Luke 16:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

That which is another man's,— Here, as in many of our Lord's discourses, the expression is so simple, and the sense so profound, that we need not wonder at its being overlooked. Our translation has supplied the word man without reason; for it is not man, but God, who is intended; to whom the riches and other advantages in our possession do properly belong; who has committed them to us only as stewards, to be laid out for the good of his family, and who may every moment call us to give an account of our management. The words that which is your own, do not signify that which is already our own, but that which is to be so: that, which, when it is conferred upon us, shall be wholly in our power, and perpetually in our possession; shall be so fully our own, that weshall never be called to account for the management of it. Our Lord's meaning therefore is, "If you have dared to be unfaithful in that which was only a trust committed to you by God for a short time, and of which you knew you were to give him an account; it is evident, that you are not fit to be entrusted by him with the riches of heaven,—these being treasures, which, ifhe bestowed them on you, would be so fully your own, that you would have them perpetually in your possession, and never be called to an account for your management of them." This verse is well expressed, though not exactly rendered in the version of 1729; If you have embezzled what another gave you in trust, how can he give you an estate in perpetuity? Probably our Lord may allude to a custom of rewarding faithful stewards, by giving them some part of the estates which they had managed.