And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
The verse tells of a king who had forgiven his servant a vast debt, but when that servant refused mercy to a fellow servant over a far smaller debt, the king in anger handed him over to the jailers until he should pay all that was owed. The king stands for Christ and His pardon stands for God's divine forgiveness of sin, which is beyond all reckoning because of what Christ paid and suffered to secure salvation. The sentence once revoked is laid back upon the unforgiving servant, so that to refuse to forgive a brother from the heart is to cast away one's own hope of pardon and forfeit any claim to God's continuing forgiveness. God deals with men as they deal with their brethren, so mercy received must soften the heart into compassion, patience, forbearance and love toward those in error. Forgiveness must therefore have no limit, never growing weary, but freely releasing the brother's debt instead of pressing the claim with harshness, resentment or revenge.
Parable Story and Symbols
The verse records a king who had forgiven his servant an immense debt becoming angry when that servant refused mercy to a fellow servant over a much smaller debt, and handing him over to the tormentors or jailers until he should pay all that was due. The punishment follows the refusal to show the compassion that had been received, for the servant who was forgiven much would not forgive the little that he easily could have forgiven. He lays hands on his fellow servant for the smaller sum and casts him into prison instead of having compassion as had been shown to him, and he is rigid about his brother's wrong while his own record stands charged with unconfessed sins. The handing over until the entire debt is paid shows the severe consequence of withholding forgiveness from others and warns that such harsh treatment of one in error will not be approved. It forms part of the lesson that there is accountability for failing to forgive everyone his brother their trespasses sincerely from the heart.
The king in the parable represents Christ, and the king's pardon represents God's supernatural, divine forgiveness of all sin. That pardon is grounded in Christ's death for sinners, who stand under condemnation of the broken law, cannot save themselves, and have nothing to give as an equivalent for pardon, yet to whom it is freely offered. The other details of the episode are not assigned a separate spiritual meaning, so the tormentors and the punishment carry no counterpart beyond warning of the danger of an unforgiving spirit. The temporal matters of property in the story represent spiritual realities about the manner of dealing that should exist between a person and fellow human beings.
Christ clothed His divinity with humanity and gave His life, the just for the unjust, to give in His own life an example of how human beings should exercise forbearance toward humanity. Peter's question about forgiveness was of great interest to him because of unpleasant chapters in his own experience. The question how much is owed to the Lord has an answer beyond computation, for the debt is what Christ paid to secure salvation. As the great Medical Missionary He used His power for suffering humanity while denying Himself every luxury, suffered that sinners might secure salvation, endured death on the cross despising the shame, poured out His soul unto death to save them while He would not save Himself, and descended to the lowest depths of humiliation that they might sit in heavenly places.
That love puts to shame extravagant outlay to make a show in the world. The size of the debt lays obligation to awaken to duty to God, to be a producer and not a consumer, and to study the Saviour's life and practice His lessons, for without this there is no entrance into the courts of the blessed. The verse belongs to a parable introduced as a comparison for the kingdom of heaven, in which a king takes account of his servants. Here it is brought forward after a warning against judging and trying to rule others.
Revoked Pardon and Judgment
The king's anger and handing of the servant over to torment until he should pay all that was due follow the servant's refusal to show the compassion he had received, and show the severe consequence of withholding forgiveness after receiving mercy. The forgiveness is withdrawn from the servant who refuses to forgive his fellow servant, and the tormentors are the punishment due to him, who remains liable for the whole debt until it is paid. God will not approve harsh treatment of others by one who has received mercy, for His compassion toward those in error must be reflected in forgiving and loving dealings with them. Those who have received God's great mercy must show compassion and forgive others from the heart, treating erring people with the mercy, patience and compassion God has shown them, or they will face judgment and cannot claim His continuing forgiveness. Receiving forgiveness should soften the heart and lead to forgiveness, while harshness and refusal to forgive bring judgment, and Christians who are themselves continually in need of grace should not criticize, censure or condemn their fellow believers.
