The Meaning of Luke 14:11 Explained

Luke 14:11

KJV: For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

YLT: because every one who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he who is humbling himself shall be exalted.'

Darby: for every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that abases himself shall be exalted.

ASV: For everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  whosoever  exalteth  himself  shall be abased;  and  he that humbleth  himself  shall be exalted. 

What does Luke 14:11 Mean?

Verse Meaning

This verse expresses the principle involved (cf. Luke 13:30; Luke 18:14; Matthew 23:12). Self-exaltation leads to humiliation whereas humility results in exaltation (cf. Proverbs 25:6-7). The principle operates in the present and in the future. It operates in social situations and in kingdom situations.
This parable then was a lesson for the Pharisees especially, but also for Jesus" disciples and everyone else present, on the importance of humility. Participants in the kingdom and honored guests in the kingdom would be those who humbled themselves by following Jesus.

Context Summary

Luke 14:7-14 - Lessons For Guests And Hosts
The word rooms should be seats, r.v. We must, of course, guard against a false humility, which chooses a low seat in the hope of being invited forward. Let us seek it, because we are absolutely careless of prominence except as it gives us wider opportunity. The unconscious humility and meekness of a little child are very dear to Christ. Dwell on your own defects and on the excellencies of others till you realize that you are the least of all saints! Philippians 3:8.
Our Lord's words about invitations to our houses strike at the root of much of the so-called hospitality of modern society. Did not our Lord intend His words to be interpreted literally? They are imperative in their tone. He probably meant what He said. Some of us get so much thanks down here that there will be very little left to come to us at the resurrection of the just, when we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive our rewards, 2 Corinthians 5:10. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 14

1  Jesus heals the dropsy on the Sabbath;
7  teaches humility;
12  to feast the poor;
15  under the parable of the great supper,
23  shows how worldly minded men shall be shut out of heaven
25  Those who will be his disciples, to bear their cross must make their accounts beforehand,
31  lest with shame they revolt from him afterward;
34  and become altogether unprofitable, like salt that has lost its flavor

Greek Commentary for Luke 14:11

Shall be humbled [ταπεινωτησεται]
First future passive. One of the repeated sayings of Jesus (Luke 18:14; Matthew 23:12). [source]
Humbled []
See Matthew 11:29. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 14:11

Matthew 13:3 Parables [παραβολαῖς]
From παρά , beside, and βάλλω , to throw. A parable is a form of teaching in which one thing is thrown beside another. Hence its radical idea is comparison. Sir John Cheke renders biword, and the same idea is conveyed by the German Beispiela pattern or example; beibeside, and the old high German speldiscourse or narration. The word is used with a wide range in scripture, but always involves the idea of comparison:1.Of brief sayings, having an oracular or proverbial character. Thus Peter (Matthew 15:15), referring to the words “If the blind lead the blind,” etc., says, “declare unto us thisparable. ” Compare Luke 6:39. So of the patched garment (Luke 5:36), and the guest who assumes the highest place at the feast (Luke 14:7, Luke 14:11). Compare, also, Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:28.2.Of a proverb. The word for proverb ( παροιμία ) has the same idea at the root as parable. It is παρά , beside, οἶμος , a way or road. Either a trite, wayside saying (Trench), or a path by the side of the high road (Godet). See Luke 4:23; 1 Samuel 24:13. 3.Of a song or poem, in which an example is set up by way of comparison. See Micah 2:4; Habakkuk 2:6. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
4.Of a word or discourse which is enigmatical or obscure until the meaning is developed by application or comparison. It occurs along with the words αἴνιγμα , enigma, and πρόβλημα , a problem, something put forth or proposed ( πρό , in front βάλλω , to throw ). See Psalm 49:4 (Sept. 48:4); Psalm 78:2 (Sept. 77:2); Proverbs 1:6, where we have παραβολὴν , parable; σκοτεινὸν λόγον , dark saying; and αἰνίγματα , enigmas. Used also of the sayings of Balaam (Numbers 23:7, Numbers 23:18; Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15).In this sense Christ uses parables symbolically to expound the mysteries of the kingdom of God; as utterances which conceal from one class what they reveal to another (Matthew 13:11-17), and in which familiar facts of the earthly life are used figuratively to expound truths of the higher life. The un-spiritual do not link these facts of the natural life with those of the supernatural, which are not discerned by them (1 Corinthians 2:14), and therefore they need an interpreter of the relation between the two. Such symbols assume the existence of a law common to the natural and spiritual worlds under which the symbol and the thing symbolized alike work; so that the one does not merely resemble the other superficially, but stands in actual coherence and harmony with it. Christ formulates such a law in connection with the parables of the Talents and the Sower. “To him that hath shall be given. From him that hath not shall be taken away.” That is a law of morals and religion, as of business and agriculture. One must have in order to make. Interest requires capital. Fruit requires not only seed but soil. Spiritual fruitfulness requires an honest and good heart. Similarly, the law of growth as set forth in the parable of the Mustard Seed, is a law common to nature and to the kingdom of God. The great forces in both kingdoms are germinal, enwrapped in small seeds which unfold from within by an inherent power of growth.5. A parable is also an example or type; furnishing a model or a warning; as the Good Samaritan, the Rich Fool, the Pharisee and the Publican. The element of comparison enters here as between the particular incident imagined or recounted, and all cases of a similar kind.The term parable, however, as employed in ordinary Christian phraseology, is limited to those utterances of Christ which are marked by a complete figurative history or narrative. It is thus defined by Goebel (“Parables of Jesus”). “A narrative moving within the sphere of physical or human life, not professing to describe an event which actually took place, but expressly imagined for the purpose of representing, in pictorial figure, a truth belonging to the sphere of religion, and therefore referring to the relation of man or mankind to God.” In form the New Testament parables resemble the fable. The distinction between them does not turn on the respective use of rational and irrational beings speaking and acting. There are fables where the actors are human. Nor does the fable always deal with the impossible, since there are fables in which an animal, for instance, does nothing contrary to its nature. The distinction lies in the religious character of the New Testament parable as contrasted with the secular character of the fable. While the parable exhibits the relations of man to God, the fable teaches lessons of worldly policy or natural morality and utility. “The parable is predominantly symbolic; the fable, for the most part, typical, and therefore presents its teaching only in the form of example, for which reason it chooses animals by preference, not as symbolic, but as typical figures; never symbolic in the sense in which the parable mostly is, because the higher invisible world, of which the parable sees and exhibits the symbol in the visible world of nature and man, lies far from it. Hence the parable can never work with fantastic figures like speaking animals, trees,” etc. (Goebel, condensed). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The parable differs from the allegory in that there is in the latter “an interpenetration of the thing signified and the thing signifying; the qualities and properties of the first being attributed to the last,” and the two being thus blended instead of being kept distinct and parallel. See, for example, the allegory of the Vine and the Branches (John 15) where Christ at once identifies himself with the figure' “I am the true vine.” Thus the allegory, unlike the parable, carries its own interpretation with it. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
Parable and proverb are often used interchangeably in the;New Testament; the fundamental conception being, as we have seen, the same in both, the same Hebrew word representing both, and both being enigmatical. They differ rather in extent than in essence; the parable being a proverb expanded and carried into detail, and being necessarily figurative, which the proverb is not; though the range of the proverb is wider, since the parable expands only one particular case of a proverb. (See Trench, “Notes on the Parables,” Introd.) [source]

