There are ONLY two outcomes that await a Christian at the judgment seat of Christ; either receiving a reward or suffering loss! The former is associated with faithfulness arising from trading/doing business with one’s talents/minas while the latter is associated with unfaithfulness arising from doing nothing with one’s talents/minas!

Contextually, suffering loss is in relation to one’s soul i.e., unprofitable servants will suffer the loss of their souls−Matt. 16:24-26.

Being cast into the darkness, the outer is therefore synonymous with suffering the loss of one’s soul.

Since a parable is one truth cast alongside another to explain previous truth, let us examine the previous three parables to understand how suffering the loss of one’s soul is presented-Matt. 24:40-25:13.

In the first parable, the unfaithful servant was left i.e., not received as a close associate by the master. In the second parable, the evil servant was appointed his portion with the hypocrites where there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. In the third parable, the five foolish virgins were denied entry into the wedding festivities, the door being shut on them.

Perhaps Peter’s account presents a poignant picture of what being cast into the darkness, the outer entails.