Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 18:9
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
9 – 14. The Duty of Humble Prayer. The Pharisee and the Tax-gatherer.
9. which trusted in themselves that they were righteous ] See Luk 16:15; Php 3:4 ; 2Co 1:9. The Jewish words ‘ Jashar,’ ‘the upright man,’ and ‘ Tsaddik, ‘just,’ expressed their highest moral ideal; but they made their uprightness and justice consist so much in attention to the ceremonial minutiae of the Levitic Law, and rigid externalism so engrossed their thoughts, that they had lost sight of those loftier and truer ideals of charity which the Prophets had continually set before them-. This fetish-worship of the letter, this scrupulosity about trifles, tended only to self-confidence and pride. It had long been denounced in Scripture. “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness,” Pro 30:12; “which say, Stand by thyself come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day,” Isa 65:5. This is the sort of ‘faith’ which the Son of Man shall find on the earth, men’s faith in themselves!
and despised other ] Rather, the rest. The word ‘despise’ means ‘treat as nothing,’ ‘regard as mere cyphers,’ Rom 14:3; Rom 14:10. The Rabbis invented the most highflown designations for each other, such as ‘Light of Israel,’ ‘Uprooter of Mountains,’ ‘The Glory of the Law,’ ‘The Holy,’ &c.; but they described the vast mass of their fellow- countrymen as “accursed” for not knowing the law (Joh 7:49), and spoke of them as ‘ empty cisterns,’ ‘ people of the earth,’ &c. See on Luk 5:32, Luk 7:34, &c. This Pharisee regards with perfect self-complacency the assumed ruin and degradation of all the rest of mankind. In one sense the Parable represents the mutual relations of Jew and Gentile.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Unto certain – Unto some.
Which trusted in themselves – Who confided in themselves, or who supposed that they were righteous. They did not trust to God or the Messiah for righteousness, but to their own works. They vainly supposed they had themselves complied with the demands of the law of God.
Despised others – Others who were not as externally righteous as themselves. This was the character of the Pharisees. They trusted in their outward conformity to the ceremonies of the law. They considered all who did not do that as sinners. This, moreover, is the true character of self-righteousness. Men of that stamp always despise all others. They think they are far above them in holiness, and are disposed to say to them, Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou, Isa 65:5. True religion, on the contrary, is humble. Those who trust in Christ for righteousness feel that they are, in themselves, poor, and miserable, and guilty, and they are willing to admit that others may be much better than themselves. Certain it is, they despise no one. They love all people; they regard them, however vile, as the creatures of God and as going to eternity, and are disposed to treat them well, and to aid them in their journey toward another world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 18:9-14
Two men went up into the temple to pray.
Whom the Lord receives
Observe, from the parable–
I. HOW GOD LOOKS UPON THE HEART, RATHER THAN UPON THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE. It is not the spoken service that is regarded, but the hidden words of the heart.
II. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF MANS GOOD WORKS TO OBTAIN JUSTIFICATION.
III. THE WAY OF JUSTIFICATION IS SHOWN IN WHAT WE ARE TOLD OF THE PUBLICAN.
IV. WE SEE WHAT SPIRIT GOD REQUIRES OF AND APPROVES IN US. Not those who are satisfied with themselves are commended of Him, but those who see and deplore their sinfulness. As a bird must first stoop to fly, so must the soul humble itself ere it finds God. Behold a great wonder, says Augustine, God is high; exalt thyself, He flees from thee: humble thyself, and He stoops to thee. Because, as the Psalmist says, Though high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off. So the Pharisee returned from the temple as poor as he came, while the publican, whom he despised, wondering how he dared to come, returned made rich by Gods kiss of forgiveness and peace. Little do men know who among them are blessed. Gods angels of joy do not always enter where they most naturally are supposed to go. (A. H. Currier.)
Self-exaltation and self-abasement
I. SELF-EXALTATION.
1. This spirit is against God, on whom all depend, before whom all men are dust and uncleanness.
2. Is ignorance, no man having real spiritual knowledge could allow this spirit to dwell in him.
3. Is guilty ignorance, for the Old Testament Scriptures expose and condemn this spirit (Eze 21:26; Deu 17:20; Deu 8:14; Hab 2:4; Isa 65:5).
4. Is pleasant to corrupt human nature, flattering to natural pride.
5. Is contrary to the mind of God.
6. Is a subtle, hypocritical spirit, often appearing as religious.
7. Deceives the heart it occupies.
8. Defeats itself, for it ends in abasement and shame.
II. DESPISING OTHERS.
1. This spirit is but another form of pride; others are despised in contrast with self, which is exalted.
2. Is against God, breaking both the law and the gospel, which enjoin loving neighbour as self.
3. Is against the precepts and example of Jesus, who despised not the poorest and outcast, the fallen and foul.
III. SELF-ABASEMENT.
1. Often branded by worldly men as meanness of spirit or cowardice.
2. Is acceptable to God, and according to Christs example.
3. May bring on us some loss or inconvenience for a season, that must be borne as a cross.
4. Has blessing now, and recompense of honour hereafter.
5. The chief example of self-abasement being blessed thus, is that of our Lord Himself (Php 2:5-11).
6. In the publicans case, the blessing began at once.
Application:
1. Every one marks universal rule or principle.
2. Warn those who have not humbled themselves before God
Exo 10:3).
3. No justification possible for man, but by self-abasement in repentance and faith.
4. The Holy Spirit convinces of sin, etc.
5. Encourage the first thoughts of self-abasement by examples of 1Ki 21:9), and Manasseh (2Ch 33:12-19). (Flavel Cook.)
The Pharisee and the publican
I. THE AIM OF THE PARABLE.
1. Stated (Luk 18:9).
2. Suggestive–
(1) That self-righteousness is possible.
(2) That self-righteousness and contempt for others are closely allied.
(3) That self-righteousness grows from the root of self-deception.
(a) The self-righteous calls upon a heart-searching God.
(b) The self-righteous despise men.
II. NOTICEABLE FEATURES OF THE PARABLE.
1. The contrasted characters.
(1) The prayer of the Pharisee.
(a) There is thanksgiving–but is it gratitude to God?
(b) There is reference to personal excellencies before God–but is it in humility?
(c) Thus prayer may be a mockery, and therefore a sin.
(2) The prayer of the publican.
(a) There is keen remorse–but not despair.
(b) There is deep awe in Gods presence–but an appeal to His mercy.
(c) Thus, the most agonizing prayer may be heartfelt and believing.
III. THE LORDS COMMENT ON THE PARABLE.
1. The self-exalting prayer of the Pharisee He condemns.
2. The contrite petition of the publican He approves.
3. The reality of answers to prayer He affirms.
4. Christ here enunciates a solemn truth (Luk 18:14). Lessons:
1. Conformity to religions forms no proof of true piety.
2. True penitence ever seen in self-abasement. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The Pharisee and the publican
Our Saviours design in this parable was–
1. To condemn a censorious disposition, a groundless contempt and bad opinion of others.
2. To correct those false notions of religion which lead men to overlook its principal duties.
3. To expose and reprove that part of selflove which makes us proud of our righteousness.
4. To recommend repentance and humility towards God as the first step to amendment.
5. Lastly, to caution us against all pride and conceit in general. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
Remarks on the parable
1. How vain must be the hope of those who expect heaven because they are not so wicked as others.
2. Let us beware how by comparing ourselves with others we are led to despise them.
3. No sinner, after such an example as that of the publican, can have any excuse for not praying right, immediately.
4. Every one of us must be humbled before God, if we would partake of His mercy. (N. W. Taylor, D. D.)
Belief in the virtues of others
Who does not believe others virtuous, would be found, were the secrets of his heart and life known, to be himself vicious. We may lay it down as an axiom, that those who are ready to suspect others of being actuated by a regard to self-interest, are themselves selfish. Thieves do not believe in the existence of honesty; nor rakes in virtue; nor mercenary politicians in patriotism; and the reason why worldlings regard religious people as hypocrites is their own want of religion–knowing that were they to profess a warm regard for Christ, the glory of God, and the salvation of souls, they would be hypocrites. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Satisfaction with external ceremonial acts
Let us do this Pharisee justice. He put in a claim for something done, as well as something left undone: I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess. But this was ceremonial goodness. We must distinguish: moral goodness is goodness always, and everywhere. Justice, mercy, truth, are the same under the tropic and at the pole, in the year 4000 before Christ and 4000 after Christ. But ceremonies are only good at certain times, and under certain circumstances. Fasting, if it make a man peevish, is no duty. Tithes are a way of supporting Gods ministers; but the Church or the State may provide another way, and then tithes cease to be duties. Now observe why Pharisaical men find it easier to be content with ceremonial observances than with moral goodness. They are definite acts, they can be counted. Twice a week the ceremony is done. Go over my fields; not a tenth sheaf or shock is left standing. Search my stalls: not a tenth colt or calf is kept back. But moral goodness is more a state of heart than distinct acts. Take the law of love; you cannot at night count up, and say, It is all done, for love has no number of acts. (F. W. Robertson.)
The Pharisee and the publican
Pharisee and publican, they both went up, as to a common home, to the great national temple. The Pharisee and the publican had this in common–they understood that prayer is a serious business–the highest business of man–that it is the highest and, if I may so say, the most noble, the most remunerative occupation in which a human being can possibly engage. Man has not always thus understood the real capacity of his soul–the real greatness of his destiny. There are thousands in this great city at this moment who do not understand it. Enervated by pleasure, or distracted by pain, absorbed in the pursuit of material objects, driven hither and thither by gusts of passion, slaves of the lust of the eyes or of the pride of life, men forget too easily why they are here at all, and what they have to do in order to fulfil the primal object of existence. When once a man has these fundamental truths well in view, the importance of prayer becomes immediately apparent. Prayer to something–prayer of some kind–is the higher language of humanity in all places,at all times. Not to pray is to fall below the true measure of human activity, just as truly as not to think. It is to surrender the noblest element of that prerogative dignity which marks men off as men from the brutes. Heathens have felt this; Deists have felt it. Jews felt it with an intensity all their own; and, therefore, when the two men, the Pharisee and the publican, went up into the temple to pray, they simply obeyed a law which is as old and wide as human thought. They gave expression to an instinct which cannot be ignored without wronging that which is noblest and best in our common humanity. Not to pray is not merely godless: it is, in the larger sense of the term, inhuman. They both obeyed this common, this imperious instinct; but here the difference begins. It was not the practice of the Pharisee, or the fact of his thankfulness, which made him less justified than the publican. What was it? My brethren, it was simply this–that the Pharisee had no true idea at all present to his mind, impressed upon his heart, of what it is that makes the real, the awful difference between God and His creatures. It is not chiefly that God is self-existent while mans is a dependent form of life. It is that God is, in Himself, in virtue of the necessary laws of His being, that which we are not–that He is perfectly, essentially holy. Until a man sees that the greatest difference of all between himself and his Creator lies, not in metaphysical unlikeness of being, nor yet in the intellectual interval which must separate the finite from the infinite mind, but pre-eminently in the moral chasm which parts a sinful, a sinning will, from the one all-holy, he does not know what he is doing in approaching God. Practically, for such a man, God is still a mere symbol, a name, whose most essential characteristic he has no eye for; and thus, like the Pharisee of old, he struts into the awful presence, as if it were the presence of some moral equal, only invested with larger powers and with a wider knowledge than his own. While the angels above prostrate themselves eternally before the throne, crying, Holy, holy, holy, proclaiming by that unvaried song the deepest difference between created and uncreated life, the Pharisee has the heart to turn in upon himself an eye of tranquil self-approval–to rejoice, forsooth, that he is not as others–to recount his little charities and his petty austerities–to enwrap himself in a satisfaction which might be natural if a revelation of the most holy had never been made; for observe, that the Pharisee does two things which speak volumes as to the real state of his soul.
1. He compares himself approvingly with others. I thank Thee that I am not as other men, or even as this publican. He assumes that in Gods sight he is better than others. But I ask, has he warrant for the assumption? He supposes that sin is measured solely by its quantity and weight, and not by the opportunities or absence of opportunities in the sinner. We know–every living conscience knows–that it is otherwise. If any one point is clear in our Lords teaching it is this–that to whom much is given of him shall much be required, and, as a consequence, that in the case of the man to whom much is given a slight offence may be much more serious than a graver crime in another, at least in the eyes of the Eternal Justice. This consideration should prevent a readiness to compare ourselves with any others. We know nothing about them. We know not what they might have been had they enjoyed our opportunities. They may possibly be worse than we are; they may be better.
2. The Pharisee reflects with satisfaction upon himself. He may, he thinks, have done wrong in his day. Everybody, he observes, does so more or less. He is, as far as that goes, not worse than other people. In other matters he flatters himself that, at least of late years, he is conspicuously better. He has kept out of great sins which the law condemns and punishes. He could never by any possibility have been taken as a member of the criminal classes. He fasts twice a week according to rule: he pays his tithes conscientiously: he is fully in every particular up to the current standard of religious respectability. Surely, he thinks in his secret heart, surely God cannot but feel what he feels himself–that he bears a very high character–that he is entitled to general respect. And the publican has nothing toplead on his own behalf. He may have been a Zaccheus; he may have been a legal robber; but he can think of himself, whatever he was, in one light only–as a sinner standing before one Being only, the holy, the everlasting God. The Pharisee is nothing to him, not because he is indifferent, but because he is mentally absorbed–prostrate before One who has filled his whole mind and heart with a sense of unworthiness. Out of the deep have I called to Thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Oh, let Thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? But there is mercy with Thee. That is his cry. That cry is condensed into the blow on the chest–into the God be merciful to me, a sinner. (Canon Liddon.)
True thoughts of oneself
In the old tombs of our cathedrals–in this cathedral three centuries ago–there were frequently two figures on the monuments, one of the deceased king, or knight, or bishop, resting above in his full robes of state as he wore them abroad in life, and another, beneath, of a thin, emaciated skeleton, which recalled to the eyes of the beholder the realities of the grave below. It is well, Christian brethren, to have in thought this double image of ourselves–what we are before the world, if we like, but, in any case, what we are before our God. It was the Pharisees misery that he thought only of how he looked to others. It was the publicans blessing that he cared only for what he was before the eyes of God. Let us struggle, let us pray, while yet we may, for a real knowledge of ourselves. Let us endeavour to keep an account of that inward history which belongs to each one of us, and which will be fully unravelled at the Judgment–to which every day that passes adds its something–of which God knows all. To do this may take trouble, but the result is worth a vast deal of trouble. Anything is better, in religious matters, than that which St. Paul calls beating the air–an aimless religion which moves perpetually in a vicious circle, because it has no compass–because it has no object. The more we know of God, the more we shall have reason to be dissatisfied with self–the more earnest will be our cry for help and mercy to Jesus Christ, who took our nature upon Him, and who died upon the cross that He might save the lost, that He might save us. There is no real reason for anxiety if we will but come to Him simply with broken hearts. Now, as in the old time, He filleth the hungry with good things, but the rich He hath sent empty away. The Pharisee and the publican stand before Him in the ranks of His Church from age to age. They are, in fact, eternal types of human character, and to the end of time, the worlds judgment between them is falsified, and this man–the publican–goes down to that last home which awaits us all, justified, rather than the other. (Canon Liddon.)
The Pharisee and the publican
Suffer me to attempt to disabuse your minds of some of the misconceptions which have grown up around this parable, and which prevent (as it seems to me) the real point of its teaching coming home to our hearts.
1. In the first place, I think that we generally fail to understand the respective positions of the two men in regard of character. There ought, I think, to be no mistake about it that the Pharisee was the better man of the two in every practical sense. Of course it is possible that this Pharisee was a mere hypocrite, like many of his class, and that his account of himself was false; but there is no hint of such a thing, and it would be a perfectly gratuitous supposition. Taking his own account of himself as substantially true, it cannot be denied that he had much cause to give thanks to God for what he was. If he had thanked God with humility that he was not like other men, remembering that his comparative innocence was due to Gods grace and to the advantages of his position and training, he would have done well. I do not know how we can thank God too much for keeping us back from evil. But he gave thanks that he was not even as that publican, and this of course goes against him in our estimation, because we know that the publican was nearer to heaven than he was. And yet, if he had humbly thanked God that he had been saved from the bad traditions of the publicans business, and the bad surroundings of the publicans life, we could not have blamed him. There are some occupations, some ways of making a living, so beset with temptations, in which a man is so dependent for success upon his own sharp dealings, in which he is so driven to take advantage of the follies and vices of others, that we may well thank God that we have been delivered from them. It is indeed sad to see Christian people entangled in these perilous and hurtful pursuits, obliged to defend themselves from the accusations of conscience by building up false and unchristian principles of morality.
2. Another misconception there is which I wish to point out to you, and that is the mistaken notion (as it seems to me) that the publican was actually justified by his lowly demeanour and self-condemning words. Our Lord does not say that. He says the publican was justified rather than the other. I imagine that neither was truly justified, but of the two the publican was nearer being justified than the PhariSee. Far as he yet was from the kingdom of heaven, he was not nearly so far as the Pharisee, for he was in the right way. In his humility he stood as it were on the threshold, and there was nothing to hinder his entering in if he was prepared for the necessary sacrifice; whereas the Pharisee had missed the entrance altogether, and was getting further and further from it. But never let us think that our Saviour meant this for an example of sufficient repentance. If the publican went back, as so many do after the same outbreak of self-reproach, to his exactions and extortions, to his tricks of trade, his petty deceits, and his unrighteous gains–if he went home from the temple to cook his accounts with the government, or to sell up some poor wretch who could not meet his demands; do you think that his beating upon his breast and calling himself a miserable sinner would avail him aught? Nay, it would but increase his condemnation, because it would show that his conscience was alive to his sin. What our Lord means to impress upon us in this parable is the fatal danger of spiritual pride, which made the Pharisee, with all his real cause for thanksgiving, to be further off from the kingdom and righteousness of God than the publican whom he despised. The spirit of self-righteousness is such a blinding spirit; it warps and distorts the whole spiritual vision. What should have been a prayer in the mouth of the self-righteous Pharisee was turned into a glorification of himself; and instead of asking God to make him better, he told God how good he was. And this brings me to the third and last misconception of which I shall speak. It is that of imagining that the spirit of self-righteousness must always take the same form which it presents in the parable; that Pharisaism must always be the proud relying upon the outward observances of religion; but, in fact, as a very little observation will show us, it has as many different forms as there are fashions in religion. The modern British Pharisee amongst ourselves, when he gave thanks that he was not like other men, would never think of speaking like the Pharisee in the parable; he would more probably say something of this sort–God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, priest-ridden, idolaters, superstitious, or even as this benighted Ritualist. I never fast, I never think of giving tithes, and so on. The error of the Pharisee was in substance this, that he thanked God that he punctually performed those duties which came quite natural to him, and that he sought to turn Gods attention to other peoples faults by way of exalting his own merits. Now, this is an error which is constantly reappearing under one guise or other. We are always disposed to thank God that we are not as this Dissenter, or as that Romanist, when all the while they may be living nearer to God than we in honesty of intention and purity of heart. We are always apt to imagine that we can commend our faith by protesting against other peoples errors, and our practice by condemning faults to which we are not tempted. (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
Acceptable and unacceptable prayer
1. A contrast in attitude and manner.
2. A contrast in spirit.
3. A contrast in prayer.
4. A contrast in reception. (J. R. Thompson, M. A.)
The purpose of the parable
From the introduction it might be inferred that the chief purpose for which the parable was spoken was to rebuke and subdue the spirit of self-righteousness. To do this effectively is not easy, though that is no reason why it should not be attempted. Another service, however, was probably also kept in view by the Speaker, which was much more likely to be accomplished, viz., to revive the spirit of the contrite, and embolden them to hope in Gods mercy. This is a service which contrite souls greatly need to have rendered them, for they are slow to believe that they can possibly be the objects of Divine complacency. Such in all probability was the publicans state of mind, not only before but even after he had prayed. He went down to his house justified in Gods sight, but not, we think, in his own. He had not found peace, to use a current phrase. In technical language, we might speak of him as objectively, but not subjectively, justified. In plain English, the fact was so, but he was not aware that the fact was so. In saying this, we do not forget that there is an instinct, call it rather the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, which tells a penitent, there is hope in God, there is forgiveness with Him, that He may be feared; wait for God, as they that wait for the dawn. But a man who beats his breast, and dares not look up, and stands afar off in an attitude which seems an apology for existence, has some difficulty in trusting this instinct. To fear and despond suits his mood rather than to hope. There are physical reasons for this, not to speak of spiritual ones. The whole behaviour of the publican speaks to a great religious crisis going on in his soul. For that beating of the breast, and that downcast eye, and that timid posture, are not a theatrical performance got up for the occasion. They bear witness to a painful, possibly a protracted, soul-struggle. But one who passes through such a crisis suffers in body as well as in mind. His nerves are sorely shaken, and in this physical condition he is apt to become a prey to fear and depression. He starts at his own shadow, dreads the postman, trembles when he opens a letter lest it should contain evil tidings, can scarce muster courage to go into a dark room, or to put out the light when he goes to bed. How hard for a man in this state to take cheerful views of his spiritual condition, to rejoice in the sunlight of Divine grace. In the expressive phrase of Bunyan, used with reference to himself when he was in a similar state, such an one is prone rather to take the shady side of the street. Is it improbable that one object Christ had in view in uttering this parable and the judgment with which it winds up, was to take such contrite and fear-stricken ones by the hand and conduct them over to the sunny side? (A. B. Bruce, D. D.)
Forgiveness most needed
A friend of mine–a missionary preacher–being once called upon to give spiritual consolation to a sick man on the point of death, asked him what he could do for him. Pray for me, was the reply. My friend said that he would do so most willingly, but added, For what shall I ask? The man answered, You know best. The preacher told him that this was not so, and that he, himself, could alone know what he wanted. Still the dying man would say nothing but, You know best. I leave it to you. At length my friend left him, promising to return in a short time, and hoping that then he might be able to say what it was he wanted to pray for. When the preacher returned, the man directly said, I have been a great sinner; I want forgiveness. (Bishop Walsham How.)
After confession of sin comes forgiveness
We do not always know that we are forgiven; we are not told that the publican knew he was pardoned, although I think that as he went down to his house he must have had some sense of the fact that he was accepted of God. But still we do not always know of our forgiveness. I once visited a canal boatman on his death-bed, and I never remember to have seen a man more affected or more repentant of his sins. Yet he could not grasp the fact of his forgiveness. I tried all I could to bring it home to him, but unsuccessfully. Yet in my own mind I have no doubt that he was forgiven. In order to be pardoned I do not think it necessary to have a firm conviction that we are pardoned. In fact, it is logically absurd to think so. (Bishop Walsham How.)
The humble prayer the best
You can fill an empty jug with clear water from the spring; but it would be foolishness to bring to the spring a jug already full. The Lord has no blessing for the heart that is full of haughtiness; that He reserves for the heart emptied of self. And remember that, after all, it is the worthiest who are the most humble. It is the best filled stalk of corn that bends its head the lowliest. (Sunday School Times.)
The Church is a place for prayer
These two men went up to the temple to pray–not to meet their friends, nor that they might comply with a respectable custom, nor for the purpose of agreeably passing away an hour in varying the ordinary tedium of every-day engagements. No, but to pray: And surely, this should be our great object when we come up to the temple of God. Many seem to think, that to hear the sermon is the great end they have in view when they enter a church; but God has said, My house shall be called an house of prayer. If we had a petition to present to an earthly monarch, our great endeavour on entering the presence chamber would be to approach the throne, and make our wants and desires known. We would not think it the most important part of the proceeding to have a little conversation with the servants or attendants that stood around, nor would we feel satisfied by their giving us some information as to the character of the august personage who is indeed present himself, the way in which his favour may be conciliated, or his gifts procured. These things might be very important, but the king, the king is the absorbing idea–the servant is a minor consideration. (A. Gladwell, B. A.)
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself
Lessons from the Pharisees prayer
There are three cautions which the Pharisee impresses on us; for these things were written for our learning, he being dead, yet speaketh. And in the first place, let us beware of pride. This is the great lesson the parable inculcates. Spiritual pride incapacitates a man for receiving the blessings of the gospel; it is the great obstacle which the Spirit of God has to struggle with and overthrow. Secondly, let us beware of formality in religion. We are all born Pharisees–more anxious to appear than to be Christians. To conclude, let us beware of resting in anything short of the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. (A. Gladwell, B. A.)
Pharisaical prayers
God, I thank Thee–such in spirit, and almost in word, was the expression of the great Roman historian, Tacitus–I thank Thee I am not as the miserable sect called by the infamous name of Christians, odious to all mankind. God, we thank Thee, said the philosopher of France, that we are not like those benighted men who converted the barbarous tribes, or erected the Gothic cathedrals. I thank Thee, said the splendid Pope Leo X., that I am not as this ignorant monk, Martin Luther. God, we thank Thee, said the great movers of the political and social revolutions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England, that we are not as those fanatics, the blind poet of Bunhill Row, and the wandering tinker of Bedford, or the scrupulous bishop who could not accept the Act of Settlement, or the Lincolnshire pastor who spent his long life in itinerant preaching; and yet those early Christian martyrs, those mediaeval missionaries and monk of Wittenberg, were mightier in the long run even than Tacitus, or the encyclopaedists of France, or the philosophers of the Renaissance. And those wayward Christians in England, as they seemed to be, John Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrims Progress, Bishop Ken, author of the Morning and Evening Hymns, John Wesley, the author of the religious revival in England, went down to their graves as much deserving of the praise of true statesmen and philosophers, even as Clarendon and Bolingbroke, as Walpole and Hume. (Dean Stanley.)
The prayer of pride
When Philip, king of Macedonia, laid siege to the fair city of Samos, he told the citizens that he came a-wooing to it; but the orator well replied, that it was not the fashion in their country to come a-wooing with a fife and a drum: so here we may behold this Pharisee in the posture of a beggar or petitioner, going up to the temple to pray, and yet telling God he standeth in no need of Him; as if, saith Chrysostom, a beggar, that were to crave an alms, should hide his ulcers, and load himself with chains, and rings, and bracelets, and clothe himself in rich and costly apparel; as if a beggar should ask an alms in the robes of a king. His heart did flatter him in secret, and with his mouth he did kiss his hands, as Job speaketh (Job 31:27). Coming before his Physician, he hideth his sores, and showeth his sound and healthful parts, in a dangerous case; like a man struck in a vein, that voideth his best blood, and retaineth his worst. And this is against the very nature of prayer; which should lay us at the feet of God, as nothing before Him; which should raise itself and take its flight on the wings of humility and obedience; which should contract the mind in itself, and secure it from pride; which should depress the soul in itself, and defend it from vainglory; which should so fill it that there may be no room for hypocrisy. Then our devotion will ascend as incense, pure and holy Exo 30:35), seasoned with the admiration of Gods majesty, and the detestation of ourselves. (R. Farindon, D. D.)
