When we think about obedience to God, we often get stuck at the should we or shouldn’t we level. Some say obedience isn’t necessary because Jesus got rid of the law (an argument we’ve refuted extensively on this blog). Others say that we still need to obey God, and the New Testament writings show that they’re right to do so.
But why? There are a host of proposed reasons. Because He tells us to. Because we fear Him. Because we love Him. Because He might strike us dead if we don’t. Because He owns us. Because He created us. Because His law is good.
There’s some truth to each of these “whys.” There’s one, though, that the Biblical writers treat as the core source of our motivation for following God. And it’s one that highlights the vital importance that God places on relationships.
Love at the Core of the Law
When Jesus walked on this earth, He didn’t directly answer the questions, “Do we still need to obey God?” No one thought to ask Him that; they assumed obedience would still matter. He did address the question, though, by saying that He didn’t come to destroy the law and that those who obey God’s commands will be great in His kingdom (Matt. 5:17-20). He described “those who hear the word of God and obey it” as “blessed” (Luke 11:28, NET). He also charged His disciples to teach obedience when they passed on His teachings to others (Matt. 28:19-20).
One of the questions someone did ask Jesus was about the most important commandment. By the time Jesus came to this earth, Jewish people were following even more commands than the ones God gave them when He led ancient Israel out of Egypt. There were rabbinical writings and Jewish traditions piled up on top of God’s laws, at times clarifying them and other times expanding them and making them burdensome. Jesus rejected those additions and traditions of men, but even among the commands that did originate with God He highlighted two as being the most important.
Now one of the experts in the law came and heard them debating. When he saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him.And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered thoughtfully, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Then no one dared any longer to question him.
Notice Jesus doesn’t say God’s other laws aren’t important. Rather, He highlights “love the Lord” and “love your neighbor” as the core laws at the center of all the other laws. Love is the reason or motive behind the rest of God’s law, and if you did that perfectly you’d naturally be keeping the other laws as well. These are God’s main commands; the rest is details on how to love Him and love others.
“The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” …
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him.The person who does not love me does not obey my words.”
John 14:15, 21-24, NET
Relationship with God is connected to obedience and law in a way that modern readers likely find strange. We think of grace as something with no strings attached, but Biblical writers thought of it as something that established a relationship with commitments and expectations. If we’re not obeying God, then we don’t really know Him.
Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments. The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person. But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.
1 John 2:3-6, NET
We declare by our choices whether we are children of God who practice righteousness, or children of the devil who practice lawlessness (1 John 3:8-10). It’s a scary thought, but Jesus indicated there will be people at the final judgement who thought that they were right with God but to whom He will say, “I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!” (Mat. 7:23, NET). We don’t want to end up in that position, where we think we’re good enough Christians but in reality we don’t have a relationship with Jesus.
Getting To the Heart Of Obedience
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Those words of caution bring us around to the other possible reasons for obeying God that we proposed in the introduction. God has the right to expect certain things from us because He created us and the whole universe. He is sovereign, and He knows best what “dos” and “don’ts” lead to a good outcome. He’s also a powerful God of justice who promises to bring divine judgment down on those who do not obey.
Those aspects of His character are just as real as the love and mercy aspects. We should obey God because of who He is and because we have a proper fear and respect for Him. He has the right to tell us what to do, and “because He says so” is a valid reason for obedience (Ps. 100:3; Rev. 5:9; 1 Cor 6:19-20; Rom. 6:15-23). Fear of the Lord–a proper respect for His power, might, and justice–is also a valid reason (Acts 5:1-11; Heb. 10:26-31). But at the same time, those aren’t the foundational reasons for our obedience.
To put it another way, God doesn’t want fear and duty to be the only or primary way that we relate to Him. For some of us, they might be a starting point for why we obey God. Eventually, though, they should take a back-seat to love as our motivation. We obey because we love God and want a relationship with Him, and we show our love by keeping His commands.
Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein. Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 10:12-15, WEB
This passage is addressed to ancient Israel as God’s covenant people, but we’re included in that group because we’ve been grafted into the New Covenant people of spiritual Israel through the Messiah. God’s expectations are the same for us. The entire universe belongs to Him, yet He loved us and chose us to be His people. In return, He asks for our hearts. We should love Him so much that we want to obey Him even without considering His rights as sovereign Lord and His just consequences for disobedience (even though those two things are no less real).
Last week, I heard a message about Caleb’s example and how he “wholly followed” God. I noticed one of the translations on my Bible app said “fully followed,” so out of curiosity I looked up other translations and noticed something interesting about the LEB version.
“No one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he himself shall see it, and to him I will give the land upon which he has trodden and to his sons because he followed Yahweh unreservedly.”
Deuteronomy 1:35-36, LEB (italics in original)
That italicized phrase is the one that’s typically translated something like, “he has wholly followed Yahweh” (Deut. 1:36, WEB). In the LEB, there’s a footnote on this phrase that says, “Literally ‘he filled his hands after Yahweh.'” That caught my attention. I know in Hebrew, words often paint a “picture” that helps the reader visualize what’s going on. For example, the word for anger has to do with flaring nostrils and being “slow to anger” literally means having a “long nose.” Today, I’d like to look more deeply at what we can learn about following God wholly, or “filling our hands after” Him.
