And the unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (
Matthew 25:30).
The talents represent monetary value and are distibuted according to ability (Matthew 25:15). The requirement is to invest in Christ.
The first two servants deposited their talents with the bankers (verse 27)
but the third servant buried his talent in the ground (verse 25). The third servant had been given a talent according to his ability and the opportunity to believe and bear fruit in accordance, but chose to reject it.
The fact that the latter man in this parable is called "wicked" and "lazy" and an "unprofitable" servant (Matthew 25:26-30) who is "cast out into outer darkness," certainly indicates that he was
not a true disciple of the master. The idea of this illustrative parable is that all true believers will produce fruit in varying degress. All genuine believers are fruitful, but not all are equally fruitful (Matthew 13:23).
Those who produce no results at all were not truly converted.
This man's characterization of the master maligns him as "reaping and gathering what he had no right to claim as his own." This wicked so-called servant does not represent a genuine believer and it's obvious that this man had no true knowledge of the master.
Two of these servants were children of God, but not the third. Children of God are not cast out into outer darkness. The fact that this man is called a "servant" does not necessarily mean that he was saved.
*The children of Israel were called
"servants" but they were not all saved. Leviticus 25:55 - For the
children of Israel are servants to Me; they are
My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Isaiah 43:10 - “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, And
My servant whom I have chosen..
The children of the kingdom are said to be cast into outer darkness. "But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12).
Being "children of the kingdom" did not necessarily mean they were saved. This term refers to those to whom the kingdom rightfully belongs.
The natural claim to that kingdom had been given to the JEWS/ISRAELITES and they were not all saved. You need to rightly divide the word of truth.
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32): When the prodigal son came home from his riotous life of sin and he sought forgiveness with his father, his father said that his son was "dead" and is "alive again." The son was said to be "lost" and now he is "found." Generally when we talk about the "lost" in the Bible, they are the unsaved or spiritually lost. In other words, the parable is utilizing spiritual terms. The son was spiritually dead when he was living a life of sin, and when he came back home to the father and sought forgiveness with him, he became alive again spiritually. This truth is confirmed by James 5:19-20.
CONTEXT. All three parables in Luke 15 were in rebuke to the Pharisees and scribes who complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." (vs. 2) In this parable, being made "alive again" foreshadows the "born again" experience that Jesus spoke of in John 3:3. Of course Jesus wasn't talking about being born again spiritually again and again. We are born once physically and born "again" once spiritually.
People in the NOSAS camp interpret this parable as the prodigal son was spiritually alive, then spiritually died (lost his salvation) and was spiritually alive again (regained his salvation) based on certain translations which read:
..thy brother was dead, and is alive AGAIN (KJV)
..for your brother was dead and is alive AGAIN (NKJV)
..this brother of yours was dead and is alive AGAIN (NIV)
Yet others will argue that in this parable, being made "alive again" foreshadows the "born again" experience that Jesus spoke of in John 3:3. Of course Jesus wasn't talking about being born again spiritually again and again. We are born once physically and born "again" once spiritually.
I find it interesting that certain translations of Luke 15:32 simply say your brother
was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found (ESV); your brother
was dead, but now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found (NCV); this brother of yours
was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found (NRS); this brother of yours
was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found (NAS).
This truth is confirmed by
James 5:19-20.
In regards to James 5:19-20, *Notice - Brethren, if anyone
among you wanders from the truth..turns a "sinner" from the error of his way.. Some would argue that James says this one who turned from the truth was a "sinner," and was "among" but "not of" the Brethren, then he wasn’t previously saved. That fits 1 John 2:19 - They went out "from" us, but they were "not of" us..
IF this person was a genuine believer, yet how do we know for sure this is the second death in the lake of fire? In Matthew 26:38, Jesus said:
"My soul [psuche] is deeply grieved, to the point of death." Jesus was not saying that His soul was deeply grieved to the point of spiritual death, Rather, Jesus was talking about
physical death, his human life. In Revelation 16:3, "The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and
every living soul [psuche] in the sea died." "Soul" is rendered from the Greek word "psuche" and is also translated as "life". The word "psuche" is never translated as "spirit."
Jesus covered our sins in one way (Romans 4:7) by bringing forgiveness for all believers, yet sins can also be covered in a different way. In Proverbs 10:12, we read: Hatred stirs up strife, But
love covers all sins. In 1 Peter 4:8, we read: And above all things have fervent love for one another, for
"love will cover a multitude of sins." Where there is strife, there is hatred and unless love prevails, the strife will get worse. Love covers offenses and sins when a believer turns back from error.
So is this wanderer a professing Christian, whose faith is not genuine, or a sinning Christian, who needs to be restored? For the former, the death spoken of in vs. 20 is the "second death" (Revelation 21:8); for the latter, it is physical death (1 Corinthians 11:29-32; 1 John 5:16).
You can even be in the Kingdom and be cast out because of sin or iniquity.
Those who work iniquity are not genuine believers. (Matthew 7:21-23)