Mark 2:17 — “Sinners to Repentance”: The Full Purpose of Christ’s Call

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Mark 2:17

At Levi’s table Jesus answers the scribes with a physician’s saying: the sick need the doctor. He then defines his mission, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The critical text stops at “sinners.” Luke 5:32 contains the longer ending; Matthew 9:13 has the shorter form.

That parallel pattern produces the chief objection. A scribe could expand Mark from Luke and make the purpose of the call explicit. Harmonization among the Gospels is common enough that the possibility cannot be waved away.

What the call summons sinners to do

The longer phrase is not an alien comment. Mark has already summarized Jesus’ preaching: “repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Calling sinners to repentance therefore repeats the mission as Mark himself introduced it. Levi’s response supplies the narrative picture. He leaves his station, follows Jesus, and opens his house to others who need the same physician.

The shorter text still implies a transforming call. Christ does not summon sinners so that they may remain undisturbed in sin. Yet the received words prevent the saying from being reduced to mere inclusion. The doctor comes because disease requires healing; the Lord calls because sinners must turn.

Accidental loss is not difficult. The Greek ending hamartōlous eis metanoian can fall after a complete contrast already formed by “not righteous but sinners.” Once the ear or eye reaches “sinners,” the sentence sounds finished. A copyist need not object to repentance in order to stop there.

The evidence must carry more weight than a theory about what an orthodox scribe would prefer. “To repentance” has broad ecclesiastical support and an early place in the Gospel tradition. Its agreement with Luke can be explained by common authentic wording just as readily as by copying from Luke.

The infinitive “to repentance” describes the direction of the call, not a condition sinners complete before Christ will receive them. In the Gospel sequence, the divine summons creates the crisis in which turning occurs. That grammar protects the verse from two distortions at once: a call that leaves sin untouched and a repentance treated as prior moral payment for access to the Physician.

Mark’s full conclusion joins grace and change without confusing them. The sick do not heal themselves before the physician arrives, and sinners do not make themselves righteous before Christ calls. His call is merciful precisely because it leads them away from the condition that made the call necessary. Those final two words belong with the scene.

Sources and further reading

• F. H. A. Scrivener, ed., The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version (Cambridge, 1894).
• Michael W. Holmes, ed., The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010), text and apparatus.
• Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed., notes on the stated passage.
• Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 1:14–15; 2:13–17; Luke 5:27–32.