Parable of the Talents

Curious as to what people think is the meaning of this parable. Spot-checked a few websites and found a pretty wide range of opinions

Matthew 25
14“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. 16“Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. 17“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. 18“But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

19“Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ 21“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

22“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

24“And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’

26“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

29“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 30“Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Curious as to what people think is the meaning of this parable. Spot-checked a few websites and found a pretty wide range of opinions

Matthew 25
14“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each accor ...[text shortened]... e into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Did Jesus exist?
Is He human?
Is He God?

Originally posted by chaney3
Did Jesus exist?
Is He human?
Is He God?

Advertising your pbs special thread.

Originally posted by Eladar
Advertising your pbs special thread.

Care to explain your view of Jesus?? So that it can be refuted by other 'Christians'?

Christianity is a joke!!!

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
Curious as to what people think is the meaning of this parable. Spot-checked a few websites and found a pretty wide range of opinions

Matthew 25
14“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. 15“To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each accor ...[text shortened]... e into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

FIrst I might say something about Matthew 25 as a whole chapter.

This chapter is nicely divided up into three sections all of which concern the second coming of Christ.

1.) Verses 1 through 13 are a parable about the ten virgins. The teaching is a warning about faithfulness in love for the coming Lord, hence virgins are used.

2.) Verses 14 through 30 are a parable about the talents given to servants. Here the emphasis is on faithfulness in service. Hence the coming Lord Jesus is more depicted as a business man seeking a return on His investment.

3.) Verses 31 through 46 which is concerning Christ's judging the nations which are left alive, living on the earth when He comes down to set up His throne of glory in the Holy Land.

This is a difficult passage because the age of the gospel of grace has been concluded and Christ is judging the left remaining nations who pass through the time of the great tribulation. They do not know the Lord Jesus. But they have a conscience and are examined as to how they treated the persecuted brothers of Christ down to the least of them, during the reign of the Antichrist.

This is a preliminary remark.
Would you like me to continue a bit more?

Originally posted by sonship
FIrst I might say something about [b]Matthew 25 as a whole chapter.

This chapter is nicely divided up into three sections all of which concern the second coming of Christ.

1.) Verses 1 through 13 are a parable about the ten virgins. The teaching is a warning about faithfulness in love for the coming Lord, hence virgins[/b ...[text shortened]... of the Antichrist.

This is a preliminary remark.
Would you like me to continue a bit more?

I'd like to hear more about what you call "faithfulness in service" and how that pertains to the Parable of the Talents.

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
I'd like to hear more about what you call "faithfulness in service" and how that pertains to the Parable of the Talents.

The servants are saved believers.
The question of their eternal salvation has been solved in the affirmative.
They will never perish forever.

This does not mean that they cannot be temporarily disciplined for their lives AFTER they commenced their Christian life.

There is much to say about this parable. But I would say at this point that we should notice that the Lord Jesus has no problem with the one who was entrusted with ten talents. And the Lord Jesus had no problem with the one who was entrusted with five talents.

The only trouble He had was with the one who was entrusted with one talent. I would submit that this speaks of most Christians. Most of us who have come to follow Christ consider that we are only small and can not do much. We say others are more qualified.

Sadly, the clergly / laity system does not help this atmosphere. For it creates a system in which it is easy for believers to consider that they are not qualified to do anything for the Lord Jesus. So they "bury" the talent given to them.

Again, this parable is for those for whom the question of eternal redemption has already been solved in the affirmative.

cont. below

The three servants are saved Christians. They all are servants of the master. No unbeliever is a servant of the Lord Jesus. That unsaved person does not acknowledge that he is responsible to Jesus Christ. So he cannot claim to be a servant of Jesus Christ.

All three come before their master. This means all three come to the judgment seat of Christ which is strictly for those who are already saved.

In short, this parable has its clear corresponding teaching in Corinthian letter where Paul says some Christians will be rewarded and some will suffer loss though they will be saved.

" The work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one's work, of what sort it is.

If anyone's work which he has built upon the foundation [Christ (v.11)] remains, he will receive a reward;

If anyone's work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. " (1 Cor. 3:13-15)

The servant who was cast into the outer darkness because of his fear to do business for the master corresponds to the Christian who is saved yet suffers loss.

I do not say that all who suffer loss suffer the same loss. But the suffering of loss includes the casting of the slothful unfaithful Christian into the outer darkness.

When the Lord Jesus comes to establish His kingdom on the earth, His realm will be a realm of glory and light. To be excluded from that will be to remain in "outer darkness". This is not eternal damnation. But it will not be pleasant. For the expression - "weeping and gnashing of teeth" indicate the suffering of loss.

This suffering of loss cannot be more than a thousand years. It may be some portion of a thousand years. But I don't know.

Christ does not commence the eternal age immediately following His second coming. Rather He reigns on the earth for one thousand years of the millennial kingdom.

This is entirely logical. If some believers still need discipline, He is not ready to bring in the totally new heavens and the new earth which comes after the thousand year millennial kingdom. By that time ALL of His people from all ages of the earth, will have been matured to be sons of God.

