Parable of the Talents

Text and Content

The Parable of the Talents is a parable of Jesus found in Matthew 25:14-30. A man about to travel into a far country entrusts his servants with five talents, two talents, and one talent, giving "to every man according to his several ability." The servants who received five and two talents trade with them and gain as much again. The servant who received one talent digs in the earth and hides the money.

After a long time the master returns. He commends the first two servants, saying, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant" (Matthew 25:21), and entrusts them with more. The third servant says that he hid the money in the ground out of fear, because the master was "an hard man." The master rebukes him as a "wicked and slothful servant" and says that he ought at least to have put the money "to the exchangers" (those who would make it earn interest). The one talent is given to the servant who has ten talents, and the third servant is cast "into outer darkness" (25:30).

Background

The talent (Greek talanton) was originally a unit of weight and was also used as a monetary unit for reckoning large sums. One talent is commonly calculated at 6,000 denarii. Since one denarius was a laborer's daily wage (Matthew 20:2), even a single talent represented a very large amount of money. Burying money in the ground is said to have been a common way of safeguarding it against theft in the Jewish society of the time.

Place in Scripture

The parable belongs to Jesus' teaching on the end times (Matthew 24–25) and stands between the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. For this reason, the pattern of a master who departs and returns is commonly read as pointing to the life of disciples awaiting Christ's Second Coming and the Last Judgment.

The Parable of the Minas in Luke 19:11-27 has a similar plot but differs in several respects. Ten servants each receive the same amount, one mina, and the story includes citizens who oppose a nobleman who has gone away to receive a kingdom. Some scholars regard the two parables as different transmissions of the same teaching, while others consider them distinct parables.

Interpretation and Issues

• What the talents represent: Church tradition has broadly interpreted the entrusted talents as spiritual gifts, abilities, time, material possessions, the gospel, and the like, and has connected the parable with the idea of stewardship. In the text, however, the talents are money, and the master distributed them "according to his several ability." Some interpreters therefore distinguish the talents from ability itself, understanding them instead as the portions entrusted according to ability. The English word talent is said to have acquired the meaning "natural ability" from the tradition of interpreting this parable.
• The fate of the third servant: In the Reformed tradition, the third servant is often viewed as someone who never truly knew the master. On this reading, the parable does not conflict with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (the teaching that true believers will not finally fall away from salvation). The Wesleyan tradition, by contrast, sometimes emphasizes the parable as a real warning to believers who fail to use the grace they have received.
• "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance" (25:29): Some sermons in the vein of prosperity theology use this verse as grounds for increasing wealth. Many denominations and scholars criticize such use, holding that in context the verse speaks of faithfulness with what has been entrusted. The sociologist Robert K. Merton drew on this verse in coining the term "Matthew effect."
• Minority interpretation: Some scholars read the master as an exploitative rich man and the third servant as someone who refused to take part in that system. This is not the mainstream interpretation.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, the word dallanteu (talent) is widely used to mean an ability or spiritual gift given by God. In Sunday schools, it is common to hand out "talents" for attendance, Scripture memorization, and similar achievements, and to hold a "talent market" where children exchange the talents they have collected for goods. The phrase "good and faithful servant" is frequently quoted in sermons at ordination services and retirement services.