Luke 19:10

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.—Like words had been spoken once before, under circumstances that presented a very striking contrast to those now before us. Then the loving purpose of the Christ had for its object the “little child,” as yet untouched by the world’s offences (Matthew 18:2; Matthew 18:11): now it rested on the publican, whose manhood had been marred by them. The same law of work is reproduced in a more emphatic form. There it had been that He “came to save:” here it is that He came to “seek” as well.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:1-10 Those who sincerely desire a sight of Christ, like Zaccheus, will break through opposition, and take pains to see him. Christ invited himself to Zaccheus' house. Wherever Christ comes he opens the heart, and inclines it to receive him. He that has a mind to know Christ, shall be known of him. Those whom Christ calls, must humble themselves, and come down. We may well receive him joyfully, who brings all good with him. Zaccheus gave proofs publicly that he was become a true convert. He does not look to be justified by his works, as the Pharisee; but by his good works he will, through the grace of God, show the sincerity of his faith and repentance. Zaccheus is declared to be a happy man, now he is turned from sin to God. Now that he is saved from his sins, from the guilt of them, from the power of them, all the benefits of salvation are his. Christ is come to his house, and where Christ comes he brings salvation with him. He came into this lost world to seek and to save it. His design was to save, when there was no salvation in any other. He seeks those that sought him not, and asked not for him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 18:11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. lost—and such "lost" ones as this Zaccheus. (See on [1697]Lu 15:32.) What encouragement is there in this narrative to hope for unexpected conversions?

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 19:9"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the son of man,.... Meaning himself, who was truly man, and the Messiah, and which was one of his names in the Old Testament:

is come: from heaven, into this world, being sent by the Father, and with the full consent and good will of his own:

to seek and save that which was lost: as all his elect were in Adam, and by their own actual transgressions; and are considered as such, whilst in a state of unregeneracy: and particularly the lost sheep of the house of Israel are meant, one of which Zacchaeus was; and so the words are a reason of Christ's looking him up, and calling him by his grace, and making a discovery of himself, and an application of salvation to him; see Matthew 18:11.

Geneva Study Bible

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 19:10. A great key-word to Christ’s idea of His own mission—a Saviour.—τὸ ἀπολωλός, the lost, a pathetic name for the objects of Christ’s quest; its shades of meaning to be learned from the parables in Luke 15 : lost as a sheep, a coin, a foolish son may be lost. Here the term points to the social degradation and isolation of the publicans. They were social lepers. With reference to the conduct of Jesus in this case Euthy. Zig. remarks: “It is necessary to despise the little scandal when a great salvation comes to any one and not to lose the great on account of the little” (χρὴ γὰρ τοῦ μικροῦ σκανδάλου καταφρονεῖν, ἔνθα μεγάλη σωτηρία τινὶ προσγίνεται, καὶ μὴ διὰ τὸ μικρὸν ἀπόλλειν (sic) τὸ μέγα). The significance of Christ choosing a publican for His host in a town where many priests dwelt has been remarked on. Art. “Publican” in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. that which was lost] See Luke 15:1-32; Matthew 18:11; 1 Timothy 1:15; Ezekiel 34:11-16.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 19:10. Τὸ ἀπολωλὸς, that which was lost) viz. which had been lost (undone), both in the way of a loss negatively (‘amissionem,’ a losing by carelessness or inadvertence) and in the way of positive destruction (‘interitum,’ death, ruin). For the participle ἀπολωλὸς [that which was both lost and destroyed] corresponds to the two verbs, ζητῆσαι καὶ σῶσαι, to seek and to save. It was for this purpose that the Saviour came to the sinner, to his house.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. A quiet rebuke to the Pharisees and priests and their followers, who would limit the redeemed. Surely the "publicans" and the great tempted mass of mankind needed him more than the happy privileged class. It was for the sake of these poor wandering sheep that he left his home of grandeur and peace. But there was a vein of sad irony running through these words of the Master. Between the lines we seem to read some such thoughts as these: "You know, O priests and Pharisees, you do not want me. You think you are safe already. But these poor despised ones, they want, they welcome me, like this Zacchaeus." This, too, was a lesson for all time. This scene probably took place the evening of the Lord's arrival at Zacchaeus's house at Jericho, after the evening meal, when the room arid court of the house were filled with guests and curious spectators. Dean Plumptre has an interesting suggestion that Zacchaeus the publican was one and the same with the publican of Luke 18:10-14, who in the temple "smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! Is it too bold a conjecture that he who saw Nathanael under the fig tree (John 1:48) had seen Zacchaeus in the temple, and that the figure in the parable of Luke 18:14 was in fact a portrait?" Luke 19:10