Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 18:14

"I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." — Luke 18:14 (ASV)

This man went down to his house, justified rather than the other.—The Greek participle is in the perfect, implying a completed and abiding justification. There is something suggestive in the fact that the “house” is made the test in each case. Home life is the test of the reality and acceptability of our worship. The Pharisee, in spite of his self-congratulation, betrayed a conscience ill at ease through irritability, harshness, and sitting in judgment on others. The publican, not in spite of his self-condemnation, but because of it, went home with a new sense of peace, showing itself in a new gentleness and cheerfulness.

For everyone that exalts himself.—Compare to the note on Luke 14:11. What was said there, in its bearing on human outward life and as shown by the judgment of others, is here transferred, the law remaining the same, to the higher regions of the spiritual life and to God’s judgment. In both cases there is a needless variation in the English version, the Greek giving the same verb for both “abased” and “humbleth.”

The lessons of the parable force themselves upon every reader. The spirit of religious egotism, however, is not easily exorcised, and we need, perhaps, to be reminded that the disposition of the Pharisee may learn to veil itself in the language of the publican, with people confessing that they are “miserable sinners” and resting with secret self-satisfaction in the confession. Or, conversely, the publican—i.e., the openly non-religious person—may cease to smite his breast and may come to thank God that he is not like the Pharisee.