Fully Committed to Follow God
The phrase “wholly followed” or “filled hands after” comes from two Hebrew words: mâlê’ (H4390) and ‘achar (H310). It’s used of Caleb five times (Num. 14:24; 32:12; Deut. 1:36; Josh. 14:9, 14). By contrast, the Israelites other than Caleb and Joshua did not “wholly follow Me” (Num. 32:11, WEB). Similarly, Solomon “didn’t go fully after Yahweh, as David his father did” (1 Kings 11:6, WEB). An NET footnote about Solomon describes this phrase as an “idiomatic statement” that “reads in Hebrew, ‘he did not fill up after'” God (footnote on 1 Kings 11:6). That’s very similar to the LEB note saying this phrase literally means, “he filled his hands after Yahweh.”
Digging deeper into these two words in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT), we see that mâlê’ is a common verb (used 249 times) with two basic meanings: to fill up something spatially (e.g. oil filling a jar [2 Kings 4:6]) or temporally (e.g. the days of pregnancy being fulfilled [Gen. 25:24]) (TWOT entry 1195). Sometimes, it’s used figuratively of things that fill the earth such as violence and sin (Gen. 6:13; Jer. 16:18; 51:5; 8:17; Mic. 6:12) or God’s presence, glory, kindness, and knowledge (Num. 14:21; Ps. 33:5; 72:19; Is. 6:3; 11:9; Jer. 23:24; Hab. 3:3).
Mâlê’ is also used of someone’s words being fulfilled (i.e. they did what they said they would do). The phrase “‘to fill one’s hand’ (with sacrifices) is ‘to consecrate’ one’s service” (Ex. 32:29; 1 Chr. 29:5). It’s used for priests being consecrated to God. In other words, they “filled their hands” toward Him. It’s also used of the Levites who obeyed Moses after the Golden Calf incident, and in this case it’s “an expression meant to say that they had been faithful to God even though it turned them against family and friends” (NET footnote on Ex. 32:29). That’s also what Caleb did–he was faithful to God even when the entire rest of the nation and all the other spies except Joshua rebelled against Yahweh’s command.
The second word in this phrase, ‘achar, basically means “after.” It can mean “behind {of place)” or “afterwards (of time)” (Thayer’s Dictionary, H310). Beyond that, I can’t find much information about this word. The TWOT discusses ‘achar only briefly, spending more time on other derivatives of the word ahar (entry 68). Interestingly, ‘achar is related to the Hebrew word for time, ‘aharit (TWOT 68g). In Hebrew, the idea of time is like “the view a man has when he is rowing a boat. He sees where he has been and backs into the future” (Wolff, qtd. by TWOT).
As I ponder these definitions, I picture someone with their whole life full of God, like someone who’s got their hands so full they can’t pick up anything else. And then, filled up with focus on God, they faithfully follow after Him to the places He’s going and the future He’s leading them toward. I find it interesting that there’s also an element of uncertainty; people “filled up after God” are wholly committed to Him, but don’t know what the future holds. They’re goin to follow Him no matter where He leads.
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Full Hearts and Hands
With all the talk about filling up hands when following God in these footnotes and dictionary entries, I started looking into the Hebrew word for “hand” and reading verses where it’s used alongside mâlê’ (H4390). There aren’t very many, but the ones I did find are interesting. For example, human hands can be full of “wickedness,” “bribes,” and “blood” (Ps. 26:10; Is. 1:15, WEB). In sharp contrast, God’s “right hand is full of righteousness” (Ps. 48:10, WEB).
I’ve also seen the phrase mâlê’ +‘achar translated “wholeheartedly follow,” so I looked up times that mâlê’ is paired with “heart” as well. Much like with “hands,” human hearts aren’t typically filled with anything good. Solomon said, “the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live” (Ecc. 9:3, WEB). Similarly, Haman “dared presume (mâlê’) in his heart to” conspire against the Jews (Est. 7:5, WEB). Without God’s influence, human hearts are full of things contrary to God’s nature.
It’s not human’s base-line nature to “fully follow” God with their hands or heart. That’s why it’s so unusual to have someone like Caleb or David fully commit to following God. For us to follow the Lord like that takes dedication and faith on our part, and assistance from God Himself.
In Solomon’s prayer at the temple dedication, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David your father, and has with his hand fulfilled it” (1 Kings 8:15, WEB). That’s the word mâlê’ used in the sense of fully following through on a promise. “Hand” here is yâd (H3027), which literally means a person’s hand but also figuratively refers to “strength, power” (Brown-Driver-Briggs dictionary). God has the strength and power to follow-through on His promises. His hand working in our lives can help us to fully follow Him as well.
After God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, He entrusted the people to make a tabernacle (the precursor to Solomon’s temple). Specifically, he commissioned Bezalel of Judah and Ahisamach of Dan to spearhead the construction of the tabernacle tent, ark of the covenant, priestly garments, and other holy items. In doing so, He chose a man who was “wise-hearted” and then “filled (mâlê’) him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship” (Ex. 31:3, WEB; see also Ex. 28:3; 31:1-11; 35:30-35). These men were already wise in their hearts, but they also needed God to fill them up with His Spirit in order to do the work that He wanted them to do.
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That Which Fills You Bears Fruit
The New Testament also has some things to say about what fills our hearts and the intensity of our commitment to God. Whatever it is that fills up our hearts is going to come out eventually.
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles.The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.”
Luke 6:43-46, NET
Like in the Old Testament, there are things that can influence what fills our hearts. For example, Peter confronted Ananias because “Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:3, NET). In contrast, God fills people up with His Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41, 67; Acts 2:4; 4:31; 9:17; 13:52; Eph. 5:18). He also fills us with other good things, like joy, peace, and knowledge (Rom. 15:13).
