,The Rich Man andLazarus

By Harold Doan .

THIS PARABLE' of Dives and Lazarus, found illLuke 16: 19-31, is the primary basis of the doc-

trine of conscious existence after death, of eternaltorment, and of a heavenly reward immediately atdeath, The parable is frequently referred to in thisway, and many false doctrines have been built uponits story,

Nearly all students agree that this is a parable,even those who take it literally, It is the last of along series of parables which begins in chapter 13 ofLuke, This chapter includes such parables as that ofthe mustard seed, the great supper, the' lost sheep,the lost coin, the prodigal son, the urrjust steward, and,finally, this concluding story of the rich man andLazarus,

'1'here are several reasons why we believe this para-ble cannot be interpreted literally, First we have somethoughts from others, quoted from the magazineWords of Life, "The learned Professor of Ecclesi-astical History, G, M, Gwatkin, in his sermon onLuke 16: 31, said: 'These words are the ending ofthe Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus; and Ineed not discuss the whole of it, Let me only warnyou that parable is parable and not literal fact, Itis good for the lesson our Lord means to teach, butwe cannot take for granted that He means to teacheverything He seems to say, for example that iv'Paradise we shall sit in Abraham's lap, He makesthe ideas of His own time the machinery of Hisparable, but He does not necessarily warrant themas true , , , That is not what He wants to tell us,'(From 'The Eye for Spiritual Things,' p, 41,)

"E. S, Woods, M,A., formerly Vice Principal ofRidley Hall, Cambridge, in his 'Studies of the Para-bles of Christ,' writes: 'Details in, the parable aretaken from contemporary Jewish belief and shouldnot be regarded as conveying permanent informa-tion about the nature of the other world" (p. 84),He again insists on this on. page 86 of the samebook, ,s,

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"Canon Vernon StOlT in 'Christianity and Im-mortality' (1918) wrote: 'We must look to the mainlesson which the parable teaches. Its object is notto instruct us about the intermediate state. If Jesus

. here makes use of the current Jewish belief in theexistence of two divisions of the underworld, Hedoes so merely by way of imagery. To enforce Hislesson He reproduces the symbolism of contemporaryeschatology, but the lesson is the important thingand not its pictorial setting' (p. 127).

"Dr. R. G. Macintyre in 'The Other Side of Death'(1920) wrote: 'Any attempt to use the parable ...by making it an actual picture of the future abodeof the wicked would enly land one in incongruities.'(p. 301).

"Dr. C. H. H. Wright (Regius Professor ofHebrew) in the 'Intermediate State' pointed out:

"'To assume that what is professedly a parableprovides us with an exact description of the futurestate is to go beyond the just limits of exegesis.'

"Many similar references to well-known writerscould be produced, but here I will only refer to onemore, viz., Dr. Salmond's 'Christian Doctrine of Im-mortality': 'To suppose it to be our Lord's objecthere to give a doctrine of the intermediate state isentirely to misunderstand the parable' (p. 278)."

Secondly, a literal interpretation of this parable'is contrary to God's character as stated in Jeremiah9 :24, "Let him that glorieth glory in this, that heunderstandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lordwhich exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and right-eousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight,saith the Lord." God's loving kindness would forbideternal torment. His justice would' also forbid it,for He has said, "The wages of sin is death," and inPsalm 145: 20, "The wicked will he destroy."

A literal interpretation is contrary to the gospelof atonement performed by the death of Jesus. In1 Corinthians 15 :3, we are told that "Christ died [not •suffered eternal torment] for our sins." His death

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was payment for death. Jesus bore the penalty ofsin, which is death, not eternal life in torture!

A third objection to a literal interpretation of thisparable is that it is contrary to the Bible usage ofthe word "hell," here translated f'rom the Greek "ha-des." Hell is not eternal, but will be destroyed, ac-cording to Revelation 20: 14. "Death and hell werecast into the lake of fire. This is the seconddeath." Christ also was in hades, according to Peterand David (Acts 2:31), yet certainly .Iesus wasnot being tortured. "He seeing this before spake ofthe resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not leftin hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.'"

