Is The Story Of The Rich Man And Lazarus A Parable? (Luke 16:19-31)
Abraham Was Wealthy. Is Wealth Bad? What Does This Teach Us?
Yes it is a parable, but it's also satire. The rich man represents the Pharisees; Lazarus represents the gentiles.
Wealth is not bad, and the rich man was not in torment because he was wealthy. He was in torment, because he thought that he would be in Paradise then, but he wasn't.
The aspect of them being in torment or in bless is also a parable. The chasm is not physical, but a spiritual one. Neither Lazarus or the rich man can understand one another.
I researched this answer before responding. My references are the Liberty Bible Commentary and Believers Bible Commentary by William MacDonald. According to both this is NOT a parable. The reasoning is that parables are hypothetical illustrations and never name specific individuals. In this passage, not only is the beggar named (Lazarus) but also Abraham and Moses are spoken of. Abraham and Moses were real people. Also, Luke does not refer to this passage as being a parable as he so clearly does in thirteen other passages that are parables. Now for the interpetation: the rich man is in Hell not because he was rich. He lived his life for self taking care of his needs and living in luxury. The beggar suffered greatly lying outside the rich mans gate. The rich man showed that he did not have true saving faith in the Lord by his careless disregard of the beggar. The beggar, Lazarus wasn't saved because he was poor but because he trusted in the Lord for the salvation of his soul. This passage is an account of two lives, two deaths, and two hereafters. Abraham's bosom ( Heaven...where else would Abraham be?) and Hell (place of torment) are the two hereafters. Note in verse 26 ..."a great gulf fixed"... between the two. Once you die your destiny has already been decided and cannot be changed. Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Saved...eternity in Heaven; not saved eternity in Hell. The choice is yours to make now while there is still time.
sure it is. in the bible Jesus told the story to us that to repent cause there will come a time when it will be too late.the rich refused to help the needy because he thought his wealth will take him to heaven.
True Scriptures always have Parables ... these explain The Law by simile and metaphor ... hence, the literally adapted Form of Truth ... the conveyancing in a humane understanding....
In Human tampered Scriptures, Parables, are the Tools of a corrupt clergy.
by Marliza Gunter 6 years ago
If heaven is up there and hell down below, then how did Lazarus see the rich man over a gulf?Luke 16:26 26. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from...
by Ann Lee 14 years ago
What do you think, is the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus to be taken literally or is it...symbolic of Judah (the rich man) and the Gentiles (the poor man)?
by RKeithAndrews 10 years ago
Many parables in the Christian Bible. Is the Bible itself one big parable? Why or why not?
by mathsciguy 13 years ago
Can a person consider themselves Christian (ie, a true follower of Christ) if they have the wealth necessary to be able to participate in web forums? Consider the following excerpt from the Gospel of Luke:"And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit...
by Baileybear 13 years ago
Some say that the Bible is full of parables.My understanding is that both use a short story to illustrate a moral. Fables usually use animals. Both are fiction?
by Mr Archer 8 years ago
What is your favorite story from the Bible and why?My personal favorite is that of Lazarus. Whenever I read or hear it, it literally sends shivers up and down my spine at the power and the faith in the message. And when I hear Carmen sing his song Lazarus, and the thought of Lazarus speaking with...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |