The Rich Man and Lazarus – A real story or a parable?
Luke 16 – The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19-31 (NASB)
(19) “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.
(20) “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,
(21) and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
(22) “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.
(23) “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
(24) “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
(25) “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
(26) ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’
(27) “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—
(28) for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
(29) “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
(30) “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
(31) “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
Is this a real story or a parable? Is this a real story or a story Jesus made up?
Some commentaries say this must be a real story because:
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- It contains a name (Lazarus).
- But there is no law in the Bible that says ‘parables cannot include people who have a name’.
- Although it is unique and the only time Jesus actually gives a proper name to a character in His parable is not to say that it is therefore not a parable. We need to look a little more closely to discern.
I’m convinced that this is in fact a parable, it is a story that is imaginary, a story that Jesus himself invented as He did so many stories to make a spiritual point.
- This story is similar to other parables, look at how it begins. Look at its introduction.
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Parable |
How the parable begins… |
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Rich Man and Lazarus |
Luke 16:19 Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen… |
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The Good Samaritan |
Luke 10:30 A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers… |
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The Great Banquet |
Luke 14:16 A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many… |
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The Prodigal Son |
Luke 15:11-12 A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father… |
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The Ten Minas |
Luke 19:12 A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself… |
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And many others outside the gospel of Luke are started the same way, so this is pretty familiar parabolic introduction |
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- This gives a spiritual truth of great significance (as are other parables).
- It would seem that if this was a historical story, then the main character would also have a name and there would even be a location.
- The circumstances that occur in the parable also show that it cannot be true. It is imaginary and the details are to make a point.
- People in hell can’t see into heaven (as in v. 26 and v. 23)
- They can’t see or find Father Abraham and talk to him (as in v. 24)
- There’s also nothing that says that angels take you to heaven when you die (as in v. 22)
Conclusion:
The poor man goes into the presence of God, the presence of Abraham, in the Heaven of heavens. The rich man goes to hell to be tormented. This is the great reversal. This is the first jolting element of the story. This will cause a stunning reaction, because the Jews believed their theological system was developed to teach them that if you lived a life like this rich man, this was God’s blessing; and if you lived a life like this poor man, this was God’s curse. They would’ve expected the rich man to enter into Heaven and be seated next to Abraham. They would’ve expected the poor man to end up in hell in torment, just a continued extension of the wretchedness that was being heaped upon him by God in life, but just the reverse is true.
Lazarus was not poor, but “rich!” Lazarus was a child of God. He was an heir of glory. He possessed enduring riches and righteousness. His name was in the Book of Life. His place was prepared for Him in heaven. He had the best of clothing-the righteousness of a Savior. He had the best of friends-God Himself was his advocate. He had the best of food-he had food to eat the world knew nothing of. And, best of all, he had these things forever. They supported him in life. They did not leave him in the hour of death. They went with him beyond the grave. They were with him in eternity. Surely in this point of view we may well say, not “poor Lazarus,” but “rich Lazarus.”
The rich man was pathetically poor. With all of his riches he had no “treasure laid up in heaven.” With all of his purple and fine linen he had no garment of righteousness. With all of his rich and successful friends he had no Friend and Advocate at God’s right hand. With all of his sumptuous food he had never tasted the bread of life. With his entire magnificent palace he had no home in the eternal world. Without God, without Christ, without faith, without grace, without forgiveness, without holiness, he lives to himself for a few short years, and then goes down hopelessly into the pit of hell. How hollow and unreal was all his prosperity! “The rich man was very poor.”
In this concluding conversation crafted by our Lord, it is a fictional rich man, it is a fictional Abraham. Our Lord is inventing this dialogue to convey an answer to our question, “What took the rich man to hell? What takes anyone to hell? What took him there, and what will take his five brothers there, and what will take you there?”
Another reason why Jesus gives him a name in the story, because it’s critical to the story that everybody know who he is. Because even when he asked, “Couldn’t Lazarus please come back, and then tell my brothers, warn my brothers of the afterlife?” The only way that that would work would be if they knew who Lazarus was. And, again, he has a name because it needs to be that everybody knew him in the family. The rich man who’s dead knew him. The five brothers knew him, and if he goes back, they’ll know him, and they’ll know that it’s the one who was at the door who died, and who disappeared, and now he’s back; and they’ll repent. So they all knew him, and they all ignored him, all six of ‘em paid no attention to him. They loved money, and they loved to consume it on themselves. They were anything but generous. They had no interest in the poor, and the Old Testament is loaded with instruction about that.
Are we saved by philanthropy? Are we saved by charity? Are we saved by generosity? Are we saved by compassion? Are we saved by works…which we do? Even acts of kindness and generosity and sympathy and philanthropy. Well, Romans 2 says we’ll be judged by our works, sure. We’ll be judged by our works. James says the same thing. We’re gonna be judged by our works. Jesus even said, “By their fruit you will know them.” We can be judged by our works, but we can’t be saved by our works. Very important distinction.
