He arose, and came – Was coming. But here is no indication of haste. He did not run, but came driven by his wants, and, as we may suppose, filled with shame, and even with some doubts whether his father would receive him.

A great way off – This is a beautiful description – the image of his fathers happening to see him clad in rags, poor, and emaciated, and yet he recognized his son, and all the feelings of a father prompted him to go and embrace him.

Had compassion – Pitied him. Saw his condition – his poverty and his wretched appearance – and was moved with compassion and love.

And ran – This is opposed to the manner in which the son came. The beauty of the picture is greatly heightened by these circumstances. The son came slowly – the father ran. The love and joy of the old man were so great that he hastened to meet him and welcome him to his home.

Fell on his neck – Threw his arms around his neck and embraced him.

And kissed him – This was a sign at once of affection and reconciliation. This must at once have dissipated every doubt of the son about the willingness of his father to forgive and receive him. A kiss is a sign of affection, 1Sa 10:1; Gen 29:13. This is evidently designed to denote the readiness of God to pity and pardon returning sinners. In this verse of inimitable beauty is contained the point of the parable, which was uttered by the Saviour to vindicate his own conduct in receiving sinners kindly. Who could blame this father for thus receiving his repenting son? Not even a Pharisee could blame him; and our Saviour thus showed them, so that they could not resist it, that God received returning sinners, and that it was right for him also to receive them and treat them with attention.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 20. And kissed him.] Or, kissed him again and again; the proper import of . The father thus showed his great tenderness towards him, and his great affection for him.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

20. a great way offOh yes,when but the face is turned homeward, though as yet far, faraway, our Father recognizes His own child in us, and bounds to meetusnot saying, Let him come to Me and sue for pardon first, butHimself taking the first step.

fell on his neck and kissedhimWhat! In all his filth? Yes. In all his rags? Yes. In allhis haggard, shattered wretchedness? Yes. “Our Father who art inheaven,” is this Thy portraiture? It is even so (Jer31:20). And because it is so, I wonder not that such incomparableteaching hath made the world new.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And he arose,…. This shows that his resolution to arise was not of nature, but of grace, by its being put into execution; for it was made and executed, not in his own strength, but in another’s. He did not confer with flesh and blood; nor listen to discouragements which might present; as the distance of the way, the danger in it, the cold reception, if not rejection, he might expect from his father: but he arose immediately; he arose and stood upon his feet, in obedience to the heavenly call, being assisted by divine grace; he arose, and quitted the far country, the citizen, swine, and husks, and denied both sinful and righteous self;

and came to his father; his own father; “the father of himself”, as in the Greek text, who was so before he came to him; a sense of which he had, and was what encouraged him the rather to go to him: and this coming to him denotes a progression towards him; for as yet he was not come to him, but was at some distance, as the next clause expresses; and means not so much attendance on ordinances, as some inward secret desires after God:

but when he was yet a great way off. This is not to be understood of his state of alienation from God, which is before signified by his being in a far country; but the distance he observed, as conscious of his vileness, and unworthiness; and the humility he expressed on a view of himself; and a sense he had of his need of divine grace: and which is grateful to God; he looks to such that are of an humble, and of a contrite spirit, and dwells among them, and gives more grace to them:

his father saw him; he saw him when in the far country, spending his substance with harlots, and in riotous living; he saw him when among the swine and husks; he saw him when he came to himself, and all the motions and determinations of his heart; he saw him in his progress towards him, and looked upon him with an eye of love, pity, and compassion, as it follows,

and had compassion: God is full of compassion, and pities him, as a father does his children; yea, as a woman’s heart of compassion yearns after the son of her womb: he had compassion on him, and his heart of pity moved towards him, he being as one grieved in spirit for his sins, and wounded with a sense of them, and wanting a view of pardon, as starving and famishing, and as naked, and without clothing.

And ran; to him, which shows the quick notice God takes of the first motions of his own grace in the hearts of sensible sinners; the speedy relief he gives to distressed ones; and this points out his preventing grace and goodness.

And fell on his neck; expressive of the strength of his affection to him, Ge 45:14 and of his great condescension and grace to fall on that neck which had been like an iron sinew, so stiff and rebellious; though now, through divine grace, was made flexible and pliable, and subject to him, and willing to bear the yoke, and to do whatever he would have him; and this was grateful to his father:

and kissed him; as a token of love; and as owning the relation he stood in to him; as a sign of reconciliation and friendship; and was an admission of him to great nearness to his person; and an application and manifestation of great love indeed to him; and a strong incentive of love in the son to him again; see 1Jo 4:19.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

To his father ( ). Literally, to his own father. He acted at once on his decision.

Yet afar off ( ). Genitive absolute. agrees with understood: While he was yet holding off a distant way. This shows that the father had been looking for him to come back and was even looking at this very moment as he came in sight.

Ran (). Second aorist active participle of the defective verb . The eager look and longing of the father.

Kissed (). Note perfective use of kissed him much, kissed him again and again. The verb occurs so in the older Greek.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

His father. An affecting touch in the Greek : his own father.

Ran. Trench cites an Eastern proverb : “Who draws near to me (God) an inch, I will draw near to him an ell; and whoso walks to meet me, I will leap to meet him.”

Kissed. See on Mt 26:49.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

THE RETURN TO THE FATHER V. 20-22

1) “And he arose and came to his father,” (kai anastas elthen pros ton patera heauton) “And rising up he came of his own choice directly to his father;” Confessions to self and good resolutions, two elements of genuine repentance are ideal, but avail nothing until one arises or acts, seeks personal pardon, by calling on the Lord, Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5; Rom 10:9-13.

2) “But when he was yet a great way off,” (et! de autou makran apechontos) “Then while he was yet far away,” from his father’s home or residence, with determined steps; Reconciliation with God has been provided already, through Jesus Christ on the cross, but each responsible sinner must repent and trust in Jesus Christ or call on God for himself, 2Co 5:18-20.

3) “His father saw him, and had compassion,” (eipen auton ho parer autou kai esplagchnisthe) “His father saw him and was moved with pity,” Isa 65:24; His bowels of affections were moved, for his son’s sins, his bruised and swollen feet, and his weary, sin-sick soul, and penitence evident in the way he walked.

4) “And ran, and fell on his neck,” (kai framon epepesen epi ton trachelon autou) “And he ran, and fell upon his neck,” an oriental sign of reconciliation, Jas 4:8; Neh 9:17, with an expression of paternal love that, though spurned by a wayward son, had never died. Like the father, God seeks still the redemption of all men through His Word, the witness of His people, and the call of the spirit, Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; Rev 22:17.

5) “And kissed him,” (kai katephilesen auton) “And fervently (very affectionately) he kissed him,” repeatedly, in sincerity, welcoming him back to his fellowship, to acknowledge him still as his son, His redeemed son, or returning backslidden son; Mat 11:28-30; Psa 129:8; Pro 27:14.

It was a Divine “welcome home” that awaits every earnest penitent that comes to the Lord, whatever his past has been, without questions asked, Joh 7:17; Joh 6:37.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

20. And while he was still afar off. This is the main point of the parable. If men, who are by nature prone to revenge, and too tenacious of their own rights, are moved by fatherly love kindly to forgive their children, and freely to bring them back, when they are sunk in wretchedness, God, whose boundless goodness exceeds all the affection of parents, (536) will not treat us more harshly. (537) And certainly nothing is here attributed to an earthly father which God does not promise with respect to himself. Before they call, says he, I will answer, (Isa 65:24.) That passage too of David is well known,

I said, I will acknowledge against me my unrighteousness to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin, (Psa 32:5.)

As this father, therefore, is not merely pacified by the entreaties of his son, but meets him when he is coming, and before he has heard a word, embraces him, filthy and ugly as he is, so God does not wait for a long prayer, but of his own free will meets the sinner as soon as he proposes to confess his fault.

