This generation. Our Lord's assertion has given rise to sceptical observations, as if his prophecy had failed. Alford has endeavoured to remove objections by taking γενεα Ì as equivalent to γε ìνος, a race or family of people, and referring it to the continued existence of the Jews.
He cites Jeremiah 8:3; Matthew 12:45; Matthew 17:17; Matthew 23:36, etc., in confirmation of this signification. His examples, however, are not unassailable, though such use is certainly classical; but it the same time, it is unlikely that Christ should thus indefinitely postpone a period of infinite importance to his hearers.
But there is no necessity for assuming any unusual meaning in the term "this generation." Its plain and obvious reference is to the contemporaries of the speaker, or those who shall live some thirty or forty years longer; this period would bring them to the siege of Jerusalem.
And remembering that Christ has drawn no definite line between this crisis and the final consummation, we are justified in regarding all these things as meaning, primarily, the signs preceding or accompanying the downfall of the city.
In a secondary sense, "this generation" may mean the spiritual Israel, the generation of them that seek the Lord (Psalms 24:6). "All these things shall surely come to pass," says Chrysostom, "and the generation of the faithful shall remain, cut off by none of the things that have been mentioned.
For both Jerusalem shall perish, and the more part of the Jews shall be destroyed, but over this generation shall nothing prevail—not famine, not pestilence, not earthquake, not the tumults of wars, not false Christs, not false prophets, not deceivers, not traitors, not those that cause to offend, nor the false brethren, nor any other such-like temptations whatever."
Some critics have combined the three meanings of "generation" given above, and have seen in Christ's words a threefold reference, first, to the contemporary people; secondly, to the Jewish nation; thirdly, to the Christian believers or dispensation.
According to Lange, "this generation" means the generation of those who know and discern these signs.