Luke 18:11

18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ¹  ‘God, I thank ²  you that I am not like other people: ³  extortionists, ⁴  unrighteous people, ⁵  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ⁶ 

Luke 23:2

23:2 They ⁷  began to accuse ⁸  him, saying, “We found this man subverting ⁹  our nation, forbidding ¹⁰  us to pay the tribute tax ¹¹  to Caesar ¹²  and claiming that he himself is Christ, ¹³  a king.”

Luke 23:35

23:35 The people also stood there watching, but the rulers ridiculed ¹⁴  him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save ¹⁵  himself if ¹⁶  he is the Christ ¹⁷  of God, his chosen one!”

Luke 24:12

24:12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. ¹⁸  He bent down ¹⁹  and saw only the strips of linen cloth; ²⁰  then he went home, ²¹  wondering ²²  what had happened. ²³ 

[18:11]  ¹ tn Or “stood by himself and prayed like this.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros eauton, “to/about himself”) could go with either the aorist participle σταθείς (staqeis, “stood”) or with the imperfect verb προσηύχετο (proshuceto, “he prayed”). If taken with the participle, then the meaning would seem at first glance to be: “stood ‘by himself’,” or “stood ‘alone’.” Now it is true that πρός can mean “by” or “with” when used with intransitive verbs such as ἵστημι ({isthmi, “I stand”; cf. BDAG 874 s.v. πρός 2.a), but πρὸς ἑαυτόν together never means “by himself” or “alone” in biblical Greek. On the other hand, if πρὸς ἑαυτόν is taken with the verb, then two different nuances emerge, both of which highlight in different ways the principal point Jesus seems to be making about the arrogance of this religious leader: (1) “prayed to himself,” but not necessarily silently, or (2) “prayed about himself,” with the connotation that he prayed out loud, for all to hear. Since his prayer is really a review of his moral résumé, directed both at advertising his own righteousness and exposing the perversion of the tax collector, whom he actually mentions in his prayer, the latter option seems preferable. If this is the case, then the Pharisee’s mention of God is really nothing more than a formality.

[18:11]  ² sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ³ tn Here the plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used as a generic and can refer to both men and women (NASB, NRSV, “people”; NLT, “everyone else”; NAB, “the rest of humanity”).

[18:11]  ⁴ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ⁵ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ⁶ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.

[23:2]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:2]  ⁸ sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.

[23:2]  ⁹ tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.

[23:2]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.

[23:2]  ¹¹ 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.’”

[23:2]  ¹² tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[23:2]  ¹³ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[23:35]  ¹³ tn A figurative extension of the literal meaning “to turn one’s nose up at someone”; here “ridicule, sneer at, show contempt for” (L&N 33.409).

[23:35]  ¹⁴ sn The irony in the statement Let him save himself is that salvation did come, but later, not while on the cross.

[23:35]  ¹⁵ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[23:35]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:12]  ¹⁹ sn While the others dismissed the report of the women, Peter got up and ran to the tomb, for he had learned to believe in what the Lord had said.

[24:12]  ²⁰ sn In most instances the entrance to such tombs was less than 3 ft (1 m) high, so that an adult would have to bend down and practically crawl inside.

[24:12]  ²¹ tn In the NT this term is used only for strips of cloth used to wrap a body for burial (LN 6.154; BDAG 693 s.v. ὀθόνιον).

[24:12]  ²² tn Or “went away, wondering to himself.” The prepositional phrase πρὸς ἑαυτόν (pros Jeauton) can be understood with the preceding verb ἀπῆλθεν (aphlqen) or with the following participle θαυμάζων (qaumazwn), but it more likely belongs with the former (cf. John 20:10, where the phrase can only refer to the verb).

[24:12]  ²³ sn Peter’s wondering was not a lack of faith, but struggling in an attempt to understand what could have happened.

[24:12]  ²⁴ tc Some Western mss (D it) lack 24:12. The verse has been called a Western noninterpolation, meaning that it reflects a shorter authentic reading in D and other Western witnesses. Many regard all such shorter readings as original (the verse is omitted in the RSV), but the ms evidence for omission is far too slight for the verse to be rejected as secondary. It is included in Ì⁷⁵ and the rest of the ms tradition.