Luke 17:10

Luk 17:10. Ὅταν ποιήσητε, when ye shall have done) The consideration of the apostles was at the time fixed too intently upon the obedience which they had heretofore rendered, especially as they saw the scandalous perversity [or the perversity which took offence (σκάνδαλον) at the Saviour] on the part of others. See ch. Luk 16:14. The Lord calls them back from the remembrance of such things [which tended to lead them to exalt themself by the comparison].—[λέγετε, say ye) We are to understand and supply the following, So your faith will become great. When the obstacles to faith have been taken out of the way, among which rashness and self-confidence easily hold the first place, faith of its own accord increases. For then the pure and unmixed grace of the Lord has unrestricted room for its exercise.—V. g.]—ὅτι) ὅτι seems twice to have the same force by Anaphora.[183]—ΔΟῦΛΟΙ ἈΧΡΕῖΟΙ, unprofitable [dispensable] servants)[184] The emphasis lies on the word servants (slaves), and every servant ought to confess himself unprofitable from the very fact that he is a servant who owes all things [to his heavenly Master], who, if he is guilty of a delinquency, deserves stripes; if he does all things required of him, he deserves nothing as a matter of debt; he ought to feel as if he had done nothing; no thanks are to be considered due to him, whose part it is not to demand aught of importance to be assigned to him as regards either trouble or reward. God can do without our usefulness (services), being Himself alone ‘good.’ Rom 11:35. [Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again], Mat 19:17. David saith, ἔσομαι ἀχρεῖος [Engl. Ver., vile], ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου καὶ μετὰ τῶν παιδισκῶν, ὧν εἶπάς με μὴ δοξασθῆναι, 2Sa 6:22, where the antithesis δοξασθῆναι follows, not without mention of servants [παιδισκῶν]. He is wretched whom the Lord calls an unprofitable servant, Mat 25:30: Happy is he who calls himself so. As to the word ἀχρειο͂ς, see Eustathius.[185] There is a Metonymy of the consequent for the antecedent. Say ye, We are unprofitable servants; that is to say, there is no greater return of thanks due to us, than if we had done nothing: Job 9:21; Job 10:15.[186] Even the angels may call themselves unprofitable (dispensable) servants of God. And also the servant of a man may call himself an unprofitable servant, although he be profitable (serviceable) to his master. The reason is, I. The condition itself of a slave or servant [which makes service a matter of course, not something that can claim a reward]. II. In respect to God, there is to be added His own perfect blessedness. Act 17:25 [Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things]. Ἀχρεῖος is either used transitively, of one who is not profitable to another: or intransitively, of one who is of no profit to himself: and this again either of one’s own accord, as David says that he will be [in the passage quoted above, 2Sa 6:22], (not in the Hebrew, but in the Greek), or else involuntarily, as a servant or slave.—ὨΦΕΊΛΟΜΕΝ, we were bound by our duty) as servants. The emphasis rests on this word, rather than upon the word, πεποιήκαμεν, we have done.

[183] The figure by which the same word is repeated in the beginnings of sentences, clauses, etc. But ὅτι is omitted before δοῦλοι, and before ὃ ὠφέιλομεν by Lachm. AX Syr. Vulg. abc Cypr. omit the ὅτι before δοῦλοι. But BD Orig. have it. ABDLabc Vulg. Memph. Orig. 3,565c Cypr. omit the ὅτι before ὅ. Rec. Text has it without any of the oldest authorities.—E. and T.

[184] Ἀχοεῖος is not worthless or of no value; for that servant is not useless who does all that his master orders him. Ἄχρηστος is not one who does not what is commanded—one who yields no benefit—one useless. But ἀχρεῖος is one οὗ οὐκ ἔστι χρέια or χρέος, of whom there is no need, a person we can dispense with, dispensable, one to whom God the Master owes no thanks or favour. Human pride is liable to fancy that it has done God a favour by doing well. and that God could do without men’s services. See my note Mat 25:30, and Tittm. Synom.—E. and T.