The man in the parable signifies Christ.

The slaves signify the believers in Christ. Here they are viewed upon from the standpoint of servants to a profit seeking business man. This demonstrates that forgiveness is not the end all of the Gospel. Forgiveness is the commencement of service to the Lord Jesus.

The possessions of the signifies the church (Eph. 1:18) . All the believers who constituted God's household are implied.

"For the kingdom of the heavens is just like a man about to go abroad, who called his own slaves and delivered to them his possessions."

In His ascending to heaven after His resurrection Christ went "abroad" in a sense. And He entrusted to His believers His possessions of His household of faith.

The talents signify the spiritual gifts as enumerated representatively in Romans 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4; 1 Pet. 4:10; 2 Timothy 1:6. In other words the list is not exhaustive in these passages but just representative.

It is easier to understand the parable of the talents if we occasionally compare it with the previous parable of the ten virgins.

The footnote of the Recovery Version says this about verse 15.

A talent, the largest unit of weight, was worth six thousand denarii (see note 7[1] in John 6). In the parable of the virgins, oil signifies the Spirit of God (vv. 3-4), whereas in this parable, talents signify spiritual gifts ... For life we need oil, the Spirit of God, even His filling, that we may be enabled to live the virgin life for the Lord's testimony; for service, for work, we need the talent, the spiritual gift, that we may be equipped as a good slave to accomplish what the Lord intends to accomplish. The filling of the Spirit in life enables us to use the spiritual gift in service (work), and the spiritual gift in service matches the filling of the Spirit in life, that we may be a perfect member of Christ.

By God's creation we each have some natural ability. And by new birth some spiritual gift is bestowed upon the believers. These two work together as we are sanctified. That is our learning and our natural ability are sanctified, set apart, permeated and saturated with the Spirit of Christ and we can serve in a certain capacity.

God's creation and our learning have much to do with how we can utilize the spiritual gifts.

To trade as in ...

"Immediately he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained another five." (v.15)

means to the Christian using the gift that the Lord has given to him. When a believer is faithful to "trade" for the securing of values for Christ's enterprise, he may increase in ability.

The problem usually lies with the person who considers himself to be less gifted and less able to serve Christ. he compares himself to others who he deems to be more gifted and with more ability.

This kind of false humility is really a pride that will not stand before Christ's coming to see how we served Him. But there is always some mercy where we have shown mercy to others as Christians. But this is the teaching of other places in the Gospel of Matthew.

Here, we see that the Lord Jesus invests that He may reap a return for His "business". He told Peter to feed His sheep. Peter traded with his ability to preach and feed the sheep of the Lord Jesus. He did not bury his talent.

We may not all be as gifted as, say, the Apostle Paul. But the Lord will not take any excuse. Believers who turn themselves over to the Lord Jesus can all "trade" and secure spiritual profit for the enterprise of the kingdom of God.

A Christian may serve in many many ways, the Lord Jesus.
A Christian can trade with the gifts given to him according to his consecration and his natural ability.

To bury the talent is wrong. And no excuse will be accepted by Christ for not serving Him in some capacity. If you can pray for people, you can serve. If you can fix a good meal for people in love and in the Holy Spirit, you can serve. if you can teach you can serve if you teach by imparting life to those whom you teach. There are too many ways in which a Christian can serve the Lord Jesus.

To serve faithfully with what Christ has entrusted to you as a gift will often lead to Him entrusting more into your hands. More may not be a spectacular more, but more. His seeing is not our seeing.

I think there are two major schools of opinion about the parable of the talents.

1.) The one talented servant was a false Christian who was lost forever.

This is the view of hard Calvinism.

2.) The one talented servant is a Christian who lost his salvation.

This is the view of hard Arminianism.

I follow the interpretation that the one talented servant is a saved Christian for whom eternal redemption has been secured. Otherwise he could not be the servant of Christ.
He cannot WORK to earn eternal redemption so the discipline of being cast into outer darkness cannot be the loss of eternal redemption.

Clearly some are saved yet suffer loss.
Clearly not all Christians will enjoy a reward in addition to being saved forever.

In the previous parable of the ten virgins, the foolish ones did go and gain oil eventually. Oil is clearly a symbol of the Holy Spirit. So the meaning should be that though they paid the price to gain the Holy Spirit in sanctification they were late in doing so.

By the time they did the celebration was already in progress. They were foolish to wait until it was just the time for the celebration to commence. They paid the price to be saturated with the sanctifying Holy Spirit (oil) in an untimely manner. This was foolish.

Correspondingly, the slothful servant with excuses did not seize the time to serve the Lord. He will be disciplined by being outside in darkness away from the realm of Christ's glorious and light filled millennial kingdom.

Both the foolish virgins and the slothful servant are still saved from eternal punishment.
They are not saved from losing the reward of the millennial kingdom.

If the Calvinist says the punished servent is a false Christian he admits the man can save himself by works.

If the Arminian says that the punished servant is a believer that loses his eternal salvation then he damages the truth of the security of Christ's finished work.

