Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
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Luke 8:11-15 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
Parallel Translations
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Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation.
That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
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The similitude is this. The seede is the worde of God.
Thoose that are besyde the waye are they that heare and afterwarde cometh the devyll and taketh awaye the worde out of their hertes lest they shuld beleve and be saved.
They on the stonnes are they which when they heare receave the worde with ioye. But these have noo rootes which for a whyle beleve and in tyme of temptacion goo awaye.
And that which fell amonge thornes are they which heare and goo forth and are choked with cares and with riches and volupteous lyvinge and bringe forth noo frute.
That in the good grounde are they which with a good and pure hert heare the worde and kepe it and bringe forth frute with pacience.
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The parable is this, The seede is the worde of God.
And they that are beside the way, are they that heare: afterward commeth the deuill, and taketh away the worde out of their hearts, least they should beleeue, and be saued.
But they that are on the stones, are they which when they haue heard, receiue ye word with ioy: but they haue no rootes: which for a while beleeue, but in the time of tentation goe away.
And that which fell among thornes, are they which haue heard, and after their departure are choked with cares and with riches, and voluptuous liuing, and bring forth no fruite.
But that which fell in good ground, are they which with an honest and good heart heare the worde, and keepe it, and bring forth fruite with patience.
Cross-references (102)
- Hebrews 10:36 (v15) For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
- 1 John 2:15-17 (v14) Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him. For all that is in the…
- Galatians 5:22-26 (v15) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things…
- Colossians 1:10 (v15) that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of…
- 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (v14) But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation, a snare, and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and…
Show all 100 cross-references
- Luke 6:45 (v15) The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-14 (v12) even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness…
- 1 Peter 1:23-25 (v11) having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever. For, “All…
- Matthew 13:19 (vv11–12) When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his…
- Mark 4:14-20 (v11) The farmer sows the word. The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and…
- 1 Timothy 6:17 (v14) Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the…
- James 1:21 (v11) Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your…
- Revelation 12:9 (v12) The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown…
- Proverbs 1:24-26 (v12) Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention; but you have ignored all my…
- Hosea 6:4 (v13) “Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears…
- Matthew 6:24-25 (v14) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other.…
- Matthew 13:22 (v14) What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,…
- Mark 4:15 (v12) The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which…
- Mark 4:19 (v14) and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes…
- Luke 21:34 (v14) “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you…
- Colossians 1:6 (v15) which has come to you, even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and…
- 1 John 2:3 (v15) This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments.
- Proverbs 4:5 (v12) Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
- Matthew 24:13 (v15) But he who endures to the end will be saved.
- Luke 8:7 (v14) Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it, and choked it.
- Luke 11:28 (v15) But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
- John 5:35 (v13) He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
- John 14:15 (v15) If you love me, keep my commandments.
- James 1:22-25 (v15) But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like…
- James 1:23-24 (v12) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror; for he sees himself, and…
- Deuteronomy 30:6 (v15) Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your…
- Proverbs 1:29 (v12) because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- Proverbs 12:12 (v13) The wicked desires the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.
- Isaiah 8:20 (v11) Turn to the law and to the covenant! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
- Isaiah 65:11 (v12) “But you who forsake Yahweh, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;
- Luke 8:5 (v12) “The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky…
- Luke 13:6-9 (v14) He spoke this parable. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. He said to…
- John 15:10 (v15) If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
- Romans 6:22 (v15) But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
- Romans 7:4 (v15) Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was…
- 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (v11) I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the…
- 1 Corinthians 3:9-12 (v11) For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise…
- Philippians 1:11 (v15) being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
- 2 Timothy 4:10 (v14) for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia.
- James 1:16-19 (v15) Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with…
- Ezekiel 33:32 (v13) Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your…
- Ezekiel 36:26-27 (v15) I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will…
- Romans 2:7 (v15) to those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
- James 5:7-8 (v15) Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient…
- 1 Peter 2:1-2 (v15) Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of…
- 2 Peter 2:22 (v13) But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, “The dog turns to his own vomit again,” and “the sow that has washed to…
- Jude 1:12 (v13) These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without…
- John 15:6 (vv13–14) If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are…
- Isaiah 58:2 (v13) Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,…
- Jeremiah 15:16 (v15) Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, Yahweh, God…
- Luke 16:13 (v14) No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.…
- Luke 17:26-30 (v14) As it was in the days of Noah, even so will it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They ate, they drank, they married, and they were…
- Luke 18:24-25 (v14) Jesus, seeing that he became very sad, said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter into God’s Kingdom! For it is easier for a…
- John 8:30-32 (v13) As he spoke these things, many believed in him. Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then…
- Romans 7:18 (v15) For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is…
- 1 Corinthians 7:19 (v15) Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:2 (v13) by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
- Galatians 3:1 (v13) Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified?
