Luke 16

1 He said also to His disciples: "There was a rich man who had a steward, about whom a report was brought to him, that he was wasting his property.

2 He called him and said, "`What is this I hear about you? Render an account of your stewardship, for I cannot let you hold it any longer.'

3 "Then the steward said within himself, "`What am I to do? For my master is taking away the stewardship from me. I am not strong enough for field labour: to beg, I should be ashamed.

4 I see what to do, in order that when I am discharged from the stewardship they may give me a home in their own houses.'

5 "So he called all his master's debtors, one by one, and asked the first, `How much are you in debt to my master?'

6 "`A hundred firkins of oil,' he replied. "`Here is your account,' said the steward: `sit down quickly and change it into fifty firkins.'

7 "To a second he said, "`And how much do you owe?' "`A hundred quarters of wheat,' was the answer. "`Here is your account,' said he: `change it into eighty quarters.'

8 "And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.

9 "But I charge you, so to use the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.

10 The man who is honest in a very small matter is honest in a great one also; and he who is dishonest in a very small matter is dishonest in a great one also.

11 If therefore you have not proved yourselves faithful in dealing with the wealth that is tainted with fraud, who will entrust to you the true good?

12 And if you have not been faithful in dealing with that which is not your own, who will give you that which is your own?

13 "No servant can be in bondage to two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or else he will cling fast to one and scorn the other. You cannot be bondservants both of God and of gold."

14 To all this the Pharisees listened, bitterly jeering at Him; for they were lovers of money.

15 "You are they," He said to them, "who boast of their own goodness before men, but God sees your hearts; for that which holds a proud position among men is detestable in God's sight.

16 The Law and the Prophets continued until John came: from that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been spreading, and all classes have been forcing their way into it.

17 But it is easier for earth and sky to pass away than for one smallest detail of the Law to fall to the ground.

18 Every man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and he who marries her when so divorced from her husband commits adultery.

19 "There was once a rich man who habitually arrayed himself in purple and fine linen, and enjoyed a splendid banquet every day,

20 while at his outer door there lay a beggar, Lazarus by name,

21 covered with sores and longing to make a full meal off the scraps flung on the floor from the rich man's table. Nay, the dogs, too, used to come and lick his sores.

22 "But in course of time the beggar died; and he was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and had a funeral.

23 And in Hades, being in torment, he looked and saw Abraham in the far distance, and Lazarus resting in his arms.

24 So he cried aloud, and said, "`Father Abraham, take pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'

25 "`Remember, my child,' said Abraham, `that you had all your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving consolation and you are in agony.

26 And, besides all this, a vast chasm is immovably fixed between us and you, put there in order that those who desire to cross from this side to you may not be able, nor any be able to cross over from your side to us.'

27 "`I entreat you then, father,' said he, `to send him to my father's house.

28 For I have five brothers. Let him earnestly warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'

29 "`They have Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; `let them hear them.'

30 "`No, father Abraham,' he pleaded; `but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

31 "`If they are deaf to Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham, `they would not be led to believe even if some one should rise from the dead.'"

Luke 16 Commentary

Chapter 16

The parable of the unjust steward. (1-12) Christ reproves the hypocrisy of the covetous Pharisees. (13-18) The rich man and Lazarus. (19-31)

Verses 1-12 Whatever we have, the property of it is God's; we have only the use of it, according to the direction of our great Lord, and for his honour. This steward wasted his lord's goods. And we are all liable to the same charge; we have not made due improvement of what God has trusted us with. The steward cannot deny it; he must make up his accounts, and be gone. This may teach us that death will come, and deprive us of the opportunities we now have. The steward will make friends of his lord's debtors or tenants, by striking off a considerable part of their debt to his lord. The lord referred to in this parable commended not the fraud, but the policy of the steward. In that respect alone is it so noticed. Worldly men, in the choice of their object, are foolish; but in their activity, and perseverance, they are often wiser than believers. The unjust steward is not set before us as an example in cheating his master, or to justify any dishonesty, but to point out the careful ways of worldly men. It would be well if the children of light would learn wisdom from the men of the world, and would as earnestly pursue their better object. The true riches signify spiritual blessings; and if a man spends upon himself, or hoards up what God has trusted to him, as to outward things, what evidence can he have, that he is an heir of God through Christ? The riches of this world are deceitful and uncertain. Let us be convinced that those are truly rich, and very rich, who are rich in faith, and rich toward God, rich in Christ, in the promises; let us then lay up our treasure in heaven, and expect our portion from thence.

Verses 13-18 To this parable our Lord added a solemn warning. Ye cannot serve God and the world, so divided are the two interests. When our Lord spoke thus, the covetous Pharisees treated his instructions with contempt. But he warned them, that what they contended for as the law, was a wresting of its meaning: this our Lord showed in a case respecting divorce. There are many covetous sticklers for the forms of godliness, who are the bitterest enemies to its power, and try to set others against the truth.

Verses 19-31 Here the spiritual things are represented, in a description of the different state of good and bad, in this world and in the other. We are not told that the rich man got his estate by fraud, or oppression; but Christ shows, that a man may have a great deal of the wealth, pomp, and pleasure of this world, yet perish for ever under God's wrath and curse. The sin of this rich man was his providing for himself only. Here is a godly man, and one that will hereafter be happy for ever, in the depth of adversity and distress. It is often the lot of some of the dearest of God's saints and servants to be greatly afflicted in this world. We are not told that the rich man did him any harm, but we do not find that he had any care for him. Here is the different condition of this godly poor man, and this wicked rich man, at and after death. The rich man in hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment. It is not probable that there are discourses between glorified saints and damned sinners, but this dialogue shows the hopeless misery and fruitless desires, to which condemned spirits are brought. There is a day coming, when those who now hate and despise the people of God, would gladly receive kindness from them. But the damned in hell shall not have the least abatement of their torment. Sinners are now called upon to remember; but they do not, they will not, they find ways to avoid it. As wicked people have good things only in this life, and at death are for ever separated from all good, so godly people have evil things only in this life, and at death they are for ever put from them. In this world, blessed be God, there is no gulf between a state of nature and grace, we may pass from sin to God; but if we die in our sins, there is no coming out. The rich man had five brethren, and would have them stopped in their sinful course; their coming to that place of torment, would make his misery the worse, who had helped to show them the way thither. How many would now desire to recall or to undo what they have written or done! Those who would make the rich man's praying to Abraham justify praying to saints departed, go far to seek for proofs, when the mistake of a damned sinner is all they can find for an example. And surely there is no encouragement to follow the example, when all his prayers were made in vain. A messenger from the dead could say no more than what is said in the Scriptures. The same strength of corruption that breaks through the convictions of the written word, would triumph over a witness from the dead. Let us seek to the law and to the testimony, ( isaiah 8:19 isaiah 8:20 ) , for that is the ( 2 Peter. 1:19 ) Circumstances in every age show that no terrors, or arguments, can give true repentance without the special grace of God renewing the sinner's heart.