Matthew 18:35, commentary and pictures

Christ closes the parable of the unforgiving servant with this warning: the master had freely cancelled an immense debt of ten thousand talents, yet the servant seized his fellow over a hundred pence, refused patience and imprisoned him, so in wrath the master delivered him to the tormentors until he paid all. It requires every disciple from the heart to forgive every brother or sister every trespass sincerely and repeatedly, without setting a fixed number to forgiveness. So likewise the heavenly Father will withdraw mercy, hold accountable, punish and deliver to the tormentors those who refuse such heartfelt forgiveness. God's pardon depends on forgiving others, so an unforgiving spirit closes a person to the forgiveness he needs, and God will deal with people as they deal with their brethren and make them reap as they sow. The servant's pardon pictures God's great forgiveness purchased at infinite cost, contrasted with the small debt withheld, and those who freely receive such grace must humbly give it freely again with the same compassion, patience and love they hope to receive.

Parable Setting and Wording

The verse closes the parable of the unforgiving servant, in which a lord moved with compassion freely forgave his servant an enormous debt of ten thousand talents, yet that servant forgot the mercy shown him and dealt harshly as an oppressor toward a fellow servant who owed only a hundred pence. He seized him by the throat, refused him patience, cast him into prison, and imposed on him a sentence like the one that had been revoked for himself. In wrath the lord then delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was owed, showing that the heavenly Father will withdraw mercy, hold accountable, punish, and repay anyone who refuses from the heart to show to every brother the same compassion received. This condemns harshness in dealing with similar cases and requires walking and working in the love of Christ and conducting all business on His lines, for the work of one who has himself been forgiven yet refuses to forgive cannot be sanctioned. It applies especially to those who are rigid about a brother's wrong while their own record stands in the books of heaven charged with unconfessed sins, revealing an unforgiving spirit after being forgiven much.

The verse belongs to positive instruction binding on all disciples in every case and circumstance for how to act. There is to be no striving for supremacy among followers. Greatness in Christ's kingdom consists not in position, splendor, or authority, but in inward and spiritual excellence shown in true conversion.

The verse is one of Christ's rules for church life for dealing with a brother's sin, requiring seeking to regain him privately, then with witnesses and then with the church if needed. Following that instruction brings a different atmosphere to families, schools, and churches. Those who claim to be converted must read Matthew 18, consider what is expected of them in practical obedience, and pledge before God and brethren to strictly obey it.

The debt owed to the Lord cannot be computed, because Christ denied Himself every luxury, suffered to secure salvation, endured death on the cross despising the shame, poured out His soul unto death, would not save Himself, and descended to the lowest depths of humiliation that sinners might sit in heavenly places. That love puts extravagant outlay to make a show in the world to shame. The greatness of the debt requires awakening to obligations to God, becoming a producer and not merely a consumer, and studying the Saviour's life and practicing His lessons, without which there is no entrance into the courts of the blessed.

Forgiveness From the Heart

Forgiveness is not to be measured out by counting offenses and stopping at a set number, for followers are never to grow weary of forgiving but are to forgive again and again far beyond any limited number of times. This repeated, unlimited forgiveness is bound to a person's own forgiveness from God and is to be sincere and from the heart, practiced in seeking God in prayer, confessing sin, repenting, and walking humbly while receiving His correction to purify and save. In the church this same counsel meets those at fault with sympathy and love, and that spirit overcomes coldness and difficulty.

Every person must forgive every brother and sister every trespass sincerely, wholeheartedly, from the heart, and having been forgiven does not excuse anyone from forgiving others. The great debt freely pardoned stands for God's great forgiveness, while refusing mercy over a much smaller debt shows hardness opposite to the tenderness and compassion owed to one another. Those who keep an unforgiving spirit and refuse such forgiveness will face the heavenly Father's judgment, be held accountable, and reap as they have sown. This calls for putting aside resentment, an aggrieved spirit, imagined grievances, and accusation, and for humbling self to practice Christ's teaching.

Those forgiven must give to others the same compassion, tenderness, patience, love, forbearance, sympathy, and courtesy they received and daily need, bearing with faults rather than being severe, exacting, harsh, critical, censuring, or condemning toward those who err. The way people treat those who wrong them matters before God, for those who refuse to forgive fellow believers will be treated by the Lord in the same manner, and those who condemn and treat a brother harshly should remember how much they themselves need compassion. Forgiving others, bearing with their faults, and showing them sympathy are necessary duties, and God's workers are called to love as brethren and to be tenderhearted, pitiful, and courteous for their present and eternal good.

This is especially required of workers connected with God's institutions and those in responsible positions, who must be faithful stewards united in sympathy and kindness. With Christ's love abiding within they will be humble, patient, forbearing, brotherly kind, compassionate, and tender toward the erring, seeking to restore rather than to hurt, condemn, destroy, discourage, neglect, or carelessly disregard others through selfishness, for an unfeeling spirit without compassion greatly offends God, comes from Satan, and no work that hurts and discourages His heritage will be accepted. Following Jesus in this requires humility before God and turning away from self to sympathy and love for others, especially by personal effort for those outside Christ. The lesson is needed for turning fully to God, since dissension and alienation could have been healed if those corrected had accepted reproof and turned from their wrong course.

