Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 16:13
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.
13. No servant can serve two masters ] God requires a whole heart and an undivided service. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” Gal 1:10.“Whosoever…will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God,” Jas 4:4. “Covetousness…is idolatry Col 3:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the notes at Mat 6:24.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. No servant can serve two masters] The heart will be either wholly taken up with God, or wholly engrossed with the world. See Clarke on Mt 6:24.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Poole on “Mat 6:24“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. can servebe entirelyat the command of; and this is true even where the services arenot opposed.
hate . . . loveshowingthat the two here intended are in uncompromising hostility toeach other: an awfully searching principle!
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
No servant can serve two masters,….
[See comments on Mt 6:24].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Servant (). Household () servant. This is the only addition to Mt 6:24 where otherwise the language is precisely the same, which see. Either Matthew or Luke has put the in the wrong place or Jesus spoke it twice. It suits perfectly each context. There is no real reason for objecting to repetition of favourite sayings by Jesus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Servant [] . Properly, household servant.
Serve. See on minister, Mt 20:26.
The other. See on Mt 6:24.
Hold to. See on Mt 6:24.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “No servant can serve two masters:” (oudeis oiketes dunatai dusi kuriois douleuein) “No house-slave is able to do service to two masters,” with equal zeal and fidelity, to please, give allegiance to, two different kind of masters, as Joshua challenged, Jos 24:15.
2) “For either he will hate the one, and love the other;” (e gar ton hena misesi kai ton heteron agapesei) “For he will either hate the one and love the other,” the other master. He will take one lightly, frivolously, and affectionately care for the other. One master represents the world and the other the Lord.
3) “Or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” (he henos antheksetai kai tou heterou kataphronesei) “Or he will hold fast to one and he will despise the other,” hold to one with allegiance, and ignore or take very lightly the other, Mat 6:24.
4) “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (ou dunasthe theo douleuein kai mamona) “You are not able to serve God and mammon,” as expressed Gal 1:10; 2Ti 4:10; Jas 4:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) No servant can serve two masters.See Notes on Mat. 6:24. Here it obviously comes in close connection with the previous teaching. But its occurrence, in an equally close sequence, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows that it took its place among the axioms of the religious life which our Lord, if we may so speak, loved to reproduce as occasion called for them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. No servant can serve two masters This verse is found nearly verbatim in Mat 6:24, on which see our note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Jesus then caps His arguments with a final statement. All this is true because no one can serve two masters. Anyone who has two masters will not be able to serve them in balance. Always one must take precedence. Thus every man must choose Who or what will be his real master. It is not possible to serve God and Wealth at the same time. One will always be loved more than the other. One will be clung to and the other despised. Thus how we use the wealth entrusted to us actually brings out who is in control. It brings out whom or what we serve, just as the estate manager had served his own interests and not his lord’s.
Thus if we only use our worldly wealth under the direction of God, with no regard for it but as a tool to be used as God wills, then well. But if we allow it to deflect us from doing and being the very best for God, then it will have taken over the mastership, and our commitment will necessarily suffer. Whatever our protestations we are declaring that wealth is our master. We are treating God as though He were less important than possessions. We are thus despising God. That is what Jesus observed in the rich young ruler and why He made such a total demand on him. He knew that wealth had too much of a hold on him, as indeed his final decision proved. He loved wealth rather than God. He was exactly like the estate manager!
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A lesson concerning covetousness.
v. 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.
v. 14. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided Him.
v. 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.
v. 16. The Law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
v. 17. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail.
v. 18. “Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery. It is impossible for a servant to be in the service of, and to render proper service to, two different masters. See Mat 6:24. The one will have his affection and respect, and therefore the service which, flows out of these feelings; the other will have his dislike, if not his outright hatred. And so he cannot serve the interests of both. If anyone serves mammon, attaches his heart to his money, to his wealth, if he has only the object of satisfying his own desires, he cannot at the same time serve the Lord. His heart will be where his supposed treasure is. This last saying angered the Pharisees, who were present and had heard the parable. They were lovers of money, they were covetous. And since they felt the sting of the words, they tried to turn the tables on the Lord, in a childish way, by turning up their noses at Him, by sneering and deriding Him. This behavior of the Pharisees causes Jesus to flay their self-righteousness, and to remind them of some other shortcomings and vices which were found in their midst. They justified themselves before men, they lived their lives so as to conform with the outward forms of holiness before men, who could not look into their hearts to discover the hidden meanness. But God looked beyond the veneer of outward righteousness, He knew their hearts in all their filthiness. Before men they may be highly respected, but before the Lord they and their entire behavior were an abomination. And it is true in general that conventional moral statements are the opposite of real truth; the hypocrisies of the so-called high society in many cases are such as to make the behavior of the lowest class of people that are sincere in speech and action seem golden by contrast. But even here the searching mercy of the Lord is apparent. For He tells the Pharisees that the Law and the Prophets were in power until John, who stands on the threshold between the Old and the New Testaments. But beginning with John, and since his coming, the glorious preaching of the kingdom of God, as revealed in Jesus the Christ, had gone forth, and every one that became interested at all was so completely overcome with the glories revealed that he pressed forward with might and took it by force. See Mat 11:12-13. The believer is obliged to battle with, and to overcome, all