It is wretched sophistry to infer from this, that the grace of God is not exhibited to sinners until they anticipate it by their repentance. “Here,” say they, “is held out to us a father ready to pardon, but it is after that his son has begun to return to him; and therefore God does not look, and does not bestow his grace, on any but those who begin to seek him.” It is, no doubt, true that, in order to his obtaining pardon, the sinner is required to have grief of conscience, and to be dissatisfied with himself; but it is wrong to infer from this, that repentance, which is the gift of God, is yielded by men from their own movement of their heart. And in this respect it would be improper to compare a mortal man to God; for it is not in the power of an earthly father to renew the stubborn heart of his son, as God changes hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. In short, the question here is not whether a man is converted by himself, and returns to him; but only under the figure of a man is commended the fatherly gentleness of God, and his readiness to grant forgiveness.

(536) “ L’amour de tous les peres de ce monde;” — “the love of all the fathers in the world.”

(537) “ Sera bien pour le moins aussi debonnaire envers nous;” — “will be at least as gentle towards us.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(20) When he was yet a great way off.In the story of the parable we must think of the wanderer as coming back weary, foot-sore, hungry, and in rags. In the interpretation, the state of the penitent is that of one who is poor in spirit, hungering and thirsting after righteousness (Mat. 5:3; Mat. 5:6), with knees that are feeble and hands that hang down (Heb. 12:12), conscious of his nakedness and needing something else than the filthy rags of his own righteousness (Isa. 64:6) to cover it. And he is yet a great way offnot as yet near the home of peace, the light of the Fathers countenancebut even there, there comes to him the joy of all joys, the love of the Father finds him, and he is conscious of the love. There is the contact of his soul with the Divine Presence which answers to the Fathers kiss.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. He arose What worth is a wish, or a purpose, without the volition and the act? He arose, for in this meditation he had been sitting, or even lying, on the ground; a picture of misery, an object of wrath, a despondent, shiftless son of despair.

He came This is the approach of the son to God, even before his justification. It is right. As an approach it is acceptable to God, who has the feeling of mercy, and the purpose of pardon, in his heart; but that pardon has not yet reached the son, and is not yet consummated. Works conditional to justification, though they are performed by the man as unjustified and unregenerate, are conducive to salvation; are required and approved in their place by God; and do bring the sinner to that point at which he receives pardon and eternal life.

A great way off Before he has reached the threshold of the Church of God. The movements of the father’s love are here depicted with great life, in order that the Pharisees, who hear this, may feel how they were opposed to the heart of God when they murmured at Christ’s receiving publicans and sinners. Luk 15:1-2.

Saw him Descried and knew; knew him, as with a father’s eye, before the servants had recognized him.

Had compassion The infinite heart of God is moved by man’s sincere repentance. Hence let no fatalism say that our prayer affects us, but not God. God is a living God, and deals with us differently, according as we deal with him. Note, also, that this father had a father’s heart, even when the son was a swineherd. He would have embraced him ever, but that he had gone over to the embraces of the harlots. The atonement was not made to soften the heart of God: it was given by God’s tender heart to remove the difficulty which inflexible justice placed in his way; preventing the performance of the merciful desires of his divine heart. But note, finally, that the tenderness of the father’s heart would not have saved the son from the dying of famine, a miserable swineherd, if he had not said, “I will arise and go to my father,” and done what he said. For him otherwise God had nothing but abandonment; and famines to send after him.

Ran The old father is young in heart and so in limb. He does, in his affection, entirely outstrip his son’s young limbs in their shame and tardiness.

Fell on his neck In the oriental style. See Gen 35:14. The same urgent manner was customary among the Greeks in the times of Homer. It was a sign of reconciliation after enmity and offence.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

So he rose and came to his father. That was all that was needed, a turning of the back on the old life and a response to his father in order to beg forgiveness. For even while he was some good distance away his father saw him. He knew his son immediately in spite of his rags and his bare feet. And moved with compassion he ran, and flung his arms round him, dirty as he was, and kissed him (compare Act 20:37). This was a sign of acceptance and forgiveness (2Sa 14:33; Gen 45:14-15). It was his son. He could do no other.

By this Jesus was openly saying that when we turn from our old ways and seek Him, God is like this. He welcomes us with open arms just as we are, and takes us as His own.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The return:

v. 20. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

v. 21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

v. 22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet;

v. 23. and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and be merry;

v. 24. for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.