The sentence that had been revoked for the servant is reimposed because he would not show the mercy he had received. The lord's anger and the debtor's delivery to the tormentors until the debt was paid were the judgment on a servant who refused to forgive after receiving mercy. Refusing to forgive others from the heart means casting away one's own hope of pardon and forfeiting claim to God's continuing forgiveness. God's forgiveness is not granted to the hardhearted who refuse mercy to their brothers and sisters, and those who seek God's pardon must forgive others from the heart. The forgiven servant kept the small debt before his mind and demanded what he considered due, instead of treating another as the master had treated him, and so the sentence previously revoked was carried out when he refused patience and compassion to his fellow servant.
God deals with people according to the spirit they show toward erring fellow believers and as they deal with their brethren. Mercy received should lead to humility and mercy toward others, softening the heart to forgiveness, while harshness, resentment and revenge reveal a hard heart and bring judgment. People reap what they sow.
Anyone who has been forgiven a great debt by God yet reveals an unforgiving spirit toward a brother will be held accountable, and the heavenly Father becomes angry and delivers him to the tormentors till the full debt is paid. Those who show no mercy to others will themselves face justice without mercy until the debt is paid, for refusing from the heart to forgive everyone his brother their trespasses brings that punishment. This applies to those who are rigid in regard to a brother's wrong while their own record stands charged with unconfessed sins, who after receiving compassion lay hands on a fellow servant for a much smaller debt and cast him into prison instead of having compassion as God had compassion on them. Such conduct illustrates the hardness and hypocrisy of condemning another while failing to practice forgiveness oneself. The lesson must be brought into practical life or a person will never enter the kingdom of heaven, for despising one of these little ones and exercising a masterly spirit to lord it over God's heritage closes the gates of heaven, and wrongs left unrepented of bring judgment, calling for receiving correction, turning from the wrong course, and healing dissension rather than persisting in alienation.
Forgiving Others From Heart
Forgiveness must have no limit, and followers are never to become weary of forgiving, but are to forgive every brother his trespasses sincerely from the heart. The king's anger follows the servant's refusal to forgive after receiving mercy, and he hands that servant over to torment until he pays the entire debt. This is a warning that those who have received mercy must forgive others from the heart or they will face God's judgment and be held accountable if they do not forgive sincerely.
God's compassion toward those in error must be reflected in forgiving and loving dealings with them, and receiving forgiveness should soften the heart and lead to forgiveness, compassion, patience, kindness, forbearance, and love. God will not approve harsh treatment of others by someone who has received mercy, and the forgiveness once given is withdrawn from the servant who refuses to forgive his fellow servant. The tormentors are the punishment due to the unforgiving servant, who remains liable for the whole debt until it is paid, and harshness and refusal to forgive bring judgment. God deals with people according to the spirit they show toward erring fellow believers, so conduct toward others must reflect Christ's mercy and seek to restore rather than hurt or condemn them. A hard, cruel, unforgiving spirit is warned against, for the unmerciful spirit offends God.
Harshness toward an erring brother reveals a hard heart that has not been softened by God's love, and harshness, resentment, and revenge reveal a hard heart and the spirit of Satan. The punishment follows refusal to show mercy and forbearance over a small debt that could have been forgiven, despite having received forgiveness for a great debt, and those who show no mercy to others will themselves face justice without mercy. The servant's conduct illustrates the hardness and hypocrisy of condemning another while failing to practice forgiveness oneself. Those who are themselves continually in need of grace should not criticize, censure, or condemn their fellow believers, but must show the same forgiving spirit they received. Christ's followers are to show compassion, patience, kindness, and forbearance toward those who err, seeking to restore rather than hurt or condemn them, and should show others the compassion they hope to receive, lest one who treats others harshly face judgment from God.
The end of the relentless servant is the repayment of the Lord upon the hardhearted, unsympathetic husband who does not bind his family together, who neglects his accountability as priest of the home, who finds fault and expresses his natural heart, who blames his wife and his brethren for trials caused by his own unconverted heart, and who withholds pity, patience, long-suffering, kind and tender love though such mercy has been shown him, for all his neglect of duty, exacting rule, and cruelty in home and church. Unless he falls upon the Rock and is broken all to pieces, unless his hard heart is melted and softened, unless he repents with fruit meet for repentance, dies to self, and is entirely renewed in heart and mind and spirit as a new man in Christ, he cannot take that fault-finding, self-willed, undisciplined spirit into heaven, where he would find fault even with God and angels. The parable applies to freely releasing a fellow believer's debt rather than pressing the claim severely, for freely releasing the debt follows God's requirements for how brothers should treat one another and reflects the forgiveness sought from God for one's own debt to Him.
