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The Berean Inquirer

Matthew 25:14
"For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

In order to know what "it" is that is "just like a man about to go on a journey," we must back-track through the preceding verses until it becomes apparent. In the previous verse, our Lord had just told the disciples to be on the alert, "For you do not know the day nor the hour" (25:13). It would appear, then, that "it," which "it is just like," is the coming of the Lord, or the coming of the future kingdom of the Lord.

The NKJV reads differently than the NASB. It says, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own slaves and delivered his goods to them." Other good translations read likewise. This does not change the matter, for in this sense it is used in this verse, the word "for" either means with respect to, or it is a conjunctive, meaning: therefore, because of, or in consequence of. That is, Jesus is saying that, "either with respect to what He has just told the disciples," or "because of what He has just told them," the kingdom is like a man traveling to a far country, etc.

Tradition says, "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." And, while this may be true, this manifestation of the Spirit is not that which the Lord here compares to what the traveler in the parable entrusts to His slaves. First of all, that which is entrusted is a plurality: the master's "possessions" or "goods." Second, though his possessions still belong to him, they are now in the possession of the slaves; they are not merely available to the slaves, but they are actually in their possession!

My neighbor's house is clearly manifest to me, but it is not in my possession; nor is there anything I can do with the manifestation of his house to multiply it or its value. The master of these slaves does not give them a mere manifestation of his possessions; he actually puts his possessions into their care. So it is with the Lord and His slaves. It is a deceitful evasion of the plain intent of the parable to make this investment merely a manifestation of what can actually be traded or banked to gain a profit.

Further, not every man is a slave of Christ. The slaves in this parable are all under the legal ownership of the man who goes on the journey, and who places a portion of his possessions in the care of each of them. Now, some would suggest that, the third slave could not possibly be a slave of the traveler, for Paul says, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey…? (Rom. 6:16). Thus it is argued, by some, and implied by others, that one should not take too seriously the seeming inclusion of the third slave as one of the master's own slaves.

One must understand, however, that two different things are being spoken of in these passages. Our Lord speaks of objective (judicial) slavery, whereas, Paul speaks of subjective (experimental) slavery. Subjectively, a ten year old horse, sold for the first time in its life is still the horse of the man who sold it, in the sense Paul speaks of, even though someone else now has objective ownership of it. Likewise, a beloved slave sold to another man may, at heart, remain loyal to the original master, but nevertheless he is now the property of the man who paid for him. So it is with the Lord's slaves; though He bought us with His own blood to be obedient to Him, there is ever the natural propensity to be loyal to the unrighteousness that objectively owned us before.

In this parable, the man who is about to go on the journey called his own slaves, and he entrusted his possessions to them. He did not call his enemy's slaves, nor did he entrust his possessions to his enemy's slaves. He called slaves who belonged to him, and entrusted his possessions to them. Now, it is readily apparent that the man who goes on the journey is representative of Christ. His slaves, then, are those whom have actually been purchased by Him; they are those who, by faith in Him, now belong to Him as His possessions. None of His slaves are so-called "false believers": all belong to Him, all are born again.

Matthew 25:15
"To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

In this verse we find that the man's possessions amount to huge sums of silver (talents), a precious metal that can be parlayed into profits far exceeding the original value or amount. What then, does this silver represent? Faith? Probably not, since the slaves of Christ have come to be His slaves by faith, already. What possessions does Christ entrust to His slaves? Well, most obviously, the Holy Spirit. It is not likely that it this possession, specifically, that our Lord has in mind in this passage, either, as the Holy Spirit cannot be multiplied. Perhaps it is the gifts of the Spirit, which, it seems, once can obtain more of (1st Cor. 12:31 & 14:1).

I'm not certain what the proper correlation is, here, but there are many kinds of possessions the Lord entrusts to us (e.g., our spouses, our children, our employment or our employees, our financial resources, our material belongings, and, yes, even our "natural" talents and abilities); and it is hard to imagine that He will use a different standard of accounting for these gifts, when He returns, than will be used for whatever is intended by "talents" in this parable. What the master in this parable gives to his slaves really is not a gift, per se, simply to be used as the slave pleases; rather, what is being given is a stewardship. Now the stewardship is a gift; but only those who desire an intimate relationship with their Master, and who see the potential of their stewardship, will appreciate it for the gift it is. Others will simply covet the possessions or despise the responsibility involved in the gift.

