Was the Prodigal Son’s Reception Based Upon Performance?
There is a standard answer which is given to the question of whether the prodigal son’s reception was based upon performance. That standard answer is “Of course not.” Is that standard answer really right?
The scribes and Pharisees in Israel found fault with Jesus for accepting people who had been notorious sinners and social outcasts as a result of the life which they had lived (see Mark 2:15-17). They even found fault with Him for preaching to notorious sinners as if there was actually hope of them coming to repentance and being accepted by God. Reading Luke chapter 15 from the beginning proves that the story of the prodigal son, as well as the preceding stories of the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver which are recorded between Luke 15:3 and Luke 15:10, are actually intended as rebukes to the scribes and Pharisees in relation to these things.
The story of the prodigal son is found in Luke 15:11-32.
Luke 15:11-16: “And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.”
The prodigal then made a choice. This choice required action in order for it to even have any real value.
Luke 15:17-19: “And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.”
It is evident that the prodigal needed to come to his senses and return to his righteous father’s home in order for his father to receive him. Don’t be surprised to hear someone complain about how frustrating their attempts to make a full turn away from sin were for them and do not conclude that this frustration means that such a turn is impossible and/or unnecessary. A full 180 degree turn from sin is indeed possible and required. Yet many are willing to turn from sin to some degree while refusing to let go altogether and fully turn. This can indeed make a person’s life frustrating and confusing in a way that it would not be if they were to really surrender to the Lord and make a full turn.
James 1:8: “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
Does God really expect and demand that those living in sin make a full 180 degree turn away from it? Absolutely.
Ezekiel 18:30-31: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
Isaiah 55:6-7: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
This is indeed what the prodigal younger son did. Though the prodigal’s choice to return home was occasioned by the want which he came to in the distant country, it was nevertheless still a choice to submit to the discipline and accountability which his righteous father imposed upon his household.
Luke 15:20-24: “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
Contrary to what lawless gospel preachers might claim, the father cutting his son off before he had finished his confession and receiving him as a son rather than as a servant did not mean that he was privileged to continue in debauchery. The younger son who had been a prodigal was received on a conditional basis rather than on an unconditional basis. The implications of submitting to righteous authority in returning to his father’s house were well understood in the choice which he made to return. Note also that the father did not run to meet him until he saw him returning.
Merriam Webster’s first definition of performance is “the execution of an action.” Since the younger son had to actually choose to leave the sin which he had lived in and actually had to arise and make his way towards his father before he was received by his father, he could not meet the conditions for reception without performing. That means that his reception was indeed based upon performance. Denying this is essentially telling people that they can be in God’s grace as they remain committed to sin.
At this point, the objections and anger of wicked and/or confused Christians are sparked. Many quote Ephesians 2:8-9 and/or cry “justification by faith alone.” Yet Ephesians 2:8-9 is speaking of a different kind of performance than the repentant prodigal son’s. The Bible also does not teach that anyone is justified by faith alone. James chapter 2 actually directly teaches the very opposite. The prodigal son is one of a multitude of Biblical illustrations of how a living faith in the true God must work.
There is a specific performance which meets the conditions for obtaining God’s grace while there is performance which does not. One cannot have the former while being confident about anything which fits into the latter category. Cain and Abel also notably exemplify these things. There is no doubt that the prodigal son considered himself undeserving of his father’s acceptance when he returned to him. He did not believe that he had earned it. Nobody deserves God’s acceptance nor can anyone pay an acceptable redemption price for their sins. Nobody will meet the conditions for His acceptance when they believe that they are deserving of it. Ephesians 2:8-9 is by no means a denial that He still expects us to meet the conditions for receiving His acceptance. Many who hear Ephesians 2:8-9 preached a thousand times might never hear Ephesians 5:5-6 preached about ever.
Ephesians 5:5-6: “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.”
The reaction of the prodigal son’s older brother shows that his overinflated opinion of his own superficial performance is the very thing which prevented him from rendering the performance which his father actually required.
Continuing in Luke 15:25-32: “Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”
The younger son had lived in gross debauchery while the older son lived in rebellion against his father in a more subtle way that wasn’t obvious until this particular circumstance came up. The story of the prodigal son ends with the older brother outside of the father’s house due to his refusal to rejoice over the repentance of his younger brother. There were evil underlying reasons for this refusal which had to be addressed with repentance in order for him to obey his father in the matter which he was intreated over.
The older brother would not be wrong to have said that his younger brother needed to forsake his lifestyle of debauchery in order to be allowed to return to his father’s house. His father himself required that and his younger brother knew it. Jesus taught that sinners need to repent of their sins and do works worthy of repentance in order to be in His grace. The story of the prodigal son itself illustrates this concerning the older brother as well as the younger. And contrary to what is commonly believed, Jesus never went to social gatherings where drunkenness, harlotry, and/or other debauchery was permitted and practiced.
The older son was required to choose to rejoice at his younger brother’s repentance. This requirement came into conflict with many sins which he harbored in his own heart while he served his father superficially. A choice from the older son to obey his father’s request concerning his younger brother would not mean anything unless he actually followed through on it by celebrating the younger brother’s return with his father’s household. Would this be the execution of an action? Absolutely. That also fits the definition of performance.
While it is commonly said that the older brother was wrong to seek his father’s approval on the basis of performance, he was not really obedient to his father and this circumstance revealed that. He actually needed to render a better performance which involved both dropping his unwarranted sense of entitlement and submitting to do everything which his father commanded him. The older brother refusing to rejoice over the younger brother’s repentance was a more socially acceptable expression of controversy with his father compared to what his younger brother had done. However, it was still very wicked. His refusal to rejoice over his younger brother’s repentance was no different in principle than what the younger brother had expressed through his degenerate living in the distant country which he had left home to pursue. Along the same lines, note something Jesus said to Israel’s scribes and Pharisees elsewhere within the Gospel accounts.
Matthew 23:23: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com