Luke 16:1 - Meaning and Application

We may easily miss the point if we think Christ gave his teaching only to fill our minds with mysteries or pleasant thoughts about mercy. In the gospel, God reveals these truths to stir us to action, especially to acts of kindness and generosity toward people in need. Our Savior presses this home by reminding us that we are only stewards, managers of God’s varied gifts, and that we have often been unfaithful. Since we have lost our Lord’s favor by our misuse of what he entrusted to us, wisdom tells us to think carefully about how we can still put our resources to good use.

We should not push parables beyond what they are meant to teach. This one does not mean that anyone can help us if we are under the Lord’s displeasure. It does mean, in a general way, that we should use what we have in acts of worship and charity so that, after death and the grave, we may meet the results with comfort. If we are wise, we will use our money with care in piety and good works for our future and eternal good, just as worldly people use money to gain earthly profit and secure their interests. As Dr. Clarke puts it, we should make friends with our resources in this sense.

In the parable itself, all people are pictured as stewards of what they possess in this world. Whatever we have belongs to God. We hold only the use of it, and that use must be according to the will of our great Lord and for his honor. Rabbi Kimchi, as quoted by Dr. Lightfoot, compares the world to a house, heaven to its roof, the stars to its lights, and the earth with its fruit to a table spread for us. God is the master of the house, and man is the steward. If the steward does well, he finds favor with his lord. If he does badly, he is removed from his place.

First, we see the dishonesty of this steward. He wasted his lord’s goods, either by squandering them, misusing them, or allowing them to be lost through carelessness. For this he was accused to his lord (Luke 16:1). We face the same danger. We have not used well what God entrusted to us in this world, but have twisted his purpose for it. So if we do not want to be judged by our Lord, we should judge ourselves now.

Second, we see his removal from office. His lord called him and said, “How is it that I hear this about you? I expected better things from you.” He speaks as one sorry to be disappointed and yet needing to dismiss him. The steward cannot deny the charge, so there is no remedy. He must give his account and leave soon (Luke 16:2). This teaches us that all of us will soon be dismissed from our stewardship in this world. We will not always keep what we now enjoy. Death will come and remove our abilities and chances to do good, and others will take our places. It also teaches that this dismissal at death is fair and deserved, since we have wasted our Lord’s goods and broken trust. And when our stewardship ends, we must answer for it to our Lord, after death comes judgment. We are warned plainly about both our dismissal and our account, and we should often think about them.

Third, we see his late but practical wisdom. He began to ask, “What shall I do?” (Luke 16:3). He should have thought of this before he ruined a good place by his unfaithfulness, but it is better to think late than never. Since we know that our stewardship in this world will soon end, we should think now about what we will do then. He still needs to live, so how will he get a living? He knows he is not industrious enough to earn it by hard work. He says, “I cannot dig,” which shows not a bodily weakness, but a lazy will. If his master had set him to labor, he would have had to dig. He cannot dig because he never got used to it. This also reminds us that we cannot provide for our souls by working for this world, nor can we do anything of lasting value for our souls by our own natural ability.

He also knows he is too proud to beg. “To beg I am ashamed,” he says. That is the voice of pride, just as his earlier excuse showed laziness. People whom God, in his providence, has disabled from helping themselves should not be ashamed to ask help from others. This steward had more reason to be ashamed of cheating his master than of begging for bread.

So he decides to make friends with his lord’s debtors, the tenants who owed rent and had signed notes for it. “I know what I will do,” he says (Luke 16:4). “My lord is putting me out of his house. I have no house of my own. I know my lord’s tenants. I have done them favors before, and now I will do them one more. They will welcome me into their homes and give me good treatment, and until I can do better, I will live off their hospitality.” The way he planned to win their favor was by cutting down what they owed his master and then recording smaller amounts in the accounts.

So he called one debtor who owed a hundred measures of oil, since oil was the commodity in which he paid rent. “Take your bill,” he said, “sit down quickly, and write fifty” (Luke 16:6). He cut the debt in half, and he was eager to do it quickly, so they would not be suspected while making the deal. He then called another who owed a hundred measures of wheat, and he reduced that bill as well, telling him to write eighty (Luke 16:7). He likely treated others the same way, lowering more or less according to how much favor he hoped to gain.

