I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
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Luke 15:5-9
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) (public domain).
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 Luk 15:29; Luk 15:31). In other words, such as have grown up from childhood in the fear of God and as the sheep of His pasture.
Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.
Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The 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 publican.
Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.