And he said also to [his] disciples, There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and *he* was accused to him as wasting his goods.
Luke 16 opens with the Lord turning from the crowd to His own disciples. His story is not about a lost son but about a trusted manager who has thrown away his master's property, and it raises two questions: who is this steward, and what should he do now?
The Lord turns here to a different audience, and the two chapters belong together.
There are two parables in Luke 16. They belong so closely together that you cannot understand the second without grasping the teaching of the first. The Lord spoke chapter 15 to the scribes and Pharisees; these parables He speaks to His disciples. Chapter 15 sets out the grace of God at work to save lost and ruined men. Chapter 16 shows what that grace does in the conduct of those who receive it, even when they grasp it only in part. It also shows the eternal consequences of receiving or rejecting it.
There is a reason this parable follows the story of the prodigal.
Though it is pure grace that saves and finds deep delight in the repentance of a sinner, God's wise government is not ignored in the case of someone wasting His goods, as the prodigal had done.
A steward is not an owner. That is why the charge against him is serious.
The steward (one employed to care for his master's goods) in this chapter had proven unfaithful. The goods (the unrighteous mammon — v. 11) are earthly possessions entrusted to the hands of the steward, that is, to all mankind. Sad to say, all of Adam's race has been guilty of wasting our Master's goods. For who would dare to say that he had used all his material possessions honestly for God? Pharisees are no less guilty of this than are prodigals.
Respectable people rarely count themselves wasters.
Before we go further, let me call your mind to the word "wasted" in the case of the prodigal. It was exactly what he had done. This parable is here to show that the elder brother may do exactly what the younger did. He may be a very respectable waster. There are hundreds of thousands of them in the world, and they stand high in the world's credit. But weighed in God's balances, they are just as much wasters as this wild prodigal. If we do not carry ourselves as stewards of God, we are wasters. If I am using myself and what I have as if they were my own, in the divine reckoning I am a waster. Here is a steward. We are not told how he spent his money. It is enough to know that he was not faithful to his master.
Every person alive holds something from God's hand. One nation held more than any other.
Man in general had wasted his master's goods, of course, but the Jew especially. He was the most favoured, and so under a stricter responsibility. He was not only a man, but a steward. A trust was placed in the Jew beyond all others, and he was most justly accused of wasting his master's goods. What had he done for God? He ought to have been a light in the earth. He ought to have been a guide to the blind. He ought to have been a witness to the true God.
Others hold both readings together, seeing the general case in the particular one:
Man is the steward of God (that is, God has committed His goods to man). Israel stands especially in this position. But man has been unfaithful; Israel had indeed been so. God has taken away his stewardship; but man is still in possession of the goods to administer them.
The dismissal is real, but it is not instant.
The unjust steward stands for man. He fails in every part of his responsibility. Trusted with the stewardship of his lord's goods, he proves to be no exception to the rule. He wasted them, and must lose his position as steward. But the goods stay in his hands for now. The point of the parable is the shrewd, though dishonest, use he makes of this opportunity, with the future in view.
Earthly things still pass through our hands.
Do not clutch at what you have not yet got, and do not hold on to what you have. Regard these things instead as your master's goods, and treat them as the unjust steward in the parable did. Rise above the unbelief that looks at money, or other present possessions, as if they were your own things. It is not so.
- Trusted. A steward manages what belongs to someone else. The goods are earthly things put into human hands, never human property.
- Wasted. It is the prodigal's word, and it lands on the respectable too. Whoever treats himself and his things as his own is a waster in God's reckoning.
- Dismissed. The steward loses his position. This is not a story about a son coming home, but about a man under sentence.
- Meanwhile. The goods still lie in his hands for a short time, and the point of the parable is the shrewd use he makes of that window, with the future in view.
- Applied. Hold money and possessions as your Master's. Use them for others instead of hoarding them here.
And having called him, he said to him, What [is] this that I hear of thee? give the reckoning of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward.
A rich man has heard that his steward is wasting his goods, so he calls him in: hand over the books, the job is over. Two questions follow — who really owns what we handle, and what can a steward do once he has lost his place? (A steward ran another man's property; where older versions say "steward," the ESV says "manager.")
The parable opens with an accusation. Commentators read the wasteful steward as a picture of man in general, and of Israel in particular. God had entrusted Israel with more than anyone else, so Israel owed more.
