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[Kata Plasma]

The Transfiguration is not "the son of man coming in his kingdom"

27 "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 16

Verse 27 and verse 28 refer to the same event: the coming of the Son of Man. There is only one coming. Verse 27 characterizes the event as a moment of judgment. At the Transfiguration no such judgement took place.

On a number of other occasions Jesus says the son of man's and/or the kingdom's coming will occur while some of his contemporaries are still alive.

Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Matthew 10:23

But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Matthew 26:64

[jimwalton]

Let's have a good conversation about this. The first thing you should know is that there are seven (count 'em, 7!) main interpretations of this verse (there are numerous other minor views):

1. It is a prediction of the transfiguration, which happened a week later (17.1) and which demonstrated that Jesus will return in his Father’s glory (16.27).
2. It refers to the Son of Man's authority and kingly reign in his post-resurrection church. Some of his disciples will witness—even participate in—this as described in the book of Acts.
3. It refers to the resurrection event itself.
4. It refers to Pentecost—the coming of Jesus's kingdom in power
5. It refers to the destruction of Jerusalem
6. It refers to the second coming and judgment
7. It speaks not to an event, but the reality of Jesus, risen and vindicated at God's right hand, in a position of supreme authority, which will find its culmination when he is revealed in the last days.

My problem is that none of these makes perfect sense. They all have problems. A.T. Robertson, Greek scholar and respected Bible commentator, is honest enough to admit "There is no way to know what Jesus is referring to here. We can only know that Jesus was certain of his final victory that would be typified and symbolized in various ways. The apocalyptic eschatological symbolism employed by Jesus here does not dominate his teaching. He used it at times to picture the triumph of the kingdom, not to set forth the full teaching about it. The kingdom of God was already in the hearts of men. There would be climaxes and consummations."

Interesting.

I would tend to agree with you that it's not about the transfiguration event 6 days later. It would seem very odd for Jesus to say "some of you won't die before this happens" about an event coming 6 days later.

- Option 2 sounds like stretching to me.
- Option 3 doesn't make sense either because of the "some of you won't die" thing
- Option 4, same. None of them died before Pentecost.
- Option 5 doesn't make sense to me. He hasn't been talking about that anywhere in the context.
- Option 6 doesn't make sense. They ALL died before Christ returned.
- Option 7 is stretching things too much.

So we're left with, then what in the world is Jesus talking about here? Matthew sure seems to be using it as a setup to the transfiguration in the next few verses, but it doesn't make sense to me, as it doesn't to you.

If we try to reverse engineer it, we would try to jimmy-rig an explanation based on, "OK, what happened after some of the apostles died but not others?" The destruction of Jerusalem fits that picture, but it doesn't fit Matthew 16 or anything to do with Jesus "coming in His kingdom."

In the context, though, is Jesus talking about the formation of the Church, though that doesn't really seem to fit what v. 28 is about either.

I don't think you or I are going to solve this.

I found an interesting comment in a commentary by Jeannine Brown: "Notice Jesus doesn’t use the term Parousia as he does in Mt. 24, but rather ἐρχόμενον (“coming”). In line with Daniel, Jesus is referring to his own vindication by using the language of the coming of the Son of Man. In Matthew’s perspective, Jesus’s vindication occurs both at His resurrection (26.64; 28.18) and at the fall of the Temple as vindication of His prophetic warnings (24.3, 30-31). If Jesus is referring to either of these events, then it is true that some of the disciples live to see them. In literary context, it is also plausible that Matthew understands the transfiguration (17.1-13) as prefiguring Jesus’s resurrection, in which case he wants his readers to understand 16.28 in light of 17.1-13."