But if that bondman should say in his heart, My lord delays to come, and begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and to drink and to be drunken,
The Lord has just described a faithful and wise manager put in charge of the household (v. 42). Now He fills the same post with a man who has given up on his master's return. One silent thought in the heart does all the damage that follows.
The verse names two crimes: cruelty to the other servants, and drunken indulgence. Neither is where the trouble began. Both are symptoms of something already settled within.
What is the poison in his wrong? What stamped him as "that evil servant"? His conduct certainly shows two fatal flaws. He beats his fellow servants. He eats and drinks with those who are drunk. He proudly lifts himself above those the Lord has put on the same level as himself. He also keeps company and shares fellowship with the world. But what marked the looseness and waywardness of his soul? That which was within led to these outbreaks of evil; for evil never begins in external conduct of any kind. The mischief is always within first.
A man may hold correct views about the Lord's return and still be this servant. What the Lord exposes is not a miscalculation but an unwelcome hope.
This is not a doctrinal mistake. That would be no small thing, since God's word and Spirit are given to direct us rightly. But the wandering of the "heart" is far more serious, and it comes too easily even where the doctrine is held. How sad is the state of a soul that does not want Christ's coming! That servant then does whatever his heart likes. In this way the hope loses its separating power, and its attraction to the One who is coming and to His word.
Love changes how long a wait feels. Jacob's seven years of service for his wife show it.
To say in the heart that the Lord delays His coming is a plain declaration, though a silent one. It says His coming is not wanted. It is not what rules the heart. The seven years Jacob served for his wife "seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her" (Gen. 29:20). His heart was in it, and the years fled as days. Love annihilated time... It is very clear that no such object governed the heart of the evil servant. He did not love his Lord, nor did he care for His coming.
Once the master drops out of view, the servant fills the empty place himself. Then he looks elsewhere for company.
Having no heart nor faith in Christ's coming, men were willing that it should be put off... The wish gave birth to the thought. In that state of feeling, people easily find circumstances to justify it. But the moral consequences are soon seen. With Christ's coming no longer before the eye, that servant before long began "to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk." On one side he developed a spirit of proud assumption and intolerance. On the other, a corrupting familiarity with the world.
Peter had asked who this parable was meant for (v. 41). The warning belongs to anyone who takes the place of a servant. The next verse decides what this man really is.
The word "unbelievers" here is the same one used in 1 Cor. 14:23. It is more a question of their conduct than of their creed: they may be ever so "orthodox." The word stands in contrast with the word "faithful," used of the steward in verse 42. So the Revised Version renders it "unfaithful." Notice Peter's question in verse 41. Notice too that the Lord is not speaking of a merely assumed position in the verse that follows. We have here a solemn Scripture for all who are engaged in His service, whatever group they belong to. The words admit of no softening.
Both servants eat and drink. The difference is when.
The false servant has his good time when he begins "to eat and drink and get drunk" (verse 45). It ends in disaster when his Master comes... The true servant waits for his Master, who will make him sit down to eat and drink and will be the Servant of his joy (verse 37). His good time will be then.
- Heart — The ruin starts with a silent thought. Nothing in the outward conduct came first.
- Hope — To call the Master late is to admit you do not want Him. Where love rules, waiting feels short.
- Harm — Once the hope goes, the servant turns on the other servants. He also grows at home with the world.
- Hollow — The failure is one of conduct, not creed. A man may be fully orthodox and still be this servant.
- Hereafter — Both servants get their feast. One takes it now and loses everything; the other waits, and the Master Himself serves him.
the lord of that bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of, and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers.
Just before this, the Lord praised the servant who feeds the household while his master is away. Now He turns to the servant who told himself there was time to spare. The sentence falls on a man who still carried the name of servant. Why does the master arrive when he is not expected? And who are the "unfaithful" he ends up with?
The surprise in this verse is not an accident of timing. It grows out of the servant's own heart. He had already decided that his master's return was far off and unwelcome.
The trouble is not a doctrinal mistake, though that is no small thing where God's word and Spirit are meant to guide us. It is the far more serious wandering of the "heart," which comes all too easily where this teaching may be held. How sad the state of a soul where Christ's coming is unwelcome, and the servant does whatever his heart likes! In this way the hope loses its separating power, and its pull toward the One who is coming and toward His word. He turns violent against his fellow servants. They annoy him, while the world and its pleasures make pleasant company.
The servant cannot plead that he only held the position and never had the reality behind it. That plea is what condemns him.
People will be judged, not according to the power they have, but according to the PLACE they have taken. They cannot say, I have taken the place, but do not have the power, so you ought not to judge me. But you have taken the place. So you are responsible for the power. Otherwise you should not have taken the place. If a servant comes into your house and ruins all your goods, you judge him according to the place he has taken. So the professing church, or Christendom, has taken the place of Christianity without the power, and it is responsible for that. How can there be power where there is no life?
The servant in view had a job: handing out food at the right time. That makes the warning land first on those who stand up to teach others.
He speaks first of those who have accepted the duty of giving His household their portion of food at the right time (vv. 42-46). Anyone who does this faithfully and wisely, from pulpit or platform or anywhere else, is called "Blessed." His reward is so great. But suppose someone charged with such service says in his heart, "My Lord delays His coming." Suppose he then gives himself up to self-indulgence. His Lord will come upon him when he is not aware, and will assign him his eternal portion with unbelievers. An awful possibility for some who in our day stand forward as the public teachers of the flock of God!
