Luke 16:18 Commentary and Bible Study

This too is similar to the words of the Lord quoted in Matthew 5:32. One charge after another is being laid against these religious leaders. The heaviest charges of God’s law are brought to bear on the most resistant of proud hearts. Those who refuse to humble themselves will be forcibly brought low – ‘whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased’ (Matthew 23:12) – and their own hearts will add to the testimony against them and condemn them. The Pharisees were supposed to the teachers of the people and the example of holy lives for them to follow, but in reality they committed every kind of sin. Here was another matter in which they gave themselves liberty to disobey God, while retaining their status as instructors of the people. Christ disputes with them on this subject at greater length in Matthew 19. There they make it clear that they favour a liberal interpretation of the divorce laws, which gives them the right to remarry any time they choose, and on the flimsiest of pretexts. Christ warns them that in this case also, they cannot overthrow the law of God. He will hold them accountable according to a true interpretation of his word, and not according to their manufactured escape clauses, which nullify his word.