Study comparing the faithful and discreet slave with the evil slave.

Matthew 24:45

NET “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?

NIV “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?

NASB “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?

ESV Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?

NLT “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them.

BBE Who is the true and wise servant, whom his lord has put over those in his house, to give them their food at the right time?

NKJV “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

NRSV “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time?

KJV Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

NWT 2013 “Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time

NET Grk 45 Τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ πιστὸς δοῦλος καὶ φρόνιμος ὃν κατέστησεν ὁ κύριος ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκετείας αὐτοῦ τοῦ δοῦναι αὐτοῖς τὴν τροφὴν ἐν καιρῷ;

Point of comparison	Faithful and discreet (wise, sensible) slave	Evil slave
Actions	gives the fellow servants their food at the proper time	and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and to eat and drink with drunkards,
does he have knowledge of the Master’s will?	yes and remains faithful to the Master’s instructions	yes, but goes “beyond what is written”
philosophy of leadership	servant leader	authoritarian; lords it over his fellow servants; dictates what they must do and believe
power, authority	does not seek power over others	seeks to control others; seeks to maintain his position of power over others; self-serving; punishes disobedience;
focus of instruction	remains faithful to the Master’s instructions	promotes and imposes his own will on his fellow servants; enforces obedience to his instructions; disobedience to his instruction results in negative consequences
whose needs are being met?	fellow servant’s needs	ignores other’s needs; uses force to achieve his own/organization’s goals
change	remains faithful to original instructions	changes his instructions and needs to enforce his changes through coercion. Introduces “new light” that goes beyond what is written but insists it must be followed because it is his idea. Big ego.
emotions	listens to the needs of his fellow servants	ignores the negative feelings of his fellow servants and imposes his own will and ideas with force.
wise	retains wisdom; remains sensible (reasonable, i.e. remains open to reason)	becomes unreasonable and seeks to control others with unreasonable demands; surrounds himself with others who also think unreasonably (“drunkards”) and thus influence his base instincts; becomes erratic. He considers himself as “wiser” than the Master and thus issues “new light” that must be followed.
loyalty	to the Master	everyone must be loyal to him. Loyalty to him is equated with loyalty to the Master. This is the most important quality that the fellow servants must have and takes precedence over everything else. Surrounds himself with yes-men; questioning his commands is met with immediate consequences. Loyalty can best be detected by agreement with his ideas and obedience to his commands.
criticism	probably allows criticism because he is reasonable (sensible) and faithful to the Master	does not tolerate criticism; punishes non-acceptance or non-conformance to his demands;

Imagine I met a person from North Korea and was told that I should come to live in North Korea because it is like paradise on earth and that the country I live in now (Canada) is a bad place

Let's compare a dictatorship with a cult and the truth. There are many cults in this world; from some countries, political parties, militaries, secret societies, some religious groups, and sometimes even businesses. All demand obedience and loyalty, some absolute. All foster a group identity and mentality. They have an in-group and an out-group.

Point of comparison	Dictatorship	Cult	Biblical Truth
Form	countries	political parties, militaries or paramilitary organizations, secret societies, religious groups, churches or movements, sometimes businesses.	churches and individuals, universal body of Christ.
Source of authority	political or military leader, or a small group	single leader or sometimes a small group	only scripture.
Source of information	from the authorities only	from the leaders; leaders opinions and interpretations take precedence over scripture. Leaders go beyond what is written. Sometimes a leader has published a “manifesto” or releases “new light” that must be followed.	only from scripture
Loyalty	must be loyal to the authorities; they cannot be questioned.	loyalty to the leaders is all important; they cannot be questioned.	to God, Christ and scripture only. “Sola scriptura”.
Response to criticism	repression, persecution, prison, execution	“do not ask questions” or “here are the authorized questions you can ask”. Leaders cannot be questioned.	does not mind being asked questions, has answers and is glad to give them.
Control	absolute, enforced	absolute, enforced by various means	freedom in Christ.