What is the meaning of the Parable of the Talents?

v.14-30The parable of the servants and the talents is brought in to reinforce the exhortation to watch, given in verse 13; and it shows how the coming of the Son of Man will test all who take the place of being His servants, and lead to the casting out of all that is unreal. It is a thought calculated to sober us all, that during the time of His absence the Lord has committed His "goods" to His people. His interests have been placed in our hands, and we cannot avoid the point of the parable by saying, "I have no special gift and therefore it does not apply to me."

In the parable of the talents (v. 14-30) it is a question of service. The Lord goes away and confides to His servants a part of His goods to trade with them. They are the spiritual gifts that the Lord Jesus has imparted to those that followed Him when He went away. It is no question of that which providence has given us, nor of all men, but of the servants of Jesus, and of that which He has given them at the moment of His going away. There is a certain difference between this parable and what is found in Luke 19. In this latter passage the same amount is given to each of the servants; human responsibility enters into it for more in the thoughts of the Spirit of God; also the reward is proportioned to what love gained. Here the amount is according to divine wisdom, in reference to the vessel to which it is confided; and each faithful workman is equally called to enter into the joy of his Lord; he is set over many things, but he enters into the joy of his Lord. Faithful to Jesus according to what was confided to him, Jesus makes him enjoy His own joy. The principle of work is the confidence that the workman has in the master, and the spiritual intelligence which that confidence gives him.

v.14-30Here it is the Lord working by diversity of gifts. As He is sovereign, so confidence in Him is what severs the “good and faithful” bondmen from the wicked and slothful one, as it was in Matthew 24, a question of prudent or wise fidelity. Zeal according to that confidence was followed by blessing and fruit. Here we have marked variety and individual responsibility in faith, in contrast with unbelief and blindness to grace. When we know Christ (and the unprofitable bondman professed this) such unbelief is profound wickedness, and none in general worse than with such a nominal Christian. When confidence in Him is wanting, all is wrong. It may be shown in fear to use what He had given for profit. Had he truly known the Lord, he would have served Him gladly, especially as he had a gift of power. He thus was judged according to his distrust and the falsehood which unbelief readily yields to. Unbelief receives what flesh says, according to what the evil heart suggests when it listens to Satan's lie.

In the parable the servants receive, in varying amounts, goods from their Lord to trade with in His absence. It is grace going out to others, and by those who have received gifts from their risen Lord so to serve Him. The parable is similar to that in Luke 19, only there, the great point is the Christian's responsibility according to his opportunities. There, all received equal amounts, but produced different results, for which they are rewarded differently. Here they receive different amounts, and secure different results, but the good are rewarded each cent per cent, because both were alike faithful to the amount of their gift. Here it is the sovereignty of God. In Luke it is the responsibility of man.

v.14-30Nor is the following parable one of the Kingdom of Heaven, seeing it is a question of those to whom gift has been committed and the principle of true service. Read "It is as a man," etc. Observe the distinction between the spiritual gift and the natural capacity of the vessel — the more necessary because we in English have taken the word "talent" from the one and applied it to the other. The gifts differed in measure (cf. 1 Cor. 3:5), and there was a relation between them and the natural capacity, as for instance where the Lord makes a man an Evangelist, he will be able to address an audience and not have to write his sermon. But no cultivation of the natural ability could make it into a gift from Christ. This is of the essence of the teaching; for the bestowal of the gift makes me responsible to Him for the exercise of it without waiting for human authorization or aught else. When the time comes for the Lord to make a reckoning with his servants, we find what the spring and power is for thus exercising it; namely, simple confidence in the Lord who bestowed the gift. He who had received one talent and hid it in the earth did not know his Lord's heart; but in the judgment he is taken on his own ground and convicted of being wicked and slothful: what he had is taken from him and given to him who made most use of what was entrusted to him, and he is cast into the outer darkness. For the possession of gift does not necessarily suppose the divine nature or any real relationship with God. Two things enter into and form the reward of the faithful servant — faithful in few things he is set over many things in the kingdom, but besides that, he enters into "the joy of thy Lord."

