Who or what does the "silent" guest represent in the parable of the party in Matthew 22:12?
There is someone in the party that kept quiet though the host asked something. Why doesn't he/she said anything? What does that person signify?
Matthew 22:12
AMP - 12 And he said, Friend, how did you come in here without putting on the [appropriate] wedding garment? And he was speechless (muzzled, gagged).
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Asked February 14 2015
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Willy Budiman
Supporter
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Aurel Gheorghe
Supporter
The short answer is that the speechless guest represents a person who, although he responded to God's calling (Revelation 3:20) to be saved, he refused to accept God's robe of righteousness, and he showed up before God in his own worthless attire. To better understand the parable and its symbols we need to go back to the beginning of Matthew 22 where in verse 2 to 4, we are told that a king (God) prepared a feast for his son (Jesus) and invited His guests (Jews) to attend. In verse 5 to 7, they first ignore the invitation and then kills the messengers; the king is deeply displeased and punishes these ungrateful guests (Luke 13:34-35, Luke 21:24). In Matthew 22:8-10 we learn that the king now decided to invite everyone available and willing, meaning not only the Jews but Gentiles also (Acts 28:28, Galatians 3:14). In verse 11, unfortunately among the guests, a man showed up in his own clothes who refused the king's wedding garment. That represents the people who listened to the calling, accepted Christ but insisted in their own doctrine and interpretation of the Gospel, refusing to obey God and Jesus' robe of righteousness, and rested on their own righteousness (Isaiah 4:1, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 10:3, Philippians 3:9, Titus 3:5). In Matthew 22:12-13, the guest is speechless when confronted by the king and thrown out of the banquet in the darkness where there is the "weeping and gnashing of teeth." Jesus uses the same expression in Luke 13:28 when He is addressing the lost who pretended to be followers of Him.
Kenneth Heck
Supporter
The parable (Matt 22:1 -13) is concerned with the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9). The wedding garment worn by the guests represents the righteousness of the saints. The guest was speechless because he did not want to reveal how or why he had come to the wedding without a wedding garment. For some reason we are not told, he violated protocol. This was not a case of ignorance, or he would have said he didn't realize a wedding garment was required. The ones present at the marriage were not those originally called. They had been rejected. The new group were from the highways and were both good and bad. The guest without the wedding garment represents the bad group.
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