OET interlinear LUKE 17:5

Section 17:1–10: Jesus taught his disciples about sin, faith, and duty

At the end of chapter 16, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees. He concluded his parable about Lazarus and the rich man. Here in 17:1–10, he spoke to his disciples and taught them about several issues.Scholars have different opinions about whether the teachings in this section are thematically related to Jesus’ teachings in chapter 16. Some scholars say that the teachings in the two chapters are not connected. Other scholars do see a broad connection. Green says, “Especially due to its location adjacent to prior accounts of Jesus’ interaction with Pharisees, this pericope recapitulates Jesus’ message to his followers: They are not to be like the Pharisees!” (p. 611). Liefeld says that “it is also possible to see a logical connection between the end of chapter 16 and the beginning of chapter 17, if we understand ‘the things that cause people to sin’ to be the sins of the Pharisees, such as those mentioned in 16:14.” Scholars also disagree about whether the paragraphs in this section are related to each other. About this, Liefeld says that “there is a common unifying theme of attitudes in the Christian community” (p. 994). Morris also mentions this possible connection: “The connecting link here may be the attitude of the religious leaders. They were in danger of using their wealth wrongly, and they were also in danger of leading their lesser brethren astray—temptations that would confront his disciples as well as people like the Pharisees” (p. 279). Nolland (p. 835) says, “Luke seems to have cobbled a unity together here of three separate blocks of tradition (verses 1–2, 3–4, 5–6). The catchword link “into/in the sea” from verse 2 to verse 6 helps to give a formal unity to the piece, and it is likely that he intends the blocks so juxtaposed, to mutually qualify the meaning of one another.” He also says, “As he opens this new section (17:1–19) Luke has brought together three blocks of tradition to form a unit about the adequacy, despite all human frailty, of even the most meager of kingdom faiths for the radical challenge of Jesus’ teaching” (p. 839).

English versions divide these verses into sections in different ways. For example:

1. Most versions put 17:1–10 together in one section and have one heading. (The Notes follow these versions.)

2. Some versions divide 17:1–10 into three sections with a heading for each one. For example, the GNT has:

Some other possible headings for this section are:

Jesus taught his disciples to not cause others to sin, to forgive others, and to serve him humbly

Teachings about Forgiveness and Faith (NLT)

Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service (NET)

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 18:6–7 and 18:15 and in Mark 9:42. However, Jesus may have spoken these passages in a different context from the one in this section.

Paragraph 17:5–6

In previous paragraphs Jesus was speaking to a large group of his disciples. In this paragraph, the twelve apostles asked Jesus to increase their faith.Some scholars believe that this saying is connected to 17:1–4, being the response of the disciples to Jesus’ instruction about the severe punishment for causing a believer to sin and about the unlimited forgiveness that they must offer to believers who offend them. In light of these seemingly impossible standards, they felt the need for an increase in faith. For example, Morris (p. 280) says, “Apparently the apostles…think great faith is needed for forgiveness like that, so they say, ‘Increase our faith.’” Other scholars believe that this saying is unconnected to the preceding ones. Johnson (p. 259) says, “Its presence here may be due in part to the presence of the ‘sea’ in both this saying and that in verse 2.” Jesus’ response indicated that with only a little faith, they could do things that are impossible for human beings to do.

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

• ¶ The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us^(excl) more faith.”

• ¶ The apostles said to the Lord Jesus, “Please cause/help us to trust God more strongly/completely.”