Matthew 18
BolesMatthew 18:1-14
- AGAINST GIVING OFFENSE
1 Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?—Parallel records are found in Mark 9:33-41 and Luke 9:46-50. “In that hour,” we do not know the exact time; it is not said that Peter went immediately to the sea to catch the fish which should furnish the tribute money. Luke omits the visit to Capernaum, which is incidentally mentioned by Mark and Matthew. His disciples had been greatly troubled at the announcement of the sufferings of Jesus, but their grief soon passed and their thoughts began to turn to the kingdom which he was to set up. They still believed that he would set up a kingdom, and even if he should have to die, someone would have to carry on the kingdom. They thought it would be an earthly kingdom with royal splendor and that the Jews would be supreme over all other nations; furthermore they thought that there would be distinctions and offices in it; someone must be high treasurer, some governors over provinces, and some prime ministers to stand near the throne. Who would fill these offices?
On the way to Capernaum they debated this question. The kinsmen of Jesus naturally supposed that their blood relationship would entitle them to peculiar honors; Peter had not forgotten the distinction with which he had been treated when he confessed Jesus as the Son of God, and James and John were meditating the project for which they afterwards received a rebuke. (Matthew 20:20-24.) The disciples were occupied with unworthy ambitions and longings for imaginary honors. Jesus asked them about their dispute, and they, ashamed of it, held their peace. (Mark 9:33.) They were like children or heirs quarreling over an estate before the death of a benefactor.
2-4 And he called to him a little child.—By way of instructing them and rebuking them for their contention, as to who should be the greatest in the kingdom, he called a little child “and set him in the midst of them.” Jesus frequently taught and impressed lessons in this way. The symbolic mode of conveying instruction was common in the East at that time. Some have speculated as to whose child this was; there is no ground for any supposition or tradition as to who it was. When the child was placed in their midst Jesus said to them, “Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” This put the responsibility on them; they had the opportunity and the power to “turn” about and change their life so that they would become fit subjects of his kingdom. Later Peter said to some, “Repent ye therefore, and turn again.” (Acts 3:19.) They were commanded to do this, hence they could do it, and must do it in order to receive the blessings of God. In their turning or change, Jesus tells them what change they should make; they are to “become as little children”; children are humble, docile, and free from ambitious designs; Jesus demanded that his disciples trust him and obey him in humility; “for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5.) The condition of their entering the kingdom was thus made clear; if they do not turn and become like the child, they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. This shows that the disciples at this time were not in the kingdom or church; that the kingdom or church had not been established at this time; for if it had been, these disciples would have been in it.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.— The kingdom of heaven is composed of the meek on earth. The greatest in the sight of God are those who are the most humble and obedient; those who are most like Christ in service to God and to man. Here is a new standard of greatness; it is God’s standard of greatness “the way up is down,” down in humility and up in the greatness of God. In the estimation of God, humility is a most sublime virtue. This does not necessarily teach that there are degrees in happiness on earth or in heaven; it was not spoken to teach .such. The disciples of Jesus should have been able to understand more of the nature of the kingdom of God. Jesus here answers the questions which had been raised by his disciples (verse one), “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The greatest is the most humble, the least ambitious. (Psalms 131; 1 Corinthians 14:20.)
[The child of God who thus humbles himself like the little child to think the Father knows best, and he knows it is best because his Father says so, will be crowned with the highest honors in the kingdom of heaven. He who thinks he is wise enough to improve on the Father’s ways is a fool, and will never find a home in heaven. It is the vital point of a true son to take God’s way just as he gave it as the best and only way for a child of God to walk and work.]
5, 6 And whoso shall receive one such little child.—“Such little child” means not little ones in age, but in disposition and character. To receive such is to have the humility of Christ, to be truly a disciple. (Matthew 10:40-42.) To encourage his followers Jesus promised to take care of them; he makes common cause with his faithful disciples. (Matthew 25:35-40; Mark 9:38-40; Luke 9:49-50.) Jesus here passed from the symbol to the things symbolized, from the child by nature to the child by grace. Those who receive the humble unpretending disciples of Jesus receive him, because these disciples belong to him. It is a blessed thought to be so closely identified with Jesus, that the one who receives his disciple receives him.
