Did Jesus Condemn his "Generation?"

Jesus’s generation gets a bad rap in Biblical translation. For example, we have Matthew 16:4:

KJV: A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.:

Was Jesus really condemning his whole generation? That is not what his listeners heard.

The Greek word genea (γενεὰ) is consistently translated as "generation" in the English versions of the Bible. However, the Greek word has a much broader meaning than that. It means a "race," "offspring," "class," "sort," "type," "generation," "age," and "kind." Note the last two definitions, because they are very important in how Jesus uses this word. This is the root from which we get the term "genus" defining types of life. This is a feminine noun. There is something slightly insulting about using a feminine category to refer to men.

This noun also has a neuter form, genos, (γένος), that has the same meanings at the word above. It would apply more easily to either sex, but Jesus uses it in three verses, where it is always translated as a “kind.” In two verses, (Matthew 17:21, Mark 9:29), Jesus uses it to refer to a “spirit,” which is a neuter word., but it is also used in Matthew 13:47 to refer to “kinds” of fish.

Jesus uses this word in nineteen verses. More importantly, Jesus used it in several different contexts.

• Describing the people challenging him

• Describing a type of person,

• Describing a period of Time

It requires only a little detailed examination to see how he is using this word in a specific situation.

The “Types” Challenging Him

The first category includes verses where he is usually referring to the Pharisees. This category includes eleven of the eighteen verses in which this word is used, Matthew 12:41, Matthew 12:42, Matthew 12:45, Matthew 16:4, Matthew 23:36, Luke 11:29, Luke 11:30, Luke 11:32, Luke 11:50, Luke 11:51, Luke 16:8, Luke 17:25. You will notice that many of these verses are grouped together. This is because they were spoken during different encounters with the Pharisees,. and the different Gospels offer different versions of the same encounters.

In these verses, Jesus describes a type of character rather than attacking his challengers personally. The Gospel writers purposefully mention the Pharisees as the target of these sayings either prior to or shortly after the verse. In these cases, it is often very easy to see that Jesus means a certain type of person, specifically, those who are like Pharisees.

Let us look at the verse above, Matthew 16:4:

KJV: A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.:

What Jesus’s listeners heard:

A worthless and cheating type focuses on proof, and proof will not really be given except the proof of Jonah.

While Jesus did deride the Pharisees by name, most famously in Matthew 5:20 during the Sermon on the Mount, he prefers to refer to their "type" using genea rather than naming them. This makes these characterizations more timeless, applying to Jesus’s critics down through history.

How can we know that he wasn’t referring to his whole generation with these criticisms? In most of these cases, the crowd was on Jesus’s side against those challenging him. It is not only unlikely but somewhat absurd to think that he was attacking his entire generation as wicked and unfaithful when that attack would include his supporters. His target, the “type” he meant, would have been clear to those listening to him.

Other Categories

However, Jesus doesn’t only use this word when talking to opponents. He also uses genea to refer to a specific category of people, usually an unsavory type, when talking to other groups. This is also true of the neuter version, genos.

KJV: Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation;

This verse takes on a much clearer meaning if we understand that Jesus is talking about a type of person. This is what Jesus’s listeners heard:

Because whoever, when he is ashamed of me and these my ideas, in this type, this one, the cheating and mistaken…

Such verses also include those that are not as negative, Matthew 11:16 and Luke 7:31 where Jesus describes the type of people who act like children: 

KJV: But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows.

What Was Heard: To what, however, am I going to compare this type? It is like little ones having seated themselves in those marketplaces, the ones issuing orders to the others.

Jesus’s view of children is usually very positive, but the verse is meant to describe those who use peer pressure on others to get them to conform. This starts with children, but the type continues into adulthood. The word for “children” is neuter, applying to both sexes.

A Period of Time

We should not that genea also means “an age.” In a few verses, Jesus uses the term to refer to a specific period of time. That period of time could be the lifespan of a given generation, but it could also be the lifespan of the human race.  These verses include three parallels that quote more or less the same statement by Jesus in three different Gospels, Matthew 24:34, Mark 13:30, and Luke 21:32. They are all made in a conversation that begins with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Let us look at the version in Mark 13:30.

KJV: Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.

However, this is a bit of a trick on Jesus’s part. While the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem happens within a generation, the larger context is an allegory for the destruction of any civilization and, perhaps, the destruction of the world. So, the sense could be broader than just one generation and could be the lifespan of a race or nationality:

What Was Heard: Truly I tell you that never might it pass, this race, this one, until this: all these things might happen.

The Greek word kills two birds with one stone. Of course, it could also refer here to bad types of people, who will, of course, always be with us until the sky and the ground pass away.

Conclusion

We have no basis at all for limiting genea to a specific generation, the people who lived in Jesus’s era.  Jesus was usually very careful in describing the types of people to whom he was referring. Even when confronting opponents, rather than attacking them personally, he preferred to talk about certain types of people and let his listeners conclude for themselves who he meant.