Luke 5:21

5:21 Then ¹  the experts in the law ²  and the Pharisees began to think ³  to themselves, ⁴  “Who is this man ⁵  who is uttering blasphemies? ⁶  Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Luke 5:33

The Superiority of the New

5:33 Then ⁷  they said to him, “John’s ⁸  disciples frequently fast ⁹  and pray, ¹⁰  and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, ¹¹  but yours continue to eat and drink.” ¹² 

Luke 7:39

7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, ¹³  he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, ¹⁴  he would know who and what kind of woman ¹⁵  this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

Luke 11:39

11:39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean ¹⁶  the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ¹⁷ 

Luke 11:42

11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! ¹⁸  You give a tenth ¹⁹  of your mint, ²⁰  rue, ²¹  and every herb, yet you neglect justice ²²  and love for God! But you should have done these things without neglecting the others. ²³ 

Luke 12:1

Fear God, Not People

12:1 Meanwhile, ²⁴  when many thousands of the crowd had gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus ²⁵  began to speak first to his disciples, “Be on your guard against ²⁶  the yeast of the Pharisees, ²⁷  which is hypocrisy. ²⁸ 

Luke 17:20

The Coming of the Kingdom

17:20 Now at one point ²⁹  the Pharisees ³⁰  asked Jesus ³¹  when the kingdom of God ³²  was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs ³³  to be observed,

Luke 18:11

18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ³⁴  ‘God, I thank ³⁵  you that I am not like other people: ³⁶  extortionists, ³⁷  unrighteous people, ³⁸  adulterers – or even like this tax collector. ³⁹ 

[5:21]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:21]  ² tn Or “Then the scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.

[5:21]  ³ tn Or “to reason” (in a hostile sense). See G. Schrenk, TDNT 2:97.

[5:21]  ⁴ tn The participle λέγοντες (legontes, “saying”) has not been translated because it is redundant in contemporary English.

[5:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “this one” (οὗτος, Joutos).

[5:21]  ⁶ sn Uttering blasphemies meant to say something that dishonored God. To claim divine prerogatives or claim to speak for God when one really does not would be such an act of offense. The remark raised directly the issue of the nature of Jesus’ ministry.

[5:33]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:33]  ⁸ tc Most mss (א*^,2 A C D Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï latt sy) read διὰ τί (dia ti, “Why do John’s…?”) here, turning the statement into a question. But such seems to be a motivated reading, assimilating the text to Mark 2:18 and Matt 9:14. The reading represented in the translation is supported by Ì⁴ א¹ B L W Ξ 33 892* 1241 sa.

[5:33]  ⁹ sn John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees followed typical practices with regard to fasting and prayer. Many Jews fasted regularly (Lev 16:29-34; 23:26-32; Num 29:7-11). The zealous fasted twice a week on Monday and Thursday.

[5:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and offer prayers,” but this idiom (δέησις + ποιέω) is often simply a circumlocution for praying.

[5:33]  ¹¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[5:33]  ¹² tn Grk “but yours are eating and drinking.” The translation “continue to eat and drink” attempts to reflect the progressive or durative nature of the action described, which in context is a practice not limited to the specific occasion at hand (the banquet).

[7:39]  ¹³ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[7:39]  ¹⁴ tn This is a good example of a second class (contrary to fact) Greek conditional sentence. The Pharisee said, in effect, “If this man were a prophet (but he is not)…”

[7:39]  ¹⁵ sn The Pharisees believed in a form of separationism that would have prevented them from any kind of association with such a sinful woman.

[11:39]  ¹⁹ sn The allusion to washing (clean the outside of the cup) shows Jesus knew what they were thinking and deliberately set up a contrast that charged them with hypocrisy and majoring on minors.

[11:39]  ²⁰ tn Or “and evil.”

[11:42]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Woe to you…because you…” The causal particle ὅτι (Joti) has not been translated here for rhetorical effect (and so to the end of this chapter).

[11:42]  ²⁶ tn Or “you tithe mint.”

[11:42]  ²⁷ sn These small herbs were tithed with great care (Mishnah, m. Demai 2:1).

[11:42]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and rue.” 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.

[11:42]  ²⁹ sn Justice was a major theme of OT ethics (Mic 6:8; Zech 7:8-10).

[11:42]  ³⁰ tn Grk “those”; but this has been translated as “the others” to clarify which are meant.

[12:1]  ³¹ tn The phrase ἐν οἷς (en Jois) can be translated “meanwhile.”

[12:1]  ³² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:1]  ³³ 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]  ³⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[12:1]  ³⁵ sn The pursuit of popularity can lead to hypocrisy, if one is not careful.

[17:20]  ³⁷ tn The words “at one point” are supplied to indicate that the following incident is not necessarily in chronological sequence with the preceding event.

[17:20]  ³⁸ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[17:20]  ³⁹ tn Grk “having been asked by the Pharisees.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style, and the direct object, Jesus, has been supplied from the context.

[17:20]  ⁴⁰ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[17:20]  ⁴¹ tn Or “is not coming in a way that it can be closely watched” (L&N 24.48). Although there are differing interpretations of what this means, it probably refers to the cosmic signs often associated with the kingdom’s coming in the Jewish view (1 En. 91, 93; 2 Bar. 53—74). See D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 2:1412-14, also H. Riesenfeld, TDNT 8:150.

[18:11]  ⁴³ 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]  ⁴⁴ sn The Pharisee’s prayer started out as a thanksgiving psalm to God, but the praise ended up not being about God.

[18:11]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “swindlers” (BDAG 134 s.v. ἅρπαξ 2); see also Isa 10:2; Josephus, J. W. 6.3.4 [6.203].

[18:11]  ⁴⁷ sn A general category for “sinners” (1 Cor 6:9; Lev 19:3).

[18:11]  ⁴⁸ sn Note what the Pharisee assumes about the righteousness of this tax collector by grouping him with extortionists, unrighteous people, and adulterers.