Answering Ridicule with Kingdom Explanation (Lk 16.14-18)
WestminsterReformedChurch.org
Pastor Ostella
October 14, 2012
The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he
said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For
what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 16 "The Law and the Prophets were
until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his
way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to
become void. 18 "Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who
marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. (Luke 16:14-18 ESV)
Introduction
OT Scripture has an integral place in the flow of thought in Luke 16.14-18 because Jesus
rejected Pharisaic interpretations of the OT countering, for example, their system of hospitality in
which you give to those from whom you expect return in kind (Lk 14.7-14). So, our text begins
with a comment about hostility that sets the stage for the words of Jesus in 16.15-18 (and for that
matter to the end of the chapter). The narrator says, The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard
all these things [about money], and they ridiculed him (16.14). Clearly, a driving force in the lives of the
Pharisees was the love of money, which led them to ridicule Jesus for His teaching on the sin of
devotion to money versus devotion to God. What then does Jesus do in response to ridicule by
the religious “high and mighty”? He answers ridicule with kingdom explanation. He speaks to
them about OT Scripture and the kingdom (v. 16) in three points of explanation: self-justification
in the kingdom, right response to the kingdom, and ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom.
I. Self-justification in the kingdom
In the scene before us, the Pharisees ridicule Jesus for His “pious” instruction about
wealth and earthly possessions, and He replies with an indictment: And he said to them, "You are
those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an
abomination in the sight of God" (16.15). He looks beyond their ridicule and their love of money to
the deeper issue of the justification of their entire religious system. Their deepest roots are
anchored in self-justification that spreads from household to household but gets no higher than
the roof tops. They are only able to justify themselves before men. Self-justification feeds on the
praise, applause, and the approval of men. It utterly fails before God who knows the hearts.
This is serious, so, Jesus is direct and personal, speaking to the Pharisees, He says:
you ...justify yourselves in your hearts. This wrong takes place in the kingdom that has arrived
(16.16). Our Lord indicts His opponents for their wrong response to the coming of the kingdom.
Then, He reinforces His indictment by making clear that their actions include all forms of selfjustification. Thus, He widens His scope to include anything that is exalted among men in this
way: For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God (15b). There are many ways
by which we all excuse and justify ourselves before men. In God’s eyes, every bit of it is an
abomination, something detestable and unclean.
It is worthy of note that Pharisaic excuse-making was done by grids of interpretation of
the Scriptures. That fact is what makes religious rationalizing so abominable; it involves the
twisting of Scripture. We elevate things we do claiming that they are not wrong, even though
Scripture teaches that they are wrong. We even exalt them; lift them up as marks of our holiness.
Confusion may abound, but the Lord knows the truth about the heart (that is deceitful and
desperately wicked) and the truth about the detestable use of Scripture in self-justification.
Granted, often, we get into debates and each party says to the other: “You are just selfjustifying.” Well, we have to examine ourselves, and must do so cautiously because of the
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deceitfulness of sin. We should open our hearts to the Lord in earnest whenever we find
ourselves claiming that something we want to do is not really sinful. The more deeply we desire
it, the more open we ought to be about our tendency to fool ourselves. Repentance ought to be at
our fingertips when we find ourselves in earnest defense saying, “It is not wrong...not wrong.”
Thus, Jesus focuses on the self-justification grid of the Pharisees showing that their
handling of Scripture and their entire religion is worthless; they love money but not God.
II. Right response to the kingdom
In Luke 16.16, Jesus makes three statements: The Law and the Prophets were until John; since
then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. There is a
contrast in these words to the way the leaders respond to the kingdom. This suggests that the last
statement makes the central point about the right response to the kingdom.
To make this point, Jesus begins with the fulfillment of the OT in the work of John the
Baptist. Thus, Jesus says, The Law and the Prophets were until John (In parallel, Matthew has For all
the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 11.13). “Until” does not mean “up to but excluding
John.” It means “up to and including John.” In other words, John is the last of the OT prophets
and he not only prophesied as they prophesied, he also brought all their prophecies to realization.
They all pointed to a great door into the future, and so did John, but John was the one who
opened it! He did so as the forerunner of the Messiah. Thus, he opened the door to the preaching
of the good news: The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of
God is preached. Preaching the coming of the kingdom as a promise (by John) became the
preaching of the kingdom as fulfillment (by Jesus). The principle is that Christ as Messiah
exercised His kingship and manifested the blessings of the kingdom by giving us the gospel in
word and deed, with force and power, as He said to John: Go and tell John what you have seen and
heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised
up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me (Lk
7.22-23). Ultimately this means that His kingdom includes the restoration of man from his plight
in sin and the restoration of the entire human person, body and soul, from all the effects of the
fall.
So, in this context, to whom is kingdom blessing given? It is given to those who come
into it by force: And everyone forces his way into it (16.16b). Now, what does it mean for someone
to enter the kingdom forcibly? This sounds contrary to the idea of kingdom power and authority.
To force one’s way into the kingdom means to press into it with intense determination. Thus, the
kingdom is given to those who are like prodigals that Jesus finds (Lk 15). When He finds them
they come to their senses and resolve to make a straight path of return to the father. They return
with hearts of determined repentance, seeking to serve under the father’s authority. Accordingly,
we do not need to twist arms to bring sinners to Christ because when the Spirit does His work
and Jesus finds lost prodigals, they return with resolve to submit themselves to God’s authority
over them in all things. When they turn to God with that force and determination, marvelously,
they find themselves within the Father’s joyful embrace! They find themselves at a feast of joy
and rejoicing in the acceptance of sinners.
III. Ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom
Beyond the teaching about fulfillment through John and Jesus, we have a word about
ultimate fulfillment in 16.17: But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the
Law to become void. So, even though there is the confusion of truth by human self-justification and
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the deceitfulness of sin, God will accomplish all that is promised for the complete salvation of
sinners in the restoration of all things.
This brings us to the comment on marriage that seems out of place. We need to consider
two things about this text in its context. On one hand, marriage, that is, marriage-divorceremarriage is a case in point of sin on the way to kingdom consummation. On the other hand,
because of its connection with verse 17, marriage is an example of how fulfillment will be
attained despite sin.
A. First, consider the sinful abuse of marriage
Luke’s report is quite brief containing no basis for a legitimate divorce, as we have in the
Gospel of Matthew, which records the exception of sexual immorality (Mat 19.9: And I say to you:
whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery). The
account before us in Luke contains no legitimate basis for breaking of the bond of a husband
with his wife, and we should take this to mean that there is no such basis, that is, in the Pharisaic
moralistic and self-justifying system (cf. Murray, Divorce, 52). Therefore, any man who uses this
system to wrongly divorce and remarry commits adultery: Everyone who divorces his wife and
marries another commits adultery (Lk 16.18a). Also, a man commits adultery if he marries a woman
divorced on a Pharisaic basis: and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery
(16.18b). The language of his wife and her husband locks us into the Genesis design for marriage
from the beginning (as we have in Mat 19.4-9 and Mk 10.5-12).
B. So, now let us consider the goal of marriage
Instead of accenting its permanence as a creation ordinance, as He does elsewhere, here
in Luke 16.18, Jesus accents the sanctity and purpose of marriage that is guarded and promoted
by the seventh commandment on adultery. Therefore, this brief word about marriage takes us
back to its place within the Law, to its original design that is compromised by sin, but that will
nevertheless not pass away or become void (16.17). Although marriage is being degraded, even
in religious contexts (v. 18), this God-given institution will attain the goal set for it from the
beginning (v. 17). That goal is the formation of an earth filled with a family of descendants from
Adam and Eve. Because of the fall, that goal has to be attained by redemption through a
descendant of Eve, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. By that descendant, all families of the
earth will be blessed and a new redeemed family will populate the new earth of final glory. In
this vein, Malachi cites the original design of marriage in the context of his words about
marriage as a covenant of companionship: Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their
union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none
of you be faithless to the wife of your youth (Mal 2.15). Even in the fall, that goal for marriage stands
as a standard that gives structure to the intimacy of husband and wife.
Accordingly, the ultimate fulfillment of marital intimacy is not in its continuance, say, in
some universally perfect form. Though designed for permanence, “For as long as husband and
wife shall live,” it will not continue in glory where there is no marrying and giving in marriage
(Lk 20.34-35). The formation of a human family, a holy people composed of all families of the
earth is what will abide forever. Marriage drops off once the family is formed and history is
complete. This is the Lord’s doing, through marital intimacy, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Conclusion
This packed text sends our thoughts in many directions, including toward some of the
things we are covering in the Bible study on a Christian view of marriage. For now, let me
suggest two roads to travel in further meditation on this Lord’s Day.
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1) First, how do we explain the fact that people force their way into the kingdom?
All of us since the fall into sin have the desire for autonomy in our hearts. In the fall, we
cannot submit to the Law of God or to God who gives it (Rom 8.7: For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot). Still, all kinds of people are
eagerly, earnestly, and intently seizing a place of submission to God under His authority as their
King. How do we explain this embrace of the gospel of the kingdom in a world of self-love and
autonomous self-justification? This humble spirit of submission and unworthiness is due to the
certainty that the Law and Prophets will not return to God empty and void because the Lord will
accomplish all the purposes for which He gave them. Therefore, people forcefully enter the
kingdom because of the power of God’s saving grace. By His efficacious grace, sinners, who
once claimed their independence, who were lost and dead, enter the kingdom of God with
determined obedience. Accordingly, if you find a desire, an undying desire in your hearts to live
under authority, under the authority of Jesus Christ as your prophet, priest, and King, then you
must bow your head in thankfulness to the Lord the Almighty because of the efficacy of His
grace to you. You must know that you would have continued on a path of self-justification of a
wasted life, wasted like salt that has lost its savor, except for the seeking, finding, making alive,
and the bringing home performed by Jesus your great shepherd. Therefore, you must thank and
worship Him in fear and awe.
2) What do we learn about marriage from its place in promise and fulfillment?
Pharisaic abuse of the Law, specifically regarding marriage, contradicts the purpose and
promise of a godly offspring. It contradicts the promise of descendants from the original bond of
male and female to be one flesh as husband and wife (Mal 2.15; Gen 1.27-27; 2.24-25; Rev
21.7). Although the Pharisees justified themselves before men for their sin-driven
reinterpretation of God’s standard for human sexuality, their efforts utterly failed before God.
Therefore, in this world of sexual confusion and the degradation of the holy estate of matrimony,
not a single dot of the Law, not a single detail of what God has designed for marriage will pass
away unfulfilled. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for God’s promises and
purposes to fail. God’s ultimate goal for marriage will be fulfilled when, as Isaiah predicts the
LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of
marrow, of aged wine well refined (25.6). Then, he goes on to say: he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death
forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take
away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken (25.7-8). The Lord has said these things that you
may say:
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me
beside still waters. 3He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with
me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my
enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever; I shall dwell in the
household, in the communion of the saints in fellowship one with another and with the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever, amen (Ps 23.1-6).