Luke 12:42-48 - Parable of the Four Servants

By Ronald R. Day, Sr.

Luke 12:42-48 - And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall set over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? [43] Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. [44] Of a truth I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath. [45] But if that servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; [46] the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the unfaithful. [47] And that servant, who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes]; [48] but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few [stripes]. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required: and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more. -- American Standard Version.

Jesus, in speaking of his return, asked regarding whether he would find “the faith” when he returned. (Luke 18:8, Rotherham's Emphasized Bible) Jesus was pointing out that the true faith, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3), would be extremely hard to find when he returns. Jude points out that “the faith” had already been delivered “once for all.” How was it delivered?

We believe that through what is written in what is often called the Old and New Testaments, by means of His Holy Spirit, God has revealed his truths. (Mark 12:36; Luke 4:11; 10:21; 24:27,44; Acts 1:16; 2:33; 10:38; 28:25; Hebrews 1:1,3; 3:7; 1 Peter 3:10-12; 2 Peter 1:21) God used His Holy Spirit especially upon the apostles of Jesus to lead them into all revealed truths about Jesus. In this manner, we believe that “the faith” was delivered once for all time to saints in the first century. (John 14:26; 16:4-13; Acts 1:2; Galatians 1:12; Ephesians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:2) The truths revealed to the apostles and made available to us are recorded in the Bible (the commonly accepted 66 books) itself. (Ephesians 3:3-12; Colossians 1:25,26; 1 John 4:6) Of course, without the Holy Spirit, these things that are recorded will still be a mystery to us. -- Mark 4:11; 1 Corinthians 2:7-10.

Part of the truth revealed by means of the Holy Spirit was that there was to be an apostasy, a “falling away” from the truth of God's Word, with strong delusions. (Matthew 13:24-30; Acts 20:29,30; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; 1 Timothy 4:1-3; 2 Timothy 4:3,4) This falling away had already begun in the first century, with some receiving a different spirit and preaching “another Jesus”; the apostasy was restrained for only a short while. (2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 John 2:18,19; 2 Corinthians 11:4) The apostasy spread rapidly after the death of the apostles. This falling away led to the development of the great “Man of Sin”, or more correctly “Lawless Man”, or “Illegal Man”, a great religious system, which claimed to have the authority to add to God's Word since their revelation was allegedly of God's Spirit. The central doctrine became the false teaching that Jesus had to be God Almighty in order to provide atonement for sins. With this spirit of error in mind, the writings of the apostles were totally reinterpreted to accommodate the error. Many of the Hellenic Jewish philosophies were adapted and added to and blended in with the New Testament, even as the Jews had done with the Old Testament.

Isaiah, in prophesying concerning the stone of stumbling (Isaiah 8:14; Romans 9:23) to both the houses of Israel (Romans 9:6,31; 11:7; 1 Corinthians 10:18; Galatians 6:16), warns us: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8:20, New King James Version The “law”, of course, is what we call the Old Testament; the “testimony” of this prophecy, we believe, points forward to the testimony of the apostles, as given in the New Testament. It is by means of the scriptural testimony that one may test the spirits. (1 John 4:1) It is to these and through these scriptures that the Holy Spirit today gives true direction, and anything not in agreement with these scriptures is not of the light of the day. -- John 11:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:5.

Nevertheless, it is due to the foretold great apostasy, wherein “the faith” that was once delivered to saints has been greatly obscured by the traditions and doctrines of man, that we can understand why Jesus asked, "However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [the] faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, New American Standard) The Greek has the definite article before the word “faith.” Jesus was not talking about faith in just anything. Everyone who has some kind of hope has faith in something, although that faith may be false to its promise. Jesus was talking about “the” faith, that is, “the faith” that was about to be delivered to the saints through his disciples. To some extent, it had already been so delivered but was not to be fully understood until after the “spirit of truth” was sent to the apostles.

It is to this, “the faith that was once delivered,” the “servant” of the master was to be faithful and wise in providing food for the household of faith. That faith, as has already been shown, was given in the first century in the Bible. Thus, in the time of Jesus' parousia, Jesus finds that very few of the servants can be actually called “faithful and wise” in stewardship.

However, in the parable, the four servants are rewarded according to their deeds. When does this take place? The apostle Paul shows that it will be when the believers of this age come before Christ's judgment seat. (2 Corinthians 5:10) Not all of whom have been servants of Christ throughout the Gospel Age will be present at the beginning of Jesus' parousia. Thus, we believe that the Master's return in the parable may not be referring to the beginning of Jesus' parousia. The judgment of the house of God had been going on throughout the Gospel Age. Thus, the works of each individual servant ends when that servant's life in the age ceases. Thus, the master's return in the parable appears to have reference to each to the judgment that takes place after Jesus returns. It is then that each servant's reward is determined. The scriptures indicate that the actual giving of the rewards is in the resurrection at the beginning of the “last day”. 

We believe that most of Christ's servants throughout the Gospel Age fall into the category of “that servant” (Luke 12:47) “who didn't know and did things worthy of stripes.” (Luke 12:48, World English Bible translation) Such will have to receive some disciplining for this but will be able to easily respond to such disciplining so that their chastisement will not be so great.

We believe that the next largest group of Christ's servants throughout the Gospel Age are in the category of those shown as “that servant, who knew his lord's will, and didn't prepare, nor do what he wanted.” (Luke 12:47) Those of this second “servant” classification will have to receive discipline, which, for them, will be greater than those spoken of in verse 48. 

The next is “that servant," who is called the “bad servant” (usually rendered “evil servant” -- Luke 12:45,46). This group appears to be those Christians who would symbolically “beat” the fellow servants into a form of sectarian subjection in order to bring Christ's servants under some kind of sectarian leadership and authority on earth. These may be aligned with the spirit of a spiritual “pride”. These evidently receive the most severe disciplinary punishments. Such will certainly receive great anguish when they learn that they are positioned far below the high and lofty grandeur that they had positioned in their imagination for themselves. While Jesus does not in this parable condemn them to the second death, it is quite possible, however, that some of this classification may have willfully sinned as new creatures, thus bringing the second death upon themselves.

The category with the least amount, of course, is that depicted by “the faithful and wise steward.” (Luke 12:42-44) One of this category has proven himself to be faithful in obedience to the master in giving to fellow-servants food as needed. There are two appointments involved; the first is to serve fellow-servants food as needed, and the second, if found wise and faithful in having given food as needed to fellow-servants, is the appointment over all the master's belongings. The latter appointment appears to be applicable to those who receive the reward of joint-heirship with Christ, who have overcome so as that they no longer can be hurt by the second death. (Revelation 2:11) Those who attain the goal spoken of by Paul (Philippians 3:14) will have been perfected in faith, having proven themselves incorruptible. (See our study: With What Kind of Body Will We Be Raised?)

It is not for any of us, however, to point the finger at another and say, "You are this or that 'servant.'" We are to show love to all the household of faith and leave the judging up to Jehovah through Jesus.