XV. 1. "HEAN δὲ ἐγγίζοντες αὐτῷ] πάντες of τελῶναι καὶ οἱ
o£ , ο 8, 2) lol ἁμαρτωλοί, ἀκούειν αὐτοῦ.
καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς, λέγοντες, “ Ὅτι οὗτος ἁμαρτωλοὺς " προσδέχεται,
1 αντω εγγ. in NAB. Ὦ has eyy. a.
to deliberate is left out or latent in the requirement of renunciation, which is the reason for deliberation.
Vv. 34-35. The saying concerning salt (Mt. v. 13, Mk. ix. 5ο). This logion may have been repeatedly uttered by Jesus, but it does not seem to be 5ο appropriate here as in its place in Mk. In this place the salt appears to denote disciples and the idea to be: genuine disciples are an excellent thing, valuable as salt to a corrupt world, but spurious disciples are as utterly worth- less as salt which has lost its savour.— Ver. 35. οὔτε εἰς γῆν οὔτε eis κοπρίαν, neither for land nor for dung (is it fit, εὔθετον as in ix. 62). The idea seems to be that savourless salt is neither earth nor manure.—é~w is emphatic = out they cast it, as worthless, good for nothing, mere refuse, a waste substance.
CHAPTER XV. PARABLES TEACHING THE ΙΟΥ OF FINDING THINGS LOST. Nothing is gained by insisting anxiously on historical connection here. The in- troduction of these beautiful parables of grace at this point is a matter of tact rather than of temporal sequence, so far as the conscious motive of the evangelist is concerned. They are brought in as a set-off to the severe discourse in the closing section of the previous chapter, in which Jesus seems to assume a re- pellent attitude towards those who desired to follow Him. Here, in happy contrast, He appears as One who graciously received the sinful, regardless of unfavourable comments. The parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son are here given as a self- defence of Jesus against Pharisaic fault- finding. Whether they were first spoken in that connection, or uttered in that connection alone, cannot be determined. So far as their main drift is concerned they might have been spoken to any audience; to critical Pharisees, to disciples (the first is given in Mt. xviii. 12-14 as spoken to the Twelve), to synagogue audiences, or to a gathering of publicans and sinners like that in Capernaum (LK. v. 29-32) ; controversial, didactic, or evangelic, as the case might be. Quite possibly the original setting of these parables was a synagogue dis-