13:3 What are parables?
13:3 What are parables?
Parables are sayings that teach truth by comparison. The word parable means a placing alongside of; a parallel, comparison or similitude. In scripture it is a story drawn from nature or human circumstances to teach a moral or spiritual truth. The meaning of the parable has to be studied – it is not the story that is of value but the lesson it teaches. There is a comparison being made and the hearer has to perceive the likeness of the things compared to learn the lesson. Much of Jesus’ teaching was in parables because parables have a double use – they reveal the truth to those who want it, and conceal it from those who do not (cp Mt 13:10-17). Mt 13:11-15 does not teach as some claim that Jesus deliberately withheld the truth from the Pharisees so that they could not get saved. The Pharisees wilfully rejected the truth, causing it to be veiled from them because they had hardened their hearts to it. They did not want to be converted to Christ. (See comments on Mt 13:10-11). To be interpreted correctly parables must be studied strictly within their context and attendant circumstances – what precedes them and what follows them; the conversations of which they formed a part; the questions and objections to which they were the explanations.
This is called the parable of the sower. It is also found in Mk 4:1-13 and Lk 8:4-15. Jesus explains what it means in Mt 13:18-23 (cp Mt 13:18-23). The whole course of this age of grace portraying how God’s word is received and acted upon is pictured in this parable – the emphasis is on the hearts of men and how they respond to the gospel. It is how they respond to the gospel that determines their eternal destiny. The core teaching of this parable is that most people who hear the gospel will reject it. (See also comments on Mk 4:13).
No. The Pharisees had hardened their hearts and wilfully rejected the truth, causing it to be veiled from them. They did not want to be converted to Christ, which is what Isaiah prophesied in the Old Testament would happen (cp Isa 6:9-10 with Mt 13:12-17, Mk 4:11-12; Jn 12:37-41; Ac 28:23-28). Isa 6:9-10 does not mean as some in the church teach, that God had made it impossible for the Jews to believe in Christ because He had already determined not to save them. This is clearly refuted in Ac 28:23-28 which as we saw, teaches that the Jews rejected the gospel of their own volition, and it is for this reason alone that God took the gospel from them and gave it to the Gentiles (cp Acts 13:44-49, 28:23-28; Ro 9:30-33; 11:1, 7-10, 13-24). See also comments on Mt 11:28-30, 20:16; Jn 3:14-15, 3:36, 6:37, 12:37-40; Ac 2:37-38, 13:48, 28:23-29; Ro 1:16-17, 3:24-26 (A), Ro 8:28-30, 9:7, 9:10-13, 9:14-18, 9:19-21, 10:14-17, 11:2, 11:4, 11:7-10; Eph 1:3-6, 1:11-14, 2:8-10; 1Th 1:4; 2Ti 1:8-9; 1Pe 1:2.
This saying is also found in Mt 25, Mk 4 and Lk 8 and 19, and to better understand what Jesus means by it we need to study each of the contexts in which He said it (cp Mt 13:10-16; Mk 4:21-25; Lk 8:16-18). The core teaching in those passages is that God will reward or condemn everyone according to how they respond to His word; some will receive more light; others – Christians included – will lose even what little light they have. In fact, the saying has a double application for Christians – present and future – which is highlighted in both Mt 25 and Lk 19 (cp Mt 25:14-30). This is called the parable of the talents. In this context Jesus teaches that what Christians receive in the future eternal kingdom will be in proportion to their dedication and consecration to the service of God in the present earthly aspect of the kingdom. The basic teaching of the parable of the talents is that God has given every believer spiritual gifts and graces according to each believer’s ability, and that these gifts and graces must be put to use in God’s service (cp Ro 12:3-8; 1Cor 12 :1-31; 2Cor 5:17-19; Eph 4:7-16; 1Pe 4:7-11). God means us to use these gifts and graces for the extension of His kingdom. They are not given to us for our profit, but for His. The believer who does not use his gift or grace for God’s glory is the same as the servant in the parable who hid his talent in the ground (cp Lk 19:11-27).
