29 But he made answer and said to his father, See, all these years I have been your servant, doing your orders in everything: and you never gave me even a young goat so that I might have a feast with my friends:
The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer. Twice in the week I go without food; I give a tenth of all I have.
You have knowledge of what the law says: Do not be untrue to your wife, Do not put anyone to death, Do not take what is not yours, Do not give false witness, Give honour to your father and mother. And he said, All these things I have done from the time when I was a boy.
He who has ears, let him give ear to what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give of the secret manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name, of which no one has knowledge but he to whom it is given.
If we say that we have no sin, we are false to ourselves and there is nothing true in us. If we say openly that we have done wrong, he is upright and true to his word, giving us forgiveness of sins and making us clean from all evil. If we say that we have no sin, we make him false and his word is not in us.
Even though I myself might have faith in the flesh: if any other man has reason to have faith in the flesh, I have more: Being given circumcision on the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in relation to the law, a Pharisee: In bitter hate I was cruel to the church; I kept all the righteousness of the law to the last detail.
Because, not having knowledge of God's righteousness, and desiring to give effect to their righteousness, they have not put themselves under the righteousness of God.
And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death;
Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Because I was in fear of you, for you are a hard man: you take up what you have not put down, and get in grain where you have not put seed.
And he made this story for some people who were certain that they were good, and had a low opinion of others:
In the same way, when you have done all the things which are given you to do, say, There is no profit in us, for we have only done what we were ordered to do.
Saying, These last have done only one hour's work, and you have made them equal to us, who have undergone the hard work of the day and the burning heat.
You have said, It is no use worshipping God: what profit have we had from keeping his orders, and going in clothing of sorrow before the Lord of armies?
But you make it unholy by saying, The Lord's table has become unclean, and his food is of no value. And you say, See, what a weariness it is! and you let out your breath at it, says the Lord of armies; and you have given what has been cut about by beasts, and what is damaged in its feet and ill; this is the offering you give: will this be pleasing to me from your hands? says the Lord.
And to say to the priests of the house of the Lord of armies and to the prophets, Am I to go on weeping in the fifth month, separating myself as I have done in past years?
Who say, Keep away, do not come near me, for fear that I make you holy: these are a smoke in my nose, a fire burning all day.
Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God. They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Luke 15
Commentary on Luke 15 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 15
Evil manners, we say, beget good laws; so, in this chapter, the murmuring of the scribes and Pharisees at the grace of Christ, and the favour he showed to publicans and sinners, gave occasion for a more full discovery of that grace than perhaps otherwise we should have had in these three parables which we have in this chapter, the scope of all of which is the same, to show, not only what God had said and sworn in the Old Testament, that he had no pleasure in the death and ruin of sinners, but that he had great pleasure in their return and repentance, and rejoices in the gracious entertainment he gives them thereupon. Here is,
Luk 15:1-10
Here is,
Luk 15:11-32
We have here the parable of the prodigal son, the scope of which is the same with those before, to show how pleasing to God the conversion of sinners is, of great sinners, and how ready he is to receive and entertain such, upon their repentance; but the circumstances of the parable do much more largely and fully set forth the riches of gospel grace than those did, and it has been, and will be while the world stands, of unspeakable use to poor sinners, both to direct and to encourage them in repenting and returning to God. Now,
The younger son is the prodigal, whose character and case are here designed to represent that of a sinner, that of every one of us in our natural state, but especially of some. Now we are to observe concerning him,
Now the condition of the prodigal in this ramble of his represents to us a sinful state, that miserable state into which man is fallen.