Quotes & Notes on:     Luke 15:7    John Wesley,  Notes On the New Testament (1755): Joy shall be-Solemn and festal joy, in heaven-First, in our blessed Lord himself, and then among the angels and spirits of just men, perhaps informed thereof by God himself, or by the angels who ministered to them. Over one sinner-One gross, open, notorious sinner, that repenteth-That is, thoroughly changed in heart and life; more than over ninety and nine just persons-Comparatively just, outwardly blameless: that need not such a repentance-For they need not, cannot repent of the sins which they never committed. The sum is, as a father peculiarly rejoices when an extravagant child, supposed to be utterly lost, comes to a thorough sense of his duty; or as any other person who has recovered what he had given up for gone, has a more sensible satisfaction in it, than in several other things equally valuable, but not in such danger: so do the angels in heaven peculiarly rejoice in the conversion of the most abandoned sinners. Yea, and God himself so readily forgives and receives them, that he may be represented as having part in the joy. Reginald Fuller's Preaching the Lectionary (1984):  To be posted.   William Baird, Interpreter's Commentary, 1971:  To be posted.   J. McNicol, The New Bible Commentary, 1954:  To be posted.   I.H. Marshall, The New Bible Commentary, 1970:  To be posted.   David Guzik, Study Guide: To be posted.   Chuck Smith, Study Guide: To be posted.   Catechism of the Catholic Church: To be posted.   J. Norval Geldenhuys, Bible Expositor, 1960: To be posted.   Abingdon Bible Commentary (1929): To be posted.   D.D. Whedon, Commentary on Luke, 1866: To be posted.   Joseph Parker, People's Bible, 1901: To be posted.   Anchor Bible: To be posted.   The Fourfold Gospel:  There shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, \more| than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance. How little Jesus thought of external morality may be seen by his words at Lu 18:9, but he here quoted the Pharisees at their own valuation to show that even when so doing, God's love for the sinner was the paramount love.   Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: * joy. Lu 15:32; 5:32; Mt 18:13 * which. Lu 15:29; 16:15; 18:9-11; Pr 30:12; Ro 7:9; Php 3:6,7   Robertson's Word Pictures:  Over one sinner that repenteth (epi heni hamartôlôi metanoounti). The word sinner points to verse Lu 15:1. Repenting is what these sinners were doing, these lost sheep brought to the fold. The joy in heaven is in contrast with the grumbling Pharisees and scribes. More than over (ê epi). There is no comparative in the Greek. It is only implied by a common idiom like our "rather than." Which need no repentance (hoitines ou chreian echousin metanoias). Jesus does not mean to say that the Pharisees and the scribes do not need repentance or are perfect. He for the sake of argument accepts their claims about themselves and by their own words condemns them for their criticism of his efforts to save the lost sheep. It is the same point that he made against them when they criticized Jesus and the disciples for being at Levi's feast (Lu 5:31). They posed as "righteous." Very well, then. That shuts their mouths on the point of Christ's saving the publicans and sinners.   William Burkitt's Notes: No comment on this verse.   Family Bible Notes:  Joy shall be in heaven; as there is joy in heaven over the repentance of sinners, it was proper that Christ should associate with them, for the purpose of promoting their repentance. Ninety and nine just persons; there is more joy in heaven over one who repents and turns to God, than over many who have never sinned and need no repentance, or who, having sinned, think that they need none.   1599 Geneva Bible Notes: No comment on this verse.   People's New Testament Commentary: There shall be joy in heaven. The Father rejoices and the Son and the angels with him. Over one sinner that repenteth. That "comes to himself," decides to leave off sin and to serve God. Repentance means a change of mind or heart. Than over ninety and nine just persons. Over those who are already in Christ, safe, and need no repentance. It is the saving of the lost that brings the greatest joy.   Albert Barnes' Commentary: Likewise joy, &c. It is a principle of human nature that the recovery of an object in danger of being lost, affords much more intense joy than the quiet possession of many that are safe. This our Saviour illustrated by the case of the lost sheep and of the piece of silver. It might also be illustrated by many other things. Thus we rejoice most in our health when we recover from a dangerous disease; we rejoice over a child rescued from danger or disease more than over those who are in health or safety. We rejoice that property is saved from conflagration or the tempest more than over much more that has not been in danger. This feeling our Lord represents as existing in heaven. Likewise, in like manner, or on the same principle, there is joy. In heaven. Among the angels of God. Comp. Lu 15:10. Heavenly beings are thus represented as rejoicing over those who repent on earth. They see the guilt and danger of men; they know what God has done for the race, and they rejoice at the recovery of any from the guilt and ruins of sin. One sinner. One rebel against God, however great may be his sins or however small. If a sinner, he must perish unless he repents; and they rejoice at his repentance because it recovers him back to the love of God, and because it will save him from eternal death. That repenteth. See Barnes for Mt 9:13. Just persons. The word persons is not in the original. It means simply just ones, or those who have not sinned. The word may refer to angels as well as to men. There are no just men on earth who need no repentance, Ec 7:20; Ps 14:2,3; Ro 3:10-18. Our Saviour did not mean to imply that there were any such. He was speaking of what took