The whole parable, aside from the case of the unprofitable servant, is not difficult to understand. We must, however, be careful to avoid the thought that the talents, the five talents and the two talents, are things like earthly possessions, mental faculties, such as a good memory, a keen, logical mind, or a robust body. That all these are blessings and gifts of God none would doubt. The talents are His goods and delivered into the hands of the servants when He went away. However natural endowments are considered in the distribution of the gifts. To each is given "according to his particular ability." His own divine wisdom manifests itself in the bestowal of these talents. There is no true servant of Christ who is left without a gift. The absent Lord has given to each according to their ability.

It is plain that the substance which the Lord submitted to His servants for work in His absence means gifts of a spiritual kind. For He delivered to each according to his respective ability. They are distinguished from the ability of each, which was natural, and are suited to it. They are not merely "sanctified capacity," or "theological learning," but a gift from the Lord adapted to the ability of each as the vessel. With His goods they were to trade, "each ministering it one to another, as good stewards of God's manifold grace; if one speaketh, as oracles of God; if one ministereth, as of strength which God supplieth, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen" (1 Peter 4:10-11). The reception of a gift was the ground of exercising it in dependence on the Giver, and for His glory.

The master delivered his goods to his servants, "every man" of them, and he had the discrimination which enabled him to appraise the capacity of each, and so he apportioned to each "according to his several ability." We may distinguish therefore between the gifts that may be bestowed upon us and the abilities that we may possess, always remembering that the Lord adjusts the relation between the two things. Our abilities would cover our natural powers as well as our spiritual, and if these are not very large five talents, or even two, might be only a burden to us. If that be so, the Lord knows it and He only gives us one. We might connect this with the gifts spoken of in Romans 12:6-15, which are of such a character as to cover all the people of God. Whether the gift bestowed be large or small, the great thing is to use it with diligence.

Now, the other thing is service. The twelfth chapter of Luke gives us not only watching but serving. So here (Matt. 25:14-30) it is the servant. You get more of the sovereignty of God here, than in the analogous parable in Luke, where it is more the responsibility of man. Here the Lord gives to every man according to his several ability: to one five talents, to another two, etc. Every one will be responsible for his wealth, but this is not a talent. The talents are what Christ gave when He was going away. He gave gifts - apostles, prophets, and so on. He did not give money! I quite admit the responsibility of it, but it is not the point here.

Matthew 25:14-30 will help us here. One may receive five talents, another two, a third but one. But there is as much need for the possessor of one talent to trade with it as he to whom five talents were entrusted. See also Luke 19:12-27. While in Matthew the talents signify ability imparted, which differs with each individual, in Luke the pounds signify opportunities which all in their measure possess alike.

Equal diligence was shown by the servants who received the five talents and the two. Each succeeded in doubling that which was entrusted to him, and when their Lord returned they both shared equally in his approbation and reward. Again in this parable, be it noted, the contrast does not lie between the more or less faithfulness and diligence, which may mark true servants, but between servants who were true, though their measure of ability differed, and the one that was no true servant at all. He that had received the one talent hid it in the earth instead of using it in his master's interest; and this he did because he had no real knowledge of his lord. He claimed to know that he was a hard man, exacting more than his due, one to be afraid of. His lord took him up on the ground of the knowledge that he claimed to have, and showed that his plea only aggravated his guilt, for had he been a hard man the more reason there would have been for diligent use of the talent entrusted.

The talents had not been entrusted to them for doing nothing with: in that case the Master might have kept them to Himself. They understood well that they had been put into their hands in order that they might traffic with them for the Master during His absence, and they employed those talents, those spiritual gifts, for the Master's service. Their heart knew that Master, desires His profit and His honour, sought no other authority or warrant for work than the fact that He had confided these gifts to them, and the zeal of a heart made confident through the knowledge that they had of Him. What the third servant lacked was exactly this true knowledge of the Master. In his eyes He was an austere man. And, mark well, when there is not the true knowledge of God as He is revealed in Christ, one has always an entirely false idea of Him. The heart ever betrays itself by the idea that one forms of God, and unbelief always makes of the true God a picture from which the heart revolts. Knowledge of the rights of God as well as of His love is lacking. If God were such as unbelief imagines and His authority were recognised, one would act accordingly: but when His love is unknown, His authority is despised. God only reveals Himself in Christ, in Christ alone can He be really known.