The Pharisees mistake
The mistake of this Pharisee was, that he compared his outward life with the lives of disreputable people, and so took to himself the credit of exalted superiority. He should have looked in the other direction. Ii you would come to a just estimate of your character, look at those better than you, and compare yourself with them; look at those whom God has set for our examples, the prophets, the apostles, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and measure yourself by them; look at the holy ten commandments, and try yourself rigidly by their requirements; and this Pharisaic trust and pride in your own goodness will melt away like frost before the sun. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
An egotistical utterance
With what prominence and frequency he flourishes the big I! I thank thee that I am not as other men. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. The whole utterance contains thirty.three words, of which one refers to God, five are Is, and the remaining twenty-seven are either commendations of himself, or allusions to others in unfavourable contrast with his own superiority. Self–self–self–in utmost intensity runs through the whole of it. There isnot a trace of genuine devotion in the entire piece. There is a marvellous thrusting forward of ego, to which all the references to God, the temple, and other people, are made subservient. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The fine prayer
The celebrated Professor Francke, who founded the great Orphan Asylum, in Halle, was walking one day in the fields with one of his colleagues. All at once the voice of a person praying drew their attention. They stopped, and on looking observed behind a bush two children on their knees, one of whom was praying fervently to God. The two professors listened, and were edified with the devotion which the young Christians seemed to possess. When the prayer was ended, the children rose. Well, said the one who led the devotions, with a self-complacent air, didnt I make a fine prayer? This last remark caused Francke and his companion a painful surprise. But after a moments reflection, one of them remarked: This child has shown openly what often passes in our minds. How often, when God has disposed us to pray with some fervour in presence of our brethren, do we rise from our knees with a secret vanity; and if shame did not restrain us, we should ask with this child, have not I made a fine prayer?
The poorest the best
Lucian, in one of his dialogues, relates the case of two men going into the theatre to play on the harp: one harp was covered with gold and jewels, but its strings broke, and the admiration of the spectators was changed to contempt; the harp of the other man was a very poor and common one, yet it gave out the sweetest sound, and delighted all. The former harp represents the Pharisee, who plays upon his outside worth and fair appearance; the latter harp resembles the poor publican. (Preachers Promptuary.)
Need, not magnificence, the best aid to prayer
When Morales, the painter, was invited by Philip the Second to court, he came in such a magnificent costume, that the King, in anger, ordered a sum of money to be paid him, and so dismissed him. The next time they met he appeared in a very different dress, poor, old, and hungry, which so touched the heart of the King, that he immediately provided him with a revenue which kept him in comfort for all the future. So when men come to the throne of grace it is not their magnificence but their very want which touches the heart of God. (W. Baxendale.)
Self-praise in prayer
His prayer is like the pillar of brass which Trajan erected to himself in Rome, and which he covered with the record of his own triumphs. His prayer is a sort of monument over the tomb of his own dead heart, upon which he inscribes his fancied virtues. (J. Wells.)
God be merciful to me a sinner.
Humility of prayer
I. WHEN DO WE PRAY WITH HUMILITY? Learn this from the publican. It is when we acknowledge the infinite majesty of God and our own misery.
II. WHY MUST WE BE HUMBLE IN OUR PRAYERS?
1. God demands that we should pray with humility.
2. Reason itself teaches the same. Who would pay any attention to a proud beggar?
III. WHAT WE ARE TO DO IN ORDER TO LEARN TO PRAY WITH HUMILITY. A humble prayer can only proceed from a humble heart. Therefore endeavour to become humble of heart, by employing the following means:
1. Being convinced that humility is a grace of God, pray to Him that He may give you this beautiful virtue.
2. Call frequently to your mind what you are in real truth.
(1) What is your single self in comparison with the more than one thousand millions of men? You seem to disappear in the prodigious multitude.
(2) What are you relative to your body? Dust and ashes.
(3) What are you relative to your soul? True, your soul is the image and likeness of God; but what have you made of this Divine image by your sins of the past and of the present? And as to the future, when you reflect on your sins, have you not every reason to tremble before the severe judgment of God?
3. When you approach God in prayer, call to mind who God is in all His splendour and majesty, and who you are–a wretched sinner, a beggar sunk into the greatest misery, a culprit sentenced to death. And then, overwhelmed with the burden of your misery, speak from the depth of your heart to Him who alone is able to deliver you. And if you are troubled with distractions during your prayer, humble yourself again before your Lord and Master, and implore Him that He may not suffer you to commit new sins by negligence; but cease not praying in spite of distractions, and your prayer will be acceptable to the Lord. (J. Schmitt.)
The publicans prayer
This is the only thought which befits a living man in the presence of his Creator. What other link can come between the God of holiness and love, and the sinner, but mercy! God be merciful.
I. In these few words of the contrite soul there is AN ARGUMENT WHICH GOD WILL NEVER REJECT. It is the plea God loves. God be merciful to me because I am a sinner. David knew that blessed argument when he said: Lord pardon my iniquity, for it is great. God has made a book, and it is for sinners; God has filled it with promises, and they are for sinners. He has given His own Son, and it is only for sinners.
II. THE WAY TO OBTAIN THIS FITTING CONDITION OF MIND. It is to be reached in the same way as the publican attained it. His whole mind appears to have been occupied with God, the rest was only secondary. Most persons when they try to cultivate penitence, look into themselves. It is the study of God, not of ourselves, which makes the penitent mind. Nothing makes sin seem so sinful and so hateful as the contemplation of the love of God.
III. WHOEVER WOULD BE TRULY A PENITENT MUST HAVE RIGHT VIEWS OF MERCY. It is an easy thing to say God have mercy upon me. Upon the just apprehension of what this mercy is depends the whole power and acceptability of the prayer, If God, simply by an act of sovereignty, forgave a sin and remitted the punishment, it would not be mercy. Before God can show Himself merciful to a sinner He must receive a satisfaction and an equivalent. That satisfaction is Christ. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The cry that opens heaven
1. When I come to analyze this prayer of the publican, I find in it, in the first place, an appreciation of his sinfulness. He proved himself honourable, and there were a great many admirable things about him, and yet he utters this cry of self-abnegation. What was the matter with him? Had he lost his reason? Had some low, contemptible cowardice seized upon him? O, no. For the first time in all his life he saw himself. He saw he was a sinner before God, utterly helpless and undone. At what moment that discovery flashed upon him I know not; but standing there in the court of the temple, surrounded by all the demonstrations of holiness and power, his soul has extorted from it the anguish-bitten cry of my text.
2. I pursue the analysis of my subject still further, and I find in this publicans prayer the fact that he expected nothing except mercy. He might have said: I am honest in all my dealings. When ten dollars are paid to me for tax, I hand it over to the Government. If you look over all my books you will find them right. My life has been upright and respectable. He made no such plea. He comes and throws himself on Gods mercy. Are there any in this house who propose, by making their life right, to commend themselves to God? Do you really think you can break off your bad habits? Where then are we to be saved? Is there no balm for this mortal wound of my soul? Is there no light for this Arctic night? Is there no hope for a lost sinner? Yes; and that is what I came to tell you about. Mercy. Free mercy. Pardoning mercy. Suffering mercy. Infinite mercy. Omnipotent mercy. Everlasting mercy.
3. I push this analysis of my text one step further, and I find that this man saw that mercy would be of no advantage to him unless he pleaded for it. He did not say: If I am to be saved, I will be saved, and if I am to be lost, I will be lost. There is nothing for me to do. He knew that a thing worth having is worth asking for, and therefore, he makes the agonizing cry of my text. Mark you, it was an earnest prayer, and if you look through this Bible you will see that all the prayers that were answered were earnest prayers. But, mark you this, the publicans prayer was not only earnest, it was humble. The Pharisee looked up; the publican looked down. I remark further, there was a ringing confidence in that prayer. He knew he would get the blessing if he asked for it; and he did get it. (De W. Talmage, D. D.)
A sinner praying for mercy
I. THE BLESSING HE ASKS IS MERCY: God be merciful to me.. Did you ever ask yourselves what mercy is? It means, in common language, pity Shown to me miserable for pitys sake. Strictly speaking, it ceases to be mercy, if the miserable have any claim on us. It takes then the character of justice. And mercy has exactly the same meaning in Holy Scripture. It signifies Gods kindness extended to miserable man of Gods own pure goodness.
II. We may turn now to THE CHARACTER IN WHICH THIS MAN PRAYS. He says, God be merciful to me a sinner. He prays in a character that corresponds exactly with the temple services, and also with the blessing he supplicates. There at the altar falls the sacrifice, and who needs a sacrifice but the sinful? He pleads for mercy, and who needs mercy but the guilty? And it a blessed thing for a sinful man to be thus willing to take his own proper ground when he prays. He must take it, if he means to obtain Gods mercy. All the mercy that exists in God, bound less as it is, is mercy for sinners.
III. Observe now THE MANNER IN WHICH THIS WORSHIPPER PRAYS. And here again all is in harmony. His manner accords well with his character and his petition.
1. He is a sinner, and consequently he prays most humbly.
2. This publican prayed also very earnestly. He smote upon his breast. No matter what led him to do so. It was doubtless a mixture of feelings. Indignation against himself, a sense of his own pollution and misery, a thrilling apprehension of coming wrath–these things took possession of his mind; they agitated him; and like a man driven to extremities he could not restrain his agitation, he smote himself as he cried for mercy. He became exceedingly earnest in his prayer for it. He prayed for nothing else; he thought of nothing else. Mercy is everything with him.
IV. There is yet another circumstance in the parable to be noticed–THE SUCCESS OF THIS MANS PRAYER.
1. It was, first, abundant success, success beyond his petition.
2. His success was also immediate. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The publicans prayer
I. Observe THE OBJECT OF THE PUBLICANS PRAYER.
1. The light of nature teaches man there is a God, a supreme Being, and Governor of the world. There is not a rational creature to be found upon the earth but admits this truth. And, hence, all attend to same kind of worship.
2. Revelation makes known to man the true God in His nature and attributes, and exhibits His conduct towards the children of men.
3. But we must remember that God is never savingly known, even by those who have the Volume of Divine revelation, by the unassisted powers of nature. Hence, in addition to Revelation, it is necessary that the mind be enlightened, in order to its perception of Divine truth. And to do this is the exclusive prerogative of the Holy Spirit.
II. THE SUBJECT OF HIS PETITION–mercy; and the description he gives of himself–a sinner. God be merciful to me a sinner!
1. On the part of man, here are two things implied:
(1) Misery. A sense of deep wretchedness, as being sunk in iniquity–totally depraved, and in every part polluted. The truly awakened sinner feels that he is spiritually diseased; and that, from the crown of his head to the soul of his foot, he is wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores.
(2) A deep sense of unworthiness. The truly contrite soul brings no qualifications; no merit, no sacrifice of his own; but comes as a sinner, and having for his only plea, the mercy of God in Christ Jesus.
2. There are also two things, in the exercise of mercy, on the part of God, which the spiritually enlightened sinner especially regards.
(1) Pity, or compassion. When the Holy Spirit brings the sinner to a saving knowledge of God, He enables him to look up to his heavenly Father, as the God of compassion.
(2) Pardon, or forgiveness. I, even I, says God, am He that pardoneth iniquity, transgression, and sin. The Holy Spirit teaches all true believers that the justice of God is for them, and on their side, as well as His mercy.
III. WHAT THIS PRAYER IMPLIES, WHEN OFFERED TO GOD IS A PROPER SPIRIT.
1. True humiliation for sin. Even after the manifestation of forgiving love, the man who enjoys it feels deeply humbled before God.
2. This prayer, when offered in a proper spirit, implies evangelical repentance. God says (Eze 36:31).
3. This prayer implies submission to the righteous judgment of God.
In conclusion, we learn from this subject–
1. That the ground (or cause) of a sinners justification is out of himself.
2. Learn that no outward reformation, even though accompanied by the strictest attention to religious duties, can save the soul.
3. Learn that no sensible sinner, no humble penitent, need feel discouraged in approaching the God of mercy for pardon.
4. Learn, finally, to beware lest you make the mercy of God an excuse for your continuance in sin. (T. Gibson, M. A.)
A sermon for the worst man on earth
I. THE FACT OF SINNERSHIP IS NO REASON FOR DESPAIR.
1. This man who was a sinner yet dared to approach the Lord. Emphatically he applies to himself the guilty name. He takes the chief place in condemnation, and yet he cries, God be merciful to me the sinner. If this man who was the sinner found forgiveness, so also shall you if you seek it in the same way.
2. Next, remember that you may not only find encouragement in looking at the sinner who sought his God, but in the God whom he sought. Sinner, there is great mercy in the heart of God.
3. Moreover, the conception of salvation implies hope for sinners. That salvation which we preach to you every day is glad tidings for the guilty. Salvation by grace implies that men are guilty. The very name of Jesus tells us that He shall save His people from their sins.
4. Let me further say that, inasmuch as that salvation of God is a great one, it must have been intended to meet great sins. Think you God would have given His dear Son to die as a mere superfluity?
5. If you will think of it again, there must be hope for sinners, for the great commands of the gospel are most suitable to sinners.
6. If you want any other argument–and I hope you do not–I would put it thus: great sinners have been saved. All sorts of sinners are being saved to-day.
II. A SENSE OF SINNERSHIP CONFERS NO RIGHT TO MERCY. You will wonder why I mention this self-evident truth; but I must mention it because of a common error which does great mischief. This man was very sensible of his sin insomuch that he called himself THE SINNER; but he did not urge his sense of sin as any.reason why he should find mercy. I want you, therefore, to learn that a sense of sin gives no man a right to grace.
III. My third observation is this: THE KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR SINNERSHIP GUIDES MEN TO RIGHT ACTING. When a man has learned of the Holy Spirit that he is a sinner, then by a kind of instinct of the new life, he does the right thing in the right way.
1. This man went straight to God.
2. He went with a full confession of sin.
3. He appealed to mercy only.
IV. THE BELIEVING CONFESSION OF SINNERSHIP IS THE WAY OF PEACE. God be merciful to me a sinner, was the prayer, but what was the answer? Listen to this: This man went down, etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The penitents prayer
The arrangement of these words is perfect. On one side is Deity–alone–without an attribute, far grander in that solitude than if ten thousand titles had been added to His name–God. On the other–thrown into the greatest possible distance–is man; and he, too, is alone; and his whole being is put into one single expression–it is not a description, it is a synonymy–me, a sinner. And between these two extremes–spanning the distance, and uniting the ends–is one link–simple–grand–sufficient–mercy, nothing but mercy Godbe merciful to me a sinner. I may mention, for the sake of those who do not happen to know it, that there are three points in the original, which could not well be rendered in our version; but which make this strong language stronger still. There it is, the God, and the sinner; as if the publican wished to give the greatest possible definiteness to all his expressions;–the God–the good God–be merciful to me; as though he were the only man on the face of the earth who needed the forgiveness–no comparisons, no distractions, no deductions; the mind concentrated, the mind absorbed, upon the one guilty self, The God be merciful to me the sinner. And in the very phrase which he selects–be merciful,–there is rolled up atonement; it is, be propitiate. Doubtless that man had been taught to see mercy all in sacrifice; to recognize no pardon out of covenant, and no covenant out of blood. The God be propitiate to me the sinner. I think you will see, brethren, that there is great force in that distinction of language. Weakness always deals in generalities. A man is general in his thoughts and his expressions till he begins to be in earnest; and the very moment he begins to be in earnest, he is individual. Hear men, as men generally speak about God. They say, the Almighty; and they say, the Almighty is very good, and, we are all of us bad, and, none of us are as good as we ought to be; that is the language of natural religion, if, indeed, it be religion at all. It is loose, because it cannot afford to be accurate; it shuns just what a spiritual man loves-personality. How different is the teaching of the Holy Ghost! The soul cannot be particular enough; it lives in exactnesses; it individualizes everything. The God be propitiate to me the sinner. To make true prayer–or, which is the same thing–to make true peace, two things are wanted. Some persons, to a certain extent, attain the one, and some the other; while, because they do not, at the same moment, attain both, the end is frustrated. The truth lies in unity. The one thing is to exalt God very high; and the other, to demean self very low. If you lift up the attributes of God, and do not proportionably debase yourself, you are in danger of running into presumption. If you take deep views of your sinfulness, and do not, at the same time, magnify the grace of God, you will run into despair. A God high in His glory, and self down in the dust, that is best; and let me advise you to look well to it whether you are doing these two things with parallel steps. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The ingredients of real mercy
To make forgiveness–to make real mercy–four things are required. God must be Himself just in doing it. The forgiven man must be perfectly sure that he is forgiven. The forgiveness must not incline the forgiven man to go and sin again, but it must stop him. And the rest of mankind must see no encouragement in that mans pardon to go and do like him, but rather see the strongest argument not to do it. Now, in Gods way of mercy these four things meet. First, God is lust, because He never remits a penalty till He has received an equivalent; the sinning soul has died in its covenant Head, and God keeps His word; and the very same attribute which compels God to punish man out of Christ, in Christ obliges God to pardon Him. Secondly, that forgiven man can never doubt his acceptance, because he knows that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ outweighs the universe. The infinity of Christ is in the ransom. Either he is perfectly pardoned, or the Son of God has died in vain. Thirdly, that pardoned man cannot go and sin again, because, unless he loves Christ, he is not forgiven; and if he does love Christ, he cannot love the sin which crucified Him; he cannot go and do lightly again that which grieves and wounds Him whom now his soul holds more precious than all the world. And, fourthly, the whole world in that man has seen sin in its greatest possible magnitude, because it has seen sin drag down to this earth and crucify the Lord of life and glory; the law is more honourable than if the whole world had perished; since, sooner than one iota of that law should be set aside, the Son of God has kept that law by His life, and satisfied it by His death; so sin is made viler by the very act which cancels it; and pardon is no more the parent of peace, than peace is the mother of holiness. That is mercy. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The publicans prayer
I. The substance of this prayer evinces deep CONVICTION OF SIN.
II. HELPLESSNESS. He admits the righteousness of his condemnation, and sues for mercy.
III. FAITH. He took hold of Gods promises, and made his appeal. (W.M. Taylor, D. D.)
Earnestness is brief
Earnestness does not express itself in long, inflated, pompous sentences. It is brief; it is simple. The moment has arrived when victory, long doubtful as the tide of success ebbed and flowed, may be won by one splendid, dashing, daring attack–the order is given in one brief word, Charge! On the distant waves a flag is seen, now sinking in the trough and again rising on the crest of the foaming billows; and beneath that signal, clinging to the fragment of a vessel that lies many fathoms down in the depths of ocean, are two human forms–and all the cry that sounds from stem to stern is, A wreck, a wreck! and all the order, Lower the boat! words hardly uttered when she drops on the water, and, pulled by stout rowers, is leaping over the waves to the rescue. One late in the deserted streets sees the smoke creep, and the flames begin to flash and flicker from a house whoso tenants are buried in sleep; he bounds to the door and thunders on it–all his cry, Fire, fire! Peter sinks amid the boisterous waves of Galilee and all the prayer of lips the cold water kisses is, as he stretches out his hand to Jesus, Save me, I perish! And with the brief, urgent earnestness of one who seeing his danger, knows that there is no time, and believing in Gods great mercy, feels that there is no need for long prayers, the publican, like a man who in falling over a crag catches the arm of a friendly tree, throws his whole soul into this cry, these few, blessed, accepted words, God be merciful to me a sinner! (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Justification as the result of prayer
Brethren, we have here a pregnant word as to the possibilities and capabilities of worship. Two men went up into the temple to pray, and one of the two returned to his house justified. What is it to be justified? All true doctrine teaches us a great difference between being justified and being sanctified. Justification is an act, sanctification is a process. Both are of God. But whereas the one may be the act of a moment, restoring the sinner to the Divine acceptance by a simple forgiveness through the blood of Jesus, the other in most cases is the work of a lifetime, consisting in the gradual formation of a new character by the daily influence of the Spirit of Grace. There are other uses of the word, but this is its meaning when it is applied accurately. Now, of course, there is a sense in which justification stands at the beginning of the Christian course, and needs not, and indeed suffers not to be repeated. When a man comes to himself in the far country, and says, I will arise and go to my Father, and when he not only says but does, and not only starts for, but arrives at, the home where the Father dwells, and receives from Him the kiss of peace, and the ring of the everlasting covenant then and there, that is his justification. God for Christs sake freely forgives, bestows upon him the Holy Spirit, and, unless some terrible thing should happen afterwards, sets him in the sure way, of which the end is heaven. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord Himself here speaks of a man going down to his house from a particular act of worship either justified or not justitied. And this seems to give an importance, quite beyond our common estimate, to such a service as this in which we are now engaged. You may say, indeed, that this particular occasion was the justification, in the first and fullest sense, of this publican. Now first, you may say, he felt himself a sinner, now first he sought mercy, and when he went back to his house he went back for the first time, and for all time a pardoned and accepted man. But this idea of restriction seems to have been imported into the parable. Is there anything in our Lords words to imply that either the prayer of the Pharisee or the prayer of the publican was a single and isolated one, never offered before, suggested by some crisis of the life, sudden and not to be repeated? Was it not rather the habit of the two minds thus to express themselves? Would the Pharisee be a different man to-morrow, not the exception, and not the perfection that he now thinks himself? And would the publican when he came again to the temple be no longer the sinner of sinners, but an improved, and altered, and sanctified man? Where is all this in the parable! If not, then the justification spoken of may be repeated tomorrow, and we have before us the thought of the issues of worship rather than the thought of the issues of a fundamental spiritual change. This man went down to his house justified, on this particular occasion, rather than the other. The justification spoken of is forgiveness, or absolution. Brethren, the justified man wants forgiveness; the man who has bathed the whole body needs afterwards to wash the feet. This man has brought his load of sin with him to the temple; he has come guilty and burdened, conscience accusing, and convicted. He has left undone that which he ought to hare done since he last worshipped, he has done that which he ought not to have done since he last worshipped, there is no health in him; this morning he has come, just as he is, to the God of his life; he has sought no intervention, and no intermediation of priest, or of sacrifice; he has come straight to God. He has taken for granted Gods knowledge of each of his transgressions, as well as of that root and spring of evil, which is the fallen and sinful self; and now, pre-supposing all this, he has simply to ask for mercy, which is, being interpreted, kindness to the undeserving, and he has received the answer of peace, and so now he goes back to his house justified. What of the other? His return is not described; it is left under the veil of a parable. The publican is justified beyond, or in comparison with, or rather than, the Pharisee–such is the Greek. Dare we suggest on the strength of this reticence two kinds or two degrees of justification, one the higher and more complete, but the other, though lower, perhaps sufficient? Let us look at the prayer, and judge by it of the answer, God, I thank thee for my satisfactory condition, for my exemplary conduct, for my exceptional, my unique freedom from the otherwise universal wickedness of mankind. What is there here to suggest the thought of a justification, of which the other name is absolution, or forgiveness? What is there here to be forgiven? Not having asked, he surely has not received, a boon which is only acceptable, and only appropriate to the sinner. (Dean Vaughan.)
Christian humility
The best of Gods people have abhorred themselves. Like the spire of a steeple, minimus in summo, we are least at the highest. David, a king, was yet like a weaned child. Manton is not very clear about the steeple, but he means that the higher a spire rises towards heaven the smaller it becomes, and thus the more elevated are our spirits the less shall we be in our own esteem. Great thoughts of self and great grace never go together. Self-consciousness is a sure sign that there is not much depth of grace. He who over-values himself under-values his Saviour. He who abounds in piety is sure to be filled with humility. Light things, such as straws and feathers, are borne aloft; valuable goods keep their places, and remain below, not because they are chained or riveted there, but by virtue of their own weight. When we begin to talk of our perfection, our imperfection is getting the upper hand. The more full we become of the presence of the Lord the more shall we sink in our own esteem, even as laden vessels sink down to their water-mark, while empty ships float aloft. Lord, make and keep me humble. Lift me nearer and nearer to heaven, and then I shall grow less and less in my own esteem. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Sin a personal affront to God
Sin is a personal affront, whose bitter consequences only the forgiveness of God Himself can remove, and toward which, with the publican, we must implore Him to be merciful. It does not read, Nature be merciful, nor Laws of my constitution be merciful, nor Society be merciful, nor, I will be merciful to myself, but, God be merciful;–nor yet, God be merciful to sin in general, but to me a sinner. (Bishop Huntington.)
A negros prayer
My uncle, the Rev. Dr. Samuel K. Talmage, of Augusta, Georgia, was passing along the street one day and he met a black man, who stepped out into the street, leaving the pavement, took his hat off, and bowed very lowly in the presence of my uncle. My uncle said to him: My dear fellow, why do you stand there and make such a low bow to me? Oh, he replied, massa, I owe you more than any one on earth. Why, inquired my uncle, what do you mean? Well, said the man, I was going along the street the other night, and I had a heavy burden on my back, and I was hungry and sick, and I saw your church was lighted, and I thought I would just stand at the door a minute and listen, and I put down my burden and listened, and I heard you say: God be merciful to me a sinner. And you said that any poor soul that could utter that prayer from the heart could get to heaven, and I shouldered my burden and I went on home, and I went in the house, and I sat down, and I folded my hands, and I said: God be merciful to me a sinner, but I felt no better; I felt worse. And then I got down on my knees, and I said it again: God be merciful to me a sinner. I felt no better. It was darker than it was before. And then, massa, I threw myself down on my face and cried out: God be merciful to me a sinner, and I kept on crying that until after awhile I saw a light a good ways off, and it came nearer to me, and nearer to me, and it got all bright, and I felt very happy, and I thought the next time I saw you coming down the street I would bow very low before you, and I would stand out of your way, and I would tell you how much I owed to you. (De W. Talmage, D. D.)
As a sinner
When the late Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria, was expressing, in the prospect of death, some concern about the state of his soul, his physician endeavoured to soothe his mind by referring to his high respectability, and his honourable conduct in the distinguished situation in which Providence had placed him, when he stopped him short, saying, No; remember, if I am to be saved, it is not as a prince, but as a sinner.
The publicans prayer used in death
Many well-known Christians have died with the publicans prayer on their lips. Archbishop Usher did so. William Wilberforce, the liberator of the slaves, said when dying, With regard to myself, I have nothing to urge but the poor publicans plea, God be merciful to me a sinner. When the famous Grotius was a-dying at Rostock, the minister reminded him of the publicans prayer, That publican, Lord, am I, said Grotius, God be merciful to me a sinner, and then he died. (J. Wells.)
