸς here and concsistently uses ἐν μεσῷ to refer to ‘among’ also favors the former view. If (1) is adopted ὑμῶν must be taken as a general reference to ‘people’ rather than as a reference to the Pharisees.’’[20]
A close analysis was performed by F. Godet wherein he noted:
‘‘The words ἐντὸς ὑμῶν [within you] are explained by almost all modern interpreters in the sense of, in the midst of you. Philologically this is possible; It may be harmonized with the γὰρ. But the verb ἐστιν would in this casenecessarily be required to be put before the regimen; For this verb is would have the emphasis. ‘it is really present.’ The idea ‘among you’ would be secondary. If the regimen ἐντὸς ὑμῶν has the emphasis (and its place proves that it has), it can only be because these words contain the reason introduced by ‘for.’ They should therefore serve to prove that the kingdom of God may have come without its coming being remarked; And this is what follows from its internal, spiritual nature. The meaning of this regimen is therefore, ‘within you.’ Besides, the preposition ἐντὸς [within] always includes a contrast to the idea without. If, therefore, we give to it here the meaning of ‘among,’ we must still suppose an understood contrast, that between the Jews as people within, and the Gentiles as people without. There is nothing in the context giving rise to such an antithesis. In giving to ἐντὸς the meaning ‘within,’ we are led back to the idea expressed in the answer of Jesus to Nicodemus: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, which confirms our explanation. It is the presence of essence.’’[21]
So what we see here in some biblical scholarship analysis is that there is no one correct way to interpret aspects of the Bible. The grammar aspects can help us out in many respects, but it is not the solve all panacaea we think. The grammar as well as the philology and syntax can be contradictory and quirky as well. What is important to realize is that by understanding the different aspects of what something might mean, we are free to choose what for us works best, without ever having to damn and condemn others if they understand things differently than we do. They may very well have very good reasons, evidence, and contexts to defend their own understanding, exactly as we do. There may very well be no final correct interpretation, just different interpretations. There may be no right and wrong, righteous and evil ways of understanding things in the Bible, just seeing that there can be ambiguity, and we are all striving our best to gain some light and knowledge, while allowing others to have theirs also.
Endnotes
- Lee Martin McDonald, ‘‘Identifying Scripture and Canon in the Early Church: The Criteria Question,’’ in Lee Martin McDonald, James A. Sanders, eds., The Canon Debate, Hendrickson Publishers, 2002: 429.
- Martin M. Culy, Mikeal C. Parsons, Joshua J. Stigall, Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text, Baylor University Press, 2010: xix.
- James H. Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism: New Light from Exciting Archaeological Discoveries, Anchor Bible Reference Library, Doubleday & Co., 1988:18.
- Raymond E. Brown, Responses to 101 Questions on the Bible, Paulist Press, 1990: 57.
- Robert M. Price, The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, Prometheus Books, 2003: 277.
- Georg Baumann, ‘‘Present,’’ in Colin Brown, Gen Editor, The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, 4 vols., Zondervan Publishing, 1971: quote in Vol. 2: 921.
- Rudolf Bultmann, History of the Synoptic Tradition, Hendrickson Publishers, Revised edition, 1963: 121.
- Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday and Co., 1985: 1159.
- H. A. W. Meyer, Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Handbook of the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Alpha Greek Library, reprint of 1884 edition, in 1979: 490-491.
10. G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, editors, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, Baker Academic, 2007: 346.
11. M. R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, MacDonald Publishing, 1888: 203.
12. Frederick Field, Notes on the Translation of the New Testament, Hendrickson Publishers, reprint, 1994 of the 1899 Cambridge University edition, p. 71.
13. Robert Hanna, A Grammatical Aid to the Greek New Testament, Baker House Books, 1983: 132-133.
14. A. B. Bruce, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Eerdmans reprint, 1976: The Synoptics, Vol. 1:594, note on vs. 20, 21.
15. Ceslas Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, 3 vols., Hendrickson Publishers, 1994, quote in Vol. 1:266-267.
16. Arthur Koester, Ancient Christian Gospels, Their History and Development, Trinity Press International, 1990: 83.
17. Jean-Yves LeLoup, The Gospel of Thomas: The Gnostic Wisdom of Jesus, Inner Traditions, 2005: 220-221.
18. Elain Pagels, Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, Random House, 2003: 31-32.
19. Marvin Meyer, The Gospel of Thomas, The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, HarperSanFransisco, 1992: 69.
20. Martin M. Culy, Mikeal C. Parsons, Joshua J. Stigall, Luke: A Handbook on the Greek Text, Baylor University Press, 2010: 552.
21. F. Godet, A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, The Foreign Theological Library, 2 vols., 5th edition translated from the French by M. D. Cusin, T & T Clark, latest impression, 1976, Vol. 2: 194.
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