For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects—bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
Colossians 1:9-12, NET
The Greek word translated “fill” in these verses is pleroo (G4137). It means “to make full,” fill up to the fullest extent, “to make complete in every particular,” “to carry through to the end,” and “to fulfill” in the sense of bringing something into realization or effect (Thayer’s dictionary). It doesn’t paint the same word-picture with filled up hands as the Hebrew word does, but it means basically the same thing. It refers to something being as full as it can possibly get. When it’s God that fills up the “treasury of a heart,” then the fruit produced is going to be good.
Fully Involve Yourself
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As I wrapped up this study, I thought of what Jesus called the greatest commandment. He said, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Lovethe Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength‘” (Mark 12:29-30, NET, bold italics mark a quotation from Deut. 6:4-5). Heart, soul, mind, and strength is basically everything you have. You should love God wholly, the same way that Caleb followed Him.
In the Old Testament verse that Jesus quotes, there are three Hebrew words used. We’re to love God with all our heart (leb [H3824], inner person, including thoughts and feelings), soul (nephesh [H5315], yourself as a living being), and might (me’od [H3966], force, might, “muchness”). We’re supposed to put our all into this. Everything that makes us who we are, our entire lives, and all of the “muchness” that we have. That sounds a lot like being having our hearts and hands full of following God.
The Father and Jesus are fully committed to accomplishing their plan to bring human beings into their family. They’re all-in, to the point that Jesus died in our place to make it possible for us to receive forgiveness and live new lives that (if all goes as it’s meant to) will result in us becoming “like him” and seeing “him just as he is” (1 John 3:2, NET). They expect us to demonstrate commitment to Them as well. One way we do this is by “wholly following” the Lord, no matter what the future holds or what other people around us might say.
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I’d been trying to decide what topic to write about this week, and then one morning I woke up with this phrase running through my head: “our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.” I think I might have been dreaming about editing a blog post, since I woke up feeling like I needed to add it to an article. I couldn’t think of an existing post that needed editing, so I decided to look up where the quote came from, check out the context, and see where that took me.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
And do this because we know the time, that it is already the hour for us to awake from sleep, for our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers. The night has advanced toward dawn; the day is near. So then we must lay aside the works of darkness, and put on the weapons of light. Let us live decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in discord and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to arouse its desires.
I quote the first part of this passage a lot, but I always stop after the part about love fulfilling the law. If you keep reading, Paul adds a sense of urgency to his instruction to fulfill the law by loving each other. We should “do this because we know the time.” What does that mean? And if Paul could say, “the day is near” to readers almost 2,000 years ago, what would he say to us today?
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Getting Ready For the End
As you read the New Testament, it seems clear that the apostles originally thought Jesus’s second coming would happen in their lifetimes, but that they eventually realized it was farther off in the future. That didn’t soften their sense of urgency, though. Paul probably wrote Romans around 57 A.D. and John wrote his letters around 100 A.D., and yet they both have the same sense of urgency (dates from Britannica.com).
Do this, knowing the time, that it is already time for you to awaken out of sleep, for salvation is now nearer to us than when we first believed. The night is far gone, and the day is near. Let’s therefore throw off the deeds of darkness, and let’s put on the armor of light.
Romans 13:10-11, WEB
Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour.
1 John 2:18, WEB
One of the things that we can learn from this sense or urgency is that even if Jesus doesn’t return in our lifetimes, it’s useful to live as if He will. This is the final hour. The Day of the Lord is near. We do live in the end times. Whether Jesus returns in our lifetimes or not, we have a finite amount of time for our human lives here on this earth. And if God has opened our eyes to the truth, we’ve entered a relationship with Him and committed to following Him in this life, then we’re part of His house and His judgement starts with us.
For the culmination of all things is near. So be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of prayer.Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:7-8, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Prov. 10:12)
But let none of you suffer as a murderer or thief or criminal or as a troublemaker.But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear such a name.For it is time for judgment to begin, starting with the house of God. And if it starts with us, what will be the fate of those who are disobedient to the gospel of God?And ifthe righteous are barely saved, what will become ofthe ungodly and sinners?So then let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator as they do good.
1 Peter 4:15-19, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Prov. 11:31)
As the church of God (the faithful, believing body of Jesus Christ), we’re judged based on how we live our lives here on this earth. What happens to unbelievers is a little more vague, but their resurrection happens at a different time and their judgement is handled a little differently (see “Rethinking Hell: A Clearer View of God’s Judgement“). For us, though, this is our time to learn about God and live His way of life, with the hopeful expectation that in the final judgement after the resurrection we’ll hear “well done, good and faithful servant” (“Rethinking Heaven: Capturing A Vision Of The Resurrection“).
Heading Toward Salvation
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One of the interesting things about the verse we started with in Romans 13 is that Paul says, “our salvation is now nearer than when we became believers.” Modern Christianity tends to treat salvation as a thing that happens when you commit to Jesus Christ, but the New Testament writers treat salvation as a process that begins with our commitment to follow God for the rest of our lives (Phil 3:8-16, for example). This topic comes up in some of the most sobering warnings that Biblical writers deliver to New Covenant Christians.
Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let’s press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. This will we do, if God permits. For concerning those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and near being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Hebrews 6:1-8, WEB
It is vital that we press on once the salvation process begins, building on the elementary principles we first learned. We’re supposed to grow as believers and become more and more like God the Father and Jesus Christ. If we’re not growing, then we’re falling away and that’s a dangerous thing. Notice, though, what the author of Hebrews says right after issuing this sobering warning.
But, beloved, we are persuaded of better things for you, and things that accompany salvation, even though we speak like this. For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them. We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, that you won’t be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and perseverance inherited the promises.