Failing to understand this is the great failure of this modern wave of saints whose spiritual experience goes no further than, supposedly, "seeking an intimate relationship with the Lord." Cain and Able both may have been seeking an intimate relationship with the Lord. But one can be intimate with the Lord only on His terms. And, in the Scriptures, it is those who pursue obedience to His will who actually obtain intimacy with Him. Sadly, in our day, there are many who claim to be seeking an intimate relationship with the Lord who, at the same time, say they do not need doctrine.

There are many who claim to be seeking an intimate relationship with the Lord who say they do not need the Bible, the very word of God. These saints seem to think that God is like them, fickle and ever changing His mind, and that what He has said in His written word no longer goes, or that, somehow, He what he said in His word was not communicated intelligibly to them. These folks, like Cain, pursue a relationship with Christ apart from knowledge. They seek intimacy with Christ without bothering to attend to the stewardship He has entrusted to them.

Now the Lord tells us that the man who was about to go on a journey gave five talents to one slave, two to another, and one to yet another. Each one was given an amount of their master's possessions according to his own abilities. Now, the doctrine of Total Depravity, as taught by Classical Calvinism, says that the unsaved have no ability to please God; this being the case, it is established by our Lord's own words that all three servants represent men who have the promise of Christ that they shall never die (John 5:24; 11:25-26), for all have the ability to use these spiritual gifts and to please their master. The slave in this parable is subsequently rebuked and disciplined because he failed to do what was within his power which would have profited his master.

The Arminian, however, makes no such argument as the Calvinist; he believes that the lost do have spiritual ability. This is of no matter, for we are told that the slaves belong to the man, that they were "his own slaves" (v. 14), and the wicked slave is not sold off, nor is he even treated all that severely. He simply looses the trust of his master - and that which was entrusted to him to invest for his master - and is pushed out the door into the night. It is difficult to conceive of a man who is condemned to eternity in hell as ever having been in the house of the Lord Jesus Christ, unless one contrives an extremely superficial view of Christ's house. Thus, we may safely conclude, from this perspective, also, that all three of the slaves represent men who have received the promise of Christ that they are not condemned, as those who do not believe already are (John 3:18).

Notice, also, that the master of the slave does not order that the slave be killed. Nor does he command that the slave be thrown off his estate. All that he commands is a transfer of the slave's stewardship to that of the slave that now had ten talents, and that the wicked and lazy slave be thrown into the outer darkness of the night; by daybreak the slave would be in the outer light. The darkness in the parable must be the darkness of night, for in the real world of the man traveling on a journey, there was no other "outer darkness" than that which comes at nightfall and is gone at dawn.

Clearly, now, night is not a place of torment. The master of the slaves, himself could go out into the night, as many a wealthy slave-owner would have done on many occasions. That there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for wicked and lazy slaves is not due to the horrible conditions of the outer darkness, but, rather, due to the realization of the praise of Christ and the great a reward was forfeited through wickedness and laziness. Thus, had the Lord wished us to understand a more severe penalty for this slave, such as eternal damnation, He certainly could have chosen a more severe correlation to it than the temporary darkness of night and the emotional response of mourners at a Semitic funeral.

Now, it is an infallible axiom, with many believers, that not all the details of a parable should be seen as having spiritual significance. Perhaps this is because not all of the details of the parables can fit their interpretation of them. But how are we to know which details of a parable do not have a spiritual correlation? If one says that, where Jesus gives the interpretation we should stop interpreting the details where He stops, then I can live with that. Indeed, in our present parable, Jesus does not say what the outer darkness is. In fact, He does not interpret this parable for us at all! In any event, nowhere in the Scriptures are we told that not all of the details of Jesus' parables should be viewed as having a spiritual import. Nevertheless, according to some translations (e.g., the NASB and Charles B. William's), in this parable, the kingdom is "just" like the way our Lord describes it, here (v. 14).

Matthew 25:16
"Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.

