SEV Biblia, Chapter 15:7
Os digo, que así habr ms gozo en el cielo de un pecador que se enmienda, que de noventa y nueve justos, que no tienen necesidad de enmendarse.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Luke 15:7
Verse 7. 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, ver. 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, Acts x. 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, dikaioiv, 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary gill42z15z7
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-10 - The parable of the lost sheep is very applicable to the great work of man's redemption. The lost sheep represents the sinner as departed from God, and exposed to certain ruin if not brought back to him, yet no desirous to return. Christ is earnest in bringing sinners home. In the parable of the lost piece of silver, that which is lost, is one piece of small value compared with the rest. Yet the woman seeks diligentl till she finds it. This represents the various means and methods God makes use of to bring lost souls home to himself, and the Saviour's jo on their return to him. How careful then should we be that ou repentance is unto salvation!
Greek Textus Receptus
λεγω 3004 5719 V-PAI-1S υμιν 5213 P-2DP οτι 3754 CONJ ουτως 3779 ADV χαρα 5479 N-NSF εσται 2071 5704 V-FXI-3S εν 1722 PREP τω 3588 T-DSM ουρανω 3772 N-DSM επι 1909 PREP ενι 1520 A-DSM αμαρτωλω 268 A-DSM μετανοουντι 3340 5723 V-PAP-DSM η 2228 PRT επι 1909 PREP εννενηκονταεννεα 1768 A-NUI δικαιοις 1342 A-DPM οιτινες 3748 R-NPM ου 3756 PRT-N χρειαν 5532 N-ASF εχουσιν 2192 5719 V-PAI-3P μετανοιας 3341 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
7. Repenteth. See on Matt. iii. 2.THE PARABLES OF THE LOST COIN AND OF THE PRODIGAL SON.
Peculiar to Luke. 8-32.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
15:7 {Over one sinner that repenteth} (epi heni hamartwlwi metanoounti). The word sinner points to verse #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} (e 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 creian ecousin 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 5:31f.). They posed as "righteous." Very well, qen. That shuts their mouths on the point of Christ's saving the publicans and sinners.