his own natural desires and lusts, and to deny them. world with all its gifts and allurements in order to enter into the Kingdom. But this does not imply that the Law has been abrogated. The situation rather is this, that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, and heaven and earth will actually be destroyed, before so much as one tittle, a single diacritical mark of the Hebrew script, falls to the ground. See Mat 5:17-48; Mat 6:1-34; Mat 7:1-29; Mat 8:1-34; Mat 9:1-38; Mat 10:1-42; Mat 11:1-30; Mat 12:1-50; Mat 13:1-58; Mat 14:1-36; Mat 15:1-39; Mat 16:1-28; Mat 17:1-27; Mat 18:1-32. Therefore also the Seventh Commandment with its judgment upon covetousness would continue in force. And no less should the Pharisees remember the Sixth Commandment, concerning which there was far too much license in their midst. What Jesus had said at other times He here repeated with emphasis. The wanton dissolution of the marriage-tie by which a man put away his wife for almost any reason that he chose to name, simply by giving her a bill of divorcement, and then entered into a union with some other woman, is adultery before God. And the union with a woman that has been thus put away by her husband without a cause that God acknowledges is again adultery. God will not be mocked with the lax marriage and divorce of these latter days. The state may, for the sake of expediency, permit many things to the children of the world which God condemns unequivocally; but that fact does not and cannot influence a Christian nor cause him to deviate one inch from the will of God as revealed in the Law.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 16:13. No servant can serve, &c. “Beware of indulging even the least degree of covetousness, for it is absolutely inconsistent with piety; insomuch that a man may as well undertake at one and the same time to serve two masters of contrary dispositions and opposite interests, as pretend to please God, while he is anxiously pursuing the world for its own sake.” In this manner did our Lord recommend the true use of riches, power, knowledge, and the other advantages of the present life, from the consideration that they are not our own, but God’s; that they are only committed to us, as stewards, to be employed for the honour of God, and the good of mankind; that we are accountable to the proprietor for the use we make of them, who will reward or punish us accordingly; and that every degree of covetousness is such a serving of mammon, as is really idolatry, and altogether inconsistent with the duty that we owe to God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Luk 16:13 . A principle which does not cohere with what follows (Holtzmann), but proves as indubitable the denial which is implied in the previous question : “ye shall in the supposed case not receive the Messianic salvation.” Ye are, to wit, in this case servants of Mammon , and cannot as such be God’s servants, because to serve two masters is morally impossible. Moreover, see on Mat 6:24 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 13. See Mat 6:24 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. ] See note on Mat 6:24 . The connexion here is, that we must, while put in trust with the , be serving not it, but God . The saying here applies (as Olshausen remarks) admirably to the Pharisees and Publicans: the former were, to outward appearance, the servants of God, but inwardly served Mammon; the latter, by profession in the service of Mammon, were, by coming to Jesus, shewing that they inwardly served God.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
servant = domestic household servant. Greek. oiketes. Occurs only here; Act 10:7. Rom 14:4. 1Pe 2:18.
can = isable to.
serve = do bondservice. Greek. douleuo. As in Luk 15:29.
masters = lords, as in verses: Luk 16:3, Luk 16:5, Luk 16:5, Luk 3:8.
the other. Same as “another” in Luk 16:7.
cannot = are not (Greek. ou. App-105) able to.
God. See App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] See note on Mat 6:24. The connexion here is,-that we must, while put in trust with the , be serving not it, but God. The saying here applies (as Olshausen remarks) admirably to the Pharisees and Publicans: the former were, to outward appearance, the servants of God, but inwardly served Mammon;-the latter, by profession in the service of Mammon, were, by coming to Jesus, shewing that they inwardly served God.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 16:13-31
Commentary On Luk 16:13-31
Galen Doughty
Luk 16:13-15 – The Pharisees are listening to Jesus teach his disciples these sayings. Jesus repeats the saying about no one being able to serve God and money at the same time, something he had said in the Sermon on the Mount earlier in his ministry. He is warning the disciples and indicting the Pharisees at the same time. Money will compete for our heart’s allegiance and we cannot serve both it and God. You can only have one master and if you are a follower of Christ it can only be Jesus. He alone must be Lord!
The Pharisees hearing this, sneer at Jesus. That is an odd reaction. Are they showing their contempt toward Jesus at this point or are they thinking his saying is too simplistic? Or is Jesus getting too close to their attitudes and so they attack him and sneer at him as a defense? Are they acting like a politician who can’t answer their opponents position and doesnt have a cogent position themselves so they attack the character of their opponent? I think that is the most likely scenario.
Luke says the Pharisees loved money so they sneer at Jesus. Jesus replies that the Pharisees are the ones who justify themselves in the eyes of people. It is all about outward appearances. God however knows their hearts! What people value God sneers at; God detests! Money, fame, popularity, position, power, influence; all these are the perks of this world and all these God detests! The Pharisees, Jesus says, are running after these worldly things all the while trying to appear spiritual and act like God approves of them and they are God’s favorites because of their righteousness! God is the one sneering at them!
Luk 16:16-17 – The NIV groups these next sayings under the heading additional teachings. That fits as these sayings appear random. However, Jesus often teaches this way and in so doing, he follows the pattern of the wisdom teachers in Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. Those books often seem random in their sayings with one theme following another not appearing to be connected. The Letter of James is the same way. Jesus imitated the wisdom teachers, the prophets, Moses, in fact all of Israel’s great teachers. His parables were unique to him. The truth is he could teach in various styles and be profound in each or he could be completely unique. He was unlike anyone before or after him!
This saying speaks of the turning of the page in the plan of God. He is saying up through John the Baptist Israel is in the time of the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament timeframe. Since then the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed and preached. Jesus is saying the turning point between the Old and New Covenants is John and Jesus. This is born out in the way Luke treats his birth narratives. John’s birth announcement and Jesus’ have an Old Testament character to them. Everything changes when John starts his ministry and Jesus is baptized in the Jordan. Jesus reinforces that idea here.
