A Sermon by the Rev. James S. Sinclair: The Parable of the Creditor and the Two Debtors

“There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?”—LUKE vii. 41, 42.

THIS parable was spoken by Jesus on a very touching occasion. He had been invited by one of the Pharisees, Simon to name, to eat with him, and had accepted the invitation. We are told that “he went into the Pharisee’s house and sat down to meat.” While he was seated there, a striking incident took place. “A woman in the city” who had been an open and notorious sinner, came with “an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head.” She also “kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.” These marks of sorrow and affection evidently showed the character of a sincere penitent. She had been a great sinner, but she had heard with power, the words of grace and truth from the lips of the great Saviour, and her heart was broken for the sin of her past life. She had evidently got a view of the infinite excellency and preciousness of Christ “as fairer than the children of men,” for she did not hesitate, in the most humble and affecting manner, to express the all-absorbing love and reverence which she had begun to cherish for His adorable person. These things would have been plain to an unbiased on-looker, but they were not so to the proud self-righteous Pharisee. He could see nothing but the fact that the woman was a sinner, and “spake within himself saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” Observing that Christ did not repel the poor woman’s attentions, he does not draw a conclusion in favour of His condescension and grace, but expresses within himself the doubt whether Christ was a prophet at all, seeing that He allowed “a sinner” to touch Him. What ignorance of Christ and His work of mercy, these thoughts revealed! The omniscient Redeemer saw what was going on in the heart of Simon, and spake the parable of the creditor and the two debtors with a view to teach him and others present, a lesson in gospel truth, which they should not readily have forgotten. The parable was spoken by way of reproof. The grace of God, set forth in it, is a reproof to the pride and self-righteousness of the fallen heart which would hold fast the principle of salvation by works. But on the other hand, no parable can afford more encouragement to the poor sinner who is willing to be an entire debtor to the free mercy of God in Christ, and whose cry is “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great” (Psalms xxv. 11). In considering, then, the words before us, in dependence upon the Spirit of truth, let us observe:

I.—The Creditor; “a certain creditor”

Let us notice that God is the creditor to which Christ refers. He is employing figurative language to set forth a certain relation in which the Most High stands to His creatures. A creditor among men is one who gives goods or money to others for a time on the condition of payment or return. God is the creditor of His creatures in the sense that He has given them many privileges in all ages, for which He expects some return at their hands, that shall be honourable to themselves and glorifying to Him. This return, alas, He has not received from fallen sinners of Adam’s race. Let us here observe briefly the two chief aspects in which God stands in the relation of creditor to us.

1. He is our creditor in the administration of the covenant of works. He created man in His own image at the beginning, and gave him a holy soul and body that he might employ these in the service of his Maker. He placed our first parents in a beautiful garden, where they walked in all outward comfort as well as enjoyed the favour and converse of God Himself. Still more, He entered into a covenant of life with Adam, as the natural head of the race, the substance of which engagement was a promise of everlasting life to him and his posterity on condition of his perfect obedience, and a threatening of everlasting death as the penalty of disobedience. The Most High thus bestowed upon us many advantages in the First Adam; He gave us a rich stock of goods, and the ability to employ them for his glory. He became our creditor in a high and important sense, and we became His highly favoured debtors, under every obligation to make a suitable return for His kindness. But, sad to say, the covenant was violated. Man broke it by disobedience, and thus abused and cast away all the valuable blessings which he had received, making himself obnoxious to the penalty of eternal death. Here, however, transpired an inexpressible wonder. God, in the riches of His goodness, became our creditor again in the unfolding of a new covenant, designed to meet the desperate case of these ruined debtors. “He restored that which he took not away.” This leads us to notice:
2. He is our creditor in the administration of the covenant of grace. The first intimation of the provision of this covenant was made in the promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. The main substance of this covenant, as unfolded through the length and breadth of the Scriptures, is that God entered into an engagement with His only-begotten and eternal Son that He would become, in the fulness of the time, the seed of the woman by the assumption to Himself of a true but holy humanity; that He would enter into conflict with and overcome the old serpent; and that by His holy and steadfast obedience and sufferings unto death, He would obtain eternal redemption from sin, Satan, and the curse, on behalf of an innumerable company of our race. Further, it was arranged that the Holy Spirit would apply this redemption with power to the souls of men. The first part of this covenant, in a way of purchase, was fulfilled in due time by the Lord Jesus Christ, and the second, in a way of application, is now in process of being accomplished.

