For Xtians, Luke 15:7?

Question

How do you understand this verse?

"I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

Seems to me that you would have to disregard this statement by Jesus as being added to the text by some "Judaizer". Most xtians focus on the lost sheep. What about the 99 who he said were righteous and needed no repentance? Obviously from the text, Jesus realized that there were people who were righteous and did not need to believe in him for their forgiveness.

BTW, this parable also goes along with the Prodigal Son parable later in the same chapter. If you notice, when the older brother gets angry that the younger brother came home and received a party, he tells his father that he was angry because he has never "neglected a command" of the father's. The father's response to him is "you have always been with me, all that is mine is yours". Obviously the older brother=99 sheep.

Well Moo Boo, teach me something instead of using fancy words. Really, I'm open to it.

No Preacher, the parables are not separate. There are a string of parables all in the same chapter that have the same meaning. He is just stating the same point using different parables.

I'm not taking anything out of context. The context is tax collectors & sinners (lost sheep, prodigal son) vs scribes & pharisees (99 sheep, older brother). You think that Jesus is being a little facecious here with the scribes and pharisees but no where is that stated in the text. Dont forget, Jesus said "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven"

Answer 1

I think you're dead-on with that one. Great job!

Answer 2

The 99 righteous men are already saved and heaven has already rejoiced over them. As far as the Prodigal Son is concerned, he returned where he belonged after wallowing in the lowest sin possible, realizing his fallen nature. the older brother was still in his lost state because of his jealousy. You are mixing two parable that are separate.

Answer 3

This would be saying that Jesus died for some and not all. What would be the point of salvation for some?
Old Testament believers gained salvation through faith, just as New Testament believers do. Even they knew of a promised Messiah and looked forward to His day.

3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Answer 4

- You have to understand that all 100 believe but only 99 obey, the lost sheep has become disobedient & turned away from righteousness.

- Something is only lost if it was once in your posession. Those who do not believed in God through His Son Jesus do not belong to God, but to satan. Therefore, why would you look for what you never had.

Answer 5

The 99 are people who have already believed in Him and received forgiveness. The allegory of the prodigal son is that the prodigal represents gentiles, and the older brother represents Jews.

Answer 6

here is what it means a person who admits they are a sinner and asks for forgiveness is a lot better then a person who sees their self as righteous. we are all born into sin so we are all sinners in some way or another so one who thinks he is righteous is just in denial of their sin. the bible tells us one mans faith is no better then anothers (no one is any better then another person) as far as i see it christ was the only righteous man on this earth. but like it says 99 righteous who need no repentance we all need to repent even jesus did and he was pure. so i hope this kinda explains it

Answer 7

not sure if you have children of your own or not but.... let's say you have 5 children. 4 of them are very bright and school comes easy for them - they receive 3.5 gpa's. your 5th child has more challenges - wavering between 1.5-2.0 gpa's. while you praise all your children for their high grades - when that 5th child comes home with a 3.0 - you are even more proud of their accomplishment becuase it wa harder for them to attain those marks.

for some it comes easy or is common place -- for those who've always believed - it's always been about God. for those who've had the tste for sin - it's not as easy to turn away, admit to their mistakes and return home with their tail between their legs.

that's a very loose analogy but the best i could come up with this afternoon.

Answer 8

Repentance is not just believing in the Lord, it is also from a Christian who sins and repents, if the righteous are righteous Christians, it's because they believe the Lord is Messiah.

Answer 9

thank you for taking the quote out of context

what Luke is implying is true, the soul that repents is indeed beautified, but in order to repent, one must be living to do so, this is what we as catholics try to get people to do. For one soul that repents and opens his eyes is one more person for the Army of God.

to repent means to believe so Jesus further illustrates the need to believe.


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so how many snakes have you handled?

Answer 10

i think that a person who needs repentance that repents, will turn out better than a person that repents that doesnt need repentance.

Answer 11

If you are really going to pay that much attention to verses, you need to learn something about hermeneutics.