Luke 8:11-15

3 d. Luke 8:11-15. The Explanation of the Parable.

The expression, Now the parable is this (Luke 8:11), signifies that the essence of the picture is not in its outward form, but in its idea. The point of resemblance between the word and the seed, is the living power contained in a vehicle which conceals it.

By the word Jesus doubtless means primarily His own teaching, but He also comprehends in it any preaching that faithfully represents His own.

Amongst the multitude Jesus discerned four kinds of expression: countenances expressing thoughtlessness and indifference; faces full of enthusiasm and delight; others with a careworn, preoccupied expression; and lastly, expressions of serene joy, indicating a full acceptance of the truth that was being taught.

In the explanation which follows, the word is sometimes identified with the new life which is to spring from it, and the latter with the individuals themselves, in whom it is found. This accounts for the strange expressions: those which are sown by the wayside (Luke 8:12; comp. Luke 8:13-15); these have no root (Luke 8:13); they are choked (Luke 8:14). The first class contains those who are wholly insensible to religion, who are conscious of no need, have no fear of condemnation, no desire of salvation, and consequently no affinity with the gospel of Christ. In their case, therefore, the word becomes a prey to external agents of destruction. Only one is mentioned in the application, the devil (Luke), Satan (Mark), the evil one (Matthew), who employs various means of diverting their minds, in order to make them forget what they have heard. Had not Jesus believed in the existence of Satan, He would never have spoken of him as a reality answering to the figure of the parable. Οἱ ἀκούοντες, who hear, must be thus explained: “who hear, and nothing more. ” This implies Matthew's do not understand.

The second are the superficial but excitable natures, in whom imagination and sensibility for the moment make up for the absence of moral feeling. They are charmed with the novelty of the gospel, and the opposition which it offers to received ideas. In every awakening, such men form a considerable portion of the new converts. But in their case the word soon comes into conflict with an internal hindrance: a heart of stone which the humiliation of repentance and the love of holiness have never broken. Thus it finds itself given over to external agents of destruction, such as temptation (Luke), tribulation and persecution (Matthew and Mark); the enmity of the rulers, the rage of the Pharisees, the danger of excommunication, in a word, the necessity of suffering in order to remain faithful. Those who have merely sought for spiritual enjoyment in the gospel are therefore overcome.

In Luke 8:13 the verb εἰσίν must be understood, and οἳ ὅταν must be made the predicate: are those who, when...The οἵ at the end of the verse is a development of οὗτοι, and signifies who, as such.

The third are persons with a measure of earnestness, but their heart is divided; they seek salvation and acknowledge the value of the gospel, but they are bent also upon their earthly welfare, and are not determined to sacrifice everything for the truth. These persons are often found at the present day among those who are regarded as real Christians. Their worldly-mindedness maintains its ground notwithstanding their serious interest in the gospel, and to the end hinders their complete conversion.

The miscarriage of the seed here results from an inward cause, which is both one and threefold: cares (in the case of those who are in poverty), riches (in those who are making their fortune), and the pleasures of life (in those who are already rich). These persons, like Ananias and Sapphira, have overcome the fear of persecution, but, like them, they succumb to the inward obstacle of a divided heart. Πορευόμενοι, go forth, describes the bustle of an active life, coming and going in the transaction of business (2Sa 3:1). It is in this verse especially that the seed is identified with the new life in the believer. The form differs completely in the three Syn.

In the fourth their spiritual wants rule their life. Their conscience is not asleep, as in the first; it is that, and not, as in the case of the second, imagination or sensibility, which rules the will; it prevails over the earthly interests which have sway in the third. These are the souls described by Paul in Romans 7 ᾿Εν καρδίᾳ and τὸν λόγον depend on the two verbs ἀκούσαντες κατέχουσιν combined, which together denote one and the same act: to hear and to keep, for such persons, are the same thing. The term perseverance refers to the numerous obstacles which the seed has had to overcome in order to its full development; comp. the καθ᾿ ὑπομονήν ἔργου ἀγαθοῦ (Romans 2:7). Jesus was certainly thinking here of the disciples, and of the devoted women who accompanied Him. Luke makes no mention either in the parable or the explanation of the different degrees of fertility indicated by Matthew and Mark, and the latter mention them here also in a contrary order.

We do not think that a single verse of this explanation of the parable is compatible with the hypothesis of the employment of a common text by the evangelists, or of their having copied from each other; at least it must be admitted that they allowed themselves to trifle, in a puerile and profane way, with the words of the Lord. The constant diversity of the three texts is, on the other hand, very naturally explained if their original source was the traditional teaching.