This is called the parable of the pounds, and while it differs from the parable of the talents in many respects, its core teaching is the same: worthy Christians will be rewarded while unworthy Christians will be punished. Many Bible commentators downplay the punishment the slothful servants in these parables received. They teach that symbolically it compares only to loss of rewards in heaven, but that is not correct. The slothful servants were not punished simply because they failed to return a profit to their masters, but because underlying their failure to return a profit was their prior intention not to even invest their masters’ money (cp Mt 25:24-25; Lk 19:20-21). They wilfully disobeyed their masters’ commands, and disobedience does not merely merit loss of rewards in heaven, but condemnation to hell (cp Mt 7:21-27; Ro 2:13; Jas 1:22-25; 2:14-26 also Jn 14:15 with 1Jn 2:3-5). The slothful servants had no intention of putting their masters’ money to work and then justified themselves for not doing so by finding fault with their masters. Their own words condemned them (cp Lk 19:22).
Jesus explains what the parable of the tares of the field teaches in Mt 13:36-43 (cp 36-43). The theme of Jesus’ teaching here is that evil will always be present in the world in opposition to the good, and that the Kingdom of Heaven will always be befouled by the presence and the plots of Satan. The children of the kingdom and the emissaries of Satan must exist side by side with each other in the world throughout the kingdom age until Christ’s second coming, when they will be separated. The children of the kingdom will be taken up to heaven and the emissaries of Satan will be cast down to hell. (See also comments on Mt 13:47-50).
This parable is also found in Mk 4:30-32 and Lk 13:18-19. Jesus did not interpret this parable, nor the ones that follow in Mt 13 as He did with the previous two parables, and consequently there are many contrasting views among Christians as to what they teach. Every view must be respected, but they cannot all be right, and we can only agree with those that are strictly grounded in scripture and conform to the principles of interpretation Jesus outlined for us in the previous two parables. We learned earlier that in order to correctly interpret the parables of Jesus, we must study them in the context in which they are spoken, taking into account the teaching which precedes them, and that which follows (see comments on Mt 13:3).
In the parable of the sower Jesus showed us that as well as faithfulness and godliness among those who profess Christ, there will also be apostasy and worldliness, and in the parable of the tares of the field, He showed us that the emissaries of Satan will always be present in the world in opposition to the children of the kingdom, throughout the kingdom age. It is in the light of this teaching that the parable of the mustard seed must be interpreted. The parable of the mustard seed illustrates the abnormal growth of the kingdom in its present earthly aspect from a small beginning to a vast sphere of operation for demon powers, represented by the birds of the air who lodge in the branches of the tree. Jesus used the figure of birds, or fowls of the air, to symbolize demon powers in the parable of the sower and so too He uses them to symbolize demon powers here. He would not use the same figure of speech in two different senses, making one parable contradict the teaching of another. The birds of the air do not represent the devil in one parable and Christians in another, as many in the church believe. Their view is that the parable illustrates the rapid spread of the gospel and the growth of Christianity throughout the earth from a very small beginning, with the figure of the birds of the air lodging in the branches of the tree as typifying new converts to Christianity finding shelter in the church. The problem with this view however is that it illustrates the growth of professing Christianity and the church in the earth, whereas the parable concerns the nature and development of the Kingdom of Heaven in its earthly aspect (cp Mt 13:31).
As we learned in our study on Mt 3:1-3, the Kingdom of Heaven has a much broader aspect in the earth than the professing church. It takes in the whole of God’s activity in Christ in the world – the whole of human society. The church is simply the visible manifestation of the kingdom. The birds of the air are a figure of the emissaries of Satan hiding behind the cloak of Christianity disguised as apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness. Satan has had to watch the spread of the gospel and the growth of Christianity throughout the earth from the time Jesus ushered in the kingdom, and he has ever sought to find a shelter in it. In the early centuries of church history he attacked the church from outside the kingdom, but when that failed to extinguish the light of the gospel he changed his tactics and moved his forces inside the kingdom, and since then countless millions of sincere people genuinely seeking the truth have been condemned to hell after being waylaid and deceived by his false apostles, and caught up in their counterfeit Christianity (cp Mt 7:15-23; 24:5; 2Cor 11:4, 13-15).