Tradition insinuates that what is entrusted to the slaves represents the potential for men to receive grace - that is, the availability of grace to men: "It is not meant that the improving of natural powers can entitle a man to Divine grace." Surely, this is not what is meant, for the slaves represent the slaves of Christ - men and women who are already the recipients of grace. Further, although the principle may be applied to all that has been entrusted to the saint, it seems highly probable that what our Lord has in mind as that which is entrusted to the three slaves, here, are the gifts of the Spirit; for this is the only gift that is given exclusively by Christ to those who are His possession.

But what a clever deceit this is, to introduce, by denial of one thing, the notion that the parable is speaking of grace and its resulting salvation. The parable does not deal with grace or salvation; it deals with the opportunity for the recipients of grace - the slaves of Christ - to merit his praise and a share in His inheritance, along with the danger of those same slaves receiving, instead, His rebuke and loosing out on the inheritance as a result of carnal living.

It is the unwillingness of religious gurus to allow men to be saved by the mere grace of God, their refusal to fully acknowledge that men contribute nothing to their eternal destination in heaven (either before or after being born again) that gives religious teachers the temerity to suggest that personal works are somehow necessary if faith be genuine and the believer be allowed into heaven. And yet, most such gurus cannot help but defend the Scriptural doctrine that grace and salvation cannot be merited. Thus it is, that the tradition of men quoted above disallows, out one side of the mouth, that Jesus here teaches that the abilities of men can entitle them to God's reward, while insisting, out the other side, that man cannot get into heaven apart from works of merit.

Notwithstanding insistence to the contrary, our Lord clearly presents the works of these slaves as being the cause of their reward! This being the case, the reward in view cannot be justification, objective sanctification, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, entrance into heaven, or escape from hell. Why? First, because be justification, objective sanctification, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, entrance into heaven, and escape from hell cannot be merited. Second, because one cannot be more be justified, or have greater objective sanctification, or be more forgiven, or have a longer eternal life, or gain more entrance into heaven, or more extensively escape from hell than another. And the first slave received more reward for his efforts than the second slave.

But, that the reward is not any of these things should be obvious, for the reward is said to consist of the master's praise ("Well done thou good and faithful servant"), an increase in what had already been entrusted to the slave prior to the reward, and the privilege of sharing in the master's joy. The opposite of heaven is hell; yet the Christian does not yet have the praise that is proffered through this parable, and he is not in hell. One might argue that the opposite of this "Well done" is Christ's rebuke (and it is), yet Peter was rebuked, and even called "Satan," by Christ (Matt. 16:23), but he was not in hell. Further, it must be asked, Will Christ praise us for something that is not actually praiseworthy in us? If what the servants do is praiseworthy, then the servants have something to boast about. But Paul says, in the matter of salvation, there is no boating before God (Rom. 4:2-8). Thus, heaven cannot be the reward in view in this parable.

Also, is that which we are entrusted by Christ heaven itself? How is it that heaven is in our possession, now? How is it that heaven is in the possession of wicked and lazy servants, now? And, if heaven is in the believer's possession now, how is is apportioned more to one believer than to another? And how does one trade or invest heaven in order to multiply it? Indeed, can heaven itself be multiplied by us? What is the evidence of that, besides an assumption that the reward in view in this parable is heaven itself? True, believers can be instrumental in multiplying the inhabitants of heaven; but the inhabitants of heaven are not heaven! Surely, heaven is not the reward in view in this parable. If heaven is not the reward, then it logically follows that hell is not the chastisement that is meted out to the wicked and lazy slave, either.

Finally, part of the reward is to share in the joy of the master. Does the joy of the master consist of no more than heaven? The slaves of the master, in this parable, did not get to share in the joy of their master prior to the time when he settled accounts with them. So, until that time, they were outside the house, just like the wicked servant was after the settling of accounts; yet, they were not in a place of anguish or agony, except for the discomforts they endured for the sake of multiplying their master's wealth. Nor do believers get to share in the joy of Christ prior to the time when he settles accounts with us; yet we are not in hell until then, but neither have we yet entered into the joy of Christ's that is signified in this parable.

Again, I think it is very likely that that which the Lord entrusts to His servants are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us to "earnestly desire the greater gifts," and he proceeds to show us "a still more excellent way" (1st Cor. 12:31). He seems to be suggesting that by striving after this more excellent way, while earnestly desiring spiritual gifts, the Lord will grant our desire for them. For he starts up, again, in chapter 14, by saying "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy" (1st Cor. 14:1). But, let us consider the stewardship of all that we have as opportunities to increase the Master's wealth, whether it be a gift of teaching, a gift of healing, a gift of a husband or wife, a gift of children, a gift of employment, a gift of financial stability, etc. It is all the Lords, and He will demand an accounting of us when He returns.

