Luke 16:13
No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
No servant
The term "servant" here is translated from the Greek word "οἰκέτης" (oiketēs), which refers to a household servant or slave. In the historical context of the Roman Empire, a servant was bound to the will of their master, highlighting the totality of commitment expected. This sets the stage for understanding the impossibility of divided loyalty in spiritual matters.

can serve
The Greek word "δύναται" (dunatai) implies capability or power. The phrase suggests an inherent impossibility, not just a moral or ethical dilemma. It emphasizes that it is beyond one's ability to truly serve two masters, as true service requires undivided allegiance.

two masters
The word "masters" comes from the Greek "κυρίους" (kyrious), meaning lords or owners. In the ancient world, a master had absolute authority over a servant. The use of "two masters" illustrates the conflict of interest and the impossibility of serving both with equal dedication, as each master would demand full allegiance.

Either he will hate the one
"Hate" is translated from the Greek "μισήσει" (misēsei), which can mean to love less or to prefer less. This phrase indicates the natural outcome of divided loyalties, where one master will inevitably be neglected or resented in favor of the other.

and love the other
The Greek word for "love" is "ἀγαπήσει" (agapēsei), which denotes a deep, committed love. This highlights the exclusivity of true devotion, where love for one master naturally excludes equal love for another.

or he will be devoted to the one
"Devoted" comes from the Greek "ἀνθέξεται" (anthexetai), meaning to hold firmly or cling to. This suggests a steadfast loyalty and commitment, reinforcing the idea that true service requires unwavering dedication to one master.

and despise the other
The term "despise" is from the Greek "καταφρονήσει" (kataphronēsei), meaning to think little of or to disdain. This reflects the inevitable devaluation of one master when another is prioritized, underscoring the impossibility of equal service.

You cannot serve both God and money
"Money" is translated from the Greek "μαμωνᾷ" (mamōna), often personified as a false god representing wealth and materialism. This phrase encapsulates the central teaching of the verse: the incompatibility of serving God, who demands total devotion, with the pursuit of wealth, which can become an idol. The historical context of Jesus' audience, who lived under Roman rule with its materialistic values, makes this teaching particularly poignant. It calls believers to examine their priorities and ensure that their ultimate allegiance is to God alone, as serving Him requires a heart undivided by worldly pursuits.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jesus Christ
The speaker of this parable, Jesus is teaching His disciples and the Pharisees about the dangers of wealth and the impossibility of serving two masters.

2. Disciples
The primary audience of Jesus' teachings, they are being instructed on the principles of the Kingdom of God and the proper attitude towards wealth.

3. Pharisees
Although not directly mentioned in this verse, they are present in the broader context and are known for their love of money, which Jesus addresses in His teachings.

4. God
Represented as one of the masters, God is the ultimate authority and the one whom believers are called to serve wholeheartedly.

5. Money (Mammon)
The other master in the analogy, representing wealth and material possessions, which can become an idol if prioritized over God.
Teaching Points
Undivided Loyalty
Believers are called to serve God with an undivided heart. Just as a servant cannot serve two masters, Christians must prioritize their relationship with God above all else.

The Danger of Materialism
Wealth and material possessions can easily become idols. Christians must guard against allowing money to take precedence over their spiritual commitments.

Heart's Devotion
The verse challenges believers to examine where their true devotion lies. Are we more committed to accumulating wealth or to growing in our relationship with God?

Eternal Perspective
Serving God leads to eternal rewards, while serving money only offers temporary satisfaction. Christians should focus on storing up treasures in heaven.

Practical Stewardship
While money itself is not evil, how we use it reflects our priorities. Believers should practice wise stewardship, using their resources to honor God and serve others.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to serve God with an undivided heart, and how can we practically apply this in our daily lives?

2. How can we identify if money or material possessions have become an idol in our lives?

3. In what ways can we ensure that our devotion to God remains our top priority amidst the distractions of wealth and materialism?

