I don't understand this short Gospel passage. Can you help?

Question

I was reading today's Gospel, Luke 18:9-14, and I don't understand it. Any help appreciated.

Here it is:

9And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

10Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11The 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 tax collector.

12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

13And the tax collector, 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.

14I 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.

Answer 1

It's about humility.
Ties in with 'Blessed are the poor in spirit'. If you're proud of how righteous you are you are not 'poor in spirit', in fact, you're just the opposite— 'great in spirit' I suppose. I think what Jesus is saying in both cases is that self-satisfaction is deadly for the spiritual life. Those who are hungry, those who are searching, those who need God desperately and who have dropped all pretenses, all game playing all conditions— those are the ones who are Close to the Truth. That's when God can really use us, when we're ready to surrender and hold nothing back.
To put it another way, you can't be full of God if you're full of yourself.

Answer 2

This parable is rich with truth about doctrine of justification by faith. It illustrates perfectly how a sinner who is utterly devoid of personal righteousness may be declared righteous before God instanteously through an act of repentant faith. The parable is addressed to Pharisees who trusted their own righteousness. Such confidence in one's inherent righteousness is a damnn hope, because human rightoeysness - even the righteousness of the most fastidious Pharisee - falls short of the devine standard.

Scripture consistently teaches that sinners are justified when God's perfect righteousness is imputed to their account - and it was only on that basis that this tax-collector, or anyone else, could be saved.

Fasting twice a week was more than required by any biblical standard. By exalting his own works, the Pharisee revealed that his entire hope lay in his not being as bad as someone else. ( We all need God and His mercy no matterhow good we are and how many good deeds wehave done ) He lacked any sense of his own unworthiness and sin. ( We all sin )

The tax-collectors humility is notable in everythig about his posture and behavior. He was a man who had been made to face the reality of his own sin, and his only response was abject humility and repentance. He contrasts with the Pharisee in virtually every detail.

When he said "God, be merciful to me sinner" shows that he had no hope but the mercy of God. This is the point to which the lawaims to bring every sinner = We cannot make it by law, we need God for our salvation and forgiveness of our sins. Justified is reckoned righteous before God by means of an imputed righteousness.

God forgives us all sins we confess and He calls us for a change. We cannot change if we do not recognice our wrong doings. God wants us to do good but not boast about it. We should always compare ourselves with Christ, who is the perfect example. And doing so should humble our heart and we should see our shortcomings.

Answer 3

The Pharisee did not go to the Temple to pray to God, but to announce to all within earshot how good he was. The tax collector went recognizing his sin and begging for mercy. Self righteousness is dangerous. It leads to pride, causes a person to despise others, and prevents him or her from learning anything from God. The tax collector's prayer should be our prayer because we all need God's mercy every day.
We should not let pride in our achievements cut us off from God.

Answer 4

This is a variation on a common theme of Christ's. He was constantly exhorting his followers to faith, even when it flies inthe face of reason. Remember Peter's attempt to walk on water, and the faith of the Roman Centurion whose servant was sick. The Centurian understood authority, and attributed God's authority to Jesus. Peter failed because of his doubt. The second part doesn't connect directly to this, but is tangentially significant. You can follow the letter of the law and do everything that is required physically, but if you do not have faith, it will be meaningless. The classic case in point was the Pharisees. If you have faith, you will be guided to serve God not to the letter, which will be all this expected of you, but also to the spirit, which will lead you serve God enthusiastically, doing more than that which is expected, and making yourself a more valuable servant. Reflect on the three servants who were given money to keep for the master. The one who buried it and returned it got nothing in return, because he did only what was required of him. The one who invested it and multiplied it tenfold was given greater responsibility (and therefore status and power) as a result. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

the Pharisee, a man of god, walked into the temple as if he owned it, and his sh*t didn't stink. Pardon the profanity. to put it into modern hyperbole. and bragged up just how good of a worshiper he was, even going so far as to point out that he was better than the tax collector who was praying as well.

while the Tax Collector, entered humbly, recognized hid subservience to God and asked for nothing more than forgiveness for his sinful ways.

what it boils down to is that it is better to be a humble and honest sinner than to be a self rightious prick clutching a bible, its just like the parable of the poor woman who gives 'two cents' or whatever it was, and JC saying that her 2 cents were more valuable in the eyes of God that the baskets of offerings from the wealthy donors, because they represented a greater sacrifice

Answer 6

The Tax collector understands he is justified by faith in God and his mercy not justified by works, The Pharisee was doing the right things but he forgot he can neve be justified for his good deeds. In light of God's perfection all our own righteousness is filthy rags to him. However, understanding you are justified by your faith in God's mercy alone and THEN doing good deeds because you are becoming like your heavenly Father, well that makes people glorify him and that's a good thing.

