Luke 18:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

NIV: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

NASB: Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

CSB: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

NLT: Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.

KJV: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

NKJV: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

This begins the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. From here through the end of the chapter, Jesus contrasts different reactions to the kingdom of God to show that humility is an essential ingredient of faith.

In Jesus' era, the Pharisees are a particular Jewish sect. They are unofficial religious leaders in Jewish culture. Their realm is among the people and in the synagogue; they do not have authority in the temple like the priests do and very few are in the Sanhedrin—the Jewish ruling council—which is typically filled with Sadducees. Like Sadducees, Pharisees strongly believe in the Pentateuch: the five books of the Mosaic law. Unlike Sadducees, they believe in the resurrection of the dead. They are most identified by their adherence to extra-biblical rules that were developed to put a hedge around the Mosaic law. Like the Zealots, they want the Romans gone and the Jews to rule their own nation again. But they are afraid of exile, so they try to appease both God and the Romans.

While Jews tend to hold Pharisees in high regard, they despise tax collectors. In Jewish areas, tax collectors are Jews who work for Gentiles who have taken a contract to collect money from the people for the Roman government. The man who holds the contract adds his own fee to what the Romans demand, and the tax collector, himself, is welcome to collect even more for himself. Piling these commissions on top of the tax make it difficult for people who barely survive on what they have left. In addition, the close contact tax collectors have with Gentiles leaves them ceremonially unclean. The fact that this tax collector is at the temple means he must have ceremonially purified himself. His presence there cost him something.

The King James Version uses the term "publican": someone who deals with public revenue. Technically, these publicans are the Gentiles who hold the contract, not the tax collectors who collect the money for the publicans.

Luke 18:9–14 records the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. This is Jesus' second prayer-based contrast. The unrighteous judge of the prior lesson only granted justice because doing otherwise disturbed his comfort. Yet God promises justice to all His praying followers (Luke 18:1–8). Here, the prayers of a self-righteous Pharisee compare poorly to the humility of a tax collector. Only the tax collector leaves forgiven. The next two stories contrast the guileless trust of children against the hesitation of a wealthy man (Luke 18:15–30). Jesus gives a similar moral in Matthew 6:5–6.

Luke continues to arrange Jesus' teachings by their topic. Here, he includes two parables: the persistent widow and the Pharisee and the tax collector. Jesus encourages children to approach Him. He interacts with a moral, wealthy man who can't bear to follow Jesus if it means giving up wealth. After another prediction of His death, Jesus encounters and heals a blind man on His way to Jerusalem.

Luke 18 approaches the end of Jesus' "travelogue" to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51—19:27). Luke has selected miracles, teachings, and events to show how Jesus trained His disciples. His emphasis was explaining the kingdom of God in preparation for their work to build the church. Luke 18 includes several contrasts between those who understand God's kingdom and those who don't. Luke 19 includes the story of Zacchaeus and another parable before Jesus' triumphal entry and the Passion Week. These stories are also found primarily in Matthew 19—20 and Mark 10.

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10) and a physician (Colossians 4:14). Unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke writes his gospel as an historian, rather than as a first-hand eyewitness. His extensive writings also include the book of Acts (Acts 1:1–3). These are deliberately organized, carefully researched accounts of those events. The gospel of Luke focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke's Gentile perspective presents Christ as a Savior for all people, offering both forgiveness and direction to those who follow Him.