The difficult part of this saying is the second sentence, especially the phrase, and everyone is forcing his way into the Kingdom. The word means to act violently or forcefully. Clearly Jesus does not mean that the way into the Kingdom of God is to violently force God to admit you to the Kingdom. That would violate everything he has said, especially the three parables of Luke 15! I think this saying is related to the saying at the end of the Great Banquet of the servants compelling people to come into the banquet. The saying is two-fold. First there will be opposition to entering the Kingdom from those who oppose it or want to prevent people from entering, namely the Pharisees. They see themselves as guardians of the Kingdom and the ones who deserve it. They want to refuse entry to the tax collectors, sinners and people of the land! In order to enter it there will be difficulties. For Jesus that means suffering. It means the same thing for his disciples. The second meaning concerns the Pharisees. They try and force their way into the Kingdom by thinking that their righteousness entitles them to entrance to the Kingdom. They are so scrupulous in keeping the Law that God must admit them. That is why Jesus adds the saying in Luk 16:17 about no part of the Law will pass away. If the Pharisees are bound to try and keep the Law of Moses in order to enter into the Kingdom of God then they must keep it perfectly. If they break one part they break it all! That is Paul’s argument in Romans 2. The problem is Jesus has already shown how the Pharisees constantly break not only the letter of the Law but also the spirit of the Law, especially justice and mercy! This is one of those sayings where Jesus says something in order to show its impossibility. No one can keep the Law perfectly and be without sin to force God’s hand in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Only the Messiah-Servant, Jesus himself will be able to accomplish this feat. He is not doing it to enter the Kingdom of God but to prove himself a fitting sacrifice for the human race. Plus, the Law exposes the character of the individual not just their actions. Jesus’ character is God’s character. The Pharisees’ character is that of a sinner that needs the grace of God! They are the older brother and they still can’t see it!
Luk 16:18 – Jesus now moves to a totally new subject and yet it is somewhat related. He forbids re-marriage even while permitting divorce. Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. I think Jesus is interpreting the Law of Moses for the Pharisees and showing how their tradition about divorce and re-marriage has twisted the Law’s design. In that sense this is a specific example of how the Pharisees have re-made the Law in their own image in order to do what they want and call themselves righteous before God. They think they are acting righteously to force God to let them enter the Kingdom! The Pharisees applied the Law of divorce and re-marriage only to women. A divorced woman could not re-marry or she was seen as an adulterous. Jesus says the same applies to a man. In other words you are allowed to divorce but there is no re-marriage under the Law! You can’t apply the Law to women in one way and men in another. The Law about divorce and re-marriage applies equally to both men and women. Jesus short circuits the Pharisees’ entire teaching about marriage and divorce. They had twisted the Law to suit themselves and allow serial polygamy. Jesus shows them God will have none of it! By following their tradition and interpretation they are guilty of adultery before the Law! And if they are guilty of adultery then they are not righteous and they cannot enter the Kingdom of God!
If that is the case then these two sayings are not disconnected but linked in a very profound way. Jesus is once again indicting the Pharisees and showing how their works righteousness is a dead end. He is re-enforcing the points he made in his parables from the Great Banquet on through the three parables dealing with the lost, and especially the older brother in the Two Lost Sons.
Luk 16:19-21 – Jesus now tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It appears he is still talking to the Pharisees because the context has not shifted and Luke has not said he is speaking to another group of people. Apparently the disciples are there but so are the Pharisees. This makes some sense because this is about a rich man and his salvation and Jesus had already spoken to the Pharisees about their love of money. Part of what is happening here is that the current theology of the day said a rich person is favored by God and a poor person is not. A rich person has all the advantages in gaining the Kingdom because they can give more and so earn more favor with God. Jesus blows apart that whole theology in this parable.
Jesus describes the situation. There is a rich man who lives in luxury, dressed in fine clothes and eating choice food. At his gate lives a poor man named Lazarus who is covered in sores and who longs for the dog scraps that fall from the rich man’s table. In the Pharisees’ thinking the rich man is blessed of God and the poor man and his sores are cursed. To them the rich man will inherit the Kingdom and the poor man will be excluded. He is one of the uneducated people of the land!
Luk 16:22-24 – Lazarus dies and is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom or side. Jesus is using the popular understanding of Sheol with a paradise side and a hades or hell side where there is torment for the souls of the dead who are apart from God. It is risky to build a final or complete picture of the afterlife from Jesus’ parable because we don’t know how much he is using popular notions of heaven and hell and how much he is actually teaching the Pharisees and his disciples about peoples’ condition after they die. He is not lying but he may be simply using ideas they would already believe and know to illustrate a point.
The Hebrew conception of Sheol in Jesus’ day had two sides; paradise and Hades or hell. This was not the ultimate lake of fire in Revelation but like a holding tank for rebellious souls until the final resurrection and judgment. The paradise side of Sheol is sometimes described in Jewish writings as Abraham’s bosom which Jesus uses here. The apostles later expand and clarify this idea and teach that we are personally present with Christ in heaven as a spirit before and until the resurrection. That is also reflected here as Jesus does not speak to the issue of the final resurrection in this parable. It is clear however that both Lazarus and the rich man are rewarded or punished in eternity for what they did here on earth. Their eternal condition after death is directly related to their temporal decisions and actions and especially to their relationship with God during their lifetimes. It is also clear that once they die their decisions are confirmed but there is no going back or changing. It’s like the store that says all transactions are final.
The idea of the angels carrying a soul to heaven comes from this parable. Whether that is accurate or is Jesus’ literary way of saying Lazarus went to heaven is impossible to know. The parable contains other images that are probably fanciful like the rich man talking to Abraham and being able to see Lazarus in paradise while he is in Hades. There is no evidence that anything like that is possible in other parts of the New Testament. Also, this parable is told to the Pharisees who would have accepted the premise of an afterlife whereas the Sadducees would not have.
The rich man is in torment apart from God in Hades. The picture Jesus paints is one of fire and pain and anguish. In other places he speaks of darkness and cold in the outer darkness. Both images are ones of suffering and pain because one is without God and eternally separated from him. The rich man pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue because of the heat and pain. He is conscious and aware of his situation in Hades. That would be the worst, to live in eternal regret, knowing you could have made a different choice!
Luk 16:25-26 – Abraham reminds the man that he has received his reward because he focused on worldly wealth for the brief time of his life on earth. Lazarus had nothing and now is being comforted because of the injustice of his life. Jesus does not say so but from other parts of his teaching it is clear that Lazarus must have known God and worshipped him. Abraham speaks to the rich man and not God or an angel. That is curious. He represents faithful Israel in this parable because Abraham was a man of faith. He did not have the Law of Moses. Is Jesus subtlely hinting at that here, just as Paul will later flesh out in Romans? It is possible. Moses does not address the rich man and the Law never comes up which the Pharisees must have been surprised at. The issue is faith not works here!
