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LUKE 17:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Luke 17:19Luke 17:21
“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:”
Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, the coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed — the kingdom's coming cannot be observed (meta paratērēseōs, with careful observation, the same word as the hostile watching of the Pharisees). The kingdom is not the kind of event that can be tracked by watching for the right signs.

Church Fathers on Luke 17:20

Because our Savior, in His discourses which He addressed to others, spoke often of the kingdom of God, the Pharisees derided Him; hence it is said, And when he was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come. As though they said tauntingly, “Before the kingdom of God come, which you speak of, the death of the cross will be your lot.” But our Lord testifying His patience, when reviled reviles not again, but the rather because they were evil, returns not a…

Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

Or, perhaps, the kingdom of God being within us, means that joy that is implanted in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. For that is, as it were, the image and pledge of the everlasting joy with which in the world to come the souls of the Saints rejoice.

Gregory the Great · 6th century

Or the kingdom of God means that He Himself is placed in the midst of them, that is, reigning in their hearts by faith.

Bede · 8th century
Read all 4 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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