The nature and necessity of humility
I. We are to consider THE NATURE OF HUMILITY. There is the more occasion for describing this gracious exercise of heart with peculiar accuracy and precision, because mankind are naturally disposed to misunderstand and misrepresent it. Mr. Hume scrupled not to say, that humility ought to be struck off from the catalogue of virtues, and placed on the catalogue of vices. This must have been owing to his gross ignorance, or extreme malignity. The most charitable supposition is, that he really mistook a mere selfish and painful sense of natural inferiority for true humility. This leads me to observe that a mans humbling himself is something very different from his having a mistaken and reluctant sense of his own inferiority in relation to his fellow mortals. Humility is likewise different from submission, which seems to resemble it. Submission is the respect which an inferior justly owes to a superior. Furthermore, humility is something different from condescension, which is the part of a superior, and consists in stooping to an inferior. Thus the Creator may condescend to a creature, the prince to a subject, the rich to the poor, and the aged to the young. But though condescension stoops, yet it is by no means degrading. Real condescension always displays a noble and amiable spirit. I may now safely say that humility essentially consists in selfabasement, which is self-degradation, or a voluntary sinking, not only below others, but below ourselves. It is, therefore, wholly founded in guilt. None but guilty creatures have any cause or reason for abasing themselves. But every guilty creature ought to abase himself, whether he is willing or unwilling to perform the mortifying duty.
II. SINNERS MUST HUMBLE THEMSELVES BEFORE GOD, IN ORDER TO OBTAIN PARDONING MERCY.
1. God cannot consistently receive them into His favour, before they voluntarily humble themselves for their transgressions in His sight.
2. It is.impossible for sinners to receive Divine mercy before they take their proper places, and are willing to sink as low as Divine justice can sink them.
Improvement:
1. If humility essentially consist in self-abasement for sin, then we may safely suppose that neither God the Father, nor the Lord Jesus Christ, ever exercised any affection which may be strictly called humility.
2. If humility consists in self-abasement, we may clearly see how low sinners must lie before God, in order to obtain His pardoning mercy.
3. If humility consists in a free and voluntary self-abasement for sin, then it is the most amiable and shining exercise of a holy heart.
4. Finally, it appears from this whole discourse that nothing short of real, cordial self-abasement, can qualify any of our sinful race to obtain and enjoy the happiness of heaven. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Humility
An old writer of the Church says of humility that it is the great ornament and jewel of the Christian religion. All the world, all that we are, and all that we have, our bodies and our souls, our actions and our sufferings, our conditions at home, our accidents abroad, our many sins and our seldom virtues, are as so many arguments to make our souls dwell low in the deep valley of humility. A moments thought will convince you of the truth of this. Of what are you proud, of your holiness Think of the many shortcomings, the endless sins, great and small, the numberless yieldings to temptation, the constant infirmities of temper which have marked the course of your lives during the last year, and then set these off against the good deeds on which you congratulate yourselves, have you much to be proud of? Are you proud of your bodily strength, your health, your beauty? Remember that a sudden cold or the prick of a lancet will banish life from your bodies, that a weeks sickness will mar your beauty for ever. The flowers which bloom and fade are more beautiful than the loveliest of living beings, hundreds of animals are stronger and more long-lived than man; have we then much to be proud of here? Are you proud of your intellect, of your superiority over your neighbours in know ledge and education? Brethren, the most deeply learned knows that he is as a child amid the mysteries of nature; half his knowledge is but a groping after more light, which is long in coming, and feeble when it is gained. Our learning is best when it teaches most humility, but to be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance in the world. (H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A.)
Justified rather than the other
Justification
I. HOW DO WE BECOME JUST WITH GOD?
1. Not by works in themselves, but by the disposition of the mind.
2. Not only by a moral disposition, but by a pious disposition.
3. Not only by a pious disposition in general, but by a believing disposition in the merits of Christ. Justification is Gods gift, apart from any desert on our part.
II. WHAT RICH BLESSING IS INCLUDED IN OUR JUSTIFICATION?
1. Forgiveness of sin.
2. An incentive and power to a new life in repentance and satisfaction.
3. Always free access now to God, and new assurances of favour and a sure hope of eternal life. (Heintzeler.)
Humility and self-reproach rewarded
I recently met with an account of a prince, the son of a king, who went to a house of correction to see the captives. Meeting there so many people, toiling at their tasks, and hobbling in their chains, his heart was moved with pity, and he resolved to give some of them their liberty. But he must first find out which of them deserved release. To satisfy himself on this point, he went from one to the other, asking each why he was there. According to the answers he got, all were brave, proper, and honourable men; one had simply been unfortunate; another had done no wrong; a third was slandered; a fourth was forced against his will; each pleading innocence, and entreating, on these grounds, to be released. At last he came to a young man, asking, And what have you done, that has brought you here? Gracious sir, answered the man, I am here because I deserve it. I ran away from my parents; I led an idle and dissolute life; I committed theft and forgery; and it would take an hour to tell all the bad things I have done. And this is what I justly deserve for my evil deeds. The prince facetiously remarked: Indeed! and how does it happen that so bad a man ever found his way in among all these virtuous and honourable people? Take off his chains, open the gates, and let him out, lest he corrupt and spoil these good innocent men, who have all been put here without a cause. He meant to say, that this was the only honest-hearted one among them; that the rest had only lied and dissembled; and that people who have no sins to confess, are not fit to have their punishments remitted. This young man, said he, confesses his misdeeds; he has humbled himself before God and me; and him alone I deem worthy of his freedom. Therefore set him at liberty. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Despised] , Disdained, made nothing of others, treated them with sovereign contempt. Our Lord grants that the Pharisees made clean the outside: but, alas! what pride, vain glory, and contempt for others, were lodged within!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By the term certain, or some, he unquestionably understandeth the Pharisees and their disciples, who (as we have all along in the history of the Gospel observed) were a generation of men who were eminently guilty both of a boasting of themselves, and a scorning and despising all others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he spake this parable unto certain,…. Or with respect to certain men; having a view to them, in order to expose their pride, vanity, arrogance, and self confidence:
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous; or, as if they were righteous; or because they were so in their own eyes, and in the esteem of others: the ground of their trust and confidence were themselves, their hearts, and the supposed goodness of them, their outward holiness, their moral behaviour, their duties, and good works, their almsdeeds, and religious exercises, their ceremonial observances, and fleshly privileges; on account of which they thought themselves very righteous persons, such as could not fail of being accepted with God, and justified in his sight; whereas there are none righteous in, and of themselves, no, not one. All the descendants of Adam, as such, are sinners, destitute of a righteousness, and filled with all unrighteousness, and are enemies to true righteousness: no man is naturally righteous, nor is he capable of making himself so, by any thing he can do: none are righteous by their obedience to the law of works, for that is imperfect, and cannot justify before God, in whose sight no flesh living can be justified on this account, however righteous they may appear before men, or may be in their own eyes: for this is contrary to God’s way of making men righteous, and would disannul the death of Christ, and encourage boasting in men. Such trust and confidence must be very vain, and arise from ignorance; from ignorance of God, of the perfection of his justice, and of the nature of his righteous law; and of themselves, of the impurity of their hearts, and the imperfection of their obedience. These were of the “pharisaical” sort, and of which complexion were the generality of the Jews; and many of these were now standing by Christ, and within the hearing of this parable, and for whose sake it was delivered:
and despised others; or, “every man”, as the Syriac and Persic versions read; all the rest of mankind, all but themselves; they made nothing of them, had them in no account; treated them as persons unworthy of the regard of God, and not fit to stand near them, or to be named with them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Pharisee and the Publican. |
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9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
The scope of this parable likewise is prefixed to it, and we are told (v. 9) who they were whom it was levelled at, and for whom it was calculated. He designed it for the conviction of some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. They were such as had, 1. A great conceit of themselves, and of their own goodness; they thought themselves as holy as they needed to be, and holier than all their neighbours, and such as might serve for examples to them all. But that was not all; 2. They had a confidence in themselves before God, and not only had a high opinion of their own righteousness, but depended upon the merit of it, whenever they addressed God, as their plea: They trusted in themselves as being righteous; they thought they had made God their debtor, and might demand any thing from him; and, 3. They despised others, and looked upon them with contempt, as not worthy to be compared with them. Now Christ by this parable would show such their folly, and that thereby they shut themselves out from acceptance with God. This is called a parable, though there be nothing of similitude in it; but it is rather a description of the different temper and language of those that proudly justify themselves, and those that humbly condemn themselves; and their different standing before God. It is matter of fact every day.
I. Here are both these addressing themselves to the duty of prayer at the same place and time (v. 10): Two men went up into the temple (for the temple stood upon a hill) to pray. It was not the hour of public prayer, but they went thither to offer up their personal devotions, as was usual with good people at that time, when the temple was not only the place, but the medium of worship, and God had promised, in answer to Solomon’s request, that, whatever prayer was made in a right manner in or towards that house, it should therefore the rather be accepted. Christ is our temple, and to him we must have an eye in all our approaches to God. The Pharisees and the publican both went to the temple to pray. Note, Among the worshippers of God, in the visible church, there is a mixture of good and bad, of some that are accepted of God, and some that are not; and so it has been ever since Cain and Abel brought their offering to the same altar. The Pharisee, proud as he was, could not think himself above prayer; nor could the publican, humble as he was, think himself shut out from the benefit of it; but we have reason to think that these went with different views. 1. The Pharisee went to the temple to pray because it was a public place, more public than the corners of the streets, and therefore he should have many eyes upon him, who would applaud his devotion, which perhaps was more than was expected. The character Christ gave of the Pharisees, that all their works they did to be seen of men, gives us occasion for this suspicion. Note, Hypocrites keep up the external performances of religion only to save or gain credit. There are many whom we see every day at the temple, whom, it is to be feared, we shall not see in the great day at Christ’s right hand. 2. The publican went to the temple because it was appointed to be a house of prayer for all people, Isa. lvi. 7. The Pharisee came to the temple upon a compliment, the publican upon business; the Pharisee to make his appearance, the publican to make his request. Now God sees with what disposition and design we come to wait upon him in holy ordinances, and will judge of us accordingly.
II. Here is the Pharisee’s address to God (for a prayer I cannot call it): He stood and prayed thus with himself (Luk 18:11; Luk 18:12): standing by himself, he prayed thus, so some read it; he was wholly intent upon himself, had nothing in his eye but self, his own praise, and not God’s glory; or, standing in some conspicuous place, where he distinguished himself; or, setting himself with a great deal of state and formality, he prayed thus. Now that which he is here supposed to say is that which shows,
1. That he trusted to himself that he was righteous. A great many good things he said of himself, which we will suppose to be true. He was free from gross and scandalous sins; he was not an extortioner, not a usurer, not oppressive to debtors or tenants, but fair and kind to all that had dependence upon him. He was not unjust in any of his dealings; he did no man any wrong; he could say, as Samuel, Whose ox or whose ass have I taken? He was no adulterer, but had possessed his vessel in sanctification and honour. Yet this was not all; he fasted twice in the week, as an act partly of temperature, partly of devotion. The Pharisees and their disciples fasted twice a week, Monday and Thursday. Thus he glorified God with his body: yet that was not all; he gave tithes of all that he possessed, according to the law, and so glorified God with his worldly estate. Now all this was very well and commendable. Miserable is the condition of those who come short of the righteousness of this Pharisee: yet he was not accepted; and why was he not? (1.) His giving God thanks for this, though in itself a good thing, yet seems to be a mere formality. He does not say, By the grace of God I am what I am, as Paul did, but turns it off with a slight, God, I thank thee, which is intended but for a plausible introduction to a proud vainglorious ostentation of himself. (2.) He makes his boast of this, and dwells with delight upon this subject, as if all his business to the temple was to tell God Almighty how very good he was; and he is ready to say, with those hypocrites that we read of (Isa. lviii. 3), Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? (3.) He trusted to it as a righteousness, and not only mentioned it, but pleaded it, as if hereby he had merited at the hands of God, and made him his debtor. (4.) Here is not one word of prayer in all he saith. He went up to the temple to pray, but forgot his errand, was so full of himself and his own goodness that he thought he had need of nothing, no, not of the favour and grace of God, which, it would seem, he did not think worth asking.
2. That he despised others. (1.) He thought meanly of all mankind but himself: I thank thee that I am not as other men are. He speaks indefinitely, as if he were better than any. We may have reason to thank God that we are not as some men are, that are notoriously wicked and vile; but to speak at random thus, as if we only were good, and all besides us were reprobates, is to judge by wholesale. (2.) He thought meanly in a particular manner of this publican, whom he had left behind, it is probable, in the court of the Gentiles, and whose company he had fallen into as he came to the temple. He knew that he was a publican, and therefore very uncharitably concluded that he was an extortioner, unjust, and all that is naught. Suppose it had been so, and he had known it, what business had he to take notice of it? Could not he say his prayers (and that was all that the Pharisees did) without reproaching his neighbours? Or was this a part of his God, I thank thee? And was he as much pleased with the publican’s badness as with his own goodness? There could not be a plainer evidence, not only of the want of humility and charity, but of reigning pride and malice, than this was.
III. Here is the publican’s address to God, which was the reverse of the Pharisee’s, as full of humility and humiliation as his was of pride and ostentation; as full of repentance for sin, and desire towards God, as his was of confidence in himself and his own righteousness and sufficiency.
1. He expressed his repentance and humility in what he did; and his gesture, when he addressed himself to his devotions, was expressive of great seriousness and humility, and the proper clothing of a broken, penitent, and obedient heart. (1.) He stood afar off. The Pharisee stood, but crowded up as high as he could, to the upper end of the court; the publican kept at a distance under a sense of his unworthiness to draw near to God, and perhaps for fear of offending the Pharisee, whom he observed to look scornfully upon him, and of disturbing his devotions. Hereby he owned that God might justly behold him afar off, and send him into a state of eternal distance from him, and that it was a great favour that God was pleased to admit him thus nigh. (2.) He would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, much less his hands, as was usual in prayer. He did lift up his heart to God in the heavens, in holy desires, but, through prevailing shame and humiliation, he did not lift up his eyes in holy confidence and courage. His iniquities are gone over his head, as a heavy burden, so that he is not able to look up, Ps. xl. 12. The dejection of his looks is an indication of the dejection of his mind at the thought of sin. (3.) He smote upon his breast, in a holy indignation at himself for sin: “Thus would I smite this wicked heart of mine, the poisoned fountain out of which flow all the streams of sin, if I could come at it.” The sinner’s heart first smites him in a penitent rebuke, 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. David’s heart smote him. Sinner, what hast thou done? And then he smites his heart with penitent remorse: O wretched man that I am? Ephraim is said to smite upon his thigh, Jer. xxxi. 19. Great mourners are represented tabouring upon their breasts, Nah. ii. 7.
2. He expressed it in what he said. His prayer was short. Fear and shame hindered him from saying much; sighs and groans swallowed up his words; but what he said was to the purpose: God, be merciful to me a sinner. And blessed be God that we have this prayer upon record as an answered prayer, and that we are sure that he who prayed it went to his house justified; and so shall we, if we pray it, as he did, through Jesus Christ: “God, be merciful to me a sinner; the God of infinite mercy be merciful to me, for, if he be not, I am for ever undone, for ever miserable. God be merciful to me, for I have been cruel to myself.” (1.) He owns himself a sinner by nature, by practice, guilty before God. Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? The Pharisee denies himself to be a sinner; none of his neighbours can charge him, and he sees no reason to charge himself, with any thing amiss; he is clean, he is pure from sin. But the publican gives himself no other character than that of a sinner, a convicted criminal at God’s bar. (2.) He has no dependence but upon the mercy of God, that, and that only, he relies upon. The Pharisee had insisted upon the merit of his fastings and tithes; but the poor publican disclaims all thought of merit, and flies to mercy as his city of refuge, and takes hold of the horn of that altar. “Justice condemns me; nothing will save me but mercy, mercy.” (3.) He earnestly prays for the benefit of that mercy: “O God, be merciful, be propitious, to me; forgive my sins; be reconciled to me; take me into thy favour; receive me graciously; love me freely.” He comes as a beggar for an alms, when he is ready to perish for hunger. Probably he repeated this prayer with renewed affections, and perhaps said more to the same purport, made a particular confession of his sins, and mentioned the particular mercies he wanted, and waited upon God for; but still this was the burden of the song: God, be merciful to me a sinner.
IV. Here is the publican’s acceptance with God. We have seen how differently these two addressed themselves to God; it is now worth while to enquire how they sped. There were those who would cry up the Pharisee, by whom he would go to his house applauded, and who would look with contempt upon this sneaking whining publican. But our Lord Jesus, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secret is hid, who is perfectly acquainted with all proceedings in the court of heaven, assures us that this poor, penitent, broken-hearted publican went to his house justified, rather than the other. The Pharisee thought that if one of them must be justified, and not the other, certainly it must be he rather than the publican. “No,” saith Christ, “I tell you, I affirm it with the utmost assurance, and declare it to you with the utmost concern, I tell you, it is the publican rather than the Pharisee.” The proud Pharisee goes away, rejected of God; his thanksgivings are so far from being accepted that they are an abomination; he is not justified, his sins are not pardoned, nor is he delivered from condemnation: he is not accepted as righteous in God’s sight, because he is so righteous in his own sight; but the publican, upon this humble address to Heaven, obtains the remission of his sins, and he whom the Pharisee would not set with the dogs of his flock God sets with the children of his family. The reason given for this is because God’s glory is to resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. 1. Proud men, who exalt themselves, are rivals with God, and therefore they shall certainly be abased. God, in his discourse with Job, appeals to this proof that he is God, that he looks upon every one that is proud, and brings him low, Job xl. 12. 2. Humble men, who abase themselves, are subject to God, and they shall be exalted. God has preferment in store for those that will take it as a favour, not for those that demand it as a debt. He shall be exalted into the love of God, and communion with him, shall be exalted into a satisfaction in himself, and exalted at last as high as heaven. See how the punishment answers the sin: He that exalteth himself shall be abased. See how the recompence answers the duty: He that humbles himself shall be exalted. See also the power of God’s grace in bringing good out of evil; the publican had been a great sinner, and out of the greatness of his sin was brought the greatness of his repentance; out of the eater came forth meat. See, on the contrary, the power of Satan’s malice in bringing evil out of good. It was good that the Pharisee was no extortioner, nor unjust; but the devil made him proud of this, to his ruin.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Set all others at naught ( ). A late verb , like , from (), to consider or treat as nothing. In LXX and chiefly in Luke and Paul in the N.T.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Despised [] . Lit., made nothing of. Rev., set at nought. Others [ ] . The expression is stronger. Lit., the rest. They threw all others beside themselves into one class. Rev., correctly, all others.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN PARABLE V. 9-14
1) “And he spake this parable unto certain,” (eipen de pros tinas tous ten parabolen tauten) “Then he spoke this parable directly to certain ones,” who were Pharisaical at heart, or Pharisees, who were following Him like Judas, the snake-hearted hypocrite.
2) “Which trusted in themselves,” (kai pepolthotas ep’ heautois) “Who were continually relying upon themselves,” as self-sufficient, with religious pride as described by Paul, Rom 10:2-4.
3) “That they were righteous,” (hoti eisin dikaioi)” That they were and are righteous,” without any need of daily prayer, confession, or cleansing, Mat 6:9; Mat 6:11; 1Jn 1:8-9.
4) “And despised others:” (kai eksouthenountas tous loipous) “And they were continually despising the rest,” al I others looking down upon or treating the rest with disdain, while they ought to have pitied and taught them, Mat 28:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Christ now gives directions about another virtue, which is necessary to acceptable prayer. Believers must not come into the presence of God but with humility and abasement. No disease is more dangerous than arrogance; and yet all have it so deeply fixed in the marrow of their bones, that it can scarcely be removed or extirpated by any remedy. It is no doubt strange that men should be so mad as to venture to raise their crests against God, and to plead their own merits before him. Though men are carried away by their ambition, yet when we come into the presence of God, all presumption ought to be laid aside; and yet every man thinks that he has sufficiently humbled himself, if he only presents a hypocritical prayer for forgiveness. Hence we infer that this warning which our Lord gives was far from being unnecessary.
There are two faults at which Christ glances, and which he intended to condemn, — wicked confidence in ourselves, and the pride of despising brethren, the one of which springs out of the other. It is impossible that he who deceives himself with vain confidence should not lift himself up above his brethren. Nor is it wonderful that it should be so; for how should that man not despise his equals, who vaunts against God himself? Every man that is puffed up with self-confidence carries on open war with God, to whom we cannot be reconciled in any other way than by denial of ourselves; that is, by laying aside all confidence in our own virtue and righteousness, and relying on his mercy alone.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Luk. 18:9. Unto certain.This parable is not addressed to Pharisees, but to some of His own followers who were Pharisaical at heart. Despised.Or set at nought (R.V.). Others.Rather, all others (R.V.); lit. the rest.
Luk. 18:10. Went up.The Temple standing on an elevation. Probably some of Christs hearers were now on their way to worship there.
Luk. 18:11. The Pharisee stood.Took up a position apart from others, as the word seems to indicate. With himself.Secret prayer, or the personal devotions offered apart from those statedly conducted by the priests for the people at large. God.Rather, O God. There seems no reason why the phrase should be abbreviated in our English versions. As other men.Rather, as the rest of men (R.V.); all but himself. Extortioners.Those who injure others by force. Unjust.Those who overreach others by fraud.
Luk. 18:12. I fast, etc.His works of supererogation. The Law prescribed only one day of fastingthe great day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29). The Oral Law prescribed fasts on Monday and Thursday of each week, in commemoration of Moses ascending and descending Mount Sinai. That I possess.Rather, that I geti.e., one-tenth of his income, not of his property.
Luk. 18:13. Afar off.Perhaps this means from the altar or from the Holy Place. It may however, mean from the Pharisee, as though he felt his unworthiness to be near those whom he regarded, and who regarded themselves, as holy. Smote upon his breast.A gesture of sorrow (cf. chap. Luk. 23:48). Me a sinner.Perhaps it may be rendered to me the sinneri.e., beyond all others (R.V. margin). It seems, however, to detract from the limplicity of the prayer to think of the publican as comparing himself, even unfavourably, with others.
Luk. 18:14. Exalteth himself.As did the Pharisee. Shall be abased.Rather humbled (R.V.)i.e., in his failure to obtain justification from God. The sense is, one returned home in the sight of God with his prayer answered, and that prayer had grasped the true object of prayerthe forgiveness of sins; the other prayed not for it, and obtained it not. Therefore he who would seek justification before God must seek it by humility, and not by self-righteousness (Alford).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 18:9-14
Self-righteousness and Humility.This is a parable which sets forth one of the great laws of the kingdom of God, viewed as a kingdom of gracethat enunciated in the closing verse: Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. We shall best study the parable by making our starting-point the judgment of Jesus on the two men whose characters are so graphically depicted in it, and considering, in order, these points: First, the import of the judgment; second, its grounds; third, its uses.
I. It is declared that the publican went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.We must assume that it is not intended to call in question the statements of fact made by the two parties. Neither is supposed to have borne false witness for or against himself, whether in ignorance or with intent to deceive. Even the self-laudatory statements of the Pharisee are allowed to pass unquestioned. What is blamed is not his statement of facts, but the spirit in which he makes that statementthe spirit of self-complacency. There is the less reason to doubt this that the Pharisee is not represented as uttering his prayer aloud. He took up his posture and prayed thus with himself. Had his prayer been intended for the public ear, there would probably have been in it less depreciation of others and also less praise of himself. But just on that account there would have been less sincerity, less fidelity to the actual thoughts and feelings of the man. And just because it is a heart-prayer it is a true prayer, reflecting his real belief. It is his self-complacency alone, therefore, not its fact-basis which is liable to question. The publicans account of himself is also assumed to be correct. Our Lord does not mean to say this publican was mistaken in imagining himself to be so great a sinner. He is a sinner, as he says in words; a great sinner, as he declares by significant gesture. The validity of the judgment pronounced concerning him does not at all rest on the comparative smallness of his guilt. These things being so, it is clear how the judgment must be understood. It means, not that the publican is a just man, and the Pharisee an unjust, but the publican is nearer the approval of God than the other who approves himself. The approval or good-will of God is what both are seeking. Both address God. The one says, God, I thank Thee; the other, God, be gracious unto me. The one expects God to endorse the good opinion he entertains of himself; the other begs God to be merciful to him, notwithstanding his sin.
II. The grounds of the judgment.Only one reason is expressly referred to by Christ; but there is another reason implied. It is this: The publicans self-dissatisfaction had more truth or religious sincerity in it than the Pharisees self-complacency, and God, as the Psalmist tells us, desires and is pleased with truth in the inward parts. The statements he made did not, even if true, warrant self-complacency. Each act of thanksgiving might have been followed by an act of confession. I have not been an extortioner, but I have often coveted what was not my own. I have not been unjust, but I have been far from generous. I have not been an adulterer, but my heart has harboured many wicked thoughts. For all the truly good are conscious that they have confessions to make which exclude all boasting. Another index of the self-complacent Pharisees want of truth in the deeper sense is that, while apparently unconscious of any sins of his own, he is very much alive to the sins of others. With a coarse, sweeping indiscriminateness he pronounces all men but himself guilty, and guilty of the grossest sins. He makes himself very good by the cheap method of making all others very bad. Our Lord expressly states a reason in support of His judgment concerning the two men. Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. This statement is valuable, as teaching that self-praise and self-condemnation produce the same effects on the Divine mind as on our own minds. When a man praises himself in our hearing, the act provokes in us the spirit of criticism; when, on the other hand, we hear a man condemn himself, there arises in our bosom a feeling of sympathy towards him. Just the same effects do the same acts, Christ gives us to understand, produce on the mind of God. And with His teaching all Scripture agrees. God forgives sins to such as acknowledge them, and imputes sins to such as deny them, for this among other reasons, because it gives Him pleasure to exalt those who humble themselves, and to humble those who exalt themselves.
III. The uses of the judgment.We learn from the verdict pronounced on the two worshippers that it is necessary, in order to please God, to be sincere and to be humble; but we may not hence infer that we are saved by our sincerity or by our humility. We are not saved by these virtues, any more than by boasting of our goodness, but by the free grace of God. From the introductory words we learn that the chief purpose of the parable was to rebuke and subdue the spirit of self-righteousness; another purpose, doubtless, was to revive the spirit of the contrite and to embolden them to hope in Gods mercy. This is a service which contrite souls greatly need to have rendered them, for they are slow to believe that they can possibly be the objects of Divine complacency. Such, in all probability, was the publicans state of mind, not only before but even after he prayed. He went down to his house justified in Gods sight, but not, we think, in his own. Think not, He would say to such as he, that God casts the poor, nervous, desponding penitent out of His sympathies. Nay! the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. Who can tell how many repentant ones went down to their houses cheered by the words which had fallen from the lips of the sinners Friend! Let us use the parable for kindred purposes still; learning from it ourselves to cherish hopeful views concerning such as are more persuaded of their own sinfulness than of Divine mercy, and doing what we can to help such to believe that verily there is forgiveness with God.Bruce.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 18:9-14
Luk. 18:9-14. Two Prayers.
