Luke 12:1-21

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ¹  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ³  the yeast of the Pharisees, ⁴  which is hypocrisy. ⁵  12:2 Nothing is hidden ⁶  that will not be revealed, ⁷  and nothing is secret that will not be made known. 12:3 So then ⁸  whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered ⁹  in private rooms ¹⁰  will be proclaimed from the housetops. ¹¹ 

12:4 “I ¹²  tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, ¹³  and after that have nothing more they can do. 12:5 But I will warn ¹⁴  you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after the killing, ¹⁵  has authority to throw you ¹⁶  into hell. ¹⁷  Yes, I tell you, fear him! 12:6 Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? ¹⁸  Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 12:7 In fact, even the hairs on your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; ¹⁹  you are more valuable than many sparrows.

12:8 “I ²⁰  tell you, whoever acknowledges ²¹  me before men, ²²  the Son of Man will also acknowledge ²³  before God’s angels. 12:9 But the one who denies me before men will be denied before God’s angels. 12:10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit ²⁴  will not be forgiven. ²⁵  12:11 But when they bring you before the synagogues, ²⁶  the ²⁷  rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense ²⁸  or what you should say, 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment ²⁹  what you must say.” ³⁰ 

The Parable of the Rich Landowner

12:13 Then ³¹  someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell ³²  my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 12:14 But Jesus ³³  said to him, “Man, ³⁴  who made me a judge or arbitrator between you two?” ³⁵  12:15 Then ³⁶  he said to them, “Watch out and guard yourself from ³⁷  all types of greed, ³⁸  because one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 12:16 He then ³⁹  told them a parable: ⁴⁰  “The land of a certain rich man produced ⁴¹  an abundant crop, 12:17 so ⁴²  he thought to himself, ⁴³  ‘What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ⁴⁴  12:18 Then ⁴⁵  he said, ‘I ⁴⁶  will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 12:19 And I will say to myself, ⁴⁷  “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’ 12:20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life ⁴⁸  will be demanded back from ⁴⁹  you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ ⁵⁰  12:21 So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, ⁵¹  but is not rich toward God.”

[12:1]  ¹ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ³ tn According to L&N 27.59, “to pay attention to, to keep on the lookout for, to be alert for, to be on your guard against.” This is another Lukan present imperative calling for constant vigilance.

[12:1]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ⁵ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[12:2]  ⁶ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ⁷ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Or “because.” Understanding this verse as a result of v. 2 is a slightly better reading of the context. Knowing what is coming should impact our behavior now.

[12:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “spoken in the ear,” an idiom. The contemporary expression is “whispered.”

[12:3]  ¹⁰ sn The term translated private rooms refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[12:3]  ¹¹ tn The expression “proclaimed from the housetops” is an idiom for proclaiming something publicly (L&N 7.51). Roofs of many first century Jewish houses in Judea and Galilee were flat and had access either from outside or from within the house. Something shouted from atop a house would be heard by everyone in the street below.

[12:4]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:4]  ¹³ sn Judaism had a similar exhortation in 4 Macc 13:14-15.

[12:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “will show,” but in this reflective context such a demonstration is a warning or exhortation.

[12:5]  ¹⁵ sn The actual performer of the killing is not here specified. It could be understood to be God (so NASB, NRSV) but it could simply emphasize that, after a killing has taken place, it is God who casts the person into hell.

[12:5]  ¹⁶ tn The direct object (“you”) is understood.

[12:5]  ¹⁷ sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).

[12:6]  ¹⁸ sn The pennies refer to the assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest thing sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.

[12:7]  ¹⁹ sn Do not be afraid. One should respect and show reverence to God (v. 5), but need not fear his tender care.

[12:8]  ²⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:8]  ²¹ tn Or “confesses.”

[12:8]  ²² tn Although this is a generic reference and includes both males and females, in this context “men” has been retained because of the wordplay with the Son of Man and the contrast with the angels. The same is true of the occurrence of “men” in v. 9.

[12:8]  ²³ sn This acknowledgment will take place at the judgment. Of course, the Son of Man is a reference to Jesus as it has been throughout the Gospel. On Jesus and judgment, see 22:69; Acts 10:42-43; 17:31.

[12:10]  ²⁴ sn Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit probably refers to a total rejection of the testimony that the Spirit gives to Jesus and the plan of God. This is not so much a sin of the moment as of one’s entire life, an obstinate rejection of God’s message and testimony. Cf. Matt 12:31-32 and Mark 3:28-30.

[12:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “it will not be forgiven the person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.”

[12:11]  ²⁶ sn The saying looks at persecution both from a Jewish context as the mention of synagogues suggests, and from a Gentile one as the reference to the rulers and the authorities suggests.

[12:11]  ²⁷ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[12:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “about how or what you should say in your defense,” but this is redundant with the following clause, “or what you should say.”

[12:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in that very hour” (an idiom).

[12:12]  ³⁰ tn Grk “what it is necessary to say.”

[12:13]  ³¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:13]  ³² sn Tell my brother. In 1st century Jewish culture, a figure like a rabbi was often asked to mediate disputes, except that here mediation was not requested, but representation.

[12:14]  ³³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:14]  ³⁴ tn This term of address can be harsh or gentle depending on the context (BDAG 82 s.v. ἄνθρωπος 8). Here it is a rebuke.

[12:14]  ³⁵ tn The pronoun ὑμᾶς (Jumas) is plural, referring to both the man and his brother; thus the translation “you two.”

[12:15]  ³⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:15]  ³⁷ tn See L&N 13.154 for this use of the middle voice of φυλάσσω (fulassw) in this verse.

[12:15]  ³⁸ tn Or “avarice,” “covetousness.” Note the warning covers more than money and gets at the root attitude – the strong desire to acquire more and more possessions and experiences.

[12:16]  ³⁹ tn Grk “And he.” Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the connection to the preceding statement.

[12:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “a parable, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:16]  ⁴¹ tn Or “yielded a plentiful harvest.”

[12:17]  ⁴² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this is a result of the preceding statement.

[12:17]  ⁴³ tn Grk “to himself, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:17]  ⁴⁴ sn I have nowhere to store my crops. The thinking here is prudent in terms of recognizing the problem. The issue in the parable will be the rich man’s solution, particularly the arrogance reflected in v. 19.

[12:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[12:18]  ⁴⁶ sn Note how often the first person pronoun is present in these verses. The farmer is totally self absorbed.

[12:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “to my soul,” which is repeated as a vocative in the following statement, but is left untranslated as redundant.

[12:20]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “your soul,” but ψυχή (yuch) is frequently used of one’s physical life. It clearly has that meaning in this context.

[12:20]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “required back.” This term, ἀπαιτέω (apaitew), has an economic feel to it and is often used of a debt being called in for repayment (BDAG 96 s.v. 1).

[12:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” The words “for yourself” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:21]  ⁵¹ sn It is selfishness that is rebuked here, in the accumulation of riches for himself. Recall the emphasis on the first person pronouns throughout the parable.