Divine Reckoning with Unforgiving

So likewise the heavenly Father will withdraw mercy from those who do not from their hearts forgive every brother his trespasses, holding them accountable, punishing them, delivering them to the tormentors, and repaying them. The compassionate lord freely forgave the servant's enormous debt of ten thousand talents, yet that servant forgot the mercy shown him and dealt harshly as an oppressor toward his fellow servant who owed a hundred pence, taking him by the throat, refusing patience, and casting him into prison. Such harshness in dealing with similar cases is condemned, and those who keep an unforgiving spirit after being forgiven much will be dealt with as the lord in wrath dealt with that wicked servant. This warning belongs among the high and holy principles spoken to disciples to be put into daily practical life, requiring all business to be conducted on lines of love and compassion rather than refusal to forgive when one has been forgiven.

To refuse to forgive others sincerely is to refuse the mercy shown and to cast away one's own hope of pardon, losing pardon itself. God's pardon depends on forgiving others sincerely from the heart, so those who seek His forgiveness but refuse to forgive cannot be forgiven. An unforgiving spirit toward fellow believers closes a person to the forgiveness needed from God, and a debt owed by a brother or sister must be freely released as one asks God to forgive indebtedness. The contrast stands between the enormous debt forgiven by the lord and the small debt the servant would not forgive, showing that failure to recognize helplessness and dependence on grace leads to self-righteous unforgiveness, while receiving freely given grace should make one humble, merciful, and loving.

God deals with people as they deal with their brothers and sisters, and they reap as they sow. Those who refuse to forgive fellow believers will be treated by the Lord in the same manner and to the same extent, so each must treat a brother and his errors as he wishes God to treat him when he offends God. This requires forgiving others, bearing with their faults, and showing sympathy, tenderness, compassion, and love rather than condemnation and harshness toward another's faults. No provocation authorizes unkind feelings, resentment, revenge, harshness and severity, or casting the first stone in condemnation of a brother, for such a spirit is the spirit of Satan.

The warning applies to those who are rigid about a brother's wrong while their own record stands in the books of heaven charged with unconfessed sins. God judges those who claim to be His children not by their own opinion of themselves or their self-confidence but by the spirit they reveal toward erring brethren. Those forgiven much must not harden themselves against others who wrong them, for a profession of keeping God's commandments is contradicted by persistent lack of love and mercy. Those who judge without mercy will themselves face judgment.

Ground in God's Great Mercy

The servant's pardon stands for God's great forgiveness, with the enormous debt of ten thousand talents freely forgiven by a compassionate lord set against the small debt of a hundred pence withheld from a fellow servant. The forgiven servant forgot that mercy and dealt harshly as an oppressor, taking his fellow by the throat, refusing patience, casting him into prison, and imposing a sentence like the one that had been revoked for himself. His refusal to show compassion for a much smaller debt reveals hardness, ingratitude, and wrongness, the opposite of the tenderness and compassion to be shown to one another. So it was wrong when Daniel, though forgiven a heavy debt by God, held his brethren strictly accountable for what he felt they had done against him.

God's forgiveness of sin is a divine pardon no sinner can repay, freely offered on the ground of the pardon Christ purchased at infinite cost by giving His life for sinners who could not save themselves. Christ's forgiveness and His life of patience and forbearance are the pattern and example for forgiving others. Because God so freely offers that pardon, those who receive mercy must show compassion and love to their fellow sinners.

Receiving God's freely given grace should make a person humble and lead to freely giving as has been received. Forgiveness is to be shown in the same manner and to the same extent as is hoped for from God, with compassion and love to fellow sinners. Forgiveness and affection are therefore not to be withheld from others deemed undeserving, since none deserve God's pardon yet He grants it freely.

Those who do not recognize their helplessness and dependence on God's grace may become self-righteous and unforgiving, contrasting the enormous debt forgiven with the small debt they will not forgive. A forgiving spirit belongs with prayers for forgiveness, while hard-heartedness toward fellow Christians is not Christlike. A profession of keeping God's commandments is contradicted by persistent lack of love and mercy, and those who judge without mercy will themselves face judgment.

Practice in Church and Life

The lesson reaches into church, business, and every relationship, requiring those who have received mercy for a great debt to show compassion and forgive the wrongs of others instead of insisting on punishment or repayment without mercy. In the church, meeting those at fault with sympathy and love overcomes coldness and difficulty. Put into daily practical life, this high and holy principle first reforms the worker, makes compassion, tenderness and love as natural as breath, unites workers as branches in the same vine under Christ as head, and governs the care and training of youth as Christ's property with perfect love and compassion. It also calls for following Christ in meeting humanity to uplift the degraded, fallen and outcast, for without living it out, including forgiving every brother from the heart, no one will enter heaven, and the masterly spirit that despises little ones and lords it over God's heritage closes heaven's gates and brings the Father's dealing upon the unforgiving. Doing the Master's work in unity requires keeping self under the control of the great Teacher, giving the gospel ministry its proper place with ample room for its appointed work, and not disparaging ministers, since disparaging the ministry shows loss of spiritual discernment. Studied with intense interest and practiced, the truth is properly represented in all its lines, less human wisdom is seen and more of God's wisdom, and much time and strength is saved.