But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble.—This shows that Jesus is talking about his disciples; it is one who believes “on me” and not a child in age. The one who receives such receives Christ and is blessed; but the one who causes one “to stumble” or be offended receives the condemnation. To cause one to fall away from the faith is a fearful sin. (Matthew 5:29.) To offend in the scriptural use of the word is to cause anyone to fall from the faith, or renounce his belief in Jesus, and upon everyone who causes such a fall the heaviest condemnations of God are pronounced. It is better for “a great millstone” to be “hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.” An ancient mode of punishment for certain crimes was to hang a millstone about the necks of the victim and cast him into the sea to drown; this was practiced by the Syrians, Greeks, and others. The Jews at times had practiced this by casting the victim into the Dead Sea with a stone tied around him. There were two kinds of millstones—those which are used with the hand and turned by women in grinding and then those that were larger and turned by an ass.
The term used here in the original means “ass-millstone,” which means the heaviest. Such a one should be “sunk in the depth of the sea”; the intensity of the depth is described as the image of the utter ruin which such crimes deserve. This shows that it is a fearful sin to cause even the least of God’s children to stumble.
[Jesus speaks of little ones able to believe; the word translated “stumble” means to lead into sin, to cause to offend; the meaning of it is that it is better for him who causes one to stumble to have a millstone hanged about his neck and be cast into the depth of the sea. Jesus speaks here of children who believe, or of the simplest childlike persons who believe.]
7-9 Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! —A woe is pronounced upon those who encourage in sin; “occasions of stumbling” means “stumbling blocks” in the path of the righteous; those things which cause others to sin, the things which cause others to turn from Christ. Condemnation is pronounced upon the world because so many are not only guilty of sin themselves, but encourage others to sin. Jesus says, “For it must needs be that the occasions come.” God has not decreed by any secret decree that there shall always be some men in the world who must necessarily work out their own ruin, by the temptation of others into sin, by inventing heresies to corrupt the doctrines of salvation, by making schisms, to lead astray the simple-minded and humble disciple; he only foretells that which will occur. God has allowed men liberty and free will to choose between good and evil. Some will choose evil and cause the ruin of others; the necessity is in the obstinacy of men and not in the decrees of God. The depraved state of society shows the consequences of causing others to sin.
The condemnation of God is upon those who ensnare others into sin. God does not slay men, nor deprive them of their free nature, nor limit its natural free action in its allotted range, in order to prevent men from sinning. It is a fundamental law of man’s nature that his character shall have full scope freely to develop itself; hence responsibility can justly exist, penalty can be justified, and rewards can be bestowed.
[It is God’s purpose that the servants of God should be tempted to do wrong. Only a bad person could tempt them to go wrong. So though God desired them tempted, to buffet them, the wicked spirit led in the temptation of the unrighteous, woe be to him for it! (Luke 17:1; 1 Corinthians 11:19; 1 Timothy 4:1.) The person or thing that tempted to evil was to be cut off or given up, even if as dear as the right eye, the right hand or foot. Causes and occasions of division and strife will come in all the churches. Many will fail to see and know the whole truth, will give trouble and care in their shortsightedness and missteps. They are to be borne with and trained in the law of God.]
And if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee.—The same idea is repeated here, almost in the same words, as in the sermon on the mount. (Matthew 5:29-30.) It is better for the disciples of Jesus to go into heaven with nothing but his word to plead than to be cast away for the sake of worldly thrones or the gratifications of fleshly ambitions. The words of Jesus here are not to be taken literally, for God does not permit us to injure and maim our bodies in order to avoid temptation, but shows us, by this impressive figure of speech, that we should deny our selfish and proud desires, and “put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth.” (Colossians 3:5.) “Enter into life” means life eternal, and “hell of fire” may mean “Gehenna,” which is called “eternal fire” (verse eight) as the fire was kept burning in the Valley of Hinnom to consume carcasses and refuse. (Matthew 5:22.) Mark shows the application of the proverb by saying here “enter into the kingdom of God,” which is the same as eternal life with all of its promises.
