Bible Strands
Luke 7:30
But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses a mixed crowd that includes Pharisees and experts in the law, immediately after contrasting the tax collectors' acceptance of John’s baptism with the religious leaders' refusal. The moment occurs during His journey to Jerusalem, highlighting the divergent responses to God’s messenger.
The words — βουλὴν (boulēn) translates literally to "counsel" or "purpose," and νομικοὶ (nomikoi) means "lawyers" or "experts in the law." The text states that these leaders actively rejected God’s design for themselves.
The thread — This pattern of religious authorities dismissing divine instruction appears in Luke 13:34 and Jeremiah 8:8, where scribes and leaders similarly reject God’s wisdom through their own entrenched traditions.
Why it lands — The verse requires a reader to assess whether their religious knowledge produces submission to God’s appointed means or self-directed resistance. It demands acceptance of divine grace rather than reliance on personal merit or tradition.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.
Cross-references
- Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- Jeremiah 8:8 How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?
- Matthew 22:35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question:
- 2 Corinthians 6:1 As God’s fellow workers, then, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
- Acts 20:27 For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.
- Romans 10:21 But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
- Galatians 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
- Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,