Luke 15:21

21 And [his] son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and {in your sight}! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!'

Luke 15:21 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 15:21

And the son said unto him, father
Or "my father", as the Syriac version reads; and the Persic version adds, "pardon me": sin lay heavy on him, and he wanted a view and application of pardoning grace, though he seems to be prevented making this request by the kiss he received from his father:

I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight;
this is what he determined to say, and was allowed to say, having a deep sense of his sin and vileness, and which was increased by the love and kindness his father had shown him. The phrase is Jewish; (See Gill on Luke 15:18) to which may be added, what is elsewhere said ^F3,

``what is the sense of that passage, ( Psalms 12:4 ) "who have said, with our tongues we will prevail?" &c. it designs all the transgressions a man sins against earth; and if (Mymvb Nyajwx) , "they sin against heaven", and earth; what is the sense of that in ( Psalms 73:9 ) ?''

and am no more worthy to be called thy son:
so much he was suffered to say, which fully expresses his sense of his vileness and unworthiness: but he was not allowed to say, "make me as one of thy hired servants"; because this could not be granted; for a son is always a son, and cannot become a servant; see ( Galatians 4:6 Galatians 4:7 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 T. Hieros Peah, fol. 16. 1.

Luke 15:21 In-Context

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son! Make me like one of your hired workers.'

20 And he set out [and] came to his own father. But [while] he was still a long way away, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran {and embraced him} and kissed him.

21 And [his] son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and {in your sight}! I am no longer worthy to be called your son!'

22 But [his] father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put [it] on him, and put a ring on his finger and sandals on [his] feet!

23 And bring the fattened calf--kill [it] and let us eat [and] celebrate,

Footnotes

• [a] *Literally "the"; the Greek article is used here as a possessive pronoun
• [b] Literally "in the sight of you"