In Luke’s chapter 16, three verses that fall between the parable of the dishonest manager and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man have been identified as Jesus making generic teachings. Such identifiers come from bold headings that are found in some versions of the Holy Bible, which are additions by translators. The original text does not include such prompts.
The verses state: “16 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.” 17 “It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.” 18 “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
All are quotes of Jesus, but they are not teaching. They are re-statements of the Law of Moses, directed at the Pharisees. As such, Jesus is telling the Pharisees they are trying to rewrite the Law to justify their worship of Mammon. Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they have divorced God (their symbolic bride) and remarried the Second Temple (the divorced woman), thus becoming adulterers in the eyes of God. Jesus states the Law to those who proclaim their faith through knowledge of the Law. Therefore, Jesus is not teaching a generality as some tidbits, of which everyone should be aware. He is (pardon the expression) “bitch-slapping” the Pharisees, calling them out for trying to change the Law, while cheating on God.
R. T. Tippett.
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ADDENDUM: [September 28, 2021]
The above short article was written in 2014, at a time when I was writing notes and sermons based on all of the Episcopal Church's lectionary readings. I did that between 2013 and 2016, completing a full cycle of the lectionary readings. In doing that, I found this gap [it actually is from Luke 16:14 -18] and thought I would write something quick about verses no Episcopal Church would ever read aloud, much less explain. As I was writing so much during that time [it led to two carpal tunnel surgeries, on both wrists], I did not have much spare time to write in-depth about such 'optional' Scripture. Most of my publications then and now are each well over two thousand words; so, this is little more than a blog post, as most people understand blog posts.
Because of a recent flurry of interest in this 2014 article [secret admirers], I figured I better shore this up some. My above translation of the English text is copied from some source [some version of a Holy Bible some place, probably the NIV]; so, it was not my intent to go deeply into analyzing the Greek text. That has become a more common practice of mine in the past few years.
What I will do now is supply the reader with the Greek text, followed by a literal translation of mine, which is based on the BibleHub Interlinear listing of the Greek text and transliterations, along with one English translation they offer for each word of Greek. I now like to copy the Greek text and search the parameters of the word form, especially noting when the genitive case is found. In this, the Greek words that normally translate (or do not translate into English at all) as articles, most commonly "the," I use a more 'meaty translation' possibility, which is "this" or "these," depending on the singular or plural version of "the." With that foreword, the above three verses are now presented below.
The Greek text:
16.
Ho nomos kai hoi prophētai mechri Iōannou ;
apo tote hē basileia tou Theou euangelizetai ,
kai pas eis autēn biazetai .
17.
eukopōteron de estin ton ouranon kai tēn gēn parelthein ,
ē tou nomou mian keraian pesein .
18.
Pas ho apolyōn tēn gynaika autou kai gamōn heteran moicheuei .
kai ho apolelymenēn apo andros gamōn moicheuei .
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A literal translation in English:
16.
This law kai these prophets as far as John ;
from then this sovereignty which of God is announced ,
kai all into self is forced it way .
17.
easier now being this heaven kai this earth to pass by ,
than of this of the law one apostrophe to fall .
18.
All this releasing this wife of same kai marrying another commits adultery .
kai this her divorce away from husband marrying commits adultery .
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In the Greek, capitalization denotes that a divine level of importance needs to be applied to the word used. This is not following a rule of syntax, where first words of all sentences are capitalized. ALL capitalized words in Biblical text [Greek, because Hebrew has no capital letters] have to be searched for a divine level of meaning. Please note how verse 17 follows a period at the end of verse 16, but the Greek word "eukopōteron" is not capitalized. Additionally, the last segment of words in verse 18 follows a period mark after "moicheuei" or "commits adultery," but the word "kai" that follows is not capitalized. Even names, where capitalization is taken for granted, need to be searched for a divine level of meaning.
