John Calvin Commentary Luke 16:22

"And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham`s bosom: and the rich man also died, and was buried." — Luke 16:22 (ASV)

And it happened that the beggar died. Christ here points out the vast change which death effected in the condition of the two men. Death was no doubt common to both; but to be after death carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom was a happiness more desirable than all the kingdoms of the world. On the other hand, to be sentenced to everlasting torments is a dreadful thing, for avoiding which a hundred lives, if it were possible, ought to be employed.

In the person of Lazarus, a striking proof is presented to us that we ought not to pronounce men accursed by God because they drag out, in incessant pain, a life full of distresses. In him, the grace of God was so entirely hidden and buried by the deformity and shame of the cross that, to the eye of the flesh, nothing presented itself except the curse. Yet we see that in a body that was loathsome and full of rottenness, there was lodged a soul unspeakably precious, which is carried by angels to a blessed life.

It was no loss to him that he was forsaken, despised, and destitute of every human comfort, when heavenly spirits deigned to accompany him on his removal from the prison of the flesh.

And the rich man also died, and was buried. In the rich man, we see, as in a bright mirror, how undesirable is that temporal happiness which ends in everlasting destruction. It deserves our attention that Christ expressly mentions the burial of the rich man but says nothing of what was done to Lazarus.

This was not because his dead body was exposed to wild beasts or lay in the open air, but because it was thrown carelessly, and without the slightest attention, into a ditch. For it may naturally be inferred from the corresponding clause that no more attention was paid to him when he was dead than when he was alive.

The rich man, on the other hand, buried magnificently according to his wealth, still retains some remnant of his former pride.³⁰⁸ In this respect, we see ungodly men striving, as it were, against nature, by affecting a pompous and splendid funeral for the sake of preserving their superiority after death; but their souls in hell attest the folly and mockery of this ambition.

And Lazarus was carried by angels. When He says that Lazarus was carried, it is a figure of speech by which a part is taken for the whole, for the soul, being the nobler part of man, properly takes the name of the whole man.³⁰⁹ This office is, not without reason, assigned by Christ to angels, who, we are aware, have been appointed to be ministering spirits (Hebrews 1:14) to believers, so that they may devote their care and labor to their salvation.

Into Abraham’s bosom. To detail the variety of speculations about Abraham’s bosom, in which many commentators of Scripture have indulged, is unnecessary and, in my opinion, would serve no good purpose. It is quite enough that we receive what readers well acquainted with Scripture will acknowledge to be the natural meaning.

Abraham is called the father of believers because the covenant of eternal life was committed to him, so that he might first preserve it faithfully for his own children and afterwards transmit it to all nations. Since all who are heirs of the same promise are called his children, those who receive along with him the fruit of the same faith are said, after death, to be collected into his bosom.

The metaphor is taken from a father,³¹⁰ in whose bosom, as it were, the children meet when they all return home in the evening from the labors of the day. The children of God are scattered during their pilgrimage in this world; but as, in their present course, they follow the faith of their father Abraham, so they are received at death into that blessed rest, in which he awaits their arrival.

It is not necessary to suppose that reference is made here to any one place. Instead, the assemblage of which I have spoken is described for the purpose of assuring believers that they have not been fruitlessly employed in fighting for the faith under the banner of Abraham, for they enjoy the same habitation in heaven.

It will perhaps be asked: Is the same condition reserved after death for the godly of our own day, or did Christ, when He rose, open His bosom to admit Abraham himself, as well as all the godly?

I reply briefly: Since the grace of God is more clearly revealed to us in the Gospel, and since Christ Himself, the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), has brought to us that salvation which the fathers were formerly permitted to behold at a distance and under dark shadows, there cannot be a doubt that believers, when they die, make a nearer approach to the enjoyment of the heavenly life.

Still, it must be understood that the glory of immortality is delayed until the last day of redemption.

So far as relates to the word bosom, that quiet harbor at which believers arrive after the navigation of the present life may be called either Abraham’s bosom or Christ’s bosom. But, as we have advanced further than the fathers did under the Law, this distinction will be more properly expressed by saying that the members of Christ are associated with their Head. Thus, the metaphor about Abraham’s bosom will end, just as the brightness of the sun, when it is risen, makes all the stars disappear.

From the mode of expression which Christ has here employed, we may, in the meantime, draw the inference that the fathers under the Law, while they lived, embraced by faith that inheritance of the heavenly life into which they were admitted at death.

³⁰⁸ “De l’orgueil de sa vie passee;” — “of the pride of his past life.”;” — “of the pride of his past life.”

³⁰⁹ “A bon droict on dit simplement, L’homme, encore que cela ne convient qu’a l’ame;” — “we properly say simply ;” — “we properly say simply Man, though it applies only to the soul.”, though it applies only to the soul.”

³¹⁰ “D’un pere terrien;” — “from an earthly father.”;” — “from an earthly father.”