Matthew 18:32, commentary and pictures

The verse shows the master calling the forgiven servant to account and reminding him that his whole vast debt had been wiped away because he begged for mercy and patience. That debt was enormous and unpayable, standing for condemnation under the broken law with nothing to offer in return, while the fellow servant's debt was tiny by comparison. The master stands for Christ, and his cancellation pictures God's free and complete forgiveness of all sin, purchased at infinite cost through Christ's compassion and blood. One who has received such mercy is bound to show the same compassion and forgive others from the heart with tenderness and patience. He is called wicked because he refused pity to his fellow servant, and to withhold forgiveness from the heart forfeits one's own pardon and brings judgment.

Parable Setting and Terms

The lord summons the servant to account and reminds him that the entire immense debt had been forgiven because the servant pleaded for mercy and patience. That cancellation pictures God's forgiveness of the great debt sinners owe Him, freely given to one who asks and depends entirely on mercy. The reminder exposes the servant's wickedness and grounds the expectation that he show the same compassion to his fellow servant in return. Receiving such mercy should soften the heart and lead to readily forgiving others, while refusing to forgive reveals a heart unchanged by mercy and a forgetting of the compassion shown. That warning reaches even to dealing harshly with people in error and conducting business without the love of Christ, while the chapter's teaching brings relief and hope to confess sins, repent, walk humbly with God, receive pardon, and accept correction as purification and salvation.

The canceled debt was enormous and unpayable, with the sinner under condemnation of the broken law, unable to save himself and having nothing to give or render as equivalent for pardon. By contrast the fellow servant's debt was small, as ten thousand talents outweigh one hundred pence, yet the forgiven servant focused on the smaller debt and demanded payment instead of granting patience. His plea had brought complete forgiveness and joyful relief that gave him the chance to imitate his master, but he failed to do so and thereby exposed an ungrateful, hardened heart lacking the kindness and pity he had received. That forgiveness was made possible at infinite price, with Christ purchasing human souls, giving His life, the just for the unjust, and clothing divinity with humanity to give in His own life an example of forbearance toward humanity.

The parable answers Peter's question about forgiveness by presenting temporal things of property and debt to represent spiritual truth and to illustrate the manner of dealing that should exist between a person and his fellow men. The servant had not understood the greatness of his debt or his helplessness, and this reflects those who try to earn favor by their own works and become self-righteous and unforgiving.

Divine Forgiveness Pictured

The lord in the reckoning is Christ, and the king's revoking of the sentence and cancelling of the servant's whole immense debt after pleading pictures God's free and complete forgiveness of all sin. That pardon is freely offered through Christ, who had compassion on humanity condemned by the broken law and unable to save itself. He took human nature and gave himself, the just for the unjust, giving his life for sinners to offer every person the pardon purchased by his blood.

That forgiveness is given at an infinite price to redeem from hopeless despair, for Christ purchased human souls at such cost. He clothed divinity with humanity to give in his own life an example of how forbearance toward humanity should be exercised. From that mercy he gives grace and forgiveness daily and mercy and compassion every moment.

The cancelling comes in answer to asking and desiring, when the servant pleaded for patience though he could never repay and had nothing to give or render as equivalent. It illustrates God's mercy in forgiving great sins and great debt, extended to those whose names stand professed as sons and daughters of God and who depend entirely on the mercy of a sin-pardoning Saviour. Christ's self-denial and death to save humanity make the obligation to God profound, measured by the question of how much is owed unto the Lord.

The chapter's teaching on forgiveness in this mercy to one who asks gives relief and hope. Sins are to be confessed, repented of, and walked humbly with God to receive pardon. The Lord's correction is to be accepted as a means of purification and salvation.

Duty to Forgive Others

The pardon of the whole immense debt was granted because the servant pleaded for mercy and patience, and that pardon pictures God's forgiveness of the great debt sinners owe Him. Having received such mercy, the forgiven one is bound to show the same compassion to a fellow servant, just as pity was shown to him, readily forgiving others and forgiving from the heart. His own plea had been answered, yet to refuse mercy over a small debt is inexcusable and is called wicked, with the question why he did not show the compassion he had received. The king's compassion is itself the pattern of the mercy people are to show one another.

