1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, 1
1:55 as he promised 4 to our ancestors, 5 to Abraham and to his descendants 6 forever.”
20:34 So 7 Jesus said to them, “The people of this age 8 marry and are given in marriage.
1 tn Grk “from the ages,” “from eternity.”
2 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. A new sentence is begun here in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek.
3 tn Or “over Israel.”
3 tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalhsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.
4 tn Grk “fathers.”
5 tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).
4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that Jesus’ response is a result of their framing of the question.
5 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.
5 sn Jesus reassures his disciples with a promise that (1) much benefit in this life (many times more) and (2) eternal life in the age to come will be given.
6 tn Grk “this time” (καιρός, kairos), but for stylistic reasons this has been translated “this age” here.
7 sn Note that Luke (see also Matt 19:29; Mark 10:30; Luke 10:25) portrays eternal life as something one receives in the age to come, unlike John, who emphasizes the possibility of receiving eternal life in the present (John 5:24).
6 tn Grk “to attain to.”
7 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.
7 tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
8 sn Is the manager dishonest because of what he just did? Or is it a reference to what he had done earlier, described in v. 1? This is a difficult question, but it seems unlikely that the master, having fired the man for prior dishonesty, would now commend those same actions. It would also be unusual for Jesus to make that point of the story the example. Thus it is more likely the reference to dishonesty goes back to the earliest events, while the commendation is for the cleverness of the former manager reflected in vv. 5-7.
9 sn Where this parable ends is debated: Does it conclude with v. 7, after v. 8a, after v. 8b, or after v. 9? Verse 8a looks as if it is still part of the story, with its clear reference to the manager, while 8b looks like Jesus’ application, since its remarks are more general. So it is most likely the parable stops after v. 8a.
10 tn Grk “sons” (an idiom).
11 tn Grk “with their own generation.”
12 tn Grk “sons.” Here the phrase “sons of light” is a reference to the righteous. The point is that those of the world often think ahead about consequences better than the righteous do.