Luke
11:37-54
The teachings of Messiah, 9:51-10:42
2. The kingdom and power, 11:1-12:34
iv] Bad news for churchmen
SynopsisJesus is invited to the home of a Pharisee for a meal. Although Jesus may well have washed himself before eating, he didn't perform the ceremonial acts of cleansing before the meal. The Pharisee comments on this fact, and so Jesus responds with a lesson on hypocrisy. Jesus then goes on with a series of judgmental woes upon the Pharisees, followed by another series of woes upon the experts in the law.
Teaching
Beware of self-righteous legalism and hypocrisy.
Issues
i] Context: See 11:1-13. Bad news for churchmen serves as the fourth episode in a series of six covering the topic The Kingdom and Power, 11:1-12:34. In these episodes we see the disciples interacting with the power of the Spirit realised in the dawning of the new age of the kingdom. Each part of this six-layered Lukan sandwich provides a lesson on discipleship - first on prayer, then on overcoming the powers of darkness, then bathing in the enlightening power of the Word of God, and now in this episode, avoiding the danger of self-righteous legalism.
ii] Background: Nomism - law-obedience for blessing.
Nomism / sanctification by obedience, is a heresy which affected religious Judaism of the second-temple period. The scribes and Pharisees held the view that, although a Jew is righteous / a child of God by birth, law-obedience (obedience to the law of Moses) is essential to restrain sin and shape holiness for the full appropriation of the promised blessings of the covenant.
The Pharisees were expert nomists. They stood under the grace of God as God's chosen people, but the business of maintaining and advancing that standing for blessing entailed the faithful attention to God's law. Given that the doing of the Law is beyond mere mortals, the Pharisees had devised an intricate system of reductionism encapsulated in their traditions.
Jesus constantly sought to expose their failure to keep the Law, and thus the fruitless nature of their religious quest. He did this by detailing the full extent of God's demands, outlining the necessary perfection of a person who would dare claim holiness before God on the basis of their works, eg., before God, adultery by act or thought condemns. Only a repentant sinner, relying in faith on the mercy of God, can appropriate the promised blessings of the covenant.
With his disciples, Jesus similarly exposed the danger of promoting a holiness based on works of the law by demanding idealistic discipleship requirements that were well beyond the capacity of those who dared to follow him. These cross-bearing ideals, although setting the direction for discipleship, forced a reliance on grace rather than works.
The heresy of nomism was later to affect the early Church and so became a matter of grave concern for the apostle Paul, and this because it undermined his gospel of grace. Luke, as an associate of Paul, is well aware of the problem, a problem he addresses by his selection and arrangement of gospel tradition.
In the early church, the heresy was promoted by the members of the circumcision party (the judaizers). They argued that, although a person is justified (set right before God, judged covenant compliant) on the basis of Christ's faithfulness ("faith of Christ") appropriated through faith, law-obedience ("works of the law" - obedience to the law of Moses) is essential to restrain sin and shape holiness (sanctify) for a believer to move forward in the Christian life and so appropriate the fullness of new life in Christ (the promised Abrahamic blessings - the gift of the Spirit, etc.).
The heresy of nomism can be represented as follows:
FAITH = RIGHTEOUSNESS + WORKS = BLESSINGS.
As opposed to the law-bound children of God (Pharisees / judaizers / pietists / members of the circumcision party, and sometimes even the disciples themselves) Paul, the exegete of Jesus, argued that:
FAITH = RIGHTEOUSNESS = BLESSINGS = WORKS.
How does a person (a descendant of Abraham and the Gentiles within his gate!) enter the kingdom and appropriate in full the promised blessings of the covenant? It is not by law-obedience, suppressing sin in order to promote holiness (nomism / sanctification by obedience / pietism), but by grace through faith in the faithfulness of Christ.
iii] Structure: Bad news for churchmen:
Introduction, v37-38:
An invitation to dine with a Pharisee.