Man in general had wasted his master's goods, of course, but the Jew especially. He was the most favoured, and so under a stricter responsibility. He was not only a man, but a steward. The Jew held a trust beyond all others, and he deserved the charge of wasting his master's goods. What had he done for God? He should have been a light in the earth; he should have been a guide to the blind; he should have been a witness to the true God.
The demand for an account comes with a verdict attached. The steward is finished as a steward — yet he still holds the property.
Looked at as a steward, man has proved completely unfaithful… Man here has gone to ruin. So now man is a steward out of his place. "Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward." He is dismissed from the stewardship — he has lost his place, but not the goods he still manages.
If the sentence stands, what has grace changed? One writer answers: grace has not put us back in the old place. It has given us time instead.
Grace has not recalled the sentence, "You can no longer be steward." It has given us far more, but it has not reinstated us in the place we have lost. Death, in fact, is our removal from our stewardship. For us as Christians, though, it is the entrance into something we must admit is "far better." But grace has delayed the carrying out of the sentence, and meanwhile our Master's goods are in our hand. All that we have here is His, not ours.
Once the steward knows his job is over, everything turns on foresight. Notice what he does with goods that are not his own.
First of all, our Lord explains here that the tenure of earthly things is now gone. It was no longer a question of holding a stewardship, but of giving it up. The steward was judged… He is a prudent man. He thinks about what will become of him when he loses his stewardship. He looks ahead to the future. He is not absorbed in the present… So he makes a wise use of his master's goods… Rise above the unbelief that looks at money, or other present possessions, as if they were your own. They are not.
The same words turn up outside the parable. One writer hears the Lord saying them to the churches — a Master who had given blessing and now looks for fruit.
Here, in Revelation 2, it is the Lord in "the house of God" challenging the churches to answer for themselves. He had already set them in the blessing, and now He looks for fruit. It is as though He had heard a report of their unfaithfulness and was now saying to them, "How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward."
The practical edge is ownership. What we hold is on loan, and the account covers more than outward behaviour.
Our danger lies in the tendency of our hearts to seek a portion here, to hold present things as though they belonged to us. Whereas in truth nothing here belongs to us. Our portion is in the eternal things. What we hold here is only entrusted to us as stewards. We must give account for all of it. Not only for the deeds done in the body, our outward conduct, but for the use we have made of everything in this life that was entrusted to us. The motives, too, and the intents of the heart, will all be brought to light.
- Trust. A steward handles what belongs to someone else. The more God entrusts, the stricter the responsibility.
- Report. The master acts on what he hears. The summons in this verse answers a report of wasted goods.
- Sentence. The verdict comes with the audit: the post is lost. Grace gives far more, but it does not reinstate the old position.
- Interval. Grace delays the sentence, and the goods are still in our hand. Spend the passing present on the lasting future.
- Reckoning. God will call in the account. It covers not just our conduct, but our use of everything entrusted — motives included.
And the steward said within himself, What shall I do; for my lord is taking the stewardship from me? I am not able to dig; I am ashamed to beg.
The manager in this parable — older translations call him the steward — has just lost his job, and here we hear him panic in private. His words raise two questions: what do they say about man's real state, and why does the Lord hold up a cheat as an example?
His panic only matters once we know whom he stands for. One writer reads him as man in general, and as Israel, the nation God trusted with His law and promises.
Man in general is God's steward. Israel was God's steward too, in another sense and in another way. God put the nation into His vineyard and trusted it with law, promises, covenants, worship, and so on. But in it all, Israel wasted His goods. Seen as a steward, man has proved completely unfaithful. So what now? In the sovereignty of His grace, God steps in and turns what man has abused on earth into a means of heavenly fruit… "Give an account of your stewardship, for you may be no longer steward." He is dismissed from his stewardship. He has lost his place, but not the things he manages.
The steward asks his question in that gap: dismissed, yet still holding the goods. One writer says we stand in the same gap.
The unjust steward is our picture here. He pictures those under sentence of dismissal from the place God first put them in, because they dealt unrighteously in it — and as to the old creation, that is where we all stand. Grace has not cancelled the sentence, "You may be no longer steward." Grace has given us far more, but it has not put us back in the place we lost. Death is our real removal from our stewardship. Yet for us as Christians it is the entrance into something we must admit is "far better." But grace has delayed the carrying out of the sentence, and meanwhile our Master's goods are in our hand.
Each half of his answer carries weight. One writer reads "I am not strong enough to dig" as an admission of having no power, and "I am ashamed to beg" as pride refusing to depend on God.
