Persons and Property

GOLDEN TEXT: “Thou shalt not steal.” —Exodus 20:15

ALL the commandments of the Decalogue, with the exception of the fourth and fifth, were negative in character—“Thou shalt not.” Thus they were designed to restrain sin more than to promote righteousness. “Wherefore then serveth the Law?” Paul asked, and then answered, “It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.” (Gal. 3:19) The “promise” Paul speaks of is the one made to Abraham that through his “seed” all the families of the earth should be blessed.

Paul also explains that the Law served as a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ,” the “Seed” of promise. (Gal. 3:24) It served thus because it demonstrated the inability of fallen humanity to check the downward tendency of sin and to measure up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness, hence the need of the redeeming blood of Christ provided by divine love to cleanse from all unrighteousness. God’s plan for the recovery of the fallen race from sin and death is embodied in his covenant with Abraham. He knew that neither Israel nor any other people of earth could accomplish this by their own effort, but gave this one nation the opportunity to try.

The commandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” is based upon justice. No one has a right to that which belongs to another. The spirit of this commandment, however, strikes deeper into human behavior than the act of burglary or the outright theft of articles or money belonging to another. To acquire that which belongs to others through unjust methods of business, even though practiced within the law, would be considered by God as stealing.

A Christian who is laying down his life for others as Jesus did, would certainly be inconsistent to take advantage of others in any way. Love is the motivating principle of the Christian life, and Paul declares that love “seeketh not her own.” (I Cor. 13:5) The thought is that instead of merely refraining from the theft of what belongs to others, a Christian would rather allow himself to be taken advantage of, not expecting that in this “present evil world” he will always obtain that which justly belongs to him. Some translators have rendered this statement, “Love … seeks not that which is not her own,” but there is no justification in the Greek text for this rendering. Such a translation would take the thought out of the realm of love into the category of justice, making it mean little more than the Eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.”

LUKE 16:1-12

PERHAPS the key to a proper understanding of this Parable of the Unjust Steward is in the 8th verse, which reads, “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” The title, “lord,” used in this verse, appears also in the 3rd and 5th verses, and apparently applies to the same person; namely, the owner or “lord” of the estate being managed by the unjust steward. It is important to recognize this, as it means that it was not Jesus who commended the unjust steward, but his own lord, or master.

In verse 1 Luke writes, “He [Jesus] said unto his disciples,” etc. It is not until the 9th verse that this style changes and Luke quotes the Master directly, “I say unto you,” etc. In the 8th verse Luke relates that Jesus said the “lord commended the unjust steward,” and added, “the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” It could well be that the one whom Jesus thus refers to as manifesting wisdom is the “lord” of the steward, who, in recognizing the cleverness of the man, commended him, and possibly decided to continue him in his employ.

The customs governing stewardships in ancient times were unique. A steward had almost unlimited control over his master’s household, business, and finance. They served without financial compensation, and were in many respects like members of the family. Because of their honored position, other servants of the “lord,” writers tell us, often became jealous and would endeavor to get the steward removed by reporting untruths to the “lord” concerning him.

This harmonizes with the statement in the parable—“The same [the steward] was accused unto him [the lord] that he had wasted his goods.” This could well have been a false accusation, but even so, writers tell us, a “lord” would take action against his steward if the strife among the others became too severe, simply to keep peace in his domain.

Jesus, without sanctioning any injustice which might have been practiced by the “steward” of the parable, urges faithfulness on our part in the use of whatever our Lord may have entrusted to us. He speaks of the “mammon of unrighteousness,” which is evidently a reference to the money of this world; but we might well consider it as including everything of an earthly nature which we possess and which could be properly used in the divine service.

As followers of the Master, we are being trained for a heavenly stewardship in the Lord’s kingdom. We are promised joint-heirship with him in his thousand-year kingdom which is to rule over and bless the whole world of mankind. So Jesus, applying the lesson of the parable, said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” Also, “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?”—that is, the heavenly riches, for by our faithfulness now, we are laying up “treasure in heaven.”

While the steward of the parable endeavored to make friends for himself by reducing the amounts owed, this also would make the debtors feel friendly toward the lord whom they owed. This may have been one reason the lord commended his steward. In any case, the steward did not exceed his authority in the matter. So it is with us. We do not have the right to sacrifice what belongs to others. We can use in divine service only that which properly belongs to us, and upon which others do not have a just claim. By being faithful stewards, we can not only lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven, but also are preparing the way to be received into “everlasting habitations.”

QUESTIONS

Why did God give Israel a Law they could not keep?

Who is the “lord” who commended the unjust steward?

What practical lessons are there for us in the Parable of the Unjust Steward?

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