Will There Really Be Greater Joy for One Repentant Sinner than for Ninety-Nine Righteous Ones (Luke 15:7)?
Andrzej Piwowar
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9316-1791
Abstract
Luke 15:7, a theological summary of the parable of the lost sheep, is a pivotal New Testament text on divine mercy. It is commonly interpreted as asserting that heaven rejoices more over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine righteous individuals who need no repentance. However, the Greek text lacks a complete comparative structure, raising questions about whether the conjunct ἤ alone suffices to support a comparative interpretation. This article investigates this issue through a detailed syntactic analysis of Luke 15:7 and evaluates arguments traditionally used to favor a comparative reading. The findings suggest that the independent use of ἤ in the verse indicates an alternative or disjunctive function (‘or’) rather than a comparative one (‘than’), challenging the traditional interpretation of the text : “In the same way there will be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents or over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Keywords:
Gospel of Luke, Luke 15:7, comparisons in Greek, conjunction ἤ, syntactic function of ἤ in Luke 15:7References
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The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9316-1791
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