LUKE 16 UNJUST STEWARD WISER IN HIS GENERATION THAN THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT

[josh]

Luk 16:8  "And the master praised the dishonest steward for his shrewdness; for, in relation to their own contemporaries, the men of this age are shrewder than the sons of Light.

NOT PROPERLY INTERPRETED I THINK BY
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Albert Barnes (1798-1870)

Luke 16:8 
The lord commended - Praised, or expressed admiration at his wisdom. These are not the words of Jesus, as commending him, but a part of the narrative or parable. His "master" commended him - saw that he was wise and considerate, though he was dishonest.
The unjust steward - It is not said that his master commended him because he was "unjust," but because he was "wise." This is the only thing in his conduct of which there is any approbation expressed, and this approbation was expressed by "his master." This passage cannot be brought, therefore, to prove that Jesus meant to commend his dishonesty. It was a commendation of his "shrewdness or forethought;" but the master could no more "approve" of his conduct as a moral act than he could the first act of cheating him.
The children of this world - Those who are "devoted" to this world; who live for this world only; who are careful only to obtain property, and to provide for their temporal necessities. It does not mean that they are especially wicked and profligate, but only that they are "worldly," and anxious about earthly things. See Mat_13:22; 2Ti_4:10.
Are wiser - More prudent, cunning, and anxious about their particular business. They show more skill, study more plans, contrive more ways to provide for themselves, than the children of light do to promote the interests of religion.
In their generation - Some have thought that this means "in their manner of living, or in managing their affairs." The word "generation" sometimes denotes the manner of life, Gen_6:9; Gen_37:2. Others suppose that it means "toward or among the people of their own age." They are more prudent and wise than Christians in regard to the people of their own time; they turn their connection with them to good account, and make it subserve their worldly interests, while Christians fail much more to use the world in such a manner as to subserve their spiritual interests.
Children of light - Those who have been enlightened from above - who are Christians. This may be considered as the application of the parable. It does not mean that it is more wise to be a worldly man than to be a child of light, but that those who "are" worldly show much prudence in providing for themselves; seize occasions for making good bargains; are active and industrious; try to turn everything to the best account, and thus exert themselves to the utmost to advance their interests; while Christians often suffer opportunities of doing good to pass unimproved; are less steady, firm, and anxious about eternal things, and thus show less wisdom
WELL THAT MIGHT BE MORE AN OPINION ABOUT WHAT IT SAYS ..VERSUS THIS NAMELY THAT --SEE CAPS BELOW. Alas! this is too true; and we cannot but reflect here how different the world would be if all Christians were as anxious, and diligent, and prudent in religious matters as others are in worldly things.


(CEV)  The master praised his dishonest manager for looking out for himself so well. That's how it is! The people of this world look out for themselves better than the people who belong to the light.
NOT THAT THE CHILDREN OF LIGHT ARE NOT WISER IN WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO
consider the needs of others before one's own
thus the children of this world as did the unjust steward might  help others but for a less righteous motive than the children of light

also for clarification of what being the greater being wise of those that are children of this world
than the children of this world

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

I THINK I GET IT NOW ..DO YOU?

Where People OF THE Light ... They Seek NOT THE Shrewdness OF Doing GOOD
That Accidentallly  Helps Others U C
BUT Purposively Will Deny Self When IT IS Spiritually Approbriate
TO Consider THE Needs OF Others Before ONE'S OWN  C?

[Lazarus Short]

Right - the man was wiser, but only wiser in the ways of the world.  Is that what you are saying?

[josh]

what i think the verse says ...yes...
some tho put a different spin on it...

the translation i used has the spin as i think more clearly
than other translations i think

[donken]

Right - the man was wiser, but only wiser in the ways of the world.  Is that what you are saying?

In essence, yes.  There is only one teacher that can make us entirely equal with that teacher.  Any teacher that is not God can not teach who
GOD is, period.   Scripture tells us we all shall be taught of or by God.  No one else can do it.
Anyone who is still worldly and does ungodly things but sincerely believes they are okay to do and are like what God does also, is going to be a false "prophet" no matter how sincere.  They would also be clouded with pride but not meaning they would be that way knowingly.

God is the one who says "this is my beloved Son", not us, and not us especially about ourselves.

Any Christian teacher who sincerely says that they are teaching the scripture but acknowledges that they themselves are not fully perfect {mature} or like Jesus is also saying by implication that what they are teaching is what they are willing to believe about God at this time, ie... who they are in spirit themselves, or hope to be.   Teach that God does evil hurts to people supposedly to teach them about himself and how to be good like He is, is dumbfounded by and in what they are really saying.  god does no evil, doing evil is the cause of death and if we do evil, death and it's ways are stronger than us and we are still dead.

In the world, eating and a few things like that that are of the lusts of the flesh are allowed for the sake of the needs of the body when it is not actually yet in and kept by life eternal itself.  These things are the "tares" or things God is not subject to or does in His own existence, that need to be bound while we are in the world in a flesh and blood body, just like Jesus showed us.

We can do the things the body needs and sometimes desires if we do them in a certain faithfulness to the honesty and love of God etc.  Adultery is not about sex, it is about faithfulness to what "our word" says etc.  Think of adultery in that manner when Israel is said to be an adulteress, etc.  It was not about sex.

Bless, ken

[sheila]

Therefore be wise as a serpent..and yet innocent as doves.

[josh]

SHEILA..
nice scripture to go with that
by way of TREASURY OF SCRIPTURAL KNOWLEDGE..
1Co 14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

HMMM NOW THE QUESTION IF THE BIBLE SAYS THAT IF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD AND EVIL IS GOOD FOR FOOD...
this verse seems to say so
Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

some say i think that the manner one uses the food of the tree of good and evil is the issue...not that it is not good for food...

hmmmm
could that be right .....

anyways how is knowledge connected to the tree of knowledge of good and evil
and too how is innocence to be maintained too...

what someone said i  think here?
and what jesus said in john 3

Joh 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

[donken]

Hello.  I offer, it may help if we use the word knowledge to mean experience, to learn by experience.   That would be "life in the flesh", where we experience BOTH good and evil personally, but not by evil directed to anyone by "god".  Evil is as evil does, and only evil teaches evil, God does not teach evil or give the experience of evil feelings and pain and such, because evil is NOT IN HIM.  Ie.. NOT HIS SPIRIT.

our problem as humanity in the natural is that we think often, we are ALREADY in the image of GOD, but that image is to be SPIRITUAL only.   God is spirit.  And there is no other spirit "outside of the unfinished creation".    You know at one time the church believed that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun went around the earth.  When the truth through science became public, the church called the scientist, Galileo in this instance, a heretic and liar.   Today it is known positively as the truth that the earth goes around the sun.    Science is given to us by God, but we often will make erronious things out of it until we get it right.  God is still teaching mankind things but we can only receive it as we are able to understand and accept it at least in some manner of truthfulness.

Anything that grows is evolving.    Every one of us here in a physical body was produced through a process of physical evolution from an ova to a human to a child to a young adult to a more mature adult.  Evolution right in front of our eyes.  How about when some virus or microbe that we use antibiotics to kill them and keep us safe, evolves into a state of being immune to what it once succumbed to.  That is evolution also.   We are in the time of waking up out of sleep {ignorance\darkness\vivid imaginations\confusion-babylon}  Yum yum???  Or bad taste???

donken