Albert Barnes (1832)
"This generation, &c. - This age; this race of men. A generation is about thirty of forty years. The destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after this was spoken. See Notes on Mat. 16:28." (Notes, Matthew 24:34)

G.R. Beasly-Murray (1954)
(Mark 13:30) "The meaning of 'this generation' is now generally acknowledged. While in earlier Greek genea meant 'birth,' 'progeny,' and so 'race,' in the sense of those descended from a common ancestor, in the LXX it commonly translates the term dor, meaning 'age,' 'age of man,' or 'generation' in the sense of contemporaries. On the lips of Jesus 'this generation' always signifies the contemporaries of Jesus, but at the same time always carries an implicit criticism. For Mark the eschatological discourse expounds the implication of the prophecy of judgment in verse 2, and so implies the perversity of 'this generation,' which must suffer the doom predicted.

"This generation is not to pass away until 'all these things happen' (tauta panta genetai). The first term, tauta, appeared previously in verse 29: 'When you see these things happening...' A clearer precedent for tauta panta, however, appears in the question of the disciples in verse 4: 'When will all these things be, and what is the sign when all these things will be completed?' The response to the request for a sign has been given, above all in verses 14-15; the question concerning the 'when' is answered in verse 30. In view of Mark's setting of the statement, however, it is difficult to exclude from 'all these things' the description of the parousia in verses 24-27" (pp. 333-334).

John A. Broadus (1886)
"The emphasis is on 'all.' All the things predicted in v. 4-31 would occur before or in immediate connection with the destruction of Jerusalem. (An American Commentary on the New Testament, p. 492)

David Brown (1858)
"Does not this tell us plainly as words could do it, that the whole prophecy was meant to apply to the destruction of Jerusalem? There is but one way of setting this aside, but how forced it is, must, I think, appear to every unbiased mind. It is by translating, not 'this generation,' ...but 'this nation shall not pass away:" in other words, the Jewish nation shall survive all the things here predicted! Nothing but some fancied necessity, arising out of their view of the prophecy, could have led so many sensible men to put this gloss upon our Lord's words. Only try the effect of it upon the perfectly parallel announcement in the previous chapter: 'Fill ye up them the measure of your fathers.. Wherefore, behold, I send you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city... that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zecharias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation' ... Matt. xxiii. 32, 34-36). Does not the Lord here mean the then existing generation of the Israelites? Beyond all question he does; and if so, what can be plainer than that this is his meaning in the passage before us? (David Brown, p. 435)

" 'Many attempts,' says Dr. Urwick, 'have been made to anatomize this prophecy, and exhibit separately the parts which relate to the invasion of Jerusalem by Titus, and the parts which regard the judgment of the world at the last day. I have not met with any thing satisfactory in this way. If any man could have done it well, Bishop Horsley was the man: he had learning, ingenuity, power, and determination enough for it. Yet one cannot read the sermon in which he attempts to separate the prophecy of the 'coming' from the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, without feeling that a giant is grappling with a difficulty he cannot master. The statement of our Lord, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till these things be fulfilled' puts it, I think, beyond question, that the whole range of the prediction was to have an accomplishment before the then race of human beings should all have died from the face of the earth ". (Christ's Second Coming, Will it be Pre-millennial?, p. 441)

John Calvin
"The meaning therefore is: "This prophecy does not relate to evils that are distant, and which posterity will see after the lapse of many centuries, but which are now hanging over you, and ready to fall in one mass, so that there is no part of it which the present generation will not experience." (in loc.)

"For within fifty years the city was destroyed and the temple was razed, the whole country was reduced to a hideous desert, and the obstinacy of the world rose up against God." (Commentary on the Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 3, trans. by William Pringle (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949), 151.

David Chilton (1985)
"Some have sought to get around the force of this text by saying that the word generation here really means race, and that Jesus was simply saying that the Jewish race would not die out until all these things took place. Is that true? I challenge you: Get out your concordance and look up every New Testament occurrence of the word generation (in Greek, genea) and see if it ever means 'race' in any other context. Here are all the references for the Gospels: Matthew 1:17; 11:16; 12:39, 41, 42, 45; 16:4; 17:17; 23:36; 24:34; Mark 8:12, 38; 9:19; 13:30; Luke 1:48, 50; 7:31; 9:41; 11:29, 30, 31, 32, 50, 51; 18:8; 17:25; 21:32. Not one of these references is speaking of the entire Jewish race over thousands of years; all use the word in its normal sense of the sum total of those living at the same time. It always refers to contemporaries. (In fact, those who say it means "race" tend to acknowledge this fact, but explain that the word suddenly changes its meaning when Jesus uses it in Matthew 24! We can smile at such a transparent error, but we should also remember that this is very serious. We are dealing with the Word of the living God.)." (The Great Tribulation, p. 3)

Chrysostom (375)
"But of wars in Jerusalem is He speaking; for it is not surely of those without, and everywhere in the world; for what did they care for these? And besides, He would thus say nothing new, if He were speaking of the calamities of the world at large, which are happening always. For before this, were wars, and tumults, and fightings; but He speaks of the Jewish wars coming upon them at no great distance, for henceforth the Roman arms were a matter of anxiety. Since then these things also were sufficient to confound them, He foretells them all.

