Clarified King James Bible

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Matthew 25:14-30 Display Chapter and Footnotes ¹⁴ The Parable of the Talents: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, [money] to another two, and to another one; he gave to every man according to his own ability, and he immediately left on his journey. [A talent was a very large sum of money, (approximately $500,00 today). It is not a talent, such a singing, speaking, sewing, dancing, painting, etc. The Lord is using a very large earthly treasure to represent heavenly treasure, the measure of the Spirit of God, given to every man, which measure of Spirit of God is your talent, which talent is like a seed that must be grown tall in this life; if you fail to grow it, in the next life it is taken away from you and given to another who has improved their measure of the Spirit of God, while you are cast into outer darkness as a wicked and unworthy servant where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So every man is given a small measure of the Spirit of God with light that he might believe what it shows him, what it reproves him, what it convicts him — while a man is alive on the earth. If a man is totally obedient to the anonymous pleadings of God's Spirit or light, he will become a child of God, a child of light, for God is light. But if he hates the light because it reproves his selfish lifestyle and behavior, then he dies in his sins; and when a man dies still sinning, Christ the light steps out of him, leaving the man in total darkness, which is Hell. Then the measure of light that the man had is given to another who improved his measure of Spirit of God while alive.] ¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with the money, and made five more talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two, he also gained another two. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug into the earth, and hid his lord's money. ¹⁹ Now after a long time the lord of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ And he who had received five talents came and brought his other five talents, saying, 'Lord, you entrusted five talents to me. Behold, I have gained five talents more than the original five.' ²¹ And his lord said to him, 'Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' ²² Then he who that had received two talents also came and said, 'Lord, you entrusted two talents to me. Behold, I have gained two talents more than the original two.' ²³ And his lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' ²⁴ Then he who had received the one talent, came and said, 'Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.³ ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth. See, you have what is yours.' ²⁶ His lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and slothful servant; you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered. ²⁷ Therefore you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and then at my coming I would have received my own with interest. ²⁸ Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ²⁹ For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.⁴ ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' [Those who fail to increase the small measure of God's Light that all men who come into the world are given so that they might believe, John 1:7,9, lose even their small measure Spirit and light, thus to be in outer darkness where they will panic, weep, and gnash their teeth. Until we lose the small measure of light we have been given, we have no idea how much our sense of well-being is dependent upon it.] Display Chapter and Footnotes

Matthew 25:14-30

¹⁴ The Parable of the Talents:

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his property to them.

¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, [money] to another two, and to another one; he gave to every man according to his own ability, and he immediately left on his journey. [A talent was a very large sum of money, (approximately $500,00 today). It is not a talent, such a singing, speaking, sewing, dancing, painting, etc. The Lord is using a very large earthly treasure to represent heavenly treasure, the measure of the Spirit of God, given to every man, which measure of Spirit of God is your talent, which talent is like a seed that must be grown tall in this life; if you fail to grow it, in the next life it is taken away from you and given to another who has improved their measure of the Spirit of God, while you are cast into outer darkness as a wicked and unworthy servant where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So every man is given a small measure of the Spirit of God with light that he might believe what it shows him, what it reproves him, what it convicts him — while a man is alive on the earth. If a man is totally obedient to the anonymous pleadings of God's Spirit or light, he will become a child of God, a child of light, for God is light. But if he hates the light because it reproves his selfish lifestyle and behavior, then he dies in his sins; and when a man dies still sinning, Christ the light steps out of him, leaving the man in total darkness, which is Hell. Then the measure of light that the man had is given to another who improved his measure of Spirit of God while alive.]

¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with the money, and made five more talents.

¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two, he also gained another two.

¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug into the earth, and hid his lord's money.

¹⁹ Now after a long time the lord of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

²⁰ And he who had received five talents came and brought his other five talents, saying, 'Lord, you entrusted five talents to me. Behold, I have gained five talents more than the original five.'