Ephesians chapter 2, says this. “For by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast, for we are His workmanship.” The only work that saves you is God’s work in regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is all of divine grace, not of works. But we are His workmanship created by God in Christ Jesus for good works. We’re not saved by good works. We’re saved to good works. We’re not saved by doing good works. We’re saved so that we can do good works. Heaven is not earned by charity, nor is hell gained by the lack of it. People end up in hell not for any of these reasons. People end up in hell for one reason, and it comes clear to us in verses 27 to 31.
You would expect a conversation that Jesus fabricated to be almost infinite in its meaning, and this one is; but here’s the key. Verse 29, “They have Moses and the Prophets.” Verse 31, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded. Let them hear them.” The reason people go to hell is because they do not listen to the Scripture. They do not listen to the Scripture, for the Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, is the way to Heaven. It isn’t through your works. There’s truth in the fact that your sin will send you to hell. It will. There’s truth in the fact that your selfishness will send you to hell; but being only a minimal sinner and being generous will not get you to Heaven. It, too, will send you to hell.
The only way you get to Heaven is through listening to the way of salvation presented in the Scripture. Here represented by the phrase, “Moses and the Prophets,” which was a Jewish expression referring to the Old Testament. That brings up a very interesting, really interesting question. Is there enough in the Old Testament for a Jew living then before Jesus’ death and before His resurrection to be saved? How were people saved? Romans 10:9 and 10, “If you confess Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved.” Fine, that’s on this side of it. What if Jesus hadn’t died? What if He hadn’t arisen and you couldn’t believe in His death and resurrection, because it hadn’t happened? Then what? Well, let me give you one hint. The word repent in verse 30. That’s the heart and soul of it, repentance. And the message of the Old Testament was crystal clear on the need for the sinner to repent, and it told him exactly where he needed to turn in his repentance to receive forgiveness and salvation. It’s all in the Scripture in the Old Testament, and then comes into its glorious fulfillment and fruition in the New Testament.
Additional Helps:
Commentaries on the word “hades” in this passage:
16:22, 23 “Abraham’s bosom” is a Jewish figurative expression denoting the place of repose to which Lazarus was carried at his death. It is a synonym for “Paradise” (23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4) and “heaven.” “Hades” (v. 23) is another word for “hell.” The rabbis divided the state after death into a place for the righteous (Abraham’s Bosom, Paradise) and a place for the wicked (Hades). This is similar to the Greek concept of Hades, which likewise had two compartments. Some think that this passage suggests that Hades is the place for all the dead, with two regions: Abraham’s Bosom as the abode of the righteous, and a place of torment as the abode of the wicked. At the resurrection of Jesus, Abraham’s Bosom was emptied and all the righteous were led into heaven. The unrighteous dead await final judgment, when “Hades” will be cast into the “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14), or “hell.” However, such an approach to this passage seems unwarranted. “Abraham’s Bosom” is simply a synonym for heaven and Paradise; hence, Paradise cannot be conceived as one compartment in “Hades” where the righteous await final expedition to heaven at Christ’s resurrection. Death for the believer is immediate fellowship with God in heaven, and for the unbeliever is immediate consignment to hell for all eternity.
Abraham’s Bosom=Paradise=Heaven
Hades=Hell=Lake of fire
Believer’s Study Bible. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Lk 16:20
16:23 In Hades. The suggestion that a rich man would be excluded from heaven would have scandalized the Pharisees (see note on Mt 19:24); especially galling was the idea that a beggar who ate scraps from his table was granted the place of honor next to Abraham. “Hades” was the Gr. term for the abode of the dead. In the LXX, it was used to translate the Heb. Sheol, which referred to the realm of the dead in general, without necessarily distinguishing between righteous or unrighteous souls. However, in NT usage, “Hades” always refers to the place of the wicked prior to final judgment in hell. The imagery Jesus used paralleled the common rabbinical idea that Sheol had two parts, one for the souls of the righteous and the other for the souls of the wicked—separated by an impassable gulf. But there is no reason to suppose, as some do, that “Abraham’s bosom” spoke of a temporary prison for the souls of OT saints, who were brought to heaven only after He had actually atoned for their sins. Scripture consistently teaches that the spirits of the righteous dead go immediately into the presence of God (cf. 23:43; 2Co 5:8; Php 1:23). And the presence of Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (9:30) belies the notion that they were confined in a compartment of Sheol until Christ finished His work.
