Hello,
I don't understand the underlined part of Matthew 25:26 (KJV) "His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:"
Thank you
You should pick up a modern translation or two. We do not speak or write the way they did 300 years ago when the KJV was translated. No one today doth knowest, soweth, reapeth, speaketh, or writeth anymore. Neither dost thou straw.
The NAS is among the most accurate word-for-word translations, more formally called a "formal translation." Get the 1995 updated version.
The NIV is among the better concept-for-concept translations, more formally known as a "dynamic translation."
The ESV strikes a balance between the two with an emphasis of formal translation. It and the NLT have a Reformed bend to them.
As far as the Matthew 25 text goes it is best understood by reading the entire narrative. That narrative covers a single day in the life of Jesus and the disciples following their return to Jerusalem. The narrative begins in chapter 21 and concludes at the beginning of Matthew 26. In other words, the overall narrative covers five chapters of Matthews gospel. Trying to understand half of a single verse extricated from its overall context will prove fruitless. Read Matthew 21:18 through Matthew 26:5.
If you have some familiarity with the earlier portion of Matthew or that of theother gospels then you will note Jesus parables become about judgment once he enters Jerusalem. In Matthew 21 he cleaned out the temple in accordance with the Jewish laws pertaining to houses infested with mold, disease, or other corrupting and infectious conditions. The house was to remain vacant for a week and then re-inspected to see if the infestation had returned. If not then folks could re-inhabit the house. If the infestation had returned the the house was to be destroyed by fire. That's the setup for what ensues in Matthew 21 through 25.
The next day Jesus returns and the Sadducees and Pharisees and scribes and teachers of the law confront Jesus repeatedly and fruitlessly. As a consequence of their defeat and the risk the perceive to their power, influence, and authority they plot to kill Jesus. In Matthew 23 Jesus speaks bluntly, no longer using parables he tells the Pharisees and scribes they are graves full of dead men's bones and they are culpable for the killing of the prophets of old and those God would be sending after Jesus. The judgment for such murderous and idolatrous acts had been postponed but that time had come upon them; they would be held to account and their house left to them desolate. Jesus elaborates upon this in terms relevant to those who believe in him in the following chapter and he returns to imagery and parables.
The parable in question is, of course, about God and His relationship with sinful man. It is God who reaps fruit even where He didn't so seeds for that fruit. God alone can speak an entire cosmos into existence from nothing. He can make human beings from a handful of dust or a rib or even rocks. He can take that which is sinfully enslaved and liberate it from the prior bondage and wash clean that which was so filthy it could not clean itself. God creates ex nihilo and we, creatures He created, are supposed to be good stewards of that which He provides. Those who do not honor God is such a manner will be discarded, thrown out into bitter darkness.
So, lollykh, don't be
that guy
.
If you first remember Whose you are then it will be easier to remember who you are and who you are made to be because if you are in Christ then you are not made to be tossed out into utter darkness.
