The Meaning of Luke 17:21 Explained

Luke 17:21

KJV: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

YLT: nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.'

Darby: nor shall they say, Lo here, or, Lo there; for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

ASV: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, There! for lo, the kingdom of God is within you.

What is the context of Luke 17:21?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Neither  shall they say,  Lo  here!  or,  lo  there!  for,  behold,  the kingdom  of God  is  within  you. 

What does Luke 17:21 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 17:11-21 - The Man Who Was Grateful
Their common misery drew these poor outcasts together and made them forget the fierce national antipathies of Jew and Samaritan. When bidden to go to the priest, before there were any outward signs of healing, they started, and thus gave evidence of their faith that they were healed. It was this faith that saved them, because faith like this lets in the whole tide of God's saving health. In the case of the poor alien, it was clear that he was not only healed, but saved, as his gratitude and worship indicated. Do we thank God, not only for His miracles, but for His daily providence?
The best things are stillest. The deepest work of God, in the individual and in the community, does not reveal itself to the newspaper reporter, but steals on the world like Spring through garden and woodland. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 17

1  Jesus teaches to avoid occasions of offense;
3  and to forgive one another
5  The power of faith
6  How we are bound to God
11  Jesus heals ten lepers
22  Of the kingdom of God, and the coming of the Son of Man

Greek Commentary for Luke 17:21

Within you [εντος υμων]
This is the obvious, and, as I think, the necessary meaning of εντος — entos The examples cited of the use of εντος — entos in Xenophon and Plato where εντος — entos means “among” do not bear that out when investigated. Field (Ot. Norv.) “contends that there is no clear instance of εντος — entos in the sense of among” (Bruce), and rightly so. What Jesus says to the Pharisees is that they, as others, are to look for the kingdom of God within themselves, not in outward displays and supernatural manifestations. It is not a localized display “Here” or “There.” It is in this sense that in Luke 11:20 Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God as “come upon you” There is, beside, the use of εντος — entos meaning “within” in the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus saying of Jesus of the Third Century (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 426) which is interesting: “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (εντος υμων — entos humōn as here in Luke 17:21). [source]
Within []
Better, in the midst of. Meyer acutely remarks that “you refers to the Pharisees, in whose hearts nothing certainly found a place less than did the ethical kingdom of God.” Moreover, Jesus is not speaking of the inwardness of the kingdom, but of its presence. “The whole language of the kingdom of heaven being within men, rather than men being within the kingdom, is modern” (Trench, after Meyer). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 17:21

