Bible Questions and Answers

Luke 12:47,48 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: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

We need to remember that this is the "moral of the story" of the parable of the faithful and unfaithul servants. It is not to be taken literally. In Jesus' day unfaithful or abusive servants were punished by the lash.  He is talking about responsibility to judgement.  A key component of one's responsibility to Christ's judgement is knowledge and understanding. The more you know and understand, the more responsible to God you are for doing the right thing. Consider these passages:

James 3:1 My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.

James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

I hope you have found this helpful.

God bless,
Mike