True repentance is not satisfied with resolutions, its sincerity must be proved by actions. The young man therefore carried out his intention without delay. As a proud and haughty, disobedient and unfilial youth he had left home; with a humble, broken, and contrite heart he crept back through the familiar scenes. But the merciful goodness and the cheerful forgiveness of his father was even greater than he had dared to expect after the treatment which the boy had accorded him. The love of a father is not so easily destroyed. Day after day he had been on the lookout for the son of his old age; never had he given up the hope of seeing him return some time. The father’s loving eye therefore was the first to espy the boy, although the half-starved, tattered tramp may have resembled only distantly the well-nourished young man that had so flippantly turned his back upon his home a short time ago. All this the father saw in a glance, but it did not fill him with repulsion, but only with the deepest sympathizing pity. To walk was too slow; he ran down to meet his boy, he fell on his neck, he kissed him most tenderly. Before the boy even opened his mouth, the father read in his eyes, in his entire appearance what motive had brought him back home. He indeed accepted the confession of sins which the boy made, but would hear nothing more. As the young man’s repentance and confession were unrestricted, so the father’s forgiveness was unconditional. The love of the father here pictured is but a weak type and picture of the love of God toward sinners, of His manner of dealing with repentant sinners. His eyes search for them; His Word pleads with them to return from the path of transgression; His heart overflows with commiserating sympathy at their blindness and foolishness, by which they cast themselves into misery, grief, and anguish. He is reconciled to all sinners through the death of Jesus Christ; in the Redeemer He has forgiven them all their trespasses. When He therefore sees the evidences of repentance, His heart goes out to them, and He showers upon them the fullness of His mercy, grace, and kindness. He gives’ them the assurance, confirmed with a solemn oath, that all their sins are forgiven, that their transgressions are cast into the depths of the sea. And His promises then give to the fainthearted, penitent sinner new trust and courage, by which the belief is engendered that he has again been accepted as a child of the heavenly Father.

The father, in the overwhelming joy of his heart, reinstates the son into all the rights of son-ship. To some servants that came hurrying up he gave the command to make haste that the wretched rags might be taken from his son and he be clothed in the dress becoming to his station, with a golden ring on his finger and with proper sandals on his feet. They should then take the calf which was being fattened for the slaughter and use its meat to prepare a great feast, since the entire household was to take part in the joy of this occasion. All the symbols of the filial state, all the honors due to the son of the house, should here be brought out. And the father hurriedly explains that this wanderer, if they had not known him before or had not recognized him in his rags, was his son. Dead indeed he had been, lost to all good, given to all evil; but now he had returned to real life, now he was in truth the son of the house, since he had found himself and stood in the relation of a true son to his father. And so the feast was made ready at once, and the celebration went ahead with great joy. Thus the lost children of God that return to Him with penitent hearts are not admitted to heaven in such a way as barely to enter. No, the forgiveness of God is complete. There is joy in heaven over every sinner that comes to repentance.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Luk 15:20. When he was yet a great way off, But he keeping yet at a distance. When he came within sight of home, his nakedness, and the consciousness of his folly, made him ashamed togo in; he skulked about, therefore, keeping at a distance, till his father spied him, and shewed the most affecting paternal kindness towards him. But see on Luk 15:24.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 15:20-24 . God’s compassion in the carrying out of the repentant resolve; after it is carried out, the joyous receiving of him again to perfect sonship .

. . .] the resolution is no sooner taken than its execution begins.

. ] to his own father ; no other became the refuge of the unhappy son. There is an affecting touch in .

] he kissed him again and again ; see on Mat 26:48 .

Luk 15:21 . The . . of Luk 15:19 is repressed by the demeanour of his father’s love; the deeply moved son cannot bring these words to his lips in the presence of such paternal affection. A psychologically delicate and significant representation.

Luk 15:22 . “Filio respondet re ipsa,” Bengel.