Luke 6:20 Kingdom of God [ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ]
Matthew has kingdom of heaven, or of the heavens ( τῶν οὐρανῶν )a phrase used by him only, and most frequently employed by Christ himself to describe the kingdom; though Matthew also uses, less frequently, kingdom of God. The two are substantially equivalent terms, though the pre-eminent title was kingdom of God, since it was expected to be fully realized in the Messianic era, when God should take upon himself the kingdom by a visible representative. Compare Isaiah 40:9, “Behold your God. ” The phrase kingdom of Heaven was common in the Rabbinical writings, and had a double signification: the historical kingdom and the spiritual and moral kingdom. They very often understood by it divine worship; adoration of God; the sum of religious duties; but also the Messianic kingdom. The kingdom of God is, essentially, the absolute dominion of God in the universe, both in a physical and a spiritual sense. It is “an organic commonwealth which has the principle of its existence in the will of God” (Tholuck). It was foreshadowed in the Jewish theocracy. The idea of the kingdom advanced toward clearer definition from Jacob's prophecy of the Prince out of Judah (Genesis 49:10), through David's prophecy of the everlasting kingdom and the king of righteousness and peace (Daniel 7:14-27; Daniel 4:25; Daniel 2:44). In this sense it was apprehended by John the Baptist. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
The ideal kingdom is to be realized in the absolute rule of the eternal Son, Jesus Christ, by whom all things are made and consist (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-20), whose life of perfect obedience to God and whose sacrificial offering of love upon the cross reveal to men their true relation to God, and whose spirit works to bring them into this relation. The ultimate idea of the kingdom is that of “a redeemed humanity, with its divinely revealed destiny manifesting itself in a religious communion, or the Church; asocial communion, or the state; and an aesthetic communion, expressing itself in forms of knowledge and art.”-DIVIDER-
This kingdom is both present (Matthew 11:12; Matthew 12:28; Matthew 16:19; Luke 11:20; Luke 16:16; Luke 17:21; see, also, the parables of the Sower, the Tares, the Leaven, and the Drag-net; and compare the expression “theirs, or yours, is the kingdom,” Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20) and future (Daniel 7:27; Matthew 13:43; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 25:34; Matthew 26:29; Mark 9:47; 2 Peter 1:11; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Revelation 20:1-15 sq.). As a present kingdom it is incomplete and in process of development. It is expanding in society like the grain of mustard seed (Matthew 13:31, Matthew 13:32); working toward the pervasion of society like the leaven in the lump (Matthew 13:33). God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and the Gospel of Christ is the great instrument in that process (2 Corinthians 5:19, 2 Corinthians 5:20). The kingdom develops from within outward under the power of its essential divine energy and law of growth, which insures its progress and final triumph against all obstacles. Similarly, its work in reconciling and subjecting the world to God begins at the fountain-head of man's life, by implanting in his heart its own divine potency, and thus giving a divine impulse and direction to the whole man, rather than by moulding him from without by a moral code. The law is written in his heart. In like manner the State and the Church are shaped, not by external pressure, like the Roman empire and the Roxnish hierarchy, but by the evolution of holy character in men. The kingdom of God in its present development is not identical with the Church. It is a larger movement which includes the Church. The Church is identified with the kingdom to the degree in which it is under the power of the spirit of Christ. “As the Old Testament kingdom of God was perfected and completed when it ceased to be external, and became internal by being enthroned in the heart, so, on the other hand, the perfection of the New Testament kingdom will consist in its complete incarnation and externalization; that is, when it shall attain an outward manifestation, adequately expressing, exactly corresponding to its internal principle” (Tholuck). The consummation is described in Revelation 21,22. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

Luke 17:21 Within you [εντος υμων]
This is the obvious, and, as I think, the necessary meaning of εντος — entos The examples cited of the use of εντος — entos in Xenophon and Plato where εντος — entos means “among” do not bear that out when investigated. Field (Ot. Norv.) “contends that there is no clear instance of εντος — entos in the sense of among” (Bruce), and rightly so. What Jesus says to the Pharisees is that they, as others, are to look for the kingdom of God within themselves, not in outward displays and supernatural manifestations. It is not a localized display “Here” or “There.” It is in this sense that in Luke 11:20 Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God as “come upon you” There is, beside, the use of εντος — entos meaning “within” in the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus saying of Jesus of the Third Century (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East, p. 426) which is interesting: “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (εντος υμων — entos humōn as here in Luke 17:21). [source]
Luke 17:23 Go not away nor follow after them [μη απελτητε μηδε διωχητε]
Westcott and Hort bracket απελτητε μηδε — apelthēte mēde Note aorist subjunctive with μη — mē in prohibition, ingressive aorist. Do not rush after those who set times and places for the second advent. The Messiah was already present in the first advent (Luke 17:21) though the Pharisees did not know it. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 17:21 mean?

nor will they say Behold here or There for the kingdom - of God in the midst of you is
οὐδὲ ἐροῦσιν Ἰδοὺ ὧδε Ἐκεῖ γὰρ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν

οὐδὲ  nor 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: οὐδέ  
Sense: but not, neither, nor, not even.
ἐροῦσιν  will  they  say 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: λέγω  
Sense: to utter, speak, say.
Ἰδοὺ  Behold 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: ἰδού  
Sense: behold, see, lo.
ὧδε  here 
Parse: Adverb
Root: ὧδε  
Sense: here, to this place, etc.
βασιλεία  kingdom 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: βασιλεία  
Sense: royal power, kingship, dominion, rule.
τοῦ  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
Θεοῦ  of  God 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: θεός  
Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities.
ἐντὸς  in  the  midst 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐντός  
Sense: within, inside.
ὑμῶν  of  you 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Root: σύ  
Sense: you.