Luke 5:35

Luk_5:35

But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them

Duties are not to be pressed indiscriminately on all persons and at all times

Our Lord makes fasting a duty, but, nevertheless, He excuses the children of the bridechamber while the bridegroom was with them, and then gives, as one reason for excusing them, the inexpediency of prescribing austerities to those yet young in His religion: it would only be likely to alienate and disgust them, driving them back to what they had abandoned, and thus making the rent worse, even as would the new cloth fastened on the old.

Attend carefully to this. There is all the difference between keeping a duty entirely out of sight, and enjoining it only at a certain stage in Christian experience. Undoubtedly, as a Christian grows in grace he grows fitted for sacrifices, privations, and endurances, which would have quite overcome him if demanded at an earlier point of his career as a believer; and it is not so much Christian prudence as Christian truth to avoid requiring from the young convert what may justly be required from the practised disciple. If our duties grow, as they certainly do, with our Christian age, it is not merely inexpedient, it is actually erroneous, to ask a beginner to perform a task, or to bear a burden, for which he may not have strength till grown into a veteran. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 5:35 . καὶ ὅταν : Mt. and Mk. place the καὶ before τότε in the next clause. Lk.’s arrangement throws more emphasis on ἡμέραι : there will come days , and when, etc. The καὶ may be explicative (= et quidem , Bornemann), or it may introduce the apodosis. ὅταν ἀπαρθῇ , the subjunctive with ἂν in a relative clause referring to a probable future event.

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

35. the days will come] Rather, but there will come days.

when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them] Rather, and when (καὶ A, B, D). Comp. Joh_16:16, “A little while and ye shall not see me.” The verb used—aparthê—occurs nowhere else in the N. T., and clearly hints at a violent end. This is memorable as being the earliest recorded public intimation of His crucifixion, of which a dim hint (“even so shall the Son of man be lifted up”) had been given privately to Nicodemus (Joh_3:14).

then shall they fast] As we are told that they did, Act_13:2-3. Observe that is not said, ‘then shall ye be able to insist on their fasting.’ The Christian fasts would be voluntary, not compulsory; the result of a felt need, not the observance of a rigid command. Our Lord never entered fully into the subject of fasting, and it is clear that throughout the Bible it is never enjoined as a frequent duty, though it is sanctioned and encouraged as an occasional means of grace. In the Law only one day in the year—the Kippur, or Day of Atonement—was appointed as a fast (Lev_16:29; Num_29:7). After the exile four annual fasts had arisen, but the prophets do not enjoin them (Zec_7:1-12; Zec_8:19), nor did our Lord in any way approve (or apparently practise) the two weekly fasts of the Pharisees (Luk_18:12). Probably the reason why fasting has never been commanded as a universal and constant duty is that it acts very differently on different temperaments, and according to the testimony of some who have tried it most seriously, acts in some cases as a powerful stimulus to temptation. It is remarkable that the words “and fasting” are probably the interpolations of an ascetic bias in Mat_17:21; Mar_9:29; Act_10:30; 1Co_7:5, though fasting is implied in Mat_6:16. Fasting is not commanded and is not forbidden. The Christian is free (Rom_14:5), but must, while temperate in all things, do exactly that which he finds most conducive to his spiritual and moral welfare. For now the bridegroom is not taken from us but is with us (Mat_28:20; Heb_13:5-6; Joh_14:16; Joh_16:7).

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.

And he spake also a parable unto them,.... The Scribes and Pharisees; illustrating what he had just now said:

no man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; by "a piece of a new garment" meaning the new and upstart notions and traditions of the elders, which were so in comparison of the law of Moses; and by the "old", the robe of their own righteousness, wrought out in obedience to the moral and ceremonial law: and Christ suggests, that to join these together, in order to patch up a garment of righteousness, to appear in before God, was equally as weak and ridiculous, as to put a piece of new and undressed cloth into a garment that was old, and wore threadbare.

If otherwise, then both the new, maketh the rent; that is, much worse than it was, as it is expressed both in Matthew and Mark; the old and new cloth being unsuitable, and not of equal strength to hold together: by this Christ intimates, that the Jews, by being directed to the observance of the traditions of the elders, were drawn off from a regard to the commandments of God; so that instead of having a better righteousness, they had one much the worse, a ragged, and a rent one.

