Matthew24:51

Translation

and he will flog him severely with a sharp scourge,

and will assign him a place with the hypocrites;

in that place there will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

Paraphrase

and the owner will have that servant punished with a sharp whip until his blood runs freely, and he will make sure that the servant gets the same punishment as other fakes, which will bring constant lamenting for past decisions and

the most woeful expressions of frustration and agony.

Footnotes

1: "sharp scourge"

The Greek word used here means “to cut or to cut in two.” When we read about something being “cut in two” we get an image in our minds of something being divided into two totally different sections. The word can mean that, but it also can mean something else. It came to be used of being whipped with a scourge because it would cut open the skin, not just cause bruises and not just make scratches that might bleed a little. The cuts it caused were deep enough to lay open the flesh on two sides of a gaping would, thus it merited the use of this word “to cut in two.” We could say it was the skin that was cut in two, not the entire person. As it is used here it is a picture of intense pain and suffering, not a picture of instant death.

2

Their word for hypocrite was the same word used of an actor, someone who is pretending to be someone he is not. This word was chosen here because this servant acted one way in from of his boss in order to gain the supervisor’s position, but he showed his true colors when the boss was away for a long time.

Example #5 The Return of the Owner of the Estate Mt 24:45-51

A good servant is one who fulfills his responsibilities faithfully and does not change his actions even if he somehow finds out the exact day his master will return. In contrast, the wicked servant is one who assumes there is more time and begins to live only for himself, even to the point of mistreating those around him to get what he wants.

The point of this illustration is that, since we don’t know when Jesus will return to give us what we deserve, we should be constantly guided by the foundational spiritual principles of God’s word.