Parable of the Prodigal Son

                                   Luke 15:11-32

There can be no doubt that verse 24 teaches that this parable applies to lost sinners who get saved by grace. God is content with this interpretation and its preaching from the pulpit.

However, this parable also raises many questions for which there can be only speculative answers. To begin with, the father had two sons with him; one of which became lost and was found again. Does this mean the Father created all humans to belong to Him, but when they become born into the world with original sin, then they become lost?

In addition, the prodigal son wasted his father's money on riotous living. This seems to teach that there exists no originality or creativity to sin. Sin must be merely an invented method for misusing the good resources that God has given us. This theory seems to be bolstered by the story of the fall of Lucifer in Ezekiel 28:12-19. Everything that God gave to Lucifer was good, including his free will. But Lucifer misused his free will to invent a rebellious system of ideas all of which, in themselves, were good. God has created absolutely everything including all thoughts, emotions, and ideas; all of them being good. Lucifer invented a false system of ideas called "excessive pride" by misusing good ideas given to him by God. Both "pride" and "excessive" are good ideas as God knows how to use them. Isaiah 14:12-17 records the result of Lucifer's rebellion.

Did God originally create all humans to be good, but original sin causes them to fall away from that goodness? In verse 24, the father says of his recovered son, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found." The phrases "alive again" and "was lost and is found" implies the recovery of an original state.

Verses 25-32 records the fact that the father really had two wayward sons. The elder son who had stayed with the father and had been obedient to him, nevertheless had sinned against his father by his jealousy of his repentant brother, and his excessive pride in desiring to be his father's only special son. He also sinned against his father by his refusal to love and forgive. His sin was as bad in its own way as was the sin of his brother. The condition of the elder brother recalls Romans 3:23. Christians who were saved at an early age and have lived for God all their lives should remember that they were just as much saved from sin as God's wayward children were. All Christians should rejoice when lost sinners get saved.