] a robe, the first that we have in the house to wit, according to its rank and worth, i.e. , Euthymius Zigabenus. The idea the one that had previously been worn by him (Theophylact, Calovius), which would be the righteousness lost in Adam is opposed to Luk 15:13 in the service of dogmatic interpretation. Moreover, would have been added in that connection. With regard to the article after the anarthrous substantive, see Winer, p. 126 f. [E. T. 174 f.]. The is the long and wide overcoat of the people of distinction, Mar 12:38 ; Mar 16:5 ; Rev 6:11 . The , i.e. signet ring (Herod. ii. 0.318), and the (slaves went bare footed), are signs of the free man, which he who had returned was to be as a son of the house.

Luk 15:23 . .] the well-known one which stands in the stall.

] slaughter , as at Luk 15:30 , not: sacrifice (Elsner).

.] not: laeti epulemur (Kuinoel), but: epulantes laetemur . Beware of forced interpretations like the following: according to Olshausen (comp. Jerome, Euthymius Zigabenus, and others), the denotes the divine righteousness (Rev 3:18 ; Rev 7:13 ; Rev 19:8 ); the ring, the seal of the Spirit; the sandals, the capacity to walk in God’s ways (Eph 6:15 ): according to Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Euthymius Zigabenus, Theophylact, and others, the fatted calf is Christ! Comp. also Lange, L. J . II. 1, p. 381.

Luk 15:24 . . . . . .] is meant by the father in a moral sense: , , Euthymius Zigabenus. A well-known mode of speaking of death and life (Mat 4:16 ; Mat 8:22 ; 1Ti 5:6 ; Eph 5:14 ; Rom 6:13 ; passages from the Rabbins, Schoettgen, Hor . p. 877 f.; from the classical writers, Bornemann, Schol . p. 97). In favour of this view it is manifest of itself that the father says absolutely , which he cannot mean in the literal sense of the words; further, that after the approach related in Luk 15:20 f. his soul could be full only of the moral change of his son’s condition; finally, that he utters the same words, Luk 15:32 , to the eldest son, who, being acquainted with the previous condition of his brother (Luk 15:30 ), could understand them only morally. The utterance of the servant, , Luk 15:27 , is not opposed to this; for he speaks thus of the returned son of the house, only generally of his condition as it first presents itself to him, beyond which the slave has not to go. He has the right feeling of discretion, that respectfully, in accordance with his position, it does not become him to repeat the judgment of the father, but rather to abide by that external circumstance ( that he has received him back sound ). Even this feature belongs to the lifelike delicate points of this history. On all accounts the view is to be dismissed of Paulus, de Wette, and Bleek: , dead as far as I am concerned (by his remoteness and his dissolute life, and : lost , in the sense of disappeared).

] to be glad . The feast is naturally understood according to Luk 15:23 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Ver. 20. When he was yet a great way off ] Tantum velis et Deus tibi praeoccurret, You may be so will and God will run to you, saith a Father. The prodigal was but conceiving a purpose to return, and God met him, Isa 65:24 .

And kissed him ] One would have thought he should have kicked him, or have killed him rather, but God is Pater miserationum, father of mercy, he is all heart. The prodigal came, the father ran; God is slow to anger, swift to show mercy.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

20 24. ] His restoration .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

20. ] What he has resolved, he does: a figure not of the usual , but of the proper course of such a state of mind.

. . ] Who can say whether this itself was not a seeking? whether his courage would have held out to the meeting?

On what follows, see especially Jer 3:12 ; Jas 4:8 ; Gen 46:29 ; 2Sa 14:33 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 15:20-24 . Return and reception . , etc., he came to his father; no details about the journey, the fact simply stated, the interest now centring in the action of the father, exemplifying the joy of a parent in finding a lost son, which is carefully and exquisitely described in four graphic touches : first recognition at a distance, implying, if not a habit of looking for the lost one (Gbel, Schanz, etc.), at least a vision sharpened by love : instant pity awakened by the woful plight of the returning one manifest in feeble step, ragged raiment possibly also visible , running, in the excitement and impatience of love, regardless of Eastern dignity and the pace safe for advancing years : kissing fervently and frequently the son folded in his arms ( cf. Mat 26:49 , Luk 7:38 ; Luk 7:45 ). All signs these of a love ready to do anything to recover the lost, to search for him to the world’s end, if that had been fitting or likely to gain the end.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

came to his father. Compare “came to himself” (Luk 15:17).

