Expert: Dennis Herman - 10/21/2009

Question
There was a previous question you answered a while back on talents.  I have been in search of what exactly this word means.    My question in regards to talents in the bible is:  Do you believe a Child is considered a talent?

Thank you!

Answer
Let me first explain my method of Bible Study.  When a word appears to have a spiritual meaning, I locate that word in other texts, which allows the Bible to explain the spiritual meaning.  The first step of course is to pray.

When searching the word talents, the Bible does not reveal a spiritual meaning.  This parable is repeated in Luke 19, using the word pounds.  That is not to say I missed something.  The Spirit at times has a way of hiding things.  Feel free to study this on your own.  

Any time a word in the Bible is given an interpretation not supported by Bible Texts, it is known as a private interpretation and should be stated as so.  This would help eliminate a lot of confusion and strife between churches.  

The word talents is an example of a private interpretation.  At some time the word has been changed to mean a skill or ability.  But this was not the original intended use of the word in the parable.  This is mentioned in another portion of the parable.

While looking at this text one phrase jumped out at me, “according to his several ability.” Since I was already in the literal translation I took a look at the word ability.

Strong’s Ref. # 1411 dunamis Pronounced doo’-nam-is
from GSN1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):

The word ability sheds all the light we need on this subject. There is no connection between talents (money) and spiritual gifts. The connection to gifts comes from the word ability which means, “miraculous power or miracle.”

You can view the entire study at:
http://adventbiblestudy.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/parable-of-the-talents-matthew-...

As always, the complete study of a verse will shed much more light upon a subject.  

I hope this helps.  And yes, a child has many abilities, far more than we can imagine, when they are lead by the Spirit.