Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

Luke 16:8

The Lord. Of the steward. Rev., properly, "his Lord."

Commended. Admiring his shrewdness, though he himself was defrauded.

Unjust steward. Lit., steward of injustice. See on forgetful hearer, James 1:25; and compare words of grace, Luke 4:22; unjust judge, Luke 18:6; son of his love, Colossians 1:13; lust of uncleanness, 2 Peter 2:10. The idiom is a Hebrew one. The phrase expresses Jesus ' judgment on what the steward's master praised.

Wisely [φ ρ ο ν ι μ ω ς]. See on Matthew 10:16. Wyc., prudently. I would suggest shrewdly, though in the modern sense of sagaciously, since the earlier sense of shrewd was malicious, or wicked. Plato says : "All knowledge separated from righteousness and other virtue appears to be cunning and not wisdom." In Matthew 7:24-26, it is applied to the sagacious man who built his house on the rock, opposed to the foolish [μ ω ρ ο ς] man who built on the sand. "It is a middle term, not bringing out prominently the moral characteristics, either good or evil, of the action to which it is applied, but recognizing in it a skilful adaption of the means to the end - affirming nothing in the way of moral approbation or disapprobation, either of means or end, but leaving their worth to be determined by other considerations" (Trench, " Parables ").

In their generation [ε ι ς τ η ν γ ε ν ε α ν τ η ν ε α υ τ ω ν]. The A. V. misses the point, following Wyc. Lit., in reference to their own generation; i e., the body of the children of this world to which they belong, and are kindred. They are shrewd in dealing with their own kind; since, as is shown in the parable, where the debtors were accomplices of the steward they are all alike unscrupulous. Tynd., in their kind.

Than the children of light. Lit., sons of the light. The men of the world make their intercourse with one another more profitable than the sons of light do their intercourse with their own kind. The latter "forget to use God's goods to form bonds of love to the comtemporaries who share their character" (Godet); forget to "make friends of the mammon," etc.

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Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

Luke 16:8

Old Testament

New Testament