Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:35
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
35. from your hearts ] A different principle from the Pharisee’s arithmetical rules of forgiveness.
their trespasses ] The MS. authority is against these words.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So likewise … – This verse contains the sum or moral of the parable. When Christ has explained one of his own parables, we are to receive it just as he has explained it, and not attempt to draw spiritual instruction from any parts or circumstances which he has not explained. The following seems to be the particulars of the general truth which he meant to teach:
1.That our sins are great.
2.That God freely forgives them.
3.That the offences committed against us by our brethren are comparatively small.
4.That we should therefore most freely forgive them.
5.That if we do not, God will be justly angry with us, and punish us.
From your hearts – That is, not merely in words, but really and truly to feel and act toward him as if he had not offended us.
Trespasses – Offences, injuries. Words and actions designed to do us wrong.
Remarks On Matthew 18
1. We see that it is possible to make a profession of religion an occasion of ambition, Mat 18:1. The apostles at first sought honor, and expected office as a consequence of following Christ. So thousands have done since. Religion, notwithstanding all the opposition it has met with, really commands the confidence of mankind. To make a profession of it may be a way of access to that confidence. Thousands, it is to be feared, even yet enter the church merely to obtain some worldly benefit. Especially does this danger beset ministers of the gospel. There are few paths to the confidence of mankind so easily trod as to enter the ministry. Every minister, of course, if at all worthy of his office, has access to the confidence of multitudes, and is never despised but by the worst and lowest of mankind. No way is so easy to step at once to public confidence. Other people toil long to establish influence by personal character. The minister has it by virtue of his office. Those who now enter the ministry are tempted far more in this respect than were the apostles; and how should they search their own hearts, to see that no such abominable motive has induced them to seek that office!
2. It is consummate wickedness thus to prostitute the most sacred of all offices to the worst of purposes. The apostles at this time were ignorant. They expected a kingdom in which it would be right to seek distinction. But we labor under no such ignorance. We know that the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and woe to the man that acts as though it were. Deep and awful must be the doom of him who thus seeks the honors of the world while he is professedly following the meek and lowly Jesus!
3. Humility is indispensable to religion, Mat 18:3. No man who is not humble can possibly be a Christian. He must be willing to esteem himself as he is, and to have others esteem him so also. This is humility, and humility is lovely. It is not meanness it is not cowardice – it is not want of proper self-esteem; it is a view of ourselves just as we are, and a willingness that God and all creatures should so esteem us. What can be more lovely than such an estimation of ourselves! and how foolish and wicked is it to be proud that is, to think more of ourselves, and wish others to think so, than we really deserve! To put on appearances, and to magnify our own importance, and to think that the affairs of the universe could not go on without us, and to be indignant when all the world does not bow down to do us homage this is hypocrisy as well as wickedness; and there may be, therefore, hypocrites out of the church as well as in it.
4. Humility is the best evidence of piety, Mat 18:4. The most humble man is the most eminent Christian. He is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The effect of sin is to produce pride. Religion overcomes it by producing a just sense of ourselves, of other people, of angels, and of God. We may therefore measure the advance of piety in our own souls by the increase of humility.
5. We see the danger of despising and doing injury to real Christians, and more especially the guilt of attempting to draw them into sin, Mat 18:6. God watches over them. He loves them. In the eye of the world they may be of little importance, but not so with God. The most obscure follower of Christ is dear, infinitely dear, to him, and he will take care of him. He that attempts to injure a Christian, attempts to injure God; for God has redeemed him, and loves him.
6. People will do much to lead others into sin, Mat 18:7. In all communities there are some who seem to live for this. They have often much wealth, or learning, or accomplishment, or address, or professional influence, and they employ it for the sake of seducing the unwary and leading them into ruin. Hence, offences come, and many of the young and thoughtless are led astray. But He who has all power has pronounced woe upon them, and judgment will not always linger. No class of people have a more fearful account to render to God than they who thus lead others into vice and infidelity.
7. We must forsake our dearest sins, Mat 18:8-9. We must do this, or go to hell-fire. There is no way of avoiding it. We cannot love and cherish those sins and be saved.
