The Meaning of Luke 21:15 Explained

Luke 21:15

KJV: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

YLT: for I will give to you a mouth and wisdom that all your opposers shall not be able to refute or resist.

Darby: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your opposers shall not be able to reply to or resist.

ASV: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For  I  will give  you  a mouth  and  wisdom,  which  all  your  adversaries  shall  not  be able  to gainsay  nor  resist. 

What does Luke 21:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 21:5-19 - Days That Try Men's Souls
When we ask speculative questions, the Master bids us take heed to ourselves. His predictions in this passage were literally fulfilled in the events which culminated in the siege and fall of Jerusalem, forty years afterward. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together," and through these throes and agonies mankind steps up to a new level of experience. The devil will not surrender his kingdom, any more than the bodies of men, without a grievous rending first: but there is a mightier than he.
The Church is called to follow her Lord. No easier path than His may she choose. Where there is no outward suffering there may be the inner cross and the death to all that the soul had once prized. Jesus has always stood beside His own wherever they have been called to witness for the truth; and the testimony given by His witnesses has reached the great ones of the earth and reverberated through courts and palaces. In suffering our souls become searched as by fire. We learn to know ourselves and to come into possession of an experience and a self-knowledge with which only suffering could have endowed us. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 21

1  Jesus commends the poor widow
5  He foretells the destruction of the temple, and of the city Jerusalem;
25  the signs also which shall be before the last day
34  He exhorts them to be watchful

Greek Commentary for Luke 21:15

Your adversaries [οι αντικειμενοι υμιν]
Those who stand against, line up face to face with (note αντι — anti -). [source]
To withstand or to gainsay [αντιστηναι η αντειπειν]
Two second aorist active infinitives with αντι — anti - in composition again. But these “antis” will go down before the power of Christ. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 21:15

Titus 1:9 The gainsayers [τοὺς ἀντιλέγοντας]
In Pastorals only here and Titus 2:9. Once in Paul, Romans 10:21, cit. Mostly in Luke and Acts. Gainsay, Angl. Sax. gegn (Germ. gegen ) “against,” and “say.” Wiclif, Luke 21:15: For I schal gyue to you mouth and wysdom, to whiche alle youre aduersaries schulen not mowe agenstonde, and agenseye.” [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 21:15 mean?

I for will give you a mouth and wisdom which not will be able to resist nor to reply to all those opposing
ἐγὼ γὰρ δώσω ὑμῖν στόμα καὶ σοφίαν οὐ δυνήσονται ἀντιστῆναι ἀντειπεῖν ἅπαντες οἱ ἀντικείμενοι

δώσω  will  give 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: διδῶ 
Sense: to give.
στόμα  a  mouth 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: στόμα  
Sense: the mouth, as part of the body: of man, of animals, of fish, etc.
σοφίαν  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: σοφία  
Sense: wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters.
δυνήσονται  will  be  able 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Plural
Root: δύναμαι  
Sense: to be able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom.
ἀντιστῆναι  to  resist 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: ἀνθίστημι  
Sense: to set one’s self against, to withstand, resist, oppose.
  nor 
Parse: Conjunction
Root:  
Sense: either, or, than.
ἀντειπεῖν  to  reply  to 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: ἀντιλέγω  
Sense: to speak against, gainsay, contradict.
οἱ  those 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἀντικείμενοι  opposing 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀντίκειμαι  
Sense: to be set over against, opposite to.