The science of Bible interpretation is called hermeneutics. We are supposed to follow certain rules. Recently, I was reminded of some of those rules when I was studying a passage.

In Luke 7:35, the Lord says, “Wisdom is justified by all her children.” If you are like me, your first reaction to this sentence is, “What in the world does that mean? Who are these children? Does that refer to Christians? What does justified mean?” For most Christians, when we think about being justified, we think about what happens when an unbeliever believes in Jesus for eternal life. God declares the new believer righteous (Rom 3:28). Is that what the Lord is talking about?

One hermeneutic principle is to look at the context. What is the Lord talking about in these verses? Is He talking about believing in Jesus for eternal life?

Another principle is to see whether words are repeated by the author. This can help us to determine how he uses those words.

In this case, we’re in luck. Luke 7:29-35 is a section within a larger section that begins at v 24. A large group of people are listening to the Lord talk about John the Baptist (vv 24-28). This group includes tax collectors on one hand, and Pharisees and scribes on the other. The former were notorious sinners. The latter were considered righteous religious leaders.

The smaller section of chapter 7 that begins at v 29 uses the word justified. So, the section begins and ends (v 35) with the word justified. That’s an important clue! In v 32, the Lord talks about children. Verse 34 mentions tax collectors again. John the Baptist is also mentioned in vv 29 and 33. There is a lot of repetition in this section!

How are these words used? A key is the word justified. The word does not always refer to a believer’s being declared righteous. It is frequently used to mean “to be vindicated.” It means to affirm that something is right.

The Lord had just said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet who ever lived prior to the coming of Christ (v 28). John had preached a message of repentance from sins to the nation of Israel and had called upon people to be baptized as a sign of that repentance. Luke then tells us that the tax collectors justified God because they were baptized with the baptism of John (v 29).

When it says that they justified God, the meaning is clear. They affirmed that God was just and right in the message He gave John. They agreed that they needed to turn from their sins, and they were baptized by John.

Verse 30 says that the Pharisees and scribes did not affirm God’s message through John. They rejected the will of God and were not baptized.

Then, in verse 32, the Lord refers to these leaders as children. They are like children who play music and want people to dance. Then they mourn and want people to weep. In other words, they are like silly children who want people to do whatever they want them to do. They rejected John the Baptist because he came mourning. They rejected Jesus because He came with joy. There was no satisfying the religious leaders. They were foolish children.

The tax collectors were different. Even though they were known as terrible sinners, they listened to John’s and the Lord’s messages. They were wise children. One would have expected the righteous religious leaders to be the wise ones. It was the opposite.

The Lord then said, “Wisdom is justified by all her children” (v35). When we look at the context and how the words are used, it is very clear what the Lord means. There are two groups of children in these verses. One group is made up of the Pharisees and scribes. The other group is the tax collectors and sinners. The former were foolish. The latter were wise.

These wise children affirmed (justified) the truth and wisdom of God’s Word. That word was spoken by John and the Lord. They responded to it.

These verses are addressed to the Jewish generation during Jesus’ earthly ministry. The children refer to different groups among those people. The word justified in Luke 7 is not to be understood in the context of Romans 3. We should let words and their contexts speak for themselves. Those are some good hermeneutic principles.