Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 15:21
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.
21 . And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned ] Rather, I sinned. Like a true penitent he grieves not for what he has lost, but for what he has done. Here again the language of David furnishes the truest and most touching comment, “I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,” Psa 32:5. “There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared,”
Psa 130:4. The Prodigal’s penitence is not mere remorse or sorrow for punishment.
sinned against heaven ] This includes and surpasses all the other guilt,
which is the reason why David, though he had sinned so deeply against man, says “against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight,” Psa 51:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. Make me as one of thy hired servants, is added here by several MSS. and versions; but it is evident this has been added, merely to make his conduct agree with his resolution, Lu 15:19. But by this a very great beauty is lost: for the design of the inspired penman is to show, not merely the depth of the profligate son’s repentance, and the sincerity of his conversion, but to show the great affection of the father, and his readiness to forgive his disobedient son. His tenderness of heart cannot wait till the son has made his confession; his bowels yearn over him, and he cuts short his tale of contrition and self-reproach, by giving him the most plenary assurances of his pardoning love.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Now the good thoughts and resolutions of the sinner ripen into action, and the first of it is an expression of his convictions and humiliation by a humble confession of his sins, with their aggravations, as committed against God, and that in the sight of God, and this God his Father, his unworthiness so much as of the name of a son to such a Father. The petitionary part of what he resolved upon, Luk 15:19, is not here again repeated, but to be understood. Men may by the common grace of God, denied to no man, have some good thoughts, but they die away, and come to no maturity, unless the Holy Spirit of God breathes upon them, and maintains and upholdeth them in the soul; but where the Lord designs a thorough change in a soul, the Spirit of the Lord comes, and convinceth the soul of sin and of righteousness: and where he doth so, the resolution ripens into action, and produces in the soul a true and hearty contrition, and confession of its sin, with humble petitions and a resignation of itself to the Lords will, and a casting of itself upon Gods free grace and mercy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Father, I have sinned,&c.”This confession is uttered after the kiss ofreconciliation” (Eze16:63) [TRENCH].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the son said unto him, father,…. Or “my father”, as the Syriac version reads; and the Persic version adds, “pardon me”: sin lay heavy on him, and he wanted a view and application of pardoning grace, though he seems to be prevented making this request by the kiss he received from his father:
I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight; this is what he determined to say, and was allowed to say, having a deep sense of his sin and vileness, and which was increased by the love and kindness his father had shown him. The phrase is Jewish;
[See comments on Lu 15:18] to which may be added, what is elsewhere said c,
“what is the sense of that passage, Ps 12:4 “who have said, with our tongues we will prevail?” c. it designs all the transgressions a man sins against earth and if
, “they sin against heaven”, and earth; what is the sense of that in Ps 73:9?”
and am no more worthy to be called thy son: so much he was suffered to say, which fully expresses his sense of his vileness and unworthiness: but he was not allowed to say, “make me as one of thy hired servants”; because this could not be granted; for a son is always a son, and cannot become a servant; see Ga 4:6.
c T. Hieros Peah, fol. 16. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The son made his speech of confession as planned, but it is not certain that he was able to finish as a number of early manuscripts do not have “Make me as one of the hired servants,” though Aleph B D do have them. It is probable that the father interrupted him at this point before he could finish.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
To be called thy son. He omits make me a servant. The slavish spirit vanishes in the clasp of the father ‘s arms. Bengel suggest that the father would not suffer him to utter the news. I once heard Norman McLeod say in a sermon, “Before the prodigal son reached his home he thought over what he should do to merit restoration. He would be a hired servant. But when his father came out and met him, and put his arms round him, and the poor boy was beginning to say this and that, he just shut his mouth, and said, ‘I take you to my heart, and that’ enough. ‘”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the son said unto him, Father, (eipen de ho huios auto pater) “Then the son said to him, Father,” proceeded to carry through his confession resolution that he had worded down in the hog pen of a foreign land, perhaps repeated a thousand times on his way home.
