Matthew 18:25 - Forerunner Commentary

Matthew 18:25

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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain The Gospel According to Matthew 18:25:

Matthew 18:25-26
Excerpted from: Mercy Triumphs Over Judgment!

The phrase the kingdom of heaven in verse 23 refers to God's government, including His church, and God treats the members of His church as this king treated his servants. No matter how we look at it, the servant's debt was an enormous sum.

We are called to emulate God's compassion. The servant with such a debt had few or no assets, so his master commanded that everything he had be sold, including his wife and children. In ancient customs, debtors, along with their wives and children, were permitted to be sold into servitude for periods sufficient to pay a debt. In this case, the servant fell before him, that is, the king, in what seemed a humble, earnest manner, entreating him to have patience with him. So the king had pity on him, and he saw his distressed condition and had compassion on him forgiving him the whole debt. God's forgiveness of repentant people is an act of mercy and compassion that we are to emulate. We owe God more than we can ever repay, and His forgiveness has been greater than we can imagine.

Matthew 18:23-25
Excerpted from: Defining Grace

Just a number to illustrate that there is no end to the mercy that we should be willing to give to others. How could Jesus have a basis for saying anything like that?

Let us begin here by looking at the size of the indebtedness to God. If a talent is taken to be of silver, according to the Roman calculation then ten thousand talents would be an amount equal to about $3,000,000 American. If it is of Jewish calculation, then it would be about $10,000,000. If the talent happened to be of gold, then it would be about $150,000,000.

Again, God does not intend you and I to take this figure literally. The figures are given only to present a contrast. Now, in addition to the sheer magnitude of the debt, the man had an additional problem. He had absolutely no collateral, no assets that he could sell, get rid of, cash in, in order to meet the debt. So he was commanded then to go completely and totally into bankruptcy. He was to be sold into slavery, along with his wife and children.

Articles
Another Look at Footwashing
The Prisoner
Will Christ Find Faith?

Bible Studies
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Feeding the Five Thousand (Part Two)
The Model Prayer (Part Seven): Forgive Us Our Debts
What Must We Do When We Recognize Our Guilt?

Essays
Forgiveness and Forgiving
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
God's Enduring Mercy
Loving the Body of Christ (Part Two)
Sins in the Balance (Part One)

Sermons
The Father's Promise of Power!
Snares
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 11)
New Covenant Priesthood (Part 11)
How Can We Develop True Patience?
Thou Shall Love Thy Neighbor
Mercy and Justice
Mercy and Justice
The Feast Brings Hope
Are You Being Brainwashed? (Part 2)
More Righteous Than the Pharisees?
Anger (Part 2)
Matthew (Part Twenty-Five)
Forgiveness and the Perpetual Covenant of Peace

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