10, 11 See that ye despise not one of these little ones.— Again “little ones” means disciples of Jesus; to “despise” one of them is to neglect to use the means that will help them in living the Christian life; we are to use all means at our command to help each other; to despise one is to put temptation in their way. Men often despise the poor, or the humble Christian, do them wrong, almost force them, by oppression, into doing evil; sometimes disciples of one race may despise those of another, because the color of the skin does not mark them in their class. God is the avenger of those who so treat his disciples. (1 Thessalonians 4:6; James 5:6.)
The reason assigned by Jesus as a warning to those who would despise his disciples is “that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.” This is a difficult passage; scholars are not agreed as to its meaning. The most general meaning is that each disciple has a “guardian angel” which protects and guides in living the Christian life. They are represented as beholding the “face of my Father who is in heaven.” To “behold the face” of God is to be present before his immediate glory, and entrusted with high commissions and power. It has been doubted by some whether there are single angels delegated to minister a special providence to each one of the disciples of Jesus. Many think that there are such special angels to care for each soul. (Psalms 34:7; Acts 12:15; Hebrews 1:14.) These scriptures by some are interpreted to mean that each Christian is guarded in his efforts to be holy by his attendant angel.
[This is relied on to prove that each disciple has a “guardian angel,” but for this to have any bearing on that subject, it must be first assumed that persons have guardian angels. It may be the spirits of persons after death become angels and those who humble themselves as little children in the future state become angels and stand nearest the throne of God. This would be more consoling than the other idea. Is there any ground for supposing the redeemed spirits become angels? Jesus said, “In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven.” (Matthew 22:30.) This does not say they become angels, but it does say they become as angels—are conformed to their state in important particulars. Acts 12:15; Acts 23:8 and Matthew 25:41 are scriptures that seem to have a bearing on the subject.
When properly construed these do not suggest the idea; hence no proof whatever is found of the idea. If Christians or others have guardian angels, what do they for them?
Do they suggest thought? When a thought comes into the mind, how can we tell whether it was suggested by an angel or not? Are we not liable to accept evil suggestions as made by the angels? Who is responsible for our actions, ourselves or our “guardian angels”? It seems to be fraught with the same danger that directs spiritual influence; we are liable to attribute our fleshly emotions and desires to the guardian angel. Does the angel make suggestions or exert an influence and give us no rule by which to test when the influence is from the angel or from something else?
When man sins, who is responsible —the man or the angel? In the parable of the man who sowed good seed and evil plants grew in the field (Matthew 13:24-30), the servants, who were the angels, asked, “Shall we gather up the evil plants?” He said, “No; let them grow together until the harvest then the reapers will separate them.” This teaches that there will be no superhuman interference with men until the judgment.
The idea of guardian angels is attended with some evil; it is best not to teach it.]
Verse eleven is omitted in the Revised Version because the ancient manuscripts and versions do not have it. Some think that it is quoted from Luke 19:10, where it is genuine. It states the purpose of the advent of Jesus—“to save that which was lost.” Jesus came to save the world; those who accept him will receive the blessings of salvation from past sins, and, if faithful to him, will in the end receive eternal life. (Mark 16:16;Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23-26.)
12-14 If any man have a hundred sheep.—This parable is also found in Luke 15:4-10. It shows the value that Jesus placed on a human soul. He came to seek and to save the lost; if there is not much value to be placed on a human soul, then Jesus’ mission was not worth very much. If we deem his mission to earth very valuable, we must place a very high estimate on the soul. Jesus makes no difference in his estimation of a soul; the least of his disciples is as valuable and precious in his sight as the most renowned. The Pharisees and other religious leaders of that day disregarded the poor, the disgraced, and degraded wretches of human society.
They were spoken of as “publicans and sinners” and “publicans and harlots.” So Jesus here shows by the parable of the lost sheep the care that should be given to each one. If one has a flock of a hundred sheep and one is lost, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes to find the one that has gone astray. When it is found, he rejoiceth over it more than the ninety-nine “which have not gone astray.” This does not mean that he values the one greater than he does the ninety-nine; but to restore the one to the flock gives him greater joy for the occasion than the remainder of the flock. Jesus makes his own application of this parable when he says, “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” By implication Jesus teaches that it is possible for those who have become his “little ones” to perish. It is not God’s will that any should perish. (Ezekiel 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9.) As it is not the will of the shepherd that one of the flock should perish, so it is not the will of our Father that even the least of his disciples perish.