8. The wicked they who will not forsake their sins – must certainly go to eternal punishment, Mat 18:8-9. So said the compassionate Saviour. The fair and obvious meaning of his words is that the sufferings of hell are eternal, and Christ did not use words without meaning. He did not mean to frighten us by bugbears or to hold up imaginary fears. If Christ speaks of hell, then there is a hell. If he says it is eternal, then it is so. Of this we may be sure, that every word which the God of mercy has spoken about the punishment of the wicked is full of meaning.
9. Christians are protected, Mat 18:10. Angels are appointed as their friends and guardians. Those friends are very near to God. They enjoy his favor, and his children shall be safe.
10. Christians are safe, Mat 18:11-14. Jesus came to save them. He left the heavens for this end. God rejoices in their salvation. He secures it at great sacrifices, and none can pluck them out of his hand. After the coming of Jesus to save them – after all that he has done for that, and that only – after the joy of God and of angels at their recovery, it is impossible that they should be wrested from him and destroyed. See Joh 10:27-28.
11. It is our duty to admonish our brethren when they injure us, Mat 18:15. We have no right to speak of the offence to anyone else, not even to our best friends, until we have given them an opportunity to explain.
12. The way to treat offending brethren is clearly pointed out, Mat 18:15-17. Nor have we a right to take any other course. Infinite Wisdom – the Prince of Peace – has declared that this is the way to treat our brethren. No other can be right; and no other, therefore, can be so well adapted to promote the peace of the church. And yet how different from this is the course commonly pursued! How few go honestly to an offending brother and tell him his fault! Instead of this, every breeze bears the report – it is magnified – mole-hills swell to mountains, and a quarrel of years often succeeds what might have been settled at once. No robber is so cruel as he who steals away the character of another. Nothing can compensate for the loss of this. Wealth, health, mansions, equipage, all are trifles compared with this. Especially is this true of a Christian. His reputation gone, he has lost his power of doing good; he has brought dishonor on the cause he most loved; he has lost his peace, and worlds cannot repay him.
Who steals my purse, steals trash: tis something, nothing:
Twas mine, tis his, and has been slave to thousands.
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
13. We have every encouragement to pray, Mat 18:20. We are poor, and sinful, and dying, and none can comfort us but God. At his throne we may find all that we want. We know not which is most wonderful – that God deigns to hear our prayers, or that people are so unwilling to use so simple and easy a way of obtaining what they so much need.
14. We should never be weary of forgiving our brethren, Mat 18:22. We should do it cheerfully. We should do it always. We are never better employed than when we are doing good to those who have injured us. Thus doing, we are most like God.
15. There will be a day in which we must give up our account, Mat 18:23. It may tarry long; but God will reckon with us, and everything shall be brought into judgment.
16. We are greatly indebted to God – far, far beyond what we are able to pay, Mat 18:24. We have sinned, and in no way can we make atonement for past sins; but Jesus the Saviour has made an atonement and paid our debt, and we may be free.
17. It is right to pray to God when we feel that we have sinned, and are unable to pay the debt, Mat 18:26. We have no other way. Poor, and needy, and wretched, we must cast ourselves upon his mercy or die – die forever.
18. God will have compassion on those who do this, Mat 18:27. At his feet, in the attitude of prayer, the burdened sinner finds peace. We have nowhere else to go but to the very Being that we have offended. None but he can save us from death.
19. From the kindness of God to us we should learn not to oppress others, Mat 18:28.
20. It is our true interest, as well as duty, to forgive those that offend us, Mat 18:34. God will take vengeance, and in due time we must suffer if we do not forgive others.
21. Christians are often great sufferers for harboring malice. As a punishment, God withdraws the light of his countenance; they walk in darkness; they cannot enjoy religion; their conscience smites them, and they are wretched. No man ever did or ever can enjoy religion who did not from his heart forgive his brother his trespasses.
22. One reason why Christians ever walk in darkness is, that there is some such duty neglected. They think they have been injured, and very possibly they may have been; they think they are in the right, and possibly they are so; but mingled with a consciousness of this is an unforgiving spirit, and they cannot enjoy religion until that is subdued.