He had no power, for the law provokes evil ways rather than giving good ones… On the other hand, the Jew was ashamed to beg. He would not take the place of a lost, good-for-nothing sinner who depends on God for everything. Such a man looks up to God to do and give what he cannot do himself. Sad to say, the stubborn pride of the Jew rebelled against God's verdict that he had no power.
The steward stops making excuses and acts. He gives up the present for the sake of the future, and one writer turns that against the way most people live.
So the steward takes it on himself to sacrifice the present for the sake of the future… There is no ground for thinking the parable makes light of his dishonesty. It brands him the "unjust steward." That was exactly the position and character of the Jew: they were all unrighteous in God's sight. But had they done what the steward does when he is about to be discharged? No! He looked forward to the future, and acted at once on that conviction. Were they not, on the contrary, absorbed in the present? Is this not the great snare of men — to sacrifice the future for the present, instead of the present for the future?
Readers stumble at the praise given to a cheat. Two things clear it up: who gives the praise, and what he praises.
First, the one who commends him is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary master in the parable. Second, that master praised the steward for his wisdom, not his honesty. A clever rogue is bound to win a certain admiration from those watching. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future.
When the Lord turns from the story to His disciples, He asks for something other than shrewdness. First, though, one writer rules out any idea that our faithfulness earns the welcome ahead.
Faithfulness here does not give, or form any part of, a right to be received there. That right is found only in the grace that receives sinners, and first has to seek them (Luke 15:4-10)… When verses 10-12 apply the teaching of the parable to the disciples, it is not prudence but faithfulness in handling earthly things that the Lord commends.
- Sentenced — The steward pictures man, and Israel in particular. God trusted them; they proved unfaithful; the post is already forfeited.
- Delayed — The dismissal stands, but grace holds it back. Death is the real removal. Until then the Master's goods are still in our hands.
- Helpless — "I am not strong enough to dig" admits the strength is gone. "I am ashamed to beg" is pride refusing the place of a lost sinner who depends on God for everything.
- Farsighted — The one thing worth copying is that he spent the present on the future. Most people do the reverse and trade the future away for the present.
- Faithful — The master in the story praised shrewdness, not honesty. When the Lord turns to His disciples He asks for faithfulness, and the welcome ahead rests on grace alone.
I know what I will do, that when I shall have been removed from the stewardship I may be received into their houses.
The steward has just been told he is finished, and his first recorded move is inward: he makes up his mind. The verb behind "I have decided" carries force.
"I know" (ἔγνων) means "I am resolved."
That settled purpose is the exact thing the Lord holds up for us to look at.
"I know what I will do, that when I shall have been removed from the stewardship I may be received into their houses." This was prudent, and the precise point of earthly wisdom in the parable which the Lord commends for our admonition.
Older translations say "put out of the stewardship." Commentators see more than a lost job here. The same notice already hangs over every human life.
The steward was called to give an account, and told that he had forfeited his stewardship. In the same way, because of Adam's sin man came under the sentence of death, "and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12). We have forfeited all right to any place on earth. For each one of us, the actual putting out of the stewardship happens at death. Until then we still hold our Master's goods. How shall we use them?
The steward is not out yet. He still holds the account books, and he spends that short window making friends.
Between the sentence and the day it takes effect, he makes up his lord's accounts and makes friends with his lord's debtors. He uses his lord's money so that these friendly debtors will welcome him into their houses when he is put out of his lord's house. In the same way, man has proved unfaithful in his stewardship. He has lost his place on the earth... Now the question is how to make the best use of the unrighteous mammon, so as to gain a welcome into heavenly homes.
The steward gives away property that is not his. That awkward detail is the point of the story, not a flaw in it.
It does not matter that the goods belonged to his master and not to him. In fact, we see the deepest wisdom in the parable just as it stands, once we apply it to the way we live. The only way we can look ahead like this is to count what people — what self — would call ours as our master's resources. We have no way to secure the future unless we use everything as belonging to God. But this is the victory of faith: instead of looking at the present moment with a natural eye, we keep our eyes on the future and act on it.
In the story, real people open real doors to the dismissed steward. Later the Lord applies the picture, and Kelly warns us not to press "they may receive" too hard.
The words "that they may receive you" just mean "that you may be received into everlasting habitations."... We should put no weight on the exact form of the phrase "they may receive you." It has misled many. Taken literally it could hold true on earth, as we see in verse 4, but in spiritual terms it just means "that you may be received."... God alone receives into heaven. No one else has the right to receive anyone there.
Someone in the parable praises this plan. That praise needs careful limits.