It would appear that Paul was a five-talent slave, while the Corinthian assembly was apparently composed of two-talent and one-talent slaves. Paul not only manifested numerous spiritual gifts (e.g., healing, prophecy, teaching, speaking in tongues, administrations), he far excelled the Corinthian believers at even the most basic gift (1st Cor. 14:18). Many in the assemblies of the Lord, today, wonder where the authentic gifts of the Spirit are, why we do not very often see genuine expressions of them. It may be that the Lord is not willing to entrust us with these gifts until we show ourselves faithful with the natural gifts that He has given us. So much of what we are given, in the way of natural gifts, we spend on ourselves. Or, it may be that He is not willing to grant us them until we prove ourselves diligent to wisely use the faith that has been given to us; too much of what we do in this world does not involve an exercise of faith, but is a reliance on the weapons and means of the natural realm (e.g., money, credit, insurance, human potential, psychology, political participation, social intervention, military force).

Now, we see that one of the slaves in Jesus' parable was a lot like the apostle Paul. Immediately he went out and traded with his five talents and doubled what had been entrusted to him. Using the master's silver to pay for his own comforts and pleasures did not obtain these results. Although the slave may have used some portion for things that delighted himself, it is doubtful that he could have made the kind of return on the silver entrusted to him if he used any significant portion of it in this manner. This slave undoubtedly deprived himself of the pleasures of gourmet dining, fine wine, expensive apparel, luxurious furnishings, sports and recreation, entertainments, personal hobbies, world travel, and the like, in order to make the kind of profit he was able to make for his master. A long journey, in those days, took anywhere from one to five years, as a rule; one rarely is able to double a large amount of money in so short a time, even in our day, without making significant sacrifices of one's own comfort.

Matthew 25:17
"In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.

The second slave was not deemed to be as capable as the first slave, so his master gave to him only what he was capable of handling. Perhaps his master knew that if he gave any more silver to him, he would get a big head, try to show off, and end up squandering a significant portion of what had been entrusted to him. In any event, although not as capable as the first slave, he too went and invested his master's silver, and was able to double it. He, too, must have deprived himself of much of the comfort and pleasure that this silver could have brought to him in order to double its value for the master.

Matthew 25:18
"But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

The third slave had still less ability than the second, but he is not without ability entirely. So his master entrusted to him what he knew the slave was capable of handling. It was still quite a bit of silver. Some estimate that a single talent of silver, in those days, would be the rough equivalent of one or two weeks salary for the average person in modern America.

Sadly, however, this slave - even though he had been purchased with a price - did nothing to increase his master's fortunes. Neither, however, did he loose that which had been entrusted to him, he did not squander it, per se; indeed, he returned the entire amount to his master. But this was not what the master had intended when he entrusted the silver to him. This slave represents those saints who refuse to use the gifts of God for His glory. They don't necessarily squander their gifts (although often times they do), but they squander the time allotted to them to use those gifts to the glory of their Master. They squander their ability to multiply what has been entrusted to them by their Master to increase His wealth. They don't teach or discipline their children in the ways of Christ, they don't minister unto the needs of the poor, they consider all that they have at their disposal in terms of their own comforts and enjoyments. They won't preach the gospel, perhaps because they are sure that all whom the Lord has elected will be saved, anyway; for they stupidly reason in their hearts that the Lord reaps where he has not sown. They won't even invest their gifts in their brothers and sisters in Christ. Whatever the reasoning, the result will be the same for saints who do not invest what the Lord has entrusted to them.

Matthew 25:19
"Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.

A man does not settle accounts with another's slaves; he settles accounts with his own slaves. All three of these slaves belong to the same master. Jesus is perfectly clear about this point; the master is "the master of those slaves." There is going to be a time of accounting between the Lord and His slaves. This is not the same as the judgment at which those who have not believed in Christ as God's Appointed One are condemned to an eternity in the lake of fire. Our Lord does not have the judgment of the slaves of Satan in view in this parable. It was our Lord's unequivocal promise that whoever believes in Him will not come into that judgment (John 5:24).