- Galatians 3:4 (v13) Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain?
- Ephesians 2:8 (v15) for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
- Ephesians 3:17 (v13) that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
- Hebrews 2:1 (v15) Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, lest perhaps we drift away.
- Hebrews 6:11-12 (v15) We desire that each one of you may show the same diligence to the fullness of hope even to the end, that you won’t be sluggish, but…
- James 1:4 (v15) Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
- James 2:26 (v13) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.
- 2 Peter 2:20 (v13) For if, after they have escaped the defilement of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again…
- Job 19:28 (v13) If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
- Job 23:11-12 (v15) My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away. I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have…
- Psalms 1:1-3 (v15) Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers; but…
- Psalms 51:10 (v15) Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
- Psalms 106:12-14 (v13) Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel, but gave in to craving in…
- Psalms 119:11 (v15) I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
- Psalms 119:127-129 (v15) Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, yes, more than pure gold. Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate…
- Proverbs 3:1 (v15) My son, don’t forget my teaching; but let your heart keep my commandments:
- Proverbs 12:3 (v13) A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.
- Jeremiah 31:33 (v15) “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward…
- Jeremiah 32:29 (v15) The Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose roofs they have…
- Matthew 13:20-21 (v13) What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; yet he has no root in himself, but…
- Mark 4:16-17 (v13) These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. They…
- Luke 22:31-32 (v13) The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your…
- John 2:23-25 (v13) Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he did. But Jesus…
- John 12:42-43 (v13) Nevertheless even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they didn’t confess it, so that they wouldn’t be put out…
- John 14:21-24 (v15) One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love…
- John 15:2 (v13) Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
- Galatians 4:15-20 (v13) What was the blessing you enjoyed? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. So…
- Philippians 3:13-15 (v15) Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching…
- Colossians 2:7 (v13) rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:5 (v13) For this cause I also, when I couldn’t stand it any longer, sent that I might know your faith, for fear that by any means the tempter had…
- 1 Timothy 1:19 (v13) holding faith and a good conscience, which some having thrust away made a shipwreck concerning the faith,
- 2 Timothy 2:18-19 (v13) men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some. However God’s…
- Hebrews 10:39 (v13) But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
- Mark 6:20 (v13) for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard…
- Acts 8:13-23 (v13) Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed. Now when…
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 (v13) If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t…
- Colossians 1:23 (v13) if it is so that you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Good News which you heard,…
100 distinct cross-references across this passage (102 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv14–15 They bring not forth perfect and full fruit to…
They bring not forth perfect and full fruit to the ripening: or, they begin, but they bring not to an end.
That is, so soon as they have heard the word, they go about their business.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv11–15 5 A sower went out to sow his seed:…
5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
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7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Ver. 11. See Mat 13:18.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v11 Here the Saviour applies himself to interpret and explain…
Here the Saviour applies himself to interpret and explain the foregoing parable to his disciples; he tells them, The seed is the word; the sower is the preacher; the soil or ground, is the heart and soul of man: some hearers he compares to the highway ground, in which the seed lies uncovered for want of the harrow of meditation; others to stony ground, in which the word has no root; no root in their understanding, no root in their memeories, in their wills, or in their affections, but they are instantly offended, either at the depth and profoundness of the word, or at the sancitity and strictness of the word, or else at the plainness and simplicity of it.
Again, some hearers our Lord compares to thorny ground. Worldly desires and inordinate cares for the things of this life choke the word, as thorns overshadow the corn, draw away the heart of the earth from it, hinder the influence of the sun from cherishing it; the like ill effects have worldy affections and desires in the soul of man, rendering the seed of the word unfruitful.
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But the good Christian hears the word attentively, keeps it retentively, believes it stedfastly, applies it particularly, practises it universally, and brings forth fruit perseveringly.
Learn hence, 1. That no hearers are in Christ’s account good hearers of the word, but such as bring forth fruit answerable to their hearing.
2. That a person may be a good hearer of the word in Christ’s account, if he brings forth the best fruit he can, though not in so great a proportion as others do; as some ground brings forth thirty, some sixty, some an hundredfold: in like manner do all the sincere hearers of the word; they all bring forth fruit, though not all alike; all in sincerity, though not all equally, and none to perfection.
Learn, 3. That it is not sufficient that we do at present believe, approve and practise the truth delivered to us, or that we are afffected with the word, and receive it with some kind of joy, delight, and pleasure; unless we persist and persevere in obedience to all its precepts, and continue to bring forth fruit with patience.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Now the parable is this, &c. "Or this is…
Now the parable is this, &c. "Or this is the sense of the parable", as the Arabic version renders it: "the seed is the word of God", the Gospel, as preached by Christ, his apostles, and faithful ministers, which has God for its author, is concerning the grace of God, and is what he blesses, and makes effectual to answer any good purpose.
Now the parable is this, &c. "Or this is the sense of the parable", as the Arabic version renders it: "the seed is the word of God", the Gospel, as preached by Christ, his apostles, and faithful ministers, which has God for its author, is concerning the grace of God, and is what he blesses, and makes effectual to answer any good purpose.
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Luke 8:12
luk 8:12
luk 8:12
luk 8:12Those by the wayside are they that hear,.... The word of God, though only by accident, and very carelessly, and without understanding what they hear:
then cometh the devil; signified by the fowls of the air:
and taketh away the word out of their hearts, or memories; that little of it, which is retained there, and diverts their minds from it by other objects; so that they quite forget what they have heard;
lest they should believe, and be saved: this clause is only in Luke; and with it may be compared Co2 4:4 for with true faith in Christ the sum and substance of the word salvation is connected; and Satan being an enemy to the salvation of souls, does all he can to hinder their faith in him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v15 Who - keep it - Not like the highway…
Who - keep it - Not like the highway side: And bring forth fruit - Not like the thorny ground: With perseverance - Not like the stony.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 15 Verse 12. Those by the way side] Bishop PEARCE…
Verse 12. Those by the way side] Bishop PEARCE thinks that Luke by ον here means σποροι, the seeds, though he acknowledges that he has never found such a word as σποροι in the plural number signifying seeds.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v14 The sense of the Greek text is: they produce…
The sense of the Greek text is: they produce no fruit that arrives at maturity. (Bible de Vence)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–15 11. It has been granted you to grasp these…
11. It has been granted you to grasp these mysteries unveiled; to the rest it has been only given to grasp them under the veil of parables.
that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand] These words are difficult, and (without dwelling on the fact that the particle ἵνα loses in later Greek some of its final force) must not be pressed with unreasonable and extravagant literalism to mean that the express object of teaching by parables was to conceal the message of the kingdom from all but the disciples. This would have been to put the kindled lamp under a couch or a bushel. On the contrary they were addressed to the multitudes, and deeply impressed them, as they have impressed the world in all ages, and have had the effect, not of darkening truth but of bringing it into brighter light. The varying phrase of St Matthew, “because seeing they see not, &c.,” will help us to understand it. Our Lord wished and meant the multitudes to hearken and understand, and this method awoke their interest and deepened their attention; but the resultant profit depended solely on the degree of their faithfulness. The Parables resembled the Pillar of Fire, which was to others a Pillar of Cloud. If they listened with mere intellectual curiosity or hardened prejudice they would only carry away the parable itself, or some complete misapplication of its least essential details; to get at its real meaning required self-examination and earnest thought. Hence parables had a blinding and hardening effect on the false and the proud and the wilful, just as prophecy had in old days (Isa_6:9-10, quoted in this connexion in Mat_13:14, comp. Act_28:26-27; Rom_11:8). But the Prophecy and the Parable did not create the hardness or stolidity, but only educed it when it existed—as all misused blessings and privileges do. It was only unwillingness to see which was punished by incapacity of seeing. The natural punishment of spiritual perversity is spiritual blindness.
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Nothing can be better than the profound remark of Lord Bacon, that “a Parable has a double use; it tends to vail, and it tends to illustrate a truth; in the latter case it seems designed to teach, in the former to conceal.”
