Luke 16:13

Luk 16:13. No servant can serve two masters — See note on Mat 6:24. As if he had said, You cannot be faithful to God, if you trim between him and the world; if you do not serve him alone. Beware, therefore, of indulging, even in the least degree, the love of the world, for it is absolutely inconsistent with piety: “insomuch that a man may as well undertake, at one and the same time, to serve two masters of contrary dispositions and opposite interests, as pretend to please God while he is anxiously pursuing the world for its own sake. In this manner did Jesus recommend the true use of riches, power, knowledge, and the other advantages of the present life, from the consideration that they are not our own, but God’s; that they are only committed to us as stewards, to be employed for the honour of God and the good of men: that we are accountable to the proprietor for the use we make of them, who will reward or punish us accordingly; and that every degree of covetousness is such a serving of mammon as is really idolatrous, and altogether inconsistent with the duty we owe to God.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:13 No one can serve two masters: Complete love and devotion can be given only to one master.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_16:13. A principle which does not cohere with what follows (Holtzmann), but proves as indubitable the denial which is implied in the previous question: ye shall in the supposed case not receive the Messianic salvation. Ye are, to wit, in this case servants of Mammon, and cannot as such be Gods servants, because to serve two masters is morally impossible. Moreover, see on Mat_6:24.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No man can love God and riches together.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

can serve--be entirely at the command of; and this is true even where the services are not opposed.

hate . . . love--showing that the two here intended are in uncompromising hostility to each other: an awfully searching principle!

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. No servant can serve two masters] The heart will be either wholly taken up with God, or wholly engrossed with the world. See Clarke on Mt 6:24.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) No servant can serve two masters.—See Notes on Mat_6:24. Here it obviously comes in close connection with the previous teaching. But its occurrence, in an equally close sequence, in the Sermon on the Mount, shows that it took its place among the axioms of the religious life which our Lord, if we may so speak, loved to reproduce as occasion called for them.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. No servant can serve two masters] God requires a whole heart and an undivided service. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” Gal_1:10.“Whosoever...will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God,” Jas_4:4. “Covetousness...is idolatry Col_3:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No servant can serve two masters,.... See Gill on Mat 6:24.

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Luke 16:14

luk 16:14

luk 16:14

luk 16:14And the Pharisees also who were covetous,.... Or lovers of money, the love of which is the root of all evil; and that they were, is evident from their devouring widows' houses, under a pretence of making long prayers for them, Mat 23:14

heard all these things; as well as the disciples, being in company with them, Luk 15:2 even the parable concerning the unjust steward, and the application of it; and the directions given about using the things of this world, and the distributing of them to the poor, and showing a greater concern for riches of an higher nature:

and they derided him: lift up their nose, or drew it out to him, as the word signifies, in a sneering way; they rejected and despised what he said about their injustice, in their stewardship; the calling of them to an account for it, and the turning of them out of it; and concerning the true use of worldly riches, and the contempt of them; they looked upon themselves safe and secure in the good opinion of the people, and happy in the enjoyment of worldly things; and looked upon him as a weak man, to talk in the manner he did.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Ver. 13. See Mat 6:24.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See the notes at Mat 6:24.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

No servant can serve two masters, &c. This is added to shew us, that to dispose of our riches according to the will of the Almighty, it is necessary to keep our minds free from all attachment to them. (Theophylactus) --- Let the avaricious man here learn, that to be a lover of riches, is to be an enemy of Christ. (Ven. Bede)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

See Poole on "Mat 6:24".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. No servant can serve two masters—This verse is found nearly verbatim in Mat_6:24, on which see our note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No servant can serve two masters... Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Very vividly is this experience brought out in the great parable which immediately follows There the rich man was evidently one who observed the sacred ritual of the Law of Moses: this we learn without doubt from his conversation after death with Abraham. Thus he tried, after his light, to serve God, but he also served mammon: this we learn, too, clearly from the description given to us of his life, from the mention of the gorgeous apparel and the sumptuous feeding. The service of the two was incompatible, and we know from the sombre sequel of the story to which master the rich man really held, and whom alas for him! in his heart he despised.

The dividing-line.

