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This is where we come to delve into the biblical text. Theology is not our foremost thought, but we realize it is something that will be dealt with in nearly every conversation. Feel free to use the original languages to make your point (meaning Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic). This is an exegetical discussion area, so please limit topics to purely biblical ones.

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The Parables of the Kingdom

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  • The Parables of the Kingdom

    Continued from prior post↑
    It appears that the early traditional source which lies behind both versions supplied the parable with an application in the form of a general maxim. At a stage much earlier than that represented by the First and Third Gospels the point of the parable was felt to lie, not in the reference to the second advent, or to its delay, but to the specific treatment of the worthy and unworthy servants.

    To be continued...

    Comment


    • The Parables of the Kingdom

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      But it is to be observed that the same maxim appears in Mk. iv. 25 as a detached saying. It differs from the Lucan form only in its grammatical structure,* which more clearly betrays the influence of an underlying Aramaic original.** In this context Luke has copied Mark, with negligible differences, while Matthew has again introduced his additional words.
      *ὃς γὰρ ἔχει, δοθήσεται αὐτῷ· καὶ ὃς οὐκ ἔχει, καὶ ὃ ἔχει ἀρθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ. The substitution of the participial construction for the relative clause in Mt. xxv. 29 and Lk. xix. 26 improves the Greek.
      **Mark has placed the saying in the series of utterances following the disciples' question about the nature and purpose of parables. Apparently he interpreted it with reference to the spiritual insight needed for their understanding. He who possesses spiritual insight will have that insight enlarged by considering the parables; he who does not possess it will only be led by them into worse bewilderment and ignorance. A true observation, but perhaps not the original purport of the saying.

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      • The Parables of the Kingdom

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        Now when we recall that there was a tendency to turn sayings of Jesus, which were uttered in reference to a particular situation, into general maxims for the guidance of the Church, we can no longer feel sure that the "moral" appended in the early traditional source to the parable of the Talents is original. As Matthew found in the parable of the Defendant an exhortation to reconciliation, and as Luke found in the parable of the Lamp and the Bushel an illustration of the principle that truth shines by its own light, so at an early stage the parable of the Money in Trust was used to illustrate the maxim that a man who possesses spiritual capacity will enlarge that capacity by experience, while a man who has none will decline into a worse condition as time goes on. That the maxim is an original saying of Jesus is fairly certain, in view of its multiple attestation, but its original application is lost beyond recall. In any case, the parable of the Money in Trust is not a perfect illustration of the principle. The man who hid the money was deprived of it, not because he had little, but because he had not increased his holding, which is a different matter.

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        Comment


        • The Parables of the Kingdom

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          We must therefore postulate a still earlier form of the parable in which, like so many of the parables of Jesus, it had no expressed moral or application. Let us therefore take the story by itself and try to bring it into relation with the actual situation in the life of Jesus. For our purpose we shall do well to construct the story so far as possible out of those elements which are common to Matthew and Luke, neglecting the elaborations which are peculiar to one or other evangelist.

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          Comment


          • The Parables of the Kingdom

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            A man called his servants and gave them sums of money in trust, and went away. Later he returned and called them to account. Two of them had largely increased their capital and were commended. A third confessed that he had been afraid to risk his master's money, and had carefully hoarded it: he now restored the precise sum he had received. It is implied that he expected to be commended for his caution and strict honesty. The master however retorted (and here the agreement between the two versions is at its maximum): "Wicked slave! You knew me for a man to drive a hard bargain. You ought to have invested my capital and then I should have got it back with interest." The third servant is thereupon deprived of his money, which is given to his more enterprising colleague. There the story ended, so far as we can construct the earlier version.

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            Comment


            • The Parables of the Kingdom

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              It is surely evident that the central interest lies in the scene of the reckoning, and in particular the position of the cautious servant, whose hopeful complacency receives so rude a rebuff. The details of the story are subordinate to this dramatic climax. The master's journey is necessary in order to provide an interval during which the servants can prove their worth. It has no independent interest. All is contrived to throw into strong relief the character of the scrupulous servant who will take no risks. It is upon his conduct that the judgment of the hearers of the parables is invited. Here is a man who with money to use will not risk its loss by investment, but hoards it in a stocking. An over-cautious, unenterprising person, we judge, too careful and too fearful to make his mark. But further, the money belongs to someone else, and was entrusted to him for investment. His over-caution, then, takes a worse color. It amounts to a breach of trust. He is an unprofitable servant, a barren rascal. That is the judgment which the parable is intended to elicit.

              To be continued...

              Comment


              • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                To whom, then, is the judgment to be applied? In seeking an answer to this question we must put ourselves in the position of those who heard Jesus speak, and who would find a clue to His meaning, if at all, in their own experience and within the field of their own knowledge. While we need seek for no correspondence in historical facts with the details of the story, we may recall that in the Old Testament and in Jewish usage the relation of God and Israel was so constantly represented as that of a "lord" and his "slaves" that a hearer of the parable would almost inevitably seek an interpretation along those lines. Then who is the servant of God who is condemned for an over-caution amounting to a breach of trust? I would suggest that he is the type of pious Jew who comes in for so much criticism in the Gospels. He seeks personal security in a meticulous observance of the Law. He "builds a hedge about the Law," and tithes mint, anise, and cumin, to win merit in the sight of God. "All these things," he says, "I have observed from my youth"―"Lo there Thou has what is thine!" Meanwhile, by a policy of selfish exclusiveness, he makes the religion of Israel barren. Simple folk, publicans and sinners, Gentiles, have no benefit from the Pharisaic observance of the Law, and God has no interest on His capital.