Isaiah 63: 16 tells us that Abraham was not awareof his descendants. Why~ He was and is dead. "Doubt-less thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorantof I1S, and Esrael iackuowledge us not: thou, 0 Lord,art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from ever-lasting."

Fourth, to interpret the story literally is contraryto the usual interpretation of parables. When Jesusspoke of four kinds of soil in the Parable of the Sow-er, He meant four types of people. The wheat andtares represented people, the net of fishes referred topeople. So this parable is only symbolic of a greatlesson J esus wanted to teach.

Fifth, a literal interpretation of the parable iscontrary even to those who believe it so in their un-derstanding of the soul. Orthodoxy says a soul isinvisible, intangible, microscopic, immaterial, has nointerior or exterior, "a million could dance on thepoint of a needle." Some have even weighed the deadto show that the soul weighs nothing. In the parable,Lazarus, Abraham, and the rich man are seen, andhave parts which suffer, such as their fingers andtongues, and their mouths and lips speak.

Sixth, the parable was not taken literally by thedisciples who heard it nor by the Apostle Paul.Nowhere do they teach conscious suffering whiledead, nor everlasting torment of the wicked.

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There is a question some might ask about the Para-ble of the Rich Man and Lazarus. 'Would J GSUS use anuntrue story or take a false doctrine and use it to il-lustrate a truth ~ Yes, He would, and did, when Hishearers knew He was doing it deliberately to provea doctrine false 01' to chide His enemies. Notice, f'orinstance, Matthew 9: 13, "But go ye and learn whatthat meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinnersto repentance." There were no righteous people. Thiswas a jab at the Pharisees who, pretended to berighteous. Notice also Matthew 18 :8, "Whereforeif thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off,and cast them from thee: it is better for thee toenter into life halt 01' maimed, rather than having twohands 01' two feet to be cast into everlasting fire."No one supposes this is to be taken literally. Then,in the Parable of the Unjust Steward which pre-ceded this, there was an entirely unbelievable si tua-tion. Read it in Luke 16 :1·9 and see that Jesus wasrebuking the scribes and Pharisees.

What truth does the parable teach ~ Whom do thecharacters represent i As in most of Jesus' parablesit is very difficult to match every point in the storywith a character 01' a truth. A parable is a generallyknown, or common story, used to illustrate a truth.'Prying to identify every character only confusesand does not illuminate the point.

We believe that this parable was a story well knownin Jesus' day. In fact, we understand that it wasone of the stories of the apostate Phar-isees, onlywith the characters reversed. Jesus used their ownstory, reversed the characters, showing the poor mansaved and the rich man lost, to discredit them.

In this parable, the rich man represents the nati':llof Israel. "There was a certain rich man, which wasclothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptu-ously every day" (Luke 16:19). Israel was rich inthe Lord. For hundreds of years the nation was thesole recipient of the blessings of God, and fared

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sumptuously on the law and the prophets. They hadall in a material and spiritual way that God couldgive.

"And there was a' certain beggar named Lazaruswhich was iaid at his gate, full of sores, and desiringto be fed with the crumbs which fell from the richman's table: moreover the dogs came and licked hissores" (vv. 20, 21). The poor beggar, Lazarus, rep-resents the believing Gentiles. During the days ofIsrael's blessing, the Gentiles were outcasts. SomeGentiles down through the Old Testament age-likeNaaman, the widow of Zarephath, Ruth, and thecenturiou-did get some of the crumbs from the ta-ble, but generally they were without. Paul describestheir condition in Ephesians 2 as "without God, with-out hope, aliens, strangers." That is still the condi-tion of all who are outside of Ohrist.