290 Thus, then, when Christ went away, He called His own servants and gave them according to their ability. When He comes back, He reckons with them. He that had received five talents made them other five; he that had received two had also gained two. But their lord was dealing in grace and wisdom, and says to both alike, "Enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Then comes the third: what characterised him was want of trust in the character of his master. It was not a question of not having oil in his lamp, but he says, "I knew thee that thou art an hard man," etc. He did not know the blessedness of the grace that is in Christ's heart. The others had the mind of Christ; they trusted His heart, and were therefore good and faithful servants. Thus I find the responsibility of service resting upon the knowledge of the heart of Christ. One said, "I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth"; he judged by his own selfish heart; the others trusted the heart of their master and acted on it. He trusts us if it is only a cup of cold water, or the gift of an apostle; He trusts His servant and expects him to act. If you have five talents, trade with them; if a cup of cold water, trade with it. I get this blessed principle that, perfect grace having been exercised, and you see how it is so, the heart in cheerful readiness trusts the grace - trusts the Lord Himself.

This it is that is presented to us in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25). He that had five talents, as well as he who had two, was actuated by the confidence which grace gives, by the knowledge of the character of his master, and by the confidence engendered in him, both by this knowledge of his master, and by this trust which he saw was reposed in himself. Their abilities, and their gifts, were not the same. God is sovereign in this respect. He who had only one talent, according to his ability, was wanting in this confidence, which is inspired by the knowledge of God in Christ. He mistook the character of his master. He was slothful, because of the state of his soul; as the two others were diligent from the same cause.

291 It is this confidence in Christ that is the spring of all true service; that entire blessed confidence in the grace of Christ, in His heart for us, who are unworthy of anything. He has trusted us, and the heart trusts Him, and the servant goes on to serve Him and trade with his talents; with the consequent effect, that we enter into the joy of our Lord, with Him and like Him, in the sense of His love because He is love. And there will not be a soul that it will not be my delight to see there. I am sure that, after the glory of Christ Himself, it is the next best thing to see the saints with Him and like Him. What is the great desire of the heart now but to see them as like Christ as possible? Then it will be perfectly. He comes and takes us there, and brings us into His joys - "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

While the Lord is absent from the world, His saints are to be marked by waiting and watching, as in the case of the wise virgins, but they are also to be occupied in serving Him. Every professing Christian takes the place of being a servant of Christ, and will be treated as such in the day of reckoning, for the Lord is surely coming, even if it be "after a long time" (Matt. 25:19). In our service for the Lord, we should ever have before us His coming again, valuing His reward, and the joy of His presence and blessing.

The Lord's servants should keep before them their Lord's return, when all that they have wrought will be inquired into. "After a long time the lord of those servants comes, and reckons with them" (verse 19). This corresponds with 1 Cor. 3: There we have some commended and rewarded, and others who have missed the reward; and a third class of servants, who, because evil, are destroyed. Service does not affect the salvation of our souls, that being founded on the accomplished work of Christ; but it will materially affect our reward at the Lord's return, and our place in His millennial kingdom.

This judgment of the great day, Mr. C. argues, our Lord tells us "is when He returns from that right hand of God where He now is. He tells us this in His parable of the talents. It is 'after a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.' There is no reckoning with good or with wicked servants until the Lord comes."

The parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) exhibits the same; feature. It state that, "after a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them" (ver. 19). These words, "after a long time," have a deeper significance than appeared at first.

Then comes the injunction, "Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man comes at an hour when ye think not" (Luke 12:40). Peter then wants to know the extent of application of the parable, and gets his desire. "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. Of a truth I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he has" (Luke 12:42-44). Who is now the faithful and wise steward? is a question I have to ask myself. Am I a faithful servant? Am I a wise steward? It is not a question of success. The Lord never bids me be successful. No. The point is, am I wise, and am I faithful? To be really successful I must be faithful, and wise. Many servants have stopped short of the truth, because they feared that they might spoil their success. The Lord has said, also to us: "After a long time the lord of those servants comes, and reckons with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst to me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (Matt. 25:19-21). Carefully observe, it is "Well done, good and faithful servant," not "successful servant." I should like to find that man, the Lord says. Oh, do not look round about to see who the man is. The point for you and me, is — and the Lord exercise our hearts regarding it — Am I that man?