Ingenuity is an excellent thing in its way; it counts for much in the conduct of life; it renders valuable aid in our "taking possession of the earth and subduing it;" it has its place and function in the spiritual sphere, A holy love will press it into its service and make it further its benign and noble aims. But there is a dividing-line, which is such that no ingenuity will enable us to stand on both sides of it. We must elect whether we will take our place on this side or on the other of it. That line is found in the service of Jesus Christ. To be his servant is to have withdrawn from the service of the world; to remain in the latter is to decline "to serve the Lord." We may be loyal enough to this present world, may be animated by its spirit, governed by its principles, numbered amongst its friends, and

I YET MAKE A LOUD PROFESSION OF PIETY; or

II YET ENJOY A GOOD REPUTATION FOR RELIGION, witness the Pharisees of our Lord"s time and the false prophets of an earlier age; or

III STILL COUNT OURSELVES AMONG THE PEOPLE OF GOD; for many of those whom God "knoweth afar off" are persuaded of themselves that they are quite near and very dear to him. In nothing do men make greater mistakes than in the estimation that they form of their own moral and spiritual worth. But no man can live under the dominion of any one sin or with his heart yielded to the objects and interests of time, and

IV YET BE A TRUE SERVANT OF CHRIST. For to be the servant and follower of Christ is:

1. To have surrendered self to him, and the spirit of selfishness is the essential spirit of worldliness.

2. To have sworn undying enmity to all the false doctrines and pernicious habits which abound in "the world," and which both characterize and constitute it.

3. Not to be living for time, but to be building for eternity. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And you cannot be faithful to God, if you trim between God and the world, if you do not serve him alone. Matt. vi, 24.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A lesson concerning covetousness.

v. 13. No servant can. serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God. and mammon.

v. 14. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided Him.

v. 15. And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

v. 16. The Law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

v. 17. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the Law to fail.

v. 18. "Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

It is impossible for a servant to be in the service of, and to render proper service to, two different masters. See Mat 6:24. The one will have his affection and respect, and therefore the service which, flows out of these feelings; the other will have his dislike, if not his outright hatred. And so he cannot serve the interests of both. If anyone serves mammon, attaches his heart to his money, to his wealth, if he has only the object of satisfying his own desires, he cannot at the same time serve the Lord. His heart will be where his supposed treasure is. This last saying angered the Pharisees, who were present and had heard the parable. They were lovers of money, they were covetous. And since they felt the sting of the words, they tried to turn the tables on the Lord, in a childish way, by turning up their noses at Him, by sneering and deriding Him. This behavior of the Pharisees causes Jesus to flay their self-righteousness, and to remind them of some other shortcomings and vices which were found in their midst. They justified themselves before men, they lived their lives so as to conform with the outward forms of holiness before men, who could not look into their hearts to discover the hidden meanness. But God looked beyond the veneer of outward righteousness, He knew their hearts in all their filthiness. Before men they may be highly respected, but before the Lord they and their entire behavior were an abomination. And it is true in general that conventional moral statements are the opposite of real truth; the hypocrisies of the so-called high society in many cases are such as to make the behavior of the lowest class of people that are sincere in speech and action seem golden by contrast. But even here the searching mercy of the Lord is apparent. For He tells the Pharisees that the Law and the Prophets were in power until John, who stands on the threshold between the Old and the New Testaments. But beginning with John, and since his coming, the glorious preaching of the kingdom of God, as revealed in Jesus the Christ, had gone forth, and every one that became interested at all was so completely overcome with the glories revealed that he pressed forward with might and took it by force. See Mat 11:12-13. The believer is obliged to battle with, and to overcome, all his own natural desires and lusts, and to deny them. world with all its gifts and allurements in order to enter into the Kingdom. But this does not imply that the Law has been abrogated. The situation rather is this, that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away,—and heaven and earth will actually be destroyed,—before so much as one tittle, a single diacritical mark of the Hebrew script, falls to the ground. See Mat 5:17-48; Mat 6:1-34; Mat 7:1-29; Mat 8:1-34; Mat 9:1-38; Mat 10:1-42; Mat 11:1-30; Mat 12:1-50; Mat 13:1-58; Mat 14:1-36; Mat 15:1-39; Mat 16:1-28; Mat 17:1-27; Mat 18:1-32. Therefore also the Seventh Commandment with its judgment upon covetousness would continue in force. And no less should the Pharisees remember the Sixth Commandment, concerning which there was far too much license in their midst. What Jesus had said at other times He here repeated with emphasis. The wanton dissolution of the marriage-tie by which a man put away his wife for almost any reason that he chose to name, simply by giving her a bill of divorcement, and then entered into a union with some other woman, is adultery before God. And the union with a woman that has been thus put away by her husband without a cause that God acknowledges is again adultery. God will not be mocked with the lax marriage and divorce of these latter days. The state may, for the sake of expediency, permit many things to the children of the world which God condemns unequivocally; but that fact does not and cannot influence a Christian nor cause him to deviate one inch from the will of God as revealed in the Law.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, a twofold master spoken of, God and the world. God is our Master by creation, preservation, and redemption; he has appointed us our work, and secured us our wages; the world is become our master by intrusion, usurpation, and a general estimation; too many esteeming it as their chief good, and delighting in it as their chief joy.

