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Jews for Judaism
Commentary
Question: What does "this generation" mean in the verse, "Truly I say
to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take
place" (Matthew 24:32, Mark 13:30, Luke 21:32)?
Answer: Mark's
Jesus, after listing all the tribulations that the world must endure
before he returns a second time (Mark 13:3-29, see also Matthew
24:3-33) exclaims: "Truly I say to you this generation will not pass
away until all these things take place" (Mark 13:30, Matthew 24:34,
Luke 21:32). Jesus was directing this remark specifically to his
contemporary generation and not to some unknown future generation.
Jesus, addressing his disciples "privately" (Mark 13:3, Matthew 24:3)
listed what was going to happen before his return. He then added,
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and
you shall be hated of all nations for my names sake" (Matthew 24:9).
Concerning this, Mark's version adds, "he that shall endure to the
end, the same shall be saved" (Mark 13:13). Thus, it appears from this
last remark that at least some of the disciples would survive and be
present to witness the second coming and the end of time.
According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus expected
the tribulation period to occur before the last of his generation died
out. Thus, a limit is given within which the prophecies are to be
fulfilled. It should be noted that these "tribulations" were not
fulfilled in the events of the years 66-73 C.E., the period of the
First Jewish-Roman War. Jesus' own statement shows that the
culmination of the "tribulation period" was to see the parousia, the
second coming of Jesus (Mark 13:26; Matthew 24:3, 30), which certainly
did not occur during the war nor subsequently.
All of Jesus' contemporaries died without
seeing the fulfillment of his tribulation prophesy. As a result,
Jesus' words, especially the expression, "this generation" have
undergone reinterpretation. Nevertheless, the translation of genea is
"generation" or as Thayer explains it, giving Matthew 24:34 and Mark
13:30 as examples, "the whole multitude of men living at the time . .
. used especially of the Jewish race living at one and the same
period" (Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979, p.
112). G. Abbott-Smith writes that the Greek word genea means "race,
stock, family," but in the New Testament always "generation" (G.
Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 2nd ed.,
Edinburgh: T.&T. Clarke, 1923, p. 89). Arndt and Gingrich note that
the term means "literally, those descended from a common ancestor,"
but "basically, the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded
to include all those living at a given time, generation,
contemporaries" (W.F. Arndt and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1957, p. 153).
There is no need to interpret the verse,
"Truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these
things take place" otherwise than that Jesus was speaking here of his
contemporary generation. The expression "this generation" appears
fourteen times in the Gospels and always applies to Jesus'
contemporaries. That generation passed away without Jesus returning.
Therefore, we are confronted by another unfulfilled promise by Jesus.
Jesus did not return during the period he himself specifically
designated. Some commentators are of the opinion that "this
generation" means the generation alive when this prophecy comes to
pass, which they believe has yet to occur. However, the text shows
that Jesus was not speaking to an unspecified future generation; he
was speaking to his contemporary disciples and directed this prophecy
to them personally.
C. S. Lewis was an atheist turned biblical scholar. In
spite of his intellectual prowess, the supposed non-fulfillment of Christ’s
words regarding His soon coming was problematic. The following quote comes from
his 1960 essay titled "The World's Last Night":
"‘Say what you like,’ we shall be told by the skeptic, ‘the
apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is
clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their
own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find
very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created,
their delusion. He said in so many words, "this generation shall not pass away
till all these things be done." And He was wrong. he clearly knew no more about
the end of the world than anyone else.’"
"It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.
yet how teasing, also, that within fourteen words of it should come the
statement, ‘but of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels
which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ The one exhibition of
error and the one confession of ignorance grow side by side."
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