This Generation

[John Reece]

This is a research-only, non-debate, thread. The purpose is to present a survey of exegetical commentary on the occurrence of genea in Matthew 23:36. and 24:34, plus parallel texts in Mark and Luke.

If anyone wishes to argue against the comments made by exegetical scholars presented in this thread, or to quote opinions of writers who are not scholars of the Greek text, let him do so by starting a thread of his own.

From Matthew 19-28 (International Critical Commentary), by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr.:

36. 'This generation' refers not to 'the "unbelieving and perverted" in the whole of Israel's history' but to the contemporaries of Jesus and his followers. This is clearly the meaning throughout the First Gospel (11:16; 12:41-42 45; 24:34).

[undead]

Blue Letter Bible - Thayer's Lexicon



3. "The whole multitude of men living at the same time".

[John Reece]

From Matthew 19-28 (International Critical Commentary), by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr.:

24:34. [greek]genea[/greek] plainly refers to Jesus' contemporaries in 11:26; 12:39, 41, 42, 45; 16:4; and 17:17, as well as in the close parallel in 23:36 [...]. In summary, then, the last judgment will fall upon 'this generation' just as earlier judgments fell upon the generation of the flood and the generation of the wilderness.

[undead]

In summary, then, the last judgment will fall upon 'this generation' just as earlier judgments fell upon the generation of the flood and the generation of the wilderness.[/indent]

Matt 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

"All these things" does not equate to the LAST judgment.

[John Reece]

Two things about this post:

• Words written by W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison are attributed to John Reece

• The comment in the post gives the impression that "Matt 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation" is the text about which the comment in the quote was written; whereas that fact is that the comment by Davies and Allison in the quote was not about 23:36; rather, it was about 24:34.

In my next post, I will give the full quote of the challenged comment by Davies and Allison, for the sake of clarity, as it needs to be read in full now that it has been subjected to challenge.

[John Reece]

See this post for the reason why I am re-doing the following comment. Davies and Allison are premillennialists, so their comment does not reflect a preterist perspective. My original post of the comment was truncated only because this thread is narrowly focused is the usage of genea, and the full quote transcends that narrow focus.

From Matthew 19-28 (International Critical Commentary), by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr. (brackets added):

24:34. [greek]genea[/greek] plainly refers to Jesus' contemporaries in 11:26; 12:39, 41, 42, 45; 16:4; and 17:17, as well as in the close parallel in 23:36, and the placement of our verse after a prophecy of the parousia is suggestive. If it be objected that this makes for a false prophecy and raises the issue of 2 Peter 3:3-4,. we can only reply that some of Jesus' contemporaries were perhaps still alive when Matthew wrote, so he did not have the problem we do. In summary, then, the last judgment will fall upon 'this generation' just as earlier judgments fell upon the generation of the flood and the generation of the wilderness.

24:34 = Mk 13:30. accurately reflects the teaching of Jesus himself. Whether or not our saying is created out of the tradition behind 10:23 and Mk 9:1. or represents a separate logion, the best explanation for the church's Naherwartung [expectation of an imminent event —JR] and Jn 21:20-23. is that Jesus himself used the language of imminence.

[John Reece]

From page 282 of Matthew (The Anchor Bible), by W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann (brackets added):

23:36. Cf. 24:34; the 'coming' of The Man [= Albright and Mann's term for The Son of Man —JR] to the Father will certainly happen in this generation, when The Man is exalted in the glory of his passion-resurrection. The coming sufferings Jesus sees as judgment upon official Judaism for its refusal of him and his ministry.

generation (Greek genea). This word may certainly mean "lifetime," and not simply "generation" in our sense of the term. Cf. Donald W. Prakken, Studies in Greek Genealogical Chronology, London: Mitre Press, 1944, for the fullest treatment. There is the same fluctuation of meaning in Biblical Hebrew dōr and Syriac dārā.

[Dee Dee Warren]

thank you for this thread John

[John Reece]

thank you for this thread John

Thank you for this forum, Xena.

[John Reece]

From Matthew (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, volume 8), by D. A. Carson:

34 "I tell you the truth" emphasizes the importance of what it introduces. "This generation" (see on 11:16; 12:41-42; 23:36; cf. 10:23; 16:28) can only with the greatest difficulty be made to mean anything other than the generation living when Jesus spoke. Even if "generation" by itself can have a slightly larger semantic range, to make this generation refer to all believers in every age, or the generation of believers alive when eschatological events start to happen, is highly artificial.

[John Reece]

From The Gospel of Matthew (NIGTC), by John Nolland:

24:34 Matthew uses [greek]genea[/greek] for the tenth time. Though his use of the term has a range of emphases, it consistently refers to (the time span of) a single human generation. All the alternative senses proposed here (the Jewish people; humanity; the generation of the end-times signs; wicked people) are artificial and based on the need to protect Jesus from error. 'This generation' is the generation of Jesus' contemporaries.

[TyRockwell]

Matt 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

"All these things" does not equate to the LAST judgment.

I will start another thread to show that "all these things" have not ceased, unless you agree to its inclusion here. That would most likely make this a debate thread.

[John Reece]

I will start another thread to show that "all these things" have not ceased, unless you agree to its inclusion here. That would most likely make this a debate thread.

From the OP:

This is a research-only, non-debate, thread. The purpose is to present a survey of exegetical commentary on the occurrence of genea in Matthew 23:36. and 24:34, plus parallel texts in Mark and Luke.

If anyone wishes to argue against the comments made by exegetical scholars presented in this thread, or to quote opinions of writers who are not scholars of the Greek text, let him do so by starting a thread of his own.

[TyRockwell]

From the OP:

This is a research-only, non-debate, thread. The purpose is to present a survey of exegetical commentary on the occurrence of genea in Matthew 23:36. and 24:34, plus parallel texts in Mark and Luke.

If anyone wishes to argue against the comments made by exegetical scholars presented in this thread, or to quote opinions of writers who are not scholars of the Greek text, let him do so by starting a thread of his own.

eschaton has already started another thread: "More comments John Reece's "this generation" thread.
I will there post the logical predicament to your position.

[John Reece]

From Matthew (TNTC), by R. T. France (brackets added):

24:32-33. [...]. As Jesus' discourse was prompted by the question when the temple would be destroyed, it is natural to see that reference here; the 'abomination of desolation' and the events which accompany it will surely mark the end of the temple and all that it stood for.

24:34. The time of this catastrophic event is now even more closely specified, and the solemn Truly, I say to you marks this out as a pronouncement to be noted. Those who interpret this passage as referring to the parousia either conclude that it proved to be untrue, or that this generation does not here carry its normal meaning. It has, for instance, been taken to mean 'the Jewish race', or 'unbelieving Judaism. It is unlikely that such an improbable meaning for the noun would have been suggested at all without the constraint of apologetic embarrassment! Nor can all these things be taken to exclude the events described in the immediately preceding verses. On the natural understanding of this verse either Jesus was wrong (or Matthew has misunderstood him), or the discourse has not yet taken up directly the question of verse 3b, the 'sign of your parousia and the close of the age', but has rather concentrated entirely so far on the first part of the disciples' question, 'When will these things (the destruction of the temple) be?