Here we see how uncertain worldly goods are, especially for those who have the most of them. They often leave all the care of them to others, and that gives those others room to cheat them, because they will not watch with their own eyes. We also see how much treachery can exist even among people who have been trusted.

It is hard to find anyone you can fully trust. “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). Even after this steward was dismissed for dishonest dealing, he still kept on with it. That shows how rare it is for people to change a bad habit, even when they suffer for it.

The steward’s master praised the dishonest steward because he had acted shrewdly, that is, wisely in planning ahead (Luke 16:8). This may mean the steward’s own master praised him for his sharp thinking, even though he was angry at his dishonesty. But it may also be that the whole statement comes from Jesus, who is saying, in effect, “Look at a man like this. He knows how to act for his own future and how to use a short chance while he has it.” Jesus is not praising the man for cheating. He is praising his foresight.

There may also be a sense in which the steward acted more fairly toward the tenants than he had before. He seems to have known that he had forced them into harsh agreements they could not meet. Since they and their families were in danger of falling into ruin, he now, as he was leaving office, did what justice and mercy required. He reduced their debts and likely also lowered their future rent. “How much do you owe?” may mean, “What rent do you pay? I will give you a better deal, though only what you should have had all along.”

He had first been thinking only of his master, but now he started thinking of the tenants, because he wanted their good will after he had lost his master’s favor. Lowering their rent would help them in a lasting way, and it would win them more surely than simply canceling some arrears. This kind of planning for a comfortable life in this world puts our lack of care for the next world to shame. “The children of this world,” people who choose this world as their portion, are often wiser in handling earthly matters than “the children of light,” believers who have the gospel and are concerned with souls and eternity.

We should learn from worldly people how carefully they use their chances. They act quickly when a good opportunity appears. They think ahead, store up for what is coming, and trust what is reliable rather than what is false. Oh, that we would be that wise in spiritual matters. The children of this world are not truly wise, only wise for their own age. Yet even that limited wisdom often puts believers to shame. We are told that our stewardship will soon end, but we do not prepare as if we will soon leave this world and face another.

As children of light, we see the hope of life and immortality through the gospel, yet we still do not prepare for that world as we should. We do not send our best treasure, our best plans, or our strongest affections there. That is the force of the parable’s application. Jesus speaks to his disciples here, since the story was aimed at them (Luke 16:1). Though they had little of this world’s goods, they were to think carefully about how to use what little they had for good.

Christ’s command is to make friends for ourselves by using “the mammon of unrighteousness,” meaning worldly wealth, in a right way. Mammon is a word for money and possessions, and “unrighteousness” points both to how wealth is often gained by wrong means and to how unreliable it is. If we trust riches to give lasting happiness, they will deceive us. They pass away and cannot satisfy the heart. Still, though wealth cannot be our hope, it can be used in service to what truly matters.

We are to use our money so that, in the end, it serves our eternal good. We are not buying heaven, nor earning favor by our gifts. Rather, by using what God has given us for his honor and for people’s good, we are making a wise use of his gifts. In that sense, we may make friends by our wealth, God and Christ as our friends, the holy angels and saints as our friends, and also the poor as our friends. It is a precious thing to be welcomed in the coming world.

At death, we all “fail,” like a business that closes when the owner becomes bankrupt. Death puts out our light. It shuts the shop and seals the hand. All our earthly comforts will fail us then, and even body and heart will grow weak. So our great concern should be to make sure that, when we fail in death, we are received into the everlasting homes of heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1). Those dwellings are eternal, not made by human hands. Christ has gone before to prepare a place for his own, and he is there ready to receive them. The angels are ready to carry them in, and the saints already in glory will welcome those who helped supply their needs on earth.