his = his own.

and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6).

ran. Compare Isa 6:6, “Then flew”. See note on Luk 15:21, and compare Isa 65:24.

kissed = fervently kissed. Same word as in Mat 26:49.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

20-24.] His restoration.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 15:20. , and) No sooner said than done.-, saw) returning back, starving, naked. Comp. Luk 15:22.-[ , and He had compassion (the bowels of His compassion yearned over him). This truly is a forgiveness, not even attended with the lowering (contraction) of the countenance in displeasure, or with a frown on the brow, Jer 3:4; Jer 3:12.-V. g.]-, running) out from His house. Comp. , Bring forth (viz. out of the house) the best robe, Luk 15:22. Parents, under ordinary circumstances, are not readily disposed to run to meet their children.-, kissed him warmly) [How could a son have looked for a more gracious salutation, if even he had managed his property (and behaved) in the best way, when he was abroad?-V. g.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

But: Deu 30:2-4, Job 33:27, Job 33:28, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Psa 103:10-13, Isa 49:15, Isa 55:6-9, Isa 57:18, Jer 31:20, Eze 16:6-8, Hos 11:8, Mic 7:18, Mic 7:19, Act 2:39, Eph 2:13, Eph 2:17

and fell: Gen 33:4, Gen 45:14, Gen 46:29, Act 20:37

Reciprocal: Gen 21:16 – Let Gen 45:15 – Moreover Jdg 10:16 – his soul 2Sa 14:33 – kissed Absalom Psa 32:5 – forgavest Son 1:2 – him Son 6:12 – soul Isa 30:18 – wait Isa 57:15 – to revive the spirit Jer 31:18 – surely Lam 3:32 – General Eze 33:11 – I have Hos 14:8 – I have Joe 2:18 – and pity Jon 3:10 – God saw Mar 8:2 – compassion Luk 23:43 – To day Joh 1:38 – turned Phm 1:12 – mine Jam 1:5 – and upbraideth

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

0

The father observed his son at a great distance before he arrived at the home and ran to meet him. This detail truly represents God’s attitude toward sinners. He is always casting a loving glance toward them. Fell on his neck is an expression that denotes affectionate feelings for another, instead of the formal kiss upon the mouth merely as a salutation that was the custom in old times.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 15:20. And he arose, etc. The action corresponds to the resolve, in the parable, but not always in reality. This is the last scene; the return.

A great way off. The father seems to have expected him; God certainly expects the penitent sinner.

His father saw him, etc. Graphic and true to nature. The fathers conduct is itself a seeking of the lost son. God is waiting to be gracious; He comes to meet us in His mercy; He manifests it before our penitent utterances.