Let us now observe that God has become our creditor again, in bestowing upon us the various means of grace whereby He communicates the benefits of this great redemption. These means He expects sinners to employ with a view to their salvation and His glory. They are privileges bestowed upon men, which, if rightly improved by divine help, will bring a revenue of praise to God. He gave much in this way to the Jews of the Old Dispensation, but He has given more to us under the New. He has sent us the whole Bible—the completed canon of divine revelation—and every sinner in a Gospel land has now the opportunity of becoming acquainted with its precious contents. He has provided us with a preached Gospel, and has sent forth His Spirit in His powerful operations to convince, quicken, and renew. He has set up His Sabbath in our midst as a sacred day of rest and worship. To some He has given godly relatives and friends, whose word and example are fitted to bring the realities of eternity and salvation near. Our heavenly Creditor has bestowed upon us much valuable goods, and He looks for spiritual revenue to be returned to Him.

It is vain for any to imagine that privileges do not entail responsibilities, and that, because they cannot save themselves, they are not to be diligent in seeking to improve their privileges. It is in connection with the use of means that God blesses and saves His people, and glorifies His name, and those who cast these behind their back, deliberately chose to dishonour God and destroy themselves, to the utmost of their ability. We shall have to give an account of our stewardship at death and the judgment seat.

II.—The two debtors who owed, one “five hundred pence, and the other fifty”

Let us next observe “the two debtors,” who owe, one five hundred pence, and the other fifty. It is plain that Jesus has here immediately in view the woman and Simon. She had been a great transgressor, and she owed five hundred pence; the Pharisee had been moral and upright in his life, and he owed only fifty.

The Saviour here recognises a distinction which runs through all His teaching that some sinners of the race involve themselves in greater guilt than others. “There is none righteous, no not one.” All sinned and fell in Adam, and all possess a sinful corrupt heart, but some plunge themselves by their actual transgressions into deeper debt to divine justice than others. At the same time, it is not so easy, as it may at first sight appear, to determine who are always the most guilty parties. So much has to be taken into account, that God alone can infallibly determine the exact proportion of guilt in every individual case. He has, however, given us in this parable and elsewhere in Scripture some general rules designed for our guidance and admonition in the matter.

Let us notice, first, the guilt of people possessed of equal privileges. To this class the woman and Simon seem to belong. They were both, to begin with, members of the commonwealth of Israel, and had all the privileges of this favoured people. But the woman had trampled upon all outward restraints, and had run riot in the ways of sin and death, while Simon had lived a strict and careful life and had walked in a measure answerable to his light and knowledge. Her guilt was much greater than his, though he was a sinner also in many things, a fact that he does not seem to recognise. Christ allows that the woman is a greater transgressor than Simon, but He does not fail to remind him that he is a transgressor also. Thus, it is the case, my friends, still. We see many brought up in favourable surroundings, but some of these despising their advantages and going headlong into all the vanities and follies of the world, while others appreciate to a certain extent their privileges and are circumspect in their walk and conversation. Let not the former reason in carnal fashion that, because all men are sinners, their course of life does not imply any added guilt, and that it makes no difference how men live, if they are still unregenerate. They may find out something different when they come to die. The impenitent debtor who deliberately accumulates his debt of five hundred pence and refuses to accept the pardon of the gospel, will find out at last that he has chosen for himself a deeper and more dreadful place in hell than his more careful neighbour, although it is an awful thing to go there in any circumstances. The Apostle Paul bears testimony to this in respect of the unbelieving and persecuting Jews who violently opposed the gospel, when he declares that “the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” (1 Thess. ii. 16.)

Let us, secondly, notice the guilt of people possessed of unequal privileges. Those who have been under the sound of the true gospel from their childhood are in deeper debt to God than the heathen who never heard the gospel, or than those who have had only a semblance of it. Let us be assured of this, that the first of these classes is owing the five hundred pence—the others lesser sums in proportion to their peculiar circumstances. Gospel neglecters and despisers are far greater transgressors in God’s sight, however fair their moral character may be, than many in heathen lands who live lives of degradation. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for the Capernaum sinners of Great Britain who have been exalted to heaven with outward privileges, and who shall, if they repent not, be thrust down to the depths of hell. “And that servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes, but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” (Luke xii. 47, 48.) And you, who have been accustomed to sound doctrine from your youth, and have had solemn warnings and gracious invitations addressed to you from Sabbath to Sabbath will have much more to account for at last than those who have been brought up in ignorance of these advantages. You are five hundred pence debtors, and stand in unspeakable need of a free forgiveness for abused mercies. O seek it now in the day of mercy, ere it be too late (Isaiah lv. 6, 7).

