Pearls of the Word

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Is God austere?

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"And he said to him, I will judge you out of your own mouth, you wicked servant [doulos]! You knew that I was an austere [austeros] man, picking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow" (Luke 19:22).

The Greek word austeros means dry, rough, hard, and in a figurative meaning, severe, austere, without ornament, without grace. According to the dictionary, the austerity describes a moral severity and a puritan rigour; it has not necessarily a negative meaning because it involves seriousness that opposes levity and bad manners.

This wicked servant has been judged by his own words that revealed the state of his heart and showed he did not know God. But the eternal life is to know Him and His Son Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Therefore this servant doulos belongs to this noble-man (Jesus, Kurios in Luke 19:12-13) who got royal power for himself, but he lost his eternal life by not living His grace.