I have placed all capitalized word in highlight color and all uses of "kai" in colored text. The word "This" ["Ho" normally translates as "The," but "the" has no importance that stands alone] has divine heightening as relating back to verse 15, where the last segment of words literally say: "because this in men exalted a detestable thing before the face of this of God." It is then "This" detestable thing that says supposed men of God {divinely elevated now] do not have love in their hearts for Him. Therefore, "This" also pulls forward and relates to the "law," which must be found written on the walls of one's heart - where "heart" means "soul" - because to say anything about the Law without love of Yahweh is being a liar. God does not like that. He detests liars, according to Jesus.
The Greek word "kai" is sloughed off as meaning "and," seen as if 'Stuttering John' were the writer of Scripture, where every line of verse is often found one or more uses of "kai." The word "kai" is in bold type, colored because it is not to be read as a word, but as a signal or marker word. It denotes: Importance to follow! It is to be read this way every time it appears in Biblical Greek text.
There are five uses of "kai" in these three verses. The first follows "This law," which begins verse 16. The use of "kai" then says it is most important to realize those who were in love with Yahweh ["God"] were "these prophets," where the Greek word "prophētai" means "an interpreter or forth-teller of the divine will" or "a person gifted at expositing divine truth." This is important to grasp, as Jesus is talking to Temple lowlifes that had no love of Yahweh, but they talked a great deal about "This law."
Jesus then said John the Baptist was the most recent "prophet" recognized by Yahweh, in this line of true "prophets." Still, the capitalization of "John" means the divine meaning behind the name has to be realized. "John" itself only implies "the Baptizer," but that intuition can be avoided by realizing the meaning of the name "John." Since the Baptizer had that name, plus one disciple of Jesus [him of Zebedee] and John the Beloved [Jesus' son, not yet of age to be a disciple], all can be implied by simply stating "John" to a Christian reader today; but all were given that name specifically, by fathers who were divinely inspired to do so. The name "John" mean "Yah Is Gracious, Yah Has Been Gracious." ["Yah" is short for "Yahweh"] The importance here is it says a "prophet" is one in whom "Yah Is Gracious." With love in their hearts for Yahweh, the truth of His Word is explained to them clearly [a "Gracious" act], unlike the wormwood elite leaders of Jerusalem.
The second segment of words in verse 16 follows a semi-colon, which makes it act like a new sentence that is related to the first. All punctuation marks are to be followed, without exception. The rules of syntax that apply to punctuation marks still applies. Like the word "kai," punctuation is a marker that directs the traffic of Yahweh's language.
The semi-colon usage makes "from then" be Jesus saying how ever since the Law was sent down the mountain by Yahweh, with Moses, all who agreed with that Covenant (in their souls) found Yahweh Is Gracious to them, making them all be prophets also. They had love of Yahweh, making the Law be their marriage vows.
This is important to see, when verse 18 suddenly seems to go off in a wild direction, talking about adultery. Jesus was saying "from then" the reign of Yahweh over a soul in a body of flesh made Him the King. That was "announced" by "God," where "euangelizetai" means "to announce good news." This says evangelizing must be led by a soul having married Yahweh, through love in their hearts and in full agreement to the conditions of that marriage [the Covenant]. Ever since the first Israelite said "I do," Yahweh has been speaking through His wives in divine marriage; and, this arrangement still applies today, as in all times past, present, and future.
The final segment of words in verse 16 then is important to understand, relative to this evangelizing or "announcing" done by "God" within the soul of one of His wives. This is not something where the soul sits down with Yahweh and says, "You know honey, I would like to do a few things on my own. I have some good ideas to share." The importance to understand [from "kai"] is "all is forced," such that oneself [a "self" means a "soul"] becomes a "force" that easily makes enemies, as did Jesus with the people pretending to know the Law.
The word "autēn" means "her" [as a feminine form of "autos"], which is a statement about a wife's role; but, "autos" means "self" and also "same." This gender assignment needs to be read into the femininity of a soul in flesh, as the wife of Yahweh. Thus, ministry for Yahweh, sharing His Word, is not an option for His "prophets." It becomes a "force" to be reckoned with [also, the word implies "suffering violence," which Jesus would come to know very well].
