17:34 “I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 17:35 There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

Is one ‘taken’ in judgment, or salvation in Jesus’ teaching here?

Interpreters hold a range of opinions.

(a) Some are not sure

Perrin: ‘whether in judgment or salvation is not clear’.

Some others do venture an opinion, but tentatively.

(b) Some think that the difference is not significant

Luke Timothy Johnson:

‘Very little can be read into the verbs “taken” and “left.” Functionally they are equivalent to “saving or losing” one’s life, but the point of these examples is the suddenness of the end-time.’

A number of older commentators do not offer an opinion on this matter.  Perhaps they, too, think that it is largely beside the point.

(c) A few think that the meaning is: ‘taken’ into judgment

Wright: to be ‘taken away’ is bad, whereas to be ‘left behind’ is good.

Schnabel:

‘In Matthew 24:38–39, Jesus compares the coming of the Son of Man with the people living at the time of Noah’s flood, who were “swept away” because they were unprepared. Thus, the people who are “taken” in Matthew 24:40–41 are people who are “taken” for judgment (see Jer 6:11). There is no reference to a sudden disappearance of people from earth.’ (40 Questions about the End Times)

Evans: ‘The person taken is the one who “will die,” while the person left is the one who “will live.”’

(d) Most interpreters think that to be ‘taken’ is to be removed to safety/salvation

Cyril of Alexandria: ‘The good will be taken, and he that is not good will be left.’

Ambrose: ‘The faithful one is taken, but the faithless is left.’

Matthew Henry: ‘Taken’ = ‘snatched out of the burning and taken into a place of safety, while the other is left to perish in the common ruin.’

Lange: One is taken to safety, the other to ‘certain catastophe’.

Liefeld (EBC): ‘Taken’ = taken into safety, rather than into judgment.  ‘Left’ = abandoned to judgment.  But the alternative interpretation is possible.

Gundry: ‘Taken along in judgment and left for judgment, or taken along in salvation and left for judgment—which? Well, in 9:10, 28; 18:31 “taken along” carries a friendly connotation. Vultures are attracted to a carcass that has been left. And in the stories of Noah and Lot, recently alluded to in 17:26–29, 32, those who were left suffered God’s judgment. So Jesus is saying that on the day of his revelation, there’ll be a separation in which disciples will be taken so as to be spared judgment, as were Noah and Lot; and nondisciples will be left as carrion that attracts the vultures, representing divine judgment.’

Garland: ‘Taken’ in salvation.  ‘Left’ to face the inferno.

Stein: Can be interpreted either way.  But best understood as ‘taken’ for salvation, because both Noah and Lot were ‘taken’ (into an ark/away from Sodom) and not ‘left’ for judgment.  See Jn 14:3; 1 Thess 4:17.  The basic meaning of the verse, however, is the same either way.

Nolland: Given the Noah and Lot imagery, best to understand ‘taken’ in deliverance and ‘left behind’ as abandonment to destruction.

Hendriksen: ‘Taken’ for salvation, as 1 Thess 4:17.

Bock (IVPNTC):

‘Given the Noah and Lot metaphors, as well as the picture of the birds gathering over the dead bodies in verse 37, it seems that it is those who are left behind who experience the judgment. Those who flee, like Noah and Lot, are spared.’