The danger of self-righteous legalism, v39-52:
Hypocrisy, v39-41;
Woes for Pharisees, v42-44:
Reductionism, v42;
Pride, v43;
False teaching, v44;
Woes for experts in the law, v45-52:
Legalism, v46;
Spiritual blindness, v47-48;
Prophecy of judgment, v49-51;
Graceless, v52;
Conclusion, v53-54:
The opposition of the religious authorities.
iv] Interpretation:
Given the overall approach of Luke in this section of his gospel, it seems likely that this passage is a lesson by implication; as Stein argues, "the account emphasises the need to keep one's eyes 'good', Lk.11:34." What we have is a lesson on self-righteous legalism / nomism (sanctification by obedience); a what-to-avoids lesson.
Bock analyses the elements as follows:
•iHypocrisy: The danger of being clean outside and dirty inside.
•iHeartless legalism: The danger of closely observing laws that relate to insignificant practices, but ignoring God's justice and love.
•iPride: The danger of wanting the best seats.
•iFalse teaching: the danger of leading others to death.
•iHypocrisy: The danger of setting standards for others, but not helping to meet them.
•ifalse guidance: The danger of sharing in the rejection of God's messengers.
•iFalse teaching: The danger of blocking the way of others to God.
v] Synoptics:
See 3:1-20.. Not only is the position of Jesus' Woes in Luke's gospel quite different to Matthew's placement of this tradition, Luke introduces the woes with a unique setting. The setting, namely, Jesus' invitation to share a meal in the home of a Pharisee, does accord in part with Mark 7:1ff, and Matthew 15:1ff, and so, may serve as Luke's reworking of Mark 7. Yet, it seems more likely, given the major differences between Luke and Mark, that Luke is working off his own received tradition. Bock suggests that Luke is relating "a unique event."
Jesus' opening comments to the Pharisee, v39-41 aligns with Matthew's woe in 23:25. Verse 41 presents as an attached independent saying which is unique to Luke, but note that Matthew, like Luke, also adds a command: "cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also", Matt.23:26.
As for the Woes themselves, Fitzmyer, so also Grundmann, Creed, ..., argue that both Luke and Matthew separately use Q for their source tradition, but it is likely that the Woes were well intrenched within the oral tradition of the early church. As Stein notes, "it is apparent that Luke modified the tradition to facilitate his Gentile audience's understanding of it." Matthew has 7 Woes against the scribes and the Pharisees in chapter 23, while Luke has two sets of three; three against Pharisees, and three against scribes (with v39-40 an unstated woe),
The concluding verse, regarding the bitter opposition of the Pharisees and scribes, serves as an editorial comment by Luke.
Text - 11:37
Bad news for Churchmen, v37-54: i] Introduction, v37-38. Jesus is invited for meal at the home of a Pharisee.
de "-" - but/and. Transitional, indicating a step in the narrative.
en tw/ + inf. "when" - in the = while [he to speak, a pharisee asks him]. This construction, the preposition en with an articular infinitive, introduces a temporal clause, contemporaneous time; "While Jesus was speaking", ESV.
o{pwV + subj." to [eat]" - that [he may eat]. This construction is often used to introduce a purpose clause, but here it seems to introduce an object clause / dependent statement of indirect speech expressing what the Pharisee asks Jesus.
par (para) + dat. "with" - beside [him]. Local, expressing space, "at the side of", or association, "with".
eiselqwn (eisercomai) aor. part. "so he went in" - [but/and] having entered [he fell down = reclined at the table]. The NIV, so also Moffatt, treats the parable as adverbial, consecutive, expressing result, "with the result that", but it may just be attendant circumstance, expressing action accompanying the verb "to recline"; "Jesus went into the house and took his place at table", Barclay. "To recline" expresses the custom of reclining on a cushion sideways, with feet outward, to eat at a low table.
v38
idwn (oJraw) aor. part. "when he noticed" - [but/and, the pharisee] seeing this [was amazed]. The participle is adverbial, best treated as temporal, as NIV.
