Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Luke

[Mel B]

Good morning! ☀️ I was wondering if you could explain Luke 16:16-18 for me? Specifically verse 17

[jimwalton]

Good to hear from you. I hope you’re doing well.

Lk. 16.16: Jewish people sometimes summarized their Bible (what we call the Old Testament) as “the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus is teaching that John the Baptist has ushered in a new era—the messianic era of Jesus and the kingdom of God, an era we are still in.

“And everyone is forcing his way into it.” No one is born into Christianity, nor does one become a Christian by attending church or being good. Instead, people must evaluate the claims of Jesus and come to Him. Such a commitment is not for the faint-hearted. The kingdom of God is only for those willing to make the effort: count the cost, deny self, take up one’s cross, follow Jesus, and pay the price. It can be a lot like soldiers taking a city: No one does it casually. It calls for courage, resolution, and perseverance.

V. 17: None of this is to imply that we can throw away the Old Testament, as some interpreted Jesus and later, Paul. The advent of the messianic kingdom embodied in Jesus with its new prophets, the era of grace instead of law, and salvation by the blood of Christ doesn’t negate the first revelation, the Old Testament. Rather, it is superimposed on it and builds on it. It clarifies it and fills it up, showing how the OT is an indelible part of the truth in Christ. The Old Testament is just as God-breathed as the New Testament, and we ignore it to our peril.

V. 18: Jesus uses marriage as an illustration of permanent and difficult commitment, and adultery as a metaphor for spiritual faithlessness.