Further, those who are lost are not Christ's slaves; if they are, then it would have made no sense for the apostle Paul to call himself a slave of Christ, since, under this theory, that is what he was even before his conversion. A slave is one who has either been enslaved through captivity, or one who has been bought with a price. The slaves of Christ have been bought with a price (1st Cor. 6:20). They may not always be slaves of His in their behavior, but they are slaves of His by virtue of Him having bought them with His own blood. They are positionally, or judicially, his slaves, even if they sometimes or even habitually behave as slaves of another.

The means of accounting that our Lord is considering, in this parable of the talents, is not the merit of the blood of Christ. Although that underlies the matter, even as the purchase price of the slaves in the parable underlie the matter of the accounting their master calls them to give. The sole means of accounting that Jesus has in mind, here, although founded upon the grace each slave of His has received through faith in Him, is what we have done with thet possessions of Christ's that He has entrusted to each of us, His brethren, according to our individual abilities? The means by which we will give account at this judgment is entirely to do with our works; Christ's work in dying for us will not enter the discussion, any more than the man in the parable's legal purchase of the slaves would have entered into the issue of those slaves accountability to him. If we work hard for Him and are faithful with the things that He has entrusted to us, we will receive His praise and be accorded greater authority in His kingdom and will be granted to participate in His joy.

Matthew 25:20
"The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, 'Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.'"

This slave is apparently proud of what he has done for his master. This is no conceit of the slave; he is not proud because he thinks of himself as anything more than the slave he is. He doubtlessly loves his master. Rather, it is very much like the pride a faithful employee of a proprietorship has for the excellent work he has done for his generous employer. The slave boasts to his master, "Look what I have done for you! I've doubled your silver." The boast is not with any thought that he deserves recompense for what he has done, although, perhaps, it is with hope of some small token of appreciation. The slave knows full well that he has only done for his master what was his duty to begin with (Luke 17:10). Rather, he boasts because he is thrilled about what he has been able to do for his master, because he is thrilled for his master's good fortune, and possibly because he knows that his master is generous toward those who do well by him.

Still, it is a boast, and the slave is no doubt elated by his own efforts, by his own hard work and sacrifice for his master. Now, if the issue in this parable were grace or salvation, it would seem that the slave apparently deserved a rebuke for his boasting (Rom. 3:27-28 & 4:2-7). But the matter at hand is not about salvation; rather, it is about what those who are already saved do with that which their Master has entrusted to their care - especially what they do with their spiritual gifts. Thus it is that the master in this parable - who, in every respect detailed in the parable, is just like our Master - recognizes the slave as a good and faithful steward of his possessions, and highly praises and rewards him as such.

Matthew 25:21
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'

The master is quite pleased with the diligence of his slave. No doubt he has some realization of what the slave had to do, what he had to forsake, in order to make such an incredible profit in so little time. Therefore, because he is generous, he gives his slave more than a token of appreciation. First, he gives glory to the servant, in front of the others. But, besides honoring the servant with his praise, he leaves the ten talents silver in his possession (v. 28), and grants that he might have authority over even more of his possessions! This clearly is not the gift of eternal life that is being granted the slave, for eternal life cannot be extended beyond eternity. Nor is it entrance into heaven that has been granted, for entrance into heaven cannot be extended beyond entrance into heaven. What is given to the slave is greater stewardship, the ten talents of silver plus many more things. Further than this, though - and no doubt entirely unexpected by the slave - he is invited to enter into the joy of his master. For the faithful disciple, this means participating with Christ in His inheritance and rule over the universe and all the perquisites that attend such authority.

Matthew 25:22
"Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, 'Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.'

As with the first slave, so also this slave boasts of what he has done for his master. He knows that he has worked very hard for his master, and has doubled his master's fortunes, too. No doubt, having seen the response of his master to the first slave, he is in great anticipation of at least having his master's praise.

Matthew 25:23
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'

The second slave is not to be disappointed. He, too, receives the master's "Well done, good and faithful slave." He, too, is granted to continue his stewardship of the silver that he has in his hand, and is given authority of many other things. He, too, is granted to enter into the joy of his master, to participate in the administration of his master's estate and to enjoy all the comforts and pleasures that attend this status.

Matthew 25:24
"And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.

