NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible | Page 158

Matthew 25:30 | 1751
25:10 e Rev 19:9
25:13 f Mt 24:42 , ​44 ; Mk 13:35 ; Lk 12:40
25:14 g Mt 21:33 ; Lk 19:12
25:15 h Mt 18:24 , ​25 25:19 i Mt 18:23
25:21 j ver 23 ; Mt 24:45 , ​47 ; Lk 16:10
25:23 k ver 21
25:29 l Mt 13:12 ; Mk 4:25 ;
Lk 8:18 ; 19:26
25:30 m Mt 8:12
10 “ But while they were on their way to buy the oil , the bride groom ar rived . The vir gins who were ready went in with him to the wed ding ban quet . e And the door was shut . 11 “ Later the oth ers also came . ‘ Lord , Lord ,’ they said , ‘ open the door for us !’ 12 “ But he re plied , ‘ Truly I tell you , I don ’ t know you .’ 13 “ There fore keep watch , be cause you do not know the day or the hour . f
The Parable of the Bags of Gold
25:14-30Ref — ​ Lk 19:12-27
14 “ Again , it will be like a man go ing on a jour ney , g who called his ser vants and entrusted his wealth to them . 15 To one he gave five bags of gold , to an other two bags , and to an other one bag , a each ac cord ing to his abil ity . h Then he went on his jour ney . 16 The man who had re ceived five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more . 17 So also , the one with two bags of gold gained two more . 18 But the man who had re ceived one bag went off , dug a hole in the ground and hid his master ’ s money .
19 “ Af ter a long time the mas ter of those ser vants re turned and set tled ac counts with them . i 20 The man who had re ceived five bags of gold brought the other five . ‘ Mas ter ,’ he said , ‘ you en trusted me with five bags of gold . See , I have gained five more .’
21 “ His mas ter re plied , ‘ Well done , good and faith ful ser vant ! You have been faith ful with a few things ; I will put you in charge of many things . j Come and share your mas ter ’ s happiness !’
22 “ The man with two bags of gold also came . ‘ Mas ter ,’ he said , ‘ you en trusted me with two bags of gold ; see , I have gained two more .’
23 “ His mas ter re plied , ‘ Well done , good and faith ful ser vant ! You have been faith ful with a few things ; I will put you in charge of many things . k Come and share your mas ter ’ s happiness !’
24 “ Then the man who had re ceived one bag of gold came . ‘ Mas ter ,’ he said , ‘ I knew that you are a hard man , har vest ing where you have not sown and gath er ing where you have not scat tered seed . 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground . See , here is what be longs to you .’
26 “ His mas ter re plied , ‘ You wicked , lazy ser vant ! So you knew that I har vest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scat tered seed ? 27 Well then , you should have put my money on de posit with the bank ers , so that when I re turned I would have re ceived it back with interest .
28 “ ‘ So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags . 29 For who ever has will be given more , and they will have an abun dance . Who ever does not have , even what they have will be taken from them . l 30 And throw that worth less ser vant outside , into the dark ness , where there will be weep ing and gnash ing of teeth .’ m
a 15 Greek five talents . . . two talents . . . one talent ; also throughout this parable ; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer ’ s wage .
25:10 – 13 By the time the unprepared girls return with their extra oil , the procession has already arrived at the groom ’ s home and gone inside . At a real wedding , the late arrivals would have been publicly shamed but probably let in . But this is a parable , teaching spiritual lessons . Jesus insists that once he has returned it will be too late to repent . One must not wait to choose how to respond to him . And the salvation of one person cannot be transferred , like oil , to another . No bridegroom would ever claim not to know who some of the bridesmaids were ( v . 12 ), but at the spiritual level of the story Christ declares , “ I don ’ t know you ,” perhaps suggesting there was never a genuine relationship at all between God and these alleged disciples . True believers will prepare in case discipleship proves more arduous than they expect . 25:14 – 30 The Parable of the Bags of Gold / Talents . If Jesus ’ followers can never know when he will return , they must always be good stewards of all the gifts and abilities he has given them . 25:15 bags of gold . “ Talents ,” originally a unit of currency worth about 20 years of a day laborer ’ s wage ( see note on 18:24 ). Not all people receive the same abilities or gifts from God , but everyone is responsible for making good use of what they have been given . For a similar parable , see Luke 19:12 – 27 . 25:18 dug a hole in the ground . People often buried money in the ground under or near their homes for safekeeping . But in so doing there was no chance that their holdings could grow at all . 25:20 – 23 Each of the first two servants makes a 100 percent return on his investment , extraordinary by ancient standards , and each receives the master ’ s effusive praise . 25:24 – 25 The third servant claims to have feared losing his master ’ s money , which can easily happen with investments . He accuses the master of being harsh and unfair , though nothing elsewhere in the parable suggests that this accusation is valid . 25:26 – 27 The servant stands condemned by his own logic . The master points out that if he really were so harsh , then the man should have feared all the more not trying to earn more money with what had been entrusted to him . At least he could have deposited it with local bankers so it would have earned some modest amount of interest without the risks that accompanied other forms of investment . 25:28 – 30 Because a “ bag of gold ” ( talent ) was more literally a gold ingot , it could not easily be broken in two . The worthless slave ’ s original talent is given to the first slave , but the second slave was just as faithful , even though he receives no extra talent . So nothing should be read into these details about varying rewards for God ’ s faithful followers . The point is simply that being ready for Christ ’ s coming involves more than playing it safe and doing little or nothing . It demands the kind of service that produces results . “ Whoever has ” and “ whoever does not have ” ( v . 29 ) must refer to the period of time after they have been given their “ talents ” to steward . Verse 30 makes it clear that Jesus ’ real point is a spiritual one since the fate of the faithless slave is eternal punishment ( cf . note on 8:12 ).