23. Forgiveness must not be in word merely, but from the heart, Mat 18:35. No other can be genuine. No other is like God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you] The goodness and indulgence of God towards us is the pattern we should follow in our dealings with others. If we take man for our exemplar we shall err, because our copy is a bad one; and our lives are not likely to be better than the copy we imitate. Follow Christ; be merciful as your Father who is in heaven is merciful. You cannot complain of the fairness of your copy. Reader, hast thou a child, or servant who has offended thee, and humbly asks forgiveness? Hast thou a debtor, or a tenant, who is insolvent, and asks for a little longer time? And hast thou not forgiven that child or servant? Hast thou not given time to that debtor or tenant? How, then, canst thou ever expect to see the face of the just and merciful God? Thy child is banished, or kept at a distance; thy debtor is thrown into prison, or thy tenant sold up: yet the child offered to fall at thy feet; and the debtor or tenant, utterly insolvent, prayed for a little longer time, hoping God would enable him to pay thee all; but to these things thy stony heart and seared conscience paid no regard! O monster of ingratitude! Scandal to human nature, and reproach to God! If thou canst, go hide thyself – even in hell, from the face of the Lord!
Their trespasses.] These words are properly left out by GREISBACH, and other eminent critics, because they are wanting in some of the very best MSS. most of the versions, and in some of the chief of the fathers. The words are evidently an interpolation; the construction of them is utterly improper, and the concord false.
In our common method of dealing with insolvent debtors, we in some sort imitate the Asiatic customs: we put them in prison, and all their circumstances there are so many tormentors; the place, the air, the company, the provision, the accommodation, all destructive to comfort, to peace, to health, and to every thing that humanity can devise. If the person be poor, or comparatively poor, is his imprisonment likely to lead him to discharge his debt? His creditor may rest assured that he is now farther from his object than ever: the man had no other way of discharging the debt but by his labour; that is now impossible, through his confinement, and the creditor is put to a certain expense towards his maintenance. How foolish is this policy! And how much do such laws stand in need of revision and amendment! Imprisonment for debt, in such a case as that supposed above, can answer no other end than the gratification of the malice, revenge, or inhumanity of the creditor. Better sell all that he has, and, with his hands and feet untied, let him begin the world afresh. Dr. Dodd very feelingly inquires here, “Whether rigour in exacting temporal debts, in treating without mercy such as are unable to satisfy them – whether this can be allowed to a Christian, who is bound to imitate his God and Father? To a debtor, who can expect forgiveness only on the condition of forgiving others? To a servant, who should obey his Master? – and to a criminal, who is in daily expectation of his Judge and final sentence?” Little did he think, when he wrote this sentence, that himself should be a melancholy proof, not only of human weakness, but of the relentless nature of those laws by which property, or rather money, is guarded. The unfortunate Dr. Dodd was hanged for forgery, in 1777, and the above note was written only seven years before!
The unbridled and extravagant appetites of men sometimes require a rigour even beyond the law to suppress them. While, then, we learn lessons of humanity from what is before us, let us also learn lessons of prudence, sobriety, and moderation. The parable of the two debtors is blessedly calculated to give this information.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
35. So likewisein thisspirit, or on this principle.
shall my heavenly Father doalso unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one hisbrother their trespasses.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So likewise shall my heavenly Father,…. This is the accommodation and application of the parable, and opens the design and intent of it; showing that God, who is Christ’s Father, that is in heaven, will act in like manner towards all such persons, who are cruel and hard hearted to their brethren, and are of merciless and unforgiving spirits; for so it is said,
he will do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. The phrase, “their trespasses”, is omitted by the Vulgate Latin, the Arabic, and the Ethiopic versions, but is in all the Greek copies; and designs not pecuniary debts, though these are to be forgiven, and not rigorously exacted in some cases, and circumstances; but all injuries by word or deed, all offences, though ever so justly taken, or unjustly given; these should be forgiven fully, freely, and from the heart, forgetting, as well as forgiving, not upbraiding with them, or with former offences, and aggravating them; and should also pray to God that he would forgive also. It is certainly the will of God, that we should forgive one another all trespasses and offences. The examples of God and Christ should lead and engage unto it; the pardon of sin received by ourselves from the hands of God strongly enforces it; the peace and comfort of communion in public ordinances require it; the reverse is contrary to the spirit and character of Christians, is very displeasing to our heavenly Father, greatly unlike to Christ, and grieving to the Spirit of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
From your hearts ( ). No sham or lip pardon, and as often as needed. This is Christ’s full reply to Peter’s question in 18:21. This parable of the unmerciful servant is surely needed today.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(35) My heavenly Father.The adjective is slightly different in form from that commonly used, suggesting rather the thought of the Father in heaven.
