Luke 15:18

18. I have sinned Very different from his bold address, (Luke 15:12,) Give me the portion. Confession is good for the soul.

Against heaven Against the divine authority of God as Creator, and against the law of right and nature.

And before thee It was from the former, heaven, that the famine came upon the land. It was from the latter, thee, that the son wandered, and to whom he was now returning, 19. As one of thy hired servants This son embodies in himself all classes of wanderers and aliens from God, both Jew and Gentile. As Jew he has a natural born sonship. But as Gentile, though he has also a natural born sonship in the back ground, he now takes position as an alien. And then when the father forthwith restores him to sonship, he who is in symbol even the alien, becomes a true son in the Gospel acceptance.

No more worthy to be called thy son He says truth. He has forfeited his birthright.

If a man by free voluntary sin lose the grace to which he is born, and which meets him from the atonement at the threshold of life, being symbolized in his circumcision or baptism, he is only a son as all others are sons, and must return to God as a returned alien. It is the mercy of God which restores his sonship.