To be cut in pieces and put with the unfaithful is more than punishment. The sentence shows what the man really was under the name he carried.
Whatever it professes, the heart of Christendom in that day will prove unbelieving. No disguises of creed or ritual, no activity, no zeal, will shield it from the just judgment of the Lord at His coming.
The word translated "unfaithful" is worth a pause. It names a lack, not a loud denial.
The Greek word is apistos, "not believing," and so an "unbeliever." … So the scriptural use of the term does not imply the denial of the truth of Christianity, in the way the word is commonly understood today.
Some read this verse as a Christian losing a place in the coming kingdom. Commentators reject that reading. They argue it from the sentence itself.
The matching parable in Matthew 24:48 shows that this is no case of a believer shut out. It is the case of an "evil" servant, a hypocrite. We need not even go beyond the rest of Luke's words to reach the same fact. Luke says his lord cuts him in two and appoints his portion with the faithless (apiston). Will the Lord deal so with anyone born of God? This is a far different lot from missing the reign while still blessed for eternity. No scripture assigns such a portion to a single Christian.
- Heart first. The collapse starts inside, with "My master is delayed." Only then does it show as cruelty to fellow servants and comfort with the world.
- Hope lost. Once a servant stops expecting Christ's return, the hope loses its separating power over his life.
- Place binds. Judgment follows the position a man has taken, not the power he claims he never had.
- Mask removed. Creed, ritual, zeal and activity shield no one. His coming exposes what the heart really was: unbelieving.
- Portion assigned. The end is not a believer losing reward. It is a false servant put with the faithless, where he always belonged.
But that bondman who knew his own lord's will, and had not prepared [himself] nor done his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes];
Older translations render this sentence as "beaten with many stripes," and the next verse sets a second servant beside him who did not know his master's will. So how does God weigh guilt when one man has the light and another does not?
Commentators read this servant as a picture of Christian profession, not of the world at large.
Christendom has taken the place of Christian privilege, so God will judge it on that ground. It is "that servant." Men had no heart or faith for Christ's coming, so they were glad to think it was put off… They said in their heart, "My master is delaying his coming." The wish gave birth to the thought, and once men feel like that they easily find reasons to justify it.
The heart of the verse is not ignorance but light refused.
First comes the case of the servant who knew his master's will, did not get himself ready, and did not act according to that will. He will be beaten with many stripes. The greater the light, the greater the responsibility. Where a man has the light, he has no excuse at all for disobedience. In fact, not doing the will that has been made known is a refusal to obey. In other words, it is rebellion.
Failing to "get ready" does not mean general laziness. It points back to the coming spoken of earlier in the chapter, and it separates this servant from the one in the next verse.
That servant — the Lord means the one He has just spoken of — knew his Lord's will and did not prepare himself, that is, for his Lord who was coming, and did not act according to His will. He will be beaten with many stripes. Of the other man it is not said that he failed to prepare himself, because he was never in that position at all. It says he "committed things worthy of stripes." He acted wickedly out of his natural heart, as a pagan might, and will be beaten with few stripes.
Writers take "many" and "few" as real measurement, not just a figure of speech.
God will not judge the Gentile on the same ground as the Jew, nor the Jew on the same ground as the Christian in name only. He will deal with each on his own distinct ground, according to his light and privilege. There will be the few stripes and the many stripes, as in Luke 12… The Judge of all the earth will do right, but man is responsible, and his responsibility matches the light and advantage given to him. The distinctions are exact, and no one will ever be condemned for despising and refusing advantages that were never within his reach.
The difference lies in severity, not in final outcome. One writer presses that on readers who have an open Bible:
The place and the length of punishment do not vary for any of the lost. Eternity in the lake of fire is the portion of all who die in their sins. Yet the Saviour speaks of "few stripes" and "many stripes," which shows degrees of severity in what God inflicts. No people on earth carry heavier responsibility than those who live in Great Britain.
Kelly notes that a later idea turned the plain sense of these words upside down.
Being baptized, and calling on the Lord's name in outward profession, will not lighten the burden of the hypocrites in the day of judgment. On the contrary, it will bring far more severity on them… An idea spread, perhaps everywhere after the first century or two, that although all who died in sin would be judged, the baptized would have a far better place in hell than the unbaptized. That was the teaching of the early church writers. Scripture is flatly against it.
One writer sets the verse alongside the Lord's words to His friends.
He does not want the cold service of the apprentice or the slave. He wants the loving heart-service of His chosen friends… And here, dear friends, shall we not say that our self-willed hearts need the warning of Luke 12:47?
The same two things — knowing God's will, and stripes — meet in one Person.
God's ways of grace are not as our ways. In righteousness, the servant who knew his master's will, but did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. In grace, the Lord Jesus, Who knew the will of God, and did it to the full, received in Himself the stroke of God's wrath — and by His stripes we are healed.
- Light — the servant's offence is knowledge without action; where he knows his master's will, disobedience has no excuse and is rebellion.
- Waiting — he did not get ready for a master who was coming, because he told himself the coming was delayed.
- Measure — "many" and "few" stripes show real degrees; no one is condemned for refusing advantages beyond his reach.
- Profession — outward Christian standing raises the reckoning instead of easing it.
- Grace — the Servant who knew God's will and did it fully took the stripes Himself, so that obedience now flows from love, not dread.
but he who knew [it] not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few. And to every one to whom much has been given, much shall be required from him; and to whom [men] have committed much, they will ask from him the more.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.