Hebrews 6:9-12, WEB
Though the author penned these warnings, he’s sure that the people he’s writing to are doing “better things … that accompany salvation.” The warning isn’t because he thinks they’re all about to miss out on eternal life, but because he wants them to be awake, diligent, and press on faithfully “even to the end.”
As we look at the world around us, many Christians feel that things are getting so bad it must be close to Jesus’s return. We’re not the first generation to feel this way, but whether we’re right or not we should live with a sense of urgency in our walk as believers. We’re not supposed to be afraid, but we are supposed to be aware of the dangers in complacency. It’s our duty to keep following God faithfully, holding onto the hope He has given us firmly, and keep learning and growing as part of our living, dynamic relationship with the Father and Jesus.
After I posted last week’s article, “What Happened to the Ritual Uncleanness Laws After Jesus’s Sacrifice?” I continued meditating on the ramifications of the changes we talked about in that post. I find it especially amazing to think about the difference in how easy it is to access God now.
For example, let’s say I lived during a time in the Old Testament history when Israel was mostly faithful to God and there was a temple with priests serving in it. Something wonderful happens, and I want to thank Yahweh for this gift. I can just pray, but I’m not King David or a prophet and probably don’t have the gift of the Holy Spirit and so maybe it doesn’t feel like that’s the best way to get God’s attention. But I know that the Torah says people can offer an offering to Yahweh with thanksgiving as the motivation (Lev. 7:11-15). I get everything ready to take that offering to the priests, but then my period starts. Now, I’m ritually unclean for at least the next 7 days and I can’t go into the temple or touch any holy thing. If I bled longer than that, I’d have to count 7 days after the bleeding stops, then go to the priest with “two turtledoves, or two young pigeons” as an offering to become ritually clean again. There are actually quite a lot of things that can make me “unclean,” blocking my access to God. Even when I’m clean, I don’t have the same access that a priest would or even a prophet. God doesn’t talk with me, unless I find myself in very unusual circumstances.
Today, if I want to thank God for something, I can do so very easily. I can approach the Father directly in prayer through the name of Jesus Christ whenever I want, and it’s as if I’m stepping into the most holy parts of the temple to come into God’s presence (John 16:23-27; Heb. 10:19-22). There aren’t restrictions on when I can do that, or things that make me so unclean I can’t come to Him in prayer. Even if I sin (which results in a type of defilement that still damages relationship with God), I still get to go to God directly through Jesus to repent and ask for forgiveness (1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6). I don’t have to go through any other person or do any rituals in order to access God.
I think we take that level of access to God for granted. It doesn’t seem unusual to us; that’s just how it’s always been because we’ve only experienced a relationship with Him under the New Covenant and not under the Old. But when we study Old Testament believers, even considering all the things we have in common with them, it also highlights how much changed with Jesus’s sacrifice. This sort of study can give us a greater appreciation of everything that God the Father and Jesus the Lamb have done for us.
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A New, More Relational Covenant
If you’re reading this the day that it posted on my blog, then tomorrow night (the evening of April 21/beginning of Nisan 14) is when we’ll be keeping the Passover this year. When we keep the Passover as New Covenant Christians, it’s in remembrance of Jesus’s pivotal sacrifice and the commencement of the New Covenant.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had given thanks he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, every time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26, NET
We’ll be gathering together to remember Jesus and what He did to enact a new covenant, which we’ve agreed to participate in. Passover commemorates the major turning point in God’s plan. For thousands of years, He’d promised His people that He would fix the relationship between them and replace the covenant that they broke with one that was even better. When Jesus died, that happened. The promised Messiah became the once-for-all-time sacrifice that forgives sin, the only High Priest we’ll ever need, and the Head of the body of believers that is the temple where God dwells.
But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, no one would have looked for a second one.But showing its fault, God says to them,
“Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will complete a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. “It will not be like the covenantthat I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant and I had no regard for them, says the Lord. “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will putmylaws in their mindsand I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. “And there will be no need at allfor each one to teach his countryman or each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will all know me, from the least to the greatest. “For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.”
Hebrews 8:6-12, NET (bold italics mark a quotation from Jer 31:31-34)
God wants a deep relationship with His people. Notice His focus when describing the New Covenant. He’s writing His laws inside their minds and hearts (not just on scrolls they could hear someone else read). He’s inviting them to call Him their God and claiming them as His people. He promises, “they will all know me.” He also says He’ll be merciful to them and forget the sins that they should justly be punished for. He wants a new kind of relationship with people, one where they know Him at a heart-level and experience relational intimacy with Him. We have that new relationship now, or at least the opportunity for it, and we should appreciate what a great blessing that is.
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Longing For God’s Presence
In the Old Testament, people placed a very high value on the privilege of encountering God’s presence, perhaps because it was more difficult for an average person to do that. They marvel that they’re able to visit God’s tabernacle or temple. They express delight in having any contact whatsoever with Yahweh. If God actually talked with them, they were awestruck and terrified.
David, one of God’s closest friends in the Old Testament, placed a very high value on the unique relationship he had with Yahweh. Speaking of himself, the king, he sang to God, “You make him glad with joy in your presence” (Ps. 21:6, WEB). When he committed a grave sin, he prayed, “Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11, WEB). David knew not to take God’s presence in his life for granted. It was precious, something to hold onto and value highly. Other psalmists had similar responses (Psalm 42:1-4; 73:28; 84:1-12).
