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FOUR CHARECTERISTICS OF DISCIPLESHIP AN INTERPRETIVE PAPER ON LUKE 17:1-10

Clyde W. Overman III NTS5110B New Testament: Jesus and the Gospels November 16, 2012

MIT: Luke 17: 1-10 Jesus instructs his disciples on the proper conduct and attitude that is fitting for the people of Gods kingdom. Outline:

I. Avoid Becoming False Teachers (17: 1-3a). 1 Jesus said to His disciples: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3So watch yourselves.

II. Practice Repentance and Forgiveness (3b-4). 3 If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive him.

III. Exercise Faith (5-6) 5 The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith! 6He replied, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you.

IV. Serve out of Duty (7-10) 7 Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, Come along now and sit down to eat? 8Would he not rather say, Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.

Introduction By definition, a disciple is a follower of the doctrines of a particular teacher. Therefore, Christians who truly desire to be followers of Jesus Christ must commit to following his teachings. When Christians consistently live with that purpose, they are committing to the process of discipleshipgrowing toward Christ-likeness by faithfully obeying the teachings of Christ that have been handed down from the time of Christ to the present age, first through the apostles, then through the Scriptures. Luke 17:1-10 is a small unit of Scripture where Jesus imparts special one-on-one instruction to his disciples in the form of four fundamental truths related to discipleship. These truths exemplify the proper conduct and attitude that is fitting for the people of Gods kingdom. Context There is no reason to discount Luke, the physician and dear friend (Col. 4:14, NIV) of Paul as the author of the two-volume set of Luke-Acts, as is the long held tradition. Lukes purpose for writing is clearly stated in the opening verses of the gospel (1:1-4), where he assures Theophilus that he personally investigated all that had occurred [regarding the life of Christ], and wrote a detailed and orderly account of his investigation. Therefore, Luke wrote to assure Theophilus that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of Gods plan to redeem all the peoples of the earth. Of course, this purpose extends to a wider audience of believers and seekers from the Greco-Roman world, and ultimately to all peoples of the earth.1 The structure of the book can be divided into five sections. The first section is the infancy material (1:1-2:52). This section contrasts Jesus and John the Baptist and illustrates that Jesus
1

William Hendricksen, Luke. New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids:Baker Books, 1978),16.

was superior to John, and that Jesus is the fulfillment of Gods ultimate plan and mission.2 The second unit (3:1-4:13) describes Johns call to prepare the people for Jesus ministry and shows Jesus qualifications to be the long awaited Messiah.3 The third section (4:14-9:50) consists of Jesus ministry in Galilee and highlights the miraculous and powerful ministry of Jesus that leads people to inquire of his exact identityto which Peter provides the answer, The Christ of God (9:28). This section also introduces and explains why the Jewish religious establishment opposed Jesus.4 The fourth section (9:51-19:44) is a long journey narrative that recounts Jesus fateful journey to Jerusalem. Along the way, Luke narrates alternating encounters between Jesus and the Pharisees and teaching moments between Jesus and the disciples. The journey section places a heavy emphasis on discipleship and details the heightened opposition to Jesus by the religious leaders.5 Finally, Luke details the formation of the kingdom people throughout the journey narrative to the point that the reader of Luke should not be surprised to see a large crowd of disciples gathered at Jerusalem at the end of the journey narrative.6 The fifth section (19:45-24:53) describes the final days of Jesus leading up to and including his trial, death, and resurrection, including a series of controversies between Jesus and the religious leadership in Jerusalem that sets his betrayal into motion. Luke also highlights how Jesus died as an innocent person and in fulfillment of Gods plan. The resurrection of Jesus

Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 24 Ibid. Ibid, 25 Ibid.