Abraham then tells the rich man there is a great chasm separating the two men. No one can cross from either direction. Jesus is saying our eternal destinies are permanent and cannot be changed. What we do here determines that destiny but once it comes into play nothing can be changed. His picture of eternity here seems to rule out any idea of a last chance in hell to repent. Once one dies there is no going back. Even if parts of this parable are symbolic and not to be taken literally, Jesus’ teaching here contradicts the theology of universalism that God welcomes everyone into heaven no matter whether they receive Jesus or not.
Luk 16:27-31 – The rich man now pleads with Abraham to send someone to his father’s house to warn his brothers about the fate that awaits them if they do not repent. He does not want his family to end up in Hades and the torment of an eternity without God. Abraham says they have Moses and the Prophets, in other words, the Scriptures to warn them. His brothers can read just like everyone else! This is the first time Moses is mentioned. Again this is to the Pharisees who accepted both Moses and the prophets as Scripture.
The rich man pleads further with Abraham to send someone from the dead to warn them then they will repent and turn to God. He finally states the core issue. In his life he did not repent and turn to God, but Lazarus despite his poverty did. That is the real issue not who has wealth or God’s favor in this life. It is our relationship with God that Jesus says counts the most!
Abraham tells the rich man if they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets then they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead. If I am correct and Jesus is telling this parable to the Pharisees then this last statement is a chilling indictment by Jesus of the Pharisees. He’s saying they don’t listen to the Scriptures which speak of him as Messiah and they won’t listen even after he has risen from the dead. They will still not repent and believe. In fact they will continue to oppose Jesus and his followers even after the resurrection. Paul is exhibit A for their attitude. He at least believed when he saw the risen Christ, but the Pharisees of Judea refused to believe Jesus had risen and even spread the story the disciples had stolen his body. Jesus prophetically shows them their true hearts and warns them of their eternal fate if they do not believe in him as Messiah. They will end up like the rich man in hell!
Questions by E.M. Zerr For Luke Chapter Sixteen
1. What servant did the rich man have?
2. Tell the report that came to him.
3. State the accusation he then made to his steward.
4. What was he ordered to prepare to give ?
5. Of what change was he notified ?
6. What was the stewards state of mind now ?
7. What two difficulties confronted him now?
8. Did he reach a resolution?
9. How many debtors were consulted?
10. What was their debt?
11. Tell what reductions were made.
12. For what was the steward commended?
13. Compare wisdom of two classes mentioned.
14. What are we advised to make for ourselves ?
15. By what means are we to do this?
16. What will these friends do for us?
17. When will they do this?
18. How is faithfulness affected by little or much ?
19. Unfaithfulness in one trust will deprive us of what?
20. How many masters can one serve?
21. What will interfere ?
22. Who is against God?
23. What is said of the Pharisees ?
24. Tell what they did to Jesus.
25. Of what did Jesus accuse them?
26. With whom were they not justified?
27. Why was that?
28. State difference between estimation of God and man.
29. What reached till time of John ?
30. What was preached after that?
31. In what way was the preaching received?
32. What is not to prove a failure?
33. Tell what would be easier than this.
34. When does separation become adultery?
35. What two men may become guilty?
36. Describe the clothing and fare of the rich man.
37. Who was contrasted with him?
38. State his condition.
39. With what was he fed?
40. What treatment did he have for his affliction?
41. Tell what happened to both men.
42. What did the angels do?
43. Tell what was done for the rich man.
44. Where did his spirit go?
45. State his condition.
46. Whom did he see?
47. What is said about the distance?
48. State the request he first made?
49. On what basis was it first denied ?
50. What was the next reason ?
51. State the next request the rich man made.
52. What did he wish to prevent?
53. Why did they not deserve this consideration?
54. State the argument of the rich man.
55. In going, what would Lazarus have needed to do ?
Luke Chapter Sixteen
By Ralph L. Starling
Jesus tells about a certain rich man
Who accused his servant of wasting his funds.
The servant thought, What shall I do, my fate is sealed,
Ill go to his creditors and make them a deal.
He asked the creditors how much do you owe?
When he was told he figured a less score.
When the Lord found out he was most pleased.
He told the servant he had acted wisely.
Jesus said, He that is faithful in little will be faithful in much.
He that is faithful in much is one you can trust.
No man can serve two masters together.
You cannot serve God and money, but one or the other.
The covetous Pharisees derided Him for this.
He said, God knows you hearts, He will not miss!
The Law and the Prophets were only till John
But now the kingdom of God is the only one.
Jesus tells about the rich man and the beggar Lazarus.
Both of them died and went to their own place.
The rich man tormented in Hell, Lazarus I peace.
The rich man appealed, Get me out of this!
Abraham replied, Between us a great gulf is fixed.
Those with you, those with us, cannot be mixed.
The rich man said, Then warn my brothers of this torment.
Abraham replied, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Chapter 14
That Which Is Highly Esteemed Among Men
Single Heart
The Lord Jesus concluded his parable of the unjust steward with these words, 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 (Luk 16:13). The lesson he declares is unmistakable: if we would worship and serve our God, we must worship him and serve him with a single, undivided heart.
The Lord looketh on the heart. In all things concerning faith in Christ, obedience to our God, and worship, the heart is the principle thing (Pro 4:23; Pro 23:26). The Lord looketh on the heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart he will not despise. The one thing he requires of all who come to him in faith is the heart, a sincere, single, undivided heart. The heart was the one thing lacking in the rich young ruler. The heart was the thing the Scribes and Pharisees would not give. The heart is the one thing none will give to God, except the Lord God create a broken, contrite, single, undivided heart in us by his omnipotent grace. Faith in Christ is the surrender of myself to him. It is giving up my life to him. Faith in Christ is not a partial consecration, but the entire consecration of myself to my God. Read the scriptures for yourself and understand the doctrine of Christ. Where there is no consecration, there is no conversion. Where there is no surrender, there is no salvation. Where there is no voluntary bowing to Christ as Lord, there is no knowledge of Christ as Saviour (Luk 14:26-33; Mar 8:34-37).