This is a strong reason to use what we have for God’s honor and for the good of our brothers and sisters. In doing so, we are laying up a good treasure, a good security, a firm foundation for the life to come, yes, for eternity. See (1 Timothy 6:17-19), which explains this point further. Jesus then goes on to press this same lesson with more arguments, urging a life rich in godliness and mercy.

If we do not use God’s gifts wisely, how can we expect him to give us the comforts that come from his Spirit? Jesus compares these two kinds of gifts. Faithful use of worldly things does not earn God’s favor, but unfaithfulness in small matters may rightly be treated as a loss of the grace we need to reach glory, and that is what Jesus is showing in Luke 16:10-14.

The riches of this world are the smaller thing, while grace and glory are greater. So if we are unfaithful with earthly goods, using them for the wrong purposes, it is fair to fear that we would also misuse God’s grace and receive it in vain. Jesus says, “Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much.” A person who serves God and does good with money will also use wisdom, grace, spiritual gifts, and the promises of heaven well. But the one who buries the one talent of earthly wealth will never rightly use the five talents of spiritual riches. God keeps grace back from worldly, greedy people more than we realize.

Earthly riches are also unreliable and short-lived. They are “unrighteous mammon,” meaning worldly wealth that can easily lead people away from God. It is passing away quickly, so if we want to use it for good, we must act at once. If we do not, how can we expect to be trusted with spiritual riches, which are the only true riches? Real wealth belongs to those who are rich in faith and rich toward God, rich in Christ, the promises, and the first gifts of heaven. So we should lay up our treasure there, look to that as our true portion, and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If other things are added, we should use them in a spiritual way, so they help us hold more firmly to true riches and prepare us to receive more grace from God. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the one who is good in his sight, that is, to the open-handed person who gives generously (Ecclesiastes 2:26). In that way, he gives true riches to the one who is faithful with unrighteous mammon.

Earthly riches are also “another man’s.” They are not truly our own. They are foreign to the soul and its real interests. They belong to God first and more fully than to us. We only hold them for a time, like people who use something they do not own. They are another man’s because we receive them from others, we use them for others, and soon we must leave them to others, though we do not know who will get them. Spiritual and eternal riches, however, are truly our own. They enter the soul that receives them, and they stay with it forever. Christ, the promises, and heaven can truly be called ours if we make them ours by faith. But how can we expect God to enrich us with these if we do not serve him with worldly possessions, which are only entrusted to us?

We also have no other way to prove ourselves God’s servants than by giving ourselves so fully to his service that even mammon, meaning all our worldly gain, becomes useful in serving him (Luke 16:13). No servant can serve two masters whose commands pull in opposite directions, as God’s and mammon’s do. If a person loves the world and clings to it, he will end up hating God and treating him with contempt. He will bend his religion to fit his business and plans, and use the things of God to help him pursue the world. But if a person loves God and stays close to him, he will, in comparison, hate the world whenever the world and God compete. He will treat it as less important, and he will use his work and success in the world to help him grow in religion. The things of the world will then support his service to God and his salvation. The matter is plain: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Their interests are so different that their service can never be joined together. So if we mean to serve God, we must renounce the service of the world.

We are then told how the Pharisees received this teaching, and how Jesus answered them. The Pharisees were greedy, and when they heard these things, they could not answer him, so they made fun of him (Luke 16:14). This was their sin, and it came from their greed, which ruled them. Many people who make a strong show of religion, know much, and are active in devotion, are still ruined by love of the world. Nothing hardens the heart more against Christ’s word than that love. These greedy Pharisees could not bear to have Jesus touch the sin they loved most. So they sneered at him, showing the deepest scorn. God’s word was a mockery to them (Jeremiah 6:10). They laughed because Jesus went against the world’s ideas and way of living, and because he tried to turn them from a sin they had resolved to keep.

This was also part of Christ’s suffering. Our Lord endured not only sinners opposing him, but also their contempt. They laughed at him all day long. He who spoke as no one else ever spoke was mocked and ridiculed. That should keep faithful ministers from being discouraged when their preaching is treated the same way. It is no disgrace to be laughed at, only to deserve it. Christ’s apostles were mocked too, and that is no surprise, since a disciple is not greater than his Lord.