And kissed him. The token and seal of love. The Saviour and mediator is concealed in the kiss (Riggenbach).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 15:20. And he arose and came to his father Having taken the resolution of returning to his father, he put it immediately in execution; setting out just as he was, barefooted, and all in rags, and being obliged, doubtless, to beg his way. But did his father receive him? Was he welcome? Yes, heartily welcome. And, by the way, we have here an example, instructing parents, whose children have been foolish and disobedient, if they repent and submit themselves, not to be harsh and severe with them; but to be governed, in such a case, by the wisdom that is from above, which is gentle and easy to be entreated. Herein let them be followers of God, and merciful as he is. The passage, however, is chiefly designed to set forth the grace and mercy of God to poor sinners, that repent and return to him, and his readiness to forgive them. But when he was yet a great way off Having only come within sight of home, and his nakedness, and the consciousness of his folly, probably, making him ashamed to proceed further, his father Happening to be looking that way; saw him Before any of the rest of his family were aware of the circumstance; and had compassion , his bowels yearned, to observe the wretched condition he was in; and immediately, as if he had forgotten the dignity of his own character, and all the injuries he had received, he ran to his child, and fell on his neck and kissed him. The son advanced diffidently and slowly, under a burden of shame and fear; but the father ran to meet him with his encouragements. This shows our heavenly Fathers desire of the conversion of sinners, and his readiness to meet them that are coming toward him. His eyes are on those that go astray from him, he is continually looking to see whether they will return to him, and marks and cherishes the first inclinations which they manifest so to do.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vers. 20b-24. Free pardon, entire restoration, the joys of adoption,such are the contents of these verses. The heart of God overflows in the sayings of Jesus. Every word vibrates with emotion, at once the tenderest and the holiest. The father seems never to have given up waiting for his son; perceiving him from afar, he runs to meet him. God discerns the faintest sigh after good which breaks forth in a wanderer’s heart; and from the moment this heart takes a step toward Him, He takes ten to meet it, striving to show it something of His love. This history was exemplified at the very moment as between the publicans present and God, who was drawing near to them in Jesus. There is a wide difference between the confession uttered by the prodigal son, Luk 15:21, and that which had been extracted from him by the extremity of his misery (Luk 15:18-19). The latter was a cry of despair; but now his distress is over. It is therefore the cry of repentant love. The terms are the same: I have sinned; but how different is the accent! Luther felt it profoundly; the discovery of the difference between the repentance of fear and that of love was the true principle of the Reformation.

He cannot come to the end; the very assurance of pardon prevents him from finishing and saying, make me as…, according to his first purpose. The Alex. have not understood this omission, and have mistakenly added here the last words of Luk 15:19.

Pardon involves restoration. No humbling novitiate; no passing through inferior positions. The restoration is as complete as the repentance was sincere and the faith profound. In all those touchesthe shoes, the robe, the signet ring (the mark of the free man, fitted to express an independent will)a sound exegesis should limit itself to finding the expression of the fulness of restoration to the filial standing; only homiletic application may allow itself to go further, though even it should beware of falling into a play of wit, as when Jerome and Olshausen see in the robe the righteousness of Christ, in the ring the seal of the Holy Spirit, in the shoes the power of walking in the ways of God. Others have found in the servants the image of the Holy Spirit or of pastors! The Alex. reject before , and that justly. There is a gradation: first a robe, in opposition to nakedness; then, and even the best, because he who has descended lowest, if he rise again, should mount up highest. In the phrase, the fatted calf, Luk 15:23, the article should be observed. On every farm there is always the calf which is fattening for feast days. Jesus knows rural customs. Augustine and Jerome find in this calf an indication of the sacrifice of Christ! According to the tout ensemble of the picture, which should be our standard in interpreting all the special details, this emblem represents all that is most excellent and sweet in the communications of divine grace. The absence of every feature fitted to represent the sacrifice of Christ, is at once explained when we remember that we have here to do with a parable, and that expiation has no place in the relations between man and man. By the plural, let us be merry, the father himself takes his share in the feast (as in Luk 15:7). The two parallel clauses of Luk 15:24 recall the two aspects in which sin was presented in the two previous parables; he was dead relates to the personal misery of the sinner (the lost sheep); he was lost, to the loss felt by God Himself (the lost drachma). The parable of the prodigal son combines those two points of view: the son was lost, and the father had lost something. With the words, and they began to be merry, the parable reaches the exact point at which things were at the moment when Christ uttered it (Luk 15:1-2).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Since the father saw his son while he was still a great distance from his house, he had apparently been scanning the distant road daily hoping to see him. The father’s compassion reflects some knowledge of his son’s plight. Perhaps he had kept tabs on him since he left home. The father put feet to his feelings by running out to meet his son, even though it was undignified for an older man to run in Jesus’ culture. Embracing and kissing him continually also expressed the father’s loving acceptance (cf. Gen 45:14-15; Gen 33:4; 2Sa 14:33; Act 20:37). This attitude also contrasts with the elder brother’s attitude and the Pharisees’ attitude. The father initiated the restoration of fellowship before the son could articulate his confession. The word translated "kissed" (Gr. katephilesen) may mean either "kissed many times" or "kissed tenderly." [Note: Morris, p. 242.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)