09/01/2006
A Prayer
of Jesus
I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and
understanding  and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will

ON PUBLICANS (TAX COLLECTORS)


Here are collected all utterances of Jesus that incorporate the New Testament Greek word, τελώνης (noun, tax collector), and cognates.

The definition, as given by BDAG1:
τελώνης, ου, ὁ -- tax-collector, revenue officer . . . The τελ. in the synoptics (the only part of our lit. where they are mentioned) are not the holders (Lat. publicani) of the ‘taxfarming’ contracts themselves, but subordinates (Lat. portitores) hired by them; the higher officials were usu. foreigners, but their underlings were, as a rule, taken fr. the native population. The prevailing system of tax collection afforded a collector many opportunities to exercise greed and unfairness. Hence tax collectors were particularly hated and despised as a class.

The corresponding English words are colored in blue where they occur in the English text below.

Arndt, William ; Danker, Frederick W. ; Bauer, Walter: A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2000

WHAT DO YOU DO MORE THAN THESE?
Matthew  5

43 You have heard that it was said: You shall agape-love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy. 		M
 Luke 6
44 But I say to you, be agape-loving your enemies and be praying for those persecuting you,
27 But I say to those who hear: Be agape-loving your enemies, be doing good to those hating you.
45 in order that you become sons of your father in [the] heavens. For he makes his sun [to] rise upon the wicked and the good, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust.

46 For if you agape-love those agape-loving you, what reward do you have? Don't the tax- collectors do likewise?
32 And if you agape-love those agape-loving you, how is grace to you? For even sinners agape-love those who agape-love them.
47 And if you only greet your brothers, what do you do more [than] [anyone] [else]? Don't the nations do likewise?
33 And if you do good to those doing good to you, how is grace to you? Even sinners do the same.


34 And if you lend to whom you hope to receive, how is grace to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, in order to receive back equal.
48 Therefore be complete as your heavenly father is complete.
36 Be becoming merciful, just as your father is merciful.
THE FRIEND OF TAX COLLECTORS
Matthew 11

16 So to what shall I liken this generation?		 M
Luke 7

31 To what therefore will I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like?
It is like children sitting in the market-place who call to the others
32 They are like children sitting in the market and they call to each other
17 saying:
saying:
We played the flute for you and you did not dance,
We mourned and you did not beat yourself.

We piped for you and you did not dance,
We mourned and you did not weep.
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and you say: He has a demon.
33 For John the baptist is come not eating loaves nor drinking wine, and you say: He has [a] demon.
19 The son of man came eating and drinking, and you say: Behold [this] man is [a] glutton and [a] wino, [a] friend of tax-collectors
and sinners.
34 The son of man is come eating and drinking, and you say: Behold [this] man [is a] glutton and [a] wino, friend of tax gatherers and sinners.
And wisdom is justified by her children.
35 And wisdom is justified by all her children.
A BINDING ON EARTH
Matthew 18
14 Thus it is not [a] wish before your father in the heavens that [one] of these little [ones] be lost
15 But if your brother sins, go tell him between you and him only. If he hears you, you have won your brother.
16 But if he not hear you, take along with you yet one or two, that on [the] mouth of two or three testifiers might stand every word.
17 But if he not hear them, speak to the assembly . And if he refuse to hear the assembly, he must be to you as the gentile and the tax-gatherer.
18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth will have been loosed in heaven.
19 Again I truly say to you that if two among you be in agreement on the earth concerning any matter that they ask, it will come to pass from my father in [the] heavens.
20 For when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.
M
 L
THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN
M
 M
 Luke 18

9 But he also said this parable to some having believed upon themselves that they are just and despising the rest:
10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one [a] Pharisee and the other [a] tax gatherer.
11 The Pharisee having stood prayed these [things] towards himself: O God, I thank you that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unjust, adulterous, or even as this tax gatherer.
12 I fast twice during the Sabbath, and I tithe all that I acquire.
13 But the tax gatherer having stood afar off did not want to raise his eyes to heaven, but he was beating his chest saying: O Lord, be merciful to me the sinner.
14 I say to you this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone exalting himself will be humbled, but the [one] humbling himself will be exalted.
THE TWO SONS
Matthew 21

28 But how does it seem to you? [a] man had two sons. Coming to the first he said: Son, be going today, be working in the vineyard.
29 But answering he says: I will not, but later repenting he went.
30 Coming to the second he said likewise. And answering he said: I will Lord, and went not.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father? They say: The first. Jesus says to them: Truly I say to you that the tax-collectors and the harlots will precede you into the kingdom of God.
32 For John came to you in the way of justice and you believed him not, but the tax-collectors and the harlots believed him. But you when you saw neither repented later that [You] might believe in him.
 M
 L
FROM THE FOURTH GOSPEL

τελώνης (tax gatherer) does not appear in the Fourth Gospel