It is a frightening and sorrowful thing, but it appears that all too many saints in our day are as this slave was. Their reasons may be more sophisticated, or they may not even bother to contrive an excuse, but they are just as lazy and wicked. All they will be able to do, when the Lord returns, is to present back to Him the spiritual gifts that they had in this life. How ashamed they will be, what great remorse they will know, after having seen the faithful rewarded for their perseverance they come forward with nothing more than what was entrusted to them. And how sorrowful to then loose the gift(s), which they did not bother to use in this life, which would have been of continued service to them in the kingdom of their master. How bitter the thought will be, when they realize what they have done, to live in the celestial city but not be able to enter it through the victor's gates - to not share in the Master's inheritance and reign with Him, to not be accorded the privileges that attend such stations as will be granted to those who overcome.

Matthew 25:25
'And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.'

How pitiful that a slave should use such an excuse. Here his master, after having purchased him, had placed a considerable amount of silver in his care, showing confidence in his ability to invest it for him. And the slave wasn't able to figure out that the master did this because he loved and trusted him, expecting to see some faithfulness in return. Here his fellow slaves were confident in their master's generosity, and all this slave could consider was his master's severity. Perhaps, if he wasn't sure he was the legal possession of his master, he would have cause to doubt whether he could depend on his master's generosity; but whoever heard of a slave who didn't know who owned him? It is a slave's responsibility to know who owns him.

Matthew 25:26
"But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

Not only does the master not praise the slave, he pronounces him to be a wicked and lazy slave. What a horrible pronouncement! Note, however, the master does not deny that the slave belongs to him; he does not threaten to sell the slave, nor is there any suggestion that the slave should be forever, or even temporarily, tortured for his lack of diligence.

Matthew 25:27
'Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

The least the wicked slave could have done was to place the silver in the bank, where his master would have received the standard interest rate. What this means, in terms of spiritual use of that which the Lord entrusts to us is difficult to say. I suspect that it means that the least one can do, with that which the Lord has entrusted to his slaves, is to minister to the assembly of the saints. Perhaps it refers to investing one's gifts in one's own family. Many a believer does not do much in the way of sharing the gospel in the world, but will invest his gifts in his family and in the members his church. Much can be achieved through the building up of other believers, and the members of one's own family - even if one is to timid to go into the market place and proclaim Christ. In any event, however, our goal should be to double our Lord's investment, not merely to obtain a minimal interest on it.

Matthew 25:28
'Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.'

The slave who is lazy, who, when the Lord returns, does not have anything more than what was entrusted to him, will loose even what he has. Whatever possessions of Christ He entrusted to His slaves while He is away, they will be of service to us when He returns in glory. Further, we will most certainly have a better understanding, at that time, of how to use Christ's possessions than we have now. How terrible to realize the value of an object possessed, only to lose that object at the moment of realization. Surely it is this, and not the torments of hell - along with the Master's rebuke and being barred from the both the authority and the privileges of those who reign with Him - that will be the source of the wicked slave's bitter sorrow.

Matthew 25:29
"For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

Those who have made the most gains for the Lord will, apparently, be given the surplus that comes from those who have done nothing.

Matthew 25:30
"Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Here we see that the worthless slave is not only not praised, not granted to keep what has been entrusted to him, not given any further authority, not invited to share in the joy of his master, but he is cast out of the house, also. Jesus does not say that he is cast off the master's estate, He does not say that he is thrown into prison, and He does not say that he is handed over to torturers; He merely says that the lazy slave is thrown out of the house into the outer darkness.

If an American plantation owner in the deep south of antebellum days were to throw a slave into the outer darkness, he would not have to remove him from the estate to do it; he would simply eject him from his house. And, when morning came, the darkness would turn to light. So it is, here. The slave of Christ who is wicked and lazy does not loose his salvation, he is not kicked out of heaven, and he most certainly is not cast into perdition. He simply looses the inheritance that could have been his, and having realized what it is that he has forfeited by his laziness, there will be cause for profound regret - for weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Undoubtedly, some will say that I am improperly arguing from silence when I say that the slave is not tortured, or that he is not cast off the estate, or that he is not cast into prison, or that the outer darkness is temporary and not eternal. But this is actually something of a misnomer. What I am doing is arguing against reading into the parable things that just aren't there. When a pericope of literature makes something clear by plain statements asserting it, then it is entirely legitimate to argue the same assertion by arguments from silence drawn out of the same passage. And when men are willing to read into the words of Christ their presuppositions, then it becomes necessary to use every legitimate means to answer that which changes the plain meaning of His words.