[185] Mat 25:30, the servant is condemned for being ἀχοεῖος: whereas here the servant is commanded to call himself ἀχοεῖος. The reason is, because the former had been also ἄχρηστος, one who did not work and yielded no benefit, and in this sense was not wanted (ἀχρεῖος). But here he is ἀχρεῖος in the sense, not indispensable to his Lord.—E. and T.

[186] Comp. Job 35:7-8, “If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? or what receiveth He of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.”—E. and T.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 17:10 . οὕτως , so, in the Kingdom of God: extremes meet. The service of the Kingdom is as unlike that of a slave to his owner as possible in spirit ; but it is like in the heavy demands it makes, which we have to take as a matter of course. διαταχθέντα , commanded. In point of fact it is not commands but demands we have to deal with, arising out of special emergencies. δοῦλοι ἀχρεῖοι : the words express the truth in terms of the parabolic representation which treats of a slave and his owner. But the idea is: the hardest demands of the Kingdom are to be met in a spirit of patience and humility, a thing possible only for men who are as remote as possible from a slavish spirit: heroic, generous, working in the spirit of free self-devotion. Such men are not unprofitable servants in God’s sight; rather He accounts them “good and faithful,” Mat 25:21 . Syr. Sin [135] reads simply “we are servants”.

[135]yr. Sin. Sinaitic Syriac (recently discovered).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The most perfect keeping of the Law, which we can perform, deserves no reward.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

unprofitable--a word which, though usually denoting the opposite of profit, is here used simply in its negative sense. "We have not, as his servants, profited or benefited God at all." (Compare Job 22:2-3; Rom 11:35.)

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. We are unprofitable servants] This text has often been produced to prove that no man can live without committing sin against God. But let it be observed, the text says unprofitable servants, not sinful servants. If this text could be fairly construed to countenance sinful imperfection, it would be easy to demonstrate that there is not one of the spirits of just men made perfect, in paradise, nor a ministering angel at the throne of God, but is sinfully imperfect: for none of these can work righteousness, in the smallest degree, beyond those powers which God has given them; and justice and equity require that they should exert those powers to the uttermost in the service of their Maker; and, after having acted thus, it may be justly said, They have done only what it was their duty to do. The nature of God is illimitable, and all the attributes of that nature are infinitely glorious: they cannot be lessened by the transgressions of his creatures, nor can they be increased by the uninterrupted, eternal obedience, and unceasing hallelujahs, of all the intelligent creatures that people the whole vortex of nature. When ages, beyond the power of arithmetic to sum up, have elapsed, it may be said of the most pure and perfect creatures, "Ye are unprofitable servants." Ye have derived your being from the infinite fountain of life: ye are upheld by the continued energy of the Almighty: his glories are infinite and eternal, and your obedience and services, however excellent in themselves, and profitable to you, have added nothing, and can add nothing, to the absolute excellencies and glories of your God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Say, We are unprofitable servants.—There is something very suggestive in the use of the same word as that which meets us in the parable of the Talents (Mat_25:30). God, we are taught, may recognise and reward the varying use which men make of gifts and opportunities. But all boasting is excluded; and in relation to God the man who has gained the ten talents has to own that he has nothing that he has not received, and to confess that he stands, as it were, on a level with the “unprofitable servant.” Any personal claim on the ground of merit falls to the ground before such a declaration, and still more any speculative theory of works of supererogation, and of the transfer of the merits gained by them from one man to his fellow-servants and fellow-sinners.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. when ye shall have done alt] and this can never be, Psa_143:2. Even if it could “non est beneficium sed officium facere quod debetis,” Sen. Controv.

We are unprofitable servants] The same word for unprofitable occurs in Mat_25:30; Rom_3:12. This verse, like many others (Isa_64:6; Rom_3:27), cuts at the root of the whole Romish notion as to the possibility of ‘works of supererogation,’ see Article XIV. “Servi inutiles sunt, insufficientes quia nemo tantum timet, tantum diligit Deum, tantum credit Deo quantum oportuit,” Augsb. Conf. “We sleep half our lives; we give God a tenth of our time; and yet we think that with our good works we can merit Heaven. What have I been doing to day? I have talked for two hours. I have been at meals three hours. I have been idle four hours. Ah! enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord !” Luther. Yet in a lower sense—though ‘insufficient,’ though ‘unmeritorious’—it is possible for us to be ‘good and faithful servants,’ Mat_25:21; Mat_25:23.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it came to pass as he went to Jerusalem,.... That is, Jesus, as the Persic version expresses it; though the Ethiopic version reads in the plural, "they going to Jerusalem passed", &c. that is, the disciples, or Christ with his disciples; who was now going thither to eat his last passover, and suffer and die for his people:

that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee; or "between Samaria and Galilee"; as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; he steered his course through the borders of both these countries; and as he passed, Samaria was on his right hand, and Galilee on the left.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