Therefore He saith, they shall come not by themselves or at once, but with signs. For that the Jews may not say, that they who then believed were the authors of these evils, therefore hath He told them also of the cause of their coming upon them. "For verily I say unto you," He said before, "all these things shall come upon this generation," having made mention of the stain of blood on them. " (Homilies)

Adam Clarke (1837)
"it is literally true in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. John probably lived to see these things come to pass; compare Matthew 16:28, with John 21:22; and there were some rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these words who lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban Simeon, who perished with the city; R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who outlived it; R. Zadoch, R. Ismael, and others. See Lightfoot." (Adam Clarke's Commentary On Matthew 24)

Clement of Alexandria (A.D.150-215)
"But our Master did not prophesy after this fashion; but, as I have already said, being a prophet by an inborn and every-flowing Spirit, and knowing all things at all times, He confidently set forth, plainly as I said before, sufferings, places, appointed times, manners, limits. Accordingly, therefore, prophesying concerning the temple, He said: "See ye these buildings? Verily I say to you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be taken away [Matt. 24:3]; and this generation shall not pass until the destruction begin [Matt. 24:34]. . . ." And in like manner He spoke in plain words the things that were straightway to happen, which we can now see with our eyes, in order that the accomplishment might be among those to whom the word was spoken.63 (Clementine Homilia, 3:15. See Roberts and Donaldson, Ante-Nicene Fathers, 8:241.)

Gary DeMar (1997)
"First, "this generation" always means the generation to whom Jesus is speaking. It is the contemporary generation, the generation alive at the hearing of Jesus' words... Those who deny that 'this generation' refers to the generation to whom Jesus was speaking in the Matthew 24 context must maintain that "this generation" means something different from the way it is used in other places in Matthew and the rest of the New Testament!" (Last Days Madness, p. 33)

Eusebius (A.D. 325)
"And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men." (Ecclesiastical History, Book III, Ch. 5)

J.C. Fenton (1963)
"Although attempts have been made to interpret this generation to the Jews, or as the human race in general, it is more likely that originally it meant the generation living at the time of Jesus." (St. Matthew, p. 391)

Geneva Bible Notes (1599)
"Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This {t} generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
(t) This age: the word "generation" or "age" is here being used for the men of this age." (in loc.)

Ken Gentry (1989)
"We must not miss the clear references to the contemporary expectation. Enclosing the relevant portion of the discourse, we have Christ's own time-element designation. In 23:36, he dogmatically asserts 'all these things shall come upon this generation.' He closes the relevant portion of the prophecy by repetition of the time frame: Matthew 24:34 says, 'Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.' And just forty years later Jerusalem was destroyed! Contextually the 'this generation' of Matthew 24:34 must speak of the same idea as that of Matthew 23:36" (Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., He Shall Have Dominion, p. 162).

KEN GENTRY / THOMAS ICE
"Ice tries to distinguish Jesus' use of "this generation" in Matthew 23:36 from the same phrase in 24:34 on the basis that 23:36 is "historical" while 24:34 is "prophetical." Bute note: (1) Both are prophetic. In Matthew 23 Jesus prophesies future persecution for his own disciples (23:34) and the catastrophic calamity to befall the Pharisees in A.D.70 (23:35). Declaring future events in advance is, by definition, "prophetic." [Ice and Gentry, The Great Tribulation Past or Future (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 182.]

Thomas Ice (1999)
"While it is true that other uses of "this generation" refer to Christ's contemporaries, that is because they are historical texts. The use of "this generation" in the Olivet Discourse in the fig tree passages are prophetic texts. In fact, when one compares the historical use of "this generation" at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 23:36 (which is an undisputed reference to A.D.70) with the prophetic use in 24:34, a contrast is obvious." [Ice and Gentry, The Great Tribulation Past or Future (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 103-104.]