oJti "that" - because [he did not wash]. Introducing a causal clause explaining why the Pharisee was "amazed, astonished." Note that the NIV takes the conjunction here as recitative, introducing indirect speech.
pro + gen. "before" - before [the meal]. Temporal use of the preposition, as NIV.
v39
ii] The danger of self-righteous legalism, v39-52. The reaction of the Pharisee to Jesus' failure to perform ritual ablutions prior to eating, prompts Jesus to speak on the subject of religious hypocrisy. Such washing is required by tradition, but not by the scriptures. Note a similar criticism directed at Jesus' disciples, Matt.15:1-2.
a) Hypocrisy, v39-41. Just as a lamp can illustrate the communication of truth and the eye the reception of truth, so a cup and plate can illustrate purity, holiness. Second-temple Judaism was riddled with the heresy of nomism, prompting religious Jews to focus on the law as a means of sanctification, and thus the full appropriation of the promised blessings of the covenant. Yet, the law can only regulate what a person does, not what a person is. Given that doing the law is all but an impossible task, the law-bound person is forced to refocus on the superficial, rather than the substantial - insect law rather than camel law, Matt.23:24. Jesus' charge against the Pharisees is that they worry about the purity of cups and dishes, and forget about inner purity. There is some truth to the saying that cleanliness is next to godliness, but the condition of a person's inner self, their heart, is likely to be more important to the Creator. So, Jesus' advice is simple, "Cleanse the inside and behold all is clean for you", Caird. For those who would follow Christ, the take-home lesson is that a person washed clean by the grace of God becomes gracious - grace makes us gracious; law makes us lawless.
proV + acc. "to [him]" - [but/and the lord said] toward [him]. Luke's use of the preposition proV for an indirect object instead of a dative.
nun adv. "now then" - now [you pharisees clean]. A special use of the temporal adverb nun to focus attention of the present situation; "as a matter of fact", Zerwick; "The fact is that you Pharisees carefully clean the outside of the cup and plate, but your inner life is full of greed and wickedness", Barclay.
tou pothriou (on) gen. "of the cup" - [the outside] of the cup [and the plate]. As with "plate", the genitive is adjectival, partitive.
aJrpaghV (h) gen. "of greed" - [but/and the inside of you is full] of greed [and of wickedness]. The verb gemw, "to be full", when used in the sense of "full of something", takes a genitive of direct object / of content; "full of greed and wickedness."
v40
ouc "not" - [fools, did] not. This negation, when used in a question, expects an affirmative answer.
oJ poihsaV (poiew) aor. part. "the one who made" - the one doing = making. The participle serves as a substantive, nominative subject of the verb "to do, make."
to; "the [outside]" - [makes] the [outside and = also] the [inside]. The article serves as a nominalizer, turning the adverb into a substantive, accusative object of the verb "to do, make."
v41
This saying is anything but clear, and so numerous translations are offered. J. Wellhausen, way back in 1905, proposed that the Greek has not properly translated the Aramaic. He argued that Luke's "give alms" was likely to be the Aramaic word for "cleanse". Torrey in The Four Gospels, 1933, p310, adopted this interpretation, one followed by numerous commentators: Caird, Manson, Sayings, Leaney, Black, ...; "Cleanse the inside and behold all is clean for you", Caird. This approach ends up agreeing somewhat with v26 of the parallel passage in Matthew, 23:25-26, "cleanse the inside, and you also cleanse the outside." Maybe Luke was trying to make sense of his received version of the instruction, or trying to give some relevance for his Gentile readers, but whatever the intention, the sense of the verse remains contested. For Marshall, "the metaphor of cleansing vessels, is meant to be applied to men themselves and to claim that inner cleansing makes outward cleansing superfluous." So, even though a translation of the verse remains elusive, Caird's offering is probably close to the mark; "Cleanse the inside and behold all is clean for you." "The heart is what counts", Manson.
plhn "but" - but. Adversative; used with balancing force.