Jesus rightly reproved the Pharisees, not for mocking him, since he knew how to treat shame as nothing, but for deceiving themselves with the appearance of religion while lacking its power (Luke 16:15). They had a fine outward show. They justified themselves before men, denying anything bad that was charged against them, even by Christ himself.

They claimed to be people of unusual holiness and devotion, and they defended that claim. “You are the kind of people who do this in a way no one else does. You work hard to win people’s approval, and whether rightly or wrongly, you make sure to defend yourselves before the world. You are well known for this.” They were also highly respected among people. Others did more than excuse them from blame, they praised them and held them in honor, not only as good men, but as the best men.

Their opinions were treated like direct sayings from God, their advice like laws, and their habits like rules that could not be questioned. But God saw the inside of them, and that inner life was hateful in his sight, because it was full of all kinds of evil. It is foolish to defend ourselves before people and think that is enough to carry us through the judgment day. People may know nothing bad about us, yet God knows the evil in our hearts that no one else can see. That should make us humble and cautious about ourselves, because God knows how much deceit lives in us.

It is also foolish to judge people and things by what others think, and simply follow public opinion. What people highly praise, because they judge by appearance, may be an abomination in God’s sight, because he sees things as they truly are and judges with complete truth. On the other hand, some people whom the world despises and condemns are accepted and approved by God (2 Corinthians 10:18).

He then turned from the Pharisees to the publicans and sinners, because they were more likely to respond to his gospel than those proud and greedy Pharisees (Luke 16:16). “The law and the prophets were in force until John,” he says. That is, the Old Testament order, which had been centered among the Jews, lasted until John the Baptist came. Then it may have seemed as if they alone had a claim to righteousness and salvation, and they took pride in that. They gained respect from people because they were students of the law and the prophets.

But since John the Baptist came, the kingdom of God is being preached. This New Testament order does not honor people simply because they are teachers of the law. Instead, every kind of person presses into the kingdom, Gentiles as well as Jews. No one thinks he must wait politely for his supposed betters, such as rulers and Pharisees, to go first. The gospel is not a national system like the Jewish order was, when salvation was of the Jews. It becomes a personal matter for each person, so anyone who knows he has a soul to save and an eternity to prepare for presses in at once, lest he miss out by delay and empty politeness.

Some take the meaning to be this: the Pharisees mocked Christ for speaking against riches. They may have thought, “Were there not many promises of wealth and other earthly blessings in the law and the prophets? Were not some of God’s best servants, like Abraham and David, very rich?” Christ’s answer is, “That was true before, but now that the kingdom of God is being preached, the situation has changed. Now blessed are the poor, the mourners, and the persecuted.”

The Pharisees, in return for the people’s high opinion of them, allowed them to settle for an easy, cheap, outward religion. But now that the gospel is preached, people’s eyes are opened. They can no longer admire the Pharisees as they once did, and they also can no longer be satisfied with the careless religion they were taught. Instead, they press into the kingdom of God with holy force. Those who want to go to heaven must make effort, fight against the current, and push through the crowd that is moving the other way.

Still, Christ firmly denies that he means to weaken the law (Luke 16:17). It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, though they seem so firmly set in place, than for even the smallest part of the law to fail. The moral law is confirmed and upheld, and not one small part of it falls away. The duties it commands are still duties, and the sins it forbids are still sins. In fact, the gospel explains and strengthens those commands, showing their deeper, more spiritual meaning.

The ceremonial law is brought to completion in the light of the gospel. Not one small part of it fails, because its pattern appears clearly in the gospel. The book of Hebrews is a witness to that. Some things were allowed under the law to prevent greater harm, but the gospel removes those allowances. This does not harm the law or dishonor it, because it brings those matters back to the law’s original purpose, as in the case of divorce (Luke 16:18; Matthew 5:32; Matthew 19:9).

Christ does not permit divorce, because his gospel is meant to strike at the bitter root of human corruption, the sinful desires and passions that rule people. Those desires must be killed and uprooted, not indulged. The more they are indulged, the more forceful and stubborn they become.