The same segment of words also speaks of those who are not in love with Yahweh, where it is their lack of "God announcing" from within their hearts that lets them understand "This law." The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and high priests are then those who "force" others to "do as we say, not as we do." This then is why these verses are written, because verse 14 [after Jesus told the parable of the unrighteous steward to them], they "ridiculed" Jesus for his not worshiping money [which they loved … over Yahweh].
In verse 17, it is then "easier" to let Yahweh do one's talking, than it is to make things up to suit your own personal wants and desires. The use of the Greek word "estin," which is a form of "eimi," meaning "I am, I exist," used as "being," must be seen as a statement about one's soul. Without a soul the body of flesh is dead [a corpse], thus non-"existent." One "is" because one has a soul. Thus, "easier now being this heaven" is a statement about the divine presence that has united with one's soul; and, this is marriage that makes a soul-flesh entity become a Yahweh elohim - a Saint that is the extension of Yahweh's Spirit on earth.
When the Greek word "ouranon" is translated as "heaven," where Strong's says it can mean: "(a) the visible heavens: the atmosphere, the sky, the starry heavens, (b) the spiritual heavens," this is designed to confuse the reader, just as Jesus used it to confuse the Temple elite. One needs to read a word like "heaven" and realize it is a statement about one's spiritual being. A soul is eternal spirit, but it is not a heavenly entity. Thus, the use of "heaven" becomes metaphor for the divine marriage of a soul to Yahweh, so is becomes "easier now being this heaven." It is easier when one has become a Yahweh elohim - a Saint.
Following the presentation of the word "kai," the meaning of "earth" must be seen as the material realm, where one's body of flesh is dead matter - dust, clay, etc. - that is no longer controlling [enslaving] one's soul. It is the delights of the earth that lead souls to sin, in order to please their flesh. Thus, the addiction to the worldly will "pass by," after Yahweh has married one's soul [Holy Matrimony].
When one's soul has reached this state of "being" [which the Temple elite had not], everything written on scrolls will be understood to be perfection, having been written by a soul married to Yahweh and thereby perfect. This means it is "easier" to realize the truth of that written, as it is written, with Yahweh inspiring one to see the truth, "than" it is to interpret "the law" with human brains that have no divine insight. When Jesus said, "one apostrophe to fall," that means changing divine text to suit one's worldly desires is forbidden. Those that do so [the Temple elite] were obviously sinners, not in love with Yahweh; and, to change anything says one should not be listened to.
Here, it is worthwhile to realize there are countless times English translations of the Old Testament take "Yah-weh" ["יְהוָ֥ה" - found written 6220 times] and demote this proper name to "the Lord." Likewise, there are countless times they take the plural word "elohim" [in all its forms] and change it to say "God" [it does not - "el" is "god"]. Thus, modern Christians have memorized Scripture quotes where more than one apostrophe has fallen. Unknowingly, they revel in learning false words, taught to them by false teachers, as were the Temple elite. The Jews (most likely) assist in these false teaching, telling the translators such as, "Oh, we know elohim is plural, but hey! We figured out that word was written by mistake; and, you know we are Jews … G_d's chosen people. So … we'll leave it up to you and your Christian readers." This comes from the same mouths as Jesus spoke these verses to. They drop more than one iota of divine text, in order to weaken true faith and make religious organizations become the rebirth of the failed Judaic system of Jerusalem.
In verse 18, where it seems like Jesus lost his train of thought and decided to speak about "adultery," the reality is his writing "wife" and "husband" must be seen as a statement about the relationship that a soul [the wife] has to have with the Husband [Yahweh]. To truly be an "Israelite" - a name that means "One Who Retains God," where that actually means being a "god," from "el," as one of Yahweh's elohim - one's soul must be deeply in love with Yahweh, becoming His bridesmaid whose lamp never runs out of oil. Marriage to Yahweh is forever. To change the Law [the marriage vows] means to seek a lesser husband [which can be self or some other worldly delight]. Thus, Jesus was calling the Pharisees et al adulterers, because they went about claiming to be the wives of Yahweh [children of God, in His name], while they were two-timing sluts.
I hope this helps give one a deeper understanding of what Jesus said in Luke 16:16-18. I had some free time to expand on what I wrote seven years ago. Let me know what you think.
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