4. How does the teaching in Luke 16:13 relate to the first commandment in Exodus 20:3, and what implications does this have for our daily choices?

5. Reflect on a time when you had to choose between serving God and pursuing material gain. What did you learn from that experience, and how can it guide your future decisions?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 6:24
This verse parallels Luke 16:13, emphasizing the impossibility of serving both God and money, reinforcing the teaching with a similar message.

1 Timothy 6:10
This scripture warns that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, connecting to the idea that serving money leads to spiritual downfall.

James 4:4
This verse speaks about friendship with the world being enmity with God, which aligns with the concept of divided loyalties presented in Luke 16:13.

Exodus 20:3
The first commandment, which instructs believers to have no other gods before the Lord, relates to the idea of serving God alone.
The Dividing-LineW. Clarkson Luke 16:13
Money as a Means of GraceR.M. Edgar Luke 16:1-13
Faithful in Little, Faithful in MuchA. Maclaren, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
Faithfulness in Little ThingsH. W. Beecher.Luke 16:10-13
Faithfulness Shown in Restitution of Wrongful GainsVermont ChronicleLuke 16:10-13
Fidelity in Little ThingsJ. W. Bledsoe.Luke 16:10-13
Gradual Attainment of HolinessA. C. Price, B. A.Luke 16:10-13
Guilt not to be Estimated by GainT. Chalmers, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
Impossible to Serve God and MammonLuke 16:10-13
Influence of Little ThingsLuke 16:10-13
Little KindnessesJ. W. Alexander, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
Little SinsLuke 16:10-13
Little Things Tests of CharacterJ. L. Burrows, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
Momentary Unfaithfulness to be AvoidedLuke 16:10-13
On Living to God in Small ThingsH. Bushnell, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
On Religious PrincipleEssex RemembrancerLuke 16:10-13
Oneness of ServiceJ. Vaughan, M. A.Luke 16:10-13
The Crime of AvariceChevassu.Luke 16:10-13
The Two Contrary MastersT. Taylor, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
The Two MastersH. W. Beecher.Luke 16:10-13
The Value of Little ThingsJ. G. Guinness, B. A.Luke 16:10-13
Trial of FidelityMarcus Dods, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
Unfaithfulness in LittleArchbishop Trench.Luke 16:10-13
We are Being WatchedMarcus Dods, D. D.Luke 16:10-13
People
Jesus, Job, John, Lazarus
Places
Road to Jerusalem
Topics
Able, Aren't, Bondage, Bondservants, Cleave, Cling, Despise, Devoted, Domestic, Either, Fast, Gold, Hate, Heedless, Hold, Lords, Love, Mammon, Masters, Money, Respect, Scorn, Servant, Servants, Serve, Wealth
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 16:13

     2426   gospel, responses
     5591   treasure
     5811   compromise
     5882   impartiality
     5884   indecision
     7160   servants of the Lord
     7449   slavery, spiritual
     8208   commitment, to God
     8223   dedication
     8239   earnestness
     8304   loyalty
     8344   servanthood, in believers
     8462   priority, of God
     8702   agnosticism
     8722   doubt, nature of
     8723   doubt, results of
     8770   idolatry, in NT
     8810   riches, dangers

Luke 16:1-15

     7552   Pharisees, attitudes to Christ

Luke 16:12-13

     5524   servants, bad

Luke 16:13-14

     5413   money, attitudes

Library
The Unjust Steward
Eversley, 1866. NINTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Luke xvi. 8. "And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely." None of our Lord's parables has been as difficult to explain as this one. Learned and pious men have confessed freely, in all ages, that there is much in the parable which they cannot understand; and I am bound to confess the same. The puzzle is, plainly, why our Lord should SEEM to bid us to copy the conduct of a bad man and a cheat. For this is the usual interpretation.
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

