"The Call to Forgiveness"
18:21–22 how often will … I forgive him? Within Judaism, three times was sufficient to show a forgiving spirit (based on Job 33:29, 30; Amos 1:3; 2:6), thus Peter (seven) believes he has shown generosity. But true disciples of Jesus are to forgive without keeping count (seventy times seven). This may echo and reverse Lamech’s boast of vengeance in Gen. 4:24 (the Gk. is the same).
18:24 ten thousand talents. In OT times, a talent was a unit of weight equaling about 75 pounds (34 kg). In NT times, it was a unit of monetary reckoning (though not an actual coin), valued at about 6,000 drachmas, the equivalent of about 20 years’ wages for a laborer. (A common laborer earned about one denarius per day.) In approximate modern equivalents, if a laborer earns $15 per hour, at 2,000 hours per year he would earn $30,000 per year, and a talent would equal $600,000 (USD). Hence, “ten thousand talents” hyperbolically represents an incalculable debt—in today’s terms, about $6 billion.
18:28–32 a hundred denarii. This was still a large amount (equivalent to about 20 weeks of common labor, or about $12,000 in today’s terms), but compared to the debt that the wicked servant himself owed ($6 billion), it was a relatively small amount. The servant’s unwillingness to forgive even this amount, though having been forgiven his own insurmountable debt, revealed the servant’s true wicked character (v. 32) and that he had not in fact been transformed by the forgiveness that his master had extended to him.
is a dramatic illustration of (1) the massive debt that people owe, because of their sins, to the holy, righteous God; (2) their complete inability ever to pay such a debt (“For the wages of sin is death …,” Rom. 6:23a); (3) God’s great mercy and patience (Matt. 18:26, 29) in withholding his immediate righteous judgment that all people deserve for their sins; and (4) God’s gracious provision of Christ’s death and resurrection to pay the debt for sins and to break the power of sin (“but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rom. 6:23b). The two central points of the parable are: first, that the gift of salvation is immeasurably great (“how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” Heb. 2:3); and, second, that unless a person is comparably merciful to others, (a) God’s mercy has not had a saving effect upon him (Matt. 18:32–33), and (b) he will be liable to pay the consequences himself (vv. 34–35).
18:35 not forgive your brother from your heart. A transformed heart must result in a changed life that offers the same mercy and forgiveness as has been received from God (cf. Isa. 40:2). Someone who does not grant forgiveness to others shows that his own heart has not experienced God’s forgiveness. Throughout Scripture, the heart refers to the center of one’s being, including one’s reason, emotions, and will.