The plain and simple fact is 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. We are not the servants of God, we do not trust Christ as our Lord, if we do not give up ourselves so entirely to his service as to make mammon, that is, all our worldly gain, serviceable to his kingdom, his will, and his glory.
If we love the world and seek to hold on to the things of the world, we will hate God and despise his grace. Our worship of, service to, and faith in God will be made to be subservient to our worldly interests. We will use the things of God to serve the world.
If we love God and seek to hold on to him, serving his kingdom and his glory, his Son and his gospel, then we will hate the world and despise all that it offers. That simply means that when the world comes into competition with God, we throw the world away and hold our God and Saviour. We make our business and worldly interests subservient to the worship of, obedience to, and service for our God. We make the things of the world to be neither more nor less than instruments with which we serve the Lord God.
It is a useless show of hypocrisy to claim that we are worshippers and servants of God, when in reality we only serve ourselves. God in heaven cannot be served with a divided heart. That is so obviously revealed in the New Testament that dispute regarding it would seem to be unthinkable. Yet, multitudes in this world try to do the thing our Master declares is impossible. They try to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time.
Does that describe you? Your conscience forces you to be religious. But your heart is chained to earthly things. You live in constant unrest. You have too much religion to be happy in the world and too much of the world in your heart to be happy in religion. You labour to do that which cannot be done. You are striving to serve God and mammon.
Whole-hearted, decisive faith is what our Lord requires. Whole-hearted, decisive faith is the key to contentment and peace in this world. Half-heartedness brings up an evil report of the good land and of Gods promise. Whole-hearted faith in Christ, like Caleb, is of another spirit and follows the Lord fully, saying, The Lord will bring us into this land and give it to us.
J. C. Ryle said, The more entirely we live, not to ourselves, but to him who died for us, the more powerfully shall we realize what it is to have joy and peace in believing (Rom 15:13). If it is worthwhile to serve Christ at all, let us serve him with all our heart, and soul, and mind and strength If we cannot make up our minds to give up everything for Christs sake, we must not expect Christ to own us at the last day. He will have all our hearts or none. Whoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (Jas 4:4). The end of undecided and half-hearted Christians will be to be cast out forever.
Sneering Religionists
When the scribes and Pharisees heard our Lords parable of the unjust steward and the conclusion he drew from it, they derided him. These lost religionists turned up their noses in contempt at our Saviours doctrine. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him (Luk 16:14).
When the Pharisees, a money-loving, money-obsessed bunch of religionists, heard the Master say these things, they rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. These covetous men, these lovers of the world, turned up their noses, made faces at the Son of God, and sneered at him. They laughed and scoffed at his doctrine. These men professed to be, and everyone highly regarded them as being lovers of God; but that which was the master passion of their hearts was the love of the world. These men, wrote G. Campbell Morgan, were filled with scorn for this poor, Galilean peasant who talked like that about money. To them, the teaching Jesus had been giving was so preposterous that they could not restrain their mockery.
There are many in pulpits and churches around the world today of the same opinion. They are moral. They are religious. But they tell us that such things as our Lord here emphatically declares are not practical. What blasphemy there is in the use of that word practical! When religious people talk about being practical, teaching practical things, practical doctrine, and practical godliness, what they usually mean is: Weve heard enough about Christ and his gospel. That no longer appeals to us! When they talk about devotion and consecration to the Son of God as something excessive and impractical, they are only attempting to cover their own rebellion, self-interests, and love of the world. Nothing in all the world is more reasonable and practical than the whole-hearted consecration of our lives to our God and Saviour (Rom 12:1-2). That man or woman who loves the world, no matter how religious he or she may be, betray themselves by the object of their affection (1Jn 2:15-17).
A Biting Reply
The Master had already stung their consciences. They knew he had been talking about them. And, now in Luk 16:15 our Saviour gives a biting reply to their sneers. God sees right through the mask of hypocrisy. He knows every mans heart. 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.
Hiding behind the mask of religious devotion, these men passed themselves off as being great lovers of God and of his law. But their religion was nothing but a mask to hide their covetousness, their love of all that can be gained in this world. Here, our Lord unmasked the Pharisees publicly. In essence, he is saying, You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows whats behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous. In doing so, he gives us two, sobering lessons, if we have ears to hear them. First, God knoweth your hearts. Second, That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
That which is high in the estimation of men is an abomination in the sight of God. That is to say, those who attempt to justify themselves by their works, ever making a show of religion and godliness before men, are a stench in the nostrils of God in heaven, who knows their hearts.
They are a stench in his nostrils, and all their religion is a stench in his nostrils. Their religion and holiness, their devotion and ceremonies, their zeal and their prayers are a stench to God! Everything by which they gain the applause of men as holy, devoted, godly people, everything by which they gain the world they covet is an abomination to God.
What was our Lord referring to here? Did he have anything specific in mind? Hear his own words and see
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly (Mat 6:1-4).
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him (Mat 6:5-8).
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly (Mat 6:16-18).
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on mens shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren (Mat 23:1-8).
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves (Mat 23:15).
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess (Mat 23:23-25).
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead mens bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Mat 23:27-28).
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? (Mat 23:29-33).
Gods opinion of a mans goodness and his own opinion of his goodness are not quite the same. Your opinion of your righteousness and Gods opinion of it are as different as heaven and hell (Isa 1:10-15; Isa 65:2-5). God loves what men despise: mercy, grace, lovingkindness, and faith. And men love what God despises: a form of godliness, a religious show, and the praise of men.
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish (Psa 49:16-20).
Legalists And The Law
In Luk 16:16-18 our Lord exposes the legalists contempt for Gods holy law. While all legalists denounce as antinomian those faithful men who proclaim the believers complete freedom from the law (Rom 6:14-15; Rom 7:4; Rom 8:1-4; Rom 10:4; Gal 5:1-4; Col 2:8; Col 2:16; Col 2:20), the fact is all who claim to live by the law would destroy the law. It is the legalist who is the antinomian, the one who is against the law.
