There are two reasons why it is almost impossible to account for all the NT passages in which the word “likewise” appears. In the first place, there are several Greek words which can be translated in this manner. Secondly, translators into English can render any of these words as “so,” “in like manner,” “similarly,” “in the same way,” etc. Therefore the passages listed below should not be taken as a necessarily exhaustive compilation. But in each case, we are confronted with a comparison of sorts, of which the Bible is full, where a spiritual truth is explained by its similarity to something more readily observable in the physical world. I have limited the passages below to those which can be taken as some sort of command.
Matthew 7:12 // Luke 6:31
Whole books have been written concerning the Golden Rule and all of its implications. Boice makes some good points when he says: “It is clear above all else that to express the Rule in a positive form is to make it extremely more difficult. In fact, it makes it impossible for normal human beings to keep. It always has been possible for men to keep the negative of this saying. In its negative form the Rule is a legal principle, and the law always has self as center...On the other hand, if a man is trying to keep the positive form of this saying, it becomes evident early that this is precisely what he cannot do. And he cannot do it precisely because he is taking himself as the starting point.”
Matthew 18:35
Snodgrass, in his detailed analysis of
the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:23-35), points out
the following: “This parable, which appears only in Matthew, is a
two-stage double indirect narrative parable with a plot development.
It has a balanced three-part structure presenting the three scenes of
the narrative followed by a nimshal (an
explanation)...Regarding that explanation (v. 35), he states first
that some scholars wish to separate verses 34-35 from the rest of the
parable. However, his own opinion is expressed as follows:
“At
the narrative level the master's rhetorical question (v. 33) requires
an answer, and every reader wants to know what will happen to the
servant. The nimshal in v. 35 only does the necessary job of
explaining the referent of the parable...The attempts to reconstruct
the parable without the closing verses seem to be clear attempts to
distance Jesus from the idea of judgment...As the nimshal in
18:35 shows, the concern of the story is twofold: the necessity of
mercy and forgiveness and the seriousness of any failure to show
mercy and forgiveness..”
Matthew 24:32-44 // Mark 13:28-32 // Luke 21:31
Of these three parallel passages, Matthew uses “likewise” twice, in vv. 33 and 37; Mark only mentions the first of these occurrences; and Luke does not contain the word at all. The signs of Second Coming in Matthew are first compared to a natural event (the leafing out of a fig tree) and then with the suddenness of the flood in Noah's time. The conclusion after citing both these examples is stated in Matthew 24: “Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is also coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Luke 10:37
This command comes at the end of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Marshall summarizes this verse with the words: “with authority Jesus commands the lawyer to go away and begin to follow the Samaritan's example; the command in v. 28 [to love your neighbor as (you love) yourself] cannot be evaded.”
Luke 13:3-5
We have two parallel short historical happenings recounted by Jesus in which people died unexpectedly. Verse 3 ends up with the words you shall all perish in similar ways. “Prima facie this refers to a form of natural death, which will come unexpectedly; but in the context of judgment, which has been running through this part of the Lucan travel account, a broader sense of perishing must be envisaged.” (Fitzmyer)
Craddock adds: “Surely it is not coincidental that the tragedies affected both Galileans and Jerusalemites and that the one is an act of human evil, the other what we term natural evil. Jesus is as inclusive in his comments as the problem is universal. Why did this tragedy happen to these people?... And so they come to Jesus and want to know if violence and suffering are random or according to divine law. Jesus rejects such attempts at calculation, not only because they are futile but also because they deflect attention from the primary issue: the obligation of every person to live in penitence and trust before God, and that penitent trust is not to be linked to life's sorrows or life's joys.”
Luke 15:3-10
These twin stories of something valuable being found each end with a comparison between the joy of the person involved at that happening and the similar joy in heaven when a sinner is saved. Tilden notes that the second story “intensifies the picture of human helplessness and divine concern.”
Luke 17:10
In this story by Jesus, he points out that a servant expects no particular word of gratitude from his master for simply doing the job he is required to do. By analogy, as Tilden says, “Man's relation to God makes obedience to God a duty to be fulfilled and not an occasion for reward.”
Romans 6:11
Morris: “Paul goes on to Jesus' risen life...The resurrection marks the victory, the end of conflict with sin...His life is beyond the reach of death and every evil...This has consequences; In the same way points to the similarity...Believers must act in the same way...Christ's death and resurrection has altered their position, and they should live in accordance with the new reality.”
I Corinthians 7:2-4
Fee diagrams these teachings regarding the mutual care husband and wife should show for one another as follows:
A. Each man should love his own wife (v. 2a)
B. and each woman should should love her own husband (v. 2b)
A. The husband should give the wife her due (v. 3a)
likewise
B. the wife to her husband (v. 3b)
…...............
B. The wife does not have control over her own body (4a)
A. but her husband does (4b)
likewise
A. the husband does not have control over his own body (4c)
B. but the wife does (4d)
He states: “The way to correct an abuse of mutual relations [indicated by the double reference to 'likewise'] is not to make demands on the offending party only, but to emphasize the mutual responsibility of each.”
I Corinthians 14:9
“Paul illustrates the need for 'tongues' in public to be interpreted [with the two examples in v. 8]...Intelligible communication is vital, however highly the Corinthians may prize the gift of 'tongues.'” (Hillyer) Thus, the form of this 'likewise' saying resembles Christ's parables in first describing some easily observable phenomenon and following it with a spiritual analogue.
I Timothy 2:9
Demonstrating the interchangeablility of Greek words conveying the same meaning of comparison, Towner notes regarding this verse that “Gk. hosautos (3:8,11; 5:25; Titus 2:3,6 [is] equivalent to homoios in 1 Pet. 3:1,7, 5:5).”
Knight discusses in some detail the ambiguity regarding exactly of what the similarity in action between the women and men in the congregation is supposed to consist. It may indicate (a) that Paul has instructions for both groups, (b) both possess certain qualifications, or (c) that both men and women are to pray. Knight opts for the last meaning.
I Timothy 3:8
Guthrie points out: “The list of qualities specified [for deacons] is closely akin to the preceding [for elders] but there are significant variations.” According to Guthrie, these appear to be related to specific duties to be carried out by the deacons which might be accompanied by special temptations.
I Timothy 5:25
This verse relates to the ordination of those for the ministry. Ward notes that this is the reverse of the previous verse. “Just as hasty ordinations are to be avoided, so candidates for the ministry, even when unprepossessing, should not be rejected without allowing plenty of time to find out their worth. There is no reference here to judgment...Other good deeds which do not strike the eye may have been done in secret without fanfare...Sooner or later, Paul implied, the story would come out.”
Titus 2:3,6
“The connecting adverb 'in the same way' (hosautos …) relates this command to the preceding one and is typical of this type of parenesis [i.e.a formal rhetorical term for moral exhortation, advice, or counsel]. (Towner)
I Peter 3:1,7
Here, as in I Corinthians 7, we again have a tabulation of Household Codes in which the necessary relationships between different groups of people need to be spelled out for believers.
I Peter 5:5
Quanbeck points out that “humility is not natural to anyone; it must be put on like clothing. The quotation is from Pr. 3.34.”
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