Matthew 13:1-23
You can see that the title is ‘The Parable of the Soils’ rather than ‘Sower’. In fact the parable is focused on the condition of the soils and not on the condition or the characteristics of the sower. The parable of sower/soils is a very popular one unfortunately often times the crux of the parable's message is either misconstrued or mitigated (lessen the seriousness of). Not only did the Lord Jesus Christ teach the specific characteristic of the genuine child of God through this parable but also He established a method or means to discern and distinguish the genuine children of God from that of the impostors (people who pretend) or deluded ones. Yes!! There are people who delude themselves into thinking that they are in fact believers (Christians) but sadly they are not. That should pose a warning for all to check our salvation. In this parable we will be able to see how the Word of God gets despised and resisted by the stone-hearted sinners, how the impostors participate in the fellowship of God's children (church) while inwardly they are still not regenerated (quickened) or saved by the Spirit of God and how the cares of this world eclipse the Word of God in certain men and finally how the Word of God works in a fruitful hearer.
Let us look at the first three verses now:
Matthew 13:1-23: (KJV)
1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.
‘On the same day’ in verse 1 indicates the day when Christ healed a man with a withered arm (Matt 12:9-14), when He was falsely charged of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Matt 12:24) and when His mother and brothers came to see Him. So His narration of the parable of soils preceded such incidents (Chapter 12). John Gill, a prominent Bible teacher and theologian of the 16th century, considers this city to be
Jesus got into a boat and sat. ‘Sitting’ was a Jewish rabbinic tradition whenever they wanted to dissertate about an important topic. So while Jesus had Himself seated in the deck of the ship the multitudes stood on the seashore to hear Him comfortably.
In verse 3 we read that Jesus “spoke many things to them in parables”. The English word ‘parable’ was derived from the Greek word ‘parabole’ (pronounced as par-ab-ol-ay’). This means ‘to lay alongside’, ‘to cast alongside’. In order to explain an incomprehensible feature or concept, a fictitious story or a mundane activity is narrated alongside to help the recipient understand that imperceptible feature or concept. The recipient was able to understand the fictitious narrative or the mundane story. Based on that understanding he was able to relate to that incomprehensible concept. In this case, the
‘Behold, a sower went out to sow..’ – Jesus said ‘Behold…’, which meant that the matter that entailed is of immense importance and so it deserved acute attention. Jesus was going to dispense to them the wisdom of God, something that those people have never heard before, something that is concerning the
2 comments:
Hello, I found your blog via examiningcalvinism,
There are people who delude themselves into thinking that they are in fact believers (Christians) but sadly they are not. That should pose a warning for all to check our salvation.
So you must check whether you have some of the fruits enummerated in Galatians 5:22. Note, there are the good fruits of the spirit, that you mention here, but there are also the fruits of the flesh described in Gal 5:19.
Almost everybody bears some of the good fruits mentioned, but on the other hand, of the bad fruits as well. For example there may be idolators with self-control, peaceful impure ones or faithfulness in dissensions and other combinations.
But note as well, a good tree bears only good fruit and a bad tree only bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce any bad fruit neither a bad tree any good fruit. That isn't possible.
This is how trees are identified by others. Fruit must be knowable to others. "You will know them (=others) by their fruit" (Mat 7:16; Luke 6:44)
Greetings
"a helmet"
Almost everybody bears some of the good fruits mentioned, but on the other hand, of the bad fruits as well. For example there may be idolators with self-control, peaceful impure ones or faithfulness in dissensions and other combinations.
"Everybody can bear some of the good fruits mentioned", I agree but certainly not in a way that pleases God. "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousness are like filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6. As you can read in Galatians 5:22 it is the fruit of the "Spirit". So an idolater who does not possess the Spirit cannot have a self-control that pleases God. He might have a an attitude for self-control but that constitutes to his self-righteousness. He is notoriously rebellious, lacking any wee bit of genuine God-enabled self-control and that is why he flagrantly and despicably practices idolatry. Self-control has to be practiced externally and internally, overtly and covertly. There is only a thin line of difference in the effect/outcome between the righteousness imputed by God and self-induced righteousness loathed by God. When we say we examine ourselves by our fruits the context is undisputedly Gal 5:22 and certainly not the righteousness induced by man himself.
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