16:23, 24 But that was not all. His soul, or conscious self, went to Hades. Hades is the Greek for the OT word Sheol, the state of departed spirits. In the OT period, it was spoken of as the abode of both saved and unsaved. Here it is spoken of as the abode of the unsaved, because we read that the rich man was in torments.
MacArthur, John: The MacArthur Study Bible : New American Standard Bible. Nashville : Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006, S. Lk 16:23
It must have come as a shock to the disciples when Jesus said that this rich Jew went to Hades. They had always been taught from the OT that riches were a sign of God’s blessing and favor. An Israelite who obeyed the Lord was promised material prosperity. How then could a wealthy Jew go to Hades? The Lord Jesus had just announced that a new order of things began with the preaching of John. Henceforth, riches are not a sign of blessing. They are a test of a man’s faithfulness in stewardship. To whom much is given, of him will much be required.
Verse 23 disproves the idea of “soul sleep,” the theory that the soul is not conscious between death and resurrection. It proves that there is conscious existence beyond the grave. In fact, we are struck by the extent of knowledge which the rich man had. He … saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. He was even able to communicate with Abraham. Calling him Father Abraham, he begged for mercy, pleading that Lazarus might bring a drop of water and cool his tongue. There is, of course, a question as to how a disembodied soul can experience thirst and anguish from flame. We can only conclude that the language is figurative, but that does not mean that the suffering was not real.
OT Old Testament
MacDonald, William ; Farstad, Arthur: Believer’s Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1995, S. Lk 16:23
23–25. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. Between death and resurrection the immaterial part of man goes either to be with the Lord, if he is saved (II Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23), or into conscious torment as here. Resurrection reunites the body to the soul, and the state of existence continues to be either with Christ, or in the punishment of eternal duration (Mt 25:41, 46).
KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2052
16:23 Note the reversal of fortune from vv. 19–21. Here the rich man was suffering and Lazarus was at peace. Hades in the Old Testament was the place where the dead are gathered. It is also called Sheol in Ps. 16:10; 86:13. In the New Testament, Hades is often mentioned in a negative context (see 10:15; Matt. 11:23; 16:18). Hades is where the unrighteous dead dwell. Gehenna is the place where final judgment occurs (see 12:5; Matt. 5:22).
Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Lk 16:23
Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1997, S. Lk 16:23
86 ᾅδης [hades /hah·dace/] n pr loc. From 1 (as negative particle) and 1492; TDNT 1:146; TDNTA 22; GK 87; 11 occurrences; AV translates as “hell” 10 times, and “grave” once. 1 name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions. 2 Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead. 3 later use of this word: the grave, death, hell. Additional Information: In Biblical Greek it is associated with Orcus, the infernal regions, a dark and dismal place in the very depths of the earth, the common receptacle of disembodied spirits. Usually Hades is just the abode of the wicked, Lu. 16:23, Rev. 20:13,14; a very uncomfortable place. TDNT.
n n: noun or neuter
pr pr: proper or pronoun
loc loc: locative
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
TDNTA Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G86
Hades — that which is out of sight, a Greek word used to denote the state or place of the dead. All the dead alike go into this place. To be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hades, are equivalent expressions. In the LXX. this word is the usual rendering of the Hebrew sheol, the common receptacle of the departed (Gen. 42:38; Ps. 139:8; Hos. 13:14; Isa. 14:9). This term is of comparatively rare occurrence in the Greek New Testament. Our Lord speaks of Capernaum as being “brought down to hell” (hades), i.e., simply to the lowest debasement, (Matt. 11:23). It is contemplated as a kind of kingdom which could never overturn the foundation of Christ’s kingdom (16:18), i.e., Christ’s church can never die.
In Luke 16:23 it is most distinctly associated with the doom and misery of the lost.
In Acts 2:27–31 Peter quotes the LXX. version of Ps. 16:8–11, plainly for the purpose of proving our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. David was left in the place of the dead, and his body saw corruption. Not so with Christ. According to ancient prophecy (Ps. 30:3) he was recalled to life.
Easton, M.G.: Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897
HELL — the place of eternal punishment for the unrighteous. The NKJV and KJV use this word to translate Sheol and Hades, the Old and New Testament words, respectively, for the abode of the dead.
Hell also translates Gehenna, the Greek form of the Hebrew phrase that means “the vale of Hinnom”—a valley west and south of Jerusalem. In this valley the Canaanites worshiped Baal and the god Molech by sacrificing their children in a fire that burned continuously. Even Ahaz and Manasseh, kings of Judah, were guilty of this terrible, idolatrous practice (2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6).
The prophet Jeremiah predicted that God would visit such destruction upon Jerusalem that this valley would be known as the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 7:31–34; 19:2, 6). In his religious reforms, King Josiah put an end to this worship. He defiled the valley in order to make it unfit even for pagan worship (2 Kin. 23:10).
