Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Grace in Focus. In Luke 15:32, the prodigal son’s father said his son had been dead but was now alive again. According to the story that Jesus told, it is not said that the son died and came back to life. So what was meant by this? The here we will discuss it. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. So glad you’re with us today. Our website is faithalone.org. We also produce weekly YouTube videos. Our channel is YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. Please subscribe and like and learn from our videos at YouTube Grace Evangelical Society. Our website once again, faithalone.org.

And now with our discussion of the day, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr. 

SAM: Well, Bob, we have another question. This is from David and it’s on the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Specifically, this is about the last verse in that parable, verse 32 where he says, “This brother of yours was dead and” either “has begun to live” or “has came back to life”, depending on which version you’re reading from. And then it says “he was lost and has been found”. So the question is, what does it mean that the son or the brother died and came back to life or has come to life again? 

BOB: Okay, good question. And if you have the New King James and I think you have it, I believe it says this, “My son, your brother was dead and is alive again”.

SAM: For your brother was dead and is alive again.

BOB: Yeah. Now, when you look at the Greek text, you can see why there’s a difference of opinion because there’s a textual issue. The expression “alive” again is from the verb, anezesen, or anazao, which would be to be alive again. That’s in the majority of manuscripts, but the Critical text just reads ezesen from zao, which means “to be alive”. And so you can see why they wouldn’t say he was dead and is alive, or I think some of the other translations might say has been made alive or something along those lines, but I take the Majority text is correct that he’s alive again, which doesn’t fit, by the way, Calvinism, because you can’t be born again again. 

And the issue here isn’t the new birth. The issue is before he left to go to the far country, he was in fellowship with his father. That is, he was alive in the sense of being in fellowship with his father. When he went to the far country, he ceased being in fellowship with his father, and so he was dead to his father. And then when he came back, he was alive again. Kind of like I like that show Shark Tank and Mr. Wonderful, he will sometimes, when he decides he’s not going to do business with a particular person, he’s not going to do any venture capital, he’ll say, “You’re dead to me.” Well, he doesn’t mean they’re physically dead, but he means, I’m not going to have anything to do with you. Well, that’s what happened when the prodigal son was in the far country. He or more or less said to his dad, you’re dead to me. Now, he didn’t say that, but that’s what he did by leaving. 

And I think it’s important to recognize that this term “dead” in Scripture, is used many ways. Even spiritual death has two major components, or three maybe. One spiritual component of being spiritually dead means I lack eternal life. Like, look at Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul is talking about the believers in Ephesus before they were made alive by God. But what does he say in Ephesians 2:1-3? 

SAM: He says, “And you, He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which he once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” 

BOB: So notice, now a lot of people think it says you were dead because of trespasses and sins. No, that’s not what it says. They were “dead in trespasses and sins”. And what this is talking about is they were in bondage to sin. Romans 6 talks about that, that when we come to faith, we’re set free from sin’s bondage. Jesus talked about that in John 8:30-32, and said that when we come to faith, we’re positionally set free, and then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free, in your experience. 

So when it’s talking about dead there, it’s talking about lacking eternal life. You are dead in the sphere of your trespasses and sins. That’s why Jesus said in John 8:24, “If you do not believe I am He, you will die in your sins.” That’s talking about physical death, and it’s saying, you will go to your grave, a slave of sin, if you don’t come to faith in Me. But when we come to faith in Jesus, we’re not only given eternal life, but we’re also set free from sin’s bondage. 

So I would argue that the Ephesians 2:1-5 or so, the deadness there is talking about lacking eternal life. But in Luke 15:32, the death there is talking about a person who has eternal life, but is dead in terms of his fellowship with the Father, which is alluding to a believer who’s gone to the spiritual far country and is out of fellowship with God the Father. 

SAM: Right, is this the same as 1 John, walking in the light versus walking in the darkness? His son was—chose to continue walking in darkness and to the point that we would characterize him as dead, but then he chose to come back to his Father and walk in the light, and he was alive again. 

BOB: Yeah, that’s a good point, because in 1 John, “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” So if we’re walking in the darkness, we’re obviously not having fellowship with God, because there’s no darkness in God. God has no fellowship with darkness. 

Now walking in darkness doesn’t mean sinning because 1 John 1:8, and 1 John 1:10 are very clear. We all sin all the time. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned”, past tense, and present tense “fall short of the glory of God”. Every one of us fall short of the glory of God, now and every day. 

