Luke 16:9, commentary and pictures

The verse comes from the parable of the unjust steward, whose dishonesty is not approved but whose foresight in using present means with the future in view illustrates wise stewardship of entrusted goods. The mammon of unrighteousness is earthly wealth and all of God's gifts, called unrighteous because it is uncertain, temporary and entrusted only for a time. To make friends of it is to use earthly means for God's glory rather than for self, to benefit others, help the afflicted and suffering, bring people to Christ, and advance His kingdom and the salvation of souls. When ye fail means when earthly possessions pass away and stewardship and earthly life end, and the everlasting habitations are the eternal dwellings of the righteous; those who receive the faithful steward are Jesus and the angels, and also those benefited in this life who welcome the giver with gratitude. Every person is a steward lent means to use until the reckoning, and faithfulness in handling temporary resources wisely shows whether he can be trusted with the eternal riches, so riches must be used in living benevolence and good works rather than hoarded or spent selfishly, for what is spent in the Lord's service lays up treasure in heaven and will be returned with increase.

Parable Setting and Terms

The saying comes from the parable of the unjust steward, which recalls a real case among the publicans and exposes dishonest practices in order to teach spiritual truth. The steward's dishonesty is not approved, and those who live for selfish interests are not commended. His foresight in using present means with the future in view illustrates wise stewardship of entrusted goods, calling followers to greater wisdom in preparing for eternity.

The saying confronts intense worldliness that subordinates the eternal to the temporal and the claims of the future to the affairs of the present. Men mistake phantoms for realities and realities for phantoms because they do not behold the unseen world by faith, while Satan presents the things of this life as all-attractive and all-absorbing. Christ came to change this order and break the spell by which men are infatuated and ensnared, adjusting the claims of heaven and earth by turning thoughts from the present to the future and calling men from pursuit of the things of time to make provision for eternity. It was applied especially to the Pharisees whose stewardship was nearing its end, who could provide for eternity only by sharing God's gifts rather than using them for themselves. Like the steward facing loss of position, the Pharisees were soon to lose their stewardship, and Israel had been entrusted with sacred truth for the blessing of the world but its stewards had used those gifts for their own advancement. The scribes and Pharisees were selfish and avaricious and served mammon from selfishness and avarice, and in impenitence and pride and covetousness the Jewish nation was on a course leading to ruin.

The mammon of unrighteousness is earthly wealth, money and all of God's gifts. It is called unrighteous because it is uncertain, temporary, entrusted only for a time, and fails and passes away. In one explanation it is the immense stock of wealth laid up in trade, bank stock and buildings by fraudulent means, by cunning and deceit. All money on which men trade in that account is borrowed and is another man's and not their own, so palaces, expensive gardens and luxuries are squandered means that did not belong to their holders.

Making friends of this mammon means using earthly means for God's glory rather than for self, thereby laying up treasure in heaven. It means using money and all of God's gifts to benefit others, to help the afflicted, the suffering and the sinful, and to bring people to Christ. It includes doing the ministering work that God and Christ and angels are doing, supporting work that helps save others, extending the truth, building Christ's kingdom, and supporting God's work and the salvation of souls. By imparting entrusted goods in the present life a person provides for eternity, for the opportunity is limited and stewardship will be taken away.

When ye fail means when earthly possessions and resources are all gone and pass away, when stewardship is taken away and earthly life ends. The everlasting habitations are the eternal dwellings and tabernacles, the eternal home of the righteous, pointing to the close of time and eternal life.

The friends who then receive the faithful steward are Jesus and angels, who receive him home. They are the Friend in heaven and the supreme Friend who became poor and suffered. Those who give their lives in service to God's children will in final need find refuge in the compassionate Saviour's mercy.

The friends who then receive the giver are also those benefited in this life, who welcome the giver into eternal dwellings with gratitude and remembrance. Those helped may welcome the giver into everlasting habitations, and money invested in God's work and used to help the needy makes such friends. The souls won through faithful service make heaven precious to those who labored and sacrificed to save them.

