Matthew 24:34

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What does Jesus mean when he says this generation will not pass away before the second coming does he mean the generation that was alive then or does generation mean a race of people?
 
Being your first post, a big warm welcome to the forums Kenneth! 👋

Some say This generation means Jews, others Christians, others all men. Here’s a few commentary references:

From Haydock:
Ver. 34. This generation; i.e. the nation of the Jews shall not cease to exist, until all these things shall be accomplished: thus we see the nation of the Jews still continue, and will certainly continue to the end of the world. (Tirinus) — Then the cross, which has been a scandal to the Jew, and a stumbling-block to the Gentile, shall appear in the heavens, for the consolation of the good Christian. Hoc signum crucis erit in cœlo, cum Dominus ad judicandum venerit. — If it be to be understood of the destruction of Jerusalem, the sense may be, this race of men now living; if of the last day of judgment, this generation of the faithful, saith Theophylactus,[4] shall be continued: i.e. the Church of Christ, to the end of the world. (Witham) — This race, I tell you in very truth, shall not pass away till all this be finally accomplished in the ruin of Jerusalem, the most express figure of the destruction and end of the world. (Bible de Vence) — By generation, our Saviour does not mean the people that were in existence at that time, but the faithful of his Church; thus says the psalmist: this is the generation of them that seek the Lord. (Psalm xxiii, ver. 6.) (St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxvii.)
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From Cornelius À Lapide:
Verily I say, &c. *This generation, *that is to say, 1. of all men, or this age, which shall last until the end of the world. So S. Jerome. As though Christ had said, “Before the end of the world all these things shall come to pass.”
2. Origen, Hilary, and Chrysostom take *generation *in a more restricted sense, to mean the generation of believers of Christians, that were now sprung from Christ, to whom Christ was speaking in the person of His Apostles, according to the words in Ps. xxiv. 6, “This is the generation of them that seek the Lord.” As though the Lord had said, “The Christian religion which I have instituted shall not come to an end until Christians, who faithfully serve Me, are rewarded by and crowned in the Day of Judgment.”
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Thank you very much this how I understood it, I know a lot of nonbeleivers use this passage to undermine the faith 🙂
 
kenneth_g said:
What does Jesus mean when he says this generation will not pass away before the second coming does he mean the generation that was alive then or does generation mean a race of people?
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The immediate context is not exclusively Jesus’ second coming at the end of time. Jesus is speaking of a forty-year time span until the end of the Old Covenant era.

When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Mt 10:23)

Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." (Mt 16:28)

Then He implies a close connection between the termination of the Old Covenant era and the end of the visable world. In other words, just as signs of chaos and catastrophe precede the collapse of the Old age (destruction of the Temple) and the coming of Christ’s kingdom, so similar signs are expected before the final days of the New age and Christ’s Second Coming in glory.

Jesus left the temple area and was going away, when his disciples approached him to point out the temple buildings. He said to them in reply, “You see all these things, do you not? Amen, I say to you, there will not be left here a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately and said, “Tell us, when will this happen, and what sign will there be of your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Mt 24:1-3)
 
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