Luke 16:24-31

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:29

They have Moses and the prophets - This plainly supposes they were all Jewish believers: they had these writings in their hands, but they did not permit them to influence their lives. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:30

If one went to them from the dead, etc. - Many are desirous to see an inhabitant of the other world, and converse with him, in order to know what passes there. Make way! Here is a damned soul, which Jesus Christ has evoked from the hell of fire! Hear him! Hear him tell of his torments! Hear him utter his regrets! "But we cannot see him." No: God has, in his mercy, spared you for the present this punishment. How could you bear the sight of this damned spirit? Your very nature would fail at... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:31

If they hear not Moses, etc. - This answer of Abraham contains two remarkable propositions. That the sacred writings contain such proofs of a Divine origin, that though all the dead were to arise, to convince an unbeliever of the truths therein declared, the conviction could not be greater, nor the proof more evident, of the divinity and truth of these sacred records, than that which themselves afford. That to escape eternal perdition, and get at last into eternal glory, a man is to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:25

Verse 25 25.Son, remember. The word son appears to be used ironically, as a sharp and piercing reproof to the rich man, who falsely boasted in his lifetime that he was one of the sons of Abraham. It seems as if pain inflicted by a hot iron wounded his mind, when his hypocrisy and false confidence are placed before his eyes. When it is said that he is tormented in hell, because he had received his good things in his lifetime, we must not understand the meaning to be, that eternal destruction... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:26

Verse 26 26.A vast gulf lieth. These words describe the permanency of the future state, and denote, that the boundaries which separate the reprobate from the elect can never be broken through. And thus we are reminded to return early to the path, while there is yet time, lest we rush headlong into that abyss, from which it will be impossible to rise. The words must not be strictly interpreted, when it is said, that no one is permitted to pass who would wish to descend from heaven to hell; for... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:27

Verse 27 27.I beseech thee, father. To bring the narrative into more full accordance with our modes of thinking, he describes the rich man as wishing that his brothers, who were still alive, should be warned by Lazarus. Here the Papists exercise their ingenuity very foolishly, by attempting to prove that the dead feel solicitude about the living. Any thing more ridiculous than this sophistry cannot be conceived; for with equal plausibility I might undertake to prove, that believing souls are... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:29

Verse 29 29.They have Moses and the prophets. In the persons of the rich man and Abraham Christ reminds us, that we have received an undoubted rule of life, and that therefore we have no right to expect that the dead will rise to instruct and persuade us. Moses and the prophets were appointed to instruct, while they lived, the men of their own age; but it was with the design, that the same advantage should be derived by posterity from their writings. As it is the will of God that we should... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 16:30

Verse 30 30.Nay, father Abraham. This is a personification, as we have said, which expresses rather the feelings of the living than the anxiety of the dead. The doctrine of the Law is little esteemed by the world, the Prophets are neglected, and no man submits to hear God speaking in his own manner. Some would desire that angels should descend from heaven; others, that the dead should come out of their graves; others, that new miracles should be performed every day to sanction what they hear;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 16:1-31

The Lord ' s teaching on the right use of earthly possessions with regard to the prospect of another world, in the form of the two parables of the unjust steward, and Dives and Lazarus. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Luke 16:14-31

The misuse of money. The possibility of making "friends of the mammon of unrighteousness" has been clearly set before us by our Lord in the preceding parable. The "eternal tents" may afford us warmest welcome if we have conscientiously used our money. But the Pharisees who needed the warning against covetousness only derided him for his pains. It is supposed that it was his poverty which they thought took away his right to speak as he did of riches. He is consequently compelled to turn... read more

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