Fruit and the Parable of the Sower; Luke
8:11-15; Matt. 13:18-23
The parable of the sower is
generally misunderstood and has become a major battleground in the whole issue
of what is faith, what is salvation, what constitutes fruit-bearing
and work and maturity and production in the spiritual life. The normal
interpretation that you will get on this passage is that only the last soil is
a believer. This relates very much to the subject we have been studying in
James, which is the relationship of faith and works. In almost every discussion
that we read on the subject Matthew 13 comes up. So we need to look at this and
analyse it, bot in terms of its context, i.e. the context of Matthew, how
Matthew is presenting the message of the kingdom and the rejection of the
kingdom, the gospel that is being proclaimed by Jesus Christ as it had been by
John the Baptist, and the synopsis of “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.” Jesus has come as the greater son of David to present the messianic
kingdom to the Jews, and they have rejected it back in chapter twelve. So up to
that point one of the major terms we find in the Gospel of Matthew is the word KERUSSO [khrussw], which means to preach or to proclaim. This word
becomes absent after chapter twelve. Up to that point Jesus is pr4oclaiming the
proximity of the messianic kingdom, but in chapter twelve they accused Jesus of
doing what He does in the power of Satan, that He was demon possessed. And so Jesus no longer proclaims and he begins to teach in
parables—PARABOLE [parabolh]. This is a word that
was not used prior to chapter thirteen and now becomes used many times
following chapter thirteen. We saw the same thing in John’s Gospel where there
came a point in Jesus’ ministry where both the leadership in
In Matthew 13 the content
revolves around the statement that Jesus makes in verse 11. He gives the
initial parable of the sower and then:
Matthew 13:10 NASB “And the disciples came and said to
Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ [11]
Jesus answered them, ‘To you it has been granted to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been
granted.’” He is telling us that revelation and the understanding of revelation
is going to be limited. He is going to be explaining new doctrines and truths
that man cannot on his own cannot understand, his intellect is limited by his
spiritual condition, his spiritual death. And so He is going to make new
particulars known about the kingdom of heaven, particulars that were never
revealed in the Old Testament, and are referred to as mysteries.
As He gets into this
discussion He prefaces His teaching on the kingdom of heaven on the parable of
the soils. He speaks this to the multitude and he is going to introduce the
concept, the key points in the metaphor for understanding all of the following
parables. But this particular parable does not begin with the phrase, “This is
like the kingdom of heaven.” The reason is that the issues in the first parable
are obvious to one and all, it has to do with rejection of the message and why
the message has been rejected. We can imagine that the disciples, just as is
seen in John, have given up their jobs, are following Jesus, are
convinced that he is the Messiah. They have seen the signs, they know who he
is, they completely trust Him but the people and the nation’s leaders have
rejected Him. So the question on their mind is, where
to go from here. What is next? Why has this happened? Why have they rejected
the Messiah?
There are three points to
be made in relation to context. First, in contrast to the parables that follow
the kingdom is not likened to any truth, and doctrine in this passage. It
doesn’t begin with the phrase, “The kingdom of heaven is like,” as the other
parables do. The Lord very carefully introduces each of the other parables with
that formula, so it is safe for us to conclude that the parable of the
sower—sometimes called the parable of the soils—makes the point that the sower
is God in His sovereignty and that even in the midst of rejection of Jesus
Christ, Jesus Christ still controls history in spite of the fact that there are
different responses to the message. So the Lord introduces kingdom principles,
but what is in the first one is not new. This is information that has been
going on throughout the whole Old Testament: different responses to the
message. Second, there is no new revelation and the response simply relates to
the everyday response that has been going on throughout human history to the
gospel. Third, there is a careful arrangement of these parables which indicates
that this is the introductory one. The eight parables are carefully divided
into two equal sections by the Lord’s departure from the house to the sea shore
in Matthew 13:1. Then He takes leave of the crowd to go back into the house
with His disciples in Matthew 13:36. So Matthew very carefully constructs what
happens.
The Matthew account and
the Luke account are different. Jesus didn’t just give this message one time.
The disciples heard these message from Jesus in many
different contexts, so the context for Matthew is here, the context for Luke
was a little different, but by comparing what Luke says with what Matthew says
we are going to get a very clear picture of what the Lord intended to
communicate. By Matthew’s arrangement we see the relationship between all of
the parables, and there is a very careful balance and it seems that Matthew is
relating it more historically in terms of the event.
The parable begins in
verse 3: “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, ‘Behold, the
sower went out to sow …” A parable is a story, a fictitious narrative that is
designed to communicate a principle, a spiritual truth. In a parable the people
involved do not have names, they are not historical personages. Yet, when you
look at the story of Lazarus and the rich man you have the story of Lazarus who
is the beggar in rich details which makes him a real historical personage. That
is the difference between a parable and a true historical event. The sower in
this case is the Lord Jesus Christ. [4] “and as he
sowed, some {seeds} fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
[5] Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and
immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.” s far as the
first soil type is concerned, it is the road, that hard pan of the road or
pathway going through the field which has been trodden down and doesn’t absorb
the seed. Then the second soil type is rocky soil. [6] “But when the sun had
risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
[7] Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
[8] And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, and some thirty. [9] He who has ears, let
him hear.”
It is only in the last
soil that there is any production or fruit bearing. Most people go to Matthew
13 to look at this because there is a fuller account here, but we will discover
that Luke chapter eight really helps us to understand things. What does this
mean? Well fortunately the Lord did not leave it for us to guess. Matthew
[19] “When anyone hears
the word of the kingdom…” Hearing, AKOUO [a)kouw], indicates understanding at some level. “…and does
not fully understand it,” i.e. in terms of having true spiritual insight, “the
evil one [Satan] comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart [KARDIA, the
whole intellectual process of thinking in the soul]. This is the one on whom
seed was sown beside the road.” This is an unbeliever.
Luke
The first soil which is
the ground, the hard path, represents a heart without spiritual discernment
because there is no spiritual rebirth. Without the human spirit man cannot
understand the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14. Even though the Holy
Spirit has made it understandable they reject it in terms of negative volition
and they don’t want to listen. So when the word of then kingdom is proclaimed there
is no understanding and it says that Satan snatches away. In what sense does
Satan snatch it away? We have to go to 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4 to understand the
dynamics. NASB “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to
those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” How does Satan blind the minds
of the unbeliever? He has a cosmic system, an orderly system of thinking, and
Satan is constantly promoting human viewpoint systems of thought which provide
legitimising rationales to our desire to reject God. There are all kinds of
ways we can rationalise the truth and reject God. So from these various false
philosophies Satan blinds men to the truth of God’s Word. He snatches the truth
through various systems of thought that give a person the rationale for
rejecting God and not believing in the gospel. The reason it mentions Satan is
because he is the author of the cosmic system and he is the one who stands at
its head, so everything ultimately goes back to the one who is at the head. It
is Satan’s system, it is his opposition to the plan
and program of God.
The
second soil. Matthew
When we look at Luke and
the way this is expressed here it says that the purpose of taking away the word
from the heart is a result clause, “that they may not believe and be saved.” So
clearly this person has not believed and is not saved. The reason this is
important is because Luke introduced terminology that Matthew did not use.
Matthew says, “Whenever anyone hears the word and does not understand it.” That
is as far as Matthew went. Luke gives us clarity; he says it is taken away so
that they will not believe. Luke tells us the issue is faith. The issue with
the first soil type is that this person does not believe and is not saved.