Luke T. Johnson, Luke-Acts, in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 4, K-N, ed. David N. Freidman (New York: Doubleday, 1992),414.

begins the realization of the next step in Gods ultimate plan to redeem fallen humanity.7 Luke 17:1-10 falls into the larger journey to Jerusalem narrative (9:51-19:44), and is located at the end of a long subsection that is largely concerned with the question of who will be included in the kingdoma section that begins in chapter 13 (see 13:23). Luke returns to the journey motif in verse 11, where he begins a new subsection.8 Therefore, the context and meaning of Luke 17:1-10 is mostly derived from the previous sections. Throughout this entire subsection, Jesus alternates between interacting with the Pharisees and teaching his disciples the fundamentals of discipleship, including the expectations of members of the kingdom. Luke 17:1-10 is a teaching moment between Jesus and a large group of his disciples, which also includes the inner group of the twelve apostles (17:1,5). In the previous section (16:14-31), the Pharisees were the direct targets of Jesus teaching and of the parable of the rich man and the beggar. However, it should not be assumed that his teaching moments were limited to either group. In fact, throughout this entire section Jesus seems to have made a practice of speaking to one audience in the presence of another.9 This served two functions: (1) the disciples were to understand where the Pharisees were wrong and seek to avoid their erroneous behavior and teachings; (2) the fact that the two groups received parallel instruction from Jesus indicates that he was open to the idea that the Pharisees could hear his teaching and respond accordingly while also serving as vital instruction for the disciples.10

Bock, Luke, NIV.,25.

Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 610.
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Ibid, 611. Ibid.

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Finally, most scholars affirm that Luke 17:1-10 is comprised of four distinct sayings of Jesus that have no connection to each other and that Luke stitched them together to form this unit. But this reasoning is difficult to affirm in light of Lukes stated purpose of providing an orderly account (1:3). As Hendrisksen points out, Lukes thoroughly inspired report is not a hodgepodge.11 Therefore, this work will consider Luke 17:1-10 as one coherent teaching that Jesus presented to his disciples for the purpose of contrasting the false teachings of the Pharisees with four characteristics that kingdom people should embody. Specifically, Jesus instructs his disciples (1) to avoid becoming false teachers; (2) to practice repentance and forgiveness; (3) to exercise faith; (4) and to serve out of a sense of duty. Content Avoid Becoming False Teachers (17:1-3a) Jesus said to His disciples: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves. The phrase, Things that cause people to sin (skandalov, v.1), denotes enticement to unbelief, cause of salvations loss.12 Understood in that vein, verses 1-3a amount to a serious warning to the disciples to avoid being the cause of the type of sin that leads to apostasy, such as false teaching. The phrase, bound to come (v.1)which Luke uses elsewhere in contexts related to warnings of false teacherssuggests that false teachers, and the sin they bring, will be a
11

Hendricksen, Exposition, 794.

Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider, eds., Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993), 3:249.

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continuing problem for Jesus disciples after his death and resurrection.13 Jesus follows that statement with a pronouncement of a woe against the person that causes people to fall away from the faith. This stern judgment resembles woes that Jesus leveled on the Pharisees for leading people astray with their false doctrines (Matt. 23:13-15). The seriousness of Jesus warning is evident by the powerful word picture that follows the woe, which describes the penalty for a most egregious sin that pictures the offender being plunged into the sea with a large stone tied around his neckwhere he would presumably drown an agonizing death. Jesus said it would be better to die that way than to cause the people of the kingdom to fall away from the faith (v. 2). Jesus ends this section with an imperative (watch yourselves, v.3a) that functions as a summary of Jesus exhortation. The disciples, then, are instructed to guard against teaching false doctrine, which can sway some to fall away from the faith. The command is most likely directed toward those who will teach in the Christian community.14 Especially vulnerable to false teachings are the little ones (v. 2), which is most naturally a reference to people who are young in the faith and most susceptible to being led astray by false teaching.15 Therefore, Christfollowers are to carefully consider the content of their teaching so as to protect the whole community of believers, and in particular those who are weak in their faith.

Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24 of the New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992), 429. Stein does not mention false teaching and apostasy as the sin in view, but he notes the following verses where Luke uses similar wording, all of which occur in the context of disciples being warned about the dangers of false teaching: Luke 17:23; 21:8; Acts 20:29-30. Darrell L. Bock, Luke, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994), 2:1384. Alfred Plummer, The Gospel According to S. Luke, 5th ed. The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1953), 399.
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Practice Repentance and Forgiveness (17: 3b-4) If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive him. These two verses comprise two conditional clauses that describe how Christ-followers should properly respond to interpersonal matters of sin and forgiveness within the community of Christ. As Bock points out, The point is that when one disciple does certain things, other disciples have certain responsibilities.16 In this case, Jesus says that when a believer sins, the community has a responsibility to rebuke him and to forgive him if he repents (v.3b). Jesus adds a qualifier that forgiveness must be extended seven times in a single day if necessary (v. 4). When Jesus speaks of rebuke, he has in mind a loving admonition in which a fellow believer persuasively points out the sin to an offender with the goal of repentance, and ultimately restoration.17 Believers are not to be condemned in their sins, as the legalistic Pharisees were fond of doing, but instead Jesus requires that sinners be lovingly persuaded to see the error of their way. Under such an approach, the offending brother will be more likely to seek forgiveness from those he offended. The qualifier of extending forgiveness seven times in a day should not be understood literally. Jesus gives a high number so that the burden of responsibility is placed on the one extending the forgiveness.18 In other words, Jesus requires that his followers stand ready to extend forgiveness at all times regardless of how difficult it might be to forgive the person and

16

Bock, Luke, BECNT, 1387. Stein, Luke, 429. John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, vol. 35B of the Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word Books), 838.

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indifference to the number of times the offense occurs. Two important qualities concerning how Christians should relate to each other within the context of community arise in this brief section. First, Christians are to pursue righteousness as a community. That is why Jesus commands his disciples to rebuke sin in their midst. Thus, Christians have a duty to keep each other accountable in their Christian walk so that the community as whole is walking in righteousness (Matt. 15-18). Second, Jesus expects his followers to pursue spiritual matters together as a family, where believers have the best interest of one another in mind, and where confronting serious matters of sin is an act of brotherly love.19 Exercise Faith (17:5-6) The apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith! He replied, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, Be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it will obey you. Jesus previous teaching on forgiveness was so challenging that the apostles, the most committed of Jesus disciples, speak up by asking the Lord, Increase our faith! (v.5). The apostles, it appears, feared that their faith was deficient in this area and asked Jesus to increase their faith so that they could meet the challenging responsibility of leading the community to engage each other as Jesus just commanded.20 Jesus response is that there is no need to increase their faith, for faith the size of a small mustard seed can uproot a much larger tree with the spoken word and plant it into the sea (v.6). Once again, there is no need to take Jesus word picture of the mustard seed and tree literally.
Bock, Luke, BECNT,1387. In relation to rebuking sin as family motif, see also Lev.19:17. See also Plummer, S. Luke, 400
20 19

Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, 838

The notion of planting a tree in the ocean paints a paradoxical image similar to the image of a camel going through the eye of a needle.21 The image illustrates that faith can accomplish amazing things and is used as a way to provoke the disciples to think about the nature of faith.22 In Jesus economy, faith is not something that can be increased or decreased. Rather, faith is a simple matter of possession: people either have it or they dont. In fact, Jesus response is worded in an unusual contrary-to-fact condition, that can literally be translated, If you have faith(and you do) you couldimplying that the apostles possessed the necessary faith, but were unaware of its presence and power in their lives. 23 Serve out of Duty (17:7-10) Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, Come along now and sit down to eat? Would he not rather say, Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty. The context of this short parable, which is unique to Luke, suggests that it could be addressed narrowly to the twelve apostles, who came into view in the previous section (v.5). According to this view, Jesus speaks of three specific duties in the parable that were also assigned to the apostles by Jesus and during the early church period: (1) plowing and (2) shepherding (v. 7), and (3) serving as deacons, (diakonei, v. 8). Serving as deacons is
21

Bock, Luke, BECNT,1391.See Mark 10:25; Matt. 19:24; Luke 18:25. Ibid. Stein, Luke, 430.

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reminiscent of Jesus command to the apostles to serve a meal upon their return from their work in the field in Luke 9:1-17, and strikingly similar to Jesus command to the apostles to prepare the Passover meal for him upon the completion of his field ministry (Luke 22:8; 13).24 With this understanding the parable implies that the apostles had a tendency to claim that their field workevangelizing and cultivating the fieldwas the sum of their duties. Thus when they returned home they had a tendency to place a higher value on their work in the field than the service required at home, such as serving (v. 8). The parable, then, instructs the twelve apostles that they are no greater than anyone else in the kingdom (Matt. 20:20-28; Luke 22:2430) and that they are called to perform all the duties required of kingdom work. Regardless if the above was the central focus, the parable is certainly applicable to all Christians of all eras. All Christians should view their identity as slaves (doulos, v. 7), or servants, of their master Jesus Christ, and should share in the responsibility of evangelizing the lost, shepherding fellow believers, and serving one another. Above all, every Christian is called to serve Christ dutifully without expectation of reward or recognition for service, unlike the Pharisees who sought honor and recognition for their service unto God. Christians serve because they are their masters slave and they are willing to do all things asked of them with the clear understanding that they cannot pick and choose what to obey (v. 10) 25

