Luk 16:17 | KingComments | STEP | The word of the Lord has also entered the ears of the Pharisees, and their conscience has been irritated by it. These people are lovers of money. If you are a lover of money, you do not feel comfortable with the teaching the Lord has just given. The money loving Pharisees have a completely different view on money. They are looking for a lot of money and even misuse certain statutes of God by distorting them so that they themselves benefit ( ). By their distorting of God’s Word they even eat up the houses of the widows ( ). They express their resistance to the Lord’s teaching by scoffing at Him. These people are hardened by their love for money and insensitive to the Lord’s teaching. He exposes their hearts, which He knows. He is God. He sees through them completely as people who are lovers of money, and who are only righteous in appearance. Everything they do, they do before the eyes of the people to gain prestige among them. But what is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. God sees how these people give alms on the corners of the streets to be honored by the people. He also sees what they keep in their pockets and how they secretly increase their treasures. Their lust for the honor of men robs God of the honor to which He is entitled. It also deprives man of the place of blessing and plunges him into ruin instead. With what the Lord then says about the law, He indicates how false their accusation is that He does not take the law seriously. He refers to the law and the prophets as a period that lasted until John. With the coming of John another period has come, the period when the kingdom of God is proclaimed. The Lord has proclaimed the kingdom as imminent, but He has been rejected and thus the kingdom in its public form has been postponed. Yet, the kingdom is still proclaimed as a kingdom that can be entered by persons. Instead of a kingdom that is established with power, power is now needed to enter it. To enter the kingdom of God you need the power of faith. Someone who wants to be part of it, gives up his life to God and puts himself under the authority of a rejected King. Anyone who makes this decision will encounter a great deal of opposition. Whoever enters in the power of faith may share in the blessing that that kingdom already has in it for everyone who is in it. It is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love ( ), where everything speaks of the Father’s love for the Son. The fact that the kingdom is introducing a new order of affairs does not mean that the law no longer has any meaning. Everything that is written in the law, including the prophets, will be fulfilled down to the smallest detail. None of it remains unfulfilled. Even more easily heaven and earth would pass away than the smallest part of God’s Word would lose its meaning. To illustrate the truth of His words about the law, the Lord refers to the institution of marriage and the deviation from it. He points to the law, as God in the deepest essence purposed it for His kingdom, and points to the indissolubility of marriage as an example. There is no clearer example that shows the Pharisees that they themselves manipulate the law, which also makes it clear how foolish it is to accuse Him of not taking the law seriously. The Jews had made it easy for someone who wanted to divorce his wife and then it was just as easy to marry another one. They called upon Moses who had written that you could divorce your wife if only a certificate of divorce was given. The Lord says that this opportunity has been given in view of the hardness of their hearts ( ). He Himself brings forward God’s original meaning of the law and refers to what God said in the beginning. In light of the true meaning of the law, entering into a second marriage means committing adultery, for to God the first marriage continues as long as husband and wife live ( ). A marriage is annulled only by death ( ). The same goes for someone who marries a woman who has been divorced from a husband. He is not allowed to marry her, because she is married as long as her husband lives.

‏ Luke 16:17

The Lesson for the Pharisees

The word of the Lord has also entered the ears of the Pharisees, and their conscience has been irritated by it. These people are lovers of money. If you are a lover of money, you do not feel comfortable with the teaching the Lord has just given. The money loving Pharisees have a completely different view on money. They are looking for a lot of money and even misuse certain statutes of God by distorting them so that they themselves benefit (Mt 15:3-5). By their distorting of God’s Word they even eat up the houses of the widows (Lk 20:47).

They express their resistance to the Lord’s teaching by scoffing at Him. These people are hardened by their love for money and insensitive to the Lord’s teaching. He exposes their hearts, which He knows. He is God. He sees through them completely as people who are lovers of money, and who are only righteous in appearance. Everything they do, they do before the eyes of the people to gain prestige among them.

But what is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. God sees how these people give alms on the corners of the streets to be honored by the people. He also sees what they keep in their pockets and how they secretly increase their treasures. Their lust for the honor of men robs God of the honor to which He is entitled. It also deprives man of the place of blessing and plunges him into ruin instead.

With what the Lord then says about the law, He indicates how false their accusation is that He does not take the law seriously. He refers to the law and the prophets as a period that lasted until John. With the coming of John another period has come, the period when the kingdom of God is proclaimed. The Lord has proclaimed the kingdom as imminent, but He has been rejected and thus the kingdom in its public form has been postponed.

Yet, the kingdom is still proclaimed as a kingdom that can be entered by persons. Instead of a kingdom that is established with power, power is now needed to enter it. To enter the kingdom of God you need the power of faith. Someone who wants to be part of it, gives up his life to God and puts himself under the authority of a rejected King.

Anyone who makes this decision will encounter a great deal of opposition. Whoever enters in the power of faith may share in the blessing that that kingdom already has in it for everyone who is in it. It is the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love (Col 1:13), where everything speaks of the Father’s love for the Son.

The fact that the kingdom is introducing a new order of affairs does not mean that the law no longer has any meaning. Everything that is written in the law, including the prophets, will be fulfilled down to the smallest detail. None of it remains unfulfilled. Even more easily heaven and earth would pass away than the smallest part of God’s Word would lose its meaning.

To illustrate the truth of His words about the law, the Lord refers to the institution of marriage and the deviation from it. He points to the law, as God in the deepest essence purposed it for His kingdom, and points to the indissolubility of marriage as an example.

There is no clearer example that shows the Pharisees that they themselves manipulate the law, which also makes it clear how foolish it is to accuse Him of not taking the law seriously. The Jews had made it easy for someone who wanted to divorce his wife and then it was just as easy to marry another one. They called upon Moses who had written that you could divorce your wife if only a certificate of divorce was given. The Lord says that this opportunity has been given in view of the hardness of their hearts (Mt 19:7-8).

He Himself brings forward God’s original meaning of the law and refers to what God said in the beginning. In light of the true meaning of the law, entering into a second marriage means committing adultery, for to God the first marriage continues as long as husband and wife live (Rom 7:3). A marriage is annulled only by death (Rom 7:2). The same goes for someone who marries a woman who has been divorced from a husband. He is not allowed to marry her, because she is married as long as her husband lives.