Text -- Luke 20:21-47 (NET)

20:21 Thus they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 20:22 Is it right for us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar or not?” 20:23 But Jesus perceived their deceit and said to them, 20:24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 20:25 So he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 20:26 Thus they were unable unable in the presence of the people to trap him with his own words. And stunned by his answer, they fell silent.

Marriage and the Resurrection

20:27 Now some Sadducees (who contend that there is no resurrection) came to him. 20:28 They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother. 20:29 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died without children. 20:30 The second 20:31 and then the third married her, and in this same way all seven died, leaving no children. 20:32 Finally the woman died too. 20:33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.” 20:34 So Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 20:35 But those who are regarded as worthy to share in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 20:36 In fact, they can no longer die, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, since they are sons of the resurrection. 20:37 But even Moses revealed that the dead are raised in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 20:38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him.” 20:39 Then some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well!” 20:40 For they did not dare any longer to ask him anything.

The Messiah: David’s Son and Lord

20:41 But he said to them, “How is it that they say that the Christ is David’s son? 20:42 For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right hand, 20:43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ 20:44 If David then calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

Jesus Warns the Disciples against Pride

20:45 As all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 20:46 “Beware of the experts in the law. They like walking around in long robes, and they love elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 20:47 They devour widows’ property, and as a show make long prayers. They will receive a more severe punishment.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Luk 20:21

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of the plans by the spies.

² tn Or “precisely”; Grk “rightly.” Jesus teaches exactly, the straight and narrow.

³ sn Teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Very few comments are as deceitful as this one; they did not really believe this at all. The question was specifically designed to trap Jesus.

NET Notes: Luk 20:22

¹ tn Or “lawful,” that is, in accordance with God’s divine law. On the syntax of ἔξεστιν (exestin) with an infinitive and accusative, see BDF §409.3.

² tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

³ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

NET Notes: Luk 20:23

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “craftiness.” The term always has negative connotations in the NT (1 Cor 3:19; 2 Cor 4:2; 11:3; Eph 4:14).

NET Notes: Luk 20:24

¹ tn Here the specific name of the coin was retained in the translation, because not all coins in circulation in Palestine at the time carried the image of Caesar. In other places δηνάριον (dhnarion) has been translated simply as “silver coin” with an explanatory note.

sn A denarius was a silver coin worth approximately one day’s wage for a laborer. The fact that the leaders had such a coin showed that they already operated in the economic world of Rome. The denarius would have had a picture of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor, on it.

² tn Or “whose likeness.”

sn In this passage Jesus points to the image (Grk εἰκών, eikwn) of Caesar on the coin. This same Greek word is used in Gen 1:26 (LXX) to state that humanity is made in the “image” of God. Jesus is making a subtle yet powerful contrast: Caesar’s image is on the denarius, so he can lay claim to money through taxation, but God’s image is on humanity, so he can lay claim to each individual life.

³ tn Grk “whose likeness and inscription does it have?”

NET Notes: Luk 20:25

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ pronouncement results from the opponents’ answer to his question.

² sn Jesus’ answer to give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s was a both/and, not the questioners’ either/or. So he slipped out of their trap.

NET Notes: Luk 20:26

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “thus” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ unexpected answer.

² tn On this term, see BDAG 374 s.v. ἐπιλαμβάνομαι 3.

³ tn Grk “to trap him in a saying.”

⁴ tn Or “amazed.”

NET Notes: Luk 20:27

¹ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). They also did not believe in resurrection or in angels, an important detail in v. 36. See also Matt 3:7, 16:1-12, 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Acts 4:1, 5:17, 23:6-8.

² sn This remark is best regarded as a parenthetical note by the author.

NET Notes: Luk 20:28

¹ tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

² tn Grk “his brother”; but this would be redundant in English with the same phrase “his brother” at the end of the verse, so most modern translations render this phrase “the man” (so NIV, NRSV).

³ tn The use of ἵνα (Jina) with imperatival force is unusual (BDF §470.1).

⁴ tn Grk “and raise up seed,” an idiom for procreating children (L&N 23.59).

⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 25:5. Because the OT quotation does not include “a wife” as the object of the verb, it has been left as normal type. This practice is called levirate marriage (see also Ruth 4:1-12; Mishnah, m. Yevamot; Josephus, Ant. 4.8.23 [4.254-256]). The levirate law is described in Deut 25:5-10. The brother of a man who died without a son had an obligation to marry his brother’s widow. This served several purposes: It provided for the widow in a society where a widow with no children to care for her would be reduced to begging, and it preserved the name of the deceased, who would be regarded as the legal father of the first son produced from that marriage.

NET Notes: Luk 20:29

¹ tn Grk “took a wife” (an idiom for marrying a woman).

