Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Misquoting the Bible: Luke 19:27

"While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, "A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Do business with this until I come back.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared, saying, 'Master, your mina has made ten minas more.' And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.' The second came, saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.' Another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 'Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.' And they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas already.' I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence."" Luke 19:11-27
This verse is ripped entirely out of its context by lying Muslims in an attempt to argue that Jesus commanded His followers to murder others. It is truly amazing how ignorant Muslims are and how they have absolutely no clue what “context” is, regardless of whether it is dealing with the Qur’an or the Bible. First of all, at the very outset of this passage, Jesus makes it clear that He is sharing a parable with His audience. This parable is predominantly teaching about the gifts Christ has entrusted unto us and how we ought to use them in His absence, and how He will deal with us at His second coming when He will judge the world. If you examine the parallel passage in Matthew 25:14-30[-46], verse 30 says, “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The third servant was entrusted with a gift to use on the Master’s behalf for the glory of the Master, but he squandered it and did nothing with it. He was not faithful with what had been given to him, and he did not obey “the will of [the] Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Contrary to popular belief, salvation is not merely a matter of simple belief and nothing more. Change must take place in a person’s life. They must “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). In other words, there needs to be evidence that they have repented of their sins and trusted their life to the Saviour. We were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). Anyone who says they have faith but lacks evidence of that faith is a false convert. They may know of Jesus, but He clearly does not know them. There is a reason Scripture tells us to examine ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5), work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:13), and to make certain about His calling and choosing us (2 Pet. 1:10). Because “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9).

Observe the commentaries of both Matthew Poole and Matthew Henry:
What he saith ver. 27, concerning his enemies, assures us, that although God spareth men and women a long time, so long as while his Son is in the far country, while the heavens must contain him; yet in the day of judgment a most certain final ruin will be their portion. Hence we may easily gather what instructions are offered in this parable. 1. That the state of Christ, when he shall come to judge the world, will be a far more glorious state than it was while he was here upon the earth. He was here in the appearance of a nobleman, but he shall then appear as a king. 2 That all the good things which we have in this life are our Lord's goods, put in trust with us to be used for his honour and glory. 3. That it must be expected that in the world there should be a great many rebels against Christ and his kingdom, a great many that shall say, We will not have this man to rule over us. 4. That some make greater improvements than others of what God intrusteth them with for his honour and glory, and some make no improvement at all of them. 5. That Christ, when he cometh to judge the world, will have a strict account how men have used his goods, their time of life, or health, their capacities, honours, riches, trusts, parts, &c. 6. That those shall have the highest reward in glory who have made the highest improvements; but those who have made improvements in any proportion shall have their reward. 7. That proud and wretched sinners will think in the day of judgment to wipe their own mouths, and lay all the blame of their miscarriages on God. 8. That this is their folly, God will condemn them from their own vain pleas. 9. That in the day of judgment unprofitable creatures will, besides the loss of those rewards which they might have received from God, have all their little satisfactions taken from them, in the enjoyments of which they dishonoured God. 10. That though proud sinners here oppose the law of God revealed to them, and will not suffer Christ to reign over them; yet his power they shall not be able to resist, they shall at the last day be slain before Christ's face, and become his footstool. He shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel, Psal. ii. 9; cx. 1; and who shall then deliver them out of his hand?
Matthew Poole's Commentary On the Holy Bible, vol. 3, p. 261.
In the sentence passed upon them at his return: Those mine enemies bring hither, v. 27. When his faithful subjects are preferred and rewarded, then he will take vengeance on his enemies, and particularly on the Jewish nation, the doom of which is here read. When Christ had set up his gospel kingdom, and thereby put reputation upon the gospel ministry, then he comes to reckon with the Jews; then it is remembered against them that they had particularly disclaimed and protested against his kingly office, when they said, We have no king but Caesar, nor would own him for their king. They appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar they shall go; Caesar shall be their ruin. Then the kingdom of God appeared when vengeance was taken on those irreconcileable enemies to Christ and his government; they were brought forth and slain before him. Never was so much slaughter made in any war as in the wars of the Jews. That nation lived to see Christianity victorious in the Gentile world, in spite of their enmity and opposition to it, and then it was taken away as dross. The wrath of Christ came upon them to the uttermost (1 Thess. 2:15, 16), and their destruction redounded very much to the honour of Christ and the peace of the church. But this is applicable to all others who persist in their infidelity, and will undoubtedly perish in it. Note, [1.] Utter ruin will certainly be the portion of all Christ's enemies; in the day of vengeance they shall all be brought forth, and slain before him. Bring them hither, that they may see the glory and happiness of Christ and his followers, whom they hated and persecuted. Bring them hither, to have their frivolous pleas overruled, and to receive sentence according to their merits. Bring them, and slay them before me, as Agag before Samuel. The Saviour whom they have slighted will stand by and see them slain, and not interpose on their behalf. [2.] Those that will not have Christ to reign over them shall be reputed and dealt with as his enemies. We are ready to think that none are Christ's enemies but persecutors of Christianity, or scoffers at least; but you see that those will be accounted so that dislike the terms of salvation, will not submit to Christ's yoke, but will be their own masters. Note, Whoever will not be ruled by the grace of Christ will inevitably be ruined by the wrath of Christ.
Matthew Henry's Commentary, vol. 5, p. 636.
When he gains the kingship, he executes those who resisted his rule (19:27). This clearly refers to the Jews who have rejected Jesus as their king. Their rejection of Jesus will ultimately lead to judgment. This theme is appropriate in Luke's Gospel because the final rejection of Jesus is on the horizon.
The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, p. 1099.
Regarding Matthew 25:30, observe what Poole and Henry have said:
But if a man hath not, that is, hath, but is as if he had not, making no use of what he hath for the glory of God, those gifts and talents which he hath shall be of no profit and advantage, but miserable disadvantage to him at last.
Matthew Poole's Commentary On the Holy Bible, vol. 3, p. 120.