2) “I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,” (hemarton eis ton ouranon sou) “I sinned against heaven and before your presence,” Psa 51:4, to cause God and you to be ashamed or offended. Only grace from God enables one to confess “I have sinned,” then to ask pardon or forgiveness for the sin. ‘
3) “And am no more worthy to be called thy son.” (ouketi eimi aksios klethenai huios sou) “I am no longer worthy to be called an heir-son of you.” But the love with which he was received restrained his further resolve, “make me as a hired servant.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. Father, I have sinned against heaven. Here is pointed out another branch of repentance, namely, such a conviction of sin as is accompanied by grief and shame. For he who is not grieved for having sinned, and whose offense is not placed before his eyes, will sooner attempt any thing than think of returning to the path of duty. Displeasure with sin must therefore go before repentance. And there is great emphasis in this expression, that the young man is said to have come to himself, as one whom the wanderings of wild desires had hurried away into forgetfulness of himself. And certainly so far astray are the impulses of the flesh, that any one who gives himself up to them may be said to have gone out of himself, and to have lost his senses. For this reason transgressors are commanded to return to the heart, (538) (Isa 46:8.) Next follows a confession, (539) not such a one as the Pope has contrived, but one by which the son appeases his offended father; for this humility is absolutely necessary in order to obtain forgiveness of sins. This mode of expression, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, is of the same import as if he had said, that God was offended in the person of an earthly father. And certainly this is the dictate of nature, that every one who rebels against a father rises wickedly also against God, who has placed children in subjection to parents.
(538) “ A ceste cause en l’Escriture Dieu commande aux transgresseurs de retourner a leur coeur;” — “For this reason, in Scripture God commands transgressors to return to their heart.” In the authorized version the passage runs thus: Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. — Ed.
(539) “ Apres la cognoissance du peche s’ensuit aussi la confession;” — “after the knowledge of sin there follows also confession.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Father, I have sinned against heaven.The iteration of the self-same words comes to us with a wonderful power and pathos. The contrite soul does not play with its contrition, or seek to vary its expression. But the change is as suggestive as the repetition. Now that he has seen his father, he cannot bring himself to say again, Make me as one of thy hired servants. That had been a natural and right wish before; it would savour of unreality and hypocrisy now. This also has its analogue in the history of true penitents. In the first stirrings of contrition they stand afar off, and as they confess their sins hardly dare to hope for restoration to the blessedness of sons; but when they have felt the Fathers kiss, though still confessing that they are unworthy to be called sons, they cannot be satisfied with anything less than sonship.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. The son said He attempts to repeat the confession he had meditated; but before he is through, his father’s love smothers his words. So does God hasten to bless the earnest prayer of the heart, before the utterance of the lips.
No more worthy to be called thy son Very properly does he take the place of a hired servant, for he has forfeited his sonship. And every one of the hired servants in the house has a sonship in the background. If this parable were to be acted over again and again, as a drama, or a tableau, each one of the hired servants of the house would have the right in turn to act the part of the original son, wandering and becoming alien, returning and becoming son. They are the hired servants only for the present enactment of the drama. They are all impersonated by this son, and are exalted in his exaltation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, I am no more worthy to be called your son.’ ”
No doubt very moved the son began to explain why he had come. He acknowledged that he had sinned against both God and his father, and that in such a way that he could not expect to be received as a son. That much he had to say in the parable lest the impression be gained that his sin did not matter. But not more, in order to demonstrate the father’s unconditional love.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
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.
Ver. 21. Father, I have sinned ] Confess, and the mends is made. Homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit. Acknowledge but the debt, and he will cross the book.