Answer 7

Please compare with Ephesians 2: 8, 9, which implicitly states that we are saved by Grace (a free gift of God) and not by our works that no man may boast.

This is what the Pharisees were doing. They were exalting themselves and boasting in their own self-righteousness. At the same time, they were putting down those who sincerely threw themselves on God's mercy, which is what God wants us to do.

See also, Isaiah 64:6 where we are told that all of the righteousness we might be able to muster is nothing more than filthy rags before God.

Clearly, to be approved by God is dependent on accepting the gift of His Grace, which came to us in the form of Calvary. There is no action we can perform of our own merit that approved us before God.

He also does not approve of us looking down our noses at others and judging them to be less righteous than we are. Only God knows the heart and He passes judgement on that basis and on whether we accept Jesus' atonement on our behalf.

EDIT: Wise Monkey, the only people who think the Bible contradicts itself are those who don't understand the message given in certain passages because they rip them out of their Biblical and historical contexts.

Answer 8

Well.. as we can see in Luke 18:3-4 , jesus mentions a story about a woman who came back everyday to the judge , then the judge gives her justice finally (in order that she leaves him alone )

then there is a great paradox ( mistake in the bible ! ) and then jesus says the above story is like this one :
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a good person who says I thank you god I am not like those bad people

and a bad person who dosnt dare to look to the sky and said : god fogive me, i am a sinner

in this story jesus says that the bad person will go home justified more than the good person
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man... this book is not made by god so dont waste your time trying to understand it... do you believe in the Old Testament and the New testament.. you should see these scriptures then ...



"If a man hits a manservant or maidservant in the eye and destroys it, he must let the servant go free to compensate for the eye",those are Yahweh ( god of the old testament) words (The Old testament) (Exodus 21:26)



"If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property",Yahweh words (The Old testament) (Exodus 21:20-21)"

Answer 9

Notice the people Jesus was talking to, they were people who TRUSTED IN THEMSELVES AND THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.. They also looked down on others because they thought they were better. These were the people who thought they were in with God because of their Jewishness and most of them were Pharisees, who were the religious leaders and teachers of the laws of God.

I will explain this using our todays language. Both of them went inside of the church building to pray. The Pharisee's approach to God was not one of humility and thanksgiving or confession but he went to boast and brag on himself. First, he did not see himself as God sees him, but he had a very high opinion of himself and did not think that he was a sinner like the others because he did not do the things they did. He thought his works were good and better than the others. He turned his nose up at the extortioners, and adulterers, and his focus and heart was not on God, it was on the tax collector. Can you just hear the smugness in his voice as he said even this tax collector. All he talked about was how good he thought he was. Notice how many times he said I.

The tax collector on the other hand realized who he was approaching and recognized his sinfulness before a Holy God. He was a man broken in his spirit, poor in spirit and that is why he beat upon his breast showing a sign of brokeness. He asked God to be merciful and he confessed ( was in agreement with God ) that he was a sinner. He knew he had nothing within himself or nothing that he did or could do that warranted God's acceptance of him or attention to Him. He asked for mercy which is saying God do not give me what I know I deserve from you.
Jesus says the tax collector was saved by God and accepted and the Pharisee was rejected by God because the Pharisee exalted himself, proudfully boasted, he was self righteous, and was ignorant of his true condition. The tax collector humbled himself and God exalted him.

Jesus said EVERYONE who is full of pride which God hates will be brought down. Those who know their true condition before God and asks for mercy from a broken and contrite spirit God will save. God hates pride, self righteousness, and independence (trusting in yourself, and your resources), trusting in your accomplishments and depending on your good works and rituals and doing outward things when the heart is void of God. The bible says our righteousness is like filthy rags before God. No one is good enough, can be good enough or do good enough to be accepted by God. Only by the righteousness of Christ and the acceptance of His sacrificial death can anyone be acceptable to God. so there is nothing to boast about except the Cross of Jesus Christ.

I hope this helps.

Answer 10

The religious people who think something of themselves because they find themselves high in the regard of man, are not high in the regard of God. The one's who see the truth - in that they are sinners, God regards highly.

There is no man or woman here who have anything on God. There is no religious corner that a man or woman may have with Him. You might have a great relationship with God, yet that is because God keeps them close to Him. It is not because we might be virtuous or 'good', it's because God has chosen them to be close to Him.