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                Comment


                • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                  The parable, I suggest, was intended to lead such persons to see their conduct in its true light. They are not giving God his own; they are defrauding Him. "The Judaism of that time," says Dr. Klausner, "had no other aim than to save the tiny nation, the guardian of great ideals, from sinking into the broad sea of heathen culture." Put that way, it seems a legitimate aim. But from another point of view, might it not be aptly described as hiding the treasure in a napkin? To abandon the scrupulous discipline of Pharisaism would be a risk, no doubt. It was precisely the risk that the early Christians took, and they took it under the inspiration of their Master. It is the kind of risk, this parable suggests, that all investment of capital involves; but without the risk of investment the capital remains barren. We have here, it seems, a pointed application of the parable which arises directly out of the historical situation.

                  To be continued...

                  Comment


                  • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                    If this argument is sound, we can trace the history of this particular pericopé of the Gospels three stages. First, the parable is told by Jesus, with pointed reference to the actual situation. Next the early Church makes use of the parable for paraenetic purposes, applying it as an illustration of the maxim, "To him that hath shall be given." It is at this stage that the form of the parable underlying Matthew and Luke was fixed in tradition. In the Matthean line of tradition it suffered further "paraenetic" developments. The amounts of money given to the three servants is now graded, in order that the parable may illustrate the varieties of human endowments.

                    To be continued...

                    Comment


                    • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                      At a third stage the "paraenetic" motive is superseded or supplemented by the "eschatological" interest. The return of the master signifies the second advent of Christ, and the the parable is on the way to become an allegory. In Matthew the unprofitable servant is not only deprived of his unused money; he is cast into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The master's reckoning with his servants has becoming the Last Judgment. In Luke the allegory is carried further, along different lines. The master becomes a nobleman who goes into a far country to receive a kingdom. That is Christ, who ascends to heaven to return as King. After taking reckoning with his servants, the King slays his enemies. That again is Christ who returning as judge will destroy his enemies. To put the reference to the second advent beyond all doubt, the parable is now introduced by a statement that it was spoken because some people thought that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear (whereas, as the Church now knew, there would be a long delay before the Lord's second coming).

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                      Comment


                      • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                        The study of this parable has revealed how subtly the changing interests of the Church have altered the application, while leaving the substance of the story unaltered. We may fairly suspect that the same thing happened in other cases, where the course of development is perhaps not so clear.

                        To be continued...

                        Comment


                        • The Parables of the Kingdom

                          Continued from prior post↑
                          There is a striking group of parables which as we have them are intended to be referred directly to the expected second advent of Christ, and to inculcate preparedness for that approaching crisis. It is in these parables that support is most commonly sought and found for the view, which I believe to be mistaken [color emphasis added by JR], that Jesus foretold a period of waiting between His death and resurrection and His coming in glory. The group consists of the parables of the Faithful and Unfaithful Servants, the Waiting Servants, the Thief at Night, and the Ten Virgins.

                          To be continued...

                          Comment


                          • Continued from prior post↑
                            These parables, as we have them, are set in the context of exhortations to be ready, alert, and wide-awake. Such exhortations belong to the current paraenesis of the early Church. In the earliest extant Christian writing (as I believe it to be) the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, we have the following passage:
                            "You yourselves know quite well that the Day of the Lord comes like a thief at night. When they are saying, 'Peace and security," then sudden destruction comes upon them like her pangs upon a woman with child, and they certainly will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the Day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We do not belong to night or darkness. Let us therefore not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For sleepers sleep by night and drunkards are drunk by night; but let us who belong to day be sober (v. 2-5).

                            To be continued...

                            Comment


                            • The Parables of the Kingdom

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                              As Paul says that this is familiar to his readers, we may take it that such exhortations were a regular part of the instruction he was accustomed to give to his converts. Now compare the following passage, which Luke has added to the apocalyptic discourse taken from Paul:
                              "Beware lest your hearts be made heavy with reveling and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that Day come upon you like a snare. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But keep awake,* praying on every occasion for strength to escape all these things which are going to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man" (xxi. 34-36).
                              *It seems necessary to call attention to an ambiguity of our language. The English word "watch" is etymologically identical with "wake," and formerly bore the same meaning. But in common usage at the present time to "watch" is to observe, to look out for, to be on guard, or the like: it corresponds to such Greek words as θεωρέω, παρατηρέω ... But these are not the words used in the passages referred to; they are γρηγορέω and ἀγρυπνέω, and these mean "to keep awake," with the implication of alertness―that and nothing else. The change in meaning in the English word "watch" makes it a most misleading translation.



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