And am no more worthy, &c. ] Infernus sum, Domine, said that holy martyr, Mr Hooper, at his death. Lord, I am hell, but thou art heaven I am soil, and a sink of sin, but thou a gracious God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21. ] The intended close of his confession is not uttered; there is no abatement of his penitence, for all his Father’s touching and reassuring kindness, but his filial confidence is sufficiently awakened to prevent the request, that he might be as an hired servant .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 15:21 . The son repeats his premeditated speech, with or without the last clause; probably with it, as part of a well-conned lesson, repeated half mechanically, yet not insincerely as if to say: I don’t deserve this, I came expecting at most a hireling’s treatment in food and otherwise, I should be ashamed to be anything higher.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
I have sinned = I sinned. Confession of sin is the necessary condition for receiving the blessing. Compare 2Sa 12:13. Psa 32:5. Isa 6:5, Isa 6:6. Isa 5:8, &c. And so with Israel (Lev 26:40-42. Isa 64:6, Isa 64:7. Hos 5:15; Hos 14:1, Hos 14:2).
in thy sight. Same Greek words as “before thee” in Luk 15:18.
son. Note the Figure of speech Aposiopesis (App-6), for he did not finish what he meant to have said.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21.] The intended close of his confession is not uttered;-there is no abatement of his penitence, for all his Fathers touching and reassuring kindness,-but his filial confidence is sufficiently awakened to prevent the request, that he might be as an hired servant.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 15:21. , said) The son did not abuse his Fathers graciousness, so as to prevent his proceeding to say what he had intended. Serious and earnest repentance does not satisfy itself with merely one thought unattended with cost or trouble.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
sinned Sin.
(See Scofield “Rom 3:23”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Father: Luk 15:18, Luk 15:19, Jer 3:13, Eze 16:63, Rom 2:4
against: Psa 51:4, Psa 143:2, 1Co 8:12
Reciprocal: 2Sa 12:13 – I have sinned Ezr 9:6 – grown up Psa 32:5 – I said Psa 51:17 – thou Psa 103:13 – Like Dan 4:26 – the heavens Dan 9:15 – we have sinned Hos 14:2 – receive Zec 1:3 – and Mat 6:9 – Our Mat 8:8 – I am
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
This act of affection encouraged the repentant son to go on with the confession he had decided upon when he came to himself.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 15:21. Father, etc. The purposed confession is made, but the conclusion is omitted. 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 (Godet).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 15:21. And the son said The perturbation which the aged parent was in, with ecstasy of joy, hindered him from speaking; so the poor, ragged, meager creature, locked in his arms, began and made his acknowledgments with a tone of voice expressive of the deepest contrition. Father, I have sinned against heaven, &c. As it commends the good fathers kindness, that he showed it before the prodigal expressed his repentance; so it commends the prodigals repentance, that he expressed it after his father had showed him so much love. When he had received the kiss, which sealed his pardon, yet he said, in a spirit of deep contrition, Father, I have sinned. Observe, reader, even those who have received the pardon of their sins, and the comfortable sense of their pardon, yet must have in their hearts a sincere sorrow for them, and with their mouths must make a penitent confession of them, even for those sins which they have reason to hope are pardoned. David wrote the fifty-first Psalm after Nathan had said, The Lord hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die. Nay, a comfortable sense of the pardon of sin should increase our sorrow for it; and that is ingenuous, evangelical sorrow, which is increased by such a consideration. Thus Eze 16:61; Eze 16:63, Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded when I am pacified toward thee. The more we see of Gods readiness to forgive us, the more difficult it should be to us to forgive ourselves. The son was going on with his confession and submission, but the father, grieved to see him in that miserable plight, interrupted him, and prevented his proceeding, by ordering his servants, some to bring out the best robe immediately, and a ring and shoes, that he might be clothed in a manner becoming his son; and others, to go and kill a fatted calf, that they might eat and rejoice, and all this without one word of rebuke. This kind treatment was far beyond what the prodigal did or could expect: he came home between hope and fear, fear of being rejected, and hope of being received; but his father was not only better to him than his fears, but better to him than his hopes; not only received him, but received him with respect. He came home in rags, and his father not only clothed but adorned him, putting on him, , the first, best, or principal robe, the garment laid by, and used only on festival occasions; and a ring on his hand As a further token of his welcome