In the time of Jesus the Valley of Hinnom was used as the garbage dump of Jerusalem. Into it were thrown all the filth and garbage of the city, including the dead bodies of animals and executed criminals. To consume all this, fires burned constantly. Maggots worked in the filth. When the wind blew from that direction over the city, its awfulness was quite evident. At night wild dogs howled as they fought over the garbage.
Jesus used this awful scene as a symbol of hell. In effect he said, “Do you want to know what hell is like? Look at Gehenna.” So hell may be described as God’s “cosmic garbage dump.” All that is unfit for heaven will be thrown into hell.
The word Gehenna occurs 12 times in the New Testament. Each time it is translated as “hell.”
With the exception of James 3:6, it is used only by Jesus (Matt. 5:22, 29–30; 10:28; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5). In Matthew 5:22; 18:9; and Mark 9:47, it is used with “fire” as “hell fire.” So the word “hell” (Gehenna) as a place of punishment is used in the New Testament by Him who is the essence of infinite love.
In Mark 9:46 and 48, hell is described as a place where “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” Repeatedly Jesus spoke of outer darkness and a furnace of fire, where there will be wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28). Obviously this picture is drawn from Gehenna.
The Book of Revelation describes hell as “a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14–15; 21:8). Into hell will be thrown the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:20). At the end of the age the devil himself will be thrown into it, along with death and Hades and all whose names are not in the Book of Life. “And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10b).
Because of the symbolic nature of the language, some people question whether hell consists of actual fire. Such reasoning should bring no comfort to the lost. The reality is greater than the symbol. The Bible exhausts human language in describing heaven and hell. The former is more glorious, and the latter more terrible, than language can express.
Hell. In the Old Testament this is the word generally and unfortunately used by our translators to render the Hebrew Sheol. It really means the place of the dead, the unseen world, without deciding whether it be the place of misery or of happiness. It is clear that in many passages of the Old Testament Sheol can only mean “the grave,” and is so rendered in the Authorized Version; see, for example, Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 1 Sam. 2:6; Job 14:13. In other passages, however, it seems to involve a notion of punishment, and is therefore rendered in the Authorized Version by the word “hell.” But in many cases this translation misleads the reader. In the New Testament “hell” is the translation of two words, Hades and Gehenna. The word Hades, like Sheol, sometimes means merely “the grave,” Acts 2:31; 1 Cor. 15:55; Rev. 20:13, or in general “the unseen world.” It is in this sense that the creeds say of our Lord, “He went down into hell,” meaning the state of the dead in general, without any restriction of happiness or misery. Elsewhere in the New Testament Hades is used of a place of torment, Matt. 11:23; Luke 16:23; 2 Pet. 2:4, etc.; consequently it has been the prevalent, almost the universal, notion that Hades is an intermediate state between death and resurrection, divided into two parts, one the abode of the blest and the other of the lost. It is used eleven times in the New Testament, and only once translated “grave.” 1 Cor. 15:55. The word most frequently used (occurring twelve times) in the New Testament for the place of future punishment is Gehenna or Gehenna of fire. This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their destruction. [See Hinnom.]
Smith, William: Smith’s Bible Dictionary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997
Hell — derived from the Saxon helan, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place. In Scripture there are three words so rendered:
(1.) Sheol, occurring in the Old Testament sixty-five times. This word sheol is derived from a root-word meaning “to ask,” “demand;” hence insatiableness (Prov. 30:15, 16). It is rendered “grave” thirty-one times (Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; 1 Sam. 2:6, etc.). The Revisers have retained this rendering in the historical books with the original word in the margin, while in the poetical books they have reversed this rule.
In thirty-one cases in the Authorized Version this word is rendered “hell,” the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of sheol are “the congregation of the dead” (Prov. 21:16). It is (a) the abode of the wicked (Num. 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps. 9:17; 31:17, etc.); (b) of the good (Ps. 16:10; 30:3; 49:15; 86:13, etc.).
Sheol is described as deep (Job 11:8), dark (10:21, 22), with bars (17:16). The dead “go down” to it (Num. 16:30, 33; Ezek. 31:15, 16, 17).
(2.) The Greek word hades of the New Testament has the same scope of signification as sheol of the Old Testament. It is a prison (1 Pet. 3:19), with gates and bars and locks (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 1:18), and it is downward (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15).
The righteous and the wicked are separated. The blessed dead are in that part of hades called paradise (Luke 23:43). They are also said to be in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22).
(3.) Gehenna, in most of its occurrences in the Greek New Testament, designates the place of the lost (Matt. 23:33). The fearful nature of their condition there is described in various figurative expressions (Matt. 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 25:30; Luke 16:24, etc.). (See HINNOM.)
Easton, M.G.: Easton’s Bible Dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897