How lovely are your dwellings, Yahweh of Armies! My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. …
Blessed are those who dwell in your house. They are always praising you. …
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psalm 84:1-2, 4, 10, WEB
When was the last time you genuinely longed for God this way? When you cried out for Him because you wanted to be in His presence, not because you wanted something from Him? When you wanted to be near Him, praising Him alongside His other covenant people? When you’d rather be at God’s house or temple (in the New Covenant, that temple is His people) for even just one day than have a thousand days anywhere else?
I’ve sang this psalm before (“Better Is One Day” and “Doorkeeper“), but I think I’ve been guilty of leaving the sentiment in the psalm behind after the music ends. Sometimes I forget to ask God to be with me unless I’m feeling lonely or hurt or in need of something from Him. I’m not always excited to go to church services and sing to God, at least not so excited that it overshadows how much I look forward to anything else.
Better To Walk With God Than Any Other Way
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In the New Testament, expressions of thankfulness for the privilege of a close relationship with God seem quieter than the ones we find in the Old Testament. The New Testament doesn’t record new psalms or songs that highlight enthusiastic praises. Most of the New Testament is letters, and if we’re not paying close attention we might miss the passionate emotion behind those letters. But look at how Paul talked about his feelings regarding Jesus’s relationship with him.
If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more …But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things—indeed, I regard them as dung!—that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:4, 7-11, NET
Paul is expressing a very similar sentiment to what we see in Psalm 84, it’s just not as poetical. His main goal is to know Jesus and become like Him. Nothing else can possibly compare to the great honor of being “found in Him,” no matter how impressive it might look from a human perspective.
See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
1 John 3:1-2, WEB
When we really let it sink in that God is making us His children, we should marvel at the greatness of His love. We’ll even get to be like Him in the future and “see him just as he is.” This is a level of closeness and relationship that the people in the Old Testament could only dream about; the psalms rarely mention God as a Father-figure (Ps. 2:7; 68:5; 89:26; 103:13) and the promise “I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters” wasn’t explicitly clear until the New Covenant (2 Cor. 6:18, NET). The faithful Old Covenant believers will get to experience the same future that we do–they’ll “be made perfect together with us” (Heb. 11:39-40, NET)–but we have a fuller taste during our human lives of the relationship that God wants to have with His people.
Rather than take the close, personal relationship we have with God for granted, we should be even more thankful for our access to God than the people writing Psalms were. It’s incredible that we can talk to and spend time with the creator of the universe, and that He wants us to call Him our Abba, Father (Rom. 8:15). What an incredible privilege to have such a relationship with God!
The law God delivered to Israel at Mount Sinai included different types of commands. Efforts to sort them into categories aren’t usually all that helpful, but there are some general observations we can make. It’s clear from reading the Torah that not every command carries the same “weight,” if I can use that imperfect term. For example, some of these laws clearly categorize certain behavior as “sin.” These require repentance and animal sacrifice to cleanse (for example, refusing to act as a witness or swearing a rash oath [Lev. 5:1, 4-6] ). Some sins are serious enough they couldn’t be cleansed that way, and resulted in the perpetrator being cut off from the covenant congregation or even executed unless they were directly forgiven by God (murder, for example, Num. 35:15-34; 2 Sam. 12:7-14). (Note: all sins ultimately result in death without God’s intervention, and in that sense there aren’t “worse” or “better” sins [Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Jam. 2:8-11]).
There are other commands in the law that don’t necessarily involve sin. These regard things that result in a person being “unclean” until a certain time, at which point they might wash or offer a small sacrifice. This “uncleanness” is related to being common or unsanctified–the opposite of being holy and set apart for sacred use. It’s not something we talk about much anymore, but it was very important to God in the Old Testament. So what happened?
When we do talk about this concept, we often refer to it as “ritual uncleanness” to differentiate it from “sinful uncleanness.” I’ve been pondering this concept for years, and I finally want to share a formal Bible study post on the subject. Please just keep in mind as you read that this is a big topic, and the depth of God’s truth is something we could study our whole human lives without learning everything. I might get some things wrong or not explain things the best way (which is why I’ve been reluctant to write on the topic), but I think there’s value in sharing things we’re still learning about so that we can grow and learn together.
What Makes Someone “Unclean”?
First, I do need to point out that there isn’t always a clear-cut division between sin and uncleanness. For example, in Leviticus 5:1-6 it talks about four things that can make a person guilty: refusing to testify as a witness, touching an unclean animal, touching “the uncleanness of man,” and swearing a rash oath. All those things required confession of sin and a trespass offering. This indicates a connection between certain types of uncleanness and sin.
However, there are other things that make someone unclean which have a different outcome. For example, in Leviticus 11 God shares a list of clean and unclean animals. Only the clean animals may be eaten or offered to Him as a sacrifice. For the unclean animals, He says, “By these you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening” (Lev. 11:25, WEB). There’s no mention of a sin offering, simply an uncleanness that expires at the end of the day. That sort of uncleanness doesn’t get you into trouble unless you then do something that God tells you not to do while unclean (such as eat of a holy offering [Lev. 7:19-21]).
If you were ritually unclean, you could not enter the holy places (tabernacle or temple) or touch any holy thing until you became clean again (Lev. 12:4; 22:1-6; 2 Chr. 23:18-19). That cleansing might happen at a certain time, or after washing in water, or after offering a sacrifice. Sometimes cleansing involved a combination of those things, as for lepers (Lev. 14) and those with a “discharge” (Lev. 15). The reason for this hyper-focus on ritual cleanliness was God’s holiness and presence among the people.
You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps. You shall not make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled by them. For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth. For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Leviticus 11:43-45, WEB
You shall have a trowel among your weapons. It shall be, when you relieve yourself, you shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover your excrement; for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in you, and turn away from you.
