The Land, the Faith, and the Son of Man
Jesus’ question about the Son of Man finding faith comes at the end of the parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge, reinforcing the idea that Jesus is asking about the Last Judgement of the Land of Israel.
Conclusions on Faith and Luke 18:8b
The following brief excerpt is from my recent exegetical study on the meaning of Jesus' question of Luke 18:8b.
Three Readings of Luke 18:8b
NA28: plēn o uios tou anthrōpou elthōn ara eurēsei tēn pistin epi tēs gēs;1
ESV: Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?
Mine: Nonetheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find the faith on the land?
Conclusions: Terminology
The term Son of Man here is an allusion to the messianic figure mentioned in the Book of Daniel, who “approached the Ancient of Days [in heaven] and was … given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Dn 7:13–14).
The Greek term for the faith (with the article) carries the full range of meanings and senses of all the Hebrew words it translates in the LXX, of which the two primary words are “fear” and “trust.” The range of senses in the group of “trust” words include “rely on”, “put confidence in”, “take refuge in”, “hope in”, “hope for”, “wait for”, “put hope in”, “believe”, and “believe to be true.” In short, Jesus has the genuine, saving faith of Abraham in view.2
The term translated the earth in the ESV (and most English Bibles) can also be legitimately translated the land. Although a minority report, I believe the intended meaning here is “the land which is to be judged by the Son of Man,” that is, “the land of Judea,” generally, or “the land upon which sits the city of Jerusalem,” specifically. Of course, neither translation disturbs the core meaning of the verse.
Conclusions: Literary Context
Looking at the internal context of the passage, we see that Jesus’ question is appended to the epilogue (Lk 18:6–8) of the parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge (Lk 18:1–5). The parabolic widow’s mistreatment at the hands of the unrighteous judge reinforces the idea that the land Jesus is asking about in verse 18b is the land which is to be judged by the Son of Man. The parable ably illustrates present day Judea’s systemic exploitation of the fatherless (read: “orphans”), the widows, and the strangers, despite the innumerable obligations in the Torah to treat each of these groups with the utmost care and compassion (Dt 10:18; 14:28–29; 24:17–19; 26:12; cf. Is 1:17).
The stated purpose of Jesus’ parable is to show his disciples that, like the widow’s perseverance in seeking after justice, they must continue to pray for God’s justice – continual prayer being a sign of supreme piety – until the Parousia, that is, the “Day(s) of the Son of Man.” In maintaining their faith in this way, they will “have [the] strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36).
The previous passage to the parable (Lk 17:20–37) introduces all the themes alluded to in our verse: The Son of Man, God’s judgement of the unfaithful in the land/city, and his deliverance of the few righteous people there before the promised destruction. From this passage we can confidently conflate the coming of the Kingdom of God, with the Parousia, and with the Day(s) of the Son of Man. Also, with its cautionary examples of the Flood, and the destruction of Sodom, this passage further reinforces the idea above that, in verse 18b, Jesus is not asking about the whole world, but the local land of Judea, where God’s faithful few live, surrounded by the thoroughly wicked, just like Noah, Lot and their families. Jesus’ question, then, is posed as a kind of warning/reminder that the Son of Man is coming to both save the faithful (the righteous) Jews, and usher them into his eternal Spiritual Kingdom, and to condemn/punish the unfaithful (unrighteous) Jews, and destroy them along with his temporal Earthly Kingdom.
In the passage immediately after verse 18b, Jesus continues his eschatological discourse with another parabolic illustration of the societal divisions of his day (Lk 18:9–14). This parable reveals how God judges the prayer of the apparently righteous Pharisee as unrighteous; and the prayer of the apparently unrighteous tax-collector as righteous. The lesson for his disciples is clear: Like Noah, Lot, the widow, and the tax-collector, regardless of the scorn of everyone around them, they must keep living justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with their Lord (Mc 6:8), so that they, too, will escape the wrath to come, and stand forgiven before the Son of Man (Lk 21:36).
2. The ideas about the Greek and Hebrew terms in this paragraph come from Bultmann, TDNT, s.v., Πίστις. The parenthetical definitions of the Hebrew words come from James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Oak Harbor: Logos, 1997). The final conclusion is my own.
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