Kingdom is within or in your midst

Kingdom is within or in your midst

Should Luke 17:21 say that the kingdom is within, or in your midst?

The KJV reads within

Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. KJV

However, some modern versions read in your midst (or similar)

Luke 17:21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” NIV

Luke 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” ESV

Luke 17:21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” NASB

This is not a variant issue, the same Greek word, ἐντὸς entos, underlies each translation. Entos is found in the NA28/UBS5 text and the Textus Receptus.

Rather this is a theological and interpretational issue.

Entos means within, inside. It is derived from the Greek preposition ἐν en, meaning in. It should also be noted that entos in Luke 17:21 is in the prepositional form of the word.

Entos is used just one other time in the entire New Testament, Matthew 23:26 where it is in reference to the inside of a cup as opposed to the outside of the cup.

Matthew 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. KJV

This is exactly how most modern versions translate entos in this verse

Matthew 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. NIV

Matthew 23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. ESV

Matthew 23:26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may also become clean. NASB 

All English Bibles that preceded the KJV read within

The Latin vulgate reads intra.vos which is unambiguous in its meaning. It is something inside you.

Luke 17:21 neque dicent ecce hic aut ecce illic ecce enim regnum Dei intra vos est

Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.Vulgate

The Peshitta and Harklean Syriac versions read within you.

The Syriac Sinaitic manuscript and the Curetonian manuscripts read within you although they may be considered ambiguous readings with a possible understanding they could mean amongst.

Entos is also used 6 times in the Greek Septuagint. Each time is has the clear meaning inside, within,

Psalam 39:3 My heart grew hot within me, and a fire would kindle in my meditation: I spoke with my tongue,BrentonsSeptuagint

Psalm 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.BrentonsSeptuagint

Psalm 109:22 Deliver me, for I am poor and needy; and my heart is troubled within me.

Song of Solomon 3:10 He made the pillars of it silver, the bottom of it gold, the covering of it scarlet, in the midst of it a pavement of love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. Brentons Septuagint 

In the midst here actually meaning the inside.

Isaiah 16:11 Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and thou hast repaired my inward parts as a wall.BrentonsSeptuagint

Daniel 10:16 And, behold, as it were the likeness of a son of man touched my lips; and I opened my mouth, and spoke, and said to him that stood before me, O my lord, at the sight of thee my bowels were turned within me, and I had no strength. Brentons Septuagint 

Every single occurrence of Entos in the Bible means within the inside. This obviously excludes Luke 17:21 if one holds to amongst you being the correct interpretation.

If the meaning was amongst you then there is a much better Greek word to have used, μέσος Mesos. John used this to refer to Jesus who was amongst them. 

John 1:26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

In the midst would be much better rendered En meso ἐν μέσῳ. We find this numerous times in the Old and New Testaments.  (27 times in the NT and over 300 in the Septuagint).

I shall just give a few examples here.

John 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Mark 6:47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

Luke utilses this phrase numerous times in Luke and Acts  Again I shall give some examples.

Luke 2:46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

Luke 8:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.

Acts 1:15 And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

Had Luke wished to express amongst you in Luke 17:21 then it would be going against the way that he himself recorded that very meaning on numerous occasions.

The latin vulagte transaltes this phrase in a different way than in Luke 17:21

In Luke 8:7 for example the vulgate reads inter, which means amongst not within or inside.

Luke 8:7 et aliud cecidit inter spinas et simul exortae spinae suffocaverunt illud

And other some fell among thorns. And the thorns growing up with it, choked it. Vulgate 

In Acts 1:15 the vulgate reds medio, meaning midst or in the middle.

Acts 1:15 et in diebus illis exsurgens Petrus in medio fratrum dixit erat autem turba nominum simul fere centum viginti

In those days Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty):

Luke 2:46 also reads medio in the Vulgate.

We must also contrast entos with ektos. Ektos ἐκτὸς is the Greek word meaning outside.

It is used in Matthew 23:26 along with entos. Contrasting that what is inside with that what is outside.

Matthew 23:26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

So not only is entos meaning inside in this verse, it is directly contrasted with that which is outside. There cannot be any ambiguity of the meaning of entos or ektos in this verse.

Ektos is itself used numerous times (8) within the New Testament.

Its meaning is outside or except. apart from.

There is no reason beyond a theological understanding to translate entos as anything other than within or inside.

The reason that some people wish to change the meaning of entos to amongst you or within your midst is because they cannot understand the statement of Jesus to the pharisees. They have incorrectly assumed that Jesus if Jesus had said within you, he would have meant that the Kingdom of God was within the pharisees. As this is, correctly, not the case, then Jesus could not have meant within with the usage of entos and thus must have meant amongst you or within your midst. The argument makes sense but it is based on a theological misunderstanding of the statement made by Jesus.

Got questions

“Within you” comes off as an unfavorable translation, seeing that Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees at the time. Jesus was surely not saying that the kingdom of God resided within the Pharisees’ hearts. The Pharisees opposed Jesus and had no relationship with God. Jesus in other places denounced them as “whitewashed tombs” and “hypocrites
https://www.gotquestions.org/kingdom-of-God-within-you.html

Firstly, if Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God was amongst them, because he was amongst them, then this would make Jesus the Kingdom of God. Jesus is not the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, Jesus was not saying that the Kingdom of God was inside the pharisees but making a general statement in relation to the location of the kingdom of God in direct response to the question posed by the pharisees.

The pharisees had just asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God should come.

Luke 17:20 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:

Jesus in his response to this question answers it not by telling them WHEN but WHERE. The Kingdom which they looked for was not going to come by way of observation, it wasn’t as they thought something that was physical. The kingdom of God was internal, it is inside. When stating that the kingdom was within you he was making a general statement of the location of the kingdom, it was within. This does not mean that Jesus was saying the Kingdom was in the pharisees, if this was the case then he would have said it was only in the pharisees as he makes no mention of anyone else. Those that interpret this to be a statement to the pharisees telling them that the kingdom was inside of them, the pharisees must also interpret this to have Jesus say this ONLY to the pharisees. Thus the kingdom of God is only in the pharisees. This is obviously not the case, not only is the kingdom of God not only in the pharisees, it was not in the pharisees at all. In fact, the statement of Jesus stands perfectly with the understanding that the Kingdom wasn’t in the pharisees. They were seeking such a kingdom (either deceptively to try to catch Jesus in error, or genuinly seeking the kingdom but looking at the physical).

Jesus was simply correcting their misunderstanding of the Kingdom. They looked for a physical Kingdom, one brought in by might.

Jesus opposes this, saying that the kingdom was not one that could be seen on the outside but felt on the inside. But Jesus here also demonstrates their own wickedness. Telling them exactly where the Kingdom was, within, but they could not find it, even within themselves, which would have taken accepting Jesus as the Messiah that he is.

It is surely not by coincidence that the only other time that entos is used in the New Testament, it is also used by Jesus in direct response to the Pharisees.

In Matthew he was telling the pharisees that they cleaned the outside of the cup, a clear metaphor for their outward appearance, their traditions yet inside they were unclean. The importance here is again on the inside.

Jesus is not telling the pharisees that the kingdom was within them, but that the general location of the Kingdom was within not without.

Although I will not do it here, a study of the contrast between this word and the Kingdom of God would not doubt help in the understanding of the Kingdom of God is within.

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