Regarding the other son, who was upset about the feast given to the prodigal son:

What is the general perception about his state? Was he regenerate or not?

I have always taken the position that he was, given the father telling him that "son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."

However, I heard a sermon recently that he may have been reprobate, given (1) the context preceding this parable and the parable of the lost sheep was given in response to comments from the PHARISEES; and (2) the son was related to Jesus' Matthew 7 text of "not all who say to me 'Lord, Lord'.

Certainly the son was bitter against his prodigal brother and protested his case to his father for wrong reasons; but did this make him reprobate?

What are your comments here?

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Randy Harris
Heritage Church (Independent)
Oklahoma City, OK

A case can be made that the son who remained home was more like the Pharisees than the son who repented. The son who remained home displayed hardness of heart, a bit of narcissism and ungratefulness. All that the father had was his, just like the Pharisees.

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Bill Brown
Elder
Grace Baptist Church
Anne Arundel County, Maryland

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Ok, so do you think he was reprobate or not?

In the same sermon I mentioned in the original post, the preacher referenced Johah, who is being discussed in another thread.

But again, just because Jonah was bitter and had wrongful feelings and reactions, does not automatically consign him to reprobation.

Who on this board could not honestly say that at some point in their life, they have not been bitter against another brother for some reason?

I think it is dangerous to go overboard on pronouncements regarding some of these texts.

I wouldn't ask that question of the text. I don't think saved not saved is in view. It is a picture of a Loving father who keeps watch and welcomes home his disobedient son.

BTW I read a short work by an author named Brown to be very culturally instructive thus shedding much light on the parable. I would reccomend it.

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Bruce
PCUSA
Ocean City NJ

Would not the older son be the Pharisees? He has the advantage, being in such close proximity with the father(Pharisees knowing the OT prophesies and their great knowledge of Scripture) he should understand the father's love. But just like the Pharisees, his hardened heart was covered like a whitewashed tomb, with "obedience" to the father. So he would be reprobate?

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Ian Kemmerer
Covenant Presbetyrian Church,Reading,PA
Fleetwood,PA

"Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart, And all is darkened in the vale of tears, Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart, Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay From His own fullness all He takes away."

Hello!

I thought this would be a fine oppurtunity tp link to a sermon by John MacArthur. It really shed some light on this text


Also A5pointer,

I would be curious in reading that. Any more information you can provide would be great

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Brian E
Attending Christ Reformed Baptist Church
Milwaukee, WI

Perchance, was it, David Brown, The Elder Brother of the Prodigal Son?

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Andrew Myers
Husband of Jessica, Father of Jackson, Katie and Samuel
Member, Presbyterian Reformed Church of Northern Virginia
Warrenton, VA USA
Editor, The Matthew Poole Project

"On land, at sea, at home, abroad, / I smoke my pipe and worship God." -- J.S. Bach

The story ends with the elder brother never going into the feast (a type of salvation).

The parable depicts the two ways of living apart from Christ; rebellion-younger brother and self-righteousness-elder brother. Both rebellion and self-righteousness are pictures of men becoming their own god and their own standard.

Only one repented in the story (younger brother). You never find the elder brother repenting of his self-righteousness. Notice what the elder brother says in verse 29, "neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment..." It becomes quite clear from the context of Luke that Jesus was dealing with the publicans and sinners (younger brother) and the Pharisees (elder brother).

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Ryan Barnhart - Pastor of OGBC
Husband to a beautiful wife, Father to two beautiful girls
"But by the grace of God I am what I am." I Corinthians 15:10

"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms. And in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." - John Paton

Interesting points. I guess where I struggled with the elder being reprobate was the father saying "son, you are ALWAYS with me, and all I have is yours." This is a different tone than that spoken in other parables to the pharisees, where the subjects are definitely taken out to the place of darkness and weeping/gnashing teeth.

Note also that in Acts 15 and Acts 18, we do have evidence of SOME pharisees and chief priests having become believers.

I had always regarded the elder brother at being bitter at having faithfully served the Lord, but seeing the the younger had engaged in decadent living but was restored with full status as a son. I have read/witnessed this same type of bitterness in life, and that certainly happens that believers can become bitter/jealous/envious of other believers for numerous reasons.

Gill on verse 31:

Lk 15:3 "He spake this parable unto THEM..." Who are they? Pharasees. "unto them" is pros autous, which is more accurately in this context "against them."

Furthermore, it is arguable that he does not "finish" the parable--either because he is "cut off" by his enemies here (is this MacArthur's point? I think it is, without listening to him again). Or, he simply breaks it off, and lets them fill in the rest--they know against whom he's directing the parable.

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Rev. Bruce G. Buchanan
ChainOLakes Presbyterian Church, CentralLake, MI


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MacArthur's Sermons on the Prodigal Son are the absolute best I've heard thus far on the subject.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
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I agree with Bruce. It is apparently obvious to the listeners that the older brother out in the darkness refusing to come into his father's house to celebrate is the Pharisee.

I also believe that Christ left the Parable open ended for a reason. A character in a Parable is neither reprobate nor elect - they are characters in a Parable. There were some Pharisees that persecuted Christians that later became Christians.

I see this as a warning to the Pharisees (or those like them).

Incidentally, I loved MacArthur's series on this as well and have used some elements from it to point out the very powerful aspects of the Gospel with respect to undeserved inheritance on several occassions.

__________________
Rich
Okinawa, Japan

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Not sure if you would be interested but i did read in a letter from MacArthur that he is putting out a book on this sometime this spring. I think it was either march or April. (Dont quote me about the date)

But i think it will be a welcome addition to any believers library

Aleister Begg also has a great sermon series on it called: "Amazing Love"