Luke 5:32
in Luke 5I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
KJV
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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This verse in Luke 5
Commentary
12 notes on this verseBut how does God love righteousness, and David has never seen the righteous man forsaken, if the righteous are excluded, the sinner called; unless you understand that He meant by the righteous those who boast of the law, (Ps. 11:7, Ps. 37:25.) and seek not the grace of the Gospel. Now no one is justified by the law, but redeemed by grace. He therefore calls not those who call themselves righteous, for the claimers to righteousness are not called to grace. For if grace is from repentance, surely he who despises repentance renounces grace.
This site's exposition
great feast in his own house
on Luke 5:29-32
Levi made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them, the new disciple's first act an invitation, bringing his old circle to meet the one who called him rather than abandoning them for respectable company. The scribes and Pharisees murmured, why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners, table fellowship in that culture a declaration of acceptance, which is exactly what scandalized the critics watching from outside. Jesus answers with a physician's own logic, they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, the meal itself becoming the sermon, since a doctor is found where the sick are, not where health is already assumed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
(ubi sup.) Hence He adds, to repentance, which serves well to explain the passage, that no one should suppose that sinners, because they are sinners, are loved by Christ, since that similitude of the sick plainly suggests what our Lord meant by calling sinners, as a Physician, the sick, in order that from iniquity as from sickness they should be saved.
A commentator
Pseudo-ClementSecond Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement) · Written before 400.
proposed
And another Scripture says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. …
It follows, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. As if He should say, So far am I from hating sinners, that for their sakes only I came, not that they should remain sinners, but be converted and become righteous. Now He speaks of the righteous ironically, as when He says, Behold Adam is become as one of us. (Gen. 3:22.) But that there was none righteous upon the earth St. Paul shows, saying, All have sinned, and need the grace of God. (Rom. 3:23.)
But He calls those sinners, who considering their guilt, and feeling that they cannot be justified by the law, submit themselves by repentance to the grace of Christ.
The Medieval Church1 voice
It is rejected thirdly from the rectitude of supernal equity, by which He condescends more to the humble sinner than to the proud just person: and therefore He adds: I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance: the just, that is, those …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
"I have not come to call the just but sinners" can also be properly understood in this way. He has not called those who, wishing to establish their own justice, have not been made subject to the justice of God. He calls those who, being …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I came not to call the righteous,....
These are glad tidings of great joy indeed. It was a wonder of his grace that he did so patiently bear the contradiction of sinners against himself and his disciples,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
The verses we have now read, ought to be deeply interesting to every one who knows the value of his immortal soul, and desires salvation. They describe the conversion and experience of one of Christ's earliest disciples. We also, are all by nature born in sin, and need conversion. Let us see what we know of the mighty change. Let us compare our own experience with that of the man whose case is here described — and by comparison learn wisdom. We are taught, in this passage — the power of Christ's calling grace.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1858)
proposed
The verses we have now read, ought to be deeply interesting to every one who knows the value of his immortal soul, and desires salvation. They describe the conversion and experience of one of Christ's earliest disciples. We also, are all by nature born in sin, and need conversion. Let us see what we know of the mighty change. Let us compare our own experience with that of the man whose case is here described — and by comparison learn wisdom. We are taught, in this passage — the power of Christ's calling grace. We read that our Lord called a tax-collector named Levi to become one of His disciples. This man belonged to a class who were a very proverb for wickedness among the Jews. Yet even to him our Lord says, "Follow Me!" We read furthermore, that such mighty influence on Levi's heart accompanied our Lord's words, that although "sitting at his tax booth," when called — he at once got up, left everything, followed Jesus, and became His disciple. We must never despair of any one's salvation, so long as he lives — after reading a case like this. We must never say of anyone that he is too wicked , or too hardened , or too worldly — to be saved. No sins are too many, or too bad — to be forgiven. No heart is too hard or too worldly — to be changed. He who called Levi still lives, and is the same that He was 1800 years ago. With Christ, nothing is impossible! How is it with ourselves? This, after all, is the grand question. Are we waiting, and delaying, and hanging back — under the idea that the cross is too heavy, and that we can never serve Christ? Let us cast such thoughts away at once and forever. Let us believe that Christ can enable us by His Spirit to give up all, and come out from the world. Let us remember that He who called Levi, never changes. Let us take up the cross boldly, and go forward.
How the passage was read
On Luke 5:27-39On Luke 5:27-39
Levi's feast and the old wine
Levi “made him a great feast in his own house,” and the objection came at the guest list: the Pharisaic table discipline meant an observant associate did not eat with the non-observant, whose food might be untithed and whose vessels unclean, and tax collectors stood furthest outside the circle of trust: the Mishnah rules a house unclean if tax collectors have entered it (Taharot 7:6), and even permits declaring untruths to them under duress, classing them with robbers (Nedarim 3:4). The table Jesus chose was a boundary deliberately crossed: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The fuller table-and-fasting background is in this site's Matthew 9 note.
Luke alone keeps the last saying: “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” Spoken at a Jewish table about Jewish devotion, it is a gracious word, not a sneer: Jesus knows exactly why the old ways taste right to those formed by them, even as He announces something new that will not fit the old wineskins.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Taharot 7:6 (tax collectors and the unclean house) · Mishnah Nedarim 3:4 (vows made to tax collectors)
The words behind it
8 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οὐκ | ouk | Not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἐλήλυθα | elelutha | I have come | G2064 → | 628 times |
| καλέσαι | kalesai | to call | G2564 → | 147 times |
| δικαίους | dikaious | righteous [ones] | G1342 → | 79 times |
| ἀλλ᾽ | all᾽ | but | G235 → | 635 times |
| ἁμαρτωλοὺς | hamartolous | sinners | G268 → | 47 times |
| εἰς | eis | to | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| μετάνοιαν. | metanoian | repentance. | G3341 → | 22 times |
οὐκNot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἐλήλυθαI have come
eleluthaG2064 →628 times
καλέσαιto call
kalesaiG2564 →147 times
δικαίουςrighteous [ones]
dikaiousG1342 →79 times
ἀλλ᾽but
all᾽G235 →635 times
ἁμαρτωλοὺςsinners
hamartolousG268 →47 times
εἰςto
eisG1519 →1755 times
μετάνοιαν.repentance.
metanoianG3341 →22 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 19:10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 34:16
I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
- 1 Timothy 1:13–16
I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- Luke 5:31–32
Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
- Luke 15:4–7
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds…
- Ezekiel 34:16
Through
Luke 15:7In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.
it leads to
- Luke 15:10
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
- Luke 15:10
Through
Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
it leads to
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Acts 2:38
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Isaiah 44:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
About Luke
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.21; Bonaventure, Commentary on Luke, Chapter 5; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Pseudo-Clement, Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement).