Teks -- Matthew 18:23 (NET)

The Parable of the Unforgiving Slave

18:23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Mat 18:23 - Make a reckoning

Make a reckoning ( sunārai logon ).

Seen also in Mat 25:19. Perhaps a Latinism, rationes conferre . First aorist active infinitive of sunairō , to cast up accounts, to settle, to compare accounts with. Not in ancient Greek writers, but in two papyri of the second century a.d. in the very sense here and the substantive appears in an ostracon from Nubia of the early third century (Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East , p. 117).

Vincent: Mat 18:23 - A certain king

A certain king ( ἀνθρώτῳ βασιλεῖ )

Lit., a man, a king. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a human king.

Vincent: Mat 18:23 - Take account of his servants

Take account of his servants ( συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δοούλων αὐτοῦ )

The rendering of the A. V. is loose and inadequate, and might be taken to mean to reckon the number of his servants. The verb συνᾶραι is compounded of σύν , with, and αἴρω , to take up, and means literally to take up together, i.e., cast up, as an account. The A. V. also overlooks the force of μετὰ , with. Therefore, Rev., better, make a reckoning with his servants.

Wesley: Mat 18:23 - Therefore

In this respect.

JFB: Mat 18:23 - Therefore

"with reference to this matter."

JFB: Mat 18:23 - is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants

Or, would scrutinize the accounts of his revenue collectors.

Clarke: Mat 18:23 - Therefore is the kingdom

Therefore is the kingdom - In respect to sin, cruelty, and oppression, God will proceed in the kingdom of heaven (the dispensation of the Gospel) as he did in former times; and every person shall give an account of himself to God. Every sin is a debt contracted with the justice of God; men are all God’ s own servants; and the day is at hand in which their Master will settle accounts with them, inquire into their work, and pay them their wages. Great Judge! what an awful time must this be, when with multitudes nothing shall be found but sin and insolvency

By servant, in the text, we are to understand, a petty king, or tributary prince; for no hired servant could possibly owe such a sum as is here mentioned.

Calvin: Mat 18:23 - The kingdom of heaven is compared

23.The kingdom of heaven is compared As it is difficult to bend us to mercy, and as we are quickly seized with weariness, particularly when we have to bear with many faults of brethren, our Lord confirms this doctrine by a most appropriate parable, the substance of which is, that those who will not yield to pardon the faults of brethren judge very ill for themselves, and subject themselves to a very hard and severe law; for they will find God to be equally stern and inexorable towards themselves. There are three parts in which the resemblance mainly consists; for the master is contrasted with the servant, the large sum of money with small or ordinary sums, and extraordinary kindness with extreme cruelty. By attending to these three points, it will be easy to ascertain Christ’s meaning; for what are we, if we are compared with God? And how large is the sum which every one of us owes to God? Lastly, how inconsiderable are the offenses, with which brethren are chargeable towards us, if we take into account our obligation to God? How ill then does that man deserve the compassion of God, who, though oppressed with an immense load, implacably refuses to forgive even the smallest offenses to men like himself? So far as regards the words, the kingdom of heaven here denotes the spiritual condition of the Church; as if Christ had said, that the state of matters between God and men, in regard to the soul and the nature of spiritual life, is the same as between an ordinary or earthly master and his servants, in regard to money and the affairs of the present life.

TSK: Mat 18:23 - is // which

is : Mat 3:2, Mat 13:24, Mat 13:31, Mat 13:33, Mat 13:44, Mat 13:45, Mat 13:47, Mat 13:52, Mat 25:1, Mat 25:14

which : Mat 25:19-30; Luk 16:1, Luk 16:2, 19:12-27; Rom 14:12; 1Co 4:5; 2Co 5:10,2Co 5:11

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Mat 18:23-35 - So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses // The kingdom of heaven // Ten thousand talents // commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had // And delivered him to the tormentors // An hundred pence

Ver. 23-35. All these verses (except the last) are but a parable, which (as I before showed) is a similitude brought from the usual actions of men, and made use of to open or apply some spiritual doctrine. The main scope, or the proposition of truth, which our Saviour designs to open or press, is that which is first and principally to be considered and intended; and that, as I before showed, is to be known, either by the particular explication given by our Saviour, or by what went immediately before, or followeth immediately after. The scope of this parable is plainly expressed, Mat 18:35 ,

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses Nor is it obscurely hinted to us in what went before, where our Saviour was instructing Peter in the great duty of forgiving men their trespasses. This being agreed, as we use to say, that similitudes run not on four feet, so we are not to expect that all the actions of men, mentioned in the parable, should be answered by some correspondent actions of God: As similitudes always halt, so never more than when by them God’ s actions are expressed and represented to us. The main points which this parable instructs us in are;

1. That it is our duty, especially theirs who have received forgiveness from God, to forgive their brethren.

2. That if they do not, they may justly question whether God hath forgiven them, and expect the same severity from him which they show unto their brethren.

