ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Luke 16.31

Book: Luke · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

29. But Abraham saith, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent.

31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead. (Luke 16:29-31, ASV)

WEB

29. “But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ 30. “He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31. “He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:29-31, WEB)

KJV

29. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. (Luke 16:29-31, KJV)

YLT

29. 'Abraham saith to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them; 30. and he said, No, father Abraham, but if any one from the dead may go unto them, they will reform.

31. And he said to him, If Moses and the prophets they do not hear, neither if one may rise out of the dead will they be persuaded.' (Luke 16:29-31, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Abraham, in the parable, reported by Jesus
  • Audience: the Pharisees, described as covetous, who derided him
  • Location: during the journey to Jerusalem
  • Time period: the later Judean ministry

Theological reading

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. The closing line of the rich man and Lazarus makes a claim about evidence and disbelief that has obvious application to apologetics, and it cuts in a direction that is easy to get wrong.

The claim is not that evidence is unimportant, nor that miracles do not confirm. Luke's own second volume grounds the apostolic preaching on the resurrection as a public matter attested by witnesses. The claim is that where a settled unwillingness to hear the existing testimony is in place, additional evidence does not by itself dislodge it, because the obstacle is not located in the quantity of evidence.

The narrative irony is deliberate and pointed. The parable is told by the one who would rise from the dead, and John's gospel records that when a man named Lazarus was in fact raised, the response of some was to plot to kill both him and Jesus. Whether Luke's parable and John's narrative are connected is disputed and the shared name may be coincidence, but the pattern the parable describes is the pattern John reports.

The apologetic application should be careful. The verse is not a warrant for declining to give reasons, and using it that way inverts its function, since the rich man's brothers are said to have Moses and the prophets, that is, they already have testimony they are expected to weigh. What it warns against is the assumption that unbelief is always and only an information deficit.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.