ta enonta (eimi) pres. part. "what is inside you" - [give] the things being. Both Culy and Thompson classify this participle as a substantive, accusative direct object of the verb "to give." Rather than the direct object, Marshall proposes that it is an accusative of respect, " But, so far as what is inside is concerned, give alms", ie., "alms" would then serve as the direct object of the verb "to give" rather than an object complement.
elehmosunhn (h) "be generous to the poor" - alms, pity. Accusative complement of the direct object "the things being", standing in a double accusative construction and asserting a fact about the object. The word refers to "charitable giving", but see above.
uJmin dat. pro. "for you" - [and behold, everything is clean] to you. Dative of interest, advantage, as NIV.
v42
b) Reductionism, v42. Tithing is required by OT law, Deut.14:22-29, but it was turned into science in the tradition of the elders. This was a consequence of reductionism where the law is made doable for the full appropriation of the promised blessings of the covenant. Of course, the law was never meant to be doable. The law of the Sinai covenant certainly serves as a guide for the children of God, but its prime purpose is to force a recognition of sin and a reliance on a faith like that of Abraham for divine mercy. To promote a recognition of sin, Jesus constantly confronts his self-righteous opponents with the full weight of the law. Of course, they should tithe, but tithing while neglecting their duty to mankind and God is inexcusable. In the parallel passage in Matthew 23:23, Matthew adds a very appropriate saying in v24; "You strain out gnats and swallow camels" - the self-righteous love insect law because it helps them ignore camel law. And the lesson for us is: the Christian life is all about receiving; not doing.
alla "-" - but. Likely to be transitional, rather than serve as an adversative / contrastive.
uJmin dat. pro. "to you" - [woe] to you. Dative of interest, disadvantage. A "woe" is used here of the horror associated with impending divine judgment.
toiV QarisaioiV (oV) dat. "Pharisees" - the pharisees. Standing in apposition to "to you", dative in agreement.
oJti "because" - because [you tithe the mint and the rue and all (every kind of) herb]. Introducing a causal clause explaining why it is "woe" to the Pharisees.
tou qeou (oV) gen. "of God" - [and = but you pass by = disregard the justice and the love] of god. If "the justice" and "the love" reflects the commandments / law of God, then the genitive is verbal, subjective, that which is demanded by God, rather than objective, that which is offered to God.
poihsai (poiew) aor. inf. "practiced [the latter]" - [but/and] to do [these things was necessary but/and those things to disregard was not necessary]. The infinitive serves as the subject of the impersonal verb "it is necessary", but see grayai, 1:3. Nolland notes the imperfect edei implies that the final clause is conditional, 2nd. class / contrary to fact: "If, as is not the case, it is necessary to do these things (tauta, God's demands / justice and love), then it is also necessary not to disregard those things (kakeina, the tithe). Note the crasis, kakeina = kai ekeina, "and those things" = "also ..... those things."
v43
c) Pride, v43. The pride that comes from seeking the attention and honour of others. The bestowal of divine honour, Well done thou good and faithful servant, is the only honour worth writing home about! But always remember, on the day of judgment, you need to point to Jesus and say "I'm with him", because, when it comes to "well done", there is only one bloke who has done well. Similar to Mark 12:38-40 and again in line with Matthew 23, cf., v6-7. This verse repeats much of the Greek syntax of v42.
en + dat. "in [the synagogues]" - [woe to you, the pharisees, because you love the seat of honour] in [the synagogues and the greetings] in [the market]. Local, expressing space / place.
v44
d) False teaching, v44. Matthew makes a better fist of this received tradition than does Luke, see Matt.23:27-28. Matthew's reference to "whitewashed tombs", alludes to the practice of clearly identifying the tombs of the dead so that a religious person doesn't accidentally come upon a burial plot and so be ritually defiled. The Pharisees are like this, impeccable on the outside, but a package of defiling evil on the inside. Bock takes this to refer to their teaching; it defiles in that it leads to death. We might also add the religious model offered by their self-righteous behaviour - a religious lifestyle sure to lead to spiritual death. Luke is probably making the same point, but by not recording, what is to him, a particularly Jewish illustration, he makes the truth a little less accessible.
