Does the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35 signify a saved believer or not? We need to be clear about this, because for some who believe, as I do, that you cannot lose your salvation, this whole story may cause a problem.

On the one hand, at the beginning of this story (Jesus does not explicitly say it is a parable, but it certainly seems to be), the master forgave the servant his huge debt, which surely signifies our being forgiven for our sins. On the other hand, at the end of the story, we are told that the master

…delivered him to the tormentors until he should repay all that was owed.
— Matthew 18:34

Moreover, in drawing the lesson of this story, the Lord leaves no doubt that it is meant for the believers:

So will My heavenly Father do to you also if you do not forgive your brother, each of you, from your hearts.
— Matthew 18:35

So here is a case of one who was indeed forgiven, which must signify a genuine believer in Christ, but who in the end was still “delivered…to the tormentors.”

And of course, those who claim you can lose your salvation use this story as a major piece of evidence for what they believe; one commentary says it shows that our forgiveness in Christ, like the initial forgiveness received by the servant, is “conditional.”

However, when we look at this story more carefully, we realize it does not tell us the servant was given up to torment for the rest of his life, but only until he repaid “what was owed” (v. 34). In other words, he received a severe, but temporary, discipline from his master.

So the story of the unforgiving servant does not signify the loss of salvation after all. Rather, it shows how we, even as the forgiven believers in Christ, may face a serious, though temporary, discipline from the Lord when we see Him if we are not faithful to Him in this age (e.g., 2 Cor. 5:10).

If we are clear about this, it will help us understand so much in the New Testament that deals with our responsibility before the Lord as the believers in Christ, and in so doing, give us a much fuller understanding of what it means to follow Christ today.

And that is what we will consider in the next Note in this series.

Sent to our mailing list on
—  28 June 2025 —