NET Notes: Luk 20:30

¹ tc Most mss (A W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) have the words, “took the wife and this one died childless” after “the second.” But this looks like a clarifying addition, assimilating the text to Mark 12:21. In light of the early and diverse witnesses that lack the expression (א B D L 0266 892 1241 co), the shorter reading should be considered authentic.

NET Notes: Luk 20:33

¹ sn The point is a dilemma. In a world arguing a person should have one wife, whose wife will she be in the afterlife? The question was designed to show that (in the opinion of the Sadducees) resurrection leads to a major problem.

² tn Grk “For the seven had her as wife.”

NET Notes: Luk 20:34

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ response is a result of their framing of the question.

² tn Grk “sons of this age” (an idiom, see L&N 11.16). The following clause which refers to being “given in marriage” suggests both men and women are included in this phrase.

NET Notes: Luk 20:35

¹ tn Grk “to attain to.”

² sn Life in the age to come is different than life here (they neither marry nor are given in marriage). This means Jesus’ questioners had made a false assumption that life was the same both now and in the age to come.

NET Notes: Luk 20:36

¹ sn Angels do not die, nor do they eat according to Jewish tradition (1 En. 15:6; 51:4; Wis 5:5; 2 Bar. 51:10; 1QH 3.21-23).

² tn Grk “sons of God, being.” The participle ὄντες (ontes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle here.

³ tn Or “people.” The noun υἱός (Juios) followed by the genitive of class or kind (“sons of…”) denotes a person of a class or kind, specified by the following genitive construction. This Semitic idiom is frequent in the NT (L&N 9.4).

NET Notes: Luk 20:37

¹ tn Grk “But that the dead are raised even Moses revealed.”

² sn See Exod 3:6. Jesus used a common form of rabbinic citation here to refer to the passage in question.

³ sn A quotation from Exod 3:6.

NET Notes: Luk 20:38

¹ sn He is not God of the dead but of the living. Jesus’ point was that if God could identify himself as God of the three old patriarchs, then they must still be alive when God spoke to Moses; and so they must be raised.

² tn On this syntax, see BDF §192. The point is that all live “to” God or “before” God.

NET Notes: Luk 20:39

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

² tn Or “some of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

³ sn Teacher, you have spoken well! The scribes, being Pharisees, were happy for the defense of resurrection and angels, which they (unlike the Sadducees) believed in.

NET Notes: Luk 20:40

¹ sn The attempt to show Jesus as ignorant had left the experts silenced. At this point they did not dare any longer to ask him anything.

NET Notes: Luk 20:41

¹ sn If the religious leaders will not dare to question Jesus any longer, then he will question them.

² tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn See the note on Christ in 2:11.

³ sn It was a common belief in Judaism that Messiah would be David’s son in that he would come from the lineage of David. On this point the Pharisees agreed and were correct. But their understanding was nonetheless incomplete, for Messiah is also David’s Lord. With this statement Jesus was affirming that, as the Messiah, he is both God and man.

NET Notes: Luk 20:42

¹ sn The Lord said to my Lord. With David being the speaker, this indicates his respect for his descendant (referred to as my Lord). Jesus was arguing, as the ancient exposition assumed, that the passage is about the Lord’s anointed. The passage looks at an enthronement of this figure and a declaration of honor for him as he takes his place at the side of God. In Jerusalem, the king’s palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate this kind of relationship. Jesus was pressing the language here to get his opponents to reflect on how great Messiah is.

NET Notes: Luk 20:43

¹ sn A quotation from Ps 110:1.

NET Notes: Luk 20:44

¹ tn Grk “David thus calls him ‘Lord.’ So how is he his son?” The conditional nuance, implicit in Greek, has been made explicit in the translation (cf. Matt 22:45).

NET Notes: Luk 20:45

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: Luk 20:46

¹ tn Or “Be on guard against.” This is a present imperative and indicates that pride is something to constantly be on the watch against.

² tn Or “of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

³ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun by the prior phrase.

⁴ sn There is later Jewish material in the Talmud that spells out such greetings in detail. See D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 2:1642; H. Windisch, TDNT 1:498.

⁵ sn See Luke 14:1-14.

⁶ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

NET Notes: Luk 20:47

¹ tn Grk “who,” continuing the sentence begun in v. 46.

² sn How they were able to devour widows’ houses is debated. Did they seek too much for contributions, or take too high a commission for their work, or take homes after debts failed to be paid? There is too little said here to be sure.

³ tn Grk “houses,” “households”; however, the term can have the force of “property” or “possessions” as well (O. Michel, TDNT 5:131; BDAG 695 s.v. οἶκια 1.a).