uJmin dat. pro. "to you" - [woe] to you. Dative of interest, disadvantage.
oJti "because" - because. Introducing a causal clause.
wJV "like" - [you are] like [unmarked graves]. The comparative conjunction serves to introduce a comparative clause.
oiJ peripatounteV (peripatew) - "which [people] walk [over]" - [and the men] the ones walking [over them have not known]. If the variant article is read, then the participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "men"; "and people who walk over them are unaware." "You're just like unmarked graves. People walk over that nice, grassy surface, never suspecting the rot and corruption that is six feet under", Peterson.
v45
The scribes decide to get in on the act as well, and like the Pharisees, get three Woes in return. These men were trained lawyers, experts in the Old Testament, as well as in the tradition of the elders. Most scribes are Pharisees.
twn nomikwn gen. adj. "of the experts in the law" - [but/and, one] of the lawyers, trained in the law. The genitive is adjectival, partitive.
apokriqeiV (apokrinomai) gen. aor. pas. part. "answered" - answering [says to him]. Attendant circumstance participle; see apokriqeiV, 1:19. Luke's use of the historic present legei, "he says", is probably formulaic, given that he tends not to use a historic present to indicate narrative transition.
legwn (legw) pres. part. "when you say [these things]" - [teacher] saying [these things you and = also insult us]. The participle is adverbial, treated as temporal by NIV, but also possibly instrumental, expressing means, "by saying that ....."
v46
e) Legalism, v46. The religion of Israel had become a religion of law and traditions; "a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear", Acts 15:10 - a strict legalistic interpretation of the law that blinds a person to the grace of God. In Matthew's parallel comment, Matt.23:4, the scribes and Pharisees are criticised for not even, in the slightest way ("move them with a finger"), shifting the burden of the law from those struggling under its weight. Presumably this is the sense of Luke's version - not even by a prosyauw, "touch", of the finger do they shift / lighten the load. Again, we have a lesson by implication, a what-to-avoid lesson.
toiV nomikoiV dat. adj. "experts in the law" - [but/and he said, and = also woe to you] the ones trained in the law. The adjective serves as a substantive standing in agreement with the dative of disadvantage "to you", dative in agreement.
oJti "because" - because. Introducing a causal clause explaining why it is "woe" to the lawyers.
fortia (on) "with burdens" - [you burden the men] loads [hard to bear]. Accusative complement of the direct object "men", standing in a double accusative construction and stating a fact about the object; "burden people with loads which are hard to bear." With the attributive adjective dusbastakta we have "with burdensome loads"
autoi pro. "you yourselves" - [and] you. Emphatic by use and position, as NIV.
eJni dat. adj. "one" - in = with one. The dative is instrumental, expressing means.
twn daktulwn (oV) gen. "finger" - of the fingers [of you]. The genitive is adjectival, partitive.
toiV fortioiV (on) dat. "-" - [you do not touch lightly] the load. Dative of direct object after the proV prefix verb "to touch upon"; "but you yourselves do not lift a finger to help them with their burdens", Barclay.
v47
f) Spiritual blindness, v47-48. Matthew's parallel to this passage, Matt.23:29-33, is more fulsome and easier to understand, but none-the-less, Luke does seem to make the same point as Matthew, although it is not overly clear. The point of the argument seems to be as follows: although Israel's religious leaders claim that they are better than their forefathers, honouring the prophets as they do with memorials to them, they are, in fact, just like their forefathers. This generation, like generations before, are spiritually insensitive; they ignore the word of God's messengers and set upon them. For this they will be held responsible, v49-51. The teaching, by implication is, don't follow suit.
twn profhtwn (hV ou) gen. "for the prophets" - [woe to you because you build memorials] of the prophets [but/and the fathers of you killed them]. The genitive is adjectival, handled by the NIV as verbal, objective; "You build memorials in honour of the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them."
