What Does Luke 10:29 Mean?
But he, wanting to align himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?THE KEY
He asks where nearness ends while trying to establish that he himself is aligned.
THE MEANING
You can ask who counts as near while trying to establish your own alignment. Here, the boundary question grows out of the desire to vindicate yourself. “Neighbour” becomes a test of how small a circle can still leave you feeling right.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief this verse unsettles is that you can prove your own rightness by setting a narrow limit on whom you count as near.
THE ROOT
δικαιῶσαι ἑαυτόν
dikaiōsai heauton
GROWS FROM
δικαιόω (dikaioō), from δίκαιος (dikaios)
To declare or show as just or right; to establish as aligned.
“align” in this verse is dikaiōsai heauton. Luke places the man’s wish to establish himself as aligned beside his question about who counts as near. The question about the neighbour is bound up with his attempt to vindicate himself.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just, right, aligned.
δίκαιος
This is the quality the man wants to establish in himself.
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness, alignment.
δικαιοσύνη
The related noun shows that his question about the neighbour sits inside a question of what alignment means.
πλησίον
plēsion
GROWS FROM
πέλας
Near, nearby, at hand.
“neighbor” in this verse is plēsion. The Greek word carries the sense of nearness within the word translated “neighbour.” The question is therefore about where a person draws the boundary around who is close enough to count.
ALSO GROWS
plēsion: Near, nearby; a neighbour.
πλησίον
The person called a neighbour is, at the word’s center, someone near.
plēsiázō: To approach, come near.
πλησιάζω
The related verb makes nearness a movement toward someone, not only a category assigned to them.
THE PATTERN
Scripture makes nearness visible through love enacted toward another, while self-vindication asks where the circle ends.
You shall not avenge, nor hold a grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.Which of these three seems to you to have become a neighbor to the one who fell among the robbers?Love does not work evil on the neighbor. So love is the fullness of the instruction.THE THREAD
I tell you, this man went down to his house aligned, rather than the other, for everyone who lifts himself up will be brought low, and the one who lowers himself will be lifted up.Luke uses the same Greek verb family for the man’s wish to justify himself here and for the tax collector being “justified” there. The echo sharpens the tension between self-vindication and the standing described in the parable.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us