Luke 12:15

beware of covetousness The better reading is "of all covetousness," i.e. not only beware of avarice, but also of selfish possession. Both the O. and N. T. abound with repetitions of this warning. Balaam, Achan, Gehazi are awful examples of this sin in the O. T.; Judas Iscariot, the Pharisees and Ananias in the New. See 1 Timothy 6:10-17.

a man's life consisteth not i.e. a man's truelife his zoe:his earthly natural life his bios,is supported by what he has,but his zoeis what he is.Such phrases as that a man -is worth" so many thousands a year, revealing the current of worldly thought, shew how much this warning is needed. The order of words in this paragraph is curious. It is literally, "For not in any marts abundance is his life (derived) from his possessions," or (as De Wette takes it) "is his life a part^his possessions." The English Version well represents the sense. Comp. Sen. ad Helv.ix. 9, "Corporis exigua desideria sunt.... Quicquid extra concupiscitur, vitiis non usibus laboratur."