Everywhere else where we have this word joy, CHARA [xara], it refers to the kind of inner happiness that only
a believer possesses. This is the kind of joy that Jesus says He will share
with the believer. So at first glance it would seem that if we didn’t know
anything else, that because he receives the word with joy we would think he is
a believer. There is further support for the idea that this person is a
believer. he
word that is translated “received” is also illuminating. It is the Greek word LAMBANO [lambanw] which means to take or to receive and it is used in
John 1:12: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name.” This is another term
that is used synonymously in many passages with belief. Another passage is John
17:8: “for the words which You gave Me I have given to
them; and they received {them} and truly understood that I came
forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” It means they believed
what Jesus taught them. The same thing is used in Hebrews 10:26. So what we
have here is the word receiving is analogous to faith, or a synonym to faith
and belief, and it is done with joy, which is an attitude that is associated in
the Gospel writers with something that comes from God. It is not merely a
superficial emotional response. This is the emotional conversion, the person
who just gets all excited, is happy, but there is no real faith here, it is
just emotional conversion, a lot of excitement, a lot of enthusiasm, but no
real faith.
We ought to think about
that a little bit because there is a parallel in Luke that is going to help us
understand it. Luke 8:13 NASB “Those on the rocky {soil are} those
who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no {firm} root;
they believe for a while, and in time of temptation [testing] fall away.” He
says they receive the word with joy, but it is not LAMBANO, it is DECHOMAI [dexomai] which is also used synonymously for belief
throughout Luke’s writings. This word DECHOMAI is used for believing the gospel in various passages in
Acts, and remember, Luke wrote Acts. Cf. Acts
1) There is no such thing biblically as a false faith, an
inadequate faith, or a pseudo faith. The Bible never uses an adjective to
qualify faith.
2) For a time—“they believe for a while”—is not an issue.
Never does the Scripture say believe for the rest of your life and you will be
saved. Some person may say, ‘Well it was just a temporary faith, it wasn’t a
real faith; if it was a real faith it would have lasted longer.’ Well how long
is longer? How long is belief for a while? The Scripture says, Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and what happens in that moment of time is so phenomenal
that it can’t be reversed.
3) To produce anything in agriculture implies germination
and life. Biologically speaking you can’t have germination without producing
life and without producing at least the beginnings of a root.
4) That is why the translation in the NASB is more
accurate. It says, “these have no firm roots.” When
you have that fresh seed that has just sprouted and is just putting out that
new sprout and is just barely putting out a root, if it is on a thin layer of
soil there won’t be anything for that root to grab on to and to provide
stability for the new plant. If in that early stage of life something comes
along to knock it loose, then
it will be knocked off and no longer grow and come to a stage where
it can produce fruit. That is the point that the Lord is making. It is not that
they did not believe but that it is a temporary belief, they don’t have any
persistence or endurance in the spiritual life. So when testing came, rather
than responding by applying the Word of God and growing to maturity, they
responded by human viewpoint, and here we have the failure as a believer.
5) So the first soil represents the person who does not
understand. This does not means that the phrase “understanding” is not mentioned
in the second that the second did not understand. It is very simple, Luke says
they believed. You can’t believe something you don’t understand. When we come
to the fourth soil the passage doesn’t say that that person received the word
with joy either, but that doesn’t means that the fourth soil doesn’t receive
the word with joy.
6) The issue in the parable is production in light of
understanding kingdom revelation. This is why context is so important. Jesus is
talking about the fact that He is no longer going to be clearly communicating
kingdom doctrine, He is going to be couching it in
parabolic terms so that only those who are truly positive will understand the
doctrine. So the issue in this whole context is production in relation to
understanding kingdom revelation. He is not teaching a parable about salvation.
Salvation is clearly present but that is not the main point that Jesus is
talking about.
The doctrine of faith
1) Faith is a mental activity that is triggered by
volition. You believe with the thinking part of the soul because you have to
understand the Word of God. The propositions of Scripture express facts. So we
believe the Scriptures, the facts the Scripture tells us about the historical
life of Jesus of Nazareth, that He fulfilled all of the conditions of the Old
Testament and that He was without sin and went to the cross and died. And we
believe that, we accept those propositions as true. Once we understand them we
agree with them, we give our intellectual assent. Believing the facts results
in a relationship with the person. We don’t first believe in the person because
we can only know the person by understanding the facts of Scripture and
agreeing that they are true—specifically that Christ died as our substitute. As
such faith cannot be emotion because emotion cannot respond to a command.