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, pondered, searched, obeyed, and woven into Christian experience. Practicing its principles is obeying God's holy law, loving God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and loving neighbor as self, which are the only terms for securing eternal life. Read and searched, the chapter traces out the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences, exposing the source of difficulties such as those then arising in New Zealand. Each one must cultivate the garden of the soul, removing every weed and tare sown by Satan during neglect while occupied in finding weeds in the neighbor's garden, and must take his own garden under his own special stewardship. Purifying one's own thoughts by bringing them into captivity to Christ and speaking with careful consideration of their lodgment and result, rather than scattering words recklessly, belongs to this obedience.

Those in positions of responsibility must not act as lords but must set an example others can safely follow by rejecting selfishness, impatience, boasting, and overbearing conduct. This applies especially to workers connected with God's institutions and those in responsible positions, who must be faithful stewards united in sympathy and kindness. With Christ's love abiding in the heart they will be humble, patient, forbearing, and brotherly kind, having compassion and tenderness toward those who err, seeking to restore rather than wanting through selfishness to hurt, condemn, destroy, discourage, neglect, or carelessly disregard others. Harshness, lack of courtesy, severe dictatorial dealing with God's children, exasperating brethren until they lose confidence, wounding and bruising souls, and self-superiority violate the requirement of wholehearted forgiveness and the dealing of God with the unforgiving as they deal with others. Meeting it calls for transformation in spirit and purging of a hard cruel spirit into kind encouraging words, help and favor to brethren, and love of neighbor as self, without which a person cannot represent Christ and should not handle sacred things or connect with God's work. An unmerciful and unfeeling spirit without compassion greatly offends God, comes from Satan, and no work that hurts and discourages His heritage will be accepted.

Dissension, self-esteem, self-exaltation, strife for supremacy and to be highly esteemed, and criticism and faultfinding are expressly the devil's work and the enemy's devices to be met and condemned, and plans devised to separate brethren must be met and condemned. God does not desire any man to draw apart from his brethren, and lack of love among believers is sure evidence that Christ is not dwelling in their hearts. The bitter, grievous spirit of hindering and repressing one doing a good work, accusing one another, wanting a worker in higher office removed, and thinking and speaking evil is forbidden. That work began with Satan in the heavenly courts when he claimed he could do wonders if not hampered by Jehovah's law, suggested a change in God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, put his own thoughts in angels who supposed him in harmony with God, then carried their assent to the highest Authority as disaffection, covering his tracks while sowing suspicion and distrust until rebellion had to be met by decision God alone could exercise. As God for the good of the loyal expelled the disloyal with the instigator from heaven, so He will deal with unforgiving, striving, faultfinding workers on earth. Self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity when judgment and capabilities are not appreciated, taking satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, and inward and manifest strife to be first interpose self between soul and God, grieve the Saviour's Spirit, hinder the work by turning men who ought to bless into a curse that retards it, and the Lord cannot manifest power and grace until this unsanctified element is cleansed from the soul temple. Believers must therefore give no place to the enemy, refuse to think or speak evil, and meet mischief makers with strong portions of the Word.

The lesson is to put aside resentment, an aggrieved spirit, imagined grievances, and accusation, to humble self, and to practice Christ's teachings rather than nurse grievances or accuse others. Believers must treat one another with humility and forgiveness, uplifting and supporting fellow workers instead of acting with criticism, disrespect, resentment, and anger, since unwillingness to forgive and a self-centered spirit offend God and prevent harmony in shared service. The judgment falls especially on the hardhearted, unsympathetic man who blames his wife at home and brethren in church for trials caused by his own unconverted heart and fails to pity and forgive a wife's mistakes with the same love Jesus manifested and the same patience God manifested toward many errors, a love that suffers long and is kind, tender and pitiful. Unless the hard heart is broken on the Rock, melted and softened, the Lord will repay, and no one with such a faultfinding, exacting spirit can take it to heaven, but to be saved must be entirely renewed in heart, mind and spirit, die to self, and become a new man in Christ. No provocation authorizes unkind feelings, resentment, revenge, harshness, severity, or casting the first stone in condemnation of a brother, for harshness toward a brother is Satan's spirit, each person must treat a brother and his errors as he wishes God to treat him when he offends God, and God deals with those claiming to be His children according to the spirit revealed toward erring brethren, not according to their own opinion or self-confidence, even while they depend entirely on the mercy of a sin-pardoning Saviour whose forgiveness covers an immense debt.

God's forgiveness of a person is bound to that person's forgiving others sincerely, from the heart, and without limit. The call to forgive repeatedly, far beyond a limited number, applies to seeking God in prayer, confessing sin, repenting, and walking humbly, and His correction is meant to purify and save. One who refuses to forgive a brother's debt or trespasses cannot expect the heavenly Father's forgiveness, but must freely release a debt as one asks God to forgive indebtedness, and must treat a brother according to God's requirements.