John Gill (1809)
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, etc. Not the generation of men in general; as if these sense was, that mankind should not cease, until the accomplishment of these things; nor the generation, or people of the Jews, who should continue to be a people, until all were fulfilled; nor the generation of Christians; as if the meaning was, that there would always be a set of Christians, or believers of Christ in the world, till all these events came to pass; but it respects that present age, or generation of men then living in it; and the sense is, that all the men of that age should not die, but some should live till all things were fulfilled; see Matt. xvi.27-28, as many did, and as there is reason to believe they might, and must, since all these things had their accomplishment, in and about forty years after this: and certain it is that John, one of the disciples of Christ outlived the time by many years; and, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, many of the Jewish doctors now living, when Christ spoke these words, lived until the city was destoryed; as Rabbi Simeon, who perished with it, R. Jochanan be Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others: this is a full and clear proof, that not any thing that is said before, related to the second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and the end of the world; but that all belong to the coming of the Son of man, in the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of the Jewish state." (vol 2, 1809, p. 240)

Ezra Gould (1896)
"there is general consent now that the prophecy is restricted in time to that generation, v. 30. In general, the historical interpretation of this prophecy is fairly settled." (Commentary on Mark, p.249)

Henry Hudson (??)
"Many commentators play around with the word 'generation' (genea), and thinking to avoid embarrassment, project its application to the generation which will be alive during the last days immediately preceding the Second Coming of the Messiah. Others, expand its meaning to include the whole nation of Israel, which, in spite of the intensity of the great tribulation, will nevertheless be preserved as a nation right up till the end of the present age. However, if Scripture be compared with Scripture, such verbal games are soon exposed as being nothing but armchair gymnastics (cf. Matthew 11:16; 12:41-45; 23:36; Luke 11:50, 51; Hebrews 3:10). The word is generally used to signify a people belonging to a paticular period of time, or more loosely, to a period defined by what might be considered as an average life span of a man." (Echoes of the Ministry, Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 32)

Jamieson, Fausset, Brown
"Whether we take this to mean that the whole would be fulfilled within the limits of the generation then current, or, according to a usual way of spekaing, that the generation then existing would not pass away without seeing a begun fulfillment of this prediction, the facts entirely correspond. For either the whole was fulfilled in the destruction accomplished by Titus, as many think; or, if we stretch it out, according to others, till the thorough dispersion of the Jews, a little later, under Adrian, every requirement of our Lord's words seem to be met." (Commentary, Practical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 979)

J. Marcellus Kik (1971)
"It is my contention that Matthew 24:34 gives the key to the understanding of the entire chapter. If we accept the ordinary sense of that verse the chapter becomes understandable." (An Eschatology of Victory, p.30)

John Lightfoot (1859)
"This generation shall not pass, &c. Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the disciples (particularly John), who lived to see these things come to pass. With Matt. xvi.28, compare John xxi.22. And there were some Rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these things, that lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban Simeon, who perished with the city, R. Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others." (A Commentary of the New Testament, vol 2., p. 320).

Abiel Abbot Livermore (1843)
"34. This generation shall not pass, etc. i.e., those then living would witness the fulfillment of Jesus' predictions; which was the case, for the destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after, and many then living were involved in the great catastrophe. John long survived the event, and Lightfoot speaks of some Rabbins who also outlived it. It is apparent from this verse, that Jesus has been previously speaking of the downfall of the Jews, not of future judgment. At the time Jesus uttered these words there was peace with the Romans, and no prospect of the Jews venturing to contend with them; or, if they did, of the temple, city, and nation being wholly destroyed. Yet forty years accomplished it all. What boundless confidence ought we ever to repose in the promises and warnings of Jesus, since he has so clearly established his claim of an unerring prophet!" (The Four Gospels: With a Commentary, p. 288)

Philip Mauro (1921)
"The Lord's own predictions and warnings concerning that event, which was then close at hand, were most explicit. And not only so, but He plainly said that "all these things shall come upon this generation." Besides all that, He specified the very sins for which that generation was to be thus punished beyond anything known before, or that should be thereafter, thus making it a simple impossibility that the "tribulation" and "vengeance" which He predicted could fall upon any subsequent generation." (Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation)

Heinrich Meyer (1852)
"That the second advent itself is intended to be included, is likewise evident from v. 36, in which the subject of the day and hour of the advent is introduced."

Dale Moody (19?)
"Dispensationalism tried to make 'this generation' refer to the 'terminal generation,' as Hal Lindsey calls it, but Jesus always meant the generation that witnesses the preaching and death of Jesus, as any concordance will reveal" (The Word of Truth, p. 556)

Thomas Newton (1754)
"He proceeds to declare that the time of his coming was at no very great distance, and to show that he hath been speaking all this while of the destruction of Jerusalem, he affirms with his usual affirmation, ver. 34, 'Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled!' "It is to me a wonder how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, "All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation." It seemeth as if our Saviour had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, v 35 - "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away'" (Newton, p. 426)

Robertson's New Testament Word Pictures (1912)
"{This generation} (|hê genea hautê|). 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." (Matthew 24:34)

