Church in the home Wed.evenings 21Apr/2010, The unrighteous mammon and the sharply dividing sword part 2

Church in the home Wednesday evenings 7th Apr. 2010 & 21st of Apr. 2010
On the 21st of April we started back at the start of Luke chapter 16 where we have read already that various bible have different chapter headings as introduction to this section.
Without being deterred we ploughed on, and discover that the Steward of the certain rich mans goods was accused of being corrupt. A less than careful reading would lead someone to believe that the steward actually was corrupt, but though accused this gentleman was not convicted. The rich man did not accuse the steward, rather it was brought to thee notice of the rich man that his steward was corrupt. Bishop K.C Pillai has a chapter in his book, Orientalisms of the Bible, Volume 1, Mor - Mac publishing company, Inc, Fairborn Ohio, 1969, on this section. The Steward in eastern terms would have been a trusted relative salted and swaddled, thus trustworthy. The steward would be vested with all kinds of wide ranging powers, with the right to buy and sell, lend money, reduce debts, and he did not draw a salary, but was "kept". In all likelihood according to Bishop K C Pillai, (Bishop Pillai calls this chapter: "The alleged unjust steward") this steward was wrongly accused perhaps by a disgruntled member of staff, and this was brought to the notice of the rich man. In this record the steward apparently had three options open to him, should the charges, which were pressed result in him loosing his privileged position.
Dig for a living, or resort to manual labour, for which he considered himself unsuitable, or not strong enough.
Beg for a living, and he was too ashamed to do this.
Strengthen his links with the business community, which in his capacity as steward he would have had divers opportunity to get to know.
As it happened in any business situation there were some who did not adhere to the payment terms, and so the bad debts began to rise. In this situation one has to be astute and decide if all the monies owed can be paid back in full or whether a part payment is realistic. It may well be that those owing the rich man had fallen on hard times due to no fault of their own, and in that situation an agreed reduction or settlement would be reached.
It seems that the steward was able to agree with a number of these debtors a new payment deal, (50% and 20% reduction in the amount to be paid back) which under the circumstances was beneficial to both parties, a win-win situation you might say. The steward was also insuring that in the event of him being dismissed from his post that at least these debtors would perhaps give him a chance and pay for his food and lodgings. This was obviously a prudent move, as can be seen from the reaction of the rich man, or Lord, his employer, who commended the "unjust" steward, (V8) and we must read the alleged unjust steward here of course in verse 8 of Luke 16.

The American standard version (ASV) has the following translation…
V9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.
The New American standard version (NASB) puts it like this…
V9And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.

The "Revised English version" (REV*) puts verse 9 as follows,
Teachings About Wealth
V9 And I myself say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the tents in the Age to come.
The commentary to the REV* has the following to say about verse 9…
16: 9. "make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth." The answer to this
difficult verse lies in understanding that only God and Christ can receive anyone into "the
tents in the Age," i.e., the dwellings in the Millennial Kingdom and beyond. How does
the believer "make friends" with wealth? By using it to help and bless others. Matt. 25:40
notes that what we do for the least of the believers we do for Christ himself. When we
use our wealth properly, we make friends of God and Christ, who then help us, just as the
unrighteous house-manager made friends who later helped him when he was in need. For
"mammon" see note on Matthew 6:24.
As a finishing comment I would like to say that the New English Bible, (NEB) has for me a clear way of putting some verses, and I quote the NEB, Oxford and Cambridge University press, 1970…
V 9 "So I say to you, use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves, so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal home."
* ….the Revised English Version® (REV®), is the version that we are developing. We call it the REV because we are presenting a revised version of earlier English versions, primarily the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), which we have used as the base text for our work, modifying it when we feel it is appropriate. Quoted from…..http://www.stfonline.org/resources/rev.html


http://www.biblicalunitarian.com (Biblical Unitarianism website)
http://www.truthortradition.com (Truth or Tradition web site)
http://www.stfonline.org/ (Spirit and Truth fellowship online website)