Matthew 23:12 Exalt himself [υπσωσει εαυτον]
Somewhat like Matthew 18:4; Matthew 20:26. Given by Luke in other contexts (Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14). Characteristic of Christ. [source]
Luke 18:14 Rather than the other [παρ εκεινον]
In comparison with (placed beside) that one. A neat Greek idiom after the perfect passive participle δεδικαιομενος — dedikaiomenos This moral maxim Christ had already used in Luke 14:11. Plummer pertinently asks: “Why is it assumed that Jesus did not repeat his sayings?” [source]
John 3:14 Lifted up [ὑψωθῆναι]
The following are the uses of the word in the New Testament: The exaltation of pride (Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15; Luke 14:11). The raising of the humble (Luke 1:52; James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6). The exaltation of Christ in glory (Acts 2:33; Acts 5:31). The uplifting on the cross (John 3:14; John 8:28; John 12:32, John 12:34). The reference here is to the crucifixion, but beyond that, to the glorification of Christ. It is characteristic of John to blend the two ideas of Christ's passion and glory (John 8:28; John 12:32). Thus, when Judas went out to betray him, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of man glorified” (John 13:31). Hence the believer overcomes the world through faith in Him who came not by water only, but by water and blood (1 John 5:4-6). [source]
James 4:10 He shall exalt you [υπσωσει υμας]
Future active indicative of υπσοω — hupsoō common verb from υπσος — hupsos (height), used by Jesus in contrast with ταπεινοω — tapeinoō as here (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14). [source]
1 Peter 5:6 Under the mighty hand of God [υπο την κραταιαν χειρα του τεου]
Common O.T. picture (Exodus 3:19; Ezekiel 20:33, etc.).That he may exalt you (ινα υπσωσηι — hina hupsōsēi). Purpose clause with ινα — hina and first aorist active subjunctive of υπσοω — hupsoō Cf. Luke 14:11; Philemon 2:9.In due time Same phrase in Matthew 24:45. [source]
1 Peter 5:6 That he may exalt you [ινα υπσωσηι]
Purpose clause with ινα — hina and first aorist active subjunctive of υπσοω — hupsoō Cf. Luke 14:11; Philemon 2:9. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 14:11 mean?

For everyone - exalting himself will be humbled and the [one] humbling will be exalted
ὅτι πᾶς ὑψῶν ἑαυτὸν ταπεινωθήσεται καὶ ταπεινῶν ὑψωθήσεται

πᾶς  everyone 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πᾶς  
Sense: individually.
  - 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ὑψῶν  exalting 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ὑψόω  
Sense: to lift up on high, to exalt.
ἑαυτὸν  himself 
Parse: Reflexive Pronoun, Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: ἑαυτοῦ  
Sense: himself, herself, itself, themselves.
ταπεινωθήσεται  will  be  humbled 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ταπεινόω  
Sense: to make low, bring low.
  the  [one] 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ταπεινῶν  humbling 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: ταπεινόω  
Sense: to make low, bring low.
ὑψωθήσεται  will  be  exalted 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: ὑψόω  
Sense: to lift up on high, to exalt.