16:1 ¶ And he said also unto
his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same
was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is
it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou
mayest be no longer steward. 3 Then the
steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me
the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put
out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 5 So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto
him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And
he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 7 Then said he to another, And how much owest
thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy
bill, and write fourscore. 8 And the
lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children
of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. 9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive
you into everlasting habitations. 10 He
that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
12 And if ye have not been faithful in
that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters: for either
he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous,
heard all these things: and they derided him. 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which
justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. 16 The law and the prophets were until
John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth
into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven
and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. 18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth
another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her
husband committeth adultery.
First, before I comment
on this passage, let me define a steward
and a debt and what they can mean
beyond the literal.
The elder, whether it
be a pastor/teacher, a bishop, which is what we call a pastor today, a deacon
or some other function in the church, is called a steward of the mysteries of God.
They must handle God’s word, not deceitfully, or for gain, to make
merchandise of the church, but faithfully.
1Corinthians 4:1 ¶ Let a
man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the
mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is
required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
In literal terms, a
steward is a manager of a house, what we might today call a butler or, if they
had more responsibility, even an estate agent, as the one in this parable.
A debt cannot only
refer to a financial obligation it can refer to sin debt, the debt one owes God
that they can never repay and the debt one owes to a person they’ve sinned
against. See the example of prayer Jesus gave on two separate occasions.
Matthew 6:12 And forgive us
our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Luke 11:4 And forgive us
our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.
Now, as proof that this
passage is not simply about money and the handling of it you and I can see that
Jesus talks about the steward, being faithful in what has been entrusted to
you, not trying to serve worldly wealth and God at the same time underscoring
the covetousness of the Pharisees, and even down to a comment on adultery and
divorce. Why are all of these things lumped in with a statement on putting away
one’s wife when only part of that doctrine is presented here leaving the reader
and listener to wonder what is intended?
There is an immediate
context and there is an application beyond that to us. In keeping with the last
passage on heaven’s rejoicing when a sinner repents and turns back to God this
passage seems to be about forgiveness. There are two things going on here. In
Luke, chapter 15, we have a wayward child returning to his father, a repentant
sinner turning back to God, and being welcomed.
Here we have a steward who has apparently been too strict and
unyielding, a sort of Nabal of 1Samuel 25, being made to realize that his time
is short. He thinks to forgive some of the debts his master’s debtors owe to
the master. His master applauds him in this. The Jewish disciples of Jesus were
told to pray to be forgiven as they forgave.
They were to be as wise
in spiritual things as the people of the world are wise in temporal things,
like money. The master’s interests were better served in receiving something
rather than holding out for what was probably not forthcoming. Being offered
forgiveness means that the person who has been wronged is willing to accept
less than what they deserve to be given from the debtor.
They needed to be
willing to forgive. It was a small thing compared to what God has done as it is
a small thing for us to forgive considering what Christ has done for us. By
comparing and contrasting a worldly issue of handling money with a spiritual
issue of handling forgiveness the Holy Spirit masterfully weaves a doctrine in
and out of talking about something here on earth. They were warned that they
would be judged by the same standard they used.
Matthew 7:1 ¶ Judge not,
that ye be not judged. 2 For with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall
be measured to you again. 3 And why
beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the
beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how
wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and,
behold, a beam is in thine own
eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out
the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the
mote out of thy brother’s eye.
But, there is a warning
not to serve money, with Mammon being a Syriac term for the personification of
wealth, and a demand to use it, the
mammon of unrighteousness, for God’s purposes of saving the lost. In
chapter 15 God’s mercy and love for His people are emphasized and here
faithfulness to God is contrasted with the proper use of money.
An interesting
companion verse to 13 is Paul’s statement in 1Timothy.
1Timothy 6:6 ¶ But
godliness with contentment is great gain. 7
For we brought nothing into this
world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out. 8 And having food and
raiment let us be therewith content. 9
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts,
which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all
evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and
pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Verse 15 shows us that,
in the context, God does not hold wealth and the economic system in the same
regard that we do, and in fact, holds it in contempt. It is no wonder that a
recent documentary on Netflix referred to the world economic system as a beast.
Then, from 16 to 18,
the context shows that this part of the passage is also about money. Jesus and
Paul both give a more a complete exposition of the doctrine of divorce in
Matthew 5:32 with fornication being the justifiable reason for it and in
1Corinthians 7:15 with abandonment being another. Ripping this passage out of
the context it is in, having to do with the contrast of faithfulness to the
Gospel and how we use money, as is often done with Romans 7 about being dead to the law by the body of Christ, and
making it a part of your convictions on divorce is a consequence of refusing to
consider context and having a religion based on individual verses that may be
part of a larger sentence and in a different context than you are thinking.
The love and pursuit of
Mammon, the Pharisee’s covetousness, is seen as a type of idolatry, being
unfaithful to God. It is spiritual fornication.
Sexual sins are called
covetousness which is linked with idolatry in Colossians 3:5.
Colossians 3:5 Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of
God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7
In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
In conclusion, Jesus
talks about faithfully handling the things of this world and being wise in them
likening that to being wise in spiritual matters, particularly forgiveness and
reaching out to the lost sinner or the backslidden believer, though with a
warning not to worship money but to use it for God’s purpose, expressing God’s
hatred of greed and how it is very much like committing a sin worthy of
wrecking a marriage and our relationship with Him, making the person who serves
money rather than using money to serve God a constant adulterer, an idolater.
No comments:
Post a Comment