Do also unto you.The words cut through the meshes of many theological systems by which men have deceived themselves. Men have trusted in the self-assurance of justification, in the absolving words of the priest, as though they were final and irreversible. The parable teaches that the debt may come back. If faith does not work by love, it ceases to justify. If the man bind himself once again to his old evil nature, the absolution is annulled. The characters of the discharge are traced (to use another similitude) as in sympathetic ink, and appear or disappear according to the greater or less glow of the faith and love of the pardoned debtor.
From your hearts.A verbal, formal forgiveness does not satisfy the demands of the divine righteousness. God does not so forgive, neither should man.
Every one his brother their trespasses.The two last words are not in some of the best MSS., and have probably been added to make the verse correspond with Mat. 6:14-15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
35. So On the same principle of retribution. If we forgive not others, God will not forgive us. From your hearts In mercy to ourselves we must turn the resentment out from our inmost hearts, that our own hearts may be abodes of peace and love. To this rule we consent every time we repeat the Lord’s prayer. Surely the law of forgiveness must prevail in the kingdom of love. Judgment without mercy is for him that shows no mercy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“So also will my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.”
The story ends with an application. This is how His Heavenly Father will behave (not the torturing but the calling to account) towards all who do not forgive their brother or sister from the hearts. The reference to brother indicates that primarily this applies to forgiveness between ‘brethren’ within the circumstances laid done in Mat 18:15-20. But we cannot limit it to that, for the idea is that having been forgiven we will be living our lives in the light of chapters 5-7, in terms of the Sermon on the Mount (and especially Mat 6:14-15). By it Jesus is saying, ‘freely you have received, freely give’.
It should of course be noticed that the king offered his forgiveness first before the servant was expected to forgive. It was not that the servant had to earn forgiveness. His crime was that having himself been offered full forgiveness he refused a lesser forgiveness to another. His lord had given him the example, that he might follow in his steps. And the point behind it is that he had no real consciousness of the forgiveness that he had been offered, for had he really been conscious of it, it could not have failed to stir him to forgiveness of a fellow servant. (All his fellow-servants saw that). For us it is a reminder that if we have been truly forgiven, and are conscious of it, then it cannot have failed to change our lives. And if it has not done so we need to ask ourselves whether we really have received forgiveness. For the consequence of our forgiveness is that we are to be perfect even as our Father in Heaven is perfect (Mat 5:48).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The application:
v. 35. So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Christ here opens up the meaning of the entire parable. He pictures the average person in his treatment of his fellow-man. “Such is man, so harsh and hard, when he walks otherwise than in a constant sense of forgiveness received from God. Ignorance or forgetfulness of his own guilt make him harsh, unforgiving, and cruel to others; or, at least, he is only hindered from being such by those weak defenses of natural character which may at any moment be broken down. ” God is merciless to the merciless. He wants every person without exception to be ready at all times to forgive from the heart, without sham or lip pardon, not with a cruel: Forgive, but not forget. For we Christians are all servants of God, the heavenly King. And by nature we are unprofitable servants. We are guilty before the Lord on account of our thousandfold transgressions of the Law. Our debt before Him is so great that it staggers the imagination, as Luther suggests, that we can never hope to pay it off. We are therefore guilty of hell and damnation before Him. But now God has had mercy upon us for the sake of Jesus, who paid the debt of our sin. He has loosed us from the imprisonment we deserve and forgiven the debt. Therefore we have the obligation of gratitude resting upon us that we gladly forgive our fellow-men what they have sinned against us. Even if such a transgression be great in the sight of men, it cannot come into consideration in comparison with the debt which God has mercifully forgiven us. Any man, therefore, that is unmerciful, hardhearted, unforgiving toward his fellow-man, thereby denies and repudiates God’s grace and mercy. His former debt is again charged to his account. The just anger of God will deliver him into a merciless judgment, from which there is no salvation, no delivery. “It is a fine, comforting Gospel, and sweet for the saddened consciences, since it has nothing but forgiveness of sins. But on the other hand, to the hard heads and to the stubborn it is a terrible judgment, and, especially, since the servant is not a heathen, but belongs under the Gospel and had faith. For since the lord has mercy upon him and forgives what he has done, he must undoubtedly be a Christian. Therefore this is not a punishment for the heathen, nor for the great mass that do not hear the Word of God, but for those that hear the Gospel with the ears and have it on the tongue, but will not live in harmony with it.”