The truth of reward for service is very fully developed in the New Testament. It is never a motive for devotedness, but is always a holy incentive. No action done for Christ can ever be forgotten, "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say to you, he shall not lose his reward" (Mark 9:41). Again, we read:" A certain nobleman (Christ) went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said to them, Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:12-13). When the Lord returns one man can say, "Lord, thy pound has gained ten pounds" (ver. 16). He is set over ten cities. Another says, "Lord, thy pound has gained five pounds" (ver. 18). In this case the ability of the servants would seem to be equal, but their devotedness or their zeal differed, and the reward is proportionate — rule over ten cities, and five respectively. On the other hand, we read, "Unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one to every man according to his several ability" (Matt 25:15). Here the ability differs, and the talent committed in trust is in view of that. When the Lord returns the first can say, "Lord, thou deliveredst to me five talents; behold I have gained beside them five talents more" (ver. 20). The second says, "Lord, thou deliveredst to me two talents; behold I have gained two other talents beside them." To each of these, whose ability differed, but whose devotedness was equal, — for each had doubled his capital, — the Lord says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord" (vers. 2 1, 23). The ability differed, but, the devotedness being equal, the reward is identical.

And then the Coming of the Lord and how He dealt with the good and faithful servants brings out another principle. Each receives a reward. To each the Lord saith, "Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over few things, I will set thee over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." He does not speak a higher and better word of approval to the one who had the five talents and brought him five other talents. Both hear the same word of approval. It is therefore not the question of how much we have received of the Lord, but how we use that which He has given to us. Faithful service, even in the smallest matter, though there be but one talent, will bring approval.

To fully understand "the setting over many things," and what it is "to enter into the joy of the Lord" we shall have to wait until we stand in His own glorious presence and see Him face to face.

56 Let us say a few words more on the parable of the talents. Here the servant is called "good and faithful." It is that which occurs during the absence of Christ. He has delivered His goods to His servants; if they have understood His grace, if they have been touched by this mark of His confidence, they will have laboured with that which was given them, or else they will have wronged the character of their Master, not to have had an entire confidence in Him. There was only faithfulness, it is true, in the conduct of the two who had traded; for, why commit goods to them, if it was not to improve them? But the Lord keeps account of it; what He had confided was but a little thing in His eyes; but they had known Him and had been faithful. There was but one heart between Him and them, and now, at His return, they must enter into His joy; one heart in service, and one heart in joy. Also, "many things" were confided to them in His kingdom at the hour of His glory.

The results will have their answer in the kingdom. He that has been faithful in that which is little, will be entrusted with much there. We must distinguish between our place in the Father's house, which is all of grace, and the place we shall occupy in the kingdom.

This, to a heart that loves the Lord, is beyond everything. True, there will be the ten cities and the five cities. There will be ample, distinct, and definite reward for responsibility discharged, service rendered, and work done. All will be rewarded. But above and beyond all, shines this precious word, "Enter thou into the joy of thy lord." No reward can possibly come up to this. The sense of the love that breathes in these words will lead each one to cast his "crown of righteousness" at the feet of his Lord. The very crown which the righteous Judge shall give, we shall willingly cast at the feet of a loving Saviour and Lord. One smile from Him will touch the heart far more deeply and powerfully than the brightest crown that could be placed on the brow.

But to proceed: "After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained besides them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant" (vers. 19-21). In chapter 24 it was the "faithful and wise" servant, because, where it is a question of the household, wisdom is needed. But here it is "thou good and faithful servant." Both are called "faithful"; but, in the exercise of the gifts which the Lord sends out to the world with the message of grace, the goodness of God is characteristic. What is the source of all grace in the servant of the Lord? It is the appreciation of God's goodness. This comes out by contrast in the case of the slothful servant. An unconverted man might have a gift from the Lord. The slothful servant was clearly one that never had the knowledge of God: proved in that he did not believe in the goodness of the Lord: he had no confidence in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. In this the evil servant showed what he was. He says, "I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strewed" (vers. 24-26). His lord takes him upon his own ground. If the servant judges him to be hard, On your own ground, he says, "Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury." According to his self-defence, he had utterly failed: and so it is always. The man who talks about the justice of God cannot for an instant stand before it; while he who casts himself humbly upon the grace of God will be found to walk soberly, righteously, godly, in this present evil world. The denier of the goodness of God is invariably a bad man himself.

