Luke 16:1-15 is composed of a parable and three sayings about wealth. The connection between verses 1-8 and 9-15 is at best loose. The New American Bible translation divides verse 8 into two parts: 8a is the natural conclusion of the Parable of the Wiley Steward, while 8b begins a section on the proper administration of wealth. Luke has made it look that 16:8b is an observation that Jesus makes on the commendation of the servant's master. The verses following this last until verse 15 are sayings relevant to the command "make friends using your dishonest wealth." Below is an outline of Luke 16:1-15
- The Parable of the Wiley Steward
- The Problem of the Steward (v.3)
- The Solution (vv. 4-7)
- Conclusion (v.8a0
- Transition(8b)
- Lesson (vv.9-15)
- Make friends with dishonest wealth: v. 9
- Principle of Christian Stewardship vv.10-12
- God and Mammon: v. 13
- Application to the Pharisees (vv. 14-15) [Transition to the following section on the Law and Divorce]
A Review of Luke 16:1-8
In a previous article we have explained that the steward was praised by his lord because he succeeded in saving his face. By diminishing the amount of the creditors' loans, he did not only guarantee for himself employment in the future but he also gave the impression that his lord is generous even when apparently his business is losing. If the parable is about saving the face of one's lord, then one can understand why even Jesus commends the wiley steward and those like him with these words which are at the same time a rebuke (seeing that the wiley steward is also a "servant of iniquity")
Indeed the children of this world is more practical than the children of light
in dealing with their own generation.
The Practicality of the "Children of Light" (v. 8b)
The steward saved the face of his lord and in the same process assured for himself future employment. The "children of light" that Jesus mentions here are the Christians themselves. The contrast is between "children of this world" and "children of light". In the Gospel of John, the contrast is between "those of this world" and "(those) not of the world." Luke's use of the phrase "children of light" maybe Pauline in influence. In 2 Corinthians 6:14, for example, Paul talks about going with the non-baptized. He says: "Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?" Here, darkness and iniquity are associated with unbelievers on the one hand and on the other, righteous and light with the Christians. In Ephesians 5:8 we have the designation "children of light": "For you were once in darkness but are now light in the Lord; walk then as children of light" Again in Philippians 2:15, Paul tells the Christian community to act without murmurring and disputes so that
...you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
The wiley steward was practical: he knew what to do with what was in his disposal to gain for himself some leverage inspite of a disadvantaged position. Jesus follows this up with three statements about how the "children of light" can also be practical seeing that their concern is not only the prospect of unemployment but of a loss far more greater.
I tell you,
make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth so that when it fails,
you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings
Jesus alludes to the steward who made friends with the creditors by reducing their payable accounts. In the discourse on banquets, Jesus told his host to invite society's rejects so that he may in turn be rewarded in the resurrection of the righteous. In the case of the rich prince, Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give it to the poor that he may have treasure in heaven. Later, Zacchaeus, a rich tax collector tells Jesus -- in a moment of conversion -- that he will give back four-fold to those whom he has cheated. These examples should be enough to dissuade anyone from taking the saying about dishonest wealth with a Robin Hoodian meaning (see further below). "Steal from the rich and give to the poor" is hardly one of the meanings of Jesus here. Besides, the end does not justify the means.
The following saying about being "entrusted" with dishonest wealth is best understood in the light of the first and third sayings. If the first saying is about generosity with one's wealth (whether ill-gotten or not), the third saying is the standard Christian principle on wealth:
No servant can serve two masters
He will either hate one or love the other, or be devoted to one or despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and Mammon.
The Christian principle is never be enslaved to money. "Mammona" appears three times in verses 9-12 and is translated as "wealth" in the first two instances. In both these two instances, it appears accompanied by the noun and adjective for the idea of "iniquity". This is the only place in the New Testament where the Aramaic word for "wealth" is used in a Graecized form and with the description "wealth of iniquity (thV adikiaV)", "dishonest wealth" adikoV mammona. Given the way it is used here, the phrase "dishonest wealth" should not be taken as "ill-gotten wealth" because all wealth whether ill-gotten or not is by its nature something that can bring one to iniquity.1 The third time (here) it has been personified and set up in contrast to God as if it were a deity. In fact, in Col. 3:5, greed for wealth is identified with idolatry. No Christian should be enslaved to money since, as St. Paul writes
Indeed, the love of money is the root of evil.
Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed,
and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim. 6:10)
Understood in the light of these two sayings then, the middle saying on "trust" and "wealth" becomes clearer. It is an argument from "Greater" to "Lesser" where verse 10 is the general principle and verses 11-12 is the application. In this latter, the "IF" statements are particular applications of the general principle in the negative (IF you are not). The constrasts between "dishonest wealth" and "true wealth" on the one hand and "what belongs to others" and "what is yours" on the other emphasizes the duty to be trustworthy. In other words, the practicality of the "children of light" that Jesus requires is first, that they be generous with their wealth, second, that they are trustworthy in the administration of earthly possessions, and lastly, that they are not enslaved to wealth as are the Pharisees.
Only Luke among the evangelists add the trait "greedy" to Pharisees. They sneer at the teaching of Jesus on wealth and its proper administration. The words of Jesus addressed to them is not in continuity with the parable of the wiley steward but with that on the practicality demanded of the "children of light" and prepares for the sayings on the law and divorce. In Jesus words too, the greed and hypocrisy of the Pharisees are brought together. The esteem of men which the Pharisees desire as they "make themselves look good" before them is of no account to God who sees them as abominable (an illustration of this is found in the story of Ananias and Saphhira in Acts 5:1 ff.). Wealth is respected and esteemed by men but has little worth before God (cf. Luke 12:16-21)
Conclusion
Luke 16:1-15 is about the administration of earthly goods. It opens up with a parable about a steward who is about to be fired due to reports of dishonesty but who redeems himself by giving a good impression of his lord and by assuring for himself future employment. The Christian makes friends with wealth (that by its nature can lead to iniquity): first, by being prodigal in generosity so as to assure for himself acceptance in an eternal dwelling, second, by being trustworthy in the goods given to one's care and third, because he/she is never enslaved to wealth. All these he does so as to give a good impression of his Lord whose name is ridiculed even now because of the behavior of some so-called disciples (cf. example of Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:1ff). To these latter, the warning to the Pharisees is addressed: wealth may make one look good, but God sees things differently.
1The problem with interpreting "dishonest wealth" as "ill-gotten wealth" is obvious. When Luke contrasts "dishonest wealth" with "true wealth", by the first he means "wealth that can be misleading (a false one)". On the other hand, the expression "wealth of iniquity" can be placed in parallel with the phrase "steward of iniquity" which means a steward in the habit of doing something dishonest. In other words, the phrase "wealth of iniquity" does not refer to the means by which it was acquired as the phrase "ill-gotten wealth" does. Rather, it is in the nature of wealth as seen by New Testament authors that it can bring one to iniquity.
