If we are saved by faith alone, why the parable of the talents where a man was thrown to hell for not putting?

Question

his talents to work and being a useless servant?

ye old basher - he was fired and then sent to the place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth it says .

Eric G = that is not the same parable as I'm talking about. I am talking of the one where the master left his servants with talents to put to use when he was away

Answer 1

This is a good question and I seek to give a good answer.

Scripture interprets scripture. It is not possible for it to contradict itself since it is the word of God.

We are saved by grace through faith,not of ourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, Ephesians 2/8-9.

As has been pointed out above, we are not saved by faith alone. That is absolutely correct. Faith must give rise to works as is implied in the same Ephesians passage ( 2/10) that we must walk in those works.

Further James is quite clear that faith alone is dead, James 2/17, and that faith is shown by works, 2/18. He further evidences that Abraham was justified by works when he offered up Issac, v21. Faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. God counted his faith as righteousness.

Notice Abraham believed God, not believed in God. It is not enough just to believe in God.

Thus in our parable the man failed to put his faith (talent, what God gave him in this life) to work and so lost all.

Large faith and life (five talents, Matthew 25/15) is rewarded (vvs21, 23) the same as lesser faith and life (two talents, v15) showing that it is not the amount of faith and life you have, but that you use it, that is important.

Remember that if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, which is said to be the least of all seeds, Matthew 13/32, it would be sufficient that you could say unto a sycamore tree be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted in the sea and it should obey you, Luke 17/6. That is not to say that we do this but it is God, for faith, properly speaking, is hearing a word from God, Romans 10/17. We hear and know what God shows us He is going to do and thus we complete the circuit, so as to speak.

The life that we have now is counted as unrighteous mammon, Luke 16/9-11 and we are to exchange it by faith for the true riches, which is the life of true righteousness and holiness and of eternity. Our present state is considered to be of the least value but if we are faithful in our use of it we will "exchange" it, be entrusted with the true riches in it's place.

So is our parable. We must take what the Lord has presently entrusted to us and exchange it for the true riches, so laying up treasure in heaven, Luke 18/22.

Thus are we to be rich toward God, Luke12/21 and not be as the fool who lays up for himself in this life.

The man with the one talent buried it in the earth which is a figure of this life, not heaven, and so showed he did not have the true faith that is proved by works. That is why even what he had, this life, was taken away, and he was cast into outer darkness.

The beauty of this parable is that it appeals to all, but especially the weak and limited and not so gifted, for they can achieve the true riches and rewards equally as much as the clever and talented and gifted.

How marvellous is God's ordering of things !

We are all encouraged to strive harder in our pursuit of the kingdom of God and of God Himself.

Answer 2

As I understand it (been a Christian for twenty years), we receive salvation by faith. The only visible, outward example of that faith is the prayer of salvation that a sinner prays. But sometimes people pray the prayer but don't have a heart change. They haven't really entered a relationship with Christ, they've just mumbled some words at an altar. The man with the lesser talents (money, not actual talents) said to Christ, "I knew that you were a hard man" and some other things that are not true of Christ, indicating that the servant did not actually know Christ. Then the man proceeded to say he hid the talents instead of moving out in faith and using them in his life to do good as the other two men did. When we are truly saved, our lives and actions reflect it as in the lives of the other two men. I think this parable has to do more with people who are not sincerely saved. Remember Christ said there will be people who will say to him, "Lord I did this in your name." but he'll say, "I never knew you." There are people who are faking it - even pastors and teachers who are fakes, who think they are faking out God, but they aren't. They will be exposed when they stand to give an account of their lives. I hope this helps. Pray about it also. God may show you some insight that I missed.

Answer 3

Faith Alone is not biblical.

James 2:24 a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
James 2:26 faith without works is dead
Gal 5:6 only thing that counts is faith working in love
1 Cor 13:2 faith without love is nothing
Jn 14:15 if you love me, keep my commandments
Romans 2:2-8 eternal life by perseverence in good works

Grace Alone as a free Gift from God leads to Faith in Action.

Answer 4

Philipians 2:13, James 2:14-26

Answer 5

Great question! Bear with me, I'll need to give you just a bit of background to answer the question -
Before long, the 6th trump of Revelation is going to sound. At the 6th, the Antichrist appears on earth disguised as Jesus, pretending to be Christ. He's the fake, come to deceive the masses that he is Jesus. Then, on the 7th trump, the real Jesus returns. Obviously, 6 comes before 7, so Antichrist is coming first. 99% of church going Christians of today do not realize that truth. Many of them believe they will be raptured out before Antichrist gets here. Thats not Biblical. Since they have not studied the Word so that they would not be deceived, instead they chose to listen to some pastor instead of Gods Word, they will not have the knowledge necessary to escape the deceit. Okay - to the parable.
The Master who goes away on a journey is Christ. The goods he left with servants is the true knowledge of the Word of God, including the warnings that Antichrist is coming first. He gives the knowledge of the Word to each servant based on their own ability to understand or teach it, or both. To some alot of it is given, to some, some knowledge, to others, very little. But when he returns on that 7th trump, and he finds that He gave just alittle of that knowledge to a servant, and expected him to disipline himself and study to gain more knowledge so that he could perhaps save some of those millions who are going to get deceived, he finds that servant kept the info to himself, in fact, he buried it, so he certainly didn't study it. (remember the goods here are the scriptures - His Word.
Not only was he a lazy useless servant, but he could have saved who knows how many thousands of souls from satan's deceit, and he didn't do anything. nothing.
The weeping and gnashing of teeth isn't implying hell, according to the manuscripts, it is an idiom meaning that person will be so upset that he will cry so hard that he will grind his teeth.
God gave us His Word. He knows we do not all have the same abilities to gain knowledge of it, but that with whatever our ability is , he expects us to at least care enough to read and study it -
And when you do study it, you learn, and as you learn, God will give you more ability to learn, and the adding on of it is never ending - He will just keep giving you more truth as you go. But if you don't care, he'll get whatever little knowledge and truth that would have been yours, and give it to somebody else. Then, you will probably be one of the ones taken by satan with deceit.
Sorry so wordy. Jan

Answer 6

Many people believe that faith is all that it takes. But that is not what the bible teaches. James 2:17 states that faith with out works is dead. We need both faith and works. The parable is stating that faith (talents) without works is dead.

Answer 7

You can't understand how to build a bridge if you have never read or understood the blue prints. You need to start out understanding God. When you give your life to God, in faith, from your truthful and sincere soul you are saved by the blood of Christ. When you walk after Christ, according to God then you follow Gods plan. If you are not willing to follow Gods plan and live how he tells you then you never had faith in God. That would be faith in Satan.

Answer 8

Faith is just the first step. If you have faith and believe it, then you will live in a manner that is cinsistant with your faith. The Bible says that " Whosoever believeth in Him shall not parish, but have everlasting life". If you believe in Him, you will believe what He says and Live as He says, Therefore, acting on your faith. So, faith without action is useless.

Answer 9

You missed the point of the parable. The man was "not" saved. Remember, he did not trust his master. So he buried the talent, thereby exposing his true nature.

Answer 10

If someone is truly saved, he will be motivated by the Holy Spirit to use his talents, invest his goods, speak and do things that please the master. There are plenty of folks sitting in our churches, fully involved in church culture who have no genuine relationship with God.

We are not saved BECAUSE of our good works,but if we are saved-- we do want to do good works.