All who want you to believe that they are holy, that they live by the law of God and make themselves holy by their obedience to God really despise the law and endeavour to destroy it by lowering it to their level. This is exactly what our Lord charged against the Pharisees and all their followers in these three verses.
Legalists love to show their obedience to the law, though they despise it inwardly. How often we hear legalists say, If I didnt believe I was still under the law, I could go out and live any way I wanted to. With such assertions they betray their hatred of the law; and by their own words they are judged. Believers delight in the law after the inward man.
A New Age
Our Saviour declares in Luk 16:16 that the law and the prophets have now been fulfilled and a new age has begun. The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. In the strictest sense, the law and the prophets were not fulfilled until Christ died and rose again. But John the Baptist appeared as the forerunner of the Christ, preparing the way before him, announcing the beginning of this present gospel age. Since the day John the Baptist pointed to him and cried, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, the types and shadows of the law have been fulfilled.
The kingdom of God no longer has any connection with meats, and drinks, and ceremonies, and bondage. It is not outward, but inward. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17). In this gospel age we do not call men and women to duties and ceremonies, but to Christ himself, preaching the kingdom of God.
The law portrayed eternal things in the words of temporal things and spiritual things by carnal things. The gospel deals only with the spiritual and the eternal. The old things of the legal age have passed away. We are no longer looking for a kingdom to come, but proclaiming a kingdom established, and pressing men and women into it. The Church of God is the Kingdom of God, a kingdom established by Christ, a kingdom established upon righteousness, a kingdom of which Christ is the King, a kingdom of grace, and an everlasting kingdom.
Pressing In
In the last line of Luk 16:16 we read, the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. What do those words mean? Certainly, our Lord does not mean for us to understand that all men are trying to get into his kingdom. These Pharisees were not! They not only would not enter the kingdom, they did everything they could to block others from entering, just as our modern religionists do by their traditions, ceremonies, altar calls, scripted prayers, and displays of piety.
So what does it mean? The word translated presseth in Luk 16:16 is used in only one other place in the New Testament (Mat 11:12). It means, as it is translated in Matthew, suffereth violence. Everyone who enters the Kingdom of God strives to enter in at the strait gate. He strives against all the religion and religious duties, against all the saying of prayers and doing of penance, against all the laws and ceremonies, by which lost religionists would keep them from Christ.
Word Fulfilled
In Luk 16:17 our Lord declares that the Word of God stands and must be fulfilled in every detail. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Apply these words to the Mosaic law or to the whole of divine revelation in the Old Testament, or to both. They mean exactly the same thing. Our Lord is here declaring, lest any foolishly say (as many do) that since they are fulfilled, the law and the prophets have been destroyed. Fulfilled is not destroyed, but fulfilled. As all the law was exactly fulfilled, so every Word of God stands forever. Not one word written in the Book of God shall fall to the ground. Gods Word is sure and unalterable!
With regard to Gods holy law, the preaching of the Kingdom of God (the preaching of the gospel) does not lessen it, or destroy it. Not at all! The preaching of the gospel maintains the utter severity, strictness, and justice of the law, and its fulfilment by Christ as our Substitute (Rom 3:24-26; Rom 8:1-4; Rom 9:33 to Rom 10:4).
Committeth Adultery
To enforce what he says in Luk 16:17, our Lord declares to these self-righteous, self-serving, mean-spirited legalists that the specific law they were most flagrantly guilty of perverting, violating and trying to destroy means exactly the same thing today as it did when Moses wrote it in Deuteronomy 24. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery (Luk 16:18).
The Word of God is crystal clear. Marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman (Gen 1:27; Genesis 24). Any man or woman who breaks that union, except upon the grounds of or because of adultery or abandonment (Mat 5:31-32; Mat 19:1-9; 1Co 7:15), and marries another commits adultery.
The Pharisees were flagrant in their disregard of Gods law in this regard. The famous rabbi Hillel, who lived during the days of Herod I, asserted that a man had the right to divorce his wife if she burned his food! Another rabbi (Akiba) taught that a man could divorce his wife if he found a woman who was prettier!
So commonly and easily did the Pharisees divorce their wives and marry another that when our Lords disciples heard what he had to say about it, they were shocked. They said, If the case of the man be so with his wife, if a man cannot put away his wife for any and every cause as the Pharisees do (Mat 19:3), it is not good to marry (Mat 19:10).
Does that sound familiar? All this looseness and laxity, all this contempt for Gods law was promoted by men who pretended to be lovers of it and zealous for it, while they lowered it to their own level. In reality, they were men who simply used religion and God and the Bible to gratify their own lusts, promote their own praise, and secure their high esteem in the eyes of men.
Why here?
Many seem to have great difficulty trying to figure out why the Lord Jesus said what he did in Luk 16:18 in this context. They think it is out of place, that it has nothing to do with the parable in Luk 16:1-13, the comments in Luk 16:14-17, or the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luk 16:19-31.
They are all mistaken. In Luk 16:18 our Lord sticks his finger right on the ever-swelling chest of every proud legalist, exposing his hypocrisy, and says, Like the unjust steward, you live for yourself. Your religion, your great piety, that you think will get you into heaven is carrying you rapidly, headlong into hell. And, soon, you who are so rich in your own eyes will lift up your eyes in hell and see all Gods poor Lazaruss, all these publicans and sinners who trust me alone for acceptance with God, these who come to me at mercys open gate as poor, needy beggars seeking grace, these who feed with me at the Fathers bounteous table, these you will see in all the riches of heavenly glory with me. Then, then, you will remember your imaginary riches and good things to the everlasting torment of your souls.