Chapter Context for Church
Matthew 18 gives relief and courage and hope, calling for going forward in faith and working right to the point, taking one's case to the Lord Jesus in prayer, believing that He hears, and finding pardon through confessing sins and repenting and walking humbly with God as one whom the Lord has corrected in order to purify and save. The whole eighteenth chapter of Matthew is a practical lesson to be hung in the chambers of the mind and in memory's hall to be often read and pondered and obeyed and woven into Christian experience. The only terms for securing eternal life are obeying the holy law by loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and loving neighbor as self. Each person must cultivate the garden of the soul under personal stewardship, removing every weed and tare sown by Satan during neglect spent finding weeds in the neighbor's garden, and must bring thoughts into captivity to Christ so words are not scattered recklessly without considering where they lodge and what they produce.
There is to be no striving for supremacy, for in Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority but spiritual excellence in true conversion learned by taking Christ's yoke of submission and obedience. The chapter's lesson is humility and love for others, warning of severe consequence for refusing mercy and calling for turning from self to show sympathy and love, especially through personal effort for those outside Christ. Self must not stand between professed Christians and God, whether by self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when not specially requested, taking satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, fancying one's own judgment and capabilities superior and insufficiently appreciated, or allowing perversity to turn upbuilding words into a hindrance used by Satan. Inward concealed strife for supremacy and manifest strife to be first makes men who ought to be a blessing become a curse that retards instead of advancing the work, and power and grace cannot be manifested until this unsanctified element is cleansed from the soul temple.
Read with Luke 15:10, the chapter calls every church member with light on truth to be converted, obey the truth, and cooperate with Christ and His angels as genuine workers to help needy souls in the valley of decision to repentance, instead of remaining timid and inactive or hindering and perplexing those weak in faith, with each individual to answer what he himself is doing while Christ and His angels are at work. Its lesson must be brought into practical life or a person will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Christ came to a world seared and marred by the curse to meet humanity and uplift the degraded and fallen and outcast, and despising one of these little ones and exercising a masterly spirit to lord it over God's heritage closes the gates of heaven and lets one of the little ones perish.
The chapter gives Christ's direction for dealing with those who fall into error and sin, supporting thorough church organization and accountability. No man is to draw apart from his brethren, and lack of love evidenced by hindering and repressing one doing a good work, accusing one another, seeking to remove another worker, and thinking and speaking evil are the enemy's devices to separate brethren and grieve the Spirit and must be met and condemned. Criticism, resentment, and failure to show respect for a fellow servant violate Christ's instructions, obstruct unity, and cannot receive commendation or blessing. Those entrusted with responsibility must not rule as lords or kings with impatience, boastfulness, or overbearing conduct, but must act with wisdom and humility, give wise counsel, protect and strengthen the people, reject selfishness, and set an example others can safely follow.
The chapter stands as a plain, decided, clear-cut It is written against dissension, self-esteem, self-exaltation, strife to be highly esteemed, striving for supremacy, criticism and faultfinding, watching and evil surmising, envy, and evil thinking and speaking. It is to be read to anyone beginning criticism and faultfinding, for such work is expressly the devil's work. That work began in the heavenly courts when Satan sought sympathy, claimed great things could be done if not hampered by Jehovah's law, suggested changing God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, deceived angels by placing his own thoughts in their minds and repeating them as theirs, covered his tracks, and sowed suspicion and distrust of God and of one another until God expelled the disloyal with the instigator of evil for the good of the loyal and true. The same spirit continued in churches and among workers exposes the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences, God will not work with those who cherish it, and wrongs left unrepented bring judgment, so hearts must be humbled, sins confessed, the spirit put away, correction received, the wrong course turned from, and dissension healed rather than persisted in through alienation.