In reality the lord was anything but a hard man as witnessed by his treatment of the servants who were good and faithful. The fact of the matter was that this servant had no true knowledge of his lord, no true link with him. In result he lost all that had been entrusted to him, and he was ejected into outer darkness to weeping and gnashing of teeth, as was the false servant portrayed at the end of the previous chapter. In the similar parable recorded in Luke 19, the distinction is drawn between the different servants with their degrees of zeal and faithfulness, and they are rewarded accordingly. The servant with one pound suffers loss but he is not ejected into outer darkness. It is worthy of note that in both cases the failure is seen with the man who is entrusted with the least. If we probe our own hearts, we shall recognize that when we are only capable of small things our tendency is to do nothing. The Lord will assuredly honour the servant who though of small ability, does the small things with zeal and fidelity.

Is it conceivable that the Lord would condemn anyone whom He had redeemed by His blood to outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth? But out of the man's own mouth shall he be judged. "I feared thee," he said, "because thou art an austere man." Most surely he did not know his Lord at all; would anyone who knows Him speak thus of Him? Those who know Him, while they deplore their unfaithfulness, bear witness to His patience and tenderness of heart, and readiness to forgive, and it is this knowledge of Him that constrains them to faithful service. The man was a servant in name and by profession only; he had no vital knowledge of the Lord. Alas, there are many such.

(4) As principles all these things apply to every Christian; yet we are not allowed to suppose that the man who hides his lord's money in the absolute way here described is possibly, after all, a Christian. His plea for it here is total unbelief, and expressed in such a way as would be impossible to the stoutest-hearted in the day which is referred to. But the Lord puts into language of the most out-spoken character what the conduct supposed would really mean. Faith would argue as to every gift of God that He who gave it had made no mistake, and that the possession of anything wherewith to serve was sufficient warrant for service; and love would prize the opportunity for this as blessing from the divine Source of blessing. The man before us is a mere accuser of his Lord; but so would He teach us to judge the legal spirit which, even in a believer, would render one incapable of using frankly and fully whatever he is possessed of, in the service of Him who has bestowed it. If we abhor the awful blasphemy which this man utters, let us abhor the unfaithful and cowardly refusal of our responsibilities which means the entertainment (however disguised) of traitorous thoughts like these. "Faith worketh by love"; and love is the free spirit of service. Lack of the one is, therefore, lack of the other; while we may be sure, and for that reason; that no true believer could be found as this man, with his Lord's talent lying entirely unused.

Is the Lord an austere Man, a hard Master, reaping where He has never sown, and demanding where He has never given? Who amongst all of us who know Him will give Him such a character? Nay, we have other things to say of Him; we have proved Him to be exactly the reverse of this. We can bear testimony to the fact that the tenderest heart in the universe beats in the bosom of our Lord Jesus. We have seen no frowns on His brow, neither have we heard hard words from His lips. Our service has been poor and faulty, often we have thought more of ourselves in it than we did of the Master whom we serve. But this has not changed Him; His tender pity has not failed, and our very blunders have become the opportunities for manifestation of a grace that is as constant as it is free. Knowing Him as we do, we must conclude that the man who spoke as the servant spoke knew Him not. He was a "wicked servant," who had not appreciated the pound entrusted to him, nor loved the Master who gave it.

Suppose we have but one talent, every day's believing use of it will carry us on some way towards two. We are not shut up within the limits of God's first gift. We may shut ourselves up; and by hiding our talent in the earth, both lose what we have and the capacity for gaining more. For the rule is, "to him that hath" ― in the way of increase ― "shall more be given; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away."

v.23There is another remark I have to make. What is said in verse 23 seems to me to state a general principle. Those who possess Christian privileges without any living enjoyment of them, without truly knowing the Lord Jesus Himself, lose all that they have (this answers to Hebrews 6); whilst those who are faithful to the light they possess acquire more. This, too, is the explanation given in verse 29. The judgment upon the wicked servant is executed in verse 30.

The parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 presents to us another vital principle in connection with service. "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath" (v. 29). The Lord shows in this parable that the one who faithfully used his talents was given more, while the one who made no use of his talent had it taken away. As we use the ability and knowledge in divine things which the Lord has given; He gives more to use for Him. Thus the servant grows in the school of God and increases unto more usefulness.