Ver. 10. We have done that was our duty] Or, our debt; and it is no matter of merit to pay debts. This made William Wickam, founder of New College, &c., profess he trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation: Charles V did the like, when he came to die. {a} And in times of Popery, the ordinary instruction appointed to be given to men upon their death beds, was, that they should look to come to glory, not by their own merits, but by the virtue and merit of Christ’s passion, that they should place their whole confidence in his death only, and in no other thing; and that they should interpose his death between God and their sins, between them and God’s anger. (Dr Usheir in a sermon on Eph 4:13)

{a} Cade of the Church, Parei Medul. 883.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Are unprofitable servants - We have conferred no favor. We have “merited” nothing. We have not “benefited” God, or laid him under “obligation.” If he rewards us, it will be matter of unmerited favor. This is true in relation to Christians in the following respects:

Our services are not “profitable” to God Job 22:2; he “needs” not our aid, and his essential happiness will not be increased by our efforts. The grace to do his will comes from him only, and all the praise of that will be due to him. All that we do is what is our “duty;” we cannot lay claim to having rendered any service that will “bind” him to show us favor; and, Our best services are mingled with imperfections. We come short of his glory Rom 3:23; we do not serve him as sincerely, and cheerfully, and faithfully as we ought; we are far, very far from the example set us by the Saviour; and if we are saved and rewarded, it will be because God will be merciful to our unrighteousness, and will remember our iniquities no more, Heb 8:12.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Unprofitable servants. Because our service is of no profit to our Master; and he justly claims it as our bounden duty. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us; for he is pleased to give, by his grace, a value to our good works, which, in consequence of his promise, entitles them to an eternal reward. (Challoner) --- The word useless, when joined to servant, generally means a servant from whom his master does not derive the service he has a right to expect; as in St. Matthew xxv. 30. Here the word is taken in a less odious sense. It means a servant who does not testify sufficient zeal and ardour in his master’s service, who is not very eager to please him. With regard to God, we are always useless servants, because he wants not our services; and without his assistance, we can neither undertake nor finish any thing to please him. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

10. Ye—Ye apostles.

Unprofitable—In the sense that we have laid God under no obligations. We have received from God all we have and are, and have done no more than just meet the demands of mere right. We are like a debtor that has paid but his just due, and no return of thanks but mere courtesy need be made to him. We are the servant who is but just square with his master, and so deserves no favour. Had Adam lived pure, he would have done no more than his duty, for each moment of his existence. God could not then have justly punished him: but he would have no claim for special reward from God. God would have the right to dispense with him at any moment; might drop him into nonexistence at any instant. He would live every moment upon the pure favour of God. The purest angel exists by grace and not by merit. From this it follows:

1. That the sinner can be forgiven and saved only by grace. If he has been guilty, even at a single instant, of a sin of omission, he can never afterwards repair it; for he can never at any future moment do more than the duty of that moment. He can earn no surplus merit to fill up the blank of the past. And, in all probability, that one sin will so debilitate him morally and spiritually that he will sin again and again; so that debility and depravation will be the result. Much more, if he commit a positive sin will his whole moral nature be unhinged.

2. There can be no surplus merit in one man to save another. The Church of Rome strangely taught that we can do more than our duty; which deeds she calls works of supererogation. Against these the eleventh of our twenty-five articles is aimed. “Voluntary works, besides, over, and above God’s commandments, which are called works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly, When ye have done all that is commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.”