v48
"So in this way, you testify your approval of what your fathers did. They did the killing; you do the building." This generation behaves exactly as did the fathers who paid no attention to what God's messengers said, other than to set upon them.
ara "so" - therefore [you are witnesses]. Inferential, drawing a logical conclusion, "so therefore", although here Thompson suggests result, "so as a result ...."
toiV ergoiV (on) dat. "-" - [and you approve of, agree with] the works. Dative of direct object after the sun prefix verb "to agree with."
twn paterwn (hr roV) gen. "ancestors" - of the fathers [of you]. The genitive is adjectival, possessive, or subjective, "the works performed by your fathers."
men ..... de "....., and ...." - on the one hand [they killed them] but on the other hand [you built the memorials]. Adversative comparative construction, where one element contrasts with another.
v49
Prophecy of judgment, v49-51. The prophetic word, "I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute", is fulfilled in the generation of the fathers / this generation (historic Israel, including 2nd. temple Judaism). As a consequence, those who have rejected God's messengers will be held answerable.
The parallel passage in Matthew, Matt.23:34-36, comes at the end of the Woes and before Jesus' lament over Jerusalem. The prophecy certainly works well as a conclusion to all the Woes, but Luke seems intent on ending with his last woe, v22, and is unwilling to separate the prophecy from the woe concerning building memorials to the prophets.
dia touto "Because of this" - therefore [and = also]. Rather than causal, as NIV, this construction is more inferential, drawing a logical conclusion; "Therefore also ....", ESV, ...
tou qeou (oV) gen. "[God] in his wisdom" - [the wisdom] of god. The genitive is adjectival, verbal, subjective, "the wisdom exercised by God." Unlike Matthew, Luke introduces the prophecy by indicating that it is a revelation of God's eternal foreknowledge and intent. Just as "the righteousness of God" is the saving activity of God, so "the wisdom of God" is the revealing activity of God. As a revelation of God's eternal foreknowledge and intent, the prophecy is not intending to allude to a particular OT text. Danker suggests 2Chron.24:19-22, but this only agrees in sentiment.
ex (ek) + gen. "some of [whom]" - [i will send into them prophets and apostles and some] from [them they will kill and persecute]. The preposition is being used instead of a partitive genitive; "some of these they will persecute and murder", Cassirer. Luke has changed Matthew's "wise men and scribes" to "apostles", presumably to give the apostolic mission of the church equal status with God's prophetic ministry to Israel. In the context, the prophecy is directed to historic Israel, "this generation", as v50-51 shows. None-the-less, what applied to historic Israel, now applies to the world at large, given the apostolic gospel mission to the ends of the earth.
v50
iJna + subj. "therefore" - that [there may be found (in a judicial sense) = required]. Here adverbial, introducing a consecutive clause expressing result; "with the result that this generation (the generation that ignored and set upon the prophets) will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets." Marshall opts for a final sense, expressing purpose; "God did this in order that this generation might become responsible for the murder ...", Barclay.
apo + gen. "-" - from [this generation]. Expressing source / origin, "from"; "of this generation."
to ekkecumenon (ekcunnw) perf. mid. part. "that has been shed" - [the blood of all the prophets] having been poured out. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "prophets"; "which was shed." The word "prophet" is used in a broad sense, as v51 shows.
apo + gen. "since" - from. Temporal use of the preposition.
kosmou (oV) gen. "[the beginning] of the world" - [the foundation = creation] of the world. The genitive is adjectival, partitive, as NIV, or verbal, objective, "from the creation of the world", or idiomatic / temporal, "from when the world was created."
v51
apo + gen. "from" - from [the blood of abel]. Temporal use of the preposition. Abel is designated a prophet, in that he died on account of his righteousness.
eJwV + gen. "to" - up to [the blood of zechariah]. Here eJwV is used to express extension up to. The Zechariah referred to here is the high priest of 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. So, the sense is, all the righteous servants of the Lord whose deaths are recorded in the Old Testament.