Leaven is a fermenting agent used in bread-making to make the dough rise. It requires time to fulfill the process, but once introduced to the dough it permeates the whole mass, and the process is irreversible. Because of its pervasive nature leaven signifies a corrupting influence among God’s people, and throughout scripture it is used to symbolize evil. The common bread in the Old Testament was made with leaven and was acceptable as wave offerings to the priests, and as loaves to accompany the peace offerings (cp Lev 7:11-13; 23:17). However, leaven and honey, which is a fermenting agent too, and thus also a symbolic source of corruption in the Old Testament, were strictly forbidden to be used in any sacrifice made by fire unto God, because these were typical (a type) of the offering up of the sinless sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ (cp 2Cor 5:21). Typical bread representing Christ had to be unleavened (cp Lev 2:4, 11; 6:14-17). Leaven was forbidden in all offerings to God by fire. Being bred of corruption and spreading through the mass into which it is introduced, and therefore symbolizing the pervasive character of evil, leaven was utterly inconsistent in offerings which typified the propitiatory (atoning) sacrifice of Christ. Leaven was also forbidden to be used in the feast of unleavened bread which was celebrated in conjunction with the Old Testament Passover festival (cp Ex 12:14-20; 23:15; 34:18; Deut 16:1-4). The Passover festival commemorated God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from the corruption of Egypt where they had been kept in bondage for over 400 years. The Passover Lamb was an Old Testament type of Christ (cp 1Cor 5:7).
In the New Testament leaven is symbolic of any evil influence in the church which, if allowed to remain, can corrupt the whole body of believers (cp V1-8). Paul uses leaven here in the same sense Jesus does – as a type of sin in its development (cp Mt 16:6-12). Here we have the parable of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Leaven here symbolizes false doctrines which can penetrate and influence the whole church (cp Ga 5:6-9). Here leaven typifies the harmful effects of false doctrine. Paul refers to it as a “persuasion” – something that exerts a powerful and moving influence – hindering men from obeying the truth of God (cp Lk 12:1-3). This is called the parable of the leaven of the Pharisees. The hypocrisy that leaven symbolizes here is pretending to be something we are not – acting publicly as Godly and faithful Christians when in reality we harbour sin, immorality, greed, lust and unrighteousness (cp Mk 8:15). This is the parable of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. The word “Herod” in this context is used collectively of the Herodians – those belonging to the court of Herod Antipas, also known as Herod the Tetrarch – who combined with the Pharisees in an attempt to kill Jesus. The leaven here symbolizes the hypocrisy of both the Pharisees and the Herodians in asking Jesus for a sign although their minds were already made up to kill him (cp Mt 13:11-12; 3:1-6). In all these New Testament scriptures both Jesus and Paul use leaven to symbolize the pervasive character of evil permeating the professing church, which is the visible manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven in its present earthly aspect, yet a great many Christians believe that in the parable of the leaven our Lord uses leaven in a good sense to symbolize the permeating effects of the gospel in Christianising the world.
It seems incongruous that they could believe that because firstly, nowhere in scripture are we taught that the world will ever be Christianised. In fact the opposite is true – in the parable of the sower we learned that most people who hear the gospel will reject it, and this is the teaching throughout the whole of the New Testament (cp Mt 24:3-13; Ro 1:18-32; 2Th 2:7-12; 1Ti 4:1; 2Pe 3:3-4; Jude 17-19; Rev 3:14-16). Secondly, there is complete harmony in Jesus’ parables concerning the nature and development of the kingdom in Mt 13, and it must be restated here that Jesus would never use a figure of speech in two different senses making one parable contradict the teaching of another. So, as leaven is symbolic of evil everywhere else in scripture, it is here too. Furthermore, the particular action of the woman in the parable hiding the leaven in the meal is a significant factor also in helping to interpret the parable. If the leaven represented something good, why hide it? The word “hid” means conceal. The meal typifies God’s word and the leaven was concealed in it. It was not openly mixed in with the meal, but covertly introduced to it. This represents the subtle way in which the forces of Satan are at work in the kingdom spreading their corruptive influence by adulterating God’s word and undermining its authority among professing Christians (cp Acts 20:29-30; 1Jn 2:18-19; 2Jn 1:7-8; Jude 3-4). Jesus’ teaching concerning the nature and development of the Kingdom of Heaven in Mt 13 is quite clear – the kingdom will always be befouled by the presence and the plots of Satan. (See also comments on Mt 13:3-9, 13:24-30, 13:31-32).