But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
Parallel translations
- WEB But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
- KJV But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.
- BSB But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.
- NKJV But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.
- NLT But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Pharisees and lawyers rejected God's purpose by refusing John's baptism. Their pride blinded them to God's saving call.
Overview
In contrast to the repentant, the religious leaders spurned God's plan by declining John's baptism of repentance. Their self-righteousness left them unprepared to receive the Messiah. This sober warning shows that rejecting God's appointed means and messengers is to reject God's gracious counsel for salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Luke 13:34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
- 2 Cor 6:1Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain,
- Jer 8:8“‘How do you say, “We are wise, and Yahweh’s law is with us?” But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has worked falsely.
- Matt 22:35One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him.
- Rom 10:21But as to Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
- Eph 1:11in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;
- Gal 2:21I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
- Acts 20:27for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 7:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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