Law, the Kingdom, and Divorce
Luke 16:16-18
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Luke.16.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- Ο: ART,nom,sg,m
- νομος: NOUN,nom,sg,m
- και: CONJ
- οι: ART,nom,pl,m
- προφηται: NOUN,nom,pl,m
- μεχρι: PREP
- Ιωαννου·απο: PROPN,gen,sg,m+PREP
- τοτε: ADV
- η: ART,nom,sg,f
- βασιλεια: NOUN,nom,sg,f
- του: ART,gen,sg,n
- θεου: NOUN,gen,sg,m
- ευαγγελιζεται: VERB,pres,mid,ind,3,sg
- και: CONJ
- πας: ADJ,nom,sg,m
- εις: PREP
- αυτην: PRON,acc,sg,f
- βιαζεται: VERB,pres,mid,ind,3,sg
Parallels
- Matthew 11:12-13 (verbal): Almost identical idea and wording: 'from the days of John the Baptist... the kingdom of heaven suffers violence' and 'all the prophets and the law prophesied until John,' echoing Luke's 'the law and the prophets were until John' and the kingdom's proclamation since his time.
- Mark 1:14-15 (thematic): Jesus begins proclaiming that 'the kingdom of God is at hand' after John's ministry, paralleling Luke's point that since John the kingdom is being preached.
- Mark 1:2-3 (cf. Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1) (quotation): The New Testament citation identifying John as the forerunner (voice crying in the wilderness) connects to Luke's designation of John as the terminal figure of 'the law and the prophets.'
- Hebrews 1:1-2 (thematic): Contrasts earlier revelation through prophets with the decisive revelation in the 'last days' through the Son, paralleling Luke's transition from the era of 'the law and the prophets' to the preaching of God's kingdom.
Alternative generated candidates
- The Law and the Prophets held until John; but since then the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone presses into it.
- The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone presses into it.
Luke.16.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- Ευκοπωτερον: ADV,comp
- δε: CONJ
- εστιν: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
- τον: ART,acc,sg,m
- ουρανον: NOUN,acc,sg,m
- και: CONJ
- την: ART,acc,sg,f
- γην: NOUN,acc,sg,f
- παρελθειν: VERB,aor,act,inf
- η: ART,nom,sg,f
- του: ART,gen,sg,n
- νομου: NOUN,gen,sg,m
- μιαν: NUM,acc,sg,f
- κεραιαν: NOUN,acc,sg,f
- πεσειν: VERB,aor,act,inf
Parallels
- Matthew 5:18 (verbal): Nearly identical saying: 'until heaven and earth pass away... not one iota/jot or dot will pass from the law' — same point about the enduring validity of the law down to its smallest part.
- Mark 13:31 (verbal): Uses the same image—'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away'—emphasizing the permanence of divine/Jesus' words in contrast to the created order.
- Luke 21:33 (verbal): Within Luke's Gospel the parallel apocalyptic saying repeats the contrast between the passing of heaven and earth and the enduring nature of Jesus' words (structurally close in Luke's discourse material).
- James 2:10 (thematic): Affirms the seriousness of even a single point of the law: 'whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it' — thematically related to the claim that not one small part of the law may fail.
- Isaiah 40:8 (thematic): 'The grass withers... the word of our God will stand forever' — contrasts the transience of creation with the permanence of God's word, a theological parallel to Luke 16:17's contrast.
Alternative generated candidates
- It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one part of the law—however small—to fail.
- And he said to them, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one smallest letter or stroke of the Law to fail."
Luke.16.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- Πας: ADJ,nom,sg,m
- ο: ART,nom,sg,m
- απολυων: VERB,pres,act,ptcp,nom,sg,m
- την: ART,acc,sg,f
- γυναικα: NOUN,acc,sg,f
- αυτου: PRON,gen,sg,m
- και: CONJ
- γαμων: NOUN,gen,pl,m
- ετεραν: ADJ,acc,sg,f
- μοιχευει: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
- και: CONJ
- ο: ART,nom,sg,m
- απολελυμενην: VERB,perf,pass,ptcp,acc,sg,f
- απο: PREP
- ανδρος: NOUN,gen,sg,m
- γαμων: NOUN,gen,pl,m
- μοιχευει: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
Parallels
- Matthew 5:32 (verbal): Near-verbatim parallel in the Sermon on the Mount: condemns divorce and states that marrying a divorced woman is adultery; some manuscripts add an exception for sexual immorality.
- Matthew 19:9 (verbal): Parallel teaching in the Matthean Q&A with the Pharisees; affirms that divorce and remarriage constitutes adultery, with Matthew explicitly recording an exception clause (except for sexual immorality) absent in Luke.
- Mark 10:11-12 (verbal): Mark gives a closely corresponding saying: Jesus states that whoever divorces and marries another commits adultery (Mark, like Luke, does not include Matthew’s exception).
- Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (allusion): Mosaic law regulating divorce and remarriage provides the legal background against which Jesus’ stricter teaching is posed; Luke’s saying functions as a moral critique of the permissive divorce practice reflected here.
- Malachi 2:16 (thematic): Prophetic denunciation of divorce ('For I hate divorce') echoes the theological motive behind Jesus’ prohibitory stance on divorce and remarriage in the Gospels.
Alternative generated candidates
- Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband also commits adultery.
- Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
"The Law and the Prophets continued until John; but from that time the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone presses into it."
"For it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for even the smallest stroke of the law to fail."
"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."