Bible Study series: Luke 15:1-10. God seeks for wanderers and sinners. That’s how much he loves lost people.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
1 All the tax collectors and sinners were drawing close to him, to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and teachers of the law began to grumble, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” 3 But he told them this parable, saying, 4 “Which man among you having a hundred sheep and after he lost one of them would not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 And after he finds it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And going home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I found my sheep that was lost!’ 7 I tell you that in this manner there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous who have no need of repentance.
8 “Or which woman having ten drachmas, if she lost one drachma, would not light a lamp and sweep the house and look carefully until she found it? 9 And after she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I found the drachma that I lost!’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God at one sinner repenting.” (Luke 15:1-10)
Comments:
1:
I love how the unacceptable were drawing close to him. He had a magnetic personality, true, but this drawing was done by the power of the Spirit. They liked his message of acceptance and redemption. The imperfect tense may indicate a habitual action, an emerging custom.
“tax collectors”: You can learn more about them here:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
“sinners”: It is someone who does not observe the law, in this context: “unobservant or irreligious person … of one who is especially sinful.” BDAG defines the adjective hamartōlos (pronounced hah-mar-toh-loss and used 47 times) as follows: “pertaining to behavior or activity that does not measure up to standard moral or [religious] expectations (being considered an outsider because of failure to conform to certain standards is a frequent semantic component. Persons engaged in certain occupations, e.g. herding and tanning [and tax collecting] that jeopardized [religious] purity, would be considered by some as ‘sinners,’ a term tantamount to ‘outsider.’” Non-Israelites were especially considered out of bounds [see Acts 10:28].)” “Sinner, with a general focus on wrongdoing as such.” “Irreligious, unobservant people.” “Unobservant” means that he did not care about law keeping or observing the law.
Bible Basics about Sin: Word Studies
Human Sin: Original and Our Committed Sin
Do you fail to conform to certain standards? Maybe you did break the demands of moral and religious law. Pray and repent, and God will accept you. The good news: God promises us forgiveness when we repent.
2:
“Pharisees”:
“teachers of the law”: This term is often translated as “scribes.”
You can learn more about them here:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
“grumble”: It means “grumble” or “complain.” The related verb means “grumble, mutter, complain” (Matt. 20:11; Luke 5:30; John 6:41, 43, 61; 1 Cor. 10:10) and also “secret talk, whisper” (John 7:32). These are the only verses where this verb appears, so it is comparatively rare.
“welcomes” it could be translated as “have a good will towards them.” In modern terms, he had positive feelings or a friendly outlook towards these undesirable classes of people.
“eats”: in this culture eating dinner was significant. Even Peter withdrew from eating with Gentile Christians when extra-strict Messianic Jews showed up from Jerusalem (Gal. 2:11-14). Eating together shows a close connection to the guests. Plus, some foods for Jews (even for Messianic Jews at this early time) were unkosher, so it was too risky to eat with Gentiles untrained in such matters.
“welcomes” and “eats” are in the present tense and indicates an ongoing pattern.
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night. (Ps. 1:1-2, NIV)
In this verse of Psalm 1, “stand in the way” could be translated as “stand in the path.” In any case, be careful of the company you keep.
“welcomes”: it could be translated as “welcomes towards himself.”
“sinners”: see v. 1 for more comments.
3:
“parable”: literally, the word parable (parabolē in Greek) combines para– (pronounced pah-rah and means “alongside”) and bolē (pronounced boh-lay and means “put” or even “throw”). Therefore, a parable puts two or more images or ideas alongside each other to produce a clear truth. It is a story or narrative or short comparison that reveals the kingdom of God and the right way to live in it and the Father’s ways of dealing with humanity and his divine plan expressed in his kingdom and life generally. The Shorter Lexicon says that the Greek word parabolē can sometimes be translated as “symbol,” “type,” “figure,” and “illustration,” the latter term being virtually synonymous with parable.
4:
“The sheep would have been counted as they entered into the gold and passed under the shepherd’s staff (Jer 33:13; Ezek 20:37)” (Garland, comment on 15:4). In the wilderness the shepherd counted the sheep and found on missing. One could object that the shepherd should not have left the ninety-nine unprotected, but shepherds often knew each other, but in the story the loss of one merely highlights the emotion of loss (Garland, on 15:4).
