Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 12:15

ἀπὸ πάσης πλεονεξίας. אABD edd.

15. φυλάσσεσθε�. ‘Guard yourselves from all covetousness.’ The word is more positive than “beware of” (βλέπετε, προσέχετε). The right reading is ‘of all covetousness,’ i.e. not only beware of avarice, but also of selfish possession. Both the O. and N.T. abound with repetitions of this warning. Balaam, Achan, Gehazi are awful examples of this sin in the O. T.; Judas Iscariot, the Pharisees and Ananias in the New. See 1 Timothy 6:10-17.

οὐκ … ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστίν. Ζωὴ means a man’s true life: his earthly natural life—his βίος, is supported by what he has, but his ζωὴ is what he is. Such phrases as that a man ‘is worth’ so many thousands a year, revealing the current of worldly thought, shew how much this warning is needed. The order of words in this paragraph is curious. It is literally, ‘For not in any man’s abundance is his life (derived) from his possessions,’ or (as De Wette takes it), “is his life a part of his possessions.” The English Version well represents the sense. Comp. Sen. ad Helv. IX. 9, “Corporis exigua desideria sunt … Quicquid extra concupiscitur, vitiis non usibus laboratur.”

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 12:15

Old Testament

New Testament