Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Luke 18:27 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 27. 27And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Luke 18:27 locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement.
Read It With
- Luke 18:18–18:30
Read Luke 18:27 with 18:18–18:30. In isolation, this contribution—locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement—can be detached from its speaker, audience, scene or teaching sequence, and outcome. The complete unit establishes: A ruler asks about eternal life, hears commandments, and is told to distribute possessions to the poor and follow Jesus; sorrow exposes wealth's grip, impossibility yields to God, and disciples receive community with persecution.
Follow the Context
- Identify the actors, setting, and initiating speech or action in Luke 18:18–18:30.
- A ruler asks about eternal life, hears commandments, and is told to distribute possessions to the poor and follow Jesus; sorrow exposes wealth's grip, impossibility yields to God, and disciples receive community with persecution.
- Hold this material interpretive limit in view: Jesus' command is direct to this ruler within Luke's sustained wealth teaching. Interpreters debate its universality, but it cannot be reduced to private detachment while retaining hoarded advantage.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement—from the complete unit or override the unit's explicit boundary: The scene does not promise prosperity returns, shame poor people, authorize leaders to seize assets, deny safety or provision for dependents, or make wealth proof of damnation.
What Remains True
Luke 18:27 locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement. Read inside Luke 18:18–18:30, this contribution supports the unit's proportionate truth: A ruler asks about eternal life, hears commandments, and is told to distribute possessions to the poor and follow Jesus; sorrow exposes wealth's grip, impossibility yields to God, and disciples receive community with persecution. Its use remains accountable to affected people and the unit's explicit boundary.
How It Can Shape Life
- Luke 18:27 locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement. Its faithful response is proportionate to that role: Let Jesus expose possessions and status that govern allegiance, and practice generous solidarity without teaching that poverty buys salvation or leaders may seize assets.
Teach It Back
Explain Luke 18:27's specific contribution to Luke 18:18–18:30: locates salvation's possibility with God rather than wealth or human achievement. Include the preceding and following movement, one source-controlled uncertainty, one affected person or group, and what the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Luke 18:18–18:30 — A Rich Ruler Cannot Secure the KingdomSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Jesus' command is direct to this ruler within Luke's sustained wealth teaching. Interpreters debate its universality, but it cannot be reduced to private detachment while retaining hoarded advantage.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 18:18–18:30, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 18:18–18:30
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 18:18–18:30
Open source ↗