The Abundance of Forgiveness
We might not immediately appreciate the magnitude of a debt of ten thousand talents. To get some idea of it, we should refer to a number of other passages of Scripture:
• Exodus 38.24-29 provides a summary of the amounts of precious metals that were provided for the construction of the Tabernacle: over 29 talents of gold, over 100 talents of silver, and over 70 talents of copper.
• In order to give a sense of the wealth of Solomon's kingdom, 1 Kings 10.14-15 records that in one year Solomon received over 666 talents of gold into his treasury.
An ancient talent weighed between 50 and 60 kg (about a hundredweight). The parable does not indicate whether the debt was in gold or silver talents, but in one sense it hardly matters. Silver is currently valued at around £350 per kg, so a silver talent would have a value of about £20,000; ten thousand silver talents is about £200 million. It is estimated that a silver talent would have paid 6,000 days' wages (20 years) in the ancient world, or one year in ours. Gold is currently valued at around £28,000 per kg, so a gold talent would have a value of about £1.5 million; ten thousand gold talents would be worth about £15 billion!
There are two things that Peter could immediately appreciate about this debt. First of all, the debt was far beyond the means of the servant to repay. Even for us, it would take hundreds of lifetimes to earn that kind of money. But this servant was a slave who had nothing with which to make any contribution whatever to paying off the debt. Secondly, Peter could also appreciate the abounding generosity of the king, because this was a colossal debt – yet he "forgave him the debt" (Mt 18.27). What a tremendous liberality of forgiveness! Little wonder that Isaiah could write "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa 55.9).
Paul captures the same idea of abundance when he writes "having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col 2.13). In adding the word 'all', Paul is underlining the extensiveness of the forgiveness that we have received. It is neither limited nor restricted, but full.
In the display of forgiveness in the parable we see:
• the voluntary nature of forgiveness (on the part of the one who forgives).
• the non-contributory nature of forgiveness (on the part of the one forgiven).
• the generosity of forgiveness.
The Appreciation of Forgiveness
The parable touches on the response to such abundant forgiveness. In the similar parable in Luke 7.41-42, the Lord asked "which of them will love him most?" This indicates that a loving response is expected from someone who is forgiven. It is not demanded by the person who forgives, but it is 'demanded' by a true appreciation of forgiveness.
A person who is forgiven should respond appropriately. The Lord asked the question "which of them will love him most?" We should not miss the fact that, in the question, the point was contained that they would both love him for forgiveness. However, one of them might be expected to appreciate it more. In an obvious sense, the greater the debt forgiven, the greater would be the loving response. More importantly though, the greater the appreciation of the forgiveness, the greater would be the loving response. In Matthew 18 we learn that appreciation of forgiveness should not be directed just towards the one who forgave, but also in the attitude adopted toward others. The sadness of this parable is that, despite the abundance of the forgiveness granted to the huge debtor, that spirit was not replicated in his attitude to a comparably minor debt owed to him (the difference in quantum between the two debts is a factor of 600,000). This parable indicates that "the divine initiative in the forgiveness of sins [should create] a forgiving spirit in the life of the Christian" (Mounce).
The Application of Forgiveness
When I forgive someone two or three times, I may feel that I have 'bent over backwards' in going beyond what might be reasonably expected. In that sense Peter, in his "seven times", actually seems to be generous and open-hearted. Yet this parable confronts us with the imperative of a virtually limitless spirit of forgiveness in God's children. This is easy to write about, but not easy to do, particularly for those who have experienced grievous wrong at the hands of others. (There is an interesting story about Corrie ten Boom on this subject, following her experiences in the Ravensbrück concentration camp during the war – see http://www.familylifeeducation.org/gilliland/procgroup/CorrieTenBoom.htm). Although there may be limits on our willingness to forgive, this parable shows that there is no limit on our obligation to forgive. The king would have been justified in holding the servant to account for every single one of those ten thousand talents. Yet he forgave "all that debt" (18.32). He was obliged to forgive none, yet he was willing to forgive all. Can it be the case that there are those who we just will not forgive?
When Paul takes up the subject in Colossians 3.13 he makes two points. Firstly, he deals with the kind of thing that we should forgive; "… if any man have a quarrel [complaint] against any …"; so often the matter that causes much division among believers. Secondly, he deals with the imperative that we replicate the Lord in this; "… as Christ forgave you, so also do ye". Paul also explains why it is so important to forgive: "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" (2 Cor 2.10-11). In these verses Paul indicates that one of Satan's devices is an unforgiving spirit among believers. We should notice a number of important points in this passage:
• Paul may be referring to the serious moral sin in 1 Corinthians 5.1. They had eventually recognised the sin (although it took them some time to do so) (5.2), and the man who sinned had experienced the pain and sorrow of repentance (2 Cor 2.7).
• Given the genuineness of his repentance, Paul exhorts the Corinthians to forgive and comfort him. Paul here established the Scriptural link between repentance and forgiveness.
• Paul explains that where there is repentance they ought not to be slow to forgive.
• We forgive in order to comfort the repentant person. This reminds us that the granting and enjoyment of forgiveness enables a person to move on in their Christian experience. We ought not to rake the offence up again and again, but rather remember the words "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb 10.17).
• Prior to repentance there is a need to confront the sinner. Following repentance there is a need to comfort the sinner.
• Paul would participate in that forgiveness. We should all forgive; there is no reason for other believers to keep the offence alive.
• Notice that Paul forgave in the person of Christ. We are acting as the Lord Himself would act.
Paul touches on another aspect of forgiveness when he writes "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph 4.32):
• He makes the point that we are "members one of another" (Eph 4.25). He had, earlier in the chapter, likened the church to a body and referred to "that which every joint supplieth" (v 16).
• The interdependence of each member requires that they forgive one another; it is necessary for the health of the body because a body that fights with itself is diseased or ill.
• We forgive because we have been forgiven. God has forgiven us "for Christ's sake", that is, because of Christ and His settlement of our debt. Maybe it includes the idea that because of Him who has given so much, and is so forgiving, God (and therefore we) must forgive. It is what Christ expects and requires of us.
These Scriptures impress upon us the importance of a forgiving spirit and the imperative for God's children to genuinely forgive one another. A callous and unforgiving attitude might suggest that a person has never really experienced or appreciated the joy of forgiveness in their own soul.
Conclusion
The blessing of forgiveness that we have received is abundant and without reserve. We should enjoy it, and rise to the liberty that the forgiveness of sins has brought us into. Part of that liberty is a wholehearted spirit in forgiving others and, in so doing, showing Christ in our lives. Living this out from day to day will enable us to "neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Pet 1.8).
(Concluded.)
