Read Luke 16 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.
Luke 16:1-31 Chiastic Structure:
Why does the central axis say that everyone is being forced into the Kingdom of God? The words and tenses and grammar of the Greek translates to that exact sentence, when you let it say what it says.
Matthew also recorded this teaching of Jesus (the words and tenses and grammar of the Greek exactly translated):
“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is being forced, and the forceful are seizing it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.” Mat 11:12-13
To force in the Greek is Strong’s G971 βιάζω biazō, meaning, “to force, to suffer violence.” Working back from the Septuagint to the Hebrew, we find:
Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. Gen 6:11
Violence is an abstract concept from the Hebrew Root Word Strong’s H2554 חמס chamas, a primitive verb meaning, “to wrong, to do violence to.” The ancient pictographs are chet + mem + sin.
chet ח = wall, thus outside, divide, half
mem מ ם = water, thus chaos, mighty, blood
sin ס = thorn, thus grab, hate, protect
According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, related words in this family are “cheese,” “heat,” and “sun,” because of the ancients’ method of making cheese. They poured milk in an animal skin bag, and then hung it out in the sun while pushing the bag back and forth to mix the contents. The heat and the mixing activated an enzyme which caused the milk to separate into curds and whey. The parable is telling that just as heat activated the separation (chet) of the milk (mem, as indicative of any liquid) into curds and whey, so hot passions or intense emotion (chet + mem) drives either actions which harm (sin, in its negative aspect of thorns as barbs which hurt or cause pain; this is the way it is used throughout the Hebrew Bible) or actions which help (sin, in its positive aspect of thorns as a protective barrier, understood as zeal or fervor).
The idea of being “forced” in Luke 16:16 does not necessarily mean coercive force, since we understand the broader message of Scripture to be that God presents His will and His ways, but then each individual is free to accept or reject it (Deu 30:19, Jos 24:15, Rev 3:20). Instead, the compelling nature of the kingdom’s urgent and powerful message confronts people with the need to make a decision. It’s an invitation so profund that it pulls people in.
As well, in God sending first John the Baptist, and then Jesus, He brought the kingdom near to mankind, not only making it accessible to everyone, but unavoidable that everyone consider it. Given that the kingdom of God, through their ministry, was dynamically breaking into the world in a new way, it challenged the status quo and demanded a response.
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
Matthew 11, The kingdom of heaven suffers violence – Christine Miller
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