And the piece that was taken out of the new, agreeth not with the old; and so the statutes of men, and the ordinances of God, or the traditions of the elders, and the commands of God, are no more like one another, than the piece of a new and an old garment, and as unlike is obedience to the one, and to the other;

See Gill on Mat 9:16. See Gill on Mat 9:17. See Gill on Mar 2:21.

See Gill on Mar 2:22 where this, and the following parable, are more largely explained.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Ver. 35. And then shall they fast] This is fulfilled, saith Bellarmine, in our Lent fasts. But this was fulfilled, say we, when Christ was crucified, and the apostles mourned. Papists’ set fasts are mere mock fasts.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι. ‘But there will come days.’

καὶ ὅταν ἀπαρθῆ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ὁ νυμφίος. ‘And when’ (καὶ ABD). Comp. Joh 16:16, “A little while and ye shall not see me.” The verb used—ἀπαρθῇ—occurs nowhere else in the N. T., though we have ἐξαρθῇ (1Co 5:2). It clearly points to a violent end. This is memorable as being the earliest recorded public intimation of His crucifixion, of which a dim hint (“even so shall the Son of man be lifted up”) had been given privately to Nicodemus (Joh 3:14).

τότε νηστεύσουσιν. As we are told that they did, Act 13:2-3. Observe that it is not said, ‘then shall ye be able to insist on their fasting.’ The Christian fasts would be voluntary, not compulsory; the result of a felt need, not the observance of a rigid command. Our Lord never entered fully into the subject of fasting, and it is clear that throughout the Bible it is never enjoined as a frequent duty, though it is sanctioned and encouraged as an occasional means of grace. In the Law only one day in the year—the Kippur, or Day of Atonement—was appointed as a fast (Lev 16:29; Num 29:7). After the exile four annual fasts had arisen, but the prophets do not enjoin them (Zec 7:1-12; Zec 8:19), nor did our Lord in any way approve (or apparently practise) the two weekly fasts of the Pharisees (Luk 18:12). Probably the reason why fasting has never been commanded as a universal and constant duty is that it produces very different effects on different temperaments, and according to the testimony of some who have tried it most seriously, acts in some cases as a powerful stimulus to temptation. It is remarkable that the words “and fasting” are probably the interpolations of an ascetic bias in Mat 17:21; Mar 9:29; Act 10:30; 1Co 7:5, though fasting is implied in Mat 6:16. Fasting is not commanded and is not forbidden. The Christian is free (Rom 14:5), but must, while temperate in all things, do exactly that which he finds most conducive to his spiritual and moral welfare. For now the bridegroom is not taken from us but is with us (Mat 28:20; Heb 13:5-6; Joh 14:16; Joh 16:7).

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.

35. καὶ ὅταν …] yea, days when …: so τινας καὶ συχνούς, Plato, Gorg. 455 c: ὀλίγου τινὸς ἀξία καὶ οὐδενός, ib. Apol. 23 a: see Hartung, Partikellehre, i. p. 145 f.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

35. ἐλεύσονται δὲ ἡμέραι. “But days will come,” i.e. days very different from the joyous days of the wedding. It is best to take this clause separately. After it there is an aposiopesis, which is mournfully impressive; and then the sentence begins again.

καὶ ὅταν ἀπαρθῆς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν ὁ νυμφίος. There is no καί in Mt. or Mk., and some texts omit it here, because of its apparent awkwardness. We may take the καί as beginning a fresh sentence, or as epexegetic of the preceding clause. “But days will come—and when the bridegroom shall be taken away,” etc. Or, “But days will come, yea, days when the bridegroom,” etc. The word ἀπαρθῆς is in all three, and nowhere else in N.T. It is common in class. Grk., esp. of the moving of fleets and armies.

τότε νηστεύσουσιν. “Then they will fast”—of their own accord. He does not say, “Then ye will be able to make them fast,” which would be the exact antithesis of what goes before; and the change is significant. Compulsion will be as superfluous then as it would be outrageous now: comp. 17:22. This is the first intimation of His death and departure, after which fasting will be appropriate and voluntary. Its value consists in its being spontaneously adopted, not forcibly imposed. This point is further developed in the short parables which follow. Note the characteristic ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις (not in Mat 9:15), and see on 9:36.

