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What does 'compel them to come in' mean in Luke 14:23?

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Whosoever Will, Jesus Never Told a Calvinist Parable: The Great Banquet. Luke 14:16-24. The same supper from Luke's side, where the refusal comes dressed as excuses. “And they all with one consent began to make excuse.” (v.18) The verb is paraiteomai, to beg off, a chosen declining. The master's answer is not a shorter list but a fuller house: “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (v.23) The compelling, anagkason, is a servant's urgent entreaty aimed at hedge-dwellers who would never believe a lord's table was for them. It cannot mean irresistible inward compulsion, because three verses earlier the first guests freely made their excuses, and a master who could compel hearts would never have been refused at all. Scripture, King James Version: Luke 14:16-24, "Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.".

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JESUS NEVER TOLD A CALVINIST PARABLE: APPENDIX: THE COMPLETE CENSUS →LUKE 14:16-24 →
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Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.

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