place in heaven, or among angels, and of their emotions when they contemplate the creatures of God; and he says that they rejoiced in the repentance of one sinner more than in the holiness of many who had not fallen. We are not to suppose that he meant to teach that there were just ninety-nine holy angels to one sinner. He means merely that they rejoice more over the repentance of one sinner than they do over many who have not fallen. By this he vindicated his own conduct. The Jews did not deny the existence of angels. They would not deny that their feelings were proper. If they rejoiced in this manner, it was not improper for him to show similar joy, and especially to seek their conversion and salvation. If they rejoice also, it shows how desirable is the repentance of a sinner. They know of how much value is an immortal soul. They see what is meant by eternal death; and they do not feel too much, or have too much anxiety about the soul that can never die. Oh that men saw it as they see it! and oh that they would make an effort, such as angels see to be proper, to save their own souls, and the souls of others from eternal death!   Jamieson-Faussett Brown:  ninety-nine just ... needing no repentance--not angels, whose place in these parables is very different from this; but those represented by the prodigal's well-behaved brother, who have "served their Father" many years and not at any time transgressed His commandment (in the outrageous sense of the prodigal). (See on JFB for Lu 15:29; JFB for Lu 15:31). In other words, such as have grown up from childhood in the fear of God and as the sheep of His pasture. Our Lord does not say "the Pharisees and scribes" were such; but as there was undoubtedly such a class, while "the publicans and sinners" were confessedly the strayed sheep and the prodigal children, He leaves them to fill up the place of the other class, if they could.   Spurgeon Devotional Commentary:  This first picture describes the joy of the Son of God in man's salvation. He is the Good Shepherd, and cares for each one of his sheep. To rescue the lost, he left the saints and angels in heaven, and traversed this wilderness world. He finds those who are not seeking him, and, with hands of love and shoulders of power, brings them home, making himself and all holy beings glad at the finding of the lost. If for us to be saved gives to the Savior so much joy, there must be hope for the very worst. Is it not so?   Adam Clarke's Commentary:  Just persons, which need no repentance.] Who do not require such a change of mind and purpose as these do-who are not so profligate, and cannot repent of sins they have never committed. Distinctions of this kind frequently occur in the Jewish writings. There are many persons who have been brought up in a sober and regular course of life, attending the ordinances of God, and being true and just in all their dealings; these most materially differ from the heathens mentioned, Lu 15:1, because they believe in God, and attend the means of grace: they differ also essentially from the tax-gatherers mentioned in the same place, because they wrong no man, and are upright in their dealings. Therefore they cannot repent of the sins of a heathen, which they have not practised; nor of the rapine of a tax-gatherer, of which they have never been guilty. As, therefore, these just persons are put in opposition to the tax-gatherers and heathens, we may at once see the scope and design of our Lord's words: these needed no repentance in comparison of the others, as not being guilty of their crimes. And as these belonged, by outward profession at least, to the flock of God, and were sincere and upright according to their light, they are considered as being in no danger of being lost; and at they fear God, and work righteousness according to their light, he will take care to make those farther discoveries to them, of the purity of his nature, the holiness of his law, and the necessity of the atonement, which he sees to be necessary. See the case of Cornelius, Ac 10:1, &c. On this ground, the owner is represented as feeling more joy in consequence of finding one sheep that was lost, there having been almost no hope of its recovery, than he feels at seeing ninety and nine still safe under his care. "Men generally rejoice more over a small unexpected advantage, than over a much greater good to which they have been accustomed." There are some, and their opinion need not be hastily rejected, who imagine that by the ninety and nine just persons, our Lord means the angels-that they are in proportion to men, as ninety-nine are to one, and that the Lord takes more pleasure in the return and salvation of one sinner, than in the uninterrupted obedience of ninety-nine holy angels; and that it was through his superior love to fallen man that he took upon him his nature, and not the nature of angels. I have met with the following weak objection to this: viz. "The text says just persons; now, angels are not persons, therefore angels cannot be meant." This is extremely foolish; there may be the person of an angel, as well as of a man; we allow persons even in the Godhead; besides, the original word, means simply just ones, and may be, with as much propriety, applied to angels as to men. After all, our Lord may refer to the Essenes, a sect among the Jews, in the time of our Lord, who were strictly and conscientiously moral; living at the utmost distance from both the hypocrisy and pollutions of their countrymen. These, when compared with the great mass of the Jews, needed no repentance. The reader may take his choice of these interpretations, or make a better for himself. I have seen other methods of explaining these words; but they have appeared to me either too absurd or too improbable to merit particular notice.   Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary: No comment on this verse.

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