The answer must be to be saved yet as through fire, suffering loss, losing the kingdom reward, as far as the slothful servant is concerned.

Originally posted by sonship
I think there are two major schools of opinion about the parable of the talents.

1.) The one talented servant was a false Christian who was lost forever.

This is the view of hard Calvinism.

2.) The one talented servant is a Christian who lost his salvation.

This is the view of hard Arminianism.

I follow the interpretation that the one tal ...[text shortened]... h fire, suffering loss, losing the kingdom reward, as far as the slothful servant is concerned.

More of sonships, do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine.

In Matt 25, the three parables say the same thing. It says these types of Christians, will be cast into outer darkness, the door to the Kingdom will be shut, they cannot enter, and they will be cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What about that dont you understand?

More importantly for you, is to find out where or why you constantly come up with these false doctrines and false interpretations which conflict with the teachings of Christ and the Apostles which tell Christians that they can continue with their sinful lifestyle and will still enter the kingdom of God. Paul said that these types will be destroyed, they will not be forgiven, they cannot continue to crucify the Son of God afresh.

Originally posted by Rajk999

More of sonships, do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine.

The slothful servant loses the reward of the millennial kingdom. He is cast into the outer darkness.

That's a strange interpretation for someone encouraging "do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine."

I ask again. Are you an illogical adult or a logical child ?

In Matt 25, the three parables say the same thing. It says these types of Christians, will be cast into outer darkness, the door to the Kingdom will be shut, they cannot enter, and they will be cast into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What about that dont you understand?
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Where in verses 1 through 30 do you see the word "everlasting" ?


More importantly for you, is to find out where or why you constantly come up with these false doctrines and false interpretations which conflict with the teachings of Christ and the Apostles which tell Christians that they can continue with their sinful lifestyle and will still enter the kingdom of God.
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The foolish virgins are excluded from the marriage feast.
The slothful servant is cast into the outer darkness.

You have been asked to show where the word "everlasting" appears anywhere between verse 1 and verse 30.

If you have some integrity you will admit that the word "everlasting" does not appear in the two parables up to verse 30. So explicitly nothing is said about eternal punishment until the last section in verses 41 and 46. But this is not pertaining to virgins or servants.

"Go away from Me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (v.41)

"And these shall go away into eternal punishment ..." (v.46)

That part I do NOT say pertains to virgins who love the Lord and have the "oil" of the Holy Spirit OR servants of the master who have been entrusted with his possessions.

The former two punishments are the loss of reward in punishment:

1.) Missing the marriage feast.
2.) Being cast into the outer darkness.

The latter one punishment IS eternal perdition as it plainly says - "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" which is the "eternal punishment".

If one argues that the foolish virgins are lost forever than one has to interpret that some lost forever have the Holy Spirit - the "oil" which they purchased, albeit late.

If one argues that the servant cast into the outer darkness is lost forever then it logically follows that one is eternally saved by works in serving the Lord.

We know that we are not eternally saved by works which we have done.

" But when the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared, Not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us ..." (Titus 3:5a)

Your slanderous accusation is that I down play works of righteousness. But the previous verse says that He gave Himself that we would be saved and through His grace empowering would be "zealous for good works".

"Who gave Himself that he might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify to Himself a particular people as His unique possession, zealous of good works." ( Titus 2:14)

And this too will likely go through one of your ears and out the other because you are obsessed with your false accusations.

Concerning the ten virgins - it is crucial to realize that they ALL had the initial oil in their "lamps". This means that they ALL had the Holy Spirit through regeneration.

" For the foolish, when they took their lamps, did not take oil with their lamps.

But the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps." (verses 3,4)

In short oil is the Holy Spirit.
All had the Holy Spirit via being born again in their spirit.
The prudent had extra oil in their soul, their personality.
The foolish deemed it only necessary to have the Holy Spirit via being born again.

In short here, the extra oil needed for the marriage celebration was purchased by the foolish ones ANYWAY, yet late. The prudent had no need for they wisely had paid the price to obtain that oil in a timely manner.

If you say the foolish virgins are lost forever in eternal perdition then you have to interpret that some lost forever will be so WITH the oil of the Holy Spirit.
So the punishment is temporary.

Originally posted by sonship
[quote] More of sonships, do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine. ..

I take comfort in the fact that the sheep of Christ cannot be fooled by your false doctrines. Those others who you fool into thinking that your.. do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine. is true, then YOU will account for that.

Originally posted by Rajk999
I take comfort in the fact that the sheep of Christ cannot be fooled by your false doctrines. Those others who you fool into thinking that your.. do-nothing-live-sinfully-and-wickedly-displease-Christ-and-still-enter-the-Kingdom-of-God doctrine. is true, then YOU will account for that.

And it is noted ... of course you show NO occurrence of the word "everlasting" between verses 1 and 30.

I really don't mind if you interpret the two parables differently.
But I will continue to expound the two parables according to the loss of reward and temporary suffering of loss according to the clear teaching of First Corinthians 3:11-17.