Luke 16

Luke 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the teachings and parables of Jesus Christ, including the famous parable of the "rich man and Lazarus".^[1] The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this Gospel as well as Acts.^[2]

Text

• The original text is written in Koine Greek.
• Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:
  • Papyrus 75 (written about AD 175-225)
  • Codex Vaticanus (AD 325-350)
  • Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330-360)
  • Codex Bezae (ca. AD 400)
  • Codex Washingtonianus (ca. AD 400)
  • Codex Alexandrinus (ca. AD 400-440)
• This chapter is divided into 31 verses.

Structure

This chapter can be grouped (with cross references to other parts of the Bible):

• Luke 16:1-9 = Parable of the Unjust Steward
• Luke 16:10-18 = The Law, the Prophets, and the Kingdom
• Luke 16:19-31 = The Rich Man and Lazarus

Parable of the Unjust Steward

Jan Luyken etching of the parable of the unjust steward, Bowyer Bible.

This parable of Jesus appears in Luke, but not in the other Canonical gospels of the New Testament. It tells a story about a steward who is about to be fired, but curries favor with his master's debtors by remitting some of their debts.

Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Lazarus and Dives, illumination from the Codex Aureus of Echternach
Top panel: Lazarus at the rich man's door
Middle panel: Lazarus' soul is carried to Paradise by two angels; Lazarus in Abraham's bosom
Bottom panel: Dives' soul is carried off by two devils to Hell; Dives is tortured in Hades

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (also called the Dives and Lazarus or Lazarus and Dives) is a well-known parable of Jesus appearing in the Gospel of Luke. It tells of the relationship, in life and in death, between an unnamed rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The traditional name, Dives, is not actually a name, but instead a word for "rich man",^[3] dives, in the text of the Latin Bible, the Vulgate.^[4] The rich man was also given the names Neuēs (i.e. Nineveh^[5]) and Fineas (i.e. Phineas^[6]) in the 3rd and 4th centuries.^[3]

Along with the parables of the Ten Virgins, Prodigal Son, and Good Samaritan, it was one of the most frequently illustrated parables in medieval art,^[7] perhaps because of its vivid account of an afterlife.

The name Lazarus (from the Hebrew: אלעזר, Elʿāzār, Eleazar - "God is my help"^[8]) also belongs to the more famous biblical character Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Lazarus of the Four Days, who is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus resurrects him four days after his death.^[9]

See also

• Abraham
• Lazarus
• Ministry of Jesus
• Moses
• Parables of Jesus
• Other related Bible parts: Deuteronomy 1, Mark 10, Luke 4, Luke 24, Romans 7

References

1. ↑ Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary. 23rd edition. Zondervan Publishing House. 1962.
2. ↑ Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hultgren, Arland J (2002-01-01). The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary. pp. 110–118. ISBN 978-0-8028-6077-4. 
4. ↑ "Luke, chapter 16 verse 19". The Bible - Latin Vulgate. The Vatican. Retrieved 16 July 2013. homo quidam erat dives et induebatur purpura et bysso et epulabatur cotidie splendide 
5. ↑ The Gospel According to Luke (I-IX). 1995-03-01. p. 1110. ISBN 978-0-385-52247-2. 
6. ↑ Fitzmeyer IX, Ad populum I (CSEL 18.91), spelled Finees; and in Ps.-Cyprian, De pascha computus 17 (CSEL 3/3.265), spelled Finaeus
7. ↑ Mâle, Émile (1961). The Gothic Image: Religious Art in France of the Thirteenth Century. p. 195. 
8. ↑ Barclay, William (1999-02-01). The Parables of Jesus. pp. 92–98. ISBN 978-0-664-25828-3. 
9. ↑ Losch, Richard R (2008). All the People in the Bible: An A-z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture. pp. 255–256. ISBN 978-0-8028-2454-7. 

External links

• Luke 16 NIV