Matthew 25:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 25:14

Comments

(Synoptics: Matthew 25:14-30)The words ‘the kingdom of heaven’ are borrowed from the preceding parable but are required to complete the simile. It is like the situation confronting a wealthy man who decides to go abroad for a prolonged period. He is not leaving home permanently but travelling to another country with the intention of returning. While he is away he needs someone to care for his goods, and so he considers who he can count on to pursue his interests, and hits upon a scheme by which, rather than entrusting everything to one individual, he will distribute his goods among several people. He therefore calls his servants and divides up his goods between them. While he is away, they are not simply to safeguard what they received, but to trade with their master’s goods for his profit. This is a great responsibility, but it is also a great privilege for the master is placing an enormous amount of trust in them and is turning them into miniature estate owners in their own right. The parable is a picture of Christ’s absence from this world between his first and second coming. Like that enlightened master in the parable, he has given his goods into the hands of his disciples, and expecting them to advance his cause on earth. A talent was a unit of weight equivalent to around seventy-five pounds. In terms of silver this was about nine years-worth of wages for a skilled worker, and more for a household servant. You cannot understand the parable if you don’t realise the slaves are being given a fortune. These were terms that riveted the attention. But what exactly do the talents represent? Some interpret them as abilities – our English word ‘talent’ has this meaning, based on a misunderstanding of this parable – but the passage itself rules this out, because they were given according to ability. Others see them as opportunities for service, and the assumption is that the servants were left in charge of their master’s resources and therefore they represent the regenerate who have been given opportunities to serve the Lord. But there is a condemned servant among them, and anyway the context is evangelistic. He delivered his goods – all his earthly possessions – into their hands. Everything was left behind and distributed, and given to the slaves. The talents are the substance of the Lord and so the best interpretation is that they represent spiritual truth. They stand for the gospel itself, the opportunity given to men and women to understand God’s message, his deposit of light and truth in this world.

Application

Why was this parable spoken? We mustn’t be superficial and think that Christ only teaches that there will be a delay. It is about the response of human being to the amazing gift of the gospel, and of the blessing that come from putting our trust in Christ. The gospel is a like a deposit of tremendous value which God has placed in the world, which is put into our hands, and which, if we invest it by faith, will bring enormous returns.

Questions

The parable has been misinterpreted to teach that we will be assessed at the final judgment on the basis of what we have done with those natural gifts that God gives to every human being. If we have improved these natural abilities then we will be rewarded by God; if we have neglected them, we will be punished. But to teach this is to overthrow grace, for according to the gospel, ‘it is by grace we are saved through faith and that [faith] not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one should boast.’ If salvation were a matter of improving natural gifts, then human power, human intelligence, human strength and skill would determine who entered kingdom of heaven. These things would tend to exalt man, but God has ensured that this does not happen. In the kingdom of heaven it is God who is exalted and he alone receives all the glory.

This parable is similar to that in Luke 19:11, but the differences are significant enough for it to be certain that they were given on separate occasions. The circumstances for the giving of the parable are not the same; the number of servants is different, as are the amounts given to each one; Luke adds the extra feature of the unwillingness of the citizens to have the nobleman reign over them; the detail of what the servant given least did with his money is also different. Christ no doubt used similar illustrations in different circumstances and adapted them to the occasion.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Matthew 25:14 Commentary and Bible Study