Dr. E. Robinson (1843)
'The question now arises whether, under these limitations of time, a reference of our Lord's language to the day of judgment and the end of the world, in our sense of these terms, is possible. Those who maintain this view attempt to dispose of the difficulties arising from these limitations in different ways. Some assign to (genea) the meaning suddenly, as it is employed by the LXX in Job v. 3, for the Hebrew. But even in this passage the purpose of the writer is simply to mark an immediate sequence -- to intimate that another and consequent event happens forthwith. Nor would anything be gained even could the word (genea) be thus disposed of, so long as the subsequent limitation to 'this generation' remained. And in this again others have tried to refer genea to the race of the Jews, or to the disciples of Christ, not only without the slightest ground, but contrary to all usage and all analogy. All these attempts to apply force to the meaning of the language are in vain, and are now abandoned by most commentators of note." (Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 1 - 1843)

James Stuart Russell (1898)
"These are all the examples in which the expression 'this generation' occurs in the sayings of our Lord, and they establish beyond all reasonable question the reference of the words in the important declaration now before us. But suppose that we were to adopt the rendering proposed, and take genea as meaning a race, what point or significance would there be in the prediction then ? Can any one believe that the assertion so solemnly made by our Lord, 'Verily I say unto you,' etc., amounts to no more than this, 'The Hebrew race shall not become extinct till all these things be fulfilled '? Imagine a prophet in our own times predicting a great catastrophe in which London would be destroyed, St. Paul's and the Houses of Parliament levelled with the ground, and a fearful slaughter of the inhabitants be perpetrated; and that when asked, 'When shall these things come to pass ? ' he should reply, 'The Anglo-Saxon race shall not become extinct till all these things be fulfilled' ! Would this be a satisfactory answer ? Would not such an answer be considered derogatory to the prophet, and an affront to his hearers ? Would they not have reason to say, 'It is safe prophesying when the event is placed at an interminable distance ! ' But the bare supposition of such a sense in our Lord's prediction shows itself to be a reductio ad absurdum. Was it for this that the disciples were to wait and watch ? Was this the lesson son that the budding fig- tree taught? Was it not until the Jewish race was about to become extinct that they were to 'look up, and lift up their beads '? Such a hypothesis is its own refutation." (The Parousia)

Thomas Scott (1817)
"Our Lord here answers the former part of the apostle's questions, concerning the time when these events would take place. In general he assured them, that their approach would be as certainly determined by the signs that he had mentioned, as the approach of summer was by the budding and the tender branch of the fig-tree, and that they would all be accomplished before the generation was passed away. This absolutely restricts our primary interpretation of the prophecy to the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place within forty years" (Thomas Scott, vol. 1).

R.C. Sproul (1998)
"The most critical portion of this text is Jesus' declaration that 'this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." (The Last Days According to Jesus, p.16)

C.H. Spurgeon (1868)
"The King left his followers in no doubt as to when these things should happen: "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." It was just about the ordinary limit of a generation when the Roman armies compassed Jerusalem, whose measure of iniquity was then full, and overflowed in misery, agony, distress, and bloodshed such as the world never saw before or since. Jesus was a true Prophet; everything that he foretold was literally fulfilled." (The Gospel of the Kingdom, p.218)

Rudolph Ewald Stier (1851)
"(this refers) to the generation living in that then extant and most important age." (Reden Jesu, in loc.)

Milton Terry (1898)
"But we can find no word or sentence which appears designated to impress anyone with the idea that the destruction in question and the parousia would be far separate as to time. The one, it is said, will immediately follow the other, and all will take place before that generation shall pass away" (Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 439)

"On what valid hermeneutical principle, then, can it be fairly claimed that this discourse of Jesus comprehends all futurity? Why should we look for the revelations of far distant ages and millenniums of human history in a prophecy expressly limited to the generation in which it was uttered? (Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 443)

"The affirmation of v. 34, however, does not exclude the fact that no one knows the day and hour when the second advent, with its accompanying phenomena, is to take place. It is to occur during the life-time of the generation then existing, but no one knows on what day or at what hour within the period thus indicated." (Quoted from Biblical Apocalyptics, p. 220).

Translation and Textual Notes
Matthew 24:34 - "See Matt. 16:28; 23:36; Mark 13:30, 31; Luke 21:32, 33 A generation in those times was reckoned to be forty years. This generation shall not pass till these things be fulfilled = In no way will this generation pass away until all these things have occurred"

David Turner (1989)
"'This generation' applies to Jesus' contemporaries who lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem; 'all these things' (Matt. 24:34) is limited by the contextual fig tree analogy to the events marking the course of the ages, particularly the events of A.D.70." ["The Structure and Sequence of Matthew 24," Grace Theological Journal 10 (Spr 1989): 3-27, p.3]

John Wesley (1754)
"This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after."

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