Luke 16:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And the lord— αυτου, his lord, is implied; for it is Jesus, and not the evangelist, who speaks this, as is plain both from the structure of the parable itself, and from the application which Jesus makes of it inthe next verse. By mentioning the commendation which the rich man bestowed upon his steward, our Lord does not mean to approve of the man's knavery, which is sufficiently branded by the epithet of unjust here given him by Jesus himself; neither was it designed to give countenance to the fraud of any person on any account whatever; nor to the conduct of those who are liberal out of other persons' goods. The wisdom of the steward in making himself friends, is that alone which is commended by his lord, and proposed by Jesus as worthy the imitation of his disciples,—not the method by which he made them: or if that be commended, it is commended only as wise, in relation to the plan that he had laid down; there being nothing more common among men than to commend the ingenuity shewn in a fraud, while they condemn the fraud itself. Sir D. Dalrymple observes, that "these debtors seem to have been coloni partiarii, who paid a portion of the fruit of the ground to the master. By lessening the charge of this proportion of fruits, the debtors were relieved. Or we may suppose, that the steward discharged the tenants of one half of the rent without receiving payment, and of consequence charged himselfwithit.Beingbankrupthimself,hemightbeindifferentwhatchargewasagainst him; while, by discharging the tenants, he did a friendly office to them. There is no reason for supposing that the master discovered this fraud; because the phrase he acted wisely, or prudently, may signify 'because he accounted well;' or that the master commended his accounts, because he had acted cautiously, so as to conceal his frauds." Upon the whole, the calumnies which Julian and Porphyry have thrown out against our Lord on account of this parable, are altogether groundless; its true scope being to teach those who have their views extended to eternity, to be as active and prudent in their schemes for the life to come, as the children of this world are for the present; and particularly to do to others all the good offices founded on gospel principles in their power—a duty highly incumbent on those whose business it is to reclaim sinners, not only because sinners are in themselves fit objects of charity as well as saints, but because charitable offices done to them, may have a happy tendency to promote their conversion: but we are to do good especially to those who are of the household of faith:—that this was the lesson which Jesus intended to inculcate by the parable, is evident from his application of it.