²¹ And his lord said to him, 'Well done, you good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

²² Then he who that had received two talents also came and said, 'Lord, you entrusted two talents to me. Behold, I have gained two talents more than the original two.'

²³ And his lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

²⁴ Then he who had received the one talent, came and said, 'Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.³

²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the earth. See, you have what is yours.'

²⁶ His lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and slothful servant; you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered.

²⁷ Therefore you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and then at my coming I would have received my own with interest.

²⁸ Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

²⁹ For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.⁴

³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' [Those who fail to increase the small measure of God's Light that all men who come into the world are given so that they might believe, John 1:7,9, lose even their small measure Spirit and light, thus to be in outer darkness where they will panic, weep, and gnash their teeth. Until we lose the small measure of light we have been given, we have no idea how much our sense of well-being is dependent upon it.]

Display Chapter and Footnotes

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⁴ This Parable of the The Talents is the parable that Christ speaks concerning the increase of a man's heavenly treasure, the Spirit of God, a measure of which every man has received from the Lord: The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to benefit all. 1 Cor 12:7. Everyone must improve, or increase their given heavenly talent, thus to become good and faithful servants, and stewards if they intend to enter into the joy of the Lord. As Edward Burrough wrote in his testimony of his journey to the kingdom, "the good and faithful servant improves his talent to the honor and riches of his master, but the slothful servant hides it in the earth, living in filthiness, saying he has no power."

Christ, the Light, is given to all men who come into the world, so that they might believe. John 1:7,9. Everyone also has the Holy Spirit of God, because it was poured out on all mankind at Pentecost. Acts 2:14-21, and the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to benefit all. 1 Cor 12:7. His Spirit is chained down, subject to your selfish spirit that rules you. This seed of God is waiting to be sought, listened to, and obeyed — which causes growth. From the seed of Christ, which is chained down within a man, Christ must increase, while the selfish, rebellious spirit of man decreases — until finally Christ appears within a man, to be seen, to be witnessed, to bring salvation, to bring the Kingdom, to bring glory to the purified believer. This seed, light, or spirit of God is your talent, which must be improved in this life; if you fail to grow it, in the next life it is taken away from you and given to another who has improved their talent, while you are cast into outer darkness as a wicked and unworthy servant.

A talent was a very large sum of money. Jesus spoke in parables, deliberately to hide understanding from the wise and intelligent who thought they could see [spiritually], but who were blind [spiritually]. The blind guides of Christendom, without a clue to what this parable meant, decided it was an exhortation to Jesus' disciples to use their God-given natural abilities in the service of God, and to take risks for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Natural abilities, without a smattering of the spiritual, have thus become to be known as "talents" in the English language. This shows how deep Christendom's apostasy has become: it has even become imbedded in our language, further confusing those who seek to understand Jesus' teachings.

While you have light, believe in [depend on, trust and obey] the light, that you may become the children of light. John 12:36. The Light (Christ) is given to every man who comes into the world, John 1:9, so that through the Light, all men might believe, John 1:7; and by abiding in the Light and obeying the Light, man receives salvation to become a child of the light, a son of God. For God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5. So man is given the small measure of light that he might believe what it shows him, what it reproves him, what it convicts him — while a man is alive on the earth. If a man is totally obedient to the light, he will become a child of God, a child of the light. But if he hates the light because it reproves his selfish lifestyle and behavior, then he dies in his sins; and when a man dies still sinning, Christ the light steps out of him, leaving the man in total darkness, which is Hell. Then the measure of light that the man had is given to another who improved his talent while alive. The result: everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power 2 Thes 1:9; man is cut off from the life, power, and glory of God, dwelling in total darkness. From the Word of the Lord within: "When the light leaves, you will panic; all the ungodly will panic."

So O man, believe (accept the reproofs and convictions) in the light, while you have the light because to lose the light is to be cast into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is Step 1 — the seed, chained down. To read about steps 1 through 5, see The Mystery — Christ in You. To read more about the parable of the talents, see George Fox's writing.

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