Deuteronomy 23:13-15, WEB
There is “a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (Lev. 10:10, WEB). God is holy and clean, and there are things that are part of being human in a post-fall world that are unholy or unclean. Remember, holiness involves “set-apartness” for sacred use (H6944 qodesh, BDB definition). People and things aren’t holy unless God makes them that way, separating them to Himself.
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Does God Care About Cleanness in the New Testament?
We’re not told exactly why touching certain animals, a woman being on her period, or a man having leprosy make someone “unclean” in the ceremonial sense. But we do know that up to the time of Jesus, these ritual cleanliness laws were enforced. In one case, “ten men who were lepers met” Jesus, but “stood at a distance” as they cried out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:12, WEB). Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priest, as the Law instructed so they could be declared ceremonially clean after being cured of leprosy.
But there was something different about Jesus. He didn’t seem concerned with the fact that they were ritually unclean. He even touched some of the lepers He healed (Matt. 8:3) and He let a bleeding woman touch Him (Luke 8:43-48). He could cleanse someone in an instant, from sin or from ritual impurity.
Today, we don’t tell a woman on her period that she can’t come before God’s presence in prayer or go to church, or tell her husband that if he touches any surface she does that he’s similarly restricted. And we’re right to do so, but why is that? What changed from the Old to New Testament that the things making people ritually unclean no longer seem to matter to God when they mattered so much before?
The interesting thing is, cleanliness does still matter to God. In the Greek, we often see the word “holy” used to translate the word hagios, where the “fundamental idea is separation, consecration, devotion to the service of Deity, sharing in God’s purity” (G40, Zodhiates). The word is also sometimes translated “saint,” on the assumption that all of God’s people are holy (Rom. 1:7; 15:25-26; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:17; Heb. 3:1). In 1 Corinthians 7:14, hagios is contrasted with the word koinos, common, defiled, or “Levitically unclean” (G2839, Thayer).
And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is happy to live with her, she should not divorce him.For the unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
1 Corinthians 7:13-14, NET
Notice that things here work differently than they did in the Old Testament. Then, if one of the holy people interacted with an unclean thing they became temporarily unclean. Now, if one of the holy people is married to an unbeliever, “the believer is not defiled by the unbeliever” (G37, Zodhiates). Rather, the unbeliever is sanctified by their association with the believer so that the children might be holy to God. Something changed between the Old and New Testament/Covenant so people set apart as holy to God aren’t defiled by “common” things. In at least some cases, they can even sanctify someone who isn’t one of God’s holy people.
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What Changed With Jesus’s Sacrifice?
Of course, the big change between Old and New Covenant happened with Jesus’s sacrifice. That sacrifice provided a different type of cleansing than the one provided by the washings, sacrifices, and rituals of the Old Covenant.
For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.For otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers would have been purified once for all and so have no further consciousness of sin?But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. …
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
Hebrews 10:1-4, 19-22, NET
Sacrifices couldn’t perfect or purify people. But Jesus can, and because of Him we can confidently enter the holy sanctuary. Remember, unclean things can’t come into God’s presence. But God’s not interested in leaving barriers between Him and His people anymore. Jesus’s death tore the veil in the physical temple separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple, and now the whole body of believers is the holy temple of God. Also, we can now enter God’s presence directly through Jesus in prayer. When we’re living in Him, we don’t have to worry about being ritually unclean and if we become sinfully unclean, we can still come straight to God and seek forgiveness (Heb. 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-6).
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.He did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will— to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son.In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.
Ephesians 1:3-8, NET
And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him— if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.
Colossians 1:21-23, NET
Jesus’s sacrifice is what washes us clean from all impurity, including ritual uncleanness and sinful unholiness. In both Ephesians and Colossians, Paul points out that the Father chose to make us holy–part of the saints–and did that through Jesus Christ. We are holy, blameless, blemish-free, and washed clean, and we’ll stay that way “if indeed we remain in the faith.”
Do We Have A Role In Keeping Clean?
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Because of Jesus’s sacrifice, we don’t have to worry about the things related to ritual uncleanness anymore. Jesus makes us pure, holy, and washed clean. But as mentioned previously, some uncleanness comes from sin rather than simply from association with common things. Sin is a serious thing; it separates people from God (Is. 59:1-2). God does not want separation between us, so He’s working to make us holy but we also still need to honor God’s laws, avoid the type of uncleanness that comes from sin, and repent as soon as we become aware that we’ve missed the mark (1 John 1:5-10; 2:1-6).
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you didn’t learn Christ that way, if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. …
Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance. But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints; nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate, but rather giving of thanks. Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Ephesians 4:17-24; 5:1-5, WEB
Here, “uncleanness” is translated from akathartos (G169). It means “not cleansed, unclean” in a ceremonial or moral sense (Thayer). It is an antonym of katharizo (G2511), “to make clean” physically, morally, or “in a levitical sense” (Thayer). Just a little later in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that Christ sanctified (hagiazo [G37], to make holy) and cleansed (katharizo) the church “with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph. 5:25-27, NET).
In the past, ritual uncleanness meant someone following God could not enter the holy places or touch any holy thing. The Father and Jesus erased that distance between Them and Their people by making us holy things that aren’t defiled by the commonness of the world. They also washed away the sins that distance us from God. The sins They’ve already washed can’t come back, but that doesn’t mean that we should go wallow in the filthiness of sin because Jesus cleaned us up. We don’t need to worry about ritual uncleanness, but we do need to make sure if we participate in sin that we repent and come back to Him for spiritual renewal and assistance to grow and change.