Matthew 18:15-35
- HOW ARE TO BE TREATED
15-17 And if thy brother sin against thee.—In addition to what Jesus had already said about causing others to stumble, he now gives instructions how to restore those who do stumble. Certain rules are to be observed and principles followed in dealing with the erring. If any member of the flock commits a fault, that one is to be sought and reclaimed. This teaching is prospective, as the church had not been established at this time. “If thy brother sin.” God knew that his people would sin; he knew that they would sin against each other, hence the principle for dealing with those who do sin. The spiritual relationship of the disciples of Christ is compared to a family; hence all dealings with the erring are to bear the marks of love and the salvation of the offender. A sin against an individual Christian is a sin against the law of love; it must be dealt with as such, for it is also a sin against God.
Evilspeaking against it and harsh judgments pronounced are not God’s way of dealing with the erring. It must be a definite sin, and not an imaginary wrong or grievance that comes under the teachings of Jesus here. Oftentimes members of the body of Christ imagine that they have been sinned against when, in reality, no sin has been committed against them.
Show him his fault between thee and him alone.—Go and in the spirit of meekness (Galatians 6:1) show him his wrong to that he may be penitent of it. Tell him of his fault in such a prudent manner that he shall feel it and repent. (Leviticus 19:17.) It is better to go to him and show him his wrong than to brood over it and gender hatred toward him. The one who has received the wrong must use all the agencies of righteousness at his command to bring the erring one to a state of repentance so that he may be forgiven. If the one sinned against is unable to bring the erring one to a state of repentance, there is another step to be taken.
But if he hear thee not, take with thee one or two more.— The erring brother, like the lost sheep, has strayed away, and has been found; if the one who has found him cannot restore him, then he should get others to help him bring the lost back to the flock and safety. The Jews required at least two witnesses to every act of crime and offense against the law. (Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15.) This principle is carried out in the New Testament. (John 8:17; 2 Corinthians 13:1; Hebrews 10:28.) This was wise or else God would not have commanded it. The design of taking two witnesses may be twofold; first the offending brother may be possibly induced to repent and return, if he has been proud and refractory, when he sees that persons of serious character and candid judgment are condemning his fault; and second, that in administering the discipline, the church later may have certain grounds on which to base its discipline and not upon imaginary or prejudiced ground. These two witnesses may bring to bear all of the influence that they can command upon the erring brother with a view to bringing him to repentance and restoration. But if these fail, there is still another step to be taken.
And if he refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church.—The purpose of all efforts is to save the wrongdoer; hence, when the one who has received the wrong has exhausted all of his means for restoration, but has failed; and then after two or three wise and prudent brethren have exhausted their full resources of spiritual agencies and failed, then the church, the whole body of disciples, is to bring to bear upon him all the good graces and influence to bring him to repentance and full restoration. There is to be a prayerful, sympathetic, and united effort on the part of the church to restore him, but if the church fails, the Lord has given no other means to be used or steps to be taken. What then must be done?
Let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.—He is to be avoided; ye he is entitled to the earnest good will, and all the offices of humanity; the faithful disciples of Christ are to have no religious communion with him until he repents. (1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 2:6-7 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15.) The one who will not hear the church has no claim on it for its fellowship and blessings any more than anyone else out of the church.
[When difficulties arise, this scripture teaches how each party is to act to heal the wrong or to obviate its evil influences and to bring good out of it to those who are willing to obey God. All trials and sins bring good to those who obey God. Jesus lays down a principle that applies to all ages and peoples, and is to be practiced wherever there are disciples. It was the way Jesus laid down for his disciples to settle difficulties and troubles that arose among them. Why should such a course be suited to one age or people and not another? If that principle is not applicable now, we would not know how to say one word taught by Jesus is now applicable.
When a brother has committed an offense against us, how better to settle it than the way laid down here? Can human wisdom devise a better way than to go and tell him of his trespass and seek to save him from his wrong course? And if he refuse to hear you, then take one or two discreet brethren with you, and try to settle the matter. Can any man do better than that? Then why seek to set it aside?]
