Judas Iscariot

[Scarlett O.]

Originally posted by Hope of Glory:
I think you need to re-read the parable of the talants: It's talking about rewards and loss, not salvation.

I don't want to argue with you and I am not. I understand entirely how this parable points to Christians and their varying degrees of work for the Lord and their varying degrees of reward.

But....

Just let me explain why I think that Matthew 25:14-30 can also be talking about both the saved and the lost.

Just bear with me.

Verses 14-19
God gives many people many various and different talents, gifts, and responsibilities. You know as well as I do that there are millions of lost people who are gifted public speakers, political leaders, musicians, writers, artists, friends, doctors, and family members.

Saul was a zealous man. He had a driven, purposeful, and powerful agenda and met life head-on. He was gifted in the area of leadership and charisma and teaching others.

Unfortunately, he was using his talented life to kill Christians and oppose Jesus Christ.

Once he was saved, the apostle Paul got to keep those same gifts and abilities and they became spiritual gifts and abilities. God didn't take away his zeal. God turned Paul's heart and Paul turned his zeal for life and his zeal for the truth in another direction. The direction of serving Christ.

My favorite Christian author is Francine Rivers.

Francine was a very prolific and an award-winning author. People everywhere loved her books.

Unfortunately, she was writing those silly old romance novels. Not the trashy kind, but unedifying, nonetheless.

Guess what.

In 1986, Francine was saved. God allowed her to keep that talent of writing and she now writes for the glory of God and in the name of Jesus Christ. Her christian novels are some of the best that I have ever read.

So, you see, in my mind, gifts and talents are given to both the lost as well as the saved. The saved are spiritually gifted and the lost, when saved, can have their gifts turn into spiritual ones or be gifted entirely differently altogether.

Verse 19
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them."

I don't know any other way to interpret this than judgement day.

verse 30
"...And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Is this not a description of hell, itself? Why would the saved person, even if they didn't live a very faithful life, be thrown into hell?

This is NOT a parable about losing one's salvation, because one cannot lose his or her salvation.

This last servant was thrown into hell.

Why? Because he refused to trust the Master. He had NO faith at all in the Master. He was aware of the Master's abilities to "harvest where he had not sown and gather where he had not scattered seed", but he would not place his trust in that.

He hid his life from the Master. Just like the people of Jericho. They know who God was. They heard about his miraculous works. They hid from him nonetheless.

I may be wrong on this, but it is my own personal interpretation of the parable.

I can see both interpretations, actually.

But because verse 30, in my mind, is referencing hell, I have to say that the third servant was not representative of a Christian at all.

Peace-
Scarlett O.
<><

 

[Bro. James]

"I have chosen you twelve--one of you is a devil", Jesus to the Apostles.
Jesus knew what Judas would do before Judas was born.

Selah,

Bro. James

 

[Hope of Glory]

verse 30
"...And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

If by "hell" you are referring to the lake of fire, when was the last time that you saw a fire that was darkness?

Judgment on those who are "his" occur at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The lost are judged at the Great White Throne judgment. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, all Christians (and only Christians) appear.

At the Judgment Seat of Christ, there will be rewards, loss, and even chastizement meted out. This is consistent both with passages referring to the Judgment Seat of Christ and secular judgment seats. (Pilate set on his judgment seat and sentenced Jesus to death; not much of a reward there, eh?)

Look back to who Jesus was talking to: He was talking to his disciple. A disciple is much more than a casual follower and hanger-on, both by definition and by the Jewish mind-set. (To say otherwise is twisting the meanings of words to make them fit a particular pre-set theology.)

A disciple is someone who embraces the teachings of the one to whom they are a disciple. They may change their mind about the person to whom they are a disciple, but they cannot change the fact that they were a disciple.

Now, you can see that he's talking to his disciples, spring forward to 25:14, and you will see that the man travelling in the far country "called his own servants". They're his own! They're his! They belong to him.

So, if you hold to OSAS, as you state, then hopefully, you can see that these servents represent those who belong to Jesus, so the results have to be something other than the lake of fire for the unfaithful servants. Otherwise, it would be a salvation by works.

 

[Hope of Glory]

Yes, Jesus had chosen you and one of you is a devil (it doesn't say the Devil), or an adversary, or an accuser.

Well, Judas was those things, wasn't he? Many people are. For example, in 1 Timothy 3:11, deaconesses are told not to be "she-devils". It's the same word. (The KJV translates it as "slanderers" in this instance.)

This has no bearing on whether or not he was saved, unless you're lost (or saved) by your works.