People often criticize Christians who still value God’s law by saying things like, “You pick and choose which ones to follow” or “The law was done away with!” I’ve addressed the latter argument in other posts, and I think this study on ritual uncleanness vs. sinful uncleanness helps answer the first criticism. There are some rules in the Old Covenant that don’t apply anymore because they were legal codes for ancient Israel. There are others that we don’t need to follow anymore because we don’t need to worry about ritual uncleanness. Then there are others that are part of God’s Law (which is connected to, but not exactly the same as the Old Covenant) and which both pre-date the Old Covenant (for example, Noah new about clean and unclean meat animals [Gen. 7:2; 8:20]) and which continue into the New Covenant (for example, the two greatest commandments and all the others that depend on them [Mark 12:28-34; Rom. 13:8-10]). Basically, we know we’re not under the Old Covenant; we’re under the New Covenant and in that covenant God makes us holy and writes His law inside our hearts (Heb. 8:6-13; 10:8-18). We still study God’s law to understand what He’s written inside us and we follow His law to honor Him and because it helps teach us how to be like Him.
If I mention the parable where a ruler travels to a far country and gives his servants money to do something with until he gets back, you likely think of the parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25. It’s one of the most familiar parables in the Bible. There’s another parable in Luke 19, the parable of the minas, which I think is less familiar to people even though it’s very similar. I was curious to look at both and compare the two.
Chronologically, the Parable of the Minas comes first in the story of Jesus’s ministry. He shared this parable in Jericho as He was heading to Jerusalem for His final Passover (Luke 18:31; 19:1, 11, 28). The Parable of the Talents is also something He shared before His final Passover, but this time after He entered Jerusalem (Matt. 21); it’s part of what we call the Olivet Prophecy (Matt. 24-25). In between these parables, we have Jesus’s “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-40). As He approached the city, He sent two disciples ahead to fetch a donkey’s colt for Him to ride, fulfilling a prophecy recorded by Zechariah (Zech. 9:9).
As prophesied, “the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen” (Luke 19:37, NET). They shouted praises to God, and connected Jesus’s entry to Jerusalem with a Messianic psalm, crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9-11, NET, quoting Ps 118:25-26). Hosanna literally means “Save us now” (Ps. 118:25, WEB) or “O Lord, save us” (NET footnote on Matthew 21:9).
They had Jesus’s identity right: He is the prophesied Messianic king. However, they didn’t understand that He was here this time to die for our sins and that His kingdom-bringing coming was still in the future. That misunderstanding is one of the reasons Jesus spoke the parables we’re looking at today.
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Kingdom Context
When Jesus entered Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, “a man named Zacchaeus … a chief tax collector” was so eager to see Him he climbed a tree to get up above the crowds. Jesus called to Him and said, “I must stay at your house today.” Zacchaeus was overjoyed, but the crowds murmured against Jesus for being “the guest of a man who is a sinner” because tax collectors were seen as traitors (NET footnote on Luke 3:12) (Luke 19:1-7).
But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham!For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Luke 19:8-11, NET
It’s not immediately apparent what the conversation with and about Zacchaeus might have to do with the parable of the minas, but that is clearly the context. Jesus makes the statement about salvation coming to Zacchaeus because “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” then immediately tells a parable to the people who were listening to those words. Luke tells us that Jesus shared this particular parable because people didn’t understand the timing for the kingdom of God.
Not long after, once Jesus was in Jerusalem, He spoke a parable about the kingdom, answered a question about the resurrection, and challenged people about how they viewed the Messiah (Matt. 22:1-14, 23-33, 41-46). He also spoke woes to “the experts in the law and the Pharisees” who taught God’s law, but don’t actually do what God expects (Matt. 23). Finally, as He walked away from the temple courts, He told His disciples that all those buildings would be torn down. This prompted them to ask Him a private question: “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:1-3, NET). Perhaps they’d understood the lesson of the first parable–the kingdom of God would not appear immediately–and now they wanted more information. Jesus did give them warning signs to watch out for, but rather than focusing on the “when,” He highlights how His disciples are to prepare for His second coming and what He expects from their conduct.
“Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
“Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes. I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two, and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24:46-51, NET
This warning is the immediate lead-in to the parable of the 10 virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats. The word “slave” is used both here in the warning about being ready and in the parables of the talents and minas. In Greek, it’s the word doulos (G1401). It’s often translated “servant,” but “slave” or “bondservant” is a better translation. Doulos means “one who is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will being altogether consumed in the will of the other” (The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, entry 1401). It could be involuntary slavery, or voluntary and total submission to God. Paul and other apostles frequently use the word to refer to themselves and others serving God, including at times every Christian (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1; Col. 4:12; 2 Tim. 2:24; Tit. 1:1; Jas. 1:1; 1 Pet. 2:16; 2 Pet. 1:1; Jude 1:1). Even Jesus Himself was a doulos of the Father (Phil. 2:7).
I wanted to spend some time on this word before we get into the parables themselves because it’s easy to misunderstand, whichever translation you’re reading. The people in these parables are not hired servants who can just walk away whenever they want, but they’re also not in the terrible, involuntary condition that we think of when we read “slave” with our modern eyes. They are bound to the king in the parable the same way Paul was bound to Jesus Christ and God the Father.
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The King Goes Away
The two parables begin in a similar fashion.
Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return.And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be kingover us!’
Luke 19: 12-16, NET
“For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.”