18-20 Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth.—Whatsoever the disciples shall order concerning such a man, whether the withdrawal from him or his restoration or repentance, shall be ratified in heaven. This is the same thought as in Matthew 16:19. This shows that it has a broader application than that of the discipline of an erring brother. The Holy Spirit would guide the apostles in their instruction to the erring brother and the church, hence what would be required by those guided by the Holy Spirit, God would require, or should “be bound in heaven.” If he repented and was restored, then his sin should “be loosed in heaven.” The conditions of restoration should be ratified by our Father who is in heaven. No member of the church should fail to act in the discipline as instructed by the Holy Spirit; to fail to concur with the church would be to fail to agree with God. It would be disastrous to the unity of the church when the offender has been scripturally dealt with for any member to refuse to concur in the discipline.
Blood relation or other interests should not prevent one from cooperating with the church in its act of discipline. To do so would be to rebel against God. (John 10:11; Romans 16:17; 1 Cor. 5 4, 5;Titus 3:10-11.)
Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth.—The prayers of God’s people, when offered in the name of Christ and according to the will of God, will be heard by the Father. Hence, when even “two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done.” (Acts 5:3; Acts 13:9-11.) God teaches his children to pray, and when they are united in their prayers God hears them. (Matthew 28:20; John 20:19; 1 Corinthians 4:1.) It is understood that the scriptural conditions of prayer must be met by the united group as well as by the individual. Jesus has promised to be with those who are thus praying in his name. It is comforting for the disciples to be united in their prayers and to know that Jesus will be with them in their praying. Jesus is with his people by the Holy Spirit and by his divine nature which is omnipresent.
[Churches must be united and act as one body. This passage and others indicate very clearly that God is well pleased when his children meet together and agree as to the subject o prayer. It would be well for Christians to meet and agree as to the things desired and then all unite heartily in prayer for the things desired. This would draw them close together and lead to uniformity in prayer. When drawing near to God for his blessings, all would desire to do it in the way most pleasing to him.]
21, 22 Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?—Peter as usual takes the lead and asks; he understood that there should be a free forgiveness of all sin, and his question is appropriate in asking how often one should forgive his brother, when the same sin is repeated. Peter did not know how far he should go in extending forgiveness. This gave Jesus the occasion to teach them. “Until seven times,” this was a number which Peter thought would go beyond the limit of extending forgiveness. This was a large stretch of charity to forgive one “seven times,” as the rabbis taught that three times were sufficient. (Job 33:29-30; Amos 1:3; Amos 2:6.) The disciples of Christ are to go beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees. Jesus must have astonished his disciples when he said not “Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.” This denotes an unlimited number; this expression is used in the description of revenge in the case of Lamech. (Genesis 4:24.) The duty of forgiveness has no limit, save in the want of penitence in the offender. As often as the offender repents, we must forgive.
The penitence of the offender should be sincere and the forgiveness of the sin should be sincere. Jesus thus teaches his disciples to exercise forgiveness always, to live in the state or attitude of forgiving wrongs. In no case should a Christian harbor malice or retain resentment toward a sincere penitent offender.
23-35 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven.—Again Matthew uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven.” “Therefore”; this shows a conclusion from what has just followed. Since unlimited forgiveness is to be extended to the penitent offender, “the kingdom of heaven” is like “a certain king.” Unlimited forgiveness to the penitent is a part of the will of God, and hence belongs to the kingdom of God on earth; this emphasizes the points of this parable. This king “would make a reckoning with his servants.” “Servants” here means his public ministers who had to do with financial matters. In an absolute monarchy the king can remove or destroy any of his public officials. This king had a time for reckoning with his officials, and when he began to reckon with them he found one who “owed him ten thousand talents.” This was an enormous sum;around number is used to give us the idea of the hopelessness of payment. “Talent” was not a coin, but represented a value. If the Hebrew talent is here meant, the sum is enormous; the sum in silver would be more than $15,000,000; if reckoned in gold, it was beyond all possibility of payment.
