Luke 18:2 Commentary and Bible Study

‘There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man.’ It is an extraordinary feature to introduce into the parable, for although Christ will end the lesson by saying how different God is to this judge, nevertheless the unjust judge occupies the place of God and a comparison is going to be made – however dissimilar they are to each other – between this judge and the God that we direct our prayers to. Here is Son of God comparing his heavenly Father with an unjust judge, and doing it for our benefit. This judge is presented as one who had a well-known reputation and it was a bad reputation. The citizens of that city would have been reluctant to come to him, and pessimistic about receiving any satisfaction. It was a dire situation which they faced when the place of power was occupied by one who would not help them, and cared more about his own wellbeing than about justice, and the alleviation of wrongs under his jurisdiction. Christ sets up this situation in which there is one who is unlikely to give his supplicants any redress. He occupies the seat of justice, and by occupying it, he stands in the way of a better man than himself who ought to be there. He does not fear God, and therefore it does not trouble his conscience that he fails so badly to fulfil his responsibilities. He does not care that evil men get away with their evil deeds. He has no regard for man either, especially the poor who are unlikely to reward him for taking their side. What will happen when someone comes with a pressing need? The question is answered by what happens next.