But walking in the light means walking in God’s revelation. The light is his revelation, his truth. So I’m part of a church, a believing community that proclaims the light of God’s word clearly. And if I am, then I’m walking in the light, and as long as I do that, 1 John 1:7, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.”

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BOB: And 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to both forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all trespasses. So as we walk in the light, the revelation of God, God reveals sin, we acknowledge it, and we move on. And that is part of the living experience of the believer who’s in fellowship with God. 

But you’re right. If a believer walks in darkness, now he’s dead to God in terms of his fellowship. He has eternal life, but he’s not enjoying it. 

SAM: Maybe it’s stretching the metaphor too far. But the son could have stayed in his father’s house and still sinned against his father. But if he was there with his father trying to walk according to him and stumbled, then his father would have been forgiving. But what put him in darkness was leaving, taking his inheritance and leaving and squandering it and abandoning his father. And then coming back to his father is what gave him that life back and not that he just stopped sinning. 

BOB: Yeah, that’s a good point. And in the three parables in Luke 15 all have something departing, right? The first one, this good shepherd, you got a hundred sheep in the fold and one wanders off. And the shepherd goes and finds the one that wanders and brings him back to the fold. With the lost coin, the woman loses one of the ten coins. She sweeps out the house, finds it, brings it back. 

And then with the son, he’s got two sons, one departs. In this case, instead of the father going all the way to the far country, getting him and bringing him back, the picture is the father is walking out and looking to see if the son is coming repeatedly because the day he comes home, the father’s out there looking for him and he runs and falls on his neck and prays with him, cries with him, weeps with him, gives him the robe, the ring, gives him sandals because the guy had lost everything in the far country. 

And that’s the thing, if we are out of fellowship with God, then we are experiencing the pain and suffering that goes along with those who are walking in darkness.You know, Proverbs, you got to be careful because if you walk in darkness, you’re going to stumble and you’re going to get hurt. The New Testament says that as well, that we’re going to fall if we’re walking in the darkness. 1 John talks about that. 

So yeah, I think the key is to recognize that the prodigal son, the younger son, represents someone who is out of fellowship. Now use the illustration of someone could be at home and still out of fellowship. Yeah, I mean, you do find that with children out of fellowship, with their parents, with a husband out of fellowship with his wife, but hopefully they get back in fellowship, right? 

There can be estrangement between a husband and wife that can ultimately lead to separation and even divorce, but that doesn’t need to happen. That’s why couples that are having difficulties, they should go to counseling and they should say, this relationship is our priority. And before God, we are committed till death to us part. Divorce is not an option. We’re going to make this work and we’re going to find help to understand why it is we’re hitting these problems. The believers who just throw up their hands and go, Oh, I can’t live with him. I can’t live with her. They’re just too much of a pain. That person is rebelling ultimately against God. Unless they have biblical grounds, Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9-10. But again, even there, I would say the biblical principle is, reconciliation is desired. 

SAM: So to bring it back to Luke 15, the “come back to life”, you would argue the Majority text is correct there. He came back to life, not that he—

BOB: Or he’s alive again. 

SAM: Or he’s alive again and like in James 2, if something is dead, like your faith is dead, that death proves that there was once life there. 

BOB: Yeah, in fact, I wouldn’t even say that the faith is dead because James has three times in James 2:17, 20 and 27, at least the Majority text three times, in the Critical text twice, “faith without works is dead”. He doesn’t say faith is dead. He says “faith without works is dead”. It’s about like saying this, a car without gasoline is dead. It’s still a car. It still exists. It’s still functional. It just won’t work until you put fuel in it. In the same way, faith without works is unprofitable, ineffective, it’s useless. In fact, that’s why 2:14 and 2:16 started and end with “what does it profit” or “what use is it”.

But anyway, that’s another example of the word dead, where it doesn’t mean faith without works is not faith. It means faith that works is unproductive. 

SAM: So the prodigal son would be a believer without fellowship with God is dead, or is unproductive. So if you’re not in fellowship with God, you’re a car without gas. 

BOB: Yeah. And so you need to get back in fellowship and you’re fueled up again. All right. Amen. 

So great question, David. If you have any other questions, send them in, keep them short. We’d like to answer your question on the air. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus. 

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On our next episode: did John the Baptist command individuals to repent of all their sins? Please join us for that. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.