I. The place of prayer.
II. The Pharisees prayer.He forgets the evil he had and the good he had not. He did not see himself as God saw him. He does not ask for anything. He does not pray for the publican. He only thanks God he is not like him.
III. The publicans prayer.How short it is! How earnest he is! He feels his great need. He receives the blessing. What a load is lifted off his soul!Watson.
Two Prayers.Here we have two kinds of prayer set side by side for our instruction.
I. The first is really no prayer at all, but only a bit of self-felicitation in the presence of God. It has no adoration, no confession, no supplication. This Pharisee has many followers. Many there are whose whole stock of piety consists in not being so bad as some others are. But it is a poor kind of virtue which has nothing better to build on than such imperfect relative goodness.
II. The other mans prayer was altogether different.There was no measuring of himself with other people. There was no going over sins he had not committed. There was no mention of his neighbours sins, but freedom in speaking of his own. He was burdened with the consciousness of personal guilt, and cried to God for undeserved mercy, to be granted wholly through grace. This is true prayer. The prayer of the penitent reaches heaven. God wants this honesty and humility in our supplications. The particular sinner with whose sins each man ought to be most concerned is himself.Miller.
Two Men at Prayer.
I. The proud mans prayer.
1. It was full of boasting words.
2. It did not speak about his sins.
3. It did not ask God for anything. It was therefore not a real prayer at all.
II. The humble mans prayer.
1. He calls himself a sinner.
2. He begs for mercy.
3. His words are few, but they come from the heart. His prayer was answered. It was a true prayer.W. Taylor.
The Pharisee and the Publican.
I. The wrong religion.His prayer reveals the man. It is made up of self-trust and scorn of others. Self-praise is not comely. A proud prayer is a prayerless prayer. This man confesses only the sins of other men. This Pharisaic spirit lurks in every heart, and must be starved and killed. Even in true Christians traces of the Pharisee may often be found.
II. The right religion.His prayer shows a full belief.
1. In mans great misery. Like the pilgrim, he has one burden, and pardon is his one need.
2. Gods greater mercy. The word he uses means the mercy of propitiation and reconciliation. This man learned Gods mercy in learning his own misery. Sin and salvation are the two foundation-stones of the right religion.Wells.
Points of Resemblance and of Difference.
I. Points of resemblance.
1. Both sinful, though their sinfulness took different forms.
2. Both worshippers of God.
3. Both examine their own lives and characters.
II. Points of difference.
1. The Pharisee plumes himself upon his superiority to others; the Publican is consumed by the thought of his own unworthiness.
2. The Pharisee finds in his life a righteousness beyond even the requirements of Gods law; the Publican has no ground of hope but in the compassion of God.
3. The Pharisee has much to say; the Publican can only ejaculate one sentence.
4. The Publican is accepted with God; the Pharisee is not.
Luk. 18:9. Trusted in themselves.Probably these were not Pharisees, for in that case the figure of a Pharisee would not have been held up to them as a similitude. Some of Christs own followers evidently had given indications of trust in their own righteousness, or of contempt towards others.
Luk. 18:10. The Pharisee and the Publican.Two extreme types of worshippers. What a contrast!
I. The Pharisee.
1. His advantages.
2. His drawbacks.
II. The Publican.
1. His drawbacks.
2. His advantages.Davies.
Luk. 18:11. The Pharisee.In the Pharisee and the Publican were represented the very poles of religious and social respectability. We are now concerned with the Pharisee.
I. The Pharisees, as the name implies, were, before all things, men who insisted on their separateness from others.Their duty was to avoid all intercourse with or assimilation to the Gentile world. They multiplied all outward signs which could distinguish them from the heathen, or from those of their countrymen who seemed to have a fancy for heathen ways. In many respects they contrasted favourably with the latitudinarian Sadducees.
II. The Pharisee, as representing the religious world of Juda, seems to have everything in his favour, as he goes up to the Temple to pray.What is it in his prayer that our Lord condemns? It was that his religion centred, not in God, but in himself, and was, therefore, no religion at all. He asks God for nothingno pardon, no mercy, no grace. He feels the need of nothing.
III. The Pharisees have long disappeared from history; but the spirit of Pharisaism survives, and our Lords sentence on it holds good for all time. No one is safe from the infection of the Pharisaic spirit; no precautions, surely, will be thought unnecessary which may help to keep it at bay.Liddon.
Luk. 18:11-12. The Pharisees Errors.
1. He thought of God as satisfied with external conduct and not as requiring purity and humility of heart.
2. He failed to see his shortcomings, and exaggerated his virtues.
3. He despised others.
The Pharisees Ground of Confidence.
1. That he was not so bad as other men.
2. That he was not guilty of gross sins.
3. That he paid attention to external precepts of religion.
The Pharisees Prayer.
1. He shows what he is.
2. What he does.
3. What he gives.
Luk. 18:11. Prayed thus.It was less a prayer of thanksgiving to God than a congratulatory address to himself. True thanksgiving is always accompanied by and inspired by humility.
I thank thee.Though in the form of a prayer, the Pharisee boasts of his superiority to others. It is possible to thank God for what we do and become more than others (1Co. 15:9-10), but such a thanksgiving springs out of the most profound humility.
As other men.Or rather, as the rest of men (R.V.) He divides mankind into two classesthe evil and the good, and he finds himself standing almost alone in the latter.
Luk. 18:12. This publican.His eye alighting on the publican, of whom he may have known nothing but that he was a publican, he drags him into his prayer, making him to furnish the dark background on which the bright colours of his own virtues shall more gloriously be displayed; finding, it may be, in the deep heart-earnestness with which the contrite man beat his breast, in the fixedness of his downcast eyes, proofs in confirmation of the judgment which he passes upon him. He, thank God, has no need to beat his breast in that fashion, nor to cast his eyes in that shame upon the ground.Trench.
Luk. 18:13. Standing afar off.I.e., from the altar of burnt-offering, in contrast with the Pharisee who took up his place near it.
The Publican an Example.The Publican affords us an example worthy of imitation.
1. In his profound sense of the Divine holiness.
2. In his contrition for sin.
3. In his open and free confession of unworthiness.
4. In his cry for mercy.
The Publican Shows Humility
1. In his posture.
2. By his action.
3. By the matter and form of his prayer.
His eyes.Fear and shame cause him to keep his eyes upon the ground.
His breast.The seat of conscience.
A sinner.To the Pharisee all are sinners, and he only is righteous; to the Publican all are righteous, and he only the sinner.Westermeier.
Me a sinner.Or the sinner (R.V.). As the Pharisee saw in himself nothing but righteousness, so the Publican saw in himself nothing but sin.
Luk. 18:14. The Fate of the Two Prayers.The Publicans prayer, like incense, ascended into heaven, a sacrifice of sweet savour, while the prayer of the Pharisee was blown back like smoke into his own eyes; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.Trench.
Something in Both to Be Avoided, Something to Be Copied.We should avoid the Pharisees pride, but not neglect his performances; we should forsake the Publicans sins and retain his humility.Chrysostom.
Justified.Accepted by God as righteous. The Pharisee had in form attributed the excellencies he found in his own character and life to the grace of God, but the relish with which he recounts his virtues shows plainly that under the guise of humility pride was lurking. His prayer contained no request, and drew down no blessing. But the Publicans request, proffered in humility, was granted.
Justification.In all the passages in St. Luke where the word is used (chaps, Luk. 7:29; Luk. 7:35, Luk. 10:29, Luk. 16:15), its plain meaning is to declare righteous and not to make righteous. The Publican prays for mercy; the Pharisee trusts in his own righteousness. God accepts the Publican as righteous, but does not endorse the Pharisees judgment on himself. This use of the word justify is not peculiar to the Pauline epistles; we find it in the Old Testament (Isa. 50:8; Isa. 53:11; Psa. 143:2).
The Two Men.
Two went to pray; or rather say,
One went to brag, the other to pray;
One stands up close, and treads on high,
Where th other dare not send his eye.
One nearer to the altar trod,
The other to the altars God.
Crashaw.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Butlers Comments
SECTION 2
Proud (Luk. 18:9-14)
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: 10Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The, Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner! 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Luk. 18:9-12 Haughtiness: Do not miss the purpose of this parable. Jesus told it to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. He told it to all who think they have something they have earned to present to God as justification. It is a warning to everyone like Job, in the O.T., who audaciously bragged that if he just knew where to find God, he believed he could stand before Him and argue his case. Job found out (Job. 38:1 ff.) that he was totally incapable of arguing his case before the Lord after all!
Two men went up into the temple to pray. All the men of Israel could go into the court of Israel to pray at the appointed times of prayer (3 times daily, cf. Act. 3:1). The court of Israel contained the altar of burnt offering and the laver. Only priests could enter the temple proper, Women prayed in the court of women, the next court outside the court of Israel. One of the men was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector, a publican. The Pharisee stoodprobably in a place he could be seenand prayed unto himself. The Greek phrase, pros heauton proseucheto, indicates the Pharisee directed his prayer, not really to God, but to himself! Five times he uses the personal pronoun I in the nominative case! Even as he thanked God he was scorning the publican. That is something to thank God forthat you are able to scorn someone else! Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai said: If there are only two righteous men in the world, I and my son are these two; if there is only one, I am he!
Pride has reached epidemic proportions among men. Children boast about their toys or fight for the front seat in the car. Parents fight at Little League games. Corporations are saturated with ego-maniacs trying to outmaneuver others. Church brotherhoods have their pecking orders. Branches of the military services fight one another. As one man has put it, Name just one person who is conscientiously working his way to the bottom of the heap! Politicians like to say this country is the home of the common manbut who has ever met one?! When we research our family tree we look for kings and statesmennot carpenters or cobblers.
Pride:
a.
is idolatrous self worship
b.
puts self in the place of sovereignty that belongs only to God
c.
is an attempt to appear in a superior light to what we are with an anxiety to gain applause
d.
is a consuming craving for appearance and reputation irrespective of reality
e.
is making oneself very good by the cheap method of making all others very bad.
Pride is extremely difficult to overcome because it takes root even in the essential virtues of life. We become proud of good works; we become proud of humility. It was good that the Pharisee was not an extortioner, unjust and an adulterer. But all his goodness was destroyed by his haughty pride. He was good because Gods law told him not to be bad and he was afraid of the penalty of disobedience. He probably would have committed adultery or some other vice if he thought he could have gotten away with it. That is absolutely the wrong attitude toward Gods law. He would probably have killed the publican had he thought he could have escaped punishmenthe hated the publican in his heart. Jesus dealt with that kind of legalism in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mat. 5:17-47. Pride is the mother of all vice. It is the monster that fouled Paradise when the serpent hissed: Ye shall be as gods. Pride fills hell, drives men mad for more, causes men to say their opinion is the only one, sours friendships, strangles love, devours faith, blinds men to their real needs, and segregates men from their neighbors. A man was meant to be doubtful about himselfbut undoubting about truth. We have very nearly reversed this. Humble and self-effacing we must bebut modest about the gospelnever!
The tax-collector stood afar off. He did not feel worthy to be near the righteous Pharisee. He did not feel worthy of lifting up his eyes to heaven. The Greek verb etupteu is an imperfect verb indicating the publican kept on smiting himself and kept on saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Over and over he confessed his unworthiness (cf. Dan. 9:18). The Pharisee confessed other mens sins; the publican confessed his own. The Pharisee evaluated himself as righteous; the publican evaluated himself as the worst of sinners. The Pharisee reminded God of what he had earned; the publican pleaded only for mercy. The Pharisee justified himself but was unjustified; the publican cried for mercy and was justified.
The publican exhibits classic humility. Jesus taught that true greatness is vindicated neither by great abilities and successes nor by the roar of popular applause but by service. He that would be greatest among you let him be the servant of all. There is nothing chicken about humility. Looking God and His word in the face and believing what He says about you takes a man! No weakling can stand to know the whole truth about himself. Humility calls for that extra-ordinary courage to take it and step down from the throne of ones own heart in favor of God, pick up ones cross, and follow the humble Christ. Humility is not something with which one is born. It has to be learned, it has to be developedand it comes by faith.
The Pharisee was not justified by God. How could he be? He did not think it was necessary for God to justify Him. He believed he had justified himself by his outward righteousness. He would not have accepted Gods justification if God had offered it to him (which God had already done in type and prophecy). But the publican knew there was no possible way he could be justified if God did not do it. To justify is to pronounce free of guilt, to make one qualified, to declare pure and true. The tax-collector realized that in light of Gods requirement of absolute holiness, he was lost and the only thing he could do was plead for mercy so that God might find some way to pronounce him free of guilt. That was the only way he believed he could ever be cleansed of guilt. We had better believe that too! God had found a waythrough the atoning death of His Son. That was and is still available to anyone who will believe it and enter into it through the covenant terms specified in the New Testament. That involves first of all a humbling of oneself to accept as a gift the forgiveness of God. Next it requires a humble surrender to Gods sovereign command to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins (cf. Act. 2:38, et al). Then it requires a lifetime of humble discipleship and service to Jesus Christ as He has outlined it in the Gospels and the Epistles. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted, declared not guilty, and given an inheritance in the heavens, uncorruptible and undefiled that will not fade away.
Appleburys Comments
The Pharisee and the Publican
Scripture
Luk. 18:9-14 And he spake also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get. 13 But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be thou merciful to me a sinner. 14 I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Comments
that they were righteous and set all others at naught.There is no mistaking the purpose of this parable. Jesus directed it toward the self-righteous Pharisees in contrast to the humble people of His day. He was answering the claims of the Pharisees that they were the only righteous ones: they never transgressed a commandment of the Father. But Jesus did not hesitate to point out their sins. A pharisaical attitude is so easy to acquire. It should be shunned, however, for it is sinful. Could there be any worse place to display it than in prayer?
The Pharisee stood and prayed.His prayer was about himself. There are two topics in the prayer: (1) his moral integrity, and (2) his religious activity. As to his morality, he thanked God that he was not like others who were extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like that publican who was also in the temple, praying. As to his religious devotion, he reminded God that he did fast twice a week and that he gave tithes of all he got. He was evidently satisfied with himself, a perfect example of self-righteousness.
But the publican.What a contrast he presented! He stood afar off and would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven. He presented a perfect example of humility: he knew that he was a sinner. He also knew, as he beat his breast and prayed, God be merciful to me the sinner, that the Pharisee was talking about him. While it may be quite easy for one to assume a pharisaical attitude, it is never easy to say, I am a sinner. The Bible record mentions a few who did: Saul, David, Peter, Judas, and Paul. Too often, real humility is absent when we ask God for mercy.
be thou merciful to me.Gods mercy that pardons the guilty is available through Jesus Christ who died for all. The publicans spirit of humility is necessary on the part of all who would receive that mercy. Jesus said that he went down to his house pardoned rather than the other one. Then He added, Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Bringing Babes to Jesus
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) Unto certain which trusted in themselves . . .Here, as above, the purpose of the parable is stated at the outset. It is, perhaps, open for us to think that isolated fragments of our Lords teaching, treasured up here and there in the memory of disciples, and written down in answer to St. Lukes inquiries in the second stage of the growth of the Gospel records, would be likely to have such an introduction.
The certain which trusted are not specified as being actually Pharisees, and included, we may believe, disciples in whom the Pharisee temper was gaining the mastery, and who needed to be taught as by a reductio ad absurdum, what it naturally led to.
Despised others.Literally, the restviz., all others. The word for despise, literally, count as nothing, is again one of those which St. Luke has, and the other Evangelists have not (that in Mar. 9:12 differs in form), but which is frequent in the vocabulary of St. Paul (Rom. 14:3; Rom. 14:10; 1Co. 16:11, et al.). This universal depreciation of others would seem almost an exaggeration, if experience did not showe.g., as in the history of Montanism and analogous forms of errorhow easily men and women, religious societies and orders, drift into it, and how hard it is to set any limits to the monomania of egotismabove all, of religious egotism. It never uttered itself, perhaps, in a more repulsive form than when the Pharisees came to speak of the great mass of their brother-Israelites as the brute people, the people of the earth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
98. PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND PUBLICAN, Luk 18:9-14 .
As the preceding parable inculcates intensity, so this illustrates humility, in prayer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9. Unto certain The best commentators decide that the Greek word for unto should be rendered concerning. The parable was addressed to the disciples concerning the trusters in themselves and despisers of others, of whom this Pharisee is selected as an example.
Trusted in themselves So low was their estimate of sin, and so high their estimate of their own merit, that they proposed to stand before God, to be justified on the ground of their own excellence; nay, came into his presence, and under forms of prayer and thanks, paraded these laudations of themselves and depreciations of their fellows.
Despised others Their great sin was, that, despising the work of elevating others, as Jesus did the publicans and Gentiles of this region, they really rejoiced in their sinfulness and degradation, over which they could glory as a superior and despotic caste. Their language was, This people that know not the law are accursed.
‘And he spoke also this parable to certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought,’
The people described here are in direct contrast with those who will have faith on earth, or who will be the believing ones, when He comes (Luk 18:8). They were confident in their own righteousness, and considered all others as less righteous than they. They based that belief on their fulfilment of the requirements of the Law in accordance with their own traditions, which placed an emphasis on the outward aspects of it. They overlooked what was central to the Law, the love of God and neighbour. But worse still they set at nought and treated with contempt those who did not follow their ways. And so that none might be in any doubt who were mainly in mind He told a parable in order to illustrate His comment.
The Parable Of The One Who Trusted In Himself That He Was Supremely Acceptable to God, And Was Not, And The One Who Was Doubtful About His Acceptability With God Who Was Made Fully Acceptable (18:9-14).
The parable that we have just considered demonstrated how God’s people were to await the coming of the Son of Man in glory in continual prayer. In the parable that follows we will learn how to distinguish between those who will in that Day be taken, and those who will be left, those who are accounted righteous, and those who are not.
Indeed this theme will continue on for some time. For the failure of the Pharisee to come to God because he was so taken up with himself, and the humble and contrite approach of the public servant (Luk 18:9-14), will be followed by the open-hearted response of little believing children who willingly and open-heartedly come (Luk 18:15-17), which will again be followed by the story of one whose riches prevented him from coming (Luk 18:18-30). All are given the opportunity of coming, but not all will take it.
In this parable now we have a twofold picture drawn of one who trusted in himself that he was supremely acceptable to God, and was not, and the one who was doubtful about his acceptability with God, and who nevertheless was made fully acceptable because he repented and called for mercy. It is often called ‘the Parable of the Pharisee and the Public Servant’.
In the Section chiasmus it is paralleled very aptly with Jesus’ words about the fact that whatever we do for God can never be brought up as evidence that we are deserving before Him, as justification for our position before Him. Even if we are perfect in all that we do we are simply achieving what it is our duty that we should do. Should we therefore come short in any one thing we will have failed in the fulfilment of our duty and can no longer claim merit (compare Jas 2:10).
This was what the Pharisee failed to recognise. He thought that he could start with a clean sheet and build up righteousness before God. He thought that he could earn God’s favour and build up merit. What he failed to see were all the ways in which he had come short, which more than cancelled out what he had achieved (which was what he should have done anyway). In contrast the public servant came recognising his shortcomings, and claiming no merit of his own. And because of that he was received with forgiveness, and was put in the right with God. He would be ready when the Son of Man came. He was the evidence of faith on earth.
In a day when public servants were held in such hatred, and Pharisees in such high regard, Jesus’ words here would have a salutary and important effect in changing people’s views, and making them think again, both about the prominence of Pharisaic teaching, and about the open door that the arrival of the Kingly Rule of God opened for sinners of all kinds. All would know that if a public servant could be saved, anyone could!
a He spoke also this parable to certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought’ (Luk 18:9).
b “Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a public servant” (Luk 18:10).
c “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this public servant’ ” (Luk 18:11).
d “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I get” (Luk 18:12).
c “But the public servant, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, saying, ‘God, be you merciful to me a sinner’ ” (Luk 18:13).
b “I say to you, This man went down to his house accounted as righteous rather than the other” (Luk 18:14 a).
a “For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luk 18:14 b).
Note that ‘a’ speaks of one who sees himself as righteous and sets others at nought, while in the parallel the one who so exalts himself will be abased, while the humble, who had been set at nought, will be exalted. In ‘b’ we have the contrast of two men who went to the Temple to pray and in the parallel we learn the contrasting results. In ‘c’ we have the Pharisees prayer, and in the parallel the public servant’s prayer. In ‘d’ centrally we have the basis for the Pharisee’s self-righteousness (possibly the last part of ‘c’ should also come in here). This expands on the fact that he trusted in himself that he was righteous.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector In Luk 18:9-14 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who were scoffing at His teachings by telling them the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee had his eyes on man, judging himself by another man. But the publican had his eyes on God and His Holiness. Those in most need of confessing their sins are those who think they need it the least. Those who hide sin and deny it are the ones who should deal with it most. The self-righteous attitude has no place in God’s throne room of prayer. The emphasis in this story is the importance of having a heart of humility in the Kingdom of God while awaiting Christ’s Second Coming. Thus, the key word in this passage of Scripture is “humility.”
The Heart – You can see the heart of each man by looking at his words because “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Mat 12:34).
Mat 12:34, “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
It is noteworthy to listen to people pray and notice if their hearts are humble.
Scripture Reference – Note:
Mat 9:13, “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice : for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Luk 18:13 “God be merciful to me a sinner” Comments – This is one of the shortest prayers in the Bible.
Luk 18:14 “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other” – Comments – God loves the sinner.
Mat 18:11, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.”
Mat 21:31, “Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
Joh 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Rom 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
God is willing to forgive those who will humble themselves before Him:
Psa 86:5, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”
Psa 86:15, “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”
Joe 2:13, “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”
Neh 9:17, “And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.”
But, a person must repent and put his faith in Jesus:
Act 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Luk 18:14 “for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased” Scripture Reference:
Pro 16:18 Pro 29:23, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
Luk 18:14 “and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” – Scripture Reference:
Jas 4:6 1Pe 5:5-7, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
The Pharisee and the Publican.
The Pharisee:
v. 9. And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted themselves that they were righteous and despised others:
v. 10. Two men went up into the Temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
v. 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee that I am not I other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
v. 12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
During the last journey of Jesus, representatives of the Pharisees were present almost continually. It is probable that some of these had given some evidence of their imagined superiority again, or there were other that had their way of thinking and acting They trusted in themselves that they were righteous; they firmly believed themselves to be perfect; they felt only the deepest contempt for the others whom they supposed to be in a class far beneath them, below the consideration of all decent people. They were representatives of the self-righteous, self-sufficient people, with both inherent and carefully educated Pharisaic tendencies. The parable of Jesus was intended to open the eyes of this pitifully blind class. Two men went up into the Temple to pray. The third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day were observed by the Jews as the hours of prayer, Dan 6:10. If possible, they went up into the Temple for that special prayer, or turned toward the Temple in making it. The chief places of prayer were the halls, or porches, or the inner courts, where there was little or no distraction or disturbance. The first of these two men was a Pharisee, a member of the strictest sect among the Jews. He stood, he made it his object to be as prominent and conspicuous as possible, for he felt his self-importance and intended to convey to others this same impression. He prayed to himself, literally: his words were more in the nature of congratulation and praise of himself than a communication to God. What he said was the firm conviction of his own heart. He proudly enumerated his supposed virtues, thanking God, incidentally, that he was not like other people. The poor man did not know, in the arrogance of his pride, that he might do whatever he chose, “yea, if he sweat blood and had himself burned with fire, it would still before God an abomination and the greatest of sins. ” The Pharisee boasted that he had done no harm to others; he was no extortioner, no robber that openly took his neighbor’s property; he was no unjust person, he paid his debts and gave to every man his due; he was no adulterer, he had never openly lived in sins of the flesh; he was not on a level with the publican, whose many transgressions were proverbial. But he also had positive virtues; he observed all the ordinances of religion, both those commanded by God and those enjoined by the elders. Only one day in the year had been set aside by God as a day of fasting for the entire people, the great Day of Atonement. But the Pharisees of the stricter kind added voluntary fasts on Mondays and Thursdays; the latter, because on that day Moses was said to have. ascended on Mount Sinai; the former, because they believed he had come down on that day from the mountain. This Pharisee was also very strict about giving tithes, the tenth part of all that he possessed, down to the smallest vegetable in the garden, Mat 23:23. The Pharisee is a type of all self-righteous people of all times, of every person that has pleasure and delight in himself, in his own wonderful being and doing, that boasts before God of his civic honesty and blameless reputation, of some outward, glittering virtues, and despises others.
Luk 18:9. And he spake this parable Our Saviour, having encouraged and enforced the duty of importunity and perseverance in prayer, proceeded, in another instance, to caution against a self-righteous Pharisaical spirit, which must be renounced, and to recommend humility and self-abasement, which must have a place in the heart, if ever we find acceptance of our persons and prayers: and he directed this discourse to a set of people, who had high confidence in their own merit, and made this their great plea with God for acceptance, and who looked with contempt and disdain upon others, as not worthy to be compared with themselves, or regarded of God.
Luk 18:9 . It is the more arbitrary to assume that the following doctrinal narrative was originally delivered in another connection (Paulus, Olshausen, de Wette; comp. Kuinoel), that it rather affords a confirmation of the probability (see on Luk 17:22 ) that the Pharisees, after our Lord’s rejoinder to them, Luk 17:20 f., were no longer present. The historical connection with what precedes is not more closely to be indicated than is pointed out by the characterization of the as . . . . These men, according to Luk 18:9 , must in some way or another have made manifest their disposition, and thereby have given occasion to Jesus to deliver the following discourse as far as Luk 18:14 . Who are the people? Assuredly not Pharisees , since it is actually a Pharisee that Jesus presents as a warning example. Possibly they were conceited followers of Jesus (Schleiermacher, de Wette, Baumgarten-Crusius), but more probably: Jews of a Pharisaic disposition , since Luke does not here, as at Luk 18:1 , designate the disciples expressly, and it was just for Jews of this kind that not only the example of the Pharisee, but also that of the publican , was the most humiliating.
] He spoke to them. To take it as at Luk 18:1 (Kuinoel, de Wette, and many others) is unsuitable, since there are persons in this place, and the context suggests no occasion for departing from the usual ad quosdam (Vulgate).
] designates the persons in the abstract indefinitely, but in the quality in question specifically. See on Gal 1:7 , and Bornemann, Schol . p. 113; Bernhardy, p. 318.
.] they put on themselves the confidence that they were righteous. For others they did not entertain this confidence, but assumed the contrary and despised them.