tou apolomenou (apollumi) gen. aor. mid. part. "who was killed" - the one having perished [between the altar (of burn offerings) and the house = sanctuary]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "Zechariah", as NIV.
uJmin dat. pro. "[I tell] you" - [yes, i say] to you. Dative of indirect object.
apo + gen. "[will be held responsible for]" - [justice will be required] from [this generation]. Expressing source / origin, "found from" = "required of"; "Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation", Berkeley / "this generation will be called upon to pay", Rieu / "this generation will be held answerable for it all", Cassirer.
v52
g) Graceless. Luke concludes with a woe that roughly aligns with Matthew's first woe, Matt.23:13. Luke's placement of the woe at the end of his list, as with Matthew's placement at the beginning of his list, is emphatic by position. In Matthew's version, the charge against the scribes and Pharisees is that they have shut the entrance door to the kingdom, not only blocking their own chance to enter, but the chance of others as well. Luke makes the same point, but in the terms of the removal of a key which enables access to the divine knowledge of God, so blocking their own entry, and the entry of others into the kingdom. If we were to ask Luke's friend and colleague, the apostle Paul, for the key to the kingdom, he would most likely say the gospel / good news of the gift of God's divine grace through faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, apart from works of the law. We can only assume that this is the key in mind, and in any case, what other key is there? Again, the lesson is by implication, and should be of particular concern for preachers - the danger of moralising rather than gospelising!
toiV nomikoiV (oV) dat. "experts in the law" - [woe to you] lawyers. Standing in apposition to the dative of disadvantage pronoun "to you", dative in agreement.
oJti "because" - because. Introducing a causal clause explaining why it is "woe" to the lawyers.
thV gnwsewV (iV ewV) gen. "[key] to knowledge" - [you took the key] of knowledge. The genitive is adjectival, verbal, objective, as NIV, or idiomatic, "you have removed the key which unlocks the door of knowledge", Barclay.
autoi pro. "yourselves" - [you did not enter] you = yourselves. The use of the personal pronoun here is intensive, emphatic.
touV eisercomenouV (eisercomai) pres. mid. part. "those who were entering" - [and you hindered] the ones entering. The participle serves as a substantive, accusative direct object of the verb "to hinder."
v53
iii] Conclusion; The opposition of the religious authorities, v53-54. With the two infinitives "to besiege" and "to inquire with hostility", Luke intensifies the opposition of the religious authorities against Jesus. Now the authorities seek to qhreusai, "to entrap him", to find grounds upon which to bring a charge against him.
exelqontoV (exercomai) gen. aor. part. "when [Jesus] went" - [he] having gone out. The genitive participle with its genitive subject "he", forms a genitive absolute construction, temporal, as NIV.
kakeiqen "outside" - and from there. Here as an adverb, "from there", ie., "outside" of the house of the Pharisee.
enecein (enecw) pres. inf. "to oppose [him fiercely]" - [the scribes and the pharisees began] to besiege [him hard = vehemently and to inquire with hostility, interrogate]. The infinitive, as with "to inquire with hostility", are complementary, completing the sense of the verb "to begin."
peri + gen. "-" - about [many things]. Expressing reference / respect; "to draw him out by cross-questioning him on many points", Berkeley. Note that the comparative "more" is uses as a reinforced positive, TH; "on many points."
v54
enedreuonteV (enedreuw) pres. part. "waiting" - laying in ambush for = plotting against [him]. The participle is adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of their "interrogation".
qhreusai (qhreuw) aor. inf. "to catch" - to hunt = entrap. The infinitive is adverbial, final, expressing purpose; "in order to entrap."
ti acc. pro. "in something" - certain = something [from the mouth of him]. The pronoun serves as a substantive, "a certain something", introducing a nominal phrase, accusative of reference / respect, "with respect to something he might say"; to trip him up "with his own words", NEB. The preposition ek, "from", expresses source / origin.
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