September 8 Morning
Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.--DAN. 5:27. The Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him, actions are weighed.--That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.--The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.--Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 9 Morning
Now he is comforted.--LUKE 16:25. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.--He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.--These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 7. "Faithful in that which is Least" (Luke xvi. 10).
"Faithful in that which is least" (Luke xvi. 10). The man that missed his opportunity and met the doom of the faithless servant was not the man with five talents, or the man with two, but the man who had only one. The people who are in danger of missing life's great meaning are the people of ordinary capacity and opportunity, and who say to themselves, "There is so little I can do that I will not try to do anything." One of the finest windows in Europe was made from the remnants an apprentice boy
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Gains of the Faithful Steward
'If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?' --LUKE xvi. 12. In a recent sermon on this context I dealt mainly with the threefold comparison which our Lord runs between the higher and the lower kind of riches. The one is stigmatised as 'that which is least,' the unrighteous mammon,' 'that which is another's'; whilst the higher is magnified as being 'that which is most,' 'the true riches,' 'your own.' What are these two classes? On the one
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Memory in Another World
'Abraham said, Son, remember!'--LUKE xvi. 25. It is a very striking thought that Christ, if He be what we suppose Him to be, knew all about the unseen present which we call the future, and yet was all but silent in reference to it. Seldom is it on His lips at all. Of arguments drawn from another world He has very few. Sometimes He speaks about it, but rather by allusion than in anything like an explicit revelation. This parable out of which my text is taken, is perhaps the most definite and continuous
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Follies of the Wise
'The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.'--LUKE xvi. 8. The parable of which these words are the close is remarkable in that it proposes a piece of deliberate roguery as, in some sort, a pattern for Christian people. The steward's conduct was neither more nor less than rascality, and yet, says Christ, 'Do like that!' The explanation is to be found mainly in the consideration that what was faithless sacrifice of his master's interests, on the part of the
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Two Kinds of Riches
'He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. 11. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12. And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?'--LUKE xvi. 10-12. That is a very strange parable which precedes my text, in which our Lord takes a piece of crafty dishonesty on the part of a
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Dives and Lazarus
'There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23. And in hell he lifted up his eyes,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Vain Hopes.
"And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. But he said, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."--ST. LUKE xvi. 30, 31. It is by no means uncommon for any one who is living a life which does not satisfy his own conscience to console himself with the fancy that if only such and such things were different around him he would be a new man, filled with a new spirit, and exhibiting a new
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xvi. 9, "Make to Yourselves Friends by Means of the Mammon of Unrighteousness," Etc.
1. Our duty is to give to others the admonitions we have received ourselves. The recent lesson of the Gospel has admonished us to make friends of the mammon of iniquity, that they too may "receive" those who do so "into everlasting habitations." But who are they that shall have everlasting habitations, but the Saints of God? And who are they who are to be received by them into everlasting habitations, but they who serve their need, and minister cheerfully to their necessities? Accordingly let us
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