The verse tells of a king who had forgiven his servant a vast debt, but when that servant refused mercy to a fellow servant over a far smaller debt, the king in anger handed him over to the jailers until he should pay all that was owed. The king stands for Christ and His pardon stands for God's divine forgiveness of sin, which is beyond all reckoning because of what Christ paid and suffered to secure salvation. The sentence once revoked is laid back upon the unforgiving servant, so that to refuse to forgive a brother from the heart is to cast away one's own hope of pardon and forfeit any claim to God's continuing forgiveness. God deals with men as they deal with their brethren, so mercy received must soften the heart into compassion, patience, forbearance and love toward those in error. Forgiveness must therefore have no limit, never growing weary, but freely releasing the brother's debt instead of pressing the claim with harshness, resentment or revenge.
Parable Story and Symbols
The verse records a king who had forgiven his servant an immense debt becoming angry when that servant refused mercy to a fellow servant over a much smaller debt, and handing him over to the tormentors or jailers until he should pay all that was due. The punishment follows the refusal to show the compassion that had been received, for the servant who was forgiven much would not forgive the little that he easily could have forgiven. He lays hands on his fellow servant for the smaller sum and casts him into prison instead of having compassion as had been shown to him, and he is rigid about his brother's wrong while his own record stands charged with unconfessed sins. The handing over until the entire debt is paid shows the severe consequence of withholding forgiveness from others and warns that such harsh treatment of one in error will not be approved. It forms part of the lesson that there is accountability for failing to forgive everyone his brother their trespasses sincerely from the heart.
The king in the parable represents Christ, and the king's pardon represents God's supernatural, divine forgiveness of all sin. That pardon is grounded in Christ's death for sinners, who stand under condemnation of the broken law, cannot save themselves, and have nothing to give as an equivalent for pardon, yet to whom it is freely offered. The other details of the episode are not assigned a separate spiritual meaning, so the tormentors and the punishment carry no counterpart beyond warning of the danger of an unforgiving spirit. The temporal matters of property in the story represent spiritual realities about the manner of dealing that should exist between a person and fellow human beings.
Christ clothed His divinity with humanity and gave His life, the just for the unjust, to give in His own life an example of how human beings should exercise forbearance toward humanity. Peter's question about forgiveness was of great interest to him because of unpleasant chapters in his own experience. The question how much is owed to the Lord has an answer beyond computation, for the debt is what Christ paid to secure salvation. As the great Medical Missionary He used His power for suffering humanity while denying Himself every luxury, suffered that sinners might secure salvation, endured death on the cross despising the shame, poured out His soul unto death to save them while He would not save Himself, and descended to the lowest depths of humiliation that they might sit in heavenly places.
That love puts to shame extravagant outlay to make a show in the world. The size of the debt lays obligation to awaken to duty to God, to be a producer and not a consumer, and to study the Saviour's life and practice His lessons, for without this there is no entrance into the courts of the blessed. The verse belongs to a parable introduced as a comparison for the kingdom of heaven, in which a king takes account of his servants. Here it is brought forward after a warning against judging and trying to rule others.
Revoked Pardon and Judgment
The king's anger and handing of the servant over to torment until he should pay all that was due follow the servant's refusal to show the compassion he had received, and show the severe consequence of withholding forgiveness after receiving mercy. The forgiveness is withdrawn from the servant who refuses to forgive his fellow servant, and the tormentors are the punishment due to him, who remains liable for the whole debt until it is paid. God will not approve harsh treatment of others by one who has received mercy, for His compassion toward those in error must be reflected in forgiving and loving dealings with them. Those who have received God's great mercy must show compassion and forgive others from the heart, treating erring people with the mercy, patience and compassion God has shown them, or they will face judgment and cannot claim His continuing forgiveness. Receiving forgiveness should soften the heart and lead to forgiveness, while harshness and refusal to forgive bring judgment, and Christians who are themselves continually in need of grace should not criticize, censure or condemn their fellow believers.
