Luke 13:24-27

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ²  the head of the house ³  gets up ⁴  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ⁵  let us in!’ ⁶  But he will answer you, ⁷  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ⁸  13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ⁹  13:27 But ¹⁰  he will reply, ¹¹  ‘I don’t know where you come from! ¹²  Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ¹³ 

¹ tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

² tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

³ tn Or “the master of the household.”

⁴ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

⁵ tn Or “Sir.”

⁶ tn Grk “Open to us.”

⁷ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

⁸ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

⁹ sn This term refers to wide streets, and thus suggests the major streets of a city.

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹¹ tc Most mss (Ì^75* A D L W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 Ï) have ἐρεῖ λέγω ὑμῖν (erei legw Jumin; “he will say, ‘I say to you’”) here, while some have only ἐρεῖ ὑμῖν (“he will say to you” in א 579 pc lat sa) or simply ἐρεῖ (“he will say” in 1195 pc). The variety of readings seems to have arisen from the somewhat unusual wording of the original, ἐρεῖ λέγων ὑμῖν (erei legwn Jumin; “he will say, saying to you” found in Ì^75c B 892 pc). Given the indicative λέγω, it is difficult to explain how the other readings would have arisen. But if the participle λέγων were original, the other readings can more easily be explained as arising from it. Although the external evidence is significantly stronger in support of the indicative reading, the internal evidence is on the side of the participle.

¹² sn The issue is not familiarity (with Jesus’ teaching) or even shared activity (eating and drinking with him), but knowing Jesus. Those who do not know him, he will not know where they come from (i.e., will not acknowledge) at the judgment.

¹³ tn Grk “all you workers of iniquity.” The phrase resembles Ps 6:8.