First, the one who gives this praise is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary lord in the parable. Second, the steward was praised for his wisdom, not for his honesty. A clever crook always draws a kind of admiration from those who watch him. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future. He used his short time as steward with a view to the years that lay beyond.
- Sentence. The notice is already out. The stewardship is forfeited, and the removal itself comes at death.
- Interval. The steward still holds the accounts until the day he is put out. That gap is his whole opportunity.
- Resolve. "I have decided" is a settled purpose, not a daydream. The man weighs the future and acts at once.
- Goods. He wins a future by spending what was never his. Faith does the same, treating money as the Master's.
- Welcome. The doors he wins point beyond earth to the everlasting habitations. God alone has the right to receive anyone there.
And having called to [him] each one of the debtors of his own lord, he said to the first, How much owest thou to my lord?
A steward has just heard that he is finished. Now he calls in the people who owe his master, one by one, and asks the size of each debt. Commentators see here a picture of where every person stands before God. Man has abused the trust. The notice has come. Yet the goods stay in his hands a little longer.
Before the debtors come into it, the writers settle who owns what. The steward handles property that was never his — and so do we.
Man is the steward of God — that is, God has committed His goods to man. Israel stands especially in this position. But man has been unfaithful; Israel had indeed been so. God has taken away his stewardship; but man is still in possession of the goods to administer them, at least in fact, as Israel was at that moment. These goods are the things of earth — the things man can own in his natural state.
The steward acts in a gap: sentence passed, post not yet empty. One writer traces that same gap in every life.
The steward was called to give an account, and was given notice that he had forfeited his stewardship. Just so, because of Adam's sin he was sentenced to death, "and so death spread to all men because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). We have forfeited all title to any place on earth. In the case of each individual, the actual putting out of the stewardship is at death; meanwhile we are still in possession of our Master's goods. How shall we use them?
The question about the debt is not curiosity. He is opening a deal, one debtor at a time, with his own future in view.
He called his employer's debtors. He offered to reduce their debts as a kindness, if they would just write out a cheque for the smaller amount. In this way he collected what might have remained outstanding bad debts, so his employer benefited from it. His motives were not love for his employer, nor for the debtors either. They were entirely selfish. He counted on the debtors showing him kindness in return when he was discharged.
Commentators differ on why the master praised him. This writer points to the money recovered; others credit the praise to foresight alone.
Why does the story hold up a cheat as a model? Two clarifications remove the difficulty.
First, the one who commends is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary lord of the parable. Secondly, the steward was not commended for his honesty, but for his wisdom. A clever rogue always draws a kind of admiration from those watching. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future. He used his brief term of stewardship with a view to the years that lay beyond.
Another writer shows that foresight at work in the deals themselves, starting with the first debtor.
He reduced the debt of the first by half, and the second by a good deal. In this way his favour and leniency bound these debtors to himself, so that when he was turned out of his post, they might take him into their houses. ... He looked forward to the future, and acted at once on that conviction.
Notice what the steward spends: not his savings, but his master's accounts. That detail is the point, not a flaw.
For this it does not matter that the goods were his master's and not his own. Indeed, when we apply the parable to our own conduct, we may see its deepest wisdom just as it stands. We can only look out for the future like this by counting what people — what self — would call ours as our Master's resources. We have nothing to secure the future with, unless we use everything as belonging to God.
One misreading needs blocking firmly. The parable is addressed to disciples about their money, not to anxious souls about their standing before God.
It would be disastrous to read these words of our Lord as if they applied to people seeking salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, and it rests on the Saviour's atoning blood. ... But those who are saved have serious responsibilities. Each one must give account of them at the judgement seat of Christ. So every disciple should take a leaf out of the unjust steward's book. Each should use this short life with an eye on blessing and reward in the life beyond.
- Entrusted — Everything in your hands is your Master's property, not your own. God gave that trust to man, and to Israel above all.
- Dismissed — Man has already forfeited the stewardship. The actual removal comes for each person at death.
- Still holding — In the gap between the sentence and the removal, the goods stay in our hands. The one live question is how we use them.
- Acting — The master in the story praises the steward's foresight, not his honesty — and that master is not Jesus.
- Rewarded — Money used for others as God's own secures the future; money kept as our own secures nothing.
And he said, A hundred baths of oil. And he said to him, Take thy writing and sit down quickly and write fifty.
