---
title: Luke 15:4
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-15-4/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-15-4.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Luke 15:4
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Luke 15:4

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

## JW Usage

JWs appreciate the parable of the lost sheep in principle — God cares about those who stray. However, the Watchtower's shunning policy inverts the parable's logic in practice. When a Witness is disfellowshipped or disassociates, the organisation instructs all members — including family — to cut social contact. The shepherd pursues the lost sheep; the judicial committee locks the gate behind it and instructs the flock not to look for it.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus' parable describes a shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to pursue the one that has strayed — actively seeking, not passively waiting for the sheep to find its way back (Luke 15:4-7). The parable is the first of a triplet in Luke 15 (lost sheep, lost coin, prodigal son), all making the same point: God's response to the lost is pursuit and celebration, not isolation and punishment. The father in the prodigal son parable runs to meet the returning son before any confession is made (Luke 15:20). The Watchtower's shunning policy — where reinstated members may wait months or years for normal social contact to resume — more closely resembles the elder brother's resentful response (Luke 15:28-30) than the father's unconditional embrace. Second Thessalonians 3:15 instructs believers to "continue admonishing him as a brother" — a verb that requires ongoing contact.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Shunning — The 1947 Reversal](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-1947.md) — Awake! 1947 vs Watchtower 1952 [Authority]
- [No Biblical Warrant for Family Shunning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-family-no-biblical-warrant.md) — 1 Timothy 5:8 / Luke 15:4–7 / Matthew 9:10–13 [Practice]
- [The 2016 Broadcast — 'I Wouldn't Answer the Phone'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/morris-2016-shunning-broadcast.md) — When Governing Body instruction is explicit, the fruit test is not speculative [Practice]
- [2024 'Removed' Rebrand — Not Reform](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/2024-removed-rebrand-not-reform.md) — 2 Timothy 3:5 — A form of godliness, denying its power [Authority]
- [The Paramedics Who Refuse to Treat](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-paramedics-analogy.md) — Answering the 'leave it to Jehovah's organisation' illustration [Practice]
- [The Human Cost of Shunning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-human-cost.md) — Social death, depression, and a grief the Bible never prescribes [Practice]