Lukas 7:47

7:47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; ¹  but the one who is forgiven little loves little.”

Lukas 15:10

15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels ²  over one sinner who repents.”

Lukas 18:13-14

18:13 The tax collector, however, stood ³  far off and would not even look up ⁴  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ⁵  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁶  18:14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified ⁷  rather than the Pharisee. ⁸  For everyone who exalts ⁹  himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Lukas 19:7-9

19:7 And when the people ¹⁰  saw it, they all complained, ¹¹  “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ¹²  19:8 But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give ¹³  to the poor, and if ¹⁴  I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” 19:9 Then ¹⁵  Jesus said to him, “Today salvation ¹⁶  has come to this household, ¹⁷  because he too is a son of Abraham! ¹⁸ 

Lukas 23:43

23:43 And Jesus ¹⁹  said to him, “I tell you the truth, ²⁰  today ²¹  you will be with me in paradise.” ²² 

[7:47]  ¹ tn Grk “for she loved much.” The connection between this statement and the preceding probably involves an ellipsis, to the effect that the ὅτι clause gives the evidence of forgiveness, not the ground. For similar examples of an “evidentiary” ὅτι, cf. Luke 1:22; 6:21; 13:2. See discussion in D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:703-5. Further evidence that this is the case here is the final statement: “the one who is forgiven little loves little” means that the one who is forgiven little is thus not able to love much. The REB renders this verse: “her great love proves that her many sins have been forgiven; where little has been forgiven, little love is shown.”

[7:47]  sn She loved much. Jesus’ point is that the person who realizes how great a gift forgiveness is (because they have a deep sense of sin) has a great love for the one who forgives, that is, God. The woman’s acts of reverence to Jesus honored him as the one who brought God’s message of grace.

[15:10]  ² sn The whole of heaven is said to rejoice. Joy in the presence of God’s angels is a way of referring to God’s joy as well without having to name him explicitly. Contemporary Judaism tended to refer to God indirectly where possible out of reverence or respect for the divine name.

[18:13]  ³ tn Grk “standing”; the Greek participle has been translated as a finite verb.

[18:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “even lift up his eyes” (an idiom).

[18:13]  ⁵ tn The prayer is a humble call for forgiveness. The term for mercy (ἱλάσκομαι, Jilaskomai) is associated with the concept of a request for atonement (BDAG 473-74 s.v. 1; Ps 51:1, 3; 25:11; 34:6, 18).

[18:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “the sinner.” The tax collector views himself not just as any sinner but as the worst of all sinners. See ExSyn 222-23.

[18:14]  ⁷ sn The prayer that was heard and honored was the one given with humility; in a surprising reversal it was the tax collector who went down to his home justified.

[18:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “the other”; the referent (the Pharisee, v. 10) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:14]  ⁹ sn Everyone who exalts himself. See Luke 14:11. Jesus often called for humility and condemned those who sought honor.

[19:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they”; the referent is unspecified but is probably the crowd in general, who would have no great love for a man like Zacchaeus who had enriched himself many times over at their expense.

[19:7]  ¹¹ tn This term is used only twice in the NT, both times in Luke (here and 15:2) and has negative connotations both times (BDAG 227 s.v. διαγογγύζω). The participle λέγοντες (legonte") is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[19:7]  ¹² sn Being the guest of a man who is a sinner was a common complaint about Jesus: Luke 5:31-32; 7:37-50; 15:1-2.

[19:8]  ¹³ sn Zacchaeus was a penitent man who resolved on the spot to act differently in the face of Jesus’ acceptance of him. In resolving to give half his possessions to the poor, Zacchaeus was not defending himself against the crowd’s charges and claiming to be righteous. Rather as a result of this meeting with Jesus, he was a changed individual. So Jesus could speak of salvation coming that day (v. 9) and of the lost being saved (v. 10).

[19:8]  ¹⁴ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text. It virtually confesses fraud.

[19:9]  ¹⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative

[19:9]  ¹⁶ sn This is one of the few uses of the specific term salvation in Luke (1:69, 71, 77), though the concept runs throughout the Gospel.

[19:9]  ¹⁷ sn The household is not a reference to the building, but to the people who lived within it (L&N 10.8).

[19:9]  ¹⁸ sn Zacchaeus was personally affirmed by Jesus as a descendant (son) of Abraham and a member of God’s family.

[23:43]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he.”

[23:43]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:43]  ²¹ sn Jesus gives more than the criminal asked for, because the blessing will come today, not in the future. He will be among the righteous. See the note on today in 2:11.

[23:43]  ²² sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. Here it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. In 2 Cor 12:4 it probably refers to the “third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2) as the place where God dwells.