4. The Pharisee and the Publican (Luk 18:9-14)
9And he spake this parable unto certain [men] which trusted in themselves that theywere righteous, and despised others: 10Two men went up into the temple to pray; theone a Pharisee, and the other a publican [taxgatherer]. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [the rest of12men] are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican [taxgatherer]. Ifast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess [acquire]. 13And the publican [taxgatherer], standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, butsmote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a [the] sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:2 for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Luk 18:9. And He spake this parable.That the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican was delivered on the same occasion as the previous one (Meyer), we do not believe. In this case we should have to conceive the Pharisees, Luk 17:20, as yet present; and, moreover, it can scarcely be assumed that our Lord in their presence would have chosen the Pharisee as the chief personage of His parable. It appears, therefore, that some time afterwards, among the wider circle of the auditors of Jesus, an occasion offered itself for contrasting with one another these portraits of haughtiness and humility. Perhaps Luke gives the parable in this connection because it also stands in relation to prayer, while its conclusion constitutes a very proper transition to the immediately following narrative, Luk 18:15-17. That it, however, was actually uttered during this period in the public life of Jesus, appears to be deducible from the fact that both men are described to us as going-up to the temple in order to pray there, which certainly is doubly congruous when we consider that just during this time many caravans of pilgrims to the feast were travelling up towards the temple, and that Jesus Himself was making His last journey to the feast.
To certain men. is here not, as in Luk 18:1, to be understood of the bare intention of the parable (De Wette, Stier, Arndt), but as a designation of the persons who were addressed. Among whom we have to seek these is not stated particularly, any more than in what way they had made their self-righteous temper manifest. Pharisees proper they certainly were not, but we know how much our Saviour had to warn even His disciples against the Pharisaic leaven, and how self-righteousness was not only the ruling evil of the Jews of His time, but is also even yet the common evil of every natural man. We need not even assume (Stier) that these proud expressed themselves in some such way as this before the previous parable: Pray? Oh, that we can do already better than others; nor are we lacking in faith, and the like. We may, however, reasonably conceive that the Saviour read this proud imagination in their hearts, or that He had already remarked in actual life a similar contrast to that which He nere places before their eyes. As to the rest, Luke describes the disposition which the Saviour here attacks more precisely than the here-named persons.In themselves, , they believed that they had the righteousness required by the law, comp. Php 3:4; 2Co 1:9. Of others they believed exactly the opposite.
Luk 18:10. Two men.Here also two persons are types of two different essential tendencies. Never does our Lord represent any virtue or vice in the abstract, but always in the concrete, as it shows itself in reality. , a literally exact expression for the visiting of the more elevated temple-mountain.To pray.The main element and compendium of the whole public worship of God. Comp. Isa 56:7.
Luk 18:11. Stood. can either be taken by itself or be connected with the remark following, in the sense of stabat seorsim (Grotius, Paulus). It would then indicate that he chose a position entirely apart, in order not to be Levitically defiled by the too great nearness of men whom he regarded as unclean. It is, however, more simple to connect the words . with the immediately following (Lisco, Meyer). The expression . is usual. See Luk 20:5; Luk 20:14. Comp. Luk 12:17; Luk 3:15; Mar 11:31; Mar 12:7, &c. The simple already contains a genuinely graphic touch, which vividly brings out the confident feeling of the Pharisee, and especially by the contrast with the , Luk 18:13.
Prayed thus with himself.Yet so loud that others also hear him. His praying is a thanking, his thanking a boasting, not of God but alone of himself. In unbounded presumption he contrasts himself not only with many or with the most, but with the whole body of other men, . Duas classes Pharisus facit, in alteram conjicit totum genus humanum, altera, melior, ipse sibi solus esse videtur. Bengel. Yet soon he begins to distinguish the great mass of sinners into particular groups. There are the in the more restricted sense, the , like a Zacchus, for instance, the , not in the Old Testament scriptural sense, but in the literal sense of the word, and finally the man who stands behind him as the incarnation of all possible moral faults, , whom he had probably seen entering also into the temple, but of whom he knows beforehand that his prayer cannot possibly be acceptable to God. Thus does he vaunt his own person in order now in one breath to pass over to the heralding of his good works.
Luk 18:12. I fast twice in the week.The law (Lev 16:29-31; Num 29:7) had only prescribed an annual fast-day; but he in addition keeps twice a week a private fast day, according to the custom of that time, Monday and Thursday. Here also, as in Mar 16:9, . is the designation of the week, which was concluded with the Sabbath.I give tithes of all.Therefore much more even than was demanded in the law, according to which only the fruits of the field and of the cattle were tithed (Lev 27:30; Num 18:21; Deu 14:22). , not what I possess, which would have to be , but what I take in, what comes in to me. He is not speaking of fixed property in itself, but of the natural profits of that for which he has to thank his own insight and keenness, as to which he therefore from his point of view might easily believe that he could properly keep it for himself. Thus do his thanks in a certain manner become an intimation that God really has to thank him for all which he has the goodness to give up of his legitimate property, and as his soliloquy ends with this enumeration, we may conceive the Pharisee as now continuing in silence to please himself with the thought of the great and good things which he has done or is still doing and will do in the future.
Luk 18:13. The tax-gatherer.In everything the direct opposite of the proud fool, whose image has inspired almost even more compassion than disgust. The unfeigned humility of the tax-gatherer reveals itself first in the standing-place which he chooses.Standing afar off, , not in the court of the Gentiles, 1Ki 8:41-42 (Starke), for he is a Jew; not at a distance from the Pharisee (Meyer), for we do not read that he had observed the latter, as on the other hand the latter had noticed him, but far from the sanctuary, which the Pharisee, , has without doubt approached as nearly as possible, while on the other hand the publicans courage to do this vanished even as he first ascended towards the temple-mountain. In the second place, his demeanor indicates his humility. It was usually the custom to pray with uplifted hands, 1Ti 2:8, and with look turned towards heaven, Psa 123:1-2; but he is as far from venturing on the one as on the other, comp. Ezr 9:6, because he in the temple actually thinks of God and His spiritual holiness. Finally, his humility expresses itself in his words, , … Certainly he is far from comparing himself with the Pharisee or with other men; he sees only himself in the clear mirror of the law, and feels that he has the worst to fear if God will enter with him into judgment. It is possible, undoubtedly (Stier), that we have here to understand an impulse of first repentance, if we only, above all, do not forget that the publicans prayer continually repeats itself out of the depth of the continually renewed contrition of the publicans heart. It is right to lay emphasis on the . He accounts himself a sinner, , as Paul names himself, 1Ti 1:15, the chief of sinners, and all for which he prays is comprehended in the single word Grace. It is entirely unnecessary to press the word in such a way as to see intimated in it the dogmatic conception of atonement. See Stier, ad loc.
Luk 18:14. I tell you.In view of the high importance of the contrast, the Saviour does not once leave His hearers to judge respecting the two suppliants, but Himself passes the irrevocable judgment, in which it is silently presupposed that no suppliant can become participant of a higher prerogative than to go down again from the temple . Therefore, in the eyes of our Lord also, is the summary of all good which the praying sinner can entreat of the holy God. The question only is, Who has good ground to hope for this privilege, he who prays like the Pharisee or he who prays like the publican? The Saviour expresses Himself, as is often the case, more mildly than abstract logical necessity requires. Although He could, considering the case in itself, have well said that the Pharisee did not go down justified at all, He, however, contents Himself with placing the benefit of the publican far above that of the Pharisee. , see notes on the text; comp. Luk 15:7; Mat 21:31. The translation of the reading in the sense of a question, Or did he perchance, the Pharisee, go home justified? appears to us even of itself hard, and, besides that, by no means to be recommended by the immediately following . It is, however, at all events, arbitrary from the forbearing judgment which here the Saviour passes upon the Pharisee, to draw the conclusion (Stier) that the consciousness of the possession of justification may gradually begin to give way again, if a begins again secretly to trust in his righteousness.
For every one that exalteth himself.See Luk 14:11. The repetition of such a maxim will cause us the less surprise if we consider that it expresses the unalterable fundamental law of the kingdom of heaven, according to which all men are judged, and at the same time gives the deepest ground why the justification of the Pharisee and the rejection of the publican were each entirely impossible.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The two parables of the Judge and the Widow, and the Pharisee and the Publican, although they perhaps were not delivered immediately after one another, constitute, however, together a complete whole. Both have reference to prayer, yet so that in the first, believing perseverance before, in the second, humble approach to, the throne of grace, is commended. In order to end like the Widow, one must have begun like the Publican, and in order to act as recklessly of conscience as the Judge, one must have the heart of a Pharisee in his bosom. Comp. Luk 20:47.
2. The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican shows a remarkable coincidence with that of the Prodigal Son and his brotherthe same contrast of unrighteousness and self-righteousness, of humility and pride, in the one as in the other. As there the two sons represent not only the Pharisees and the publicans, but essentially all mankind, so here the two suppliants give us to recognize the fundamental and chief distinction in the relation of man to God. Every natural man is more or less like the Pharisee; whoever learns to know himself as a sinner is, on the other hand, like the Publican. Here, however, it is by no means denied that in the microcosm of a human heart often something of the Pharisee may be found along with the character of the Publican, even though we ourselves do not take note of it. The question, however, remains simply this, Which disposition in our hearts is the ruling one? According to this God will judge us. 4. The Epistle to the Romans is the consistent development of the cardinal evangelical idea which is laid down in this parable, and the Reformation is the triumph of the publicans humility over the Pharisaic self-righteousness, which in the Pelagianism of the Roman Catholic Church had acquired the character of a formal system.
5. This parable is important also as a new proof how strongly and continually the Saviour, in all manner of forms, continued that conflict with the Pharisaical principle which He had already begun in the Sermon on the Mount, and which He was about to crown with an eightfold Woe, Matthew 23. Pharisaism and Christianity stand not only relatively but diametrically opposed. It is worthy of remark, however, that the Saviour views this instruction as necessary, not only for Pharisees but also for His disciples.
6. The prayer of the Publican is a short compendium of Theology, Hamartology, Soteriology, and a striking proof that true repentance and living faith are absolutely inseparable from one another. In another form we find here the same temper of mind as in the Prodigal Son, Luk 15:18. It cannot surprise us that this utterance has become for so many a motto in life and death. It was (to pass over other instances) the answer Of the famous Hugo Grotius, when he lay dying at Rostock, and an unknown minister of the gospel referred him to this parable: This publican am I!
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The continual danger of the disciples of the Saviour, of being defiled by the Pharisaical leaven.Pride and contempt of others are commonly most intimately united with one another.Duo, cum faciunt idem, non est idem.A man sees what is before his eyes, but the Lord looks on the heart, 1Sa 16:7.Pride and humility before God: 1. The diversity of their nature, Luk 18:10-13; Luke 2. the diversity of their destinies, Luk 18:14.How one may sin even with his praying.Many a virtue which is great in mens eyes is damnable before God.The Pharisee and the Publican: 1. The one so gives thanks that he forgets prayer; the other so prays that he can afterwards give thanks.; 2. the one compares himself with other men; the other considers himself in the mirror of the law; 3. the one recounts his virtues; the other cannot reckon up his sins; 4. the one keeps with all his virtues his evil conscience at the bottom; the other receives with all his sins the full assurance of justification.The fasting which God chooses, and the fasting of the holiness of works.The Miserere of the soul which precedes the Hallelujah of redemption.The publicans heart, the publicans prayer, the publicans lot.One may give the tenth, yea, all his goods, to God, and yet withhold from Him his heart, that is, all.The publicans prayer: 1. A prayer as comprehensive as rare; 2. a prayer as fitting as indispensable; 3. a prayer as rich in sorrow as in blessing.Happy he whose transgressions are forgiven, &c., Psa 32:1.The way of justification under the Old Covenant.The true penance.The whole parable admirably adapted to fast-day and communion sermons.
Starke:A. teacher of the right kind seeks thoroughly to uncover even to the concealed hypocrites among his hearers their evil heart.Quesnel:If wretched men knew themselves aright, they would not thus so easily despise others, Rev 3:17.Cramer:The whole world is full of those that pray, and yet not all by far are pleasing to God; therefore must we not only pray, but see to it how we pray.When man deals with God, he must never remember what he is before others.Quesnel:Let not one compare himself with infamous evil-doers, but with perfect saints.A self-elected worship of God, without the foundation of the Holy Scripture, avails nothing, Mat 15:9.Osiander:O man, hast thou sinned? deny it not, &c. How many have the God be merciful to me a sinner in their mouths but not in their hearts!Nova Bibl. Tub.:Penitent and believing humility brings light and salvation; humility belongs in heaven, high-mindedness belongs in hell, Isa 57:15.Bibl. Wirt.:Man cannot by his own works or piety stand or become righteous before God.
Lisco:Religiosity and religion in their most striking contrasts.Arndt:How humility expresses itself in reference to the evil we have done: 1. It acknowledges its sin; 2. and that in all its magnitude; 3. and as its own guilt; 4. and prays for grace to God.H. Mller:The Graves of the Saints, Frankfort, Luke 1700: Whoever will die happy must die as a sinner and yet without sin.Schmid:The gospel way of salvation, how it leads, a. down into the depths; b. up to the heights.Heubner:Prayer a touchstone of the heart.Tremble to have only the guise of virtue and yet to be proud.A strict, continent way of living is often joined with inflexible selfishness.Let us prove ourselves as we go from the church home, whether we go as new men or not.A. Monod, Sermons, 1er Recueil, p. 201, La peccadille dAdam et les vertus des Pharisiens.
On the Pericope.Heubner:False and true devotion: 1. Nature; 2. appearance.Justification before God: 1. How it comes not to pass; 2. how it always comes to pass.Couard:The true churchgoer.Jaspis:Your prayers your judges.Ulber:The confession of man that he is a sinner: 1. It is hard even for the mouth to utter it; 2. still harder if it is to come from the heart; 3. and yet easy if one knows himself aright.Rautenberg:A look into the heart of the justified sinner.That we ought to come to God not on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of Gods compassion.Ahlfeld:Of grace is man justified before God; this is: 1. A true saying; 2. a worthy saying.Steinmeyer:As the devotion, so the reward.Popp:There is a division and decision.
Footnotes:
[2]Luk 18:14.The reading of Elzevir, , has here no adequate critical authority. That of Tischendorf, , is strongly supported, but gives a scarcely intelligible sense. That of Lachmann, , which Grotius already defended, and which is favored by B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., Cursives, deserves on internal grounds the preference, at the same time that it must be supposed that by an ancient and quite generally diffused error in copying ( instead of ), the true reading was very soon lost.
(9) And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others: (10) Two men went up into the temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. (11) The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. (12) I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. (13) And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. (14) I tell you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Here is another beautiful parable of our Lord’s, and the occasion for which he spake it is declared. I do not think it necessary as in the former, to enlarge upon the several features of it. Every circumstance in both the characters Christ hath drawn, is descriptive of the different ground for which they stood for seeking acceptance with God. And it should be observed, in order to give weight to the design of our Lord’s teaching, that the Pharisee and Publican are as much living characters now, as then, in the days of our Lord. Every man is a Pharisee that is seeking acceptance with God either whole or in part, who prides himself upon his own good deeds, and prayers, and sacraments, and almsgiving; and hath recourse to Christ no further according to his will than to make up (if there should be any) his own deficiency. And every man may be called a Publican, in the sense of this parable, who from the teaching of God the Spirit hath been led to behold the Adam-nature in which he was born, and the condemnation in which he is involved, both by original, and by actual transgression; and led by the Holy Ghost to God in Christ, acknowledgeth himself unmeriting forgiveness, while in sorrow and contrition he seeks it. Justification is of God in Christ. And therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, find justification before God.
XIII
PARABLE OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN; THE LAW OF MARRIAGE, AND DIVORCE; THE CASE OF THE LITTLE CHILDREN
Harmony, pages 129-131 and Luk 18:9-17 Our last section closed with the prayer for vengeance or justice, called the prayer of the importunate widow. Over against that we have a prayer for mercy, not for justice. Nothing in any language, in so short a space, conveys such clear ideas of prayer as this parable, both negatively and positively negatively, in that the prayer offered by the Pharisee is not prayer at all. Let us see if we can find any petition in it: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” No petition there. “I fast twice in the week.” No prayer there. Neither in form nor in spirit is that a petition. Truly does the text say, “And prayed thus with himself.” He is simply congratulating himself upon his superiority over other people and his absolute need of nothing.
The other prayer, how different! “Standing afar off”; he does not feel that he can come close to God. “Would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.” There is utter absence of presumption, “but smote his breast,” as if there in his heart was the seat of his trouble, “saying [now we come to the prayer], God, be merciful to me the sinner.” How few the words, how expressive each word and how more expressive the conjunction of the words! “Ho theos, hilastheti mm toi hamartolm,” “God, be propitious to me the sinner.” Mark the elements of this great prayer:
First, there is an evidence of contrition for sin. The Holy Spirit had convicted him of sin, and now he exercises contrition. In receiving members into the church I often put this question to them, “Did you ever realize that you were a sinner?” I had one man to answer me by saying he never did feel like he was a sinner. Then I asked him what need he had for a Saviour.
The second element is humility. The parable has this application: “Every one that exalteth himself [as that Pharisee did], shall be humbled, but he that humbleth himself [as that publican], shall be exalted.” So that the second element of power in this prayer is the deep humility. He did not trust in himself that he was righteous. He did not despise others.
The third element is the sense of helplessness. He comes for something that he can’t secure by tithing or fasting. He stands there contrite, humble, helpless.
The fourth element of his prayer is the earnestness manifested in going right to the heart of the matter in the fewest words. There is not only the absence of anything perfunctory in this petition, but there is directness and earnestness. When I was studying Latin my teacher called my attention to this distinction between the Latin language and the English, viz., that the Latin language always puts the main word first, and the illustration used was this: We say in English, “Give me fruit,” and the Latin says, “Fructum do mihi,” “Fruit give to me.” So this prayer gets at the very heart of the matter with a directness and simplicity that has never been surpassed and seldom, if ever, equalled.
The fifth element that we note is that it is a prayer of faith, evidenced by the word employed, hilastheti in the Greek. The hilasterion is the mercy seat where the atonement is made and hence asking God to be propitious is exactly the same as saying, “God be merciful to me through a sacrifice; be propitious to me through the atonement.” That shows it to be a clear case of faith, which is further evidenced by the result: This man went down to his house justified and not the other. We are justified by faith. We do not get to justification except through faith. God’s mercy has appointed a propitiation for sin and with that propitiatory sacrifice atonement was made on the mercy seat. So the one word hilastheti expresses every thought in the “be propitious to me through the atonement,” and hence it is the prayer of faith, and justification follows it.
THE LAW OF DIVORCE AND CELIBACY The next section of this discussion gives us Christ’s teaching concerning divorce, and also concerning the expediency of not marrying. There are two elements in the discussion: The lesson on divorce, if one be married, and the lesson on the expediency of not getting married if one be single.
The heart of the lesson is presented in the following language: “Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh?” (Mat 19:4 f). Now, that is the great law of marriage as instituted by the Father himself when he created the world, when he first made man, when he himself performed the first marriage ceremony. That constitutes the law of marriage. “They twain, saith he, shall become one flesh” (1Co 6:16 ). It contemplates such a complete unity that there is in it no idea even of separation. That being the law in the beginning, the question comes up, Why did Moses, an inspired man, allow in his legislation divorce for a number of causes? Jesus says that on account of their hardness of heart Moses did that. In other words, they had been slaves for a long time, just as the Negroes have been here in the South. What low ideas of marriage those slaves had and have yet! These Israelites were but little prepared for the enforcement of a high moral standard. The original law was not changed nor its high ideal standard withdrawn. Whatever evil custom his people had adopted from heathen nations, such as divorce, polygamy and slavery, which were rooted too deep for immediate and complete eradication, these he modifies in his practical legislation, softening their asperities, restricting their evil, while always upholding in theory a pure, ideal standard, whose principles ever tend to eliminate the evil altogether. Moses prescribed no law on divorce, slavery, or polygamy that did not ameliorate the evils of these deep-rooted customs. And we must distinquish between the moral law inculcated by Moses and his civic regulations. The moral law standard was never lowered. It was absolutely perfect. But he was also the head of a nation, a political entity, and must needs legislate on civil, criminal, sanitary, and other matters.
This legislation was as high in its moral tone as they were able to bear. He did not proscribe divorce, but mitigated its existing evils. Men already were putting away their wives. He regulated the evil by requiring a bill of divorcement, which was some protection to the divorced and their children. On account of their hardness of heart and unpreparedness for better things he suffered them to retain the custom of divorce for the time being, while all the time teaching moral principles that tended to the utter eradication of the evil. A critical examination of the Mosaic civil and criminal law makes evident to an unprejudiced mind that all his statutes on existing social evils elevated the standard far above the prevalent custom, and never lowered it. If he suffered divorce while hedging against its evils, he did not approve it. But when the question was put to our Lord, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause” he promptly set forth the primal law of marriage for all men; for man, as man, in the creation, long anterior to Moses and the civil law of the Jews. Instead of its being lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause, be acknowledged only one justifiable cause, viz., infidelity to the marriage vow. The husband alone had title to the body of the wife and the wife alone to the body of the husband. An offense against this authority justified absolute divorce, for thereby was the unity of “one flesh” broken. But even this did not operate ipso facto . The one wronged might forgive and not legally plead the offense. It is always lawful to forgive, as God, married to his people, oftentimes does forgive spiritual adultery.
These two spheres of law, civil and moral, together with the prevalence of social customs, cause, for Christian people, many vexations and hard problems. Our missionaries today in heathen lands confront these problems, in dealing with new converts. Paul confronted them in the heathen city of Corinth in his day. Many slaves, many from the dregs of society, many polygamists, many liars, thieves, and murderers were converted, many with loose ideas of purity and of family sanctity. He could not regulate the state, but what should the church do? What must be the stand of preachers and churches in relation to members of the church in matters of discipline? On these problems the letters to the Corinthians constitute a mine of instruction. It was there that a new question came to the front, a question not of absolute divorce, but of legal separation. Suppose a heathen man becomes a Christian and his wife on that account leaves him? Or, because the wife becomes a Christian her husband abandons her? Paul’s reply is: “If the unbelieving departeth, let him depart: the brother or sister is not in bondage [rather, enslaved] in such cases” (1Co 7:15 ).
Here arises a question of interpretation upon which Christian theologians differ, and even the discipline of churches differ. The question is, Do Paul’s words fairly teach that abandonment of the other, by husband or wife, justifies absolute divorce or merely separation a mensa et toro? And if it justifies absolute divorce, then since abandonment may be “for every cause,” does not this interpretation put Paul in direct conflict with our Lord,, who justifies divorce for only one cause? Even if one insists on limiting Paul’s words to the one course of abandonment on religious grounds, it yet makes two justifiable grounds of absolute divorce, whereas our Lord taught but one.
The author believes that Paul’s words, “is not in bondage in such case,” mean only, “is not in bondage” to so much of the marriage bond as the abandonment necessarily renders impracticable. That is, is not in bondage to live with, to provide for, and like things. But in 1Co 7:11 Paul settles the question by quoting our Lord to the effect that cases of abandonment do not permit remarriage. This seems further evident from Paul’s later statement in the same connection: “A wife is bound for so long a time as her husband liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is free to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord” (1Co 7:39 ). This reaffirms the primal law limited only by our Lord’s one exception (see Mat 19 ). We must also note the difference in Paul’s words. In 1Co 7:15 the word is “enslaved,” but in 1Co 7:30 the word is “bound.” To sum up:
1. Death breaks the marriage bond and leaves the survivor free to marry.
2. Divorce on the ground of adultery leaves the innocent party free to marry.
3. Abandonment frees the abandoned one from so many of the marital duties as it necessarily renders impracticable, but confers no privileges. Therefore, there may be separation a mensa et thora on other grounds than adultery, but no privilege of remarriage.
I urge, with insistent emphasis, on the reader, particularly the preacher, to immediately supply himself with Dr. Alvah Hovey’s little book, The Law of Divorce , because the divorce question is much to the front. When I conducted the “Query Column” of the Baptist Standard, more queries on divorce came to me than on all other matters put together. It is so now in letters asking for advice.
The civil divorce mill is grinding day and night. Divorces are granted by the courts for almost every cause. The sanctity of the family is continually violated and children put to open shame by their parents and by the law. The public conscience on marriage and purity in this country is debauched to the ancient heathen level, and in some respects below it, and even below the mating of the brutes which perish.
The churches all over the land are staggered with the perplexing problems of discipline and in fear of libel laws. Three imperative duties devolve upon us:
1. We must as citizens seek to reform the civil divorce laws.
2. We must as churches maintain a Christ standard on the reception of members and on discipline. No matter what the complications or hardships in a given case, the church suffers more in receiving or retaining them than it gains by their membership. Their membership gags the pulpit, and commends the example of sin to the young.
3. We must as preachers refuse to officiate at marriages which violate divine law.
In addition to the more vital matters just considered it may not be amiss before we leave the subject of marriage to call your attention to the import of these words of our Lord: “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.” We generally construe it the other way: The bride must leave her father and mother and cleave unto her husband. If we put emphasis upon the “his” it would mean that it is better for the groom to live with his father-in-law than to take his bride to his father’s home. The reasons would be obvious. The wife’s life being indoors and the husband’s outdoors, it would entail greater hardship on her to live with his mother than for him to live with her mother. He would not be, in his outdoor field, subordinate to her mother; but her sphere, being indoors, would make her subordinate to his mother.
But doubtless the meaning is that both bridegroom and bride, having now become a family unit, should each leave the old home and strike out together for themselves. Neither marries the family of the other. Both want a home of their own in which no outsider is boss. They must be free to live their own life, unhampered by each other’s relatives. Living with her father reflects on his manhood. Living with his mother breaks her heart. If marriage means to her only subordination to somebody’s mother, naturally she would prefer her own. Let them visit occasionally each other’s family, but not dwell; and let not the parents of either side interfere.
Let the reader particularly note that while nearly all the scriptures on this subject speak of the man’s putting away his wife, yet Mar 10:12 expressly applies the law to a woman’s putting away her husband. So Paul, in 1Co 7 , applies it to both parties. Because of the importance of the subject, we must take time to expound one other word, “fornication.” Some expositors contend that this term can refer only to unchastity before marriage, therefore no offense after marriage justifies divorce. The position is wholly untenable on three grounds:
1. The Greek word porneia is a general term, not limited to unchastity before marriage. This is the verdict of most scholars. This abundantly appears from classical, biblical, and later usage by great scholars. The term is applied to married people in the noted case in-1Co 5:1 ff. The corresponding Hebrew word is always employed figuratively to denote Israel’s unfaithfulness to Jehovah, her husband. Dr. John A. Broadus, one of the greatest Greek scholars in American history, cites Amo 7:17 ; Eze 23:5 ; Num 5:19 f; Hos 3:3 , and many passages from great Greek scholars and theologians, including Dion, Cassius, Chrysostom, Origen, and notes that the Peshito Syriac translates this very passage by “adultery.” The reason for the general term is to include un chastity during betrothal, as well as adultery after marriage is consummated. (See supposed case in Mat 1:18-19 .)