Matthew 25:14-15, NET
We’re talking about a lot of money in these parables. For the first, “A mina was a Greek monetary unit worth 100 denarii or about four months’ wages for an average worker based on a six-day work week” (NET footnote on Luke 19:13). Putting that in perspective, the median income of an American in 2022 was $37,600 a year, so four month’s wages would be about $12,533. That’s a pretty large sum of money to hand someone all at once, but the amount in the second parable is even larger.
In the second parable, Jesus says the man gives his slaves a talent. This “was a huge sum of money, equal to 6,000 denarii. One denarius was the usual day’s wage for a worker” (NET footnote on Matt. 18:24). That’s about 250 months, or almost 21 years worth of an average worker’s wages. Using our median American salary again, it’s about $783,333 for one talent. The one who got five talents would have about $3.9 million. A mina is a decent chunk of money, but a talent is an unbelievably large sum.
I wonder what people thought hearing these parables, especially the people who heard both parables. The 12 disciples would have heard both, and I doubt they were alone in following Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and continuing to listen to Him. Imagine yourself listening to that first parable, possibly putting yourself inside the story. The boss called you, one of just 10 employees, and said, “Here’s $12,500 to do business with until I get back. Let’s see how you handle it.” Then you listen to the second parable, and it’s a similar situation except this time the boss calls just three of you in and gives one person $800,000, one person $1.6 million, and the last person $3.9 million. It might seem unfair, or leave you confused. You’d be hanging on every one of Jesus’s words to find out what happened next.
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The Rewards
Some time passes in both parables. We don’t know how much, but there’s time for the bondservants to conduct business and increase the money they’d been entrusted with. Then the ruler returns, apparently without sending advance notice of the date of his arrival, the same way Jesus says He will at His second coming.
When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’
Luke 19: 15-18, NET
In this parable, the rewards are directly tied to the outcome. The king gave each bondservant identical amounts of money, and he rewarded them according to what they’d done with the money. The parable of the talents flips this.
The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work and gained five more.In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it.After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Matthew 25:16-23, NET
In this parable, the bondservants were given different amounts of money, to “each according to his ability” (Matt. 25:18, NET). Then the king came back, and the two who’d doubled the amount of money were given the same commendation for faithfulness and the promise that the king would put them “in charge of many things.”
I find it interesting that in the parable of the minas, everyone gets the same gift and then the rewards reflect what they did with the gift. Then in the parable of the talents, the gifts reflect the people’s known abilities and when they do something with the gift, they receive the same commendation. Taken together, I find both of them reassuring messages. They indicate that while God does pay attention to our abilities and what we do with the gifts He gives us, everyone who does something with those gifts receives a reward. And it’s a good reward, often with very little difference between what you get and what someone else gets.
Image by WhoisliketheLord Studio from Lightstock
The One Who Did Nothing
If the parables stopped there, the message wouldn’t contain any warning or urgency. But Jesus is trying to teach people about the kingdom of God. He wants them to know it’s not happening right now, but that they need to be doing something while they wait. And so we return to one last bondservant, one who didn’t do as the ruler expected with the gift he’d received.
Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth.For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.’”
Luke 19: 20-26, NET
Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest!Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten.For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
Matthew 25:24-30, NET
The phrasing is almost exactly the same in the two parables. One bondservant hid the mina or talent and said it was because he was afraid. The ruler is harsh, he explained, and so it was better not to do anything at all. Maybe the bondservant was afraid of losing money, of not measuring up, and so he was paralyzed by his fear of imperfection (as we might be as Christians, if we worry that God will judge us harshly when we fail). Or perhaps the clue to this bondservant’s motive is in the master’s criticism of him as “evil and lazy;” maybe he knew to do better but thought he’d have more time or that it wasn’t all that important and so didn’t bother doing anything (as we might if we think God doesn’t or shouldn’t expect anything from us).
In both cases, the ruler judges the servant based on his own excuse. If the ruler is a harsh man who expects to receive something back that he didn’t work for himself, the bondservant could have at least put the money in the bank so it was earning interest. It did no good to anyone sitting in a hole in the ground or wrapped up in the back of a drawer. I often think of this as saying, “Well, God, you expect too much so I thought it would be better not to do anything” and having God say something like, “You could have at least gone to church and tithed to support other people who were doing what I asked them to.”
Image by Anggie from Lightstock
Though we’re living about 2,000 years after the people who first heard these parables, we’re in a very similar situation. We wonder when Jesus is coming back. Sometimes we think it could be very soon, sometimes it feels like a long way away. We need to remember that we are living in the end times (John said we have been since the first century [1 John 2:18]), but also that we’re not permitted to know the exact time of Jesus’s return (Acts 1:6-7). We also need to remember that what might seem like a delay is actually God showing great patience and mercy (2 Peter 3:8-10).
The parables of the talents and minas remind us that we have a responsibility to honor the master who gave us great gifts and asked us to do something with them while He’s gone. He is coming back and we’ll give an accounting to Him for how we’ve lived our lives and the choices we’ve made. That’s a good reminder for us, particularly now as we approach Passover this year mindful of Paul’s admonition to examine ourselves before participating in the Passover. God is merciful and gracious. He doesn’t expect too much of us, just that we stay faithful to Him and do something with the gifts He’s given us. If we find we’ve fallen short of that charge, we still have time to repent and ask Him for guidance to follow Him more faithfully.
![Image of several Bibles on a table as people study together, overlaid with text from Acts 10:14-15, 28, WEB version: But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten
anything that is common or unclean.”
A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” ...
[Peter] said to them, “You yourselves know how it is an
unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to join himself or come to one of another nation, but God has shown me that I shouldn’t call any man unholy or unclean.”](https://marissabaker.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/ritual-uncleanness-4.jpg)
Like An Anchor 