In the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16, the effect of grace on conduct is presented, and the contrast that exists between the conduct that Christianity requires with regard to the things of the world and the position of the Jews in that respect. The doctrine thus embodied by the parable is confirmed by the parabolic history of the rich man and Lazarus, where the veil is lifted that hides the other world in which the result of men’s conduct is manifested. Man is the steward of God, that is, God has committed His goods to man. Israel stands especially in this position. But man has been unfaithful; Israel had indeed been so. God has taken away his stewardship, but man is still in possession of the goods to administer them, as Israel was at that moment. These goods are the things of earth, that which man can possess according to the flesh. Having lost his stewardship by his unfaithfulness and being still in possession of the goods, he uses them to make friends of his master’s debtors by doing them good. This is what Christians should do with earthly possessions, using them for others, having the future in view.
The steward might have appropriated for himself the money due to his master, but he preferred gaining friends with it; that is, he sacrifices the present for future advantage. We may turn the miserable riches of this world into means of fulfilling love. The spirit of grace which fills our hearts exercises itself with regard to temporal things, that we may use them for others. For us it is in view of the everlasting habitations.
Observe that earthly riches are not our own things; heavenly riches are for the true Christian. Earthly riches are unrighteous because they belong to fallen man, and not to the heavenly man.
The Coming World Unveiled
Now, when the veil is lifted from the other world, the truth is fully brought to light. And the contrast between the Jewish dispensation and the Christian is clearly unfolded, for Christianity reveals that world, and the Christian belongs to heaven.
Judaism, according to God’s government on earth, promised temporal blessing to the righteous, but all was in disorder; even the Messiah, the head of the system, was rejected. Israel, as set under responsibility to enjoy earthly blessing on the ground of obedience, had entirely failed. Man, in this world, could no longer on that footing be the means of bearing testimony to the ways of God in government. There will be a time of earthly judgment, but it had not yet come. Meanwhile, the possession of riches was anything but the proof of God’s favor. Personal selfishness and indifference to a brother in distress at his door were, instead, the characteristic of those with possessions among the Jews. Revelation opens the other world to our view. Man in this world is fallen; he is wicked. If he receives his good things here, he has the portion of sinful man and will be tormented at the end, while the other one whom he had despised will find happiness in the other world.
It is not a question here of what gives title to enter heaven, but of character and of the contrast between the principles of this world and the invisible world. The Jew made the choice of this world; he has lost this world and the other also. The poor man whom he had thought contemptible is found in Abraham’s bosom. The whole tenor of this parable is to show the connection regarding Israel’s hopes and the idea that riches were a proof of the favor of God.
The parable shows what the conduct of Christians should be with regard to things temporal. All flows from the grace which, in love on God’s part, accomplished the salvation of man and set aside the legal dispensation and its principles by bringing in the heavenly things.
J. N. Darby, adapted