Luke 18:14

Luke 18:14. I say unto you. Solemn application.

This man, the publican, went down to his house, returned home, justified, i.e., accepted by God as righteous, in the very sense in which Paul uses the word in his Epistles, that to the Romans being an extended commentary on this statement. Our Lord implies that the publican's prayer was answered, that God was merciful to this sinner, and this is precisely what is meant by justification, namely, God's forgiving our sins and accepting us as righteous.

Bather than the other. Our Lord is very forbearing in His judgment on the Pharisee. But He certainly means that the latter was not justified, for he had not asked for this.

For. A general statement, often repeated by our Lord (chap. Luke 14:11; Matthew 23:12), gives the reason for what had been said of the two men.

Every one that exalteth himself, as this Pharisee did in his self-righteousness, shall be humbled, by God, who does not justify such; but he that humbleth himself, as the publican did, shall be exalted, by God, who hears and answers the prayer.. That answer was justification, hence on the great principle so often set forth, the publican went down to his house justified rather than the other. The Pharisee, though previously a more moral man than the other, failed to be justified, not because he was more moral, but because he was self-righteous; the publican, the worse man of the two, was justified, not because he was worse, but because he was a humble penitent. Of the future course of the two men our Lord has no occasion to speak; but Christ came to make men really holy, as well as to provide for their justification; the one being indissolubly connected with the other. We can distinguish them but not divide them. Hence the future of the publican is not uncertain.