2. The limitation of the meaning to unchastity before marriage would give most married women and multitudes of married men a scriptural ground for divorce. Divorces would be disastrously multiplied.
3. The limitation is absurd, opposed to sound principles of common sense and law. Nations hold each other responsible for violations of treaties after they are made, not before. Married people cannot reasonably dissolve the bonds of marriage for offenses before the marriage or the engagement to marry. Contracts do not bind before made or the pledge to make.
Here it is important to note what the disciples said: “If the case of a man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” What does this mean? It means, if marriage is so binding as our Lord had just stated, if only one extreme offense justifies divorce, then it is not expedient to marry at all. The “so” refers directly back to Christ’s statement of the binding power of marriage on both man and wife. Many commentators attach a delicate meaning to the word “so” and interpret it as if it read: “If the case be so with a single man, it is not expedient for him to marry.” But there is nothing in their statement touching single men. They say, rather: “If the case of the man is so with his wife [i.e., as Christ has just declared], then marriage at all is inexpedient.” To them this was one of Christ’s “hard sayings.” In other words, they thought his teaching here, as at other times, put a man in too tight a place. This shows that the disciples shared the general Jewish view that a man might put away his wife for every cause, otherwise marriage was not desirable; concubinage would be preferable. That this is the meaning of their statement further appears from the “but” with which Jesus commences to refute their statements. “But” indicates opposition to the preceding clause. Instead of citing instances of inexpediency to confirm and illustrate their general statement, he cites certain exceptional cases to which alone their inexpediency would apply. In effect affirming that in all ordinary cases men and women ought to marry, notwithstanding the stringency of the marriage bond. We come then to these exceptional cases where marriage is inexpedient:
1. Natural disqualifications, whether congenital or from violence or from accident. This would include physical and mental cases, or those subject to grave hereditary diseases.
2. Voluntary, but temporary, abstinence from marriage in view of “a present distress” of any great character, as that of which Paul speaks.
3. Certain widows and widowers might find it inexpedient to remarry (others had better remarry).
4. Voluntary and permanent abstinence from marriage on the part of certain people in order to special concentration in the service in the kingdom of God. But, as our Lord declares, this saying is only for those who are able to receive it. The cases are rare, special, exceptional. The rule is the other way. Man’s original commission required marriage. “Marriage is honorable in all” and “Forbidding to marry” a mark of the great apostasy.
Any church law forbidding the marriage of its preachers outrages both the precept and example of the New Testament. All of the apostles, except Paul, were married men, and it is quite probable from a passage in 1Co 7 that he was a widower, not choosing to remarry. The law concerning church officers contemplates the bishop or pastor as a married man and father of a family. An unmarried pastor is greatly handicapped, and, indeed, only very prudent bachelors or widowers can safely be pastors.
We now pass from celibacy to consider one of the most touching and instructive incidents in the life of our Lord, the case of his praying for
LITTLE CHILDREN What a pity that this impressive, heart-moving story was ever wrested from its truly great lessons and marred by being irreverently dragged into the baptismal controversy. It has nothing whatever to say or suggest about baptism.
These children were certainly not brought to our Lord that he might baptize them, for our Lord himself personally baptized nobody. Nor, that being the purpose of their being brought, would the disciples have forbidden their coming if they had been accustomed to baptize children. The purpose of being brought is expressly stated: That he should touch them, lay his hands on them, and pray. What he did is expressly stated: He called them unto him, took them in his arms, blessed them, laying his hands upon them.
But the defenders of infant baptism who employ this passage in defense of their view, say our Lord said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” and quote his words on another occasion: “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” They interpret these passages to mean that little children, in their natural state, are free from sin, equal to converted adults and therefore possess the spiritual qualifications for baptism. But this denies their own doctrine of depravity, as set forth in their confessions, and denies their avowed purpose for baptizing infants, namely, to cleanse them from sin, regenerate them, and make them children of God and members of the kingdom. Their prescribed rituals for baptizing infants makes this very clear. Indeed, church history abundantly shows that it was the doctrine of baptismal regeneration that led to infant baptism. If until today there had been no infant baptism, and tomorrow for the first time baptismal regeneration should be widely received, then inevitably would follow infant baptism.
“Such” in the passage, “Of such,” expresses likeness rather than identity. Here it cannot mean identity. It would be absurd to say, “Of little children is the kingdom of heaven.” The true lesson of the touching passage is that the imperfectly developed disciples considered those children too young and too unimportant to be thrust upon the attention of the Saviour engaged in great matters about grown people. Our Saviour promptly rebuked their error. Children, because more docile, more trustful, less bound by evil habits, less absorbed in business or other cares are more susceptible to religious impressions than adults. Prayer takes hold on them more powerfully. We should pray for them before born and when in their cradles, as well as later. We should welcome, not distrust, their interest in the Lord. The mothers did well to bring them in touch with Christ and seek his prayers in their behalf. No one of the little ones could ever forget, “The Lord noticed me. He called me to him. He took me in his arms. He prayed for me. He laid his hands on me and blessed me.”
QUESTIONS
1. What contrast in the parable of the Pharisee and publican and the parable of the importunate widow?
2. To whom was the parable of the Pharisee and publican addressed?
3. What do the Pharisee and the publican each illustrate respectively concerning prayer?
4. What was the petition of the Pharisee?
5. What was the petition of the publican?
6. What was the contrast between it and the prayer of the Pharisee?
7. What are the elements of this prayer?
8. What is the literal translation of this prayer?
9. What is the bearing on justification?
10. What are the two elements in the discussion on marriage and divorce?
11. What is the primal law of marriage?
12. Then why did Moses allow divorce for a number of causes?
13. How did Moses adapt his law to the social evils of his time, and which of the elements of the Sinaitic covenant was thus adapted to their conditions?
14. What one cause alone for divorce did Christ recognize?
15. Did this law operate ipso factor Why?
16. What are the perplexing problems relative to this question?
17. What letters furnish much light on these questions?
18. What new question arises in these letters?
19. What was Paul’s reply to this question?
20. What question of interpretation arises here?
21. What is the author’s interpretation of Paul’s language on this point and what is his proof?
22. Give a summary of this teaching.
23. What book is commended on this subject?
24. What is the present status of things relating to marriage and divorce?
25. What three imperative duties devolve upon us?
26. What is the import of Christ’s words in Mat 19:4-5 ?
27. What one scripture applies to the law of the woman’s putting away her husband?
28. What is the meaning of “fornication”?
29. What false theory is mentioned and what are the three arguments against it?
30. What is the meaning of the language of the disciples in Mat 19:10 ?
31. What was Christ’s reply and what did he mean?
32. What are the exceptional cases where marriage is inexpedient?
33. What was the original commission of man and under what limitation was he placed with respect to it?
34. What do you think of the doctrine of celibacy for the ministry?
35. Did Jesus baptize the children and why your answer?
36. What is the argument of the defenders of infant baptism and what is the reply?
37. What is the relation of infant baptism to baptismal regeneration?
38. What is the meaning of the phrase, “Of such”?
39. What is the true lesson of this touching passage?
40. Why are children more susceptible to religious impressions than adults?
9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Ver. 9. That they were righteous, and despised others. ] Pray to be preserved from this perilous pinnacle of self-exaltation.
9 14. ] THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. This parable is spoken not to the Pharisees, for our Lord would not in their presence have chosen a Pharisee as an example: nor concerning the Pharisees, for then it would have been no parable but to the people, and with reference to some among them (then and always) . ., who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised other men.
The parable describes an every day occurrence: the parabolic character is given by the concurrence and grouping of the two, and by the fact that each of these represents psychologically a class of persons.
9. ] , to, not concerning: it was concerning them, it is true: but this word expresses that it was spoken to them. The usage of in Luk 18:1 is no example for the sense concerning , for it is not there so used of persons , but with a neuter article and infinitive: . is too general a phrase, to allow of any other interpretation than the ordinary one, where the context will bear it.
. ., not, ‘ were persuaded of themselves ,’ as Greswell renders; but as E. V., trusted in themselves: see reff.
Luk 18:9-14 . The Pharisee and the publican .
Luk 18:9 . , with reference to certain persons; who not indicated, of what sort definitely described. This introduction is doubtless an editorial heading extracted from the story. It is true, but not necessarily the whole truth. The story may have been spoken to publicans to encourage them to hope in God’s mercy at the Capernaum gathering, e.g. : it is not really a parable, but simply an imaginary incident within the sphere to which its moral belongs.
Luke
THREE KINDS OF PRAYING
Luk 18:1 – Luk 18:14 The two parables in this passage are each prefaced by Luke’s explanation of their purpose. They are also connected by being both concerned with aspects of prayer. But the second was apparently not spoken at the same time as the first, but is put here by Luke as in an appropriate place.
I. The wearisome widow and the unrighteous judge.
But we must note the spiritual experience supposed by the parable to belong to the Christian life. That forlorn figure of the widow, with all its suggestions of helplessness and oppression, is Christ’s picture of His Church left on earth without Him. And though of course it is a very incomplete representation, it is a true presentation of one side and aspect of the devout life on earth. ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation,’ and the truer His servants are to Him, and the more their hearts are with Christ in God, the more they will feel out of touch with the world, and the more it will instinctively be their ‘adversary.’ If the widow does not feel the world’s enmity, it will generally be because she is not a ‘widow indeed.’
And another notable fact of Christian experience underlies the parable; namely that the Church’s cry for protection from the adversary is often apparently unheard. In Luk 11:1 – Luk 11:54 the prayer was for supply of necessities, here it is for the specific blessing of protection from the adversary. Whether that is referred to the needs of the Church or of the individual, it is true that usually the help sought is long delayed. It is not only ‘souls under the altar’ that have to cry ‘How long, O Lord, dost Thou not avenge?’ One thinks of years of persecution for whole communities, or of long, weary days of harassment and suffering for individuals, of multitudes of prayers and groans sent up into a heaven that, for all the answers sent down, might as well be empty, and one feels it hard to hold by the faith that ‘verily, there is a God that’ heareth.
We have all had times when our faith has staggered, and we have found no answer to our heart’s question: ‘Why tarry the wheels of His chariot?’ Many of us have felt what Mary and Martha felt when ‘Jesus abode still two days in the place where He was’ after He had received their message, in which they had been so sure of His coming at once when He heard that ‘he whom Thou lovest is sick,’ that they did not ask Him to come. The delays of God’s help are a constant feature in His providence, and, as Jesus says here, they are but too likely to take the life out of faith.
But over against these we have to place Jesus’ triumphant assurance here: ‘He will avenge them speedily.’ Yes, the longest delay may yet be ‘right early,’ for heaven’s clock does not beat at the same rate as our little chronometers. God is ‘the God of patience,’ and He has waited for millenniums for the establishment of His kingdom on earth; His ‘own elect’ may learn long-suffering from Him, and need to take to heart the old exhortation, ‘If the vision tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come, and will not tarry.’ Yes, God’s delays are not delays, but are for our profit that we may always pray and not faint, and may keep alight the flame of the sure hope that the Son of man cometh, and that in His coming all adversaries shall be destroyed, and the widow, no longer a widow, but the bride, go in to the feast and forget her foes, and ‘the days of her mourning be ended.’
II. The Pharisee and the publican.
Every word in the Pharisee’s prayer is reeking with self-complacency. Even the expression ‘prayed with himself’ is significant, for it suggests that the prayer was less addressed to God than to himself, and also that his words could scarcely be spoken in the hearing of others, both because of their arrogant self-praise and of their insolent calumnies of ‘all the rest.’ It was not prayer to God, but soliloquy in his own praise, and it was in equal parts adulation of himself and slander of other men. So it never went higher than the inner roof of the temple court, and was, in a very fatal sense, ‘to himself.’
God is complimented with being named formally at first, and in the first two words, ‘I thank thee,’ but that is only formal introduction, and in all the rest of his prayer there is not a trace of praying. Such a self-satisfied gentleman had no need to ask for anything, so he brought no petitions. He uses the conventional language of thanksgiving, but his real meaning is to praise himself to God, not to thank God for himself. God is named once. All the rest is I, I, I. He had no longing for communion, no aspiration, no emotion.
His conception of righteousness was mean and shallow. And as St. Bernard notes, he was not so much thankful for being righteous as for being alone in his goodness. No doubt he was warranted in disclaiming gross sins, but he was glad to be free from them, not because they were sins, but because they were vulgar. He had no right to fling mud either on ‘all the rest’ or on ‘this publican,’ and if he had been really praying or giving thanks he would have had enough to think of in God and himself without casting sidelong and depreciatory glances at his neighbours. He who truly prays ‘sees no man any more,’ or if he does, sees men only as subjects for intercession, not for contempt. The Pharisee’s notion of righteousness was primarily negative, as consisting in abstinence from flagrant sins, and, in so far as it was positive, it dealt entirely with ceremonial acts. Such a starved and surface conception of righteousness is essential to self-righteousness, for no man who sees the law of duty in its depth and inwardness can flatter himself that he has kept it. To fast twice a week and to give tithes of all that one acquired were acts of supererogation, and are proudly recounted as if God should feel much indebted to the doer for paying Him more than was required. The Pharisee makes no petitions. He states his claims, and tacitly expects that God will meet them.
Few words are needed to paint the publican; for his estimate of himself is simple and one, and what he wants from God is one thing, and one only. His attitude expresses his emotions, for he does not venture to go near the shining example of all respectability and righteousness, nor to lift his eyes to heaven. Like the penitent psalmist, his iniquities have taken hold on him, so that he is ‘not able to look up.’ Keen consciousness of sin, true sorrow for sin, earnest desire to shake off the burden of sin, lowly trust in God’s pardoning mercy, are all crowded into his brief petition. The arrow thus feathered goes straight up to the throne; the Pharisee’s prayer cannot rise above his own lips.
Jesus does not leave His hearers to apply the ‘parable,’ but drives its application home to them, since He knew how keen a thrust was needed to pierce the triple breastplate of self-righteousness. The publican was ‘justified’; that is, accounted as righteous. In the judgment of heaven, which is the judgment of truth, sin forsaken is sin passed away. The Pharisee condensed his contempt into ‘ this publican’; Jesus takes up the ‘this’ and turns it into a distinction, when He says, ‘ this man went down to his house justified.’ God’s condemnation of the Pharisee and acceptance of the publican are no anomalous aberration of divine justice, for it is a universal law, which has abundant exemplifications, that he that exalteth himself is likely to be humbled, and he that humbles himself to be exalted. Daily life does not always yield examples thereof, but in the inner life and as concerns our relations to God, that law is absolutely and always true.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 18:9-14
9And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10″Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14I tell you this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Luk 18:9 “He also told this parable” This is the second parable about persistence in prayer.
“to some people” Parables are addressed to the Pharisees and disciples in Luke 15-17, but here to “people” (i.e., the crowd, also note Luk 15:3; Luk 19:11). Context implies the ones addressed were Pharisees (cf. Luk 16:14-15). Parables are always told in public settings. They either make clear or hide truth, depending on the heart of the hearer!
“who trusted in themselves that they were righteous” The term “trusted” is a perfect active participle of the term peith, which is translated in the NT as “persuade,” “trust” or “be assured.” Jesus addresses those Jews (and all people) who think they are right with God based on their ancestry, attitudes, and actions. The Jews of Jesus’ day considered (1) prayer (cf. Mat 6:4-5), (2) almsgiving (cf. Mat 6:2-4), and (3) fasting (cf. Mat 6:16-18) as acts which brought personal righteousness (cf. Mat 6:1).
The former parable dealt with a judge who did not believe in or respect God. This parable deals with those who outwardly seem to believe and respect God, but in actuality were trusting in their own goodness and performance. They felt God owed them! They expected to be fully compensated for their righteous acts (almsgiving, fasting, and prayer, as well as their keeping the rules of the Oral Tradition of the elders).
Self-righteousness may be the most dangerous sin of “religious” people (cf. Luk 10:29; Luk 16:15; Luk 18:9; Luk 18:14).
Luk 18:9 “and viewed others with contempt” The Greek term exouthene is used only by Luke (cf. Luk 18:9; Luk 23:11; Act 4:11 [LXX]) and Paul (cf. Rom 14:3; Rom 14:10; 1Co 1:28; 1Co 6:4; 1Co 16:11; 2Co 10:10; Gal 4:14; 1Th 5:20). This judgmental attitude is the major problem of legalistic, religious people. God is longsuffering, but often those who claim to know Him and belong to Him are just the opposite!
The term “others” in the NASB is literally “the rest,” which denotes the Pharisees’ judgmental attitude. From their perspective all others were unacceptable and out of the love of God. Only their group (sect) was righteous! In this specific case, this Pharisee even stands off from all the other worshipers. He may have seen himself as even more righteous than other Pharisees.
Luk 18:10 “the temple to pray” There were three times of daily prayer in Judaism of the first century. Nine a.m. and three p.m. were the times of the daily sacrifice at the temple (the continual). The religious leaders of Jerusalem added noon as a third time of daily prayer. The setting of this parable would have been at 9 a.m. or 3 p.m.
“one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector” The first was noted for his sincere religiosity and commitment to doing God’s will. The second was known as a social outcast, friend of Rome, and totally ostracized from the religious community of Israel (cf. Luk 5:30; Luk 7:34; Luk 9:2; Luk 9:7; Luk 15:1).
Luk 18:11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself” Here was the man who was praying to God while reviewing his own accomplishments (cf. Luk 18:12). When interpreting parables one looks for the “surprise,” the unexpected turn of events, the role reversal. This is the key in understanding the parable (cf. Luk 18:13-14).
The phrase, “these things to himself,” which comes after “standing,” has several different forms in the Greek manuscript tradition. It very possibly reflects an Aramaic idiom, “taking his stand, prayed” (cf. C. C. Torey, Our Translated Gospels, p. 79 and M. Black, Aramaic Approach, 3rd ed., p. 103, from Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, p. 168, footnote #1).
So the question for interpreters is, “Does this phrase refer to (1) thinking to himself (NASB, TEV) or (2) standing apart from the tax collector (NRSV)?
“I thank you that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” This man was trusting in his religious practice. We must remember that the prophet Isaiah says that human works of righteousness in connection with a merited salvation are as filthy rags before God (cf. Isa 64:6). This parable and other parables in this chapter emphasize the need for a personal relationship through a contrite heart (repentance) and faith in the person and finished work of Jesus the Christ. God’s grace and Jesus’ sacrificial death are the sinner’s only hope!
Luk 18:12 “I fast twice a week” The Pharisees of Jesus’ day fasted (see Special Topic at Luk 5:33) on Monday and Thursday in commemoration of Moses’ going up and coming down from Mt. Sinai, receiving the law from God. They went far beyond the OT requirement of one fast day a year (cf. Leviticus 16), the Day of Atonement (cf. Zechariah 7-8). In the interbiblical period the rabbis also set up another annual fast day to commemorate the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 52; Lamentations 1-5).
“I pay tithes of all that I get” It is not that his tithing was inappropriate. It was the attitude behind the tithe (“of all”) that turns this into self-righteousness instead of devotion. This Pharisee depended on what he did, not on God’s mercy and grace. He went far beyond the requirement of the law (cf. Deu 14:22), but he missed God! This is the tragedy of self-righteous legalism! So many “do nots,” but so little “love” (cf. Deu 6:5; Lev 19:18).
Just a thought or two on tithing as a Christian requirement. Surprisingly the NT does not give us guidelines for regular giving. It does discuss the proper motives for the one-time gift of Paul’s Gentile churches to the mother church in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Corinthians 8-9). Tithing is a Jewish practice to support the temple, the local Levites, and the poor. However, Acts 15 clearly states that Gentile believers are not bound or obligated to a Jewish tithe to the Temple and its personnel.
Many of the sermons I hear on tithing use OT texts (especially Malachi) and try to force tithing through fear of divine retribution or promises of divine blessing (greed). There is a good article on tithing in Frank Stagg’s New Testament Theology, pp. 290-293. Believers’ whole lives ought to be a gift to Christ and His kingdom out of gratitude for a full and free salvation! See SPECIAL TOPIC: TITHING at Luk 11:42.
Luk 18:13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast” Notice the three phrases related to this man’s reluctance before God.
1. standing some distance away (perfect active participle)
2. not looking up to heaven (imperfect active indicative with a double negative)
3. beating his breast (imperfect active indicative)
Phrase #3 may be a gesture of repentance or agitation (cf. Luk 23:48) by striking one’s heart (the center of the person, cf. Josephus, Antiq. 7.10.5).
Also note that everything this man does is opposite to the self-righteous Pharisee (especially noted is the “stance”: the Pharisee took his stance away from the crowd of worshipers and apparently closer to the altar, while the tax collector took his stand away from the crowd and farther away from the altar).
This is the biblical foundation for our cultural tradition of bowing our heads and closing our eyes in prayer, however, the Jewish posture for prayer was the hands lifted, the eyes open with the face lifted to heaven. The key in prayer is not the position of the body, but of the heart!
“God, be merciful to me” This is an aorist passive imperative. The word “merciful” (hilaskomai, found only here in Luke’s writings) is from the same root as the term “mercy seat” or the “place of atonement” (in the Septuagint, hilastrion) in the sacrificial system of Israel (cf. Heb 9:5). In the Septuagint this Greek verb is used to translate the Hebrew salach (BDB 699), which is exclusively used of God’s forgiveness towards sinners (cf. Robert B. Girdlestone, Synonyms of the Old Testament, p. 135). Kenneth E. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, p. 154, says in Syriac it means, “make an atonement for me.” Remember they are in a public worship setting at the time of the sacrifice of a lamb (twice daily) for Israel. This sinner cries out from his heart, “let that blood be for me!”
“the sinner” This parable describes two Jews: one a Pharisee who thinks he is right with God because of all he does and a tax collector who knows that he is estranged from God. He feels himself “chief of sinners” (use of the definite article). Is it not ironic that the second went away right with God and the first went away estranged from God (cf. Rom 10:2-4). What a culturally shocking role reversal!
Luk 18:14 “went to his house justified” This is a perfect passive participle which refers to believers’ position of forgiveness from a merciful God. It was a gift freely given! This is analogous to Paul’s justification by faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Galatians 3; Rom 3:21-31; Rom 4:5). The Pharisee was a moral man, but he was also a spiritually lost man because he trusted in himself and did not think he needed God’s mercy and forgiveness. This is the Jewish religionist Isaiah is talking about in Isa 6:9-10; Isa 29:13.
For “justified” see Special Topic: Righteousness at Luk 1:6.
“everyone who exalts himself will be humbled” This may be an allusion to Isa 57:15 (cf. Isa 66:2; Psa 34:18; Psa 51:17). This was first introduced in Luk 14:11 (cf. Mat 23:12). What a shocking role reversal from the OT perspective of Deuteronomy 27-29! The New Covenant depreciates human performance (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38).
“but he who humbles himself will be exalted” The word “exalted” (hupso) is used of Pharisees in Luk 16:15. It is used in connection with the humble in Luk 1:52; Luk 14:11 (cf. Mat 23:12). This does not mean exalted among others in the society, but refers to one’s relationship with God. God raises the humble into intimacy with Himself.
certain = some also.
in. Greek. epi. App-104.
despised = made nothing of.
others = the rest. See Luk 8:10.
9-14.] THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. This parable is spoken not to the Pharisees, for our Lord would not in their presence have chosen a Pharisee as an example: nor concerning the Pharisees, for then it would have been no parable-but to the people, and with reference to some among them (then and always) . ., who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised other men.
The parable describes an every day occurrence: the parabolic character is given by the concurrence and grouping of the two, and by the fact that each of these represents psychologically a class of persons.
Luk 18:9. , also to certain persons) Previously He had spoken to the disciples, exhorting them to perseverance in prayer: now He deters certain persons from rashness and perverse self-confidence.- , who trusted in themselves) in themselves, not in the grace of God, when praying; Luk 18:10. The antithesis is , faith, which has respect to God, Luk 18:8. So , Eze 33:13, LXX.-, that) For the very question at issue turns upon that, who in prayer is to be counted righteous [the self-justiciary, or he who stands righteous by faith].-) righteous, needing no justification, Luk 18:14. The antithesis is , me, the sinner, Luk 18:13.-, who made nothing of, despised) accounting them unrighteous [as compared with themselves].- , the rest of men) all and each: Luk 18:11.
Luk 18:9-14
27. THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN
Luk 18:9-14
9 And he spake also this parable-Luke is the only writer that records this parable. There are two principal characters in this parable also; another contrast between two characters is brought out here. In this parable we have a comprehensive account of two representative characters who are praying; we have their prayers that we may see the manner of their worship. This parable was addressed to “certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and set all others at nought.” It seems to have been spoken, not so much to the disciples, but to the Pharisees. The Pharisees thought that they were righteous before God, and that they could by their righteousness merit an answer to their prayers. This man “set all others at nought,” or considered all others as amounting to nothing. He looked down on all others as being sinners and outcasts. He has the wrong attitude toward others and toward God.
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray;-Both of these men had access to the temple worship; they were both in covenant relation with God; presumably both were Jews. They do not represent an alien sinner and a Christian; the parable was not given to teach the difference between the prayers of an alien and a Christian such an application does violence to the teachings of our Lord. The Jews attended daily the services at the temple; these two went up for that purpose, and met in the court of the Israelites, near the sanctuary. They are types of opposite classes of worshipers. The temple was the place of prayer as well as the place of sacrifice. “A Pharisee” was one of the two principal sects of the Jews at that time; the Pharisees originated about one hundred fifty years before Christ; they were noted for their rigid observance of the letter of the law and of their traditions; among their leading characteristics were formality, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy. “A publican” was one of the collectors of revenue and taxes under the Roman government. Publicans were classed with the outcasts or sinners. These two men thus classified are now presented individually by their prayers.