Minear, Paul S. 1974. "A NOTE ON LUKE 17:7-10." Journal Of Biblical Literature 93, no. 1: 82. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 15, 2012), 85. Minear argues that plowing is referenced in 1 Cor. 9:10; shepherding is referenced in Mark 6:34; 1 Cor. 9:7; Eph. 4:11; 1 Pet. 5:2-3; John 21:16; Acts 20:28; Luke 12:32. Minears argument is convincing, although he does not adequately explain how the apostles later justified their actions in Acts 6:2, where they specifically set aside the work of waiting on tables to others so they could focus on the ministry of the word.
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Bock, Luke, BECNT, 1393.

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Finally, the last verse in the parable is a fitting end to the entire section (17:1-10). When Jesus says that Christians should consider themselves as unworthy servants (v. 10), he is expressing a core truth of his gospelthat Christian conduct and service is neither a means unto salvation and entrance into the community, nor is Christian conduct and living a means to attain merit before God.26 All Christians recognize their inherent unworthiness and need for God, both prior to accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, and afterward. Therefore, those who teach and speak the truth (vv. 1-3a), who repent and forgive others (vv. 3b-a), who live by faith (vv. 5-6) and who serve without thought of reward (vv. 7-10), do so precisely because they recognize that it was only by the grace of God that they were called to serve in his kingdom and that it is likewise only by the grace of God by which they receive the power to uphold the high ideals of kingdom life, as expressed by King Jesus.27 Application The commands and instructions in this text all relate to the issue of discipleship and the traits that Gods people should seek to put into practice in their daily walk with Christ. In this context, the ability to put those traits into practice begins with knowing and understanding the truths of Gods Word. The warning against false teaching, while primarily directed at teachers, certainly applies to all Christians. After all, we are all priests with a commission to share the marvelous truths of the gospel (1 Pet. 9-10). In that sense, all Christians share a responsibility to know and to share the truth about God, his Son, and his Scriptures so that we will not be a stumbling block to others.
Shelton, Robert M. 1977. "Luke 17:1-10." Interpretation 31, no. 3: 280-285. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 15, 2012), 283
27 26

Ibid.

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When we know the truth and walk in the truth, we will be better equipped to not only recognize sin when it is in our midst, but we will be spiritually prepared to rebuke, restore, and forgive those who have fallen into sin around us. Knowing the truth will also produce in us the faith to approach our brothers and sisters in love and gentleness when it is time to expose their sin. Lastly, when we walk in truth we are fully aware of our own unworthiness and brokenness before God. It is then that we recognize that we are to put to death the passions of this world and die to self in complete submission and service to the King who has graciously called us into his kingdom. Of course, when we put all of these traits into practice we will be walking ever closer to Christwhose life exuded truth, forgiveness, faithfulness, and service. If it was good enough for him, it should be good enough for us.

Works Cited Balz, Horst, and Gerhard Schneider, eds. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993 Bock, Darrell L. Luke 9:51-24:53.vol 2. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994. . Luke. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997. Hendricksen, William. Exposition of the Gospel According to Luke. New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978. Johnson, Luke T. Luke-Acts. In The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 4 K-N, ed. David. N. Freidman, 1-6. New York: Doubleday, 1992. Minear, Paul S. "A NOTE ON LUKE 17:7-10." Journal Of Biblical Literature 93, no. 1 (March 1974): 82. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 15, 2012). Nolland, John. Luke 9:21-18:34.Vol. 35B of the Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word Books, 1993. Plummer, Alfred. The Gospel According to S. Luke. 5th ed. The International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1953 Shelton, Robert M. "Luke 17:1-10." Interpretation 31, no. 3 (July 1, 1977): 280-285. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed November 14, 2012). Stein, Robert H. Luke. Vol. 24 of The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1992.

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