The Good Steward
"Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward." Luke 16:2. 1. The relation which man bears to God, the creature to his Creator, is exhibited to us in the oracles of God under various representations. Considered as a sinner, a fallen creature, he is there represented as a debtor to his Creator. He is also frequently represented as a servant, which indeed is essential to him as a creature; insomuch that this appellation is given to the Son of God when, in His state of humiliation,
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Rich Man and Lazarus
"If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31. 1. How strange a paradox is this! How contrary to the common apprehension of men! Who is so confirmed in unbelief as not to think, "If one came to me from the dead, I should be effectually persuaded to repent?" But this passage affords us a more strange saying: (Luke 16:13:) "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." "No! Why not? Why cannot we serve both?" will a true servant of mammon say.
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Use of Money
"I say unto you, Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into the everlasting habitations." Luke 16:9. 1. Our Lord, having finished the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, which he had particularly addressed to those who murmured at his receiving publicans and sinners, adds another relation of a different kind, addressed rather to the children of God. "He said unto his disciples," not so much to the scribes and Pharisees to whom he
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Preacher from the Dead
Amongst other whims which have occured to the human mind, such an one as that of my text may sometimes have arisen. "If," said the rich man in hell, "if one should arise from the dead, if Lazarus should go from heaven to preach, my hardened brethren would repent." And some have been apt to say, "If my aged father, or some venerable patriarch could rise from the dead and preach, we should all of us turn to God." That is another way of casting the blame in the wrong quarter: we shall endeavor, if we
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The Sunday-School Teacher --A Steward
WE HAVE HEARD many times in our lives, that we are all stewards to Almighty God. We hold it as a solemn truth of our religion, that the rich man is responsible for the use which he makes of his wealth; that the talented man must give an account to God of the interest which he getteth upon his talents; that every one of us, in proportion to our time and opportunities, must give an account for himself before Almighty God. But, my dear brothers and sisters, our responsibility is even deeper and greater
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Rendering Our Account.
(Ninth Sunday after Trinity.) S. LUKE xvi. 2. "Give an account of thy stewardship." My brothers, we shall all hear that command one day. When our earthly business is finished and done with, when our debts are paid, and our just claims settled, and our account books balanced for the last time, we must render our account to God, the Righteous Judge. But it is not only at the day of Judgment that the Lord so calls upon us. Then He will ask for the final reckoning,--"Give an account of thy stewardship,
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

The Contrast.
(First Sunday after Trinity.) S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20. "There was a certain rich man, . . . and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus." What was the rich man's sin? We are not told that he had committed any crime. He is not described as an extortioner or unjust. There is no word about his having been an adulterer, or a thief, or an unbeliever, or a Sabbath breaker. Surely there was no sin in his being rich, or wearing costly clothes if he could afford it. Certainly not: it is not money, but
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

Great Surprises.
1st Sunday after Trinity. S. Luke xvi. 23. "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." INTRODUCTION.--What a great surprise for Dives! So utterly unawaited! Dives, who had lived so comfortably, clothed in purple and fine linen, and had had such a good coat, and such excellent dinners, and such a cellar of wine, and such good friends at his dinners, goes to sleep one night after a banquet, and wakes up, and lo!--he is in hell. Surprise number one. He feels the flames, he perceives himself
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

Petty Dishonesty.
9th Sunday after Trinity. S. Luke xvi, 3, 4. "What shall I do?--I am resolved what to do." INTRODUCTION.--The dishonest Steward in to-day's Gospel shows us the natural tendency of the human heart when in a scrape--to have recourse to dishonesty to escape from it. He knows that he is about to be turned out of his stewardship because he has been wasteful--not dishonest, but wasteful. He has not been a prudent and saving steward, but a sort of happy-go-lucky man who has not kept the accounts carefully,
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

The Unrighteous Mammon
(Ninth Sunday after Trinity.) Luke xvi. 1-8. And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons

First Part of the Book.
At the first: man shall look that he lose not his short time, nor spend it wrongly, nor in idleness let it pass away. GOD has lent man his time, to serve GOD in, and to gather grace with good works, to buy heaven with. Not only this short time flies from us, but also the time of our life, as the wise man says: "Our life-time passes away." And S. Gregory says:--"Our life is like a man in a ship; sit he, stand he, sleep he, wake he, ever he gets thitherward where the ship is driving with the force
Richard Rolle of Hampole—The Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises

The Unjust Steward - Dives and Lazarus - Jewish Agricultural Notes - Prices of Produce - Writing and Legal Documents - Purple and Fine Linen -
Although widely differing in their object and teaching, the last group of Parables spoken during this part of Christ's Ministry are, at least outwardly, connected by a leading thought. The word by which we would string them together is Righteousness. There are three Parables of the Unrighteous: the Unrighteous Steward, the Unrighteous Owner, and the Unrighteous Dispenser, or Judge. And these are followed by two other Parables of the Self-righteous: Self-righteousness in its Ignorance, and its dangers
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Prudent Steward.
"And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship,
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord

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