That received mercy is meant to soften the heart, and refusing to forgive shows that God's mercy has not changed the heart. Harshness toward one who owed far less reveals forgetfulness of the compassion shown, while joyful relief at cancellation gives the chance to imitate the master by showing mercy for a small amount. Failure there exposes an ungrateful, hardened, unchanged heart lacking the kindness and pity received. Freely given forgiveness must therefore produce humility and gratitude rather than oppression or self-exaltation, moving its recipients to reflect God's mercy toward those who have done wrong.

For this reason those forgiven must with grateful hearts show the same tenderness, forbearance, patience, love and courtesy, giving freely as they have received freely. They are not to criticize, censure, condemn, or deal harshly and severely with erring brethren of like passions, but to treat them with mercy, patience and forbearance. Nor are they to hold fellow believers strictly to account for lesser wrongs or press claims too severely. Such unforgiving severity is wicked and out of place, coming from self-esteem, self-exaltation and striving for supremacy, and it calls for conversion to become as little children in meekness and humility in order to enter the kingdom.

The mercy received becomes the standard by which one's own treatment of others is judged. People reap as they sow. God will deal with men not according to their opinion of themselves or their self-confidence but according to the spirit they reveal toward erring brethren, so that one who treats a brother harshly should consider that God will judge him by the way he treats others. No provocation authorizes unkind feelings, resentment, revenge, or casting the first stone in condemnation of a brother while God is extending mercy and forgiving trespasses against Him, and a spirit of harshness and severity is the spirit of Satan.

Warning and Judgment

The lord summons the servant to account and reminds him that the entire immense debt had been canceled because he pleaded for mercy and patience, and the reminder exposes his wickedness in refusing to show to a fellow servant the compassion and pity he himself had received. To receive such mercy obliges the forgiven person to extend mercy, and failure to forgive others from the heart is itself wicked, revealing a hard, ungrateful heart unchanged by compassion. That wickedness lies in a severe and exacting unforgiving spirit that demands payment over a small debt while forgetting the great forgiveness granted, instead of allowing forgiveness to soften the heart toward erring brethren with mercy, patience, forbearance, tenderness and humility rather than harshness and severity. The servant had not understood the greatness of his debt or his own helplessness, like those who try to earn favor by their own works and become self-righteous and unforgiving, though sins against God outweigh the sins of others against us as ten thousand talents outweigh one hundred pence.

Refusing from the heart to forgive others casts away one's own hope of pardon, and one who seeks God's forgiveness yet refuses the same mercy to others cannot be forgiven. The pardon freely given called for compassion and forgiveness toward the fellow servant, and refusal brought judgment, revocation of that pardon, and punishment. Mercy received should produce humility and gratitude and a reflection of divine mercy toward wrongdoers, not oppression, self-exaltation, or harsh treatment of one who owes little compared with the great debt forgiven.

The calling to account means the Lord Jesus has borne long with one who was often an offense, encouraging and sending helpful messages of kindness and love for the sake of His cause and His name's glory, lest enemies of truth should triumph. Turning to the Lord with full purpose of heart, receiving His reproof and turning from a wrong course in words and acts, heals dissension and alienation. Continuing without repentance, strengthening and building up wrong in speech and action in those needing conversion, and perverting righteousness, brings judgment and being cast aside to share the fate of transgressors.

One forgiven many errors and sins is obligated to manifest the same pity, patience, and tender, pitiful, long-suffering and kind love at home, especially toward a wife when she makes mistakes. A hardhearted, unsympathetic, faultfinding and exacting course in the home and toward brethren, blaming wife and brethren for trials caused by one's own unconverted heart and acting as husband only in name as a Christian only in name, is the case of the relentless wicked servant. Unless such a hard heart is melted and softened, unless he falls upon the Rock and is broken all to pieces, dies to self and is entirely renewed in heart and mind and spirit as a new man in Christ, the Lord will repay him for these things, and with a faultfinding spirit that would object even to God's discipline he cannot be saved in the kingdom of heaven. The words wicked servant also apply at the final judgment to those who rejected the law and led others to transgress, when condemned by the law they despised their doom is pronounced.

