Make friends with thine adverse party quickly, whilst thou art in the way with him; lest some time the adverse party deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
The verse moves from anger to the law court. A man is on the road to trial with someone who has a claim against him. Commentators ask who that accuser is, what "the way" means, and whether the prison at the end is eternal.
One writer explains the custom behind the picture and the message it carries:
In the past it was common to keep a convicted debtor in prison until he had paid all his debts. The Lord speaks here in symbolic language: "There is an opportunity to make peace with the other side before it is too late, even though one might find this hard. But the time for reconciliation will cease. The one who is not prepared to act in this way will have to bear the consequences."
Commentators read the accuser in more than one way. One takes it as the Messiah Himself, whom Israel turned into an enemy:
The awful truth is this: their stubborn disobedience and blind unbelief made an adversary of Jehovah-Messiah, the very One who loved Israel and would die for them. His presence, if received, would have been their salvation and best blessing. Instead, because they utterly rejected and hated Him, it had to bring on the crisis that could not be avoided.
Another writer takes the accuser to be the law itself:
The "adversary" — the law, "Moses, on whom you have set your hope" — was bringing them to the Ruler or Judge, God, the Judge of His people. John the Baptist, and our Lord Himself, had been preaching as the accuser of the people. They showed them their sins and called them to repentance. But while this was the case, Israel was only "on the way to the magistrate." There was still time to be reconciled — by repentance and by accepting Christ as Messiah. This they refused to do... So the Lord's prediction came true: they were delivered to the Judge, dealt with judicially by God, who handed them over to the "officer" — the executor of His will; in this case, the Gentiles.
Christ Himself was the one walking that road with them:
So Jesus came, seeking an account of the fruit produced. "Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court." Christ was saying, I am still in the way with you. "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." The axe was laid to the root of the tree. So they had only one thing to do: agree with Him who had the right against them.
If the road ends with no agreement, the sentence follows. One writer marks out exactly what that sentence is:
So the case was just about to come before the Judge. The Judge would hand the convicted man over to the official, and he must go to prison until he had paid the last penny. This is no question of eternal judgment, but of God's moral government on the earth... The guilty debtor still lies in that prison, until his heart turns to the One he despised. Then the word will go out, "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God... that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins."
This is where readers have gone badly wrong:
Wrong spiritual applications of the last part of this example have led to much confusion. The doctrine of "purgatory" is probably the saddest proof of that. Scripture nowhere teaches that a man must suffer a temporal punishment from God after death to be eternally saved. No; once death has come, the soul's eternal destiny is settled: a person is either eternally and perfectly saved, or eternally lost!
One plain lesson stands at the end of the road:
They were like men in danger of being called before a court. They had no answer to give that could ward off the punishment they deserved. Their only hope lay in making peace with their accuser before they stood before the judge. Once they reached that stage, they could expect nothing but judgment... At the judgment seat, whether of man or of God, no one brought there as guilty can expect mercy. So while they still had the opportunity, let them use it.
- Road — The scene is a debtor walking to court. The road is the only place where terms can still be made; after the verdict, the door shuts.
- Accuser — Commentators differ. Some read the accuser as the Messiah, whom Israel treated as an enemy. Others read it as the law, pressing its just claim.
- Quickly — The urgency is the point. While Christ was present, He was still "in the way" with them, and that was the day of salvation.
- Prison — The sentence pictures God's government on earth, not eternal judgment. The debtor stays until the discipline is complete. Then comes comfort.
- Warning — At the judgment seat no mercy is found by the guilty. The mercy is on the road — so use the opportunity while it lasts.
Verily I say to thee, Thou shalt in no wise come out thence till thou hast paid the last farthing.
The Lord ends His warning about settling with an opponent by shutting the prison door. No one walks out until he has paid the last coin. The picture raises three questions — who is the debtor, what is the prison, and does anyone ever come out?
The image comes from real courts, and it carries a deadline.
In the past it was common to leave a convicted debtor in prison until all his debts were paid (compare Matt. 18:30, 34). The Lord says here in symbolic language: "You still have the chance to make peace with the other party before it is too late. You may find this hard. But the time for reconciliation will end. Whoever is not prepared to act this way will have to bear the consequences."
Several commentators read the debtor as the nation of Israel. They refused to settle with their own Messiah.
I believe that Israel were guilty of that very folly — Israel as a people — that they did not agree with the adversary quickly. There was the Messiah. Being His adversaries, they treated Him as their adversary and by their unbelief forced God to be against them... They did not agree with their adversary quickly. So the judge could only hand them over to the officer, and into prison they went. There they remain to this day. Because they rejected the Messiah, the Jewish nation has been shut out from all the promises of God. As a nation they were committed to prison, and there they must remain till the last penny is paid.
The word "adversary" describes a relationship man created, not one that belongs to God's nature.
God is no adversary to man. For a poor sinner, it would be an entirely wrong thought that God needed to be reconciled... for the sinner is God's adversary... It is man who has made God a judge, not in His nature, but through man's sin. And here as to Israel, sin had made Him an adversary. They rejected Christ, and that rejection ended in the cross. Now they are cast out of their land — or, in the language of our chapter, "cast into prison."
The sentence here belongs to God's dealings with people on earth, and it has a stated end point.
This is no question of eternal judgment. It is God's moral government on the earth. Yet all of it is true of His people, found guilty and consigned to suffer long. In that prison still lies the guilty debtor, till his heart turns to the One he despised. Then the word shall go out: Comfort, comfort My people, says your God... that her iniquity is pardoned (Isa. 40:1-2).
"The last penny" sets a limit as well as a demand.
The uttermost farthing of the great debt of the people must be paid, but nothing beyond this will be exacted from them.
For centuries people have used this verse to prove a place of temporary punishment after death. One commentator shows that the idea contradicts itself.
Here the Catholics are inconsistent with themselves. If minor sins are forgiven in purgatory, this passage still speaks of the last penny being paid. Surely we cannot speak of a debt being forgiven and at the same time paid to the last penny.
The alternative offered is simple: the moment of death closes the question.
Scripture nowhere teaches that a man must suffer a temporary punishment from God after his death to be eternally saved. No; once death has come, the soul's eternal destiny is decided. A person is either eternally and perfectly saved or eternally lost! This verse therefore can only refer to circumstances on earth.
The force of the warning lies in one word: "quickly."
Thus Jesus came, seeking an account of the fruit produced. "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him." Christ was saying, I am still on the way with you. "Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
Law can only ever name the full amount. The cross settles it.
Under law, payment must reach the last penny. For the believer, the cross of Christ has paid it... The majesty of the law was never so upheld as in the death of Christ. He kept it perfectly at every step of His life. He magnified it and made it honourable. Yet He bore the law's curse for those who had broken it.
- Debt. The image is a court and a debtors' prison: the man stays locked up until he pays every coin.
- Adversary. God is no adversary to man. Sin makes man God's adversary, and Israel treated their own Messiah as an enemy.
- Prison. Commentators read this sentence as God's government on earth, not the final judgment. Israel's exile is the prison still standing.
- Limit. The debt must be paid to the last penny, but not one coin more. The sentence ends in "Comfort, comfort My people."
- Paid. Law can only demand the full sum. For the believer, the cross of Christ has paid it.