Mark 4:25

For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath.

This is no high-handed injustice of robbing the poor to enrich the affluent; but it is the statement of an eternal law, applicable in context or out of it.

In context:

To the diligent student of divine truth more of divine truth shall be revealed. The slothful student shall not only learn no more, but shall even forget what he already knows[27]

In another context: Jesus applied this law to the judgment of the one-talent man from whom the one talent was taken and given to the man who had ten talents (Matthew 25:19-28). Barclay has a sermon which develops the thought of this law thus: (1) it is true of knowledge; (2) it is true of skill or craft; (3) it is true of effort; and (4) it is true of the ability to bear responsibility.[28]

[27] Ibid.

[28] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 102.