11, 12 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,- “Stood,” in the original, means that he struck a pose, or assumed an attitude where he could be seen; the condemnation is not so much upon the standing in prayer as it is upon the posture assumed merely to be seen of men; he manifested no humility, piety, or reverence. He prayed “thus with himself”; some think that this means that he only prayed mentally or in silence others think that it means that the Pharisee standing by himself prayed these things. He first gave thanks, which was an important part of his communication with God. He thanked God that he was “not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” He thanked God that he was made separate from sinners, as he thought; he did not feel any need of God’s pardon, for he counted himself as being righteous; he trusted in himself that he was sufficiently righteous to merit God’s favors. “Extortioners”-the original means a robber and plunderer, grafters, like the publicans. “Unjust” means one who deals unfairly with his fellows; one who is unjust in feelings and attitude toward others. “Adulterers”-those who have transgressed the law in relation to others; those who have violated the law that requires a pure life. He seemed to reach the climax when he thanked God that he was not “even as this publican.” There is no evidence that he knew anything about the man except that he was a publican. He sustained an attitude of contempt toward the publican. After looking at himself negatively, and feeling that he was righteous, he then began to tell the Lord about his good deeds. He said: “I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I get.” In his egotism and self-righteousness he has used the pronoun “I” five times in this short prayer. The only fast positively enjoined was on the day of atonement, the tenth day of the seventh month. (Lev 23:27.)
13 But the publican, standing afar off,-What a contrast between the two! The Pharisee struck a pose so that everyone could see him and know that he was praying, while the publican “standing afar off” made his prayer. In his humility he “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.” He stood at a distance from the Pharisee, not from the sanctuary; he was not wanting to be seen of men; he was contrite in heart and humble in life. He was timid in attitude; merely standing afar off, while the Pharisee was posing to he seen of men. He “smote his breast,” a natural gesture, which the heart dictates to all men; it was a proof of the sincerity of his grief and an open confession of his sins. He prayed: “God, be thou merciful to me a sinner.” We have here a full confession and an anxious cry for mercy; he not only makes a general confession, but singles himself out as “a sinner.” He seems to acknowledge himself as the sinner that the Pharisee charged him of being. He simply pleads for God to be merciful to him. The Pharisee thought of others as sinners; the publican thinks of himself only as the sinner, not of others as did the Pharisee. It is a matter of dispute among critics as to whether it should he “a sinner” or “the sinner”; there is but little difference, as the publican acknowledged himself to be a sinner in the sight of God and in the sight of men; whether he was the particular sinner that the Pharisee accused him to be is of little consequence.
14 I say unto you, This man went down to his house-Here, again, Jesus draws his own lesson from the parable. He commented briefly on the parable and said that the publican “went down to his house justified rather than” the Pharisee. The word “rather” here is to be explained by such scriptures as Eph 4:28; Eph 5:4; Eph 5:11; Heb 11:25; the word excludes comparison and includes contrast. The Pharisee was not justified at all; he offered no petition and requested no blessing. The publican was conscious of his sins and confessed them. To him belonged the promise: “But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.” (Isa 66:2.)
Jesus makes his own application here and emphasizes a fundamental truth: “For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” This maxim which Jesus here announced has been repeated by him often. (Pro 16:18;Luk 14:11.)
Those Whom God Accepts
Luk 18:9-17
We are taught here the spirit in which we should pray. Too many pray with themselves. The only time that we may thank God for not being as others is when we attribute the contrast to His grace, 1Ti 1:12-14. Let it never be forgotten that those who will be justified and stand accepted before God are they who are nothing in their own estimate.
To be self-emptied and poor in spirit is the fundamental and indispensable preparation for receiving the grace of God. Be propitiated to me (r.v., margin), cried the publican. There is a propitiation for our sins, is the answer of Heb 2:17, r.v. Each penitent counts himself the sinner, 1Ti 1:15. Bow yourself at the feet of Christ and He will lift you to His throne.
We think that children must grow up to become like us before they are eligible to the Kingdom. Nay, we must grow down to become like them, in simplicity, in humility and in faith.
Chapter 22
Self-righteousness Again
Self-righteousness is the subject of the parable before us. I cannot imagine a subject more disgustingly repugnant, or more commonly and universally indulged. Luke gives us an inspired introduction to the parable in Luk 18:9. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. That which our Lord here denounces is self-righteousness. The purpose of our Lord in this parable is to show the folly and danger of self-righteousness.
All Self-righteous
All men, by nature, are self-righteous. It is the family disease of all the sons of Adam. From the heights to the depths of society, we all think more highly of ourselves than we should. We secretly flatter ourselves that we are not so bad as some, and that we have something that will recommend us to the favour of God. The wise man said, Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness. We forget the plain testimony of holy scripture. In many things we offend all (Jas 3:2). There is not a man upon the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not (Ecc 7:10). What is man that he should be clean, or he that is born of woman that he should be righteous (Job 15:14). They are all under sin; as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one (Rom 3:9-10).
Ever since man became a sinner, he has been self-righteous. When man had a perfect righteousness before God, he did not glory in it nor cherish it; but ever since man has fallen and lost all righteousness, he has pretended to be righteous! Immediately after his fall, Adam wrapped himself in his apron of fig leaves and began to defend himself by blaming his troubles on God, who gave to him the woman, and the woman for giving him the fruit.
As it was with Adam, so it is with all men; we justify ourselves before God and men. Self-righteousness is born within us; and while we can, to a degree, control lust, lies, and murder, our self-righteousness will not allow us to confess our sins and come to God for mercy as guilty sinners. Millions of sermons have been preached against self-righteousness, but it remains the number one sin that keeps people from coming to Christ.
One old preacher said, I scarcely ever preach a sermon without condemning self-righteousness, yet I find I cannot preach it down. Men still boast of who they are, what they have done, what they have not done, and mistake the road to heaven to be one paved by their own works and merit. God help us!
This parable was addressed to the Lords disciples. Multitudes who profess faith in Christ, who avow that the ground of their hope and the foundation of their salvation is Christ alone, and confess that they trust in the merits of Christ, ultimately make Christ only half a Saviour. You would never be so bold as to say that you do not need him at all. But, then, you are highly offended when you are told that your heart is as black, and vile, and corrupt as hell itself. Why is that? Is it not because you trust in yourselves that you are righteous? I plead with you for your very souls sake, be honest. You think, I know I am not as good as I should be, but then I am not so bad as some people. I go to church regularly. I read my Bible. I say my prayers. I am sober, honest, and moral. Are you not self-righteous?
One Cure
There is only one true cure for self-righteousness, and that is self-knowledge. All the descendants of Adam are sinners, destitute of righteousness, and filled with unrighteousness. Out of your heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. The same is true of my own. By nature, we are all enemies to righteousness. And we have no power to make ourselves righteous. No matter how righteous you may be in the eyes of men, or in your own eyes, you have no righteousness, unless you have the righteousness of Christ. If it were possible for men to gain righteousness for themselves, then Christ is dead in vain (Gal 2:21).
Once let the eyes of our understanding be opened by the Spirit of God, and all self-righteousness must fade away. We will talk no more of our own goodness, when we behold his goodness. Once let us see what there is in our hearts, and what the holy law of God requires, and self-conceit will die. Oh, if we can but get a sight of the thrice holy Jehovah, we will cry with Isaiah, Woe is me! We will lay our hands upon our mouths, and cry with the leper, Unclean, unclean!
Everyone who goes to the house of worship is set forth in this parable. You either come to God like the self-righteous Pharisee, or you come like the self-abased Publican. May God the Holy Spirit use the study of this parable to the awakening of the self-righteous, to the comfort of those who labour and are heavy laden with sin, and to the edification of all who believe, for the glory of Christ.
Outwardly The Same
There is one point at which the Pharisee and the Publican agree. There is one thing that they had in common. They both went up into the temple to pray. They both set their faces in the same direction. Outwardly, they both walked in the same path. They entered the same house. So far as we can see, there was no difference whatever in their outward religious behaviour.
The Pharisee and the Publican in this parable remind me of the first men who worshipped God, Cain and Abel. There was a mighty gulf between them. God accepted the one and rejected the other. The difference between the two was in their heart. Cain had a heart full of pride. Because he trusted in himself that he was righteous, God rejected him. Abel had a heart full of shame because of sin. Because he trusted Christ as the Lord his Righteousness, God accepted him. Which are you, the proud, self-righteous Pharisee, or the broken, self-abasing Publican?
Robert Hawker rightly summarized the message of our Lords parable when he wrote, The Pharisee and Publican are as much living characters now, as then, in the days of our Lord. Every man is a Pharisee that is seeking acceptance with God either whole or in part, who prides himself upon his own good deeds, and prayers, and sacraments, and almsgiving; and hath recourse to Christ no further according to his will than to make up (if there should be any) his own deficiency. And every man may be called a Publican, in the sense of this parable, who from the teaching of God the Spirit hath been led to behold the Adam-nature in which he was born, and the condemnation in which he is involved, both by original, and by actual transgression; and led by the Holy Ghost to God in Christ, acknowledgeth himself unmeriting forgiveness, while in sorrow and contrition he seeks it. Justification is of God in Christ. And therefore the self-condemned, and not the self-righteous, find justification before God.
Their Character
Though they were outwardly the same, in this passage our Lord Jesus points out four great differences between the Pharisee and the Publican. He begins the parable by pointing out that there was a difference in the character of these two men. The one a Pharisee, the other a Publican.
It would be impossible to imagine a more striking contrast in the opinion of the Jewish nation during the time of our Lords earthly ministry. In the minds of those ancient Jews, the Pharisee represented the epitome of morality and righteousness. And the Publican was looked upon with more disgust than a harlot or a drunkard. Publicans represented the depths of sin and degradation.
One of these men was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the most ancient sect of the Jews. They were thoroughly orthodox in their doctrine. They believed in the inspiration of Scripture. They believed in the Messiah. They believed in election, predestination, and limited atonement. They never dreamed that any were Gods elect but the Jews, or that atonement was made for any but the nation of Israel. They believed in the resurrection of the dead. They even believed in the future punishment of the wicked, and eternal bliss of the righteous.
The Pharisees were very strict in their observance of the law and the traditions of the church. They prayed three times in the day. They fasted twice a week. They gave tithes of everything they possessed. They strictly observed the ceremonies of the law. They were meticulous in their observance of the Sabbath day. They wouldnt think of missing a church service, or working on the sabbath.
But everything the Pharisees did was to be seen of men. They stood in corners of the streets and made long prayers, so that men coming from both directions could see and hear them. Our Lord tells us that they made broad the borders of their phylacteries. That is to say, they sewed pieces of parchment on their long robes, which had scripture texts written on them, so that all men could see how much they loved the law of God.
If they were living today, they would have their shirt pockets stuffed with tracts, carry large Bibles everywhere they go, put bumper stickers on their car saying, Jesus saves!, or Honk if you love Jesus!, and write, I love Jesus, on park benches and overpasses, march in the streets to protest abortion and pornography, and have the Ten Commandments hung in all public buildings. The Pharisees were the most religious people in the world, and everyone knew it. All of their religious exercises were designed to win the applause of men.
There are many today like these Pharisees. They keep up the outward duties of religion so that they may either gain or keep the respect of men. They suppose that, by their religious works, they make God their debtor. They despise all other men, thinking themselves holier than others, who do not observe their traditions. They say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.
This is far different from the true believer. Those who trust Christ for righteousness know that they are, in themselves, poor, miserable, and guilty. They freely admit that others are much better than they. They despise no one (Php 3:3).
The other man in the parable was a Publican. To the Jews, nothing was more offensive than a Publican. The Publicans were Jews who collected taxes for the Roman government. They usually exacted much more than was due from their countrymen so as to amass wealth for themselves. They were looked upon both by the Jews and the Romans as disgraceful and contemptible. The Jews could make no more vile accusation of Christs character than to say that he was the friend of Publicans and sinners.
Their Behaviour
There was a difference in the behaviour of these two worshippers, too. Look at the proud Pharisee. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. The Pharisee went up as close as he could get to the holy place and stood in some conspicuous place so that he could be seen by all. He stood in a fixed, formal posture. He stood apart from the other worshippers, lest he should be defiled, or be thought to be as other men are. He stood with great boldness and confidence, as though God were indebted to him. He stood and prayed with himself.
His prayer was altogether centred in himself. He sought nothing but his own glory. He stood before God, being confident of his own righteousness. He stood by himself, with no respect to or faith in Christ the Mediator. Though he addressed God, he praised his own self. We see nothing of humility in this man. He had no inclination even to bow his head before his Creator, much less his heart.
Now, look at the Publican. The Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast. The Publican stood afar off in the outer court, as one who was unworthy to enter the presence of him whose name is Holy. This was a testimony of the sense he had of his state and condition before God. He was an unworthy sinner, far off from God, and deserving to be separated from God forever. This was also a display of his reverence for God. This Publican was not even willing to look up toward heaven. J. C. Ryle said, He felt the remembrance of his sins so grievous, and the burden of them so intolerable, that, like a child who has offended its father, he dare not look his Almighty Maker in the face.
The guilt of his sins lay so heavily upon him that he could not look up to heaven. A sense of sin made him blush with shame. Sorrow caused his heart to bow in brokenness and contrition before the throne of God. He was possessed with a fear of Gods well-deserved wrath. This poor sinner knew he was unworthy of any favour from God.
In sorrow, self-abasement, and godly fear, the Publican smote upon his breast. He was so overcome by the sinfulness of his heart that he could not control his feelings. He remembered his many sins. He recalled the mercies he had received, and his neglect of them. He knew the life he had led and the God he had despised. And these things came crushing upon his heart like an intolerable burden. He beat upon his breast, pointing to his heart as the fountain of his sins. He beat upon his breast, expressing his sorrow and repentance of sin. He beat upon his breast, showing his abhorrence of sin.
Their Prayers
Third, our Lord shows us a marked difference in the prayers of these two men. Look first at the Pharisees pretentious prayer. We can hardly call it a prayer. While he does address himself to God, and acknowledges Gods right to some gratitude upon his part, this proud hypocrite was wrong in everything he said. God I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess.
There are several things that are obviously missing in the Pharisees prayer. There is no confession of sin. There is no expression of desire for the glory of God. There is no praise to God. There is no hint of need before God. This man was perfectly self-satisfied and self-sufficient. He recites complacently what he is not, and proudly boasts of what he is. He gives thanks to God, but only in order to exalt himself.
Proudly, he denies being like other men. He was indeed like all other men. He was a sinner in Adam, he was a sinner by nature, and he was a sinner in heart, just like all other men. He goes on and denies particular sins, of which the Pharisees were guilty. They were guilty of extortion, devouring widows houses under religious pretence. They were unjust, being aptly represented by our Lord as unjust stewards. And they were adulterers; our Lord called them an adulterous generation.
Even as he made this prayer, this Pharisee was guilty of all these things before God. He was robbing God of his glory. He was unjustly claiming a right to Gods favour. He was guilty of spiritual adultery, worshipping himself, the worst adultery of all.
Even if he had obeyed the letter of the law perfectly, he was wrong to suppose the literal fulfilment of the law would merit Gods favour. By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The Pharisee judged himself by the wrong standard. He compared himself with other men. And he proved himself to be the child of the devil by accusing his brother.
There is no soul in such a dangerous position as the religious hypocrite. No man is in such a hopeless condition as the Pharisee, who has no deep feeling of his own sinfulness. No heart is harder to reach than that which is dead in self-righteous religion.
Now look at the Publicans prayer. He smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. This prayer was most instructive, though it was very short. There was a personal, sincere, and full confession of sin. This publican did not confess anyone elses sins, but his own. He made no excuse for his sin. And this man confessed that he was the greatest sinner who ever lived. A more literal translation of his words would be, God, be merciful to me the sinner. He confessed his sinful nature and his sinful deeds. He speaks as though he were the only sinner in the world. He confesses that God would be perfectly just to punish him in hell forever.
This man made his suit for mercy at the throne of the sovereign God. God was the one he had offended, and God alone could forgive. He pleads with God whose prerogative it is to have mercy on whom he will. He made no promise of reformation, but simply pleaded for mercy. He came with nothing to offer, simply pleading for mercy.
This Publican pleaded for mercy with faith in Christ. The word that is here translated be merciful to is found only one other time in the New Testament in Heb 2:17. There it is applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. The word merciful means propitious, or reconciling.
The Publican prayed that God would show him mercy through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, typified under the law. He knew that God could show mercy only by the blood sacrifice of Christ. God forgives sin only when the satisfactory payment has been made. This sinner confessed his entire dependence upon Christ, the Mediator whom God provides, knowing that God must pardon sin in a way that is consistent with his justice. Here is a sinners plea, For thy names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great (Psa 25:11).
Their End
Fourth, I want you to see that the Pharisee and the Publican were different in their end. I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The proud Pharisee, though he was righteous in his own eyes, was rejected by God. The poor Publican was justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone. That is to say, he received Gods free gift of justification by faith in Christ. The blood of Christ sprinkled upon his conscience justified him in his own conscience before God. He came up to the temple with a tormenting, guilty conscience. He went home with a conscience of peace, reconciled to God by faith in Christ.
And our Lord Jesus tells us that all who exalt themselves in self-righteousness shall be abased by God. And all who humble themselves in repentance will be exalted with Christ.
A Bold Prophecy
That which our Lord condemns more severely than any other crime is self-righteousness. I would rather stand before God in the day of judgment as a man guilty of lying, theft, adultery, and murder, than stand before him as a man guilty of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness shall be punished with greater severity in eternal damnation than any other offence.
Our Lord spoke this parable to all who trust in themselves and despise others. Who are these people? The Son of God declares that all who trust in themselves, all who vainly imagine that they make themselves righteous by something they do, are self-righteous. They ignorantly imagine that they justify themselves (Luk 16:15).
If you will read Isa 65:1-7, you will see exactly what God thinks of self-righteousness and what he says about all who trust in themselves that they are righteous, while despising others. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 10 that Isaiah was very bold in making this prophecy. It required the boldness of firm conviction and divine anointing for the servant of God to speak for God in the day when the people who claimed to worship God were wholly given over to idolatry, superstition, and will worship. It required boldness for the man of God to expose the self-righteousness of his own nation, declaring them to be a people who, because of the delusions of their perverse religion and the depravity of their hearts, were a people Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. Then he adds this word from God concerning the people to whom he preached These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.
Thus, the prophet of God boldly delivered the Word of the Lord. In a day when the people were wholly given over to legality, he preached the gospel. When his nation was filled with pride and self-righteousness, proudly presuming that they were alone the people of God, he boldly denounced them as hypocrites. When they thought they had God in their pocket, Gods prophet boldly affirmed Gods electing grace and announced his rejection of the Jewish nation. Perhaps it was his boldness that provoked Manassehs wrath, which resulted in Isaiah being cruelly put to death, being sawn asunder by the kings order.
The sins of Israel were open and undeniable. They pretended to worship the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but did so in total violation of the first and second commandments. They mixed the worship of other gods with the worship of Jehovah. They used icons, images, and symbols in the worship of God. These things were expressly forbidden by God even in the Old Testament (Exo 20:3-4). They worshipped the Lord, or at least pretended to, upon ornate altars of brick, altars of their own making, in places of their own choosing. Again, they did so in direct violation of holy scripture (Exo 20:24-26). The Jews even practised necromancy, pretending that they communed with the dead. They practised witchcraft and sorcery, incorporating magic into their worship!
To top it all off, they were guilty of horrid self-righteousness. They carried their self-righteousness to such a pitch that they vainly and proudly imagined that if they even rubbed up against someone else on the streets, they would be polluted and defiled. Therefore, the Lord God here declared them to be to him as smoke in a mans nose, abhorrent and intolerable.
Isaiahs bold prophecy is as applicable to our day as it was to his. There are many today who pretend to worship the Lord God who must be honestly exposed for that self-righteousness that says, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. Multitudes today, who spend every Sunday in the house of God, spend the day as a smoke in Gods nose.
We must constantly guard against self-righteousness. It is at its heart the idea that we can make ourselves righteous, that we obtain righteousness by something we do, because of who we are, who we are related to, what we experience, or feel. Self-righteousness is trust in ourselves (Luk 18:9).
Self-righteousness is a refuge of lies, by which men and women deceive their own hearts, a bed that is too short for a man to stretch himself upon it, and a covering too narrow to wrap himself in. It is in Gods eyes the most offensive, obnoxious, and loathsome of all evils in this world. Yet, it is that which is most appealing to our flesh, that by which we are most likely to be deceived. Unless God delivers us from the horrible snare of self-righteousness, we will perish forever under his wrath.
Seven Statements
Here are seven plain statements about self-righteousness. Some of them are biting and painful, I know. Some are very offensive to many. But they must be made. I must be faithful in my generation, as Isaiah was in his, and boldly expose the self-righteousness by which Satan would destroy your soul.
Self-righteousness grows and flourishes best in religious soil. This is an enemy found within our own walls. It is not something we have to look for in the dark alleys of the profane. Self-righteousness is perfectly at home in the assembly of Gods saints, and in the practice of religious duties (Isa 1:10-15; Luk 16:15). Self-righteousness is not an evil found only among the unregenerate and unbelieving of the world. It is an evil with which believers constantly struggle. It is like a huge cobweb on our souls that we simply cannot pull off. You can mark this down as a rule by which to determine whether or not our behaviour is self-righteous. Anything done to be seen of and to call the attention of others to ourselves is abhorrently self-righteous (Mat 6:1-6). Self-righteousness grows and flourishes in religious soil; but you will find it outside the church, too.
Self-righteousness is common among the base and profane of the world as well. This sin abounds where you might least expect it. Nothing is more ridiculous than to hear men and women who are openly vile talk about morality, social values, and ethical uprightness. Yet, we should not be surprised by this. The scriptures give us examples of such things and warn us that the time would come when men would call good evil and evil good.
Self-righteousness always makes men and women harsh, hard, and judgmental regarding others (Luk 18:9).
Self-righteousness will not bow to the authority of the Word of God alone. It must have traditions, customs, religious rules and laws, denominational authority, creeds, and confessions and historic backing (Mat 15:7-9).
Self-righteousness will never acknowledge and confess sin. Believers confess their sins in bitterness of soul (Psa 51:1-5; 1Jn 1:9). Self-righteousness talks about sin in terms of weaknesses and makes excuses for it. Utter, personal depravity, self-righteousness will never acknowledge.
Self-righteousness will not trust Christ alone. Our only hope of righteousness is Christ, The Lord our Righteousness (Jer 23:6; 1Co 1:30-31). Self-righteousness makes the obedient, righteous, and sin-atoning sacrifice of Christ of none effect (Gal 2:20-21). But self-righteousness will not submit to the righteousness of God (Rom 9:31 to Rom 10:4).
Self-righteousness most effectually bars a sinner from Gods grace and salvation. Your sin will not keep you from Christ, but your righteousness will. None are too bad to be saved, but multitudes are too good!
My Confession And My Hope
I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. From the soul of my foot to the crown of my head, there is no goodness in me, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores (Isa 64:6). My only hope before God is Christ, whose name is Jehovah-Tsidkenu, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer 23:6; Jer 33:16; 1Co 1:30-31).
Not what these hands have done
Can save this guilty soul;
Not what this toiling flesh has borne,
Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do,
Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers, or sighs, or tears,
Can ease my awful load.
Thy work alone, my Saviour,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord, to Thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest,
And set my spirit free.
No other work save Thine,
No meaner blood will do;
No strength save that which is Divine,
Can bear me safely through.
Thy grace alone, O God,
To me can pardon speak;
Thy power alone, O Son of God,
Can this sore bondage break.
I bless the Christ of God,
I rest on love Divine;
And with unfaltering lip and heart
I call the Saviour mine.
Horatius Bonar
righteous
(See Scofield “Rom 10:3”).
which: Luk 10:29, Luk 15:29, Luk 16:15, Pro 30:12, Isa 65:5, Isa 66:5, Joh 9:28, Joh 9:34, Rom 7:9, Rom 9:31, Rom 9:32, Rom 10:3, Phi 3:4-6
that they were righteous: or, as being righteous
and despised: Luk 18:11, Luk 7:39, Luk 15:2, Luk 15:30, Luk 19:7, Joh 7:47-49, Joh 8:48, Act 22:21, Rom 14:10
Reciprocal: Lev 13:32 – yellow hair Deu 25:3 – vile unto thee 1Sa 15:30 – that I may worship Job 22:29 – he shall Pro 11:12 – that Pro 14:21 – that despiseth Pro 16:2 – the ways Son 8:1 – I should not be despised Isa 43:26 – declare Isa 58:3 – have we fasted Eze 33:13 – if he Mat 9:14 – Why Luk 15:7 – which Rom 3:9 – are we Rom 3:27 – Where Rom 11:18 – Boast not Rom 12:12 – continuing Rom 14:3 – despise 1Co 4:10 – but we 2Co 1:9 – that Gal 3:10 – as many
9
Trusted in themselves denotes they considered themselves righteous on the ground of the great display they were making of their deeds. On the same principle they would despise (belittle) others who could not boast of such actions.
THE parable we have now read is closely connected with the one which immediately precedes it. The parable of the persevering widow teaches the value of importunity in prayer. The parable of the Pharisee and Publican teaches the spirit which should pervade our prayers.-The first parable encourages us to pray and faint not. The second parable reminds us how and in what manner we ought to pray.-Both should be often pondered by every true Christian.
Let us notice, firstly, the sin against which our Lord Jesus Christ warns us in these verses. There is no difficulty in finding out this. Luke tells us expressly, that “He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” The sin which our Lord denounces is “self-righteousness.”
We are all naturally self-righteous. It is the family-disease of all the children of Adam. From the highest to the lowest we think more highly of ourselves than we ought to do. We secretly flatter ourselves that we are not so bad as some, and that we have something to recommend us to the favor of God. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” (Pro 20:6.) We forget the plain testimony of Scripture, “In many things we offend all.”-“There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good and sineth not.”-“What is man that he should be clean, or he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous?” (Jam 3:2. Ecc 7:20. Job 15:14.)
The true cure for self-righteousness is self-knowledge. Once let the eyes of our understanding be opened by the Spirit, and we shall talk no more of our own goodness. Once let us see what there is in our own hearts, and what the holy law of God requires, and self-conceit will die. We shall lay our hand on our mouths, and cry with the leper, “Unclean, unclean.” (Lev 13:45.)
Let us notice, secondly, in these verses, the prayer of the Pharisee, which our Lord condemns. We read that he said, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all I possess.”
One great defect stands out on the face of this prayer,-a defect so glaring that even a child might mark it. It exhibits no sense of sin and need. It contains no confession and no petition,-no acknowledgment of guilt and emptiness,-no supplication for mercy and grace. It is a mere boasting recital of fancied merits, accompanied by an uncharitable reflection on a brother sinner. It is a proud, high-minded profession, destitute alike of penitence, humility, and charity. In short, it hardly deserves to be called a prayer at all.
No state of soul can be conceived so dangerous as that of the Pharisee. Never are men’s bodies in such desperate plight, as when mortification and insensibility set in. Never are men’s hearts in such a hopeless condition, as when they are not sensible of their own sins. He that would not make shipwreck on this rock, must beware of measuring himself by his neighbors. What does it signify that we are more moral than “other men”? We are all vile and imperfect in the sight of God.-“If we contend with Him, we cannot answer him one in a thousand.” (Job 9:3.) Let us remember this. In all our self-examination let us not try ourselves by comparison with the standard of men. Let us look at nothing but the requirements of God. He that acts on this principle will never be a Pharisee.