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

But the days will come when, etc. [ελευσονται δε ημεραι και οταν] . The A. V. follows a reading which omits kai, and, which is inserted in all the best texts. The thought is broken off. "The days shall come - and when the bridegroom shall be taken away, then shall they fast." So Rev.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 33-35. In Luke they are the same parties, particularly the scribes, who continue the conversation, and who allege, in favour of the regular practice of fasting, the example of the disciples of John and of the Pharisees. The scribes express themselves in this manner, because they themselves, as scribes, belong to no party whatever. In Matthew it is the disciples of John who appear all at once in the midst of this scene, and interrogate Jesus in their own name and in that of the Pharisees. In Mark it is the disciples of John and of the Pharisees united who put the question. This difference might easily find its way into the oral tradition, but it is inexplicable on any of the hypotheses which deduce the three texts from one and the same written source, or one of them from another.

Mark says literally: the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and we may understand that day. Devout persons in Israel fasted, in fact, twice a week (Luk 18:12), on Mondays and Fridays, the days on which it was said that Moses went up Sinai (see Meyer on Mat 6:16); this particular day may have been one or other of these two days. But we may also explain it: fasted habitually. They were fasting persons, addicted to religious observances in which fasting held an important place. It is not easy to decide between these two senses: with the first, there seems less reason for the question; with the second, it conveys a much more serious charge against Jesus, since it refers to His habitual conduct; comp. Luk 7:34, “Ye say, He is a glutton and a winebibber (an eater and a drinker).” The word διατί, omitted by the Alex., appears to have been taken from Matthew and Mark.

Whether the disciples of John were present or not, it is to their mode of religious reformation that our Lord’s answer more especially applies. As they do not appear to have cherished very kindly feelings towards Jesus (Joh 3:25-26), it is very possible that they were united on this occasion with His avowed adversaries (Matthew).

Jesus compares the days of His presence on the earth to a nuptial feast. The Old Testament had represented the Messianic coming of Jehovah by this figure. If John the Baptist had already uttered the words reported by John (Joh 3:29): “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled,”—what appropriateness there was in this figure by which He replied to his disciples! Perhaps the Pharisees authorized a departure from the rule respecting fasting during the nuptial weeks. In this case Jesus’ reply would become more striking still. Νυμφών signifies the nuptial chamber, and not the bridegroom (νυμφίος), as Martin, Ostervald, and Crampon translate. The true Greek term to indicate the nuptial friend would have been παρανύμφιος; John says: φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου. The expression of the Syn., son of the nuptial chamber, is a Hebraism (comp son of the kingdom, of wisdom, of perdition, etc.). The received reading, “Can you make the marriage friends fast?” (notwithstanding the joy with which their hearts are full), is preferable to that of the Sinait. and of the Graeco-Latin Codd., “Can they fast?” which is less forcible, and which is taken from Matthew and Mark. In the midst of this feast of publicans the heart of Jesus is overflowing with joy; it is one of the hours when His earthly life seems to His feeling like a marriage day. But suddenly His countenance becomes overcast; the shadow of a painful vision passes across His brow: The days will come...said He in a solemn tone. At the close of this nuptial week, the bridegroom Himself will be suddenly smitten and cut off; then will come the time of fasting for those who to-day are rejoicing; there will be no necessity to enjoin it. In this striking and poetic answer Jesus evidently announces His violent death. The passive aor. cannot, as Bleek admits, be explained otherwise. This verb and tense indicate a stroke of violence, by which the subject of the verb will be smitten (comp. 1Co 5:2). This saying is parallel to the words found in Joh 2:19, “Destroy this temple;” and Luk 3:14, “As Moses lifted up the serpent, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” The fasting which Jesus here opposes to the prescribed fasting practised in Israel is neither a state of purely inward grief, a moral fast, in moments of spiritual depression, nor, as Neander thought, the life of privation and sacrifice to which the apostles would inevitably be exposed after the departure of their Master; it is indeed, according to the context, fasting in the proper sense of the term. Fasting has always been practised in the Church at certain solemn seasons, but it is not a rite imposed on it from without, but the expression of a sentiment of real grief. It proceeds from the sorrow which the Church feels in the absence of its Head, and is designed to lend intensity to its prayers, and to ensure with greater certainty that assistance of Jesus which alone can supply the place of His visible presence (comp. Mar 9:29 (?); Act 13:2-3; Act 14:23).

This remarkable saying was preserved with literal exactness in the tradition; accordingly we find it in identical words in the three Syn. It proves, first, that from the earliest period of His ministry Jesus regarded Himself as the Messiah; next, that He identified His coming with that of Jehovah, the husband of Israel and of makind (Hos 2:19); lastly, that at that time He already foresaw and announced His violent death. It is an error, therefore, to oppose, on these three points, the fourth Gospel to the other three.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.