Summary. Christ warns against giving offense to children and to the lowly in His kingdom, illustrating His discourse with the parable of the lost sheep, teaches how to deal with an erring brother, and gives a lesson on forgiveness, illustrated with the parable of the unmerciful servant.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
REFLECTIONS
How truly blessed is it to have our hearts brought under divine teaching, and made like the simplicity of a weaned child. See my soul in the instance of these disciples of Jesus, how much our minds are wedded to the concerns of this world. Oh! for grace to be converted, and become as little children, that we may be truly great in the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed Lord Jesus! may I never lose sight of this promise that thy presence is eminently manifested in the assemblies of thy people: for sure I am, that all the beauty and glory; all the power and efficacy; all the success and blessing, which can be derived from ordinances, can only be derived, because Jesus hath assured his Church, that wherever two or three are gathered together in his name, there he is in the midst of them, and that to bless them.
Thanks to my dear Lord for this beautiful and instructive Parable, Yea, Lord! my debt was so great, in ten thousand talents as made me insolvent forever. In vain were it for me to say, Lord have patience with me and I will pay thee all. Never to all eternity, could I have done it. Oh! then add a grace more to the merciful forgiveness of all; and incline my heart to be merciful, even as my father which is in heaven is merciful! Precious Jesus! help me to imitate thee in all things!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Ver. 35. If ye from your hearts forgive not ] Forget as well as forgive, which some protest they will never do, neither think they that any do. But what saith the heathen orator to this unchristian censure? If any think that we, that have been once out, can never heartily forgive, and love one another again, he proveth not our false heartedness, but showeth his own. Siqui sest qui neminem in gratiam putat redire posse, non nostram is perfidiam arguit, sed indicat suam. Cicer. eph 37 , lib. 2.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
35. . ] not , as in the similar declaration in ch. Mat 6:14-15 . This is more solemn and denunciatory ( , . . Chrys. Hom. lxi. 4, p. 617). is not elsewhere used by our Evangelist.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 18:35 . Application . : so, mutatis mutandis , for feelings, motives, methods rise in the moral scale when we pass to the spiritual sphere. So in general, not in all details, on the same principle; merciless to the merciless. . .: Jesus is not afraid to bring the Father in in such a connection. Rather He is here again defining the Father by discriminating use of the name, as One who above all things abhors mercilessness. : Christ is in full sympathy with the Father in this. : to you , my own chosen disciples. : every man of you. : from your hearts, no sham or lip pardon; real, unreserved, thoroughgoing, and in consequence again and again, times without number, because the heart inclines that way.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
heavenly. Greek. epouranios. Elsewhere Greek. ouranios. See Mat 6:14, Mat 6:26, Mat 6:32; Mat 15:13. Luk 2:13. Act 26:19.
trespasses. See App-128.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
35. . ] not , as in the similar declaration in ch. Mat 6:14-15. This is more solemn and denunciatory ( , . . Chrys. Hom. lxi. 4, p. 617). is not elsewhere used by our Evangelist.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 18:35. , from your hearts) A wrong is recalled to the mind: it must be dismissed from the mind and from the heart. Things which are thus done, are done with unwearied frequency [But if not, whenever the debtor unexpectedly meets us, our indignation is liable to revive.-V. g.]; cf. , (being moved with compassion) in Mat 18:27.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
do: Mat 6:12, Mat 6:14, Mat 6:15, Mat 7:1, Mat 7:2, Pro 21:13, Mar 11:26, Luk 6:37, Luk 6:38, Jam 2:13
from: Pro 21:2, Jer 3:10, Zec 7:12, Luk 16:15, Jam 3:14, Jam 4:8, Rev 2:23
Reciprocal: Gen 50:17 – Forgive Exo 22:9 – for all manner of trespass 2Ki 4:1 – the creditor Mat 5:22 – his brother Mat 7:21 – my Mat 18:15 – if Luk 6:30 – and Luk 11:4 – for Luk 17:4 – if
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT
So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Mat 18:35
There are moments in the earthly life of man when the awful question of the Judge shakes the spirit to its centremoments when the King whom we have been forgetting will not be forgottenwhen He speaks and we must hear. It is of such a moment as this that the Saviour is speaking in the parable.
