Luke 16 : 1 to 13
 

Anyone care to give a short explanation on Luke 16 verse 1 to 13?


King James Version (KJV)
16 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

3 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

4 I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.

5 So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.

7 Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Re: Luke 16 : 1 to 13
 

When you read the entire passage, you can see that "mammon" definitely means Satan or anything associated with Satan and his kingdom.

Let's repeat the verse in question, vs 9 with that understanding "And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness (Satan) that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitation."

I believe what this means is that Jesus was speaking sarcastically to the Pharisees who tended to trust in riches, wealth, and material things more than God. And Jesus was telling them, go ahead and trust in them if you want, but when you fail, you will receive with them the same reward of everlasting habitation... which we know to be hell.

Then Jesus says, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful in much. He that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much...

... my interpretation of this verse would be that whatever you are faithful/unfaithful to... that is how your reward will be in eternity.

Jesus further clarifies his position in verse 13: "No man 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" (Satan).

If you are a servant of God, you will receive your reward as a servant of God. If you serve the kingdom of Satan, you will receive the reward of those in Satan's kingdom.

And then the next verse, vs 14 says "And the Pharisees also, WHO WERE COVETOUS, heard all these things, and derided him."

So, obviously he was speaking to the Pharisees who were coveting physical, material things, things pertaining to Satan's kingdom, and even though they had been rebuked, instead of accepting and acknowledging their error, began to "deride" Jesus. Typical response of anyone tied up in Satan's materialistic kingdom.

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.

Jesus was chastising them for their trust in wealth, and riches, and trying to show them that the things esteemed among men, are an abomination in the sight of God.

Re: Luke 16 : 1 to 13
 

Thank you for taking the time to type this out.
We (my wife and I) were led to these scriptures by the Lord tonight and we were not sure about what it meant, but had some feeling as to what you explained. It confirms it very well.

Thank you! :-)