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Permalink Reply by Calvary Comics on August 27, 2010 at 11:29am

I'm more familiar with it in the King James Version, shown below:

Luke 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.
Luke 16:2 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.
Luke 16:3 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.
Luke 16:4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
Luke 16:5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors [unto him], and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?
Luke 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Luke 16:7 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.
Luke 16:8 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.
Luke 16:9 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.

Verse 8 is corroborated by what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29:
1Cr 1:26 ¶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:
1Cr 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Cr 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Cr 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Also, our Lord Jesus instructed His disciples thusly:
Matthew 10:16 ¶ Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

The wisdom we have is from above (see James 3:14-17), not the crafty guile like Nachash (the serpent) had in the garden of Eden, or that of the unjust steward in the parable in Luke 16 (who in verse 9 ended up in hell with everyone whom he gave a 'break' in his master's bill---sort of like an 'easy believism' pastor who tells his flock that they can live like the devil, not crucifying the flesh and the lusts thereof, and still cruise into heaven at the end of their lives; both deceiver and deceived are in for a rude awakening).

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Permalink Reply by Lee Weeks on August 27, 2010 at 2:18pm

It's a challenging (to say the least) parable!

Jesus is using an example of unjust behavior, but digging out of it a lesson for the children of God.

The Master is, of course, a picture of our Master -- God. Everything we will ever own has in reality always been His. The steward is not commended for anything righteous -- only for being clever, intelligent, wise as a serpent (certainly not gentle as a dove).

Believers are called to forgive debts -- not only the monetary variety. Anything owed to us is ultimately owed to our Master. When we forgive a debt, we are saying person "A" need not give us something they technically owe us, but which they really owe God (since everything is His). We are stewards forgiving debts that are not ultimately owed to us, but to God (Sorry to be redundant -- just not sure I'm clear the first bazillion times :) )

Jesus is also calling us to be wise with the unrighteous mammon (verse 10 goes on to refer to this kind of riches as the "least" with which we can be faithful). We are to use it wisely -- it's a powerful resource and also one of the important means by which we demonstrate our faithfulness to God (giving, tithing, etc.). If we cannot be faithful in the least of riches (money - those that moth, rust, etc....), how can we expect God to entrust us with _real_ riches -- ministry/spiritual/eternal riches?

The steward forgave earthly riches to be received into earthly homes. Scripture says as we forgive, we will be forgiven (Matt 6:12-15, Mark 11, Luke 11:4). A saved person whose truly received salvation cannot help but be forgiving -- or be very convicted of that unforgiveness until it is crucified. As our salvation is expressed in our forgiveness, when we fail (when we die) we will be received into eternal homes -- not just the earthly variety that the steward had set up for himself.

Divest of this world. Invest in the things of the kingdom. Invest all our hearts, minds, souls, resources, talents, and yes, even mammon. The exchange rate is wonderful. :)

Those are my thoughts.

God bless you, Brian!

In Messiah Yeshua,

Lee

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Permalink Reply by Buzz Dixon on August 27, 2010 at 3:33pm

This is indeed one of the more puzzling verses in the Bible!

I've read several translations at Bible Gateway on this passage (Luke 16:1 - 13). This may be a case of "language creep", i.e., a word, phrase, or expression that has one meaning at one era but years/centuries/generations later acquires a different meaning. It's also possible this was perceived as a joke when Christ delivered it in a sermon; i.e., His audience could tell from His expression & inflection He was pointing out the absurdity of the punchline in order to prepare them for the real point He was trying to drive home.

Now, I can't say my reading on this is 100% correct, but it seems to me Christ is making a couple of points:

(1) The king/wealthy man's praising of the unjust steward is not approval for dishonesty, but for being smart enough to take steps to protect himself for repurcussions for his behavior.

(2) Christ may have been telling His audience to be generous, to spread their wealth around rather than greedily hog it for themselves. He was segueing from the punchline of the king praising the servant being generous with the king's money to telling His audience to be generous with their money; His use of of "unrighteous mammon" is sometimes translated as "worldly wealth". "Filthy lucre" might be another way of looking at it; He was emphasizing the "wealth" of this world was actually valueless so you might as well use it to benefit others.

(3) This thought continues on in verse 10, but again Christ is segueing from the responsibility of a servant to his master's money to the idea of His audience being responsible to what God wants. He carries that over to the point of his lesson in verse 13: You can't love God and Mammon.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Bravo on August 29, 2010 at 8:06am

Hey Brian,
Good question, I think the man was applauded for having his priorities in the right place... How so you might ask? The manager wanted friends more than money. (see verse 9 for more clarity)

Also for verse 8 of your post. if the worldly can have more sense in dealing with their own than the audience at this time did, I think that can be a bit of a put down... (I am assuming those who have received the light is talking about the Jewish audience Jesus is addressing) Repeatedly in Leviticus God warns his people to be kind to their own. Lastly notice the end of the verse mentions people... not business.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Jeffrey Durham on August 29, 2010 at 9:48am

I think you're right. The wording does appear to be a put down. I would almost venture to relate this put down to the Jews not accepting Jesus and the foretold consequences the unfolded afterward. It does seem a stretch. "8 "And the employer of this dishonest manager applauded him for acting so shrewdly! For the worldly have more sekhel than those who have received the light -- in dealing with their own kind of people! 9 "Now what I say to you is this: use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it gives out, you may be welcomed into the eternal home. "

shortly after that... in chapter 19
" 41 When Yeshua had come closer and could see the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "If you only knew today what is needed for shalom! But for now it is hidden from your sight. 43 For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you, encircle you, hem you in on every side, 44 and dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls, leaving not one stone standing on another -- and all because you did not recognize your opportunity when God offered it!" "

It could be a stretch as I said, it does seem related though to an insult about good sense.


Andrew Bravo said:

Hey Brian,
Good question, I think the man was applauded for having his priorities in the right place... How so you might ask? The manager wanted friends more than money. (see verse 9 for more clarity) Also for verse 8 of your post. if the worldly can have more sense in dealing with their own than the audience at this time did, I think that can be a bit of a put down... (I am assuming those who have received the light is talking about the Jewish audience Jesus is addressing) Repeatedly in Leviticus God warns his people to be kind to their own. Lastly notice the end of the verse mentions people... not business.

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