Decypher

Luke 17:20-21

[20] And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
[21] Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.


Views on this? Correct interpretation?

Imnotspecial

I would say it is this born-again experience, when a person comes to accept Jesus as the messiah and decides to follow him, or when a secular person decides to do the right thing consistently.

Davka

An alternative translation has "the kingdom of god is in your midst."

I don't read Greek, so I have no idea which is most accurate. I do know that "in your midst" fits better with the numerous other references in the Gospels, such as "the kingdom of god/heaven . . . is among you/is here/is at hand/has come near/has come upon you/is not of this world"

Here are search results for all the references to the kingdom of god or heaven in the Gospels.

Sabine Grant

Topic better suited for BCH. Moved from ABR.

Toto

There's no secular component to this.

The Jews at the time (the first century Roman Empire dominated area) were looking for a military savior who would free them from Roman rule. This would usher in the Kingdom of God.

The Jesus character here is portrayed as telling his followers that salvation will not lie in military rebellion. (Of course, by the time the gospel of Luke was written, the Jewish War had ended with the destruction of the Temple, so the military rebellion had failed.)

The actual controversy here is whether Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God is within men's hearts, or is present in their midst in his person.

Theological Studies

This blogger prefers the interpretation that Jesus is telling the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God is near in his presence. This interpretation supports the idea that the Kingdom of God will arrive with Jesus' second coming, after the Tribulation.

A different interpretation is here

Horatio Parker

The invisible intelligible universe.

Truth, beauty, piety etc are non- material.

Iskander

[21] nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among* [or within] you.’

Verse 21 is translated as ‘among you’ or ‘within you’.

The ‘within you’ translation is usually interpreted as it is in your heart.

The ‘among you’ translation is taken to mean the speaker.

Which one do you prefer?

sotto voce

Like others made in this sort of context, this comment should be taken as the answer to a question, rather than as an independent theological statement; and, of course, in the context of the narrative. So whatever interpretation is put on it cannot be made primary, and must be hermeneutically agreeable with general statements about the kingdom. One of the conclusions reached has been eisegetical, concluding that everyone has the kingdom of God within them, and so are saved.

The questioners are 'the Pharisees', who are well established in the narrative as thoroughly opposed to Jesus, as sneering at him, and as trying to catch him out with questions. So the reader naturally supposes by now that a question from Pharisees is not liable to raise answers that are necessarily of general application. This answer does not fully match other 'definitions' of the kingdom, which is why it has been the subject of debate by those who have taken it as a categorical definition rather than as dialectic comment.

Jesus' answer is a) brief and b) prefaced with two negatives, one of which the Pharisees would have taken as personal disapprobation. So he is disabusing the heretical Pharisees of their own pre-suppositions; and the one positive comment is a barb. There is nothing friendly about this.

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV)

'Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation"

It is assumed because of what follows immediately:

"nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,'"

that Jesus meant only that the kingdom was not attended with the appurtenances of a worldly kingdom; but the word for 'careful observation' carries a sense of adverse attitude, as if the kingdom was to be ambushed or otherwise opposed. The Pharisees would have interpreted Jesus this way, though others, being innocent, could take it as meaning just 'careful observation'. Likewise, the positive statement could be taken in the way appropriate for the hearer.

"because the kingdom of God is within you."'

The kingdom was in no-one at all, in the proper sense, before the resurrection. But it was present, to an extent, in the disciples, merely because they were disciples, following. But it was also in the Pharisees, merely because they opposed Jesus. They recognised that their own power and status were at risk because of his authority, i.e. 'kingdom'. So the kingdom of God was already in the Pharisees if Jesus actually was the person whom the Pharisees had crucified for his claim. The kingdom was not necessarily welcome, but it was 'within' everyone who came into contact with Jesus.

ApostateAbe

It is hard to determine exactly what Luke believed the kingdom of God to be per this passage, but we can draw a conclusion about what Luke intended to exclude from his definition. In this passage, Jesus is correcting a competing interpretation of the coming of the Kingdom of God. It is NOT primarily something physically disastrous, as Luke's source Mark portrayed it. It is something abstract, ambiguous or mystic. The physically-disastrous apocalypticism in Mark had a deadline per two passages (Mark 9:1 and Mark 13:30): the deaths of the disciples of Jesus. But the gospel of Luke was written at about the time when all of the disciples of Jesus were probably dead. So, Luke softens the apocalypticism. You can also see it in Luke 9:27.

But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’

This passage is sourced from Mark 9:1. However there is a difference (emphasis added):

‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’

Luke removed "with power." Why? Because it seemed embarrassing, and Luke chose a different idea of what the coming of the kingdom of God would include.

The gospel of John and the gospel of Thomas are the latest of the five gospels, and they each go all the way in spiritualizing the kingdom. These passages seem to echo that passage in Luke.

John 18:36

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

Thomas 3

Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."

sotto voce

It's of no importance what Luke thought. If we will take the trouble to actually read a whole gospel at one time we will cease to talk in this way.

But then, if one is too timorous to go beyond a clapped out, archaic translation split up with numbered verses on separate lines, one will never really know what one is talking about.

I gave you a clue, so don't ignore it. What is important is what the Pharisees thought about the kingdom. And Luke, like any other simply dutiful chronicler, puts us fully in the picture in what is now known as the previous chapter. After a long parable about money, that ends with these words:

'"You cannot serve both God and money."' Lk 16:13 GNB

he tells us:

'The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight. 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 his way into it."' Lk 16:14-16 NIV

Present tense, Apostate. So what were the Pharisees doing, but pretending that the kingdom was in the future, while others, since John, were 'forcefully' laying hold of it, so keen were they to be reconciled with deity. Already. So the kingdom that the Pharisees were concerned about, were referring to, was the one that they knew they had no intention of laying hold of. But they were pursuing Jesus because they had to justify themselves before the people they were exploiting. Just as Jesus said they did. See? It's all very easy, if you merely use your eyes.

The kingdom meant doing as one is told, with respect to money, and other things, of course. Not something that human nature is too keen on, as human history has shown beyond a peradventure with its hypocritical 'churches', so the Pharisees were no different from the wealthy in any age. So their reaction is precisely what we should expect of them. In this context, the kingdom was nothing to do with the Second Coming. The Pharisees were far too upset with the First.