The steward's plan is now in motion. He calls in the first of his master's debtors and asks what the bill is. Then he tells the man to sit down quickly and rewrite it for half. Everything troubling in this parable hangs on that one moment: the fraud, the haste, and the praise that follows.
The ESV's "measures" stands for a word older versions give as "baths." One writer gives its size:
Luke 16:6 — "Baths," a liquid measure. Ten of these went to the cor (Ezekiel 45:14).
Ten baths made one cor, so this debtor owed ten cors of oil. The steward wiped out half of it in a stroke.
His master had already told him he was finished. What he does here falls inside the narrow authority he has left: the right to call in the accounts.
His master's goods are still in the steward's hands; and these are all the means that he has, as his words plainly show. Yet his authority over them now seems to reach only as far as the rendering of that final account which his master has demanded. He is no doubt under close watch as to any further "waste," of the kind already charged against him. But of course, if he is to render an account, he has authority to call in the accounts. Here he can do no harm.
Commentators describe this moment in different ways. One calls it plain dishonesty, with the debtors drawn into it:
He called his master's debtors and asked each one what he owed. He let them state in their own bond that their debt was less than it really was, and so secured their friendship for the future. The amount stood in their own handwriting, and the unjust steward agreed to it. So they became partners with him in the fraud.
Another writer notes that the cut brought in money the master might never have seen, so he gained by it:
He called his employer's debtors and offered them the kindness of cutting their debts, if they would write out payment for the smaller amount. In this way he collected debts that might have stayed unpaid, so his employer gained by it. His motives were not love for his employer, nor for his debtors either. They were wholly selfish. He counted on the debtors showing him kindness in return once he lost his job.
Either way, the parable does not soften the man's character. The praise that follows is aimed at one thing only:
It is not the honesty of the step that his master praises, but its prudence. He cut the first man's debt by half, and the second by a large amount. By his favour and leniency he bound these debtors to himself, so that when he lost his place they would take him into their homes. There is no ground to suppose that the parable makes light of his dishonesty. He is especially branded as the "unjust steward."
The same writer sets the steward against most people. He acted at once on what he knew was coming; they do the reverse.
He looked forward to the future, and acted at once on that conviction... Is not this the great snare of men — to sacrifice the future for the present, instead of the present for the future?
For disciples, the "write fifty" moment shows what to do with money while they still hold it. One writer first rules out a wrong use of the parable:
It would be disastrous to read these words of our Lord as if they had anything to do with men seeking salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, and it rests on the Saviour's atoning blood... So each disciple should take a leaf out of the unjust steward's book. He should use the short span of life here with a view to blessing and reward in the life beyond... A grave responsibility therefore rests on the Christian as to how he uses what he holds, be it little or much. He is indeed a steward, and he must give an account to Another.
- Sentence. The steward is already dismissed. The bills he rewrites are the last business left in his hands — the calling in of the final account.
- Speed. The debtor is told to sit down quickly and write fifty. His pen moves in the short gap between the verdict and its effect.
- Not honesty. The man is branded unjust, and the parable never pretends otherwise. Writers describe the act in different ways, but none of them calls it upright.
- Foresight. He acted at once on a future he could not avoid. He did not clutch a present he was about to lose.
- Stewardship. For the reader, the bills stand for money. He holds it on trust from Another, and spends it now with the life beyond in view. It never buys salvation, which is by grace alone.
Then he said to another, And thou, how much dost thou owe? And he said, A hundred cors of wheat. And he says to him, Take thy writing and write eighty.
A steward who has just lost his job spends his last hours in office cutting the bills of his master's debtors. This debtor owes wheat, and the steward takes a fifth off — so why is such a cheat held up as an example to disciples?
The word behind "measures" names a fixed dry measure, which some translations render "cors".
"Cors": a dry measure. It was the Hebrew homer, standard measure of capacity (Ezekiel 45:11), made up of ten ephahs: about eight English bushels.
The first debtor had half his bill cancelled; this one only a fifth. The reductions differ, and the steward's aim in both cases is the same.
There were these debtors of his lord's. He will cut his master's claim on them: by half in one case, by a fifth in another. In this way he makes friends of them for his own future advantage, when he is put out of the stewardship.
A cheat appears to win praise here. What exactly did the master commend?
He acts with the utmost liberality with his master's goods. No doubt it cost him little or nothing. It is not the honesty of the step but its prudence which his master commends. By his favour and leniency he bound these debtors to himself, so that they would take him into their houses when his master turned him out. There is no ground to suppose that the parable makes light of his dishonesty. He is especially branded as the "unjust steward."