Church Life and Conduct

Matthew 18:32 belongs to the Saviour's careful instruction for dealing with members who fall into error and sin, showing that the church as a body bears responsibility to address wrongdoing through thorough organization rather than leaving each person to act independently, and those who are converted are expected to obey its rules in actual practice. The whole of Matthew 18 is to be hung in the chambers of the mind and in memory, to be often read and pondered and obeyed and woven into Christian experience. That lesson lays down loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and loving neighbor as self as the only terms for securing eternal life, requiring tending and purifying one's own soul instead of being occupied with weeds in a neighbor's garden, bringing every thought into captivity to Jesus Christ, and speaking with careful consideration of lodgment and result instead of scattering words recklessly.

The instruction rules out striving for supremacy and teaches that greatness in Christ's kingdom and spiritual kingdom is inward excellence and spiritual excellence, not position, outward splendor, or authority. It is most positive in all of God's words and gives principles for acting in all cases and under all circumstances for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, calling His followers ever to be learners of Him in submission and obedience and to manifest true conversion. It rebukes self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity, finding satisfaction in the deficiencies of brethren, letting self interpose between the soul and God, and inward concealed strife for supremacy and manifest strife to be first in the ranks, and such unsanctified spirit grieves the Saviour, hinders the work, turns men who ought to be a blessing into a curse that retards instead of advancing the work, and must be cleansed from the soul temple before the Lord can manifest His power and grace.

Leaders entrusted with responsibility must follow the instruction by serving with wisdom, protecting and strengthening God's people, and setting an example free of selfishness, impatience, boasting, dignity, self-sufficiency and overbearing conduct, never acting as lords or rulers or as kings. The chapter teaches that God does not desire believers to separate from one another, but that God's workers are to love as brethren and to be tenderhearted, pitiful, and courteous, and learning this lesson is for their present and eternal good. A critical, resentful treatment of a fellow worker and lack of respect obstructs Christian unity and does not represent God's way.

Harsh, discourteous, severe and dictatorial dealing that exasperates brethren and wounds and bruises their souls, done with self-superiority instead of kindness, courtesy and mercy, violates God's will and stands condemned as wicked. No provocation authorizes unkind feelings, resentment, revenge, or casting the first stone in condemnation of a brother while God is extending mercy and forgiving trespasses against Him, and men will be dealt with by God not according to their opinion of themselves or their self-confidence but according to the spirit they reveal toward erring brethren. Such a spirit of harshness and severity, finding satisfaction in deficiencies, letting self interpose between the soul and God, and lording it over God's heritage with a masterly spirit, is expressly the work of the devil and the spirit of Satan and of selfishness, tracing to the disaffection, criticism, suggestion, deception to gain sympathy, sowing of suspicion and distrust of God and of one another, and stirring of disaffection and strife begun by Satan in the heavenly courts to change the government of God, for whose removal the disloyal were expelled with the instigator of evil for the good of the loyal. It grieves the Saviour, hinders the work, and closes the gates of heaven to men, so that without practicing Christ's lesson and bringing it into practical life no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven. It requires transformation of spirit and purging of the hard, cruel spirit, cleansing of the soul temple, and loving neighbor as self before attempting to handle sacred things and represent Jesus Christ.

The lesson calls for conversion to become as little children in meekness and humility continually cultivated in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, humbling self, disciplining character, and learning Christ's way rather than clinging to pride and faults. Christ came to meet humanity to uplift the degraded and fallen and outcast, and teaches not to despise one of the little ones. Those forgiven at infinite price to redeem from hopeless despair, receiving grace and forgiveness daily and mercy and compassion every moment, must with hearts filled with gratitude show the same tenderness, forbearance and love and not criticize, censure and condemn brethren of like passions with themselves, but practice self-denial and self-sacrifice to seek the wandering soul in peril and rejoice when one sinner repents and is saved from death. In practical life this forbids dealing harshly with people in error and conducting business without the love of Christ, since the lord freely forgave the great debt because the servant pleaded for mercy, and forgetting that compassion is revealed in harshness toward a fellow servant who owed far less. A brother's debt is to be forgiven freely as one asks the Lord to forgive one's own indebtedness to Him, for pressing claims too severely against fellow believers conflicts with this lesson.