Luke 21:32

21:32 this generation will not pass from the scene: This saying is puzzling—Jesus seems to have predicted that he would come again before the first generation of his disciples died out. There are three main interpretations: (1) the reference is to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 when Jesus “came” in judgment against the nation of Israel; (2) “this generation” is not Jesus’ contemporaries, but a future generation alive when these signs begin coming to fulfillment; (3) the term generation could be translated “race,” referring to the Jewish race that will not disappear before Christ returns.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 21:32. [Ἡ γενέα αὕτη, this generation) A period of forty years elapsed between this discourse and the destruction of Jerusalem.—V. g.]—πάντα γένηται, all things be fulfilled) He is speaking of those things which formed the subject of the question in Luk 21:7. and which are discussed from Luk 21:8 to Luk 21:24; although not even is the appendix added, Luk 21:25-27, altogether excluded; for once that the beginning has been made, all the other events successively go forward without intermission, and are continually coming to pass, and roll onward towards the end.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 21:32-33 : with slight change as in parallels, even to the retention of ἀμὴν usually replaced by ἀληθῶς . Presumably ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη means for Lk., as it must have done for the Twelve to whom the words were spoken, the generation to which Jesus Himself belonged. Hahn holds that αὕτη refers to the generation within whose time the events mentioned in Luk 21:25-26 shall happen (so also Klostermann).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This generation--not "this nation," as some interpret it, which, though admissible in itself, seems very unnatural here. It is rather as in Luk 9:27.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 32. This generation] This race of men; but see on Mt 24:34, and Mr 13:30.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(32, 33) Verily I say unto you . . .—Here the variation ceases for a time, and the two verses are identical with Mat_24:34-35, and Mar_13:30-31.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled] This verse has a nearer and a farther meaning. That very generation would not have passed when, 40 years later, the Jewish nation was crushed, and the Mosaic dispensation rendered impossible. But genea also means race, and the Jewish race shall last till the end of all things.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. This generation—Dr. Nast, in his excellent Commentary, would render the word as synonymous with race. And this would make the verse affirm that the Jewish race would last through all these troubles. Dr. Clarke also favours that rendering; and it has been current among maintainers of an approaching Second Advent for the last thirty years. Few scholars, however, would agree to escape the difficulties of this discourse by such a philology. Dr. Alexander, in his commentary on Mar_13:30, thus strongly treats this view of the word: “But although some English writers still adhere to that interpretation, others of the same class, and the German philologists, almost without exception, treat it as a sheer invention, without any authority, either in classical or Hellenistic usage, so that some of the best lexicons do not give this definition even to condemn it. Of the few alleged examples, chiefly in the Septuagint version, all admit of being taken in one of the acknowledged senses, which in the New Testament are three in number, all reducible to one and the same radical idea, that of a contemporary race, or the aggregate of those living at the same time. This is the direct sense in the great majority of cases, (such as Mar_8:12; Mar_8:38; Mar_9:19; Mat_11:16; Mat_12:39-45; Mat_16:4; Mat_23:36; Luk_7:31; Luk_16:8; Luk_17:25; Act_2:40; Act_13:36; Php_2:15; Heb_3:10,) and is scarcely modified when transferred from men to time, (as in Act_14:16; Act_15:2 l; Eph_3:5; Eph_3:21; Col_1:26,) or to the stages of descent and degrees of genealogical succession, (as in Mat_1:17.) Common to all these cases is the radical idea of contemporaneous existence, which it would be monstrous, therefore, to exclude in that before us, as we must do if we understand it of the whole race in its successive generations. It follows, therefore, that unless we forge a meaning for the word in this place, which is not only unexampled elsewhere, but directly contradictory to its essential meaning everywhere, we must understand our Lord as saying that the contemporary race or generation, that is, those then living, should not pass away or die till all these prophecies had been accomplished.” We may add that specially unequivocal are the parallel passages, Mat_23:36 and Luk_11:50-51. In the former of these two passages it is a very strange interpretation which makes the Saviour say that all the blood of the martyrs, from Abel to Zacharias, shall fall upon the Jewish race, and not upon some other race. The clear meaning is, that the penalty of the accumulated guilt of all the preceding generations should finally fall upon that generation. And the admission of this fixes of course the sense of the present passage. Our Lord must be understood as maintaining in all three passages, that that generation should be the object of hereditary penalty.

Luk_21:34-36 give the compressed substance of Mat_25:1-30.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pan away, till all be fulfilled. In the interpretation of this verse, a verse which has occasioned much perplexity to students, any non-natural sense for "generation" (gemea ), such as being an equivalent for the Christian Church (Origen and Chrysostom) or the human race (Jerome) must be at once set aside. Genea (generation) denotes roughly a period of thirty to forty years. Thus the words of the Lord here simply asserted that within thirty or forty years all he had been particularly detailing would be fulfilled. Now, the burden of his prophecy had been the destruction of the city and temple, and the signs they were to look for as immediately preceding this great catastrophe. This was the plain and simple answer to their question of ver. 7, which asked "when these things should come to pass." The words he had added relative to the coming of the Son of man did not belong to the formal answer, but were spoken in passing. This mighty advent the Lord alluded to as probably a very remote event an event certainly to be postponed, to use his own words, "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Not so the great catastrophe involving the ruin of Jerusalem and the temple, the prophecy concerning which occupied so much of the Lord"s reply. That lay in the immediate future; that would happen in the lifetime of some of those standing by. Before forty years had elapsed the city and temple, now lying before them in all its strength and beauty, would have disappeared.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Till all things be effected - All that has been spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem, to which the question, ver. 7, relates: and which is treated of from ver. 8-24.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues teaching his disciples.

Truly I say to you

This expression emphasizes the importance of what Jesus is about to say.

this generation

Possible meanings are 1) the generation that will see the first of the signs Jesus speaks of or 2) the generation Jesus is speaking to. The first is more likely.

will not pass away until

This could be stated in positive form. AT: "will still be alive when"

Heaven and earth will pass away

"Heaven and earth will cease to exist." The word "heaven" here refers to the sky and the universe beyond it.

my words will never pass away

"my words will never cease to exist" or "my words will never fail." Jesus uses "words" here to refer to everything he says. (See: Metonymy)

will never pass away

This could be stated in positive form. AT: "will remain forever"

translationWords

amen

generation

heaven

earth

word

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

32. οὐ μὴ παρέλθῃ ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη. This verse has a nearer and a farther meaning. That very generation would not have passed when, 40 years later, the Jewish nation was crushed, and the Mosaic dispensation rendered impossible. But γενεά also means race, and the Jewish race shall last till the end of all things.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη. This cannot well mean anything but the generation living when these words were spoken: 7:31, 11:29-32, 50, 51, 17:25; Mat 11:16, etc. The reference, therefore, is to the destruction of Jerusalem regarded as the type of the end of the world. To make ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη mean the Jewish race, or the generation contemporaneous with the beginning of the signs, is not satisfactory. See on 9:27, where, as here, the coming of the Kingdom of God seems to refer to the destruction of Jerusalem.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.