The genuinene-ss of the logion (a) there is no need to question, although its present position is probably due to editorial arrangement. Of the two .settings, Matthew's .seems preferable. Mammon here rejiresents a sort of personilied worldliness, a Plutus of the age, and Christ exposes the imi^ossi- bility of combining devotion to this end with de- votion to the true God. The spiritual life. He explains in G^^'^-*, must have the tAvo notes of in- wardness and unity. Compromise here is out of the question. The object of a man's confidence determines ultimately his character ; and single- mindedness is the supreme condition of health and effectiveness in religion. Jesus ' warns them that it is imiwssible to be at once high-minded and just and wise, and to comply with the accustomed forms of human .society, seek power, wealth, or empire, either from the idolatry of habit, or as the direct instruments of sensual gratification ' (Shelley). Objection is sometimes taken to this counsel as inapplicable to a groui) of good disciples. But Jesus had rich people among His adherents, and besides it is not the rich alone who are tempted to make a god of their money. Poor people are just as prone in some ways to attach an exaggerated importance to wealth, to overestimate its power, and thus to let it exercise a control over their desires. No
written connnent on the verse, however, can equal the impression made by Mr. G. F. Watts' picture of ' Mammon,' with its coarse, gross limbs crushing human life ; to which one pendant is the same painter's picture entitled, ' For he had great pos- .sessions.'
The Lukan setting is as apt in its own way, placing the same logion amid a cluster of character- istic (see Theophilus) sayings and parables on the dangers and abuse of money (cf. v.''^). Lk 16^^ forms one of several rather heterogeneous fringes to the parable of the Unjust Steward (16''^ or 16'"'^), arranged with almost as little coimexion as the logia in 16 "'^•. So far as it stands, however, it has the same meaning as in Mt 6^*. The main difficulty is to correlate it with what immediately precedes, and this ojjens up the unpersonified use of mammon in the second class of passages (6). The point of 16''^, which is certainly a genuine parable of Jesus, is to inculcate the wisdom of making provision in the present life for the life which is to come. The temper commended by Jesus is that of a man who has wit enough to see that his future prospects depend on his present exertions, and who infer- entially has no illusions whatever about himself. He is open-eyed to the present situation. He does not flatter himself into a rosy view of his case, or look to some happy chance to bear him through. A prudent regard to self-interest is the saving feature of his character and conduct. So much is clear. The trouble is to adjust vv.^"^'^ to this standpoint. If, with critics like J. Weiss, Wernle, and Jiilicher, all live verses are regarded as edi- torial glosses, the sohition becomes fairly simple, the original parable having nothing to do with the use of money at all, as Christ meant it. But v.® may well be the original sequel to v.** (so Well- iiausen recently), in which case ' the mammon of unrighteousness ' there and in v.^' is explained by 'what belongs to another' in v. '2. Wealth, Jesus teaches, does not really belong to a Christian. It is something alien to him. Yet, as the steward used wealth that was not his own for his own ends, so the Christian can and must employ his wealth in order to promote his eternal interests. Money given in alms makes friends for him in heaven, just as it lays up a treasure for him there (If^ 12-^ etc.). Instead of serving God and manniion alike, he is to use mammon wisely in the interests of his relation to God and the heavenly Kingdom, the wisdom consisting in the practice of charity (cf. v.^'-*'-). If not, the prospect held out is ominous. ' God,' as Kingsley once said, ' will yet take account of the selfishness of wealth ; and His quarrel has yet to be fought out.' This is true to the spirit of the Lukan sayings, except that they threaten an eschatological ruin rather than one wrought out on this side of the grave.
In any case vv.'"-'^ (v.^" coming from 19''') form a conglomerate appendix, added to prevent mis- conceptions, ' another instance of editorial solici- tude on the part of an Evangelist ever careful to guard the character and teaching of Jesus against misunderstanding' (Bruce). V.^', especially, indi- cates the right use of money (as in the parable of the Talents) : L^se it faithfully, i.e. for the good of the needy, instead of hoarding it up selfishly. Honesty in money matters (v.'") is vital to the Christian. And honesty, in this particular appli- cation, is viewed under the light of liberality (v.^^), in accordance with the tenor of Luke's social sym- pathies throughout his Gospel. Thus the use of mammon brings out two elements in the teaching of Jesus upon money — (a) the need of administer- ing it wisely, and (6) the essentially inferior and even irrelevant position of money in the religious life. The latter is brought out by the epithet un- righteous (almost equal to ' secular ' here) ; money is