2) Faith is always directed toward an object which can be
expressed as a proposition. Therefore faith is not a function of emotion, it is a function of reason, of cognition, of
intellection. You believ with your mind only, you do
not believe with your emotions or your feelings.
3) Therefore you do not believe directly in a person or
come to salvation through a relationship with Jesus. First you believe the
propositions in Scripture that inform you about Jesus and His saving work on
the cross. This tells us that faith is rational, it is
not irrational or emotional. People believe all kinds of crazy things, and
crazy things may be irrational but faith itself is an intellectual activity, it
is not irrational and it is not emotional.
4) Therefore faith is an activity of the mentality of the
soul directed first and foremost to a proposition, and that is what the
Scriptures present, as in Acts
5) Faith has no merit in itself, all the merit is in the
object. It is not because I believe, it is through faith Jesus Christ has all
of the merit.
6) Faith as an intellectual activity excludes emotion,
irrationalism and mysticism. Faith agrees that something is true. Emotion,
irrationalism and mysticism are enemies of faith.
One
example, just to show how we apply this. There is a hymn, “I know whom I have believed.” One of the reasons we
don’t sing that is because verse 2 reads: “I know not how this saving faith to
me He did impart.” That’s a Lordship gospel, the idea that there is a faith in
Christ that doesn’t save and there is a genuine faith that does save. What the
Lordship gospel people have to say in the second soil is that this is a belief
in Christ that doesn’t save. Yet, where in the Bible do we find any evidence
that somebody can believe in Christ, in the gospel, and not be saved.
Matt
[22] The third soil type: “And
the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this
is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness
of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” Here we have the Greek
word GINOMAI [ginomai]
which means to become something you were not before—“becomes unfruitful.” The
implication is that there was some fruit but it becomes unfruitful because
there is no application of doctrine. He does not pass the tests related to the
details of life and he lets worry, mental attitude sins, the
desire for the things of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, choke things
out. So he is focused on temporal things rather than eternal things and
therefore cannot advance beyond the testing and has no production—“becomes
unfruitful.” Luke 8:14 NASB “The {seed} which fell among the thorns,
these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked
with worries and riches and pleasures of {this} life, and bring no fruit to
maturity.
What have we seen in
James? That the way to handle adversity and prosperity is through doctrine in
the soul, and if there is no doctrine you can’t handle the tests of adversity
and prosperity. The result is that no fruit is brought to maturity. When you
compare the GINOMAI in Matthew 13, which implies fruit, with the
statement in Luke 8:14 that there is fruit but it is not brought to maturity,
you see that there is production even in the third soil but it is not
production that culminates in any spiritual growth.
Luke 8:15 NASB “But
the {seed} in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an
honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” The good soil.
Matt 13:23 NASB
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears
the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a
hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” So the emphasis here is on
production. It is the same point that James is making, that we have to have production
in the spiritual life if the spiritual life is going to have any validity for
us in terms of phase two spiritual growth. All four of these have heard the
Word. The difference is not the lack of exposure to the message of the gospel,
the issue is what they do with it—their volition. The first is negative and
rejection. The second and third is positive to the gospel but negative to
doctrine—failures in the spiritual life. They begin to grow and then the details
of life, the adversities of life, the testings in life, choke them out and
there is no advance to spiritual maturity. This is what happens to so many baby
and infant believers. They never get any doctrine and they immediately get distracted
in the spiritual life and get focused on all the cares of life and they never
advance to any level of spiritual maturity.
So what we see here is just a reaffirmation of the same points that James is making in James chapter two: doctrine without application is dead, it has no production value in the spiritual life. What we conclude is the importance of production. If we are going to have any validity in the spiritual life, anything of lasting value, then what that demands is production. Production comes under the filling of God the Holy Spirit, continuous walk8ng by means of God the Holy Spirit, taking in the Word of God so we have doctrine in our souls, and then on the basis of that doctrine in our souls applying it to the tests of life. The result is different levels of production. Just as there are different levels of believers, some advance to spiritual maturity and just barely become spiritual adults, and others advance all the way to spiritual maturity and glorify God to the maximum.