He is sentenced to be cast out into outer darkness, v. 30. Here,
(1.) His character is that of an unprofitable servant. Note, Slothful servants will be reckoned with as unprofitable servants, who do nothing to the purpose of their coming into the world, nothing to answer the end of their birth or baptism, who are no way serviceable to the glory of God, the good of others, or the salvation of their own souls. A slothful servant is a withered member in the body, a barren tree in the vineyard, an idle drone in the hive, he is good for nothing. In one sense, we are all unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10); we cannot profit God, Job 22:2. But to others, and to ourselves, it is required that we be profitable; if we be not, Christ will not own us as his servants: it is not enough not to do hurt, but we must do good, must bring forth fruit, and though thereby God is not profited, yet he is glorified, John 15:8.
(2.) His doom is, to be cast into outer darkness. Here, as in what was said to the faithful servants, our Saviour slides insensibly out of the parable into the thing intended by it, and it serves as a key to the whole; for, outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, is, in Christ’s discourses, the common periphrasis of the miseries of the damned in hell. Their state is, [1.] Very dismal; it is outer darkness. Darkness is uncomfortable and frightful: it was one of the plagues of Egypt. In hell there are chains of darkness, 2 Pet. 2:4. In the dark no man can work, a fit punishment for a slothful servant. It is outer darkness, out from the light of heaven, out from the joy of their Lord, into which the faithful servants were admitted; out from the feast. Compare ch. 8:12; 22:13. [2.] Very doleful; there is weeping, which bespeaks great sorrow, and gnashing of teeth, which bespeaks great vexation and indignation. This will be the portion of the slothful servant.
Matthew Henry's Commentary, vol. 5, p. 306.
The citizens who did not want the Nobleman to rule over them can be seen as two different types of people. According to the context, the citizens can clearly be seen as the Jews who rejected Jesus as the coming Messiah. But by application, the citizens can also be seen as every individual who rejects Jesus as Lord and Saviour. When He returns, He will judge them swiftly and condemn them to an eternity in Hell.

Regarding Luke 19, verses 26 and 27 do not feel as if they are part of the parable. The end of verse 25 ends by telling us what the servants had said. If the Nobleman was responding back to them, verse 26 should start with “And he said to them,” which it does not. Verse 26 almost seems to be Jesus’ commentary on the meaning of the parable, as if he slid out of the parable and was now speaking frankly. Verse 27 seems out of place, except for the fact of what the citizens said: “We do not want this man to reign over us.” Verse 27 is the King’s righteous response to their disobedience and rebellion.

Nowhere in Scripture did Jesus command his followers to murder others. In fact, Jesus made quite the opposites statements and teachings. While Muslims are commanded to slaughter all non-Muslims, Christians are commanded to turn the other cheek and to love their enemies, doing good unto them. Quite the contrast between the two, would you not think?