Does the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant Teach Conditional Security?
I remembered when I was newly saved and I still had some issues with forgiveness to others. Now there was one warning where I was told that if I don't forgive then God will restore everything that I owe Him and throw me to Hell. Now there's a problem with the scenario as it presents the dilemma of having to forgive in order to be forgiven. Do I have to forgive in order to be forgiven or is it that I forgive because I'm forgiven? That's what heretical preachers who preach conditional security would like to suggest while they ironically (and somewhat consistently) display an unforgiving attitude towards people who offended them!
What's the meaning of the parable of the unforgiving servant found in Matthew 18:22-35? Jesus is using an exaggeration to show the seriousness of sin. I decided to some consultation with older brothers in the faith. A talent is worth 16 years of salary. To owe someone 10,000 talents is to owe someone a really huge unpayable amount! Sometimes, I just want to use the parable of the unforgiving servant as a friendly reminder never to borrow anyone more than you can pay. If we are to talk in U.S. dollars. You have USD 7.25 per hour. You work for eight hours and you have USD 58.00 per day. Make that USD 2,672,640,000.00 worth of debt! Yet said servant refused to pardon anyone or at least give more time to someone who owed him three months worth of daily salary. It's showing how a lifetime of sin was forgiven yet why can't you forgive or be patient with someone for a smaller sin?
Now here's a bit of interesting excerpt by Dr. John F. MacArthur on Learning to Forgive Part 3 which can actually help give assurance to Christians who struggle with unforgiveness:
“And he was angry, and he delivered him to the tormentors” - to the jailers, to the inquisitors – “till he should pay all that was due unto him.” Now this can’t be a Christian. What are we doing with this Christian turning him over to the inquisitors, the tormentors? You don’t think that could be a Christian? Look at Hebrews chapter 12 for a minute.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5. “Have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto sons?” This is to children now of God - sons, believers, Christians. “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked by him: for whom the Lord loves He chastens” - Now get this one – “and scourges every son whom He receives.” Every Christian feels the tormentors. Every Christian feels the scourging. Every Christian at some point in time is going to feel the inquisitors putting the pressure until we confess and repent. Right?
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. “For what son is he whom the Father chastens not? And if ye be without chastisement, of which all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.” The Christian will be turned over to the inquisitor. You say, now what is the point here? The point is that the inquisitor sort of puts you under the gun, under the stress, under the difficulty, under the pressure, under the chastening until you confess your sin, right? Until you confess your evil.
And that’s exactly what the Lord’s chastening is to do. If you’re not forgiving someone, the Lord will put you under chastening and, in a sense, He’ll put the screws to you. He’ll apply the pressure to you until your response is right. And I think that’s what he means at the end of verse 34 when it says, “till he should pay all that was due.” He could never pay the whole debt; even an unbeliever couldn’t pay the whole debt.
So at that point, the physical parable cannot convey the full understanding of the spiritual truth. I think the intent of the parable is simply to say you put him under chastening pressure until he pays what should be paid, in light of what he’s done. And I believe that’s all that’s saying is that the Lord delivers us to chastening.
So what we could be seeing here is the difference between habitual unforgiveness (a sure sign of false conversion) and one who struggles with unforgiveness because old habits just don't die easily. That's why there's always the statement that Christians shouldn't expect to be sinless until glorification but they can expect to sin less while walking its path. Let me give you a good example of what a false convert would be a person who claims to be a Christian but he or she habitually never forgives at all. He or she still so stuck in it and takes pride and pleasure in it! However, a Christian would be in great contrast. Every time they don't forgive - it means it's divine punishment time from God. The false convert can revel in their unforgiveness and be proud of it but not the Christian. The Christian will in turn be chastised until they forgive. Learning to forgive isn't easy that's why God has tormentors to set Christians right which disallows Christians to revel and have pride in their unforgiveness.
See also:
- Christians Can Be So Full of Yesterday's Junk
- Crucifixion and Stoning Didn't Stop the Early Christians From Loving Their Enemies
- Dear Christian, Are You Making Too Much of a Fuzz Over Somebody's Act of Offending You?
- Does Forgiveness Mean Condoning Wrong Actions and Having Fellowship with Sinful Men?
- Explaining What Jesus Emphasized in Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth
- The Call Not to Render Evil for Evil But to Overcome Evil with Good
- Why Does God Forbid Humans to Enact Vengeance for Offenses Done Against Them?