Faithful Stewardship Rewarded

Every human being is a steward entrusted with the Master's means to use until He comes and to account for at His reckoning. Handling worldly wealth, called the mammon of unrighteousness because it is entrusted only temporarily, wisely and responsibly shows whether a person can be trusted with the eternal riches of God's kingdom. A selfish grasping of riches and a selfish use of them proves unfaithfulness to trust and disqualifies for higher trusts, for unfaithfulness in little things means unfaithfulness in larger matters. Life is a trial to prove whether worldly ambition, greed, and selfish grasping of every advantage for self alone will characterize a person.

Faithful stewardship demands the urgency of people in financial embarrassment who see their danger and work to save themselves from utter ruin, changing the order of things. Those in danger of being put out of their stewardship should act now, sending property beforehand to heaven, laying up treasure beside the throne of God, and making sure title to the unsearchable riches of Christ. This means using earthly wealth to do good, to distribute, and to be rich in good works, thereby making wise provision for the future and helping others prepare for the eternal home. Christ came to change the order in which men subordinate the eternal to the temporal and the claims of the future to the affairs of the present, turning thoughts from the present to the future and calling men from pursuit of the things of time to make provision for eternity.

Faithful use is not commended dishonesty but refusing to live for selfish interests. It means using money and all gifts to befriend and help the afflicted, the suffering and the sinful, doing the ministering work that God and Christ and angels are doing. By giving oneself to God for this work one enters into partnership with heavenly beings, throbs in sympathy with their hearts and is assimilated to them in character, serving alongside them and growing like those heavenly helpers. So the dwellers in the eternal tabernacles are not strangers, and life is too solemn to be absorbed in temporal and earthly matters, requiring all to communicate to others what the eternal and unseen communicates to them. Mammon is to be made to serve the interests of God's kingdom in the earth instead of being served from selfishness and avarice, for tampering with dishonest practices advances in evil.

Faithful use in improving entrusted means at every opportunity to do good constantly lays up treasure in heaven. Earthly resources are temporary, but using them for enduring purposes enriches and ennobles life in the present. Even one talent used faithfully in meeting temporal or spiritual needs through works of mercy and compassion is recorded in heaven and brings a welcome into the everlasting habitations. What is spent in the Lord's service will be returned with increase, and merciful actions, sacrifice, and self-denial receive a sure reward in this life and in the world to come.

The verse calls for living benevolence, distributing, being rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to communicate. This is opposed to withholding during life and leaving only a small gift after death, or resolving to do good but holding back through lingering attachment to possessions and thereby failing to become rich in good works. Riches have no good effect for their owner unless used to show God's benevolence, kindness, and love, especially to bless those who suffer, rather than hoarded or used to increase worldly popularity and self-importance. Money must not be idolized, despised, or spent selfishly, nor wasted on display, speculation, or buildings that do not honor God, for those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into foolish and hurtful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition. Those rich in this world are charged not to be highminded nor to trust in uncertain riches but to trust in the living God who gives all things richly to enjoy, to do good and be rich in good works, laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:17-19).

Those who stand the test and overcome render to God the things that are His. Those who hoard or hide what God lent them, fail to return it to His service, or deliberately use property for ends opposed to His cause rob God and make an entire failure. Like the man who hid his one talent (Matthew 25:24-30) they lose both the increase awarded to the faithful steward and the principal itself, laying up no treasure in heaven and losing their earthly treasure also, left with no habitation on earth and no Friend in heaven to receive them into the everlasting home of the righteous. Riches bring no true happiness when hoarded or pursued at the cost of faith, for godliness with contentment is real prosperity of soul and body.

Only a few use unrighteous mammon, the riches of this world, to make friends and will finally be received into everlasting habitations, because riches are deceitful and can become a snare leading possessors to stumble toward perdition. Men can be deceived into supposing that gain is godliness and that wealth is evidence of favor with God, but those who want to be rich fall into temptation and hurtful lusts, the love of money is the root of all evil causing some to err from the faith, and riches obtained by robbery and unjust dealing bring no lasting gain. Using wealth rightly requires honest, faithful stewardship rather than covetousness.