Luke 16:11

16:1-12 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.

Luke 16:11 . Ἑν , in the case of ) i.e. when so small a matter is at stake.— ἀδικῳ , the unjust [unrighteous] The unjust mammon is opposed to the true [good]: and by a metonymy of the consequent [unjust] for the antecedent [worthless at least], it is used for that which is least and worthless; inasmuch as by reason of its worthlessness, it is committed and given even to unjust and faithless men; nay, to these especially, because they, with their whole soul and body, seize upon it and devote themselves to it, and esteem it as their one and only good, Luke 16:25 . [Abraham says to Dives, “ Thy good things”]. Every great thing has, through men’s instrumentality either lately or formerly, contracted some stain of injustice. What an amount of injustice must the transference of ownerships throughout so many ages have been liable to impart to the tenures of property, even though at the present time the possessors may hold their property in all good faith?— πιστοὶ , faithful ) External goods are given by way of a test to prove them.— οὐκ ἐγένεσθε , ye have not become [Engl. Ver. not so well, “ye have not been ”]) having laid aside the faithlessness which was in you. This is the signification of the verb γίνομαι [as distinguished from εἰμι ].— τὸ ἀληθινὸν , the true ) Jesus speaks according to the heavenly sense [perception of the relative value of things]. The true good is that which is spiritual and eternal.

(11) If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon. —Better, if ye were not, or, became not. Here the “true riches” stand in contrast with the vain, deceitful, unrighteous mammon, and answer to the true spiritual wealth of peace, pardon, wisdom, or, in St. Paul’s language, here again coloured by St. Luke’s, the “unsearchable riches of Christ” ( Ephesians 3:8 ). Our Lord teaches His disciples, what human religious teachers have so often forgotten, that honesty, integrity, and, as implied in faithfulness, benevolence, in the use of this world’s goods, be our portion small or great, is an indispensable condition of all spiritual advancement. The Greek word for “true” may be noticed as being that which is generally characteristic of St. John. (See Notes on John 1:9; John 4:23.) This is the only instance of its use in the three first Gospels; St. Paul uses it once (1Thessalonians 1:9), and then, after companionship with St. Luke. It is found in three passages of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Hebrews 8:2; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:22) twenty-three times in the writings of St. John.

This verse now opposeth the unrighteous mammon to the true riches , which would strongly incline one to think, that by the mammon of unrighteousness , before mentioned, our Saviour meant only false and deceitful riches. By the true riches I cannot think is meant the gospel, which indeed is said to be committed to trust of the ministers, but not of all Christians. I had rather interpret it of special, effectual grace, which is of all other the true riches: and so it teacheth us this great truth, That God is justified in the denial of his special grace to those who do not make a due use of his common gifts and grace; and indeed here will lie men’s damnation, because they do not make a just use of that common grace which they have, and might make a better use of it than they do. If they would be faithful in that, God would not deny them the true riches.

Who will commit ... - If you are not faithful in the small matters pertaining to this world, if you do not use aright your property and influence, you cannot expect that God will commit to you the true riches of his grace. Men who are dishonest and worldly, and who do not employ the deceitful mammon as they ought, cannot expect to grow in grace. God does not confer grace upon them, and their being unfaithful in earthly matters is evidence that they "would be" also in much greater affairs, and would likewise "misimprove" the true riches. True riches - The graces of the gospel; the influences of the Spirit; eternal life, or religion. The riches of this world are false, deceitful, not to be trusted Luke 16:9; the treasures of heaven are "true," faithful, never-failing, Matthew 6:19-20.