These being the main things for instruction in which this parable is brought, and which we ought chiefly to eye as the things taught us by this parable, nothing hindereth but that it may also instruct us in some other things, though we cannot raise a proposition of truth from every branch of the parable, and some things be put in according to the passions and usual dealings of men, which possibly are in them unrighteous actions, and may follow from their ungoverned passions, which will by no means agree to the pure and holy nature of God. I will first open such terms in the parable as may be less intelligible to vulgar readers.

The kingdom of heaven my administration of my kingdom: I am come to purchase remission of sins, and to dispense out remission of sins to those who are indebted to the justice of my Father; but in the application of my blood to men and women for the remission of their sins, both my Father and myself will do as a king, that took account of his servants, &c. Men must look for pardon from my Father, and benefit from me as their Redeemer, upon the following terms: see Mat 6:15 .

Ten thousand talents a certain for an uncertain number; a very great sum. Those who have computed it, say it amounts to a million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds. He

commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had a thing which our law will not suffer, but in use amongst other nations, and amongst the Jews in particular, as may be learned from 2Ki 4:1 .

And delivered him to the tormentors that is, to the keepers of the prison; so the next words teach us, and the Greek word often signifieth no more, though it doth indeed sometimes.

An hundred pence Mat 18:28 , signifieth a small sum, hardly exceeding in our money fifty shillings. This parable excellently instructs us in these truths:

1. That as men, by the law of nature and God, and the laws of men, may be debtors to us, to our reputation, to our estate; so we are all debtors to the glory, honour, and justice of God.

2. That it is a vast debt we owe to God’ s honour and justice, to which no debt owing by any to us can bear any proportion.

3. That we have nothing to pay to God, in satisfaction for our debt.

4. That God hath a right to demand a full satisfaction of us.

5. That God, for Christ’ s sake, upon our application to him for mercy, will forgive us our debts.

6. That we are not so ready to forgive our brethren their little injuries, as God is to forgive us.

7. That our difficulty to forgive our brethren, after God’ s liberality in forgiving us, is a great charge, or will be a great charge against us in the court of heaven.

8. That we ought to set before us God’ s compassion towards us, and free love in forgiving us, potently to move us to forgive those who have done us injury, and to forgive them out of that consideration.

9. That we ought from our hearts to forgive men their trespasses; that is, so as not to hate them, bear them any grudge or malice, seek any private revenge upon them, or public satisfaction, beyond what they are able to give, but be ready to do them what common offices of kindness in their straits are in our power.

10. That the not doing of this will be an ill evidence to our souls, that God hath not indeed forgiven us, as well as a bar against such forgiveness; and an ill omen, that some punishment from God expects us in this life, to bring us to a temper more conformable to the gospel, and if not, this life, yet in the life which is to come.

Gill: Mat 18:23 - Therefore is the kingdom of heaven // likened unto a certain king // which would take account of his servants

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven,.... The Gospel church state, or the church of Christ under the Gospel dispensation, and the methods of God's dealings in it;

likened unto a certain king: or "a man", "a king", pointing either to Christ, the king Messiah, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords, the King of saints and churches; who, as God, has a natural kingdom of providence, and as man and Mediator, a kingdom of grace; and will have a more visibly glorious one, both in this world and in the other; or rather, the Father of Christ, as appears from the application of the parable, in Mat 18:35, who is the living God, and everlasting King: whose is the kingdom of nature, grace, and glory:

which would take account of his servants; not all mankind, though these are all in a sense his servants, and accountable to him; nor only ministers of the Gospel, who are so in an eminent and peculiar sense, and must give an account to God of their time and talents, and souls committed to them; but all that bear the Christian name, that are professors of religion, that are either really or nominally the subjects and servants of God. These, it is sometimes the will and pleasure of God, to "take account of": not of their persons, or number, but of their conduct and behaviour; which, as it will be more fully done at death, or at judgment, so sometimes is taken in this life: God sometimes calls, and brings, professors of religion to an account, and reckons with them by afflictive dispensations of providence; when he puts them upon reflecting how they have spent their time, made use of their talents and gifts, and have behaved in their families, and in the world, and church; or by dealing roundly with men's consciences, awakening and convincing them of their sins, of omission and commission, which seems to be intended here.