Although we can do to God no favour, no profit, and no service, yet he affords us the privilege of doing that which he consents to receive as service, and for which he graciously accepts us as profitable servants. Hence when our Lord speaks as in Luk_12:37, though there is a verbal contradiction, there is a most beautiful harmony.

Our Lord now, leaving Peraea and Eastern Judea, departs to Bethany, raises Lazarus, and is induced by the machinations of the Pharisees to depart to Ephraim on the confines of Judea and Samaria. Here, as John tells us, Jesus abode for some weeks with his disciples. Distance from Jerusalem was necessary for safety; and doubtless what ministry Jesus and his disciples performed during this period extended rather into Samaria northward than into Judea. Accordingly the next notice we have of Jesus in the following verse, finds him starting from Ephraim eastward. See HARMONY, p. 101.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When ye have done all, say, We are unprofitable servants - For a man cannot profit God. Happy is he who Judges himself an unprofitable servant: miserable is he whom God pronounces such. But though we are unprofitable to him, our serving him is not unprofitable to us. For he is pleased to give by his grace a value to our good works, which in consequence of his promise entitles us to an eternal reward.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

10. ὅταν ποιήσητε πάντα. And this can never be, Psa 143:2. Even if it could “non est beneficium sed officium facere quod debetis.” Sen. Controv.

ἀχρεῖοι. The same word for unprofitable occurs in Mat 25:30; Rom 3:12. This verse, like many others (Isa 64:6; Rom 3:27), cuts at the root of the whole Romish notion as to the possibility of ‘works of supererogation,’ see Article 14. “Servi inutiles sunt, insufficientes quia nemo tantum timet, tantum diligit Deum, tantum credit Deo quantum oportuit,” Augsb. Conf. “We sleep half our lives; we give God a tenth of our time; and yet we think that with our good works we can merit Heaven. What have I been doing to-day? I have talked for two hours. I have been at meals three hours. I have been idle four hours. Ah! enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord!” Luther. Yet in a lower sense—though ‘insufficient,’ though ‘unmeritorious’—it is possible for us to be “good and faithful servants,” Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23. We must be unprofitable in the realm of bare obligation and external service, and yet we may be faithful and honoured in the sphere of love.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10.] This shews the sense of the parable, as applying to our own thoughts of ourselves, and the impossibility of any claim for our services to God.

In Rom 6:23 (see also the foregoing verses) we have the true ground on which we look for eternal life set before us;—viz. as the gift of God whose servants we are,—not the wages, as in the case of sin, whose we are not. In the case of men this is different; a good servant is εὔχρηστος (Phm 1:11), not ἀχρεῖος, i.e. οὗ μὴ ἔχει τις χρείαν,—Etym. Mag. See Act 17:25.

The case supposed introduces an argument à fortiori: ‘how much more, when ye have failed in so many respects.’ ‘Miser est quem Dominus servum inutilem appellat, Mat 25:30; beatus qui se ipse.’ Bengel.

Thus closes the series of discourses which began with ch. 15:1.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. οὕτως καὶ ὑμεις, ὅταν ποιήσητε πάντα. A purely hypothetical case. Nothing is gained by placing a full stop at ὑμεῖς. With τὰ διαταχθέντα ὑμῖν comp. τὸ διατεταγμένον ὑμῖν. (3:13; Act 23:31).

ἀχρεῖοι. Not “vile” as in 2Sa 6:22, nor “good for nothing” as in Ep. Jer_15, the only places in which the word occurs in LXX; but “unprofitable,” because nothing has been gained by them for their master. He has got no more than his due. Comp. Mat 25:30, the only other passage in N.T. in which the word is found. That God does not need man’s service is not the point. Nor are the rewards which He gives in return for man’s service here brought into question. The point is that man can make no just claim for having done more than was due. Miser est quem Dominus servum inutilem appellat (Mat 25:30); beatus qui se ipse (Beng.). Syr-Sin. omits ἀχρεῖοι.

17:11-19:28. The Third Period of the Journey

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unprofitable [αχρειοι] . From creia, requirement; something which the master must pay. Not useless, but having rendered no service beyond what was due. "The profit does not begin until the servant goes beyond his obligation" (Meyer). "A servant owes all things" (Bengel).

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.