Observe, 2. That no man can serve these two masters, who are of contrary interests, and issue out contrary commands. When two masters are subordinate, and in their commands subservient to each other, the difficulty of serving both is not great; but where commands interfere, and interests clash, it is impossible: no man can serve God and the world, but he may serve God with the world; we may be served of riches, and yet serve God; but we cannot serve riches, but we must disserve God; we cannot serve God and the world both, and seek them as our chief good and ultimate end, because no man can divide his heart between God and the world.

Learn hence, that to love the world as our chief good, to seek it as our highest interest, and to serve it as our chief commander, cannot stand with the love and service which we bear and owe to God our Maker. The world’s slaves, while such, can be none of God’s freemen.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. No servant can serve two masters. See note on Matt. 6:24.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

No servant can

"A servant cannot"

serve two masters

It is implied that he cannot "serve two different masters at the same time"

for either he will ... or else he will

These two clauses are essentially the same. The only significant difference is that the first master is hated in the first clause, but the second master is hated in the second clause.

he will hate

"the servant will hate"

be devoted to one

"love one very strongly"

despise the other

"hold the other in contempt" or "hate the other"

despise

This means essentially the same as "hate" in the previous clause.

You cannot serve

Jesus was talking to a group of people, so languages that have a plural form of "you" would use that. (See: Forms of You)

translationWords

servant

lord

God

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

13. οὐδεὶς οἰκέτης … δουλεύειν. No domestic can slave, &c.

δυσὶ κυρίοις. God requires a whole heart and an undivided service. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ,” Gal 1:10. “Whosoever … will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God,” Jas 4:4. “Covetousness … is idolatry,” Col 3:5.

οὐ δύνασθε κ.τ.λ. If this point had been attended to commentators would not have fallen into the “unspeakable misrepresentations and unrighteous judgments” which have marked so many explanations of the preceding parable.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] See note on Mat 6:24. The connexion here is,—that we must, while put in trust with the ἄδικος μαμωνᾶς, be serving not it, but God. The saying here applies (as Olshausen remarks) admirably to the Pharisees and Publicans: the former were, to outward appearance, the servants of God, but inwardly served Mammon;—the latter, by profession in the service of Mammon, were, by coming to Jesus, shewing that they inwardly served God.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. This verse forms a natural conclusion to the comments on the parable; and, if it was uttered only once, we may believe that this is its original position, rather than in the Sermon on the Mount where it is placed by Mt. (6:24). So Schanz, Weiss.

οὐδεὶͅ οἰκέτῃ δύναται δυσὶ κυρίοιͅ δουλεύειν. “No domestic can be a slave to two masters”: comp. Jas 4:4. To be a servant to two masters is possible, and is often done. But to be at the absolute disposal of two masters is not possible. The force of δουλεύειν must be preserved, and the special meaning of οἰκέτῃ is also worth noting.

ἤ ἑνὸͅ ἀνθέξεται. The omission of the article makes very little, difference: “one or other of the two.” As the second clause is less strong than the first, the ἤ may be understood in the sense of “or at least he will hold on to”—so as to stand by and support.

οὐ δύνασθε. It is morally impossible, for each claims undivided service. Mammon is here personified as a deity, devotion to whom is shown in “covetousness which is idolatry” (Col 3:5). No vice is more exacting than avarice. D.C.G. art. “Covetousness.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Servant [οικετης] . Properly, household servant.

Serve. See on minister, Mt 20:26.

The other. See on Mt 6:24.

Hold to. See on Mt 6:24.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.