The story continues with the death of Lazarus andthen of the rich man. Lazarus was carried by theangels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man wasburied. There is no mention of heaven, or paradise,or souls, or spirit: This is an adoption M a well-known pharisaical legend, only Lazarus is saved andthe rich man is lost.

The death and blessing of Lazarus refer probablyto that change in condition which came to the Gen-tiles when Christ died for their sins, and Israel wastemporarily set aside by God. Again it is Paul whodescribes this new condition of those in Christ, re-ferred to in the parable as being in Abraham's bosom.In Galatians 3 :27-29 Paul said, "For as many of youas have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek ... for ye are allone in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then areye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the prom-ise." ow, through Christ, Gentiles who were oncebegging for crumbs, are in the very family of Abra-ham, and are hairs of the promises made to him.Imagine how the self-righteous Pharisees seethedwhen they finally knew the meaning of Jesus' parable.

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Soon after, the rich man died and was buried,and in the imagery of the parable, sees the comfortand good fortune of Lazarus while he himself is intorment. This refers undoubtedly to the death ofIsrael as a nation, and its burial among the nationsof the world. Not only was Israel "buried" in thenations, but Israel was sorely persecuted, and suf'-fered greatly in her exile. Romans 11 presents a pic-ture of the temporary fall of Israel and its result,the exaltation of called-out Gentiles.

Between the two, the now-blessed Gentiles, calledto be heirs of the Kingdom, and the now-cast-outIsrael, there is a great gulf fixed which keeps thechurch in the blessings of God, and keeps Israelfrom those blessings. That great gulf is Jesus Him-self. F'irst Corinthians 1: 23, 24 reads, "We preachChrist crucified, unto the Jews .a stumblingblock,and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto themwhich are called .. both Jews and Greeks, Christ thepower of God, and the wisdom of God."

Jesus is the gulf and the bridge between believersand unbelievers. The difference between saved or lostis Jesus. The difference between receiving the bless-ing or wrath of God is Jesus. And it is over thebridge, Jesus, that one must pass from the lost condi-tion of unbeliever to believer. But the Israel nation,because of its veil of ignorance, will not pass overthe gulf. Since there is no other way to be savedbut by Jesus, the believer can only of'f'er help in Hisname. The breach is fixed until the un believer will ac-cept Him.

Then the parable continues with the rich man say-ing to Abraham, "I pray thee therefore, father, thatthou wouldest send him to my father's house: for Ihave five brethren; that he may testify unto them,lest they also come into this place of torment. Abra-ham saith unto him, They have Moses and the proph-ets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, fatherAbraham: but if one went unto them from the dead,they will/epent. And he said unto him, If they heal'

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not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per-suaded, though one rose from the dead."

'Phis part of the parable was a pointed prophecyof the rejection of Israel by Jesus, and. of its con-tinued torment as a result of that rejection. Thelaw of Moses and the writings of the prophets wereintended to prepare Israel for revelation and gloryunder Messiah. Because of unbelief, they were notprepared. Even though Jesus rose from the dead andwas seen of His brethren, and the-testimony of Hisresurrection was made known far and wide, He andHis gospel were still rejected. So Israel has remainedin torment. Battered from pillar to post, driven fromshore to shore, hated, despised, buffeted, she hassuffered as no other nation in history. And 110ne canhelp but Jesus and His servants! How wonderfullythis parable prophecy has been fulfilled.

We feel that these are the important points thatJesus intended to make: 1) Israel, because of unbe-lief, was to suffer greatly as a nation. 2) Believersout of all nations, because of accepting Jesus thecrucified and 'risen Saviour, will be saved and blessed.

What is your condition? Are you in the family ofAbraham, and an heir to the promises through Christ ~or have you separated yourself from God by a widegulf of unbelieH You, like Lazarus in the parable,can be blessed and saved by the one foreseen by thelaw and the prophets .. who rose from the dead to givelife to the faithful. Why not now ~

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