Bock is right: “In the story he comes up one short. In all likelihood, if this was a typical search, he left the ninety-nine with someone to protect them and went out to look for the missing animal. The shepherd would look until he failed to find the, found its tattered remains, or located the animals. The point is that the lost sheep receives special attention over those that are safe and sound” (p. 1300). Bock says in footnote 12 that Luke and the other Gospel writers abbreviated the telling of the story. “Wilderness” could also be translated as an open field, a heath, where animals grazed. So the ninety-nine would not be neglected.
“lost”: it means, depending on the context: (1) “to cause or experience destruction (active voice) ruin, destroy”; (middle voice) “perish, be ruined”; (2) “to fail to obtain what one expects or anticipates, lose out on, lose”; (3) “to lose something that one already has or be separated from a normal connection, lose, be lost” (BDAG). The Shorter Lexicon adds “die.” In this verse and in v. 6 it means the third definition.
It was a big risk to leave behind the ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness or desert to find just one sheep. What if a predator were to attack one of the ninety-nine? This shows the love and concern the shepherd has for one of his lost sheep.
Jesus also personalizes it for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They considered shepherds to be low-grade, because they were not educated in the law. Now Jesus places these religious leaders in the shoes (or sandals) of the shepherds! This is a small part of the Great Reversal, announced in Luke 1:51-53, where Mary sang that Jesus and his kingdom would exalt the poor and humble, while the rich and powerful would be demoted. In Luke 2:34 Simeon prophesied that Jesus was appointed for the rising and falling of many. Here the lowly shepherd was going to show more concern for a sheep, while the religious leaders were not showing love for lost people. Are the religious leaders so confused about the law—are they so steeped in the ceremonial aspects of the law—that they could not love the lost, the last, and the least? They had lost their perspective and a sense of proportion, while the lowly shepherd had a better outlook.
“go after”: the shepherd is active in his search. He looks for the sheep. The Father is looking for lost sheep. Are you one of them? Or do you look for the lost one?
Jesus would cause the fall of the mighty and the rise of the needy, and the rich would be lowered, and the poor raised up. It is the down elevator and up elevator. Those at the top will take the down elevator, and those at the bottom will take the up elevator.
5:
The shepherd placed it on his shoulders, by wrapping the two pairs of legs around either shoulder and holding it by its feet. Sheep could weigh about 70 pounds (31.7kgs) The Greco-Roman image of the boy carrying the sheep was transformed into the Good Shepherd image (google it). Wonderful image.
6:
Then the shepherd cared so deeply about his found sheep that when he returns home—presumably after leading his hundred sheep with him!—calls together his friends and neighbors. To be honest, I probably would not have done that because I’m not a shepherd, so I can’t relate. Come to think of it, I might have let the one sheep wander off and counted it as a business loss. But not so with Jesus (or the Father).
“rejoice with” could more literally be translated as “co-rejoice.” Since I’m not a shepherd, I might have said, “congrats!” and then moved on with my life. What’s the big deal about finding one sheep? But this shepherd lived in a community of agrarians who took agricultural matters seriously. More specifically, he lived among other shepherds.
For more about “rejoice” and “joy,” see the next verse.
“In a communal society personal joy must be shared to be genuine” (Garland, comment on 15:6, quoting another scholar named Wendland.)
7:
“joy”: The noun means “joy, rejoicing, happiness, gladness” (Zondervan’s Interlinear). BDAG, considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the NT, says it means “the experience of gladness”; “a state of joyfulness”; “a person or thing that causes joy, joy.” It is the noun that appears in Gal. 5:22, as one of the fruit of the Spirit.
The verb is in the passive voice, and here it is the divine passive, which is an understated way of saying that God is the one who rejoices (Stein comment on v. 7). Imagine that. God rejoices in your salvation.
“repentance”: it is the noun metanoia (pronounced meh-tah-noi-ah), and it literally means “change of mind.” But it goes deeper than mental assent or agreement. Another word for repent is the Greek which means physically “to turn” (see Luke 2:20, 43, 45). That reality-concept is all about new life. One turns around 180 degrees, going from the direction of death to the new direction of life.
“righteous”: Jesus proclaimed the same idea in Luke 5:32. Who are the righteous? There are two main interpretations.