Hear the words of the Son of God and flee to him for mercy, trusting him alone as your righteousness. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:20). Oh, poor, guilty, needy sinner, come to Christ as a filthy, empty handed, naked beggar and find in him the righteousness that God requires. Everything God requires is in him. And God gives it freely to all who need it (1Co 1:30-31).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
servant: Luk 9:50, Luk 11:23, Jos 24:15, Mat 4:10, Mat 6:24, Rom 6:16-22, Rom 8:5-8, Jam 4:4, 1Jo 2:15, 1Jo 2:16
hate: Luk 14:26
Reciprocal: 2Ki 17:33 – They feared Pro 28:11 – rich Jer 22:17 – covetousness Hos 10:2 – Their heart is divided Hos 12:8 – Yet Mat 19:23 – That Luk 8:14 – and are Luk 16:9 – of the 2Ti 4:10 – having Heb 13:5 – conversation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
See the comments on Mat 6:24.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
THESE verses teach us, firstly, the uselessness of attempting to serve God with a divided heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, “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.”
The truth here propounded by our Lord appears, at first sight, too obvious to admit of being disputed. And yet the very attempt which is here declared to be useless is constantly being made by many in the matter of their souls. Thousands on every side are continually trying to do the thing which Christ pronounces impossible. They are endeavoring to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. Their consciences are so far enlightened, that they feel they must have some religion. But their affections are so chained down to earthly things, that they never come up to the mark of being true Christians. And hence they live in a state of constant discomfort. They have too much religion to be happy in the world, and they have too much of the world in their hearts to be happy in their religion. In short, they waste their time in laboring to do that which cannot be done. They are striving to “serve God and mammon.”
He that desires to be a happy Christian, will do well to ponder our Lord’s sayings in this verse. There is perhaps no point on which the experience of all God’s saints is more uniform than this, that decision is the secret of comfort in Christ’s service. It is the half-hearted Christian who brings up an evil report of the good land. The more thoroughly we give ourselves to Christ, the more sensibly shall we feel within “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” (Php 4:7.) The more entirely we live, not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, the more powerfully shall we realize what it is to have “joy and peace in believing.” (Rom 15:13.) If it is worthwhile to serve Christ at all, let us serve Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind and strength. Life, eternal life, after all, is the matter at stake, no less than happiness. If we cannot make up our minds to give up everything for Christ’s sake, we must not expect Christ to own us at the last day. He will have all our hearts or none. “Whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (Jam 4:4.) The end of undecided and half-hearted Christians will be to be cast out forever.
These verses teach us, secondly, how widely different is the estimate set on things by man from that which is set on things by God. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares this in a severe rebuke which he addresses to the covetous Pharisees who derided Him. He says, “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.”
The truth of this solemn saying appears on every side of us. We have only to look round the world and mark the things on which most men set their affections, in order to see it proved in a hundred ways. Riches, and honors, and rank, and pleasure, are the chief objects for which the greater part of mankind are living. Yet these are the very things which God declares to be “vanity,” and of the love of which He warns us to beware! Praying, and Bible-reading, and holy living, and repentance, and faith, and grace, and communion with God, are things for which few care at all. Yet these are the very things which God in His Bible is ever urging on our attention!-The disagreement is glaring, painful, and appalling. What God calls good, that man calls evil! What God calls evil, that man calls good!
Whose words, after all, are true? Whose estimate is correct? Whose judgment will stand at the last day? By whose standard will all be tried, before they receive their eternal sentence? Before whose bar will the current opinions of the world be tested and weighed at last? These are the only questions which ought to influence our conduct; and to these questions the Bible returns a plain answer. The counsel of the Lord,-it alone shall stand forever. The word of Christ,-it alone shall judge man at the last day. By that word let us live. By that word let us measure everything, and every person in this evil world. It matters nothing what man thinks. “What saith the Lord?”-It matters nothing what it is fashionable or customary to think. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Rom 3:4.) The more entirely we are of one mind with God, the better we are prepared for the judgment day. To love what God loves, to hate what God hates, and to approve what God approves, is the highest style of Christianity. The moment we find ourselves honoring anything which in the sight of God is lightly esteemed, we may be sure there is something wrong in our souls.
These verses teach us, lastly, the dignity and sanctity of the law of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ declares that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail.”
The honor of God’s holy law was frequently defended by Christ during the time of His ministry on earth. Sometimes we find Him defending it against man-made additions, as in the case of the fourth commandment. Sometimes we find Him defending it against those who would lower the standard of its requirements, and allow it to be transgressed, as in the case of the law of marriage. But never do we find Him speaking of the law in any terms but those of respect. He always “magnified the law and made it honorable.” (Isa 42:21.) Its ceremonial part was a type of His own gospel, and was to be fulfilled to the last letter. Its moral part was a revelation of God’s eternal mind, and was to be perpetually binding on Christians.
The honor of God’s holy law needs continually defending in the present day. On few subjects does ignorance prevail so widely among professing Christians. Some appear to think that Christians have nothing to do with the law,-that its moral and ceremonial parts were both of only temporary obligation,-and that the daily sacrifice and the ten commandments were both alike put aside by the gospel. Some on the other hand think that the law is still binding on us, and that we are to be saved by obedience to it,-but that its requirements are lowered by the gospel, and can be met by our imperfect obedience. Both these views are erroneous and unscriptural. Against both let us be on our guard.
Let us settle it in our minds that “the law is good if a man use it lawfully.” (1Ti 1:8.) It is intended to show us God’s holiness and our sinfulness,-to convince us of sin and to lead us to Christ,-to show us how to live after we have come to Christ, and to teach us what to follow and what to avoid. He that so uses the law will find it a true friend to his soul. The established Christian will always say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” (Rom 7:22.)
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Notes-
v13.-[No servant can serve two masters.] These words are evidently connected with the preceding verses, in which our Lord had taught the duty of faithfulness in money matters. They were intended to answer the secret objection of some, that a man might divide his diligence between the things of this world and the things of the world to come, and so reap the full benefit of both. Against this secret thought the proverbial saying of this verse is a testimony.
[Hate the one and love the other.] The remark made on a similar expression about “hating,” in a former chapter, (Luk 14:26,) applies to this expression. The meaning appears to be that the man will love one more than the other.
v14.-[Derided.] This word is only found in one other place in the New Testament. (Luk 23:35.) Our English word “sneered,” answers to it more closely than any other.
