Mat 24:32-36 | RWP | e4.org | Putteth forth its leaves ( τα φυλλα εκφυη ). Present active subjunctive according to Westcott and Hort. If accented εκφυη (last syllable), it is second aorist passive subjunctive (Erasmus).

‏ Matthew 24:32-36

Putteth forth its leaves ( τα φυλλα εκφυη ). Present active subjunctive according to Westcott and Hort. If accented εκφυη (last syllable), it is second aorist passive subjunctive (Erasmus).

This generation ( η γενεα αυτη ). The problem is whether Jesus is here referring to the destruction of Jerusalem or to the second coming and end of the world. If to the destruction of Jerusalem, there was a literal fulfilment. In the Old Testament a generation was reckoned as forty years. This is the natural way to take verse 34 as of 33 (Bruce), "all things" meaning the same in both verses.

Not even the Son ( ουδε ο υιος ). Probably genuine, though absent in some ancient MSS. The idea is really involved in the words "but the Father only" ( ε μη ο πατηρ μονος ). It is equally clear that in this verse Jesus has in mind the time of his second coming. He had plainly stated in verse 34 that those events (destruction of Jerusalem) would take place in that generation. He now as pointedly states that no one but the Father knows the day or the hour when these things (the second coming and the end of the world) will come to pass. One may, of course, accuse Jesus of hopeless confusion or extend his confession of ignorance of the date of the second coming to the whole chain of events. So McNeile: "It is impossible to escape the conclusion that Jesus as Man, expected the End, within the lifetime of his contemporaries." And that after his explicit denial that he knew anything of the kind! It is just as easy to attribute ignorance to modern scholars with their various theories as to Jesus who admits his ignorance of the date, but not of the character of the coming.