Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

18:1 Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? The disciples misunderstand greatness in terms of human endeavor, accomplishment, and status.

18:2-4 Whoever humbles himself like this child. The humility of a child consists of childlike trust, vulnerability, and the inability to advance his or her own cause apart from the help, direction, and resources of a parent.

18:5-6 One such child (see vv. 2-4) and these little ones who believe in me both refer to Christ's disciples (cf. 10:40-42).

18:6-9 drowned in the depth of the sea . . . foot causes you to sin, cut it off . . . eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Jesus uses hyperbole (intentional overstatement) to emphasize the necessity of rigorous self-discipline and radically removing sin from the disciple's life before it leads to judgment; see note on 5:29-30. The Greek for hell in 18:9 is gehenna, a name derived from the Valley of the Son of Hinnom near Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31; 19:2; etc.), where rubbish was constantly burned so that it came to be seen as a metaphor for the fire of hell (cf. Matt. 3:12; Rev. 20:15; etc.).

18:10 The heavenly Father uses angels to care for his childlike disciples (cf. Heb. 1:14), but their angels does not imply that each disciple has one assigned "guardian angel." always see the face of my Father. These angels do, however, have continuous and open communication with God.

18:12 a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray. Here the wandering sheep represents a believer, but in a similar parable in Luke 15:3-7 it is an unbeliever. Jesus draws upon the OT images of God's people as both secure sheep (e.g., Psalm 23; Isa. 53:6; Jer. 13:17; Zech. 10:3; 13:7) and straying sheep (e.g., Ps. 119:176; Jer. 23:1-4; 50:6; Ezek. 34:1-30). Cf. also John 10:7-8; 1 Pet. 5:2-4; Rev. 7:17.

18:14 little ones should perish. A dangerous yet real possibility is that apparent followers of Jesus may not be true disciples at all but only professing believers (e.g., Judas Iscariot).

18:15 go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If a matter can be settled without getting others involved, that will keep rumors and misunderstandings from multiplying and will keep the conflict from spreading (cf. Prov. 25:9). gained. The ultimate objective is restoration of the offending brother or sister to the path of discipleship.

18:16 Evidence of two or three witnesses follows the guideline in Deut. 19:15 and refers to witnesses of the subsequent confrontation described in this verse, not necessarily eyewitnesses to the original offense (Matt. 18:15).

18:17 If the offending party of vv. 15-16 will not repent after the matter has been brought before the entire church, then he or she is to be excluded from the fellowship and thought of as an unbeliever. Gentile and tax collector describes those who are deliberately rebellious against God.

18:18 whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Peter's foundational authority is extended to the entire community of disciples, giving them the authority to declare the terms under which God forgives or refuses to forgive the sin of wayward disciples (see note on 16:19).

18:20 there am I among them. Jesus affirms that he will be divinely present among his disciples as they seek unity in rendering decisions, which is rightly understood also as an affirmation of omnipresence and therefore of deity.

18:21-22 how often will . . . I forgive him? Within Judaism, three times was sufficient to show a forgiving spirit (based on Job 33:29, 30; Amos 1:3; 2:6), thus Peter (seven) believes he has shown generosity. But true disciples of Jesus are to forgive without keeping count (seventy times seven). This may echo and reverse Lamech's boast of vengeance in Gen. 4:24 (the Gk. is the same).

18:24 ten thousand talents. In OT times, a talent was a unit of weight equaling about 75 pounds (34 kg). In NT times, it was a unit of monetary reckoning (though not an actual coin), valued at about 6,000 drachmas, the equivalent of about 20 years' wages for a laborer. (A common laborer earned about one denarius per day.) In approximate modern equivalents, if a laborer earns $15 per hour, at 2,000 hours per year he would earn $30,000 per year, and a talent would equal $600,000 (USD). Hence, "ten thousand talents" hyperbolically represents an incalculable debt--in today's terms, about $6 billion.

18:25 sold, with his wife and children. A practice common in the ancient world (cf. Ex. 21:2-11; Deut. 15:12-18; 2 Kings 4:1; Neh. 5:4-8), often as punishment for those whose debts could not possibly be repaid.

18:27 forgave him the debt. The forgiveness of such a massive debt (equivalent to $6 billion; see note on v. 24) is a dramatic illustration of (1) the massive debt that people owe, because of their sins, to the holy, righteous God; (2) their complete inability ever to pay such a debt ("For the wages of sin is death . . . ," Rom. 6:23a); (3) God's great mercy and patience (Matt. 18:26, 29) in withholding his immediate righteous judgment that all people deserve for their sins; and (4) God's gracious provision of Christ's death and resurrection to pay the debt for sins and to break the power of sin ("but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. 6:23b). The two central points of the parable are: first, that the gift of salvation is immeasurably great ("how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" Heb. 2:3); and, second, that unless a person is comparably merciful to others, (a) God's mercy has not had a saving effect upon him (Matt. 18:32-33), and (b) he will be liable to pay the consequences himself (vv. 34-35).

18:28-32 a hundred denarii. This was still a large amount (equivalent to about 20 weeks of common labor, or about $12,000 in today's terms), but compared to the debt that the wicked servant himself owed ($6 billion), it was a relatively small amount. The servant's unwillingness to forgive even this amount, though having been forgiven his own insurmountable debt, reveals the servant's true wicked character (v. 32) and that he has not in fact been transformed by the forgiveness that his master has extended to him.

18:34 delivered him to the jailers. A metaphorical allusion to eternal punishment that the wicked servant justly deserves (cf. 8:12; 10:28; 13:42, 49-50; 22:13; 24:51).

18:35 not forgive your brother from your heart. A transformed heart must result in a changed life that offers the same mercy and forgiveness as has been received from God (cf. Isa. 40:2). Someone who does not grant forgiveness to others shows that his own heart has not experienced God's forgiveness. Throughout Scripture, the heart refers to the center of one's being, including one's reason, emotions, and will.