reception into the family, and of his fathers love and regard. He returned barefoot, and with feet doubtless sore with travelling; but his father provided him with proper shoes, to render him easy and comfortable. He came faint and hungry; and his father not only fed but feasted him, and that with the best provision he had. Thus, for true penitents, who return to their duty, and cast themselves upon the divine mercy in Christ, God doth exceedingly above what they could have dared to ask or think. He clothes them when naked with the robe of righteousness, the garment of salvation, justifies their persons through faith in him who is the Lord their righteousness, and regenerates and sanctifies their nature by his saving grace, restoring them to his blessed image and likeness. And, as a token of their adoption into his family, sends into their hearts the Spirit of his Son, crying, Abba, Father, and sealing them to the day of redemption, signified by the ring put on the prodigals hand. Their feet also are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, that they may proceed forward with ease and comfort through the journey of life, however rough the road may be in which they have to travel: in other words, through faith in the gospel, and its encouraging declarations and promises, they obtain that peace and tranquillity of mind, that resignation, patience, and contentment, which enables them to persevere in the way of duty, whatever trials they may meet with therein: and they are fed with the bread of life, nay, feasted with the rich and abundant consolations of the gospel: while the whole family of God rejoices at their return to their heavenly Fathers house. Thus the father of the prodigal exhorts, Let us eat and be merry Greek, , eating, let us rejoice, or be cheerful. The English word, merry, both here and wherever else it occurs, whether in the Old or New Testament, implies nothing of levity, but a solid, serious, religious, heart-felt joy: indeed, this was the ordinary meaning of the word two hundred years ago, when our translation was made.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:21 {4} 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.
(4) In true repentance there is a consciousness of our sins, joined with sorrow and shame, and from this springs a confession, after which follows forgiveness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Evidently the father cut his son’s confession short because he knew what was in his heart (cf. 1Jn 4:18). Rather than simply accepting his son back, much less making him a servant, the father bestowed the symbols of honor, authority, and freedom on him (cf. Gen 41:42; Est 3:10; Est 8:8). [Note: Jeremias, The Parables . . ., p. 130.] Then he prepared a banquet for him that probably represents the messianic banquet (Luk 13:29; Luk 14:15-24). People in Jesus’ day ate far less meat than modern westerners do, so eating meat indicates a very special occasion.
"Everything the younger son had hoped to find in the far country, he discovered back home: clothes, jewelry, friends, joyful celebration, love, and assurance for the future. What made the difference? Instead of saying, ’Father, give me!’ he said, ’Father, make me!’ He was willing to be a servant!" [Note: Wiersbe, 1:236.]
The son had determined to leave the father permanently and so was dead and lost to his father. He now had new life and was found (cf. Eph 2:1-5). If the sheep was lost through foolishness and the coin through carelessness, the son was lost through willfulness. [Note: Ibid., 1:233-35.] The son’s return was just the beginning of rejoicing, the implication being that it would continue through the messianic kingdom (i.e., the Millennium). Jesus’ hearers would have understood Him to teach that sinners would enter the kingdom because they came to God by believing in Jesus.
"There is a Buddhist story that provides a fascinating contrast to the Lord’s story. It also tells of a son who left home and returned years later in rags and misery. His degradation was so profound that he did not recognize his own father. But his father recognized him and told the servants to take him into the mansion and to clean him up. The father, his identity unrevealed, watched his son’s response. Gradually, time wrought changes, and the son became dutiful, considerate, and moral. Satisfied, the father finally revealed his identity and formally accepted his son as his heir.
"The Pharisees would have understood and approved of such a story. It makes sense to wait for a son to achieve worthiness. It is reasonable to treat a repentant person according to the stage of penance achieved. But that is not the Father our Lord describes. It is not a parable of merits. Here is a picture of grace." [Note: Inrig, pp. 20-21.]
"Here it deserves special notice, as marking the absolute contrast between the teaching of Christ and Rabbinism, that we have in one of the oldest Rabbinic works a Parable exactly the reverse of this, when the son of a friend is redeemed from bondage, not as a son, but to be a slave, that so obedience might be demanded of him." [Note: Edersheim, 2:262.]
"To an alarming degree it [the evangelical church of today] has lost touch with the unconditional love of God." [Note: Hodges, Absolutely Free! p. 18.]