Let us notice, thirdly, in these verses, the prayer of the Publican, which our Lord commends. That prayer was in every respect the very opposite of that of the Pharisee. We read that he “stood afar off, and smote upon his breast, and said, God be merciful to me a sinner.” Our Lord Himself stamps this short prayer with the seal of His approbation. He says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.”
The excellence of the Publican’s prayer consists in five points, each of which deserves attention. For one thing, it was a real petition. A prayer which only contains thanksgiving and profession, and asks nothing, is essentially defective. It may be suitable for an angel, but it is not suitable for a sinner.-For another thing, it was a direct personal prayer. The Publican did not speak of his neighbors, but himself. Vagueness and generality are the great defects of most men’s religion. To get out of “we,” and “our,” and “us,” into “I,” and “my,” and “me,” is a great step toward heaven.-For another thing, it was a humble prayer,-a prayer which put self in the right place. The Publican confessed plainly that he was a sinner. This is the very A B C of saving Christianity. We never begin to be good till we can feel and say that we are bad.-For another thing, it was a prayer in which mercy was the chief thing desired, and faith in God’s covenant mercy, however weak, displayed. Mercy is the first thing we must ask for in the day we begin to pray. Mercy and grace must be the subject of our daily petitions at the throne of grace till the day we die.-Finally, the Publican’s prayer was one which came from his heart. He was deeply moved in uttering it. He smote upon his breast, like one who felt more than he could express. Such prayers are the prayers which are God’s delight. A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise. (Psa 51:17.)
Let these things sink down into our hearts. He that has learned to feel his sins has great reason to be thankful. We are never in the way of salvation until we know that we are lost, ruined, guilty, and helpless. Happy indeed is he who is not ashamed to sit by the side of the publican! When our experience tallies with his, we may hope that we have found a place in the school of God.
Let us notice, lastly, in these verses, the high praise which our Lord bestows on humility. He says, “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
The principle here laid down is so frequently found in the Bible, that it ought to be deeply graven in our memories. Three times we find our Lord using the words before us in the Gospels, and on three distinct occasions. Humility, He would evidently impress upon us, is among the first and foremost graces of the Christian character. It was a leading grace in Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Job, Isaiah, and Daniel. It ought to be a leading grace in all who profess to serve Christ. All the Lord’s people have not gifts or money. All are not called to preach, or write, or fill a prominent place in the church. But all are called to be humble. One grace at least should adorn the poorest and most unlearned believer. That grace is humility.
Let us leave the whole passage with a deep sense of the great encouragement it affords to all who feel their sins, and cry to God for mercy in Christ’s name. Their sins may have been many and great. Their prayers may seem weak, faltering, unconnected, and poor. But let them remember the Publican, and take courage. That same Jesus who commended his prayer is sitting at the right hand of God to receive sinners. Then let them hope and pray on.
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Notes-
v9.-[Unto certain which trusted, &c.] It seems probable that this parable was not addressed to the Pharisees, so much as to certain of our Lord’s own followers and disciples. Our Lord knew all hearts, and He probably saw in some of His own immediate adherents a tendency to value themselves too highly because they were His disciples. He checks it by speaking this parable.
Pride, self-conceit, and a disposition to look down on others as ignorant, blind, and inferior to ourselves, are faults to which many Converted people are peculiarly liable.
v10.-[A Pharisee…a publican.] These two are mentioned as types of opposite classes of character. The Pharisee represents the moral, the respectable, and the externally correct. The publican represents the wicked, the profligate, and the utterly irreligious.
The theory held by some, that the Pharisee represents the Jewish nation, and the publican the Gentile world, appears to me destitute of foundation.
v11.-[Stood and prayed thus with himself.] Some have thought that the Greek words should have been rendered, “stood by himself and prayed thus.” It is probable, however, that our English version gives the sense correctly.
It is a mistake to suppose, as some have done, that there was anything to be blamed, as indicative of pride, in the Pharisee’s attitude. Standing was as common a position for prayer as kneeling, among the Jews. See Mat 6:5. Mar 11:25. 2Ch 6:12.
[I thank thee.] Gill gives some singular instances from Rabbinical writers of the thanksgivings which commonly formed part of Jewish prayers. One quotation will suffice. “It is a tradition of Rabbi Juda saying three things a man ought to say every day,- Blessed be thou that thou hast not made me a Gentile.-Blessed be thou that thou hast not made me an unlearned man.-Blessed be thou that thou hast not made me a woman.”
It needs hardly be noted, that we are not to infer that thankfulness is wrong in our prayers. It is thankfulness accompanied by self-conceit, and uncharitable comparisons of ourselves with other men, and unaccompanied by confessions of unworthiness, and prayer for mercy and grace, which our Lord condemns.
v12.-[I fast twice…give tithes all…&c.] Here the Pharisee, let it be noted, exalts his own works of supererogation. He fasted even more than God required. He gave tithes even of things which God did not command to be tithed,-not of his corn and his fruits only, but of all his possessions.
A more miserable and defective righteousness than this Pharisee’s, it is hard to conceive. His negative goodness consisted in not being so bad as some! His positive goodness consisted in fasting and paying tithes with excessive scrupulosity! Of heart-holiness, we do not hear a word!
v13.-[Would not lift up.] The Greek words mean literally, “was not willing to lift,”-had no mind, or will, or inclination.
[Be merciful to.] It is not improbable that the idea of mercy through a propitiation, enters into this prayer. The Greek word rendered, “be merciful to,” is only found in one other place, and is there applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, as a High Priest, “making reconciliation” for the sins of the people. (Heb 2:17.)
[A sinner.] The Greek words are here even stronger than our version, if literally translated. They signify “the sinner,” that is, “the great sinner.”
v14.-[Justified rather than the other.] We must not suppose that this means that the Pharisee was a little justified, and the publican very much, and that the difference between them was only one of degree. There are no degrees in justification. The words mean that the Pharisee was not justified at all, or accepted with God, and that the publican went home pardoned, forgiven, and counted righteous before God.
[Every one…exalteth…abased.] The truth of this great principle admits of illustration at every step of Bible history. Pharaoh, Goliath, Haman, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, are all cases in point.
Section 5. (Luk 18:9-34.)
Man with God: the conditions and hindrances.
The last section here closes with the consideration of man’s being with God, the moral conditions and the hindrances. It reviews in this way some things we have had before, but to emphasize some points of special importance in this particular interest, which for man is surely second to no other.
1. The first point here is that of righteousness; in which, however, the righteousness in which we stand before God is rather suggested than developed. Indeed, so much is this the case that the actual reference to it is passed over commonly, both in translations and commentaries. Here it surely supplies what would otherwise be a serious deficiency, when the object is to depict the true righteousness in opposition to the false.
The Pharisee and the publican; or tax-gatherer, furnish here, as so often; the contrast which He would present. He is speaking directly to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:” things which naturally go together. The two men in question are shown us going up into the temple to pray. The position that they take is taken before God, not man. As for the tax-gatherer, that is evident; no one would question it. But as for the Pharisee, though he compares himself with the other, yet he is not presented as seeking credit with men in any way: he is self-righteous, but not a hypocrite. That he prays, however, with himself, (or toward himself) shows how little in the presence of God he really is, even while he addresses himself to Him. His actual requests we do not hear; they are of no importance, even if we are to suppose he makes any. The whole of it that we hear is a thanksgiving for his own good condition; and here he forms a class by himself, in advance of those whom he vain-gloriously puts down as “the rest of men.” They are “extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or like this publican,” -of whom the less he knows, the more he can imagine. But that is only the negative side: positively, it is enough to say, “I fast twice in the week; I tithe all that I acquire” -all my profit. In either case he went quite beyond the law.
There is not a hint that he was insincere in this self-admiration. He was indeed but too thoroughly a believer in himself; and his conduct may have been all that he here claims for it. Outwardly correct, morally; ceremonially, going beyond what was legally required: that was what he honestly thought to be enough for God; and indeed enough to give him that unique place quite beyond others, which, as we see, he claimed. The law, in which he trusted would have told him differently; but when did a law-keeper for righteousness ever take his measure from the law? Nay, that was meant for the destruction of legality, and the “Oh wretched man that I am!” which men learn to cry under it, is at least far different from jubilant Pharisaism.
The man’s picture is complete, and no comment upon it is needed further. No one believes in him except himself, just as he himself believes fully in no one else. Moses has given sentence against them all that “there is none righteous, no, not one,” and we know that whatever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.”
Now we turn to look at the other man. The Pharisee lifts up his head, because he sees nothing. The tax-gatherer is in a Presence that he dares not approach, nor lift up his eyes to. Smiting upon his breast, as if his heart were viler than his life, he lays hold upon the horns of the altar with the cry, “God be propitiated towards me, the sinner.”
That is certainly the full force of his words, and the prevalent objection to its being “pressed” is quite unaccountable. The common version gives “God be merciful” only; the revised puts “be propitiated” in the margin as an alternative, but keeps the other in the text. The “Variorum” Bible, with its clippings from every source, has not even a word with regard to it. Yet propitiation by sacrifice was, as must be acknowledged, one of the leading features of the temple ritual, that temple in which the speaker stood. Moreover it is the Lord, the One who could say of just this sacrificial system, “In the volume of the book it is written of Me” (Psa 40:7), who gives us this parable. And the direct purpose of it is to show what is true righteousness before God in contrast with the righteousness in oneself in which men have ever trusted. Yet, says Van Oosterzee, “It is entirely unnecessary to press the word hilaskesthai in such a way as to see intimated in it the dogmatic conception of atonement”!
On the contrary, here is the very way of mercy which a sinner needs appealed to by one who realizes himself to be in as unique a way “the” sinner, as the Pharisee is in his own thoughts uniquely righteous. For such an, one no vague idea of God’s mercy could satisfy the soul; least of all could the Lord allow it to be supposed that it could; and that where Jewish altars were proclaiming day by day, that “without shedding of blood is NO remission.” How simple, how natural, to one taught of God, and in the representation of a divine Teacher, that a convicted soul should say, “Let that blood avail for me!”
“I tell you,” says the Lord, “that this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.” Here again; a wrong use is made, surely, of the comparison between the two. It does not mean that the publican was justified more than the other, nor would such comparative justification be of much comfort to one in his condition. That which avails before God is the whole question; and as the Pharisee had decided as to himself, that he, rather than the tax-gatherer, would be found righteous before God, so the Lord decides that it will be the reverse of this, the tax-gatherer rather than the Pharisee. In each case this means, the one, and not the other. And it is to the one who in the most distinct way disclaims all righteousness, that righteousness is ascribed, or imputed; but not, surely, merely because he owns himself a sinner, but because there is provided for sinners that propitiation for sin to the value of which before God, even though feebly, his faith appeals.
Thus we see again, as we have seen elsewhere, how near to Paul’s is the doctrine of Luke, although it brings us only to the threshold of it. Beyond this, still, there are things which cannot be opened to us until the Spirit of God is come from a glorified Christ in heaven, to reveal what neither eye has seen nor ear has heard.
2. The last verse in the previous part opens the way to the present one. The self-abased tax-gatherer has been exalted, the self-exalted Pharisee has been abased. And now they bring babes to Him that He may touch them, and the disciples (too much akin to the Pharisees in spirit) rebuke them for doing so. But Jesus declares that of such the Kingdom of God is, and that whoever would enter it must receive it in the spirit of a little child. Where God is known and rules, man must needs shrink into his native nothingness. Look at the earth from the sun. and what has become of its lofty peaks and granite ranges? The truly wise will own this from the heart: the pride of life, equally with the lusts of the flesh and of the eye, is not of the Father, but of the world.
3. The last portion has brought us fairly into the track of the previous Gospels, and to the end of this division we still pursue it. The story of the rich ruler shows us now the hindrance of worldly possessions, with one in other respects exemplary, and with an apparently earnest craving for eternal life. Yet he turns his back upon the Lord, -sorrowfully indeed, but none the less really; and the Lord’s comment upon it generalizes so sad a case alarmingly. If it were as hard for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God as for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, then who can be saved? ask the disciples. But salvation is of God; and all things are possible with Him. In fact, if a man has realized his need of salvation; God, it way be hoped, has begun that work in his soul which will make the far off country a place of intolerable famine to him, which lands or gold will be unable to satisfy. He can hardly be called “rich who has that famine-fever upon him.
4. The question of Peter thereupon shows doubtless a modified form of the rich man’s trouble, so far as disciples may be affected by it. They bad left all, -little or much as it might be, -to follow Him: what would they have for it? It is evident that what they have given up has still some value for them, then: and what will be their compensation for it is a matter of concern. The Lord’s answer seems one of encouragement, which has with it also a certain blending of reproof. They shall have what the rich man might well crave -eternal life; but in the present also -and had they not begun to taste that blessing yet? -“manifold more” than all that they had given up. Such is God’s mercy towards those who, whatever they may have deemed themselves to have renounced for Christ, were in fact but bankrupt beggars when His grace laid hold of them!
5. Once more, therefore, He puts before them what was the way that was opening now before Himself. Here indeed was sacrifice -such as yet they prove unable even to comprehend. The end for Him is in resurrection, in which the life of service taken up once more, His joy is accomplished in what for them and us secures all blessing and the glory of God.
The design and scope of our Saviour in this parable is, to reprove and condemn the Pharisees, and in them all other self-justiciaries, who having an high opinion of, and trusting in, their own righteousness, despised others as vile persons, whose religion is not accompanied with ostentation, and who pretend not to such extraordinary degrees of sanctity as themselves.
And the parable further shows, that an humble, self-condemned sinner, who though he has been wicked, is now sensible of it, and with shame and sorrow confesses it before God, is more acceptable than he that vaunts of his virtue, and rests in the outward duties of religion: his pride and exaltation of himself shall abases him, while the other’s humility shall exalt him.
This is the general scope of the parable; the particular observations from it are these: 1. The Pharisee and the publican both pray, they both pray together in the place of prayer, the holy temple, and they both pray, with and within themselves. Where the duty and action is the same, there may be a vast difference in the purpose and intention: Does an humble saint pray? So may a haughty hypocrite: Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican.
Observe, 2. The Pharisee’s prayer, He stood and prayed with himself, God, I thank thee, etc.
Where note, his gesture, He stood and prayed. Standing and kneeling are praying gestures, but sitting is a rude indecency, except in case of necessity. “In prayer,” says pious bishop Hall, “I will either stand as a servant to my Master, or kneel as a subject to my prince.”
Note farther, it is said, He prayed; but here is not one petition, but thanksgiving! God, I thank thee, etc.
Whence learn, that thanksgiving is a part of prayer. Hannah’s prayer, as it is called, 1Sa 2:1-10 is a canticle, or song of praise. We then pray best when we praise God most.
Again, see the Pharisee’s pride in this his prayer: this proud beggar shows not his wounds, but his worth, not his rags, but his robes, not his misery, but his bravery; he brings God Almighty in a reckoning of his services: I fast twice a week, I give alms of all that I possess, and thanks God more that others were bad, than that himself was good. Had the Pharisee with an humble mind thanked God for his restraining grace, that though he was not so good as he should be, that yet he was not so vile and bad as some others, this had been no fault; but when he comes before God with a proud and scornful mind, inwardly pleased that others were so bad, and so much worse than himself; giving thinks rather for others’ badness, than his own goodness: this is a wickedness incident to none but devilish dispositions.
Learn hence, that whatsoever shows of goodness an hyocrite may make, yet he is inwardly glad of, and takes a secret delight in, others’ badness; God, I thank thee that I am not as this publican; which was a kind of triumph, and proud insultation over the poor publican; he would seem to thank God that he was not so bad as the publican, when indeed he was glad that the publican was not so good as himself.
Observe, 3. The publican’s behavior, in an humble sight and sense of his own sinfulness and unworthiness, he stood afar off, probably in the court of the Gentiles, where all sorts of sinners might come; acknowledging thereby that he was unworthy to come near the holy majesty of God; not presuming to lift up his eyes to heaven, that place of perfect holiness and purity; but, like a true self-condemned penitent, smote upon his breast, and in bitter remorse of soul said, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Hence learn, that a truly humble temper of mind well becomes us in all our approaches and addresses to God, and is more acceptable to him than all pompous performances whatsoever.
For observe lastly, the publican being thus condemned of himself, departs justified by God: He went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee; the Pharisee justified himself, but the publican was justified by God.
Thence learn, that a penitent sinner, who is indeed poor in spirit, is far more esteemed of God, that he that makes long prayers, fasts often, tithes all his substance, and prides himself in all this. Without humility all is vain-glory and hypocrisy; and the seeming most sanctified person that has it not, is like a painted sepulchre, beautiful without, but full of rottenness within.
Luk 18:9-10. And he spake this parable Having in the preceding parable guarded his disciples against faintness and weariness in prayer, he here guards them against the contrary extreme of self-confidence: unto certain For the conviction of certain persons in his train; who trusted in themselves that they were righteous Who had a high opinion of their own piety, and on that account despised others as greatly inferior to them, both in holiness and in the favour of God. Observe, reader, these persons were, properly speaking, not hypocrites: the Pharisee here mentioned was evidently not a hypocrite, any more than he was an outward adulterer; but, mistaking his real state and character, he sincerely believed himself to be righteous, and accordingly told God so in the prayer which none but God heard. Two men went up into the temple to pray It seems it was not the hour of public prayer, but they went thither to offer up their personal devotions, as was usual with pious people at that time, when the temple was not only the place, but the medium of worship; God having promised, in answer to Solomons request, that whatever prayer should be offered in a right manner in, or toward that house, it should, therefore, the rather be accepted. Christ is our temple, and to him we must have an eye in all our approaches to God. One a Pharisee As if he had said, One of that sect so honoured among them; and the other a publican Whom they were used to number with the most contemptible of mankind.
3. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican: Luk 18:9-14.
Vers. 9-14. This parable is peculiar to Luke. Who are those , certain, to whom it is addressed? They cannot be Pharisees. Luke would have named them, as at Luk 16:14; and Jesus would not have presented to them as an example, in a parable, one of themselves, while designating him expressly in this character. Bleek thinks that they were disciples of Jesus. But Luke would have equally designated them (Luk 16:1). They were therefore probably members of the company following Jesus, who had not yet openly declared for Him, and who manifested a haughty distance to certain sinners, known to be such, who were in the company with them; comp. Luk 19:7.
The word , standing erect (Luk 18:11), indicates a posture of assurance, and even boldness (comp. standing afar off, Luk 18:13). does not depend on : standing aside, at a distance, from the vulgar,it would have required (Meyer),but on : he prayed, speaking thus to himself… It was less a prayer in which he gave thanks to God, than a congratulation which he addressed to himself. True thanksgiving is always accompanied by a feeling of humiliation. The Pharisees fasted on the Monday and Thursday of every week. denotes the act of acquiring rather than that of possessing; it therefore refers here to the produce of the fields (Luk 11:42).
To strike the breast: an emblem of the stroke of death which the sinner feels that he has merited at the hand of God. The heart is struck, as the seat of personal life and of sin. (Luk 18:14): I tell you, strange as it may appear… The idea of justification, that is to say, of a righteousness bestowed on the sinner by a divine sentence, belongs even to the O. T. Comp. Gen 15:6; Isa 50:8; Isa 53:11.
In the received reading , is governed by , rather, understood. The suppression of the adverb rather serves to prevent the idea that the Pharisee also received his share of justification. In the reading (more strongly supported than the others), is explained in the same way, and has, as is often the case, an interrogative value: For think you that he (the Pharisee) could be justified? This somewhat difficult turn of expression has occasioned the Alex. correction .
Our Lord loves to close His parables with axioms formally expressing the fundamental laws of moral life: God will overthrow all self-exaltation; but He will turn in love to all sincere humiliation.
Undoubtedly, if Luke’s object was to point out in the ministry of Jesus the historical foundations for St. Paul’s teaching, this piece corresponds most exactly to his intention. But no argument can be drawn therefrom contrary to the truth of the narrative. For the idea of justification by faith is one of the axioms not only of the teaching of Jesus, but of that of the O. T. (comp. besides the passages quoted, Hab 2:4).
HUMILITY AND PRIDE
Luk 18:9-14. And He spoke this parable also to certain ones, having confidence in themselves that they are righteous, and treat others with contempt: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The holy Temple Campus contains thirty-five acres, consecrated to God, and regarded even to this day as most holy. Since none but the priests were allowed to enter the temple proper, we conclude that these two men simply entered the sacred enclosure, and proceeded to pray.
The Pharisee, standing, prayed after this manner: God, I thank Thee, because I am not like the rest of men, unrighteous, adulterous, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all things so many as I possess. Tithe-paying is all right, and we do not blame the Pharisee for thanking God that he was not guilty of vulgar vices and midnight iniquities. This is all fight. We ought to thank God for keeping us from terrible sin, which ruin soul and body, world without end. If the publican was guilty of dark sins which this Pharisee would blush to contemplate, and from which he. would recoil with horror, it is all right to thank God for the happy deliverance and the enviable contrast.
The publican, standing a great way off, did not wish to lift up his eyes toward heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me the sinner! I say unto you that he went down to his house justified rather than that one; because every one exalting himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Jesus here tells the secret of the great difference between these two men. We have no right to call in question the testimony of that Pharisee as to the moral purity of his life and his amiable loyalty to the Church. That was all right, and very pertinent that he should thank God for it. O the millions of Church members who are in the succession of this Pharisee, depending on morality, legal obedience, and Church loyalty to save them! All such go down to hell, since Jesus alone can save. Here we have the clear affirmation that this publican, so despised by the Jews because he collected revenue for the Roman Government, went down to his house justified, while the Pharisee, the nice, honorable Church member, went to his house one hour nearer hell than when he went to the temple. As the publican was no Church member, had no consolation, and nothing to bolster him up, consequently the Holy Ghost had unobstructed access to him, giving him such an awful presentment of hell, damnation, eternity, and doom that, in the bitter anguish of despair, his heart was so heavy that he could not look up, while sheer agony of spirit constrained him W beat his breast with horror, crying out, God, be merciful unto me a sinner! Etupen, smote, is in the imperfect tense, showing that as there he stood, crying to God, he continued repeatedly to smite his breast, not in a formal way, but spontaneously, thus giving vent to the unutterable agony of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. God never turns away a case of that kind. Of course, he returned home justified, born from above, adopted into the heavenly family, and gloriously saved. You see from these two contrastive cases how Church membership, with its false comforts, is adroitly used by Satan in the damnation of millions. Hence we conclude that it is unsafe to receive or retain sinners in the membership of the Church, as Satan is certain to slip in like a weasel and persuade them, as he did this man, that if they keep the commandments, live good, moral lives, and show up their loyalty to the Church by paying all their dues, they are justified.
You see from this parable that this conclusion is untrue, and a fond delusion of Satan for the damnation of souls. Hence if we can not get people truly and experimentally saved, we should neither receive nor retain them in the membership of the Church, lest they lean on it, as this man did, and lose their souls.
Luk 18:9-14. Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Lk. only).In Luk 18:9 we should perhaps translate concerning those who trusted, etc. The parable, not necessarily spoken on the same occasion as the preceding one, also deals with Prayer, though with its spirit rather than its subject. When ye pray, think not so much of the sins of others as of your own. The Pharisee draws a rigid line between himself (and his class) and the rest of men; they are outside the pale. His prayer is the prototype of that of Burnss Holy Willie. Fasting, though only enjoined by the Law for the Day of Atonement, was regularly practised by many Jews; cf. Mat 6:16*. In the matter of tithes also they went beyond the farm crops suggested in Num 18:21 : cf. Mat 23:23.
Luk 18:13. smote is really kept on smiting.
Luk 18:14. justified: not made righteous but deemed righteous; cf. Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 30f. There is no Pauline dogma here, only a statement that in what was a sort of unconscious lawsuit God decides in favour of the tax-gatherer and his prayer.shall be humbled, exalted: i.e. in the Judgment. The parable is one of the most characteristic pieces of Jesus teaching; it is a commentary on the Beatitudes about the poor in spirit, the meek, and them that hunger for righteousness.
Lk. has now come to the end of his great insertion, and once more follows Mk. as his chief source.
18:9 {2} And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
(2) Two things especially make our prayers void and of no effect: confidence of our own righteousness, and our contempt of others; but a humble heart is contrary to both of these.
J. The recipients of salvation 18:9-19:27
Luke next developed the idea of faith on the earth that Jesus introduced in Luk 18:8. This whole section clarifies how people become believers. This subject is a fitting conclusion to the part of Luke’s Gospel that deals with Jesus’ ministry on the way to Jerusalem (Luk 9:51 to Luk 19:27). Essentially this section records Jesus’ teaching that salvation and eventual entrance into the kingdom come by God’s grace through faith rather than by claims to legal righteousness. The apostle Paul wrote about the process of justification (e.g., Rom 3:21 to Rom 5:21), but Luke’s concern was the recipients of it. [Note: Danker, p. 185.]
1. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector 18:9-14
The superficial connection between this pericope and the preceding one is that they both contain parables about prayer.
"This parable follows as giving the spirit in which men should pray." [Note: Morris, p. 264.]
However the more significant link is the people of faith (Luk 18:8). This parable graphically contrasts those who reject Jesus’ gospel with those who receive it. Jesus drew a verbal picture to identify the characteristic traits of two representative groups of Jews. Both parables deal with righteousness: the unrighteous judge in the first one, and the self-righteous Pharisee in the second.
This verse sets the stage for the parable that follows (cf. Luk 18:1; Luk 19:11). "And" signals the continuation of immediately preceding lessons and themes for the reader. Obviously Pharisees are the people that Jesus was criticizing in this parable (Luk 18:10), but Luke introduced Jesus’ teaching by highlighting the characteristic about the Pharisees that Jesus addressed. This is a characteristic that many more people than the Pharisees possess, including many of Luke’s readers. The only alternative to believing in Jesus is trusting in one’s own righteousness for acceptance with God. This always results in elevating oneself at the expense of others and looking down on others.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
3. As in the previous parable the Pauline idea of , so in this that of , comes distinctly into the foreground. Hic locus perspicue docet, quid proprie sit justificari, nempe stare coram Deo, ac si justi essemus; neque enim publicanus ideo Justus dicitur, quod novam qualitatem sibi repente adquisierit, sed quia inducto reatu et abolitis peccatis gratiam adeptus est, unde sequitur, justificationem in peccatorum remissione esse positam. Calvin. It is, however, of course, understood that in this definition the idea of the forgiveness of sins must be interpreted not only negatively, as acquittal from the deserved punishment, but also positively, as reinstatement in the forfeited favor of God, including all the blessed consequences connected therewith.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)