The sentence that had been revoked for the servant is reimposed because he would not show the mercy he had received. The lord's anger and the debtor's delivery to the tormentors until the debt was paid were the judgment on a servant who refused to forgive after receiving mercy. Refusing to forgive others from the heart means casting away one's own hope of pardon and forfeiting claim to God's continuing forgiveness. God's forgiveness is not granted to the hardhearted who refuse mercy to their brothers and sisters, and those who seek God's pardon must forgive others from the heart. The forgiven servant kept the small debt before his mind and demanded what he considered due, instead of treating another as the master had treated him, and so the sentence previously revoked was carried out when he refused patience and compassion to his fellow servant.
God deals with people according to the spirit they show toward erring fellow believers and as they deal with their brethren. Mercy received should lead to humility and mercy toward others, softening the heart to forgiveness, while harshness, resentment and revenge reveal a hard heart and bring judgment. People reap what they sow.
Anyone who has been forgiven a great debt by God yet reveals an unforgiving spirit toward a brother will be held accountable, and the heavenly Father becomes angry and delivers him to the tormentors till the full debt is paid. Those who show no mercy to others will themselves face justice without mercy until the debt is paid, for refusing from the heart to forgive everyone his brother their trespasses brings that punishment. This applies to those who are rigid in regard to a brother's wrong while their own record stands charged with unconfessed sins, who after receiving compassion lay hands on a fellow servant for a much smaller debt and cast him into prison instead of having compassion as God had compassion on them. Such conduct illustrates the hardness and hypocrisy of condemning another while failing to practice forgiveness oneself. The lesson must be brought into practical life or a person will never enter the kingdom of heaven, for despising one of these little ones and exercising a masterly spirit to lord it over God's heritage closes the gates of heaven, and wrongs left unrepented of bring judgment, calling for receiving correction, turning from the wrong course, and healing dissension rather than persisting in alienation.
Forgiving Others From Heart
Forgiveness must have no limit, and followers are never to become weary of forgiving, but are to forgive every brother his trespasses sincerely from the heart. The king's anger follows the servant's refusal to forgive after receiving mercy, and he hands that servant over to torment until he pays the entire debt. This is a warning that those who have received mercy must forgive others from the heart or they will face God's judgment and be held accountable if they do not forgive sincerely.
God's compassion toward those in error must be reflected in forgiving and loving dealings with them, and receiving forgiveness should soften the heart and lead to forgiveness, compassion, patience, kindness, forbearance, and love. God will not approve harsh treatment of others by someone who has received mercy, and the forgiveness once given is withdrawn from the servant who refuses to forgive his fellow servant. The tormentors are the punishment due to the unforgiving servant, who remains liable for the whole debt until it is paid, and harshness and refusal to forgive bring judgment. God deals with people according to the spirit they show toward erring fellow believers, so conduct toward others must reflect Christ's mercy and seek to restore rather than hurt or condemn them. A hard, cruel, unforgiving spirit is warned against, for the unmerciful spirit offends God.
Harshness toward an erring brother reveals a hard heart that has not been softened by God's love, and harshness, resentment, and revenge reveal a hard heart and the spirit of Satan. The punishment follows refusal to show mercy and forbearance over a small debt that could have been forgiven, despite having received forgiveness for a great debt, and those who show no mercy to others will themselves face justice without mercy. The servant's conduct illustrates the hardness and hypocrisy of condemning another while failing to practice forgiveness oneself. Those who are themselves continually in need of grace should not criticize, censure, or condemn their fellow believers, but must show the same forgiving spirit they received. Christ's followers are to show compassion, patience, kindness, and forbearance toward those who err, seeking to restore rather than hurt or condemn them, and should show others the compassion they hope to receive, lest one who treats others harshly face judgment from God.
The end of the relentless servant is the repayment of the Lord upon the hardhearted, unsympathetic husband who does not bind his family together, who neglects his accountability as priest of the home, who finds fault and expresses his natural heart, who blames his wife and his brethren for trials caused by his own unconverted heart, and who withholds pity, patience, long-suffering, kind and tender love though such mercy has been shown him, for all his neglect of duty, exacting rule, and cruelty in home and church. Unless he falls upon the Rock and is broken all to pieces, unless his hard heart is melted and softened, unless he repents with fruit meet for repentance, dies to self, and is entirely renewed in heart and mind and spirit as a new man in Christ, he cannot take that fault-finding, self-willed, undisciplined spirit into heaven, where he would find fault even with God and angels. The parable applies to freely releasing a fellow believer's debt rather than pressing the claim severely, for freely releasing the debt follows God's requirements for how brothers should treat one another and reflects the forgiveness sought from God for one's own debt to Him.