We may form some idea of the amount by comparing other sums spoken of in the Bible. In the tabernacle twenty-nine talents of gold were used (Exodus 38:24); for the temple David prepared 3,000 talents of gold, the princess 5,000 (1 Chronicles 29:4-7). The queen of Sheba gave Solomon 120 talents (1 Kings 10:10); Hezekiah was taxed thirty talents of gold (2 Kings 18:14);and finally the land was taxed one talent of gold (2 Chronicles 36:3). The sum mentioned here that this servant owed his king exceeded all possibility of payment this huge debt is the likeness of our sins, which no power of ours can ever pay. (Romans 2:5.) Since the servant “had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.” The Jewish law allowed the selling of insolvent debtors into a mild state of domestic slavery. (Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:41; 2 Kings 4:1.) The king may have been a Gentile ruler, and this slavery may have been a state of harsh and cruel bondage as such was frequently practiced.
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him.—In this worship he said, “Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.” This formal act of worship or adoration consisted of prostration on the ground, and kissing the feet and knees of the one worshiped; this servant worshiped the king, for that honor was paid to royal personages. He threw himself on the mercy of the king; probably the king knew that it was impossible for this servant who had involved himself so deeply in debt to pay anything, though he promised to pay it all. The king was “moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.” This was an act of mercy and compassion on his servant who was penitent. The servant who was crushed to earth, about to lose his wife, children, liberty, and all and to become a slave to another was released of all that he owed. Such an act finds a parallel only in the forgiveness of God to sinners. He was set free or “released”; the same word is used of the act of setting Barabbas free. (Matthew 27:15.)
But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants.—This fellow servant owed him only “a hundred shillings.” The denarius, or penny, was a Roman coin, worth fifteen cents of our money;the whole sum was about fifteen dollars; or compared with his own debt, in proportion of one million of dollars to one. It was a trifling sum compared to the debt that he owed the king; this small sum may show how little after all we sin against each other compared with our sin against God. He took this servant and severely punished him , he “took him by the throat, saying, Pay what thou owest.” His harsh and violent conduct toward his fellow servant is in wide contrast with the conduct of his lord to him. In like manner this fellow servant “fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee.” His attitude and words were similar to those which his fellow servant had used to the king . “And he would not”; he did not exercise the mercy and forgiveness that had been extended to him, but on the contrary he “went and cast him into prison, till he should pay that which was due.” Another contrast is brought out in the conduct of the forgiven servant with this fellow servant. When he did this the other servants “saw what was done,” and they were “exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.” The conduct of this fellow servant was condemned by the other servants; the cruelty and hardness of heart which he manifested aroused them to righteous indignation, so they reported him to the lord.
Then his lord called him unto him.—There is now to be another reckoning; this offense is worse than the offense of his indebtedness to his lord. His lord pronounced this sentence upon him, “Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?” The lord did . not call him “wicked servant” when he owed him the “ten thousand talents,” but he did call him a “wicked servant” for such harsh and cruel treatment toward his fellow servant. His lord “was wroth” with him and “delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due.” “Tormentors” literally means the “triers” or judges. In the East it was common for men to conceal property and pretend to be very poor in order to escape the rapacity of the powerful; hence the custom was practiced of subjecting them to torture in order to compel them to betray their wealth. These tormentors were failers and others who were skillful in applying agonies to unwilling prisoners. He was thus to be tormented “till he should pay all that was due,” which was during his natural life, for he never could discharge the debt.
Jesus makes his own application of the parable. He says. “So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.” Upon this condition hangs the divine forgiveness of us in this world. (Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:37; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; James 5:9.) Some think that this means if we do not forgive our penitent brother God will bring back upon us all the condemnation which belongs to all of our former sins , that is, that God will bring them back upon us, though they have been forgiven, if we do not forgive our brother from the heart. Others think that the condemnation of the sin of refusing to forgive the penitent is severe enough to condemn one to eternal torment. The forgiveness must be “from your hearts” , it must be in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18.) In mercy to ourselves we must turn the resentment out from our inmost hearts, that our hearts may be abodes of peace and love. This law of pardon must be supreme, and rule down all rebellious excuses and little lingerings of hatred and revenge.