The traditions of men tell us:

The slothful servant is sentenced to be deprived of his talent. This may be applied to the blessings of this life; but rather to the means of grace. Those who know not the day of their visitation, shall have the things that belong to their peace hid from their eyes. His doom is, to be cast into outer darkness. It is a usual way of expressing the miseries of the damned in hell. Here, as in what was said to the faithful servants, our Saviour goes out of the parable into the thing intended by it, and this serves as a key to the whole. Let us not envy sinners, or covet any of their perishing possessions.

Look, however, how the potential for experiencing the grace of God, viewed by the traditionalist at the beginning of his interpretation of this parable as that which is entrusted to the slaves, has now become the "perishing possessions" of sinners at the end of it. Again, it is the Lord's possessions that are entrusted, and they are entrusted only to His slaves - specifically, it would appear that it is the gifts of the Holy Spirit - and they are entrusted only to slaves of Christ (i.e., those who have been purchased with a price). These are glorious gifts, and we are instructed not only to desire them, but to earnestly desire them - to earnestly desire the greatest of them, even (1st Cor. 12:31 & 14:1).

Now, some will argue, that in heaven there is no darkness. But the darkness, here, is is analogous not identical. While it is a spiritual location, it is a location of relative darkness not absolute darkness. It is not the same kind of spiritual darkness as commonly describe the element or sphere in which the lost walk. Rather, it is symbolic of that place which is outside the sphere of those privileged to share in the inheritance of the First Born. It is that place which is away from the immediate presence of the Lord; it is not that place which is outside His kingdom. Indeed, Jesus says that this place of darkness, and those who occupy it, are part of the whole picture that He says is like the kingdom of heaven (v. 14 & 30, q.v.).

Hell, on the other hand, is described in the New Testament only twice as a place of darkness (2nd Pet. 4:17 & Jude 13); normally it is described as a lake of fire. So, if hell can twice be described as being a place of darkness, surely heaven can conceivably be described as having darkness within its borders. The situation that is described, here, is merely one of great loss and remorse; not of eternal suffering. It is only in the mind of the traditions of men, the presuppositions of those who eisogete the text, that "our Lord goes out of the parable into" this fancied "thing intended." But the thing intended is not what the advocates of the traditions of men suppose. The thing intended is directly analogous to the thing stated; "It is just like…" says our Lord (v. 14, NASB), not, "It is sort of like…" or "It is almost like…" or "It is roughly like…" It is just like the illustration that the Lord gives; to say otherwise is to add to or subtract from the Word of God!

Even supposing that the NKJV gives a better translation than the NASB, one is still adding to the Word of God when he goes outside the parable to an intention not expressed by the parable itself. The parable cannot intend something it does not indicate; and if it is indicated by the parable, then there is no necessity to go outside the parable to say it. Such thinking is the height of sublimated Phariseeism. Many a false doctrine may be taught by going outside of what a text says into some thing supposed to be the thing intended by it. To their great misery, many a soul has done just this and wound up in apostacy.

Matthew 25:31
"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

It is thought, by some, that Christ now rules the earth. While God is omnipotent, the rule of the earth has not yet been given to the Son. Christ is certainly Lord over all, and all authority has been given to Him. But He has been asked to sit at the Father's right hand until His enemies are made His footstool (Heb. 1:13 & 10:12-13). Until then, He does not reign over the earth, even though He is the rightful King of kings and Lord of lords. At this time, Christ's has been given to rule only over His assembly.

Just as David was the rightful king of Israel for many years before he actually sat down on the throne and began to rule the nation, so Christ is the rightful King of all creation. However, at this time He reigns only over His assembly. The enemies of Christ have not yet been made His footstool, and it is only when He comes in His glory, accompanied by all the angels of heaven, that He will sit on His glorious throne; only then will he begin to exercise His reign over creation. At that time He will reward His mighty men and rebuke the saints who were faithless. Let us be diligent and faithful with the gifts He has entrusted to us, that we might not be ashamed at His appearing.

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