I. Taking account.The King is taking account of His servant. Taking account, and what account has he to give? The secrets of his heart are made manifest. The shortcomings of the Past, the weakness of the Present, seem to bind the Future in chains. And the chain with which he had bound himself had bound others also. Their life was darkened by the gloom which he had brought upon his own. No man can live to himself; no man can die to himself. For evil or for good you are leaving your mark upon the souls with whom you dwell. Out of the depths of the servants despair a ray of hope begins to shine. He falls down at his lords feet. His lord had compassion, and forgave him the debt.
II. Forgiven yet unforgiving.He has been forgiven, as men count forgiveness. He goes on his way with the light of his lords forgiveness resting upon him. But does it rest within him? Has it entered into his heart, and lighted up the dark places of his spirit? Nay, even as he goes out from the presence of his lord, a moment of trial comes, which shows what is in his heart, and proves that there is no forgiveness there. The chains which had been loosened became firm once more, and all the burden of the Past rolled back upon His spirit. He had chosen darkness rather than the light, and the darkness wrapped him in its gloom. And in the darkness dwell the tormentors.
III. Forgiveness perfected.Let us learn from the words of Jesus what our Father means by the forgiveness of sin. Let us learn that though His forgiveness stretches free and far throughout the world He made, though it be repeated seven times, yea seventy times seven, yet He counts not that it has had its perfect work, He counts not that it is forgiveness indeed, until it has gained the offenders heart, until it has destroyed the root of sin, and planted the spirit of Love in its place. In judgment and in mercy, in tenderness and in wrath, His everlasting Love is still the same, still doing battle with the evil that is in man, still taking away the sins of the world.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
8:35
If unworthy man will not forgive his fellow being, he need not expect the Father to forgive him, but instead to deliver him into a place of endless punishment where he will be “tormented” (Mat 25:46).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 18:35. So shall also, etc. It is an overstraining of the parable to infer that God revokes His pardon. The character of the servant is not that of one actually forgiven, since with pardon from God power from God is inseparably joined. Where the moral conditions of a Christian life fail, the man who fancies he has been pardoned is actually more guilty that before. Yet the warning is one needed and efficient in practical Christianity.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Jesus drew the crucial comparisons in applying the parable to His disciples. He pictured God as forgiving graciously yet punishing ruthlessly. God cannot forgive those who are devoid of compassion and mercy because He is so full of these qualities Himself. Jesus did not mean that people can earn God’s forgiveness by forgiving one another (cf. Mat 6:12; Mat 6:14-15). Those whom God has forgiven must forgive as God has forgiven them. This demonstrates true humility.
The idea of God delivering His servants, the disciples, over to endless torment has disturbed many readers of this parable. Some have concluded that Jesus meant a disciple can lose his salvation if he does not forgive. This makes salvation dependent on good works rather than belief in Jesus. Another possibility is that Jesus was using an impossible situation, endless torment, to warn His disciples. If the disciples knew it was an impossible situation, the warning would lose much of its force. Perhaps He meant that a disciple who does not genuinely forgive gives evidence that he or she has never really received God’s forgiveness. [Note: Pentecost, The Parables . . ., p. 67.] That person may be a disciple, but he or she is not a believer (cf. Judas Iscariot). However many genuine believers do not forgive their brethren as they should. Perhaps the punishment takes place in this life, not after death, and amounts to divine discipline (Mat 18:14). [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 140.] Another possibility is that Jesus had in mind a loss of eternal reward. Or perhaps this is simply another case of hyperbole to drive home a point.
Jesus concluded this discourse on humility, as He had begun it, with a reference to entering the kingdom (Mat 18:3). Humility is necessary to enter the kingdom because it involves humbly receiving a gift of pardon from God (Mat 18:27). However humility must continue to characterize the disciple. Not only must a disciple live before God as a humble child (Mat 18:4). He or she must also be careful to avoid putting a stumbling block in the path of another disciple (Mat 18:5-14). He or she must also humbly seek to restore a wayward fellow disciple (Mat 18:15-20). Forgiving fellow disciples wholeheartedly and completely is likewise important for humble disciples (Mat 18:21-35).
"His [Jesus’] message to the disciples is that loving concern for the neighbor and the spirit of forgiveness are to be the hallmarks of the community of believers in whose midst he, the Son of God, will ever be present." [Note: Kingsbury, Matthew as . . ., p. 79. Cf. Mat 18:6; Mat 18:10; Mat 18:20-22.]