Apologetics

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Okay, here we go.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him” Hebrews 11:6

Or

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” Romans 8:8

In thinking about the idea that we cannot please God, and certainly we have good scriptures that say so -- but I think the mistake comes when we see these verses and then we take this one step further to say, “Then, there is nothing we can do towards our salvation.” And I’m not sure that this is entirely consistent. Certainly there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, or even to oblige our way into our salvation.

Here’s what I mean. Our text starts from John 6.23 – and it begins thus:

23 “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants”

We understand in parable-speak, that the “certain king” in the parable is identified as God, and the servant, in this case, is a man.

24 “And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”

We also understand in parable-speak, that the debt which is owed here represents sin. We know that a talent (a measure of money in poundage, one talent being 75 pounds) is a huge sum of money, usually reserved for government accountants to tackle and that ten thousand talents represents an enormous sum of money impossible for an individual to raise. In today’s monetary speak, I believe the equivalent would be “one hundred million billion dollars”.

As an interesting side note, I think there is a reason Jesus chose this sum in his parable, not just an arbitrarily large amount. This amount would have rung familiar in the ears of the Jews of his day: It was the amount that ALL the Jews were “ransomed” for genocide to King Xerxes in the days of Esther. A bit of foreshadowing, as it were, that if a single amount of money represented destruction of all the Jews, what would it mean if applied to a single individual?

25 “But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.”

Here we see the results of his debt. The man and all else for which can be counted as his is consumed as a consequence; the message is clear, “The wages of sin is death”.

Now at this point, we have a sinner who has been convicted of his sins, he is made aware of them, and his judgment has been pronounced. Normally, we would say “there is nothing the man can do,” to please the debt; “there is nothing the man can do,” to please the king.

But there IS something that the man DOES.

26 “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

First thing he does, is acknowledge his master’s authority. He also acknowledges the debt that he owes, and he takes ownership and responsibility for that which he owes.
He asks for one things of his master; patience – to prolong the due date for his debt; and then he commits to repayment of his tab. We understand he will continue to rack up debt, and the interest alone will probably crush his efforts, but that is not what is important. He commits himself to repayment of the debt, he commits himself to reversing the debt process, he, in essence, repents in total contrition.

Next verse is critical:

27 “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

The king is a good judge of net worth, and he understands that there is nothing this servant can do to repay one hundred million billion dollars to please the debt, no matter how sincere the servant is in his resolve. What is important to the king, now, is the response that was invoked when the servant was presented with the debt and the judgment. We note here that the king was not pleased, per se, even in the act of being worshipped by the servant; instead he was “moved to compassion.” Which, by any small amount of examination, is not the same as being “pleased”, as listed in Romans or Hebrews above. The debt is forgiven by the king, one hundred million billion dollars gone in a stroke, and he is released from custody.

In parable-speak, we understand that the sin debt has been forgiven, and the servant is now under Grace instead of the Law. It is expected, then, that the servant extend the same grace to his fellows. We see his subsequent behavior:

28 “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.”
29 “And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.’”
30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
31 So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

And Jesus gives us the ending editorial:

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

To me, this is the take away from this parable.

*We are convicted of our sins
*We are made to understand the consequences of our sins and its subsequent judgment.
*Our only correct response is an acknowledgement of God’s authority, and a contrite repentance for our condition.
*We can plead, we can ask for Grace, but we in no way oblige God in the doing of it.
*God can be moved to compassion by the sincerity of our response; this is not pleasing that we are doing what is right, for we cannot, nor does it please the conditions set by the Law and demanded by a Holy God.
*God, so moved, can choose to exempt us from the Law, and instead place us under Grace.
*Once there, the expectation is that as we are saved by Grace, that we also live by grace, especially in regard to our fellow man.
*In the same way that Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we are to preserve the Grace granted to us by showing grace in a likewise manner to our fellow man.
*If not, then we bring our own judgment upon ourselves, and the punishment and judgment that we were exempted from is visited upon us as Divine Wrath that replaces Divine Grace.

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