Chapter Context for Church
Matthew 18 gives relief and courage and hope, calling for going forward in faith and working right to the point, taking one's case to the Lord Jesus in prayer, believing that He hears, and finding pardon through confessing sins and repenting and walking humbly with God as one whom the Lord has corrected in order to purify and save. The whole eighteenth chapter of Matthew is a practical lesson to be hung in the chambers of the mind and in memory's hall to be often read and pondered and obeyed and woven into Christian experience. The only terms for securing eternal life are obeying the holy law by loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and loving neighbor as self. Each person must cultivate the garden of the soul under personal stewardship, removing every weed and tare sown by Satan during neglect spent finding weeds in the neighbor's garden, and must bring thoughts into captivity to Christ so words are not scattered recklessly without considering where they lodge and what they produce.
There is to be no striving for supremacy, for in Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority but spiritual excellence in true conversion learned by taking Christ's yoke of submission and obedience. The chapter's lesson is humility and love for others, warning of severe consequence for refusing mercy and calling for turning from self to show sympathy and love, especially through personal effort for those outside Christ. Self must not stand between professed Christians and God, whether by self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when not specially requested, taking satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, fancying one's own judgment and capabilities superior and insufficiently appreciated, or allowing perversity to turn upbuilding words into a hindrance used by Satan. Inward concealed strife for supremacy and manifest strife to be first makes men who ought to be a blessing become a curse that retards instead of advancing the work, and power and grace cannot be manifested until this unsanctified element is cleansed from the soul temple.
Read with Luke 15:10, the chapter calls every church member with light on truth to be converted, obey the truth, and cooperate with Christ and His angels as genuine workers to help needy souls in the valley of decision to repentance, instead of remaining timid and inactive or hindering and perplexing those weak in faith, with each individual to answer what he himself is doing while Christ and His angels are at work. Its lesson must be brought into practical life or a person will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Christ came to a world seared and marred by the curse to meet humanity and uplift the degraded and fallen and outcast, and despising one of these little ones and exercising a masterly spirit to lord it over God's heritage closes the gates of heaven and lets one of the little ones perish.
The chapter gives Christ's direction for dealing with those who fall into error and sin, supporting thorough church organization and accountability. No man is to draw apart from his brethren, and lack of love evidenced by hindering and repressing one doing a good work, accusing one another, seeking to remove another worker, and thinking and speaking evil are the enemy's devices to separate brethren and grieve the Spirit and must be met and condemned. Criticism, resentment, and failure to show respect for a fellow servant violate Christ's instructions, obstruct unity, and cannot receive commendation or blessing. Those entrusted with responsibility must not rule as lords or kings with impatience, boastfulness, or overbearing conduct, but must act with wisdom and humility, give wise counsel, protect and strengthen the people, reject selfishness, and set an example others can safely follow.
The chapter stands as a plain, decided, clear-cut It is written against dissension, self-esteem, self-exaltation, strife to be highly esteemed, striving for supremacy, criticism and faultfinding, watching and evil surmising, envy, and evil thinking and speaking. It is to be read to anyone beginning criticism and faultfinding, for such work is expressly the devil's work. That work began in the heavenly courts when Satan sought sympathy, claimed great things could be done if not hampered by Jehovah's law, suggested changing God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, deceived angels by placing his own thoughts in their minds and repeating them as theirs, covered his tracks, and sowed suspicion and distrust of God and of one another until God expelled the disloyal with the instigator of evil for the good of the loyal and true. The same spirit continued in churches and among workers exposes the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences, God will not work with those who cherish it, and wrongs left unrepented bring judgment, so hearts must be humbled, sins confessed, the spirit put away, correction received, the wrong course turned from, and dissension healed rather than persisted in through alienation.