Again, in order to minister one must receive; and if the fruit take its character from the seed, must receive only the truth. How important, then; to heed what one hears! and what one measures out to others will be more than recompensed again: a thing as true of ministry of the Word, as of practical conduct; for heaven's law is scattering for increase, ― you do not alienate from yourself what you give to others, but gain the more; and still this opens the way to fresh gain: to him that hath shall more be given. Every bit of truth acquired leads on to fresh truth; every sphere of usefulness found prepares for more.

The principle is then emphatically laid down that to one who has shall more be given, and one who has not shall be deprived of what he first received. This is the clear distinction between one who has faith and one does not. The latter has no intention of pleasing the Lord, and can expect the consequences Of this. This man's being cast into outer darkness is the awesome end In eternal punishment. Weeping indicates remorse, but gnashing of teeth shows there is no repentance, but the bitterness of stubborn rebellion, yet restrained so that it cannot be expressed in action.

Verses 24-30. Out of his own mouth the wicked and slothful servant was condemned. Then you get the principle of verse 29. In Luke 8:18, it is "that which he seems to have" "Cast the useless (or unprofitable) bondman into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth." We don't want to tone that down at all. It is the case of a lost soul, and one eternally lost. There is no one who speaks so definitely, so faithfully, about the eternal state of the wicked as the Lord Himself. Mark 9:48, is very solemn and incontrovertible, and he who denies their import denies the word of Him who is the Truth. Reject it you may, but the truth remains. "Where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched." "Their worm" is the conscience of each individual. Man acquired a conscience by the fall, and man will have it for ever — it will never die. The so-called "larger hope" is a fiction — a delusion and lie of Satan. So also is "annihilation." Cremation with the intent to avoid resurrection is the sin of limiting the Holy one of Israel. The God who created man will raise men in the bodies in which they sinned. The Lord said, in John 13, "If ye believe not that I am He,ye shall die in your sins." And if a man dies in his sins, he is raised in his sins, and is judged in his sins, not to decide whether he is saved or lost for that is decided here, but to apportion the just punishment to each — to some many stripes to others few; and if a man is judged in his sins, he is cast into hell in his sins, into that place which, as the close of this chapter tells us, was "prepared for the devil and his angels." Contrast that with "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" There is no alternative between the two.

Then, you will say, "How can the church be spued out of Christ's mouth, when the church is the body of Christ, and must be with Him in the glory?" That is true, if you speak of the body of Christ, but the church as an external body on earth never loses its responsibility, whatever its characteristics may be. Looked at as on earth, it is responsible for its conduct. If the unworthy servant did not do his master's will, he was to be treated, not as being not a servant at all, but as a hypocrite according to the position in which he was found, though not as being really such, for servant he was none really. It was not said to him, "You are no servant"; but, "Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness … and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites." Thus he was taken up and condemned on the ground of his profession.

5 Accordingly the judgment here is absolute condemnation. He is condemned out of his own mouth, for if his master were what he thought him, he should have given his money to the bankers, that he might have received his own with interest. He is cast out into the outer darkness, which speaks of the awful darkness, away from God who is light, and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

The third picture given is that of the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; Matt. 22:13; Matt. 25:30; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13). This picture too is taken from the earthly reality. Inside the banquet hall there is joy and light, but outside it is night and those who are there do not share in the joy of those inside. This picture depicts the sharp contrast with the atmosphere of joy and light in the house of the Lord, in His kingdom. For this is the banquet hall where the wedding feast is held and where fellowship with God is enjoyed, who is light and in whom is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The unbelievers have been removed from this realm of light and love. Just like the foolish virgins, they are out in the darkness, faced by a closed door (Matt. 25:10 ff.), and just like Judas, they have gone out into the night (John 13:30). They are separated from God forever and live on in darkness, far from His kindly face. In this place of outer darkness there is not even one ray of light to be seen and there is neither hope nor expectation anymore. There is only an impenetrable darkness. It is a place of weeping, of eternal grief. There is also gnashing of teeth. This may refer not only to remorse, but also to anger; an eternal rebellion against God. Weeping and gnashing of teeth are certainly characteristics both of the outer darkness and of the furnace of fire (Matt. 13:42, 50). This clearly indicates that the two pictures, that of the fire as well as that of the darkness, are about the same terrifying reality.

Here "darkness" is not annihilation, even in figure. There can be none as punishment where there is no eye to behold light if it were there. In ch. 25:30 the unprofitable servant is adjudged to the same thing; and in Jude 13, we shall find it again in stronger language used for an eternal doom.