It also matters who speaks the commendation.
First, the one who commends is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary lord of the parable. Secondly, the steward was not commended for his honesty, but for his wisdom. A clever rogue is bound to draw some admiration from those watching. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future.
Commentators differ on the legal side of the act. Some hold that a steward had the right to cancel part of a debt, so the fault lay in his motive.
So he calls in his lord's debtors to see how each one stands, and cancels part of each debt. Edersheim notes that this was within his rights, though his motive in it was unrighteous. He might have done it in mercy, and even in his master's interests. He did it in his own. But the wisdom with which he made capital out of what was not in his hands is clear enough.
Others read the same act as plain wrongdoing.
Take the steward who tampered with his master's debts — was he righteous or unrighteous? When he told the debtor to write fifty instead of a hundred, was he not guilty of an act of unrighteousness? A steward is a servant in the house, with a special charge to look after his master's interests.
The steward stands for man himself.
Man is the steward of God — that is, God has committed His goods to man. Israel stands especially in this position. But man has been unfaithful; Israel had indeed been so. God has taken away his stewardship; but man is still in possession of the goods to administer them. These goods are the things of earth. He has lost his stewardship by his unfaithfulness, yet he still holds the goods. So he uses them to make friends of his master's debtors by doing them good. This is what Christians should do with earthly possessions, using them for others, with the future in view. We may turn the miserable riches of this world into means of fulfilling love. For us it is in view of the everlasting habitations.
The lesson is not that generosity buys a place in heaven.
To read these words of our Lord as if they had any reference to men seeking salvation would be disastrous. Salvation is by grace alone, and it rests on the Saviour's atoning blood. But those who are saved have serious responsibilities. Each one must give account of them at the judgement seat of Christ. So each disciple should take a leaf out of the book of the unjust steward. He should use the brief period of life here with a view to blessing and reward in the life beyond.
- Measure — the wheat debt was counted in cors: the Hebrew homer, about eight bushels. The steward cut it by a fifth.
- Motive — the praise falls on his foresight alone. Commentators still call him unjust, though they differ on whether he had the right to cancel part of a debt.
- Mouthpiece — the one who commends him is the master in the story, not the Lord telling it.
- Mirror — man, and Israel above all, is the steward: dismissed for unfaithfulness, yet still holding the goods.
- Method — treat what you hold as your Master's and spend it on others now, with the everlasting habitations in view. This is reward for the saved, never the price of salvation.
And the lord praised the unrighteous steward because he had done prudently. For the sons of this world are, for their own generation, more prudent than the sons of light.
The parable ends with a jolt. A manager caught cheating gets praised. Then comes a line about worldly people handling their affairs better than believers handle theirs. Two questions decide the meaning: who gives the praise, and what does he praise?
The commendation belongs to the man's employer inside the story, and it lands on one quality only.
Let us consider this carefully. First, the one who gives this praise is not the Lord Jesus, but the imaginary master in the parable. Second, the steward was praised not for his honesty, but for his wisdom. A clever crook always draws a kind of admiration from those watching. The point of the parable is that the man acted with his eye on the future. He used his brief term of stewardship with a view to the years that lay beyond.
Where the ESV reads "dishonest manager" and "shrewd," older translations read "unjust steward" and "prudent." Either way, the label on him is a verdict, not a slip.
"Unjust steward" expresses Christ's judgment of the man. The whole verse is a comment of our Lord Himself, not just its second half. All of it came from Him.
The praise is measured, not moral. It rates the man's method against his goal — and that is where believers fall short.
The steward is a child of this age, and his wisdom is that of his generation. It is not commended for its righteousness, but for how well it fits the end in view. In this respect the children of this age are wiser than the children of light. They go after their goal with clearer sight and steadier consistency, while the children of light are often oddly inconsistent.
The two names mark out what each group belongs to and will inherit.
Then saints, in the parable of the tares, are called "sons of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:38), for they will certainly inherit it; while mere men of the world are called "sons of this world" (Luke 16:8), being in their generation "wiser than the sons of light."
Worldly people do look ahead — but only as far as this life reaches.
They look ahead, even if only to things on earth, because they have a keen sense of their best earthly interests. But when it comes to the soul, to heaven, to Christ's love, to God's nature and will, men tend to let the smallest present advantages blot out any right thought of the future. The Lord insists on this: the present is fleeting and deceptive, and it is not the real prize for us. The future, the eternal future, is the thing to consider, and it should govern the present. What is it that spoils the testimony of disciples now? That they are living chiefly for the present moment.