The consciences of the Pharisees were evidently pricked by our Lord’s remarks about money, and the necessity of faithfulness in the management of it.
v15.-[Justify yourselves before men.] The Pharisees made great professions of righteousness and holiness before men, while their hearts were full of wickedness and covetousness, Our Lord warns them solemnly of the uselessness of all such professions, while the heart is unrenewed and cleaving to the world. And the state of their hearts, He reminds them, is known to God. They might deceive the eye of man, but they could not deceive God.
[Highly-esteemed.] The Greek word so translated means literally “high.” This is the only place in the New Testament where it is rendered as it is here.
v16.-[The law and the prophets were until John.] This verse seems rather elliptical. Its connection with the preceding verse is not at first sight very clear. It is probably something like this.
“You make your boast of the law and the prophets, O ye Pharisees, and you do well to give them honour. But you forget that the dispensation of the law and prophets was only intended to pave the way for the better dispensation of the kingdom of God, which was to be ushered in by John the Baptist. That dispensation has come. John the Baptist has appeared. The kingdom of God is among you. While you are ignorantly deriding me and my doctrine, multitudes of publicans and sinners are pressing into it. Your boasting is not good. With all your professed zeal for the law and the prophets, you are utterly blind to that kingdom into which the law and the prophets were meant to guide you.”
[Every man presseth into it.] The Greek word translated “presseth,” is only found in one other place in the New Testament, It is there rendered, “suffereth violence.” (Mat 11:12.)
By “every man,” we must of course not understand literally every Jew. It either means, “a very large number press in while you stand still deriding;”-or else, “every one who enters the kingdom, enters it with much exertion and labour, under a conviction that it is worth while to use exertion. And yet you stand still.”
v17.-[Easier…heaven and earth pass.] This is a proverbial expression, indicating the perpetual dignity and obligation of God’s law.
[One tittle.] The Greek word so translated means the slight mark which distinguishes some Hebrew letters which are much alike, one from another.
[To fail.] The word here means literally “to fall.” It is like the expression about the words of Samuel, “The LORD did not let any of them fall to the ground.” (1Sa 3:19.)
The connection between this verse and the preceding one is somewhat abrupt at first sight. The chain of thought is probably this:-“Think not because I say that the law and the prophets have introduced a better dispensation, the kingdom of God, that I count the law and the prophets of no value. On the contrary, I tell you that they are of eternal dignity and obligation. They have paved the way to a clearer revelation, but they have not been cast aside.”
v18.-[Whosoever putteth away his wife, &c.] The connection of this verse with the preceding is again somewhat abrupt. The chain of thought seems as follows:-“So far from coming to destroy the law, O ye Pharisees, I would have you know that I am come to magnify it, and reassert its righteous demands. With all your boasted reverence for the law, you are yourselves breakers of it in the law of marriage. You have lowered the standard of the law of divorce. You have allowed divorce for trivial and insufficient causes. And hence while you make your boast of the law, you are, by your unfair dealing with it, encouraging adultery.”
We must take care that we do not misinterpret the language used about divorce and re-marriage in this verse. It is perfectly clear from another passage that our Lord allowed divorce in cases of adultery. (Mat 5:32.) The act of adultery dissolves the marriage tie, and makes those who were one, become again two. Neither here nor elsewhere can I see that our Lord regards the re-marriage of one who has been divorced for the cause of fornication, as adultery. It is divorce for frivolous causes which He denounces, and marriage after such frivolous divorce which He pronounces to be adultery.
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Observe here, a twofold master spoken of, God and the world. God is our Master by creation, preservation, and redemption; he has appointed us our work, and secured us our wages; the world is become our master by intrusion, usurpation, and a general estimation; too many esteeming it as their chief good, and delighting in it as their chief joy.
Observe, 2. That no man can serve these two masters, who are of contrary interests, and issue out contrary commands. When two masters are subordinate, and in their commands subservient to each other, the difficulty of serving both is not great; but where commands interfere, and interests clash, it is impossible: no man can serve God and the world, but he may serve God with the world; we may be served of riches, and yet serve God; but we cannot serve riches, but we must disserve God; we cannot serve God and the world both, and seek them as our chief good and ultimate end, because no man can divide his heart between God and the world.
Learn hence, that to love the world as our chief good, to seek it as our highest interest, and to serve it as our chief commander, cannot stand with the love and service which we bear and owe to God our Maker. The world’s slaves, while such, can be none of God’s freemen.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Luk 16:13. No servant can serve two masters See note on Mat 6:24. As if he had said, You cannot be faithful to God, if you trim between him and the world; if you do not serve him alone. Beware, therefore, of indulging, even in the least degree, the love of the world, for it is absolutely inconsistent with piety: insomuch that a man may as well undertake, at one and the same time, to serve two masters of contrary dispositions and opposite interests, as pretend to please God while he is anxiously pursuing the world for its own sake. In this manner did Jesus recommend the true use of riches, power, knowledge, and the other advantages of the present life, from the consideration that they are not our own, but Gods; that they are only committed to us as stewards, to be employed for the honour of God and the good of men: that we are accountable to the proprietor for the use we make of them, who will reward or punish us accordingly; and that every degree of covetousness is such a serving of mammon as is really idolatrous, and altogether inconsistent with the duty we owe to God. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:13 {3} 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.
(3) No man can love God and riches simultaneously.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Even though one may have both God and mammon, namely, be a believer and have earthly resources, it is impossible to serve them both. They both demand total allegiance (cf. Mat 6:24). Love for God will result in mammon taking second place in life. Conversely if one puts mammon first, God can have only second place (cf. 1Ti 6:10). This fact should serve as a warning against unfaithfulness to God and as a warning against enslavement by mammon. Jesus’ personified mammon to picture it as God’s rival. Disciples obviously can serve God and mammon, but they cannot be the servant, in the true sense of that word, of both God and mammon. They can only be the servant of one. [Note: See Dave L. Mathewson, "The Parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-13): A Reexamination of the Traditional View in Light of Recent Challenges," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:1 (March 1995):29-39.]