III.—The inability of the debtors: “they had nothing to pay”

The third point in the parable that falls to be noticed is the inability of the debtors; “they had nothing to pay.” This was the case with both parties. The five hundred pence debtor was in irretrievable debt, and the fifty pence debtor was in no better case, for, although he had less to pay, he was equally helpless to meet the just demands of the creditor.

There may be different degrees of guilt, as we have shown, among men in general, but here is a point where they are all on an equal footing: they have “nothing to pay,” nothing to meet the requirements of God’s justice. His justice calls for satisfaction in two special particulars: obedience to divine precepts in all those respects, where there has been disobedience, and satisfaction by suffering for transgression committed. “The wages of sin is death.” Now, where is the sinner that can meet these demands? The disobedient sinner has rendered himself incapable of ever giving the perfect obedience which God’s revealed will justly requires. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” The best works that the natural man can perform are rotten at the heart. “God made man upright” at the beginning in heart and action, and in justice, He cannot accept anything less now. Poor fallen sinners have therefore nothing to pay by way of obedience to the precept of the law. “By the deeds of the law (the deeds of corrupt sinners and there are no other) no flesh shall be justified in His sight.”

Still more, we have “nothing to pay” in a way of satisfaction to the penalty of disobedience. The sufferings of unholy creatures can never satisfy the holy justice that has been offended. All the sufferings of the lost in hell are never able to satisfy the requirements of divine justice, and so these sufferings never come to an end. Justice requires willing suffering—holy suffering—before its perfect demands can be met, and this is what no fallen sinner can render. “Nothing to pay,” therefore, is the verdict that has to be passed upon every member of our lost race, whatever men may think of themselves or not.

Multitudes in the Church of Rome—yes, and in Protestant Churches also—imagine they can pay their debt to God’s justice; they are working night and day at a thousand labours, supposing that they will make themselves acceptable in His sight. But theirs is a vain delusion. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, solemnly declares that “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,” and in so declaring, condemns such legalists, root and branch.

The great difficulty, however, is to get sinners to believe that they have nothing wherewith to pay. None but the Spirit of God can convince them of this, and it is a great mercy when a poor sinner is brought to see that he is guilty of having destroyed himself, that he is utterly destitute of all ability to keep the precept, or satisfy the penalty of the divine law, and that he is justly under the sentence of eternal death. It is usually in this spot that sinners are made willing debtors to the mercy of God in Christ who has magnified the law and made it honourable in the room of all His people. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” (Rom. x. 4.)

IV.—The Creditor’s forgiveness

We now come to the fourth and most wonderful point in this parable—the Creditor’s forgiveness. “And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.” May the Most High be for ever adored that these words and such as these, have been spoken and written for the benefit of the guilty sons of men!