The parable has a wider meaning. Man was dismissed as God's steward, yet the goods are still in his hands.
Man is the steward of God — that is, God has committed His goods to man. Israel stands especially in this position. But man has been unfaithful; Israel had indeed been so. God has taken away his stewardship; but man is still in possession of the goods to administer them. These goods are the things of earth. He lost his stewardship by his unfaithfulness, and he still holds the goods. So he uses them to make friends of his master's debtors by doing them good. Christians should do the same with earthly possessions: use them for others, with the future in view.
The steward's trick must not become a picture of how anyone gets to heaven.
To read these words of our Lord as if they had any reference to men seeking salvation would be disastrous. Salvation is by grace alone, and it is founded on the Saviour's atoning blood. But those who are saved have serious responsibilities. Each one must give account of them at the judgement seat of Christ.
And when the Lord turns from the story to His own disciples, the quality He asks of them is not the one the master admired.
Notice that the parable never excuses the steward's dishonesty. It gives him the title "the unjust steward" (v. 8). And when verses 10-12 apply the teaching of the parable to the disciples, the Lord commends not prudence but faithfulness in the handling of earthly things.
- Dismissed — The steward has lost his post but still holds his master's goods. That gap between notice and leaving pictures our time here.
- Foresight — He is praised for one thing only: acting with his eye on the future. Not his honesty, and not by Jesus, but by his employer in the story.
- Contrast — Men of this world chase their goal with clear sight and consistency. The children of light aim at something eternal, yet are often oddly inconsistent.
- Correction — The remedy is that the eternal future should govern the present. Living chiefly for the moment is what spoils a disciple's testimony.
- Faithfulness — For us, the goods are there to use for others, with heaven in view. And the Lord asks not for shrewdness but for faithfulness. Heaven is never bought: salvation is by grace alone.
And *I* say to you, Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails ye may be received into the eternal tabernacles.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
He that is faithful in the least is faithful also in much; and he that is unrighteous in the least is unrighteous also in much.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who shall entrust to you the true?
The Lord has just told the story of a steward who used his master's money to secure his own future. Now He draws out the point for His disciples: how you handle money decides what God will put into your hands next. His question is not about amount but about trust.
Kelly looks first at the word itself.
"Unrighteous wealth." The word here means false, in contrast with genuine riches. For the word "true," compare John 1:9 and John 17:3; and see Matthew 13:22 and similar places, "the deceitfulness of riches."
The name goes further than that. Money stands for a world that has pushed God out — yet the Lord turns even this to good use.
Our use of present things is always unrighteous, for we have lost our title. These riches now stand for the world's separation from God, and for setting up self and its pleasures in the place of God. But the Lord turns it round to good. By nature we are unrighteous stewards of unrighteous wealth. Using it for Him becomes a matter of faithfulness. Spent on self, it takes up its natural character again: the expression of selfishness. On the other hand, this use is a test of faithfulness... Whoever has used or given it according to the mind of God — setting God up and self down — God will entrust on the same principle with what is more important, even the true riches.
Calling money the least thing does not make it unimportant. Small amounts often test a person more than large ones do.
The smallest thing gives us a place to glorify God. But we must think little of the present in the light of the future... Yet, as everyone knows, little things test how real we are. A man may be honest about something of great value and still take liberties in what is petty. Some say that judging a moral failure severely over a small sum is a fuss about nothing. There is no greater mistake. In small things a man's true character is often best known.
The next verse calls present possessions "another's." That other person is Christ, and it changes what a believer thinks he owns.
The Christian's whole course here is that of someone acting for another, even Christ. We are servants holding things in trust for the Lord. The Christian should treat his time, his money, his abilities and his property as his Master's goods. His business is to serve his Master and carry out His will. This matters enormously. Covetousness is trying to make your own the earthly things God has not given you.
Holding things for someone else makes a person more generous, not less.
If we looked on them as our own, we might be tempted to spend them on ourselves, or to hoard them up — laying up treasure in the last days, as James 5:3 says. But once we see them as wholly another's, we can afford to be generous with them. We can pour them out on every interest of His, looking on to that scene where we shall receive our own things.
The riches God waits to entrust are not a bigger bank balance. They belong to the believer in Christ — and nothing on earth does.
We have a title in grace to use, in a heavenly way, that to which we have no title at all as man... Our own things are the heavenly things; the earthly things belong to another. These earthly, passing goods are not your own. If you do not use your title in grace and give them away in love, how can God trust you with the spiritual things that are "your own"? Our own things are all the glories of Christ — all that is Christ's is ours.