First, some interpreters say that certain people are righteous in their behavior. After all, Luke says Simeon was righteous and devout (Luke 2:25). Paul testified that before he came to Christ, he kept the law blamelessly and was faultlessly righteous in the law’s terms (Phil. 3:4-6). The law, particularly the Ten Commandments, are not that difficult, particularly for the extra-scrupulous. Paul was an ex-Pharisee, much like these Pharisees. I have no doubt that he kept the law, outwardly. Even “Average Joes and Janes” don’t steal or commit perjury or commit adultery, nor do they make images of gods. They can live free from coveting their neighbors’ possessions, in outward appearance. This interpretation says Jesus was not calling the Pharisees and teachers of the law to repentance, because they were indeed righteous on a social level and by outward appearance, but he was calling the sinners and tax collectors to repent. The Pharisees and teachers had a certain knowledge of the God of Israel.
Second, some interpreters say Jesus is using irony. The issue is of the heart. Jesus deepens the requirements and turns them into love for God first. If we love God, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) and on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49), Jesus deepens the requirements of the law to the heart, and everyone fails in some way. Therefore, they are unhealthy in some way before God and need him through Christ. No one can be righteous enough for God, and if the Pharisees saw their own need, they would realize this. Jesus is calling them to repentance, if they could only but see it.
My preference: the second interpretation, with some truths in the first one. All Jews, even the extra-devout, need Jesus their Messiah. However, some people are disciplined enough to live an outwardly righteous life, and God likes it when they do. There is a lot more peace and honesty spread around society. But their good-natured behavior is not enough to save them before a thrice-holy God (Is. 6).
8 Righteousness of the Kingdom
It is good to know that heaven is joyful. But the creatures who inhabit heaven rejoice over salvation and moral issues. They celebrate repentance. They hare joyful with a purpose, about eternal matters. Paradoxically, they do not rejoice as much over the righteous who do not need repentance. Interestingly, however, there is still joy in heaven even about the righteous. Bottom line: heaven is joyful and celebratory. Can we say that God himself is joyful? Yes! He rejoices us with gladness and sings over us with joy (Zeph. 3:17).
Once again: Word Study on Joy
8:
A drachma (roughly = a denarius) is worth a day’s wage for agricultural workers. She saved up ten, so she was fairly prosperous, up to a point, and Jesus’s listeners would recognize it immediately. But that’s not the main purpose of the brief parable.
The question assumes an affirmative answer. Yes, she would light a lamp and sweep the whole house until she found it.
As with the Parable of the Lost Sheep, she actively looks for it and does practical things, like lighting a lamp and sweeping, and actually looking, until she finds it. Her active searching for something that is lost shows the Father’s active search for a lost soul. She looks “carefully” or “scrupulously” or “thoroughly.”
9:
Then she responds like the shepherd did. In her world or neighborhood, she calls or invites her friends and neighbors to celebrate the fact that she found it. She tells them to “rejoice with me.” The verb “rejoice with” could literally be translated “co-rejoice.”
10:
Then when God informs the angels that the lost person has been found, the angels cheer. Perhaps an angel writes his name in the Book of Life.
“in the presence of”: We should not exclude angels from rejoicing, just because the joy happens in their presence. Preachers who say this are hinting that God is the (only) one who rejoices. That idea takes things too far. As we saw in v. 7, both God and the angels celebrate a sinner returning home.
Liefeld and Pao: “Moreover, Jesus’ final comment (v. 10) reinforces the point: ‘In the presence of angels’ is a reverential reference to God, as is ‘in heaven’ (v. 7). This parable, like that of the lost sheep, justifies Jesus’ welcome of sinners (v. 2)” (comment on 9-10).
“angels”: An angel, both in Hebrew and Greek, is really a messenger. Angels are created beings, while Jesus was the one who created all things, including angels (John 1:1-4). Renewalists believe that angels appear to people in their dreams or in person. It is God’s ongoing ministry through them to us.
Here is a multi-part study of angels in the area of systematic theology, but first, here is a summary list of the basics:
Angels:
(a) Are messengers (in Hebrew mal’ak and in Greek angelos);
(b) Are created spirit beings;
(c) Have a beginning at their creation (not eternal);
(d) Have a beginning, but they are immortal (deathless).
(e) Have moral judgment;
(f) Have a certain measure of free will;
(g) Have high intelligence;
(h) Do not have physical bodies;
(i) But can manifest with immortal bodies before humans;
(j) They can show the emotion of joy.
Angels: Their Duties and Missions
Angels: Their Names and Ranks and Heavenly Existence
Angels: Their Origins, Abilities, and Nature
GrowApp for Luke 15:1-10
1. How was God searching for you to bring you to repentance?
2. What is your repentance-conversion story?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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