1. Let us observe first, that it is the Creditor Himself, and not another, that forgives. It is He whose goodness was abused and dishonoured, who had an absolutely perfect sense of what was due to His just requirements, who was under no inherent obligation to show mercy, and who might have, in all righteousness, cast His ungrateful debtors into an eternal prison, that frankly cancels their debts and sets them free. Sometimes, among men, when the handling of such things as debts falls into the hand of another than the creditor himself, the other has no scruple in exercising an unjust liberality towards the debtors. Such kindness is worthy of small esteem. But here, the soul, whose conscience has been awakened to a sense of righteousness, has the unspeakable satisfaction of knowing that it is the very Divine Creditor whom he has robbed and dishonoured by his sins, that finds it possible in consistency with all the perfections of His character to bestow forgiveness. This greatly enhances the sweetness of the gift. The Holy One of Israel is also a sin-pardoning God. “Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity?”
2. Let us notice next the character of the forgiveness bestowed. “He frankly forgave them both.” There is much wrapped up in the frankness with which the Lord forgives.
   (1) It is a sovereign forgiveness. He was under no absolute necessity to forgive. He chose to do so of His good pleasure. It is the forgiveness of a King who is under no obligation to pardon. The Lord said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,” and His counsel stands sure for ever.
   (2) It is a gracious forgiveness. “The Lord is merciful and gracious: who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” Forgiveness is of the free grace of God through Jesus Christ. Sinners do not deserve pardon: they justly merit eternal condemnation; and under this condemnation the whole guilty race would have remained, if God did not, in the abundance of His mercy, purpose to forgive. He now bestows the forgiveness of sins, “according to the riches of his grace”; and He forgives the greatest transgressors as freely as the least through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Ephes. i. 7).
   (3) It is a righteous forgiveness. He that forgives frankly forgives with his whole heart and soul. This is the manner in which the Lord forgives: He forgives with the consent of His righteousness as well as of His other attributes. His righteousness is well pleased with the obedience and death of Christ who obeyed and suffered in the room of sinners, and satisfied all the claims of law and justice on their behalf. Forgiveness thus flows through a righteous channel to the guilty. It is an eminent part of justification, and God is just, when He is “the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.” (Rom. iii. 25-26.)
   (4) It is a loving forgiveness. The creditor who frankly forgives, as we have said, does it with all his heart. And the heart of God is a heart of love towards a sinful people who are guilty debtors to His justice. If He forgives you your sins, He does it in the exercise of His infinite love. Godly King Hezekiah says in his prayer: “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” (Isaiah xxviii. 17.)
   (5) It is a full forgiveness. “All thine iniquities.” The creditor does not forgive the debtors part of their debt; He cancels it all. The Lord bestows a complete forgiveness on those He pardons. He blots out all their sins, great and small, without exception. What a wonderful blessing this is! “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah i. 18.)
   (6) It is an unchangeable forgiveness. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” He does not forgive to-day, and condemn to-morrow. No doubt, His people have not always a feeling sense of their forgiveness: they are afraid oftentimes that the Lord is still charging their past sins against them, and they cry with the Psalmist, “Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions.” But they are greatly mistaken if they think that the Lord has withdrawn the word of pardon that has gone out of His mouth. He saith, “I am the Lord; I change not.” He may chastise them on account of their sins past and present, but this is rather because He has forgiven than because He has not. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” Whom He forgives, He sanctifies; and their sanctification under His discipline is an evidence of their justification. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”
   (7) Our last point here is that it is an everlasting forgiveness. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.” It is true indeed that the Lord’s people come to “the throne of grace” constantly for the forgiveness of their daily sins, but this does not imply that their first forgiveness has come to an end; it only means that they seek an experimental realisation of what was contained in it suitable to their present case. The experimental realisation of what is in Christ for His people is something that can only be held by the Spirit’s continued operation upon their souls, and the exercise of prayer at a throne of grace is one of the channels along which the Spirit works in producing repentance, confession of sin, cries for mercy, and the application of forgiveness. The divine pardon will stand sure at death, and at the judgment seat of Christ. Those who were pardoned and accepted in the Beloved in time, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted before the whole world at the last day. They will hear the voice of the Judge, saying, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

The concluding point in our text, which we do not now fully handle, is the love that a free forgiveness produces, by the divine blessing, in the hearts of those who are pardoned. “Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?” The answer to this question was rightly given by Simon: “I suppose that he to whom He forgave most. And He said to him, Thou hast rightly judged.” The greater the sense of forgiveness, the greater will be the love to the person of the Divine Forgiver. It was therefore entirely appropriate in the case of the poor woman who had been forgiven much, and deeply felt it to be so, that she should both feel and express greater love to Christ than others who had not had a similar experience. Simon treated Christ very coldly though he invited Him to his house. He was righteous in his own eyes. Possibly he owned that he had committed some small sins, and considered that he had obtained forgiveness for them. The Saviour took Simon at his own profession and weighed his practice. “To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little,” is Christ’s sentence.

One other general remark. While Jesus in this parable allows that some persons are more guilty than others, yet He does not teach, here or elsewhere, that it is the disposition of truly penitent and forgiven sinners, however moral their outer life had been, to think that they were only small transgressors against the law of God. He impresses upon all that they are sinners and lost, and recommends all to take “the lowest room,” and such is the attitude of all truly gracious souls. The testimony of some of them, such as Paul, is, that while they might be more blameless, by the restraining mercy of God, in their general behaviour than others, yet that they had heart sins, secret sins, and sins against the gospel that placed them among the “chief of sinners,” the five hundred pence debtors.

In conclusion, let each of us pause and consider, “Am I a forgiven sinner, or am I still under the burden of all my sins?” If we are still unforgiven, we are lying under a load that is more than sufficient to sink us down to hell. We have nothing where-with to pay the demands of justice, and we may at any moment be seized hold of and thrust into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Lord Jesus is still exalted at the Father’s right hand to bestow repentance and forgiveness of sins. Let any poor, guilty debtor, who feels himself under an overwhelming burden of sin and guilt, from which he can in nowise rescue himself, look to the exalted Saviour and commit himself entirely into His hands. He is ready to bestow a rich, free, and full forgiveness upon every heavy laden sinner who truly comes to the Father by Him, with the soul cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” May the Lord bless to us His own Word!