Failing here costs more than a reward later. It spoils the enjoyment of what truly is yours.
You cannot measure a man's godliness by his giving. Yet it cannot exist without giving, for "faith apart from works is dead." And whoever tries to satisfy himself with what is not his own, but is only his to steward, will find the things that really are his own unsatisfying in the same measure.
- Trust. Everything you hold — time, money, abilities, property — belongs to your Master. Covetousness is claiming as your own what God has not given you.
- Test. Money is the least thing. Yet small matters are where a person's true character shows, so the smallest thing becomes a place to glorify God.
- Turn. Wealth is called "unrighteous" because it stands for a world that has left God out. Spent on self, it stays that way. Used for Him, the Lord turns it to good.
- Transfer. The "true riches" are the heavenly things, all that is Christ's. God asks how you handled His goods before He entrusts you with your own.
- Result. Grasp what you only hold in trust, and even what is truly yours will not satisfy. Hold it loosely, and you can be generous now, with eternity in view.
and if ye have not been faithful in that which is another's, who shall give to you your own?
The Lord has just told a parable about a steward handling goods that were never his. Now He presses a question about ownership: whose are the things we hold, and what is "your own"?
One writer applies this to the Christian. What looks like your own property you actually hold in trust, and your whole life here is service for someone else.
Present property is not strictly one's own. The whole course of the Christian here is really that of one acting for another, even Christ. We are servants in trust for the Lord. The Christian ought to regard his time, his money, his abilities and his property as the goods of his Master. His business is to serve his Master and faithfully carry out His will. This matters enormously. Covetousness means trying to make earthly things your own when God has not given them to you.
The older wording "another man's" makes it sound like a human owner. One writer corrects that.
But then there are things also which we may speak of as "our own." What are these? Ah, they are what the Lord speaks of as, after all, "the true riches." "And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's" — not "another man's," but God's, of course — "who will give you that which is your own?"
Two instincts usually decide what we do with money: spending it on ourselves and hoarding it. Seeing money as a trust cuts off both.
They are not our own. They are "that which is another man's" — the master's goods, according to the parable, which are still in our hands until the master finally takes our stewardship away. If we looked on them as our own, the temptation would be to spend them on ourselves, or hoard them up — heaping treasure together in the last days, as James 5:3 says. But when we see them as wholly "another man's," we can afford to be generous with them. We can pour them out on every interest of His, looking on to that scene where we shall receive our own things. Only such a view of money, to speak plainly, can free us from a power that rules the human heart so strongly.
If earthly goods are only on loan, something else must truly be ours. Commentators point to what the believer already has in Christ and will never lose.
"Another's goods" are those which God has allowed us to use on earth for the time being, but we cannot call them our own, for we only have them in trust. But God gives the believer today "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." These are his own, because he will keep them for eternity. This is in contrast to what we have only for a time on earth.
What is truly ours also reaches into the future.
When the glory comes, we shall have what is our own. What a wonderful truth, that the wide scene of Christ's glory in which we shall reign with Him will be ours! Then we shall hold power and glory without abusing them; now we can only safely use what we have by counting it Christ's and using it according to His will.
Failing this test costs more than a loss later on. Clutching what is not ours spoils the enjoyment of what is. The writer below keeps the older wording "mammon of unrighteousness"; the ESV says "unrighteous wealth."
To use in this way what is so commonly, and so characteristically, the "mammon of unrighteousness" is not unrighteous. It is faithfulness in what belongs to Another. It is only "that which is least," as earthly things must be. Yet even so it can test and show what a person's character is about the "true riches." You cannot measure a man's godliness by his giving. But on the other hand godliness cannot exist without it, for "faith apart from works is dead." And whoever tries to satisfy himself with what is not his own, but of which he is only a steward, will find that his own things satisfy him just as little.
- Another's. Money, time, abilities and property are not strictly your own. You hold them in trust, as a servant acting for Christ.
- Covetousness. Covetousness is grasping at earthly things God has not given you. It tries to turn a trust into a possession.
- Freedom. See goods as wholly another's, and you can afford to be generous. Only that view breaks money's grip on the heart.
- Your own. What is truly yours is the true riches: every spiritual blessing in Christ, kept for eternity, and the glory you will share with Him.
- Test. The least things now show your character. Try to satisfy yourself with what is not yours, and what is truly yours will satisfy you just as little.