Let us focus first on the novelty of an offer of forgiveness. The tax collectors and sinners, Perrin assures us, 'responded in glad acceptance' to Jesus' saying that they would be forgiven,l05 But was ...

Tax collectors were hated in biblical times and were regarded as sinners. They were Jews who ... and abused this system by taking far too much. Jesus wants to teach people the importance of ...

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke ...

Tax collectors were not popular in Jesus’ day and were commonly regarded as sinners. Tax collectors worked for the Romans, the occupying force in Palestine at the time. They collected taxes from ...

From the context of Matthew’s calling as one of the Twelve Disciples (Matthew 9:9), it is not surprising that most scholars ...