The Meaning of Luke 5:32 Explained

Luke 5:32

KJV: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

YLT: I came not to call righteous men, but sinners, to reformation.'

Darby: I am not come to call righteous persons, but sinful ones to repentance.

ASV: I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.

What is the context of Luke 5:32?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I came  not  to call  the righteous,  but  sinners  to  repentance. 

What does Luke 5:32 Mean?

Study Notes

sinners
See, Romans 5:6 ; Romans 5:8 ; 1 Timothy 1:15 .

Context Summary

Luke 5:27-39 - Feasting And Fasting
Matthew in his Gospel says nothing of this great feast; the Spirit of God saw that it should not be forgotten. "When saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee?" Matthew 25:37. Advertise yourself and God will leave you unnoticed. You will have had your reward. Be content to do things, as Jesus appointed, and Matthew 6:4 will follow.
Let us not cling to the broken bottle-skins of the past, whether they be out-worn ceremonies, creeds or formulations of truth. Let the ferment of each great religious movement and new era express itself in its own way. We must not encourage the ill-judged speed of those who want to force the pace, and fling away the bottle-skins before they are done with. But if the bottle-skins have evidently served their purpose and lie discarded on the ground, that will not affect the vintage, which is reddening on the hills. Go and pick the fruit God is giving you, place it carefully in baskets and let it have new skins. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 5

1  Jesus teaches the people out of Peter's ship;
4  shows how he will make them fishers of men;
12  cleanses the leper;
16  prays in the desert;
17  heals a paralytic;
27  calls Matthew the tax collector;
29  eats with sinners, as being the physician of souls;
33  foretells the fasting and afflictions of the apostles after his ascension;
36  and illustrates the matter by the parable of patches

Greek Commentary for Luke 5:32

To repentance [εις μετανοιαν]
Alone in Luke not genuine in Mark 2:17; Matthew 9:12. Only sinners would need a call to repentance, a change of mind and life. For the moment Jesus accepts the Pharisaic division between “righteous” and “sinners” to score them and to answer their criticism. At the other times he will show that they only pretend to be “righteous” and are “hypocrites” in reality. But Jesus has here blazed the path for all soul-winners. The self-satisfied are the hard ones to win and they often resent efforts to win them to Christ. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 5:32

Mark 2:17 The righteous [δικαιους]
Jesus for the sake of argument accepts the claim of the Pharisees to be righteous, though, as a matter of fact, they fell very far short of it. Elsewhere (Matthew 23) Jesus shows that the Pharisees were extortionate and devoured widows‘ houses and wore a cloak of pride and hypocritical respectability. The words “unto repentance” (εις μετανοιαν — eis metanoian) are not genuine in Mark, but are in Luke 5:32. Jesus called men to new spiritual life and away from sin and so to repentance. But this claim stopped their mouths against what Jesus was doing. The well or the strong (ισχυοντες — ischuontes) are not those who need the physician in an epidemic. [source]
1 Timothy 1:15 Faithful is the saying [πιστος ο λογος]
Five times in the Pastorals (1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Timothy 3:1; 1 Timothy 4:9; Titus 3:8; 2 Timothy 2:11). It will pay to note carefully πιστισ πιστευω πιστος — pistisπιστος — pisteuōλογος — pistos Same use of οτι — pistos (trustworthy) applied to αποδοχης — logos in Titus 1:9; Revelation 21:5; Revelation 22:6. Here and probably in 2 Timothy 2:11 a definite saying seems to be referred to, possibly a quotation (αχιος — hoti) of a current saying quite like the Johannine type of teaching. This very phrase (Christ coming into the world) occurs in John 9:37; John 11:27; John 16:28; John 18:37. Paul, of course, had no access to the Johannine writings, but such “sayings” were current among the disciples. There is no formal quotation, but “the whole phrase implies a knowledge of Synoptic and Johannine language” (Lock) as in Luke 5:32; John 12:47. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 5:32 mean?

Not I have come to call righteous [ones] but sinners to repentance
οὐκ ἐλήλυθα καλέσαι δικαίους ἀλλὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν

ἐλήλυθα  I  have  come 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: ἔρχομαι  
Sense: to come.
καλέσαι  to  call 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: καλέω  
Sense: to call.
δικαίους  righteous  [ones] 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: δίκαιος  
Sense: righteous, observing divine laws.
ἁμαρτωλοὺς  sinners 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Plural
Root: ἁμαρτωλός  
Sense: devoted to sin, a sinner.
μετάνοιαν  repentance 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: μετάνοια  
Sense: a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.