“Though truths in manhood darkly join,
Deep seated in our mystic frame,
We yield all blessing to the name
Of Him who made them current coin.
For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers,
Where truth in closest words shall fail,
When truth embodied in a tale
Shall enter in at lowly doors.”
11. The seed is the word of God] We have the same metaphor in Col_1:5-6; 1Co_3:6; and a similar one in Jas_1:21, “the engrafted word;” 2Es_9:31; 2Es_9:33, “Behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you...yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv11–15 (11) The seed is the word of God.—This takes…
(11) The seed is the word of God.—This takes the place in St. Luke’s interpretation of “the word of the kingdom” in St. Matthew. The “word of God” is obviously to be taken in its widest sense, as including every form by which a revelation from God is conveyed to the mind of man.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv11–15 Vers. 11-15. The Lord"s interpretation of the parable of…
Vers. 11-15. The Lord"s interpretation of the parable of the sower.
The seed is the Word of God. It was his own sad experience the Master was relating. The picture was of things, too, which had already happened in the case of many of his own true servants, the prophets. It mirrored, too, the many future failures and the few future successes of the listening disciples; it warned them not to be deluded by appearances, not to be discouraged by apparent failure. The Word, of course, in the first instance is his own teaching; it comprehends, however, any preaching or teaching, whether of prophet of the past or minister of the future, winch tries faithfully to copy his own.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 14, 15 The seed is the Word of God
Luk_8:11
The seed is the Word of God
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The seed
I.
THE TRUTH TAUGHT, THE SEED SOWN BY JESUS CHRIST, THE GREAT SOWER.
1. The necessity of repentance.
2. The forgiving love and power of God.
3. The necessity of holiness; of obedience, submission, trust, unselfishness, and brotherly love.
4. Christ enjoined fidelity, and warned of judgment to come.
5. Christ taught the necessity of His death for our redemption; proclaimed Himself the one Mediator between God and man; declared our dependence upon Him for all spiritual life and strength; promised His Spirit to lead us into all truth, and His grace to enable us to endure to the end.
II. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE SEED AND THE TRUTH.
1. Both contain the principle of life.
2. The development of the life in each depends upon conditions. The seed must be sown in congenial soil, and duly watered and nurtured; the truth must be received into an honest and good heart. (A. F. Joscelyne, B. A.)
Missionary sermon
I. WHAT IS THE SEED TO BE SOWN? The Word of God.
II. THE SOIL UPON WHICH THIS SEEN IS TO BE CAST. The field is the world.
III. THE MANNER OR SPIRIT IN WHICH THE SEED IS TO BE SOWN.
1. With much prayer.
2. In simple faith upon Gods promises.
3. In entire dependence upon the influences of the Holy Ghost.
4. In a spirit of love to Christ and the souls of men.
5. Not sparingly, but bountifully. (J. Hatchard, A. M.)
Use the Bible
Never were there so many Bibles in the world. The seed of eternal life is in our days plenteously sown. Why, then, has the crop failed so shamefully? The failure of a crop must be owing to one or more of these four causes. Either
(1) the seed must be bad; or
(2) the season must be bad; or
(3) the land must be bad; or
(4) the tillage must be bad.
Now the failure of a crop of holiness cannot be owing to the first of these causes, for the seed is as good as ever. Nor is the failure owing to any peculiarly bad season. The influence of the Holy Ghost still falls, like mild showers, gently and plentifully on mens hearts, to soften and fit them for receiving the Word of God. The Sun of Righteousness still shines in the heavens, and from His golden throne, when the good wheat has sprung up and come to ear, He pours down warmth enough to ripen it and bring it to perfection. Nor again is the failure of the seed due to the badness of the soil. Bad enough it is, to be sure, naturally; but we know how much the very worst soil may be bettered by care and labour. Mans heart is not worse than it was formerly. The scantiness of the crop, then, is owing to nothing but badness of tillage. (A. W. Hare.)
The seed gives life by means of death
Just so is it with all truth, and superlatively so is it with the Truth. How often does the discoverer reap his first harvest in derision and loss! How often does the pioneer of some beneficent enterprise lay its foundation in his own wealth, health, and peace I How often does the patriot pay the penalty of living a purer and nobler life than his self-seeking contemporaries! Above all, what a countless army of men, valiant for the faith and truth upon the earth, have had to water the seed of Christs gospel by their blood and tears! How often in this and that land, and in none more than in our own, have those gospel institutions, which are Gods Tree of Life for the world, had to grow up like a weeping willow and suck their first nutriment from the graves of their martyr-slain! The blood of Scotlands proto-martyr, the noble Patrick Hamilton, and the memory of his dying prayer, How long, O Lord, shall darkness cover this realm? fomented the young Reformation life over a comparatively silent germinating period of more than twenty years. Knox, and with him Scotland, kindled at the pile of George Wishart. Andrew Melville caught the falling mantle of Knox. And as with the martyrs under Popery in that century, so with those under the black prelacy of the next. When Richard Cameron fell on Airds Moss--as if in answer to his own prayer as the action began, Lord, spare the green and take the ripe!--all the more strenuously strove Cargill, till he, too, in the year following, sealed the truth with his blood. And more followed, and yet more, through that last and worst decade of the pitiless storm known, as by emphasis, the killing time. Through those terrible years Peden dragged out a living death, and, as he thought of Cameron now at rest, often exclaimed, O to be with Richie! Young Renwick, too, caught up the torn flag, nobly saying, They are but standard-bearers that have fallen; the Master lives. Thus one after another, on blood-drenched scaffold or on blood-soaked field, fell the precious seed-grain to rise in harvests manifold, till just at the darkest hour before the dawn, Renwicks martyrdom closed the red roll in 1688, the very year of the Revolution, and the seed so long sown in tears was reaped in joy. Marvel not at this. He who is at once the sower and the seed had Himself to die that we might live. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Vitality of latent seeds
Much interesting information has been furnished lately upon the vitality of buried seeds. It is astonishing how long many of them retain their germinating powers although lying so deep in the earth as to be beyond the reach of atmospheric influences. This is so--e.g., with the seeds of gorse. A piece of land in Northamptonshire was converted from a furze fox-cover to pasture, a state in which it remained for thirty years or more; it was then deeply cultivated, and the following season a crop of gorse sprung up over the whole field. A gardener, in order to plant some rhododendrons last spring, turned over a quantity of peat soil, the bottom portion being brought to the surface. That bed is now covered with a thick crop of seedling foxgloves, the seed of which must have been lying there in a state of complete dormancy for probably half a century. In the same manner do seeds of truth often lie in the hearts of men. The sower forgets that he has scattered them, or mourns that they have not sprung up. The harvest may come, however, after many years have rolled away, for the seed contains the germ of a God-given life. Those who scatter the Word of God ought never to despair of results. (Christian Journal.)
Sowing the seed of the Word
Billy Dawson, that great natural orator, had a wonderful sermon on the Sower and the Seed. With every stroke of the hand in imitation of the act of sowing, the speaker would drop some blessed passage of Scripture. The Methodist chapel in one of the midland counties not being big enough, the use of the Particular Baptist Chapel was secured. The minister of the chapel was upon the platform. Dawson gave this sowing speech, and went along the platform scattering the seed and giving one passage of Scripture after another: God so loved the world; Come unto Me, all ye that labour; then there came another handful; If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. There, its out, he said, and you can do what you like. When remonstrated with for this breach of ministerial propriety he said, I did not think about the chapel, nor the parson! I thought about the seed. (Handbook to Scripture Doctrines.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv14–15
Luke
ONE SEED AND DIVERSE SOILS
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SEED AMONG THORNS
Luk 8:14.
No sensible sower would cast his seed among growing thorn-bushes, and we must necessarily understand that the description in this verse is not meant to give us the picture of a field in which these were actually growing, but rather of one in which they had been grubbed up, and so preparation been made for the sowing of the seed. They had been grubbed up, but they had not been grubbed out. The roots were there, although the branches and the stems had been cut down, or if the roots were not there, abundant seeds were lying buried, and when the good seed was sown it went into ground full of them-and that was the blunder out of which all the mischief came.
I. These three different instances of failure in this parable represent to us, first, the seed carried off at the very beginning, before it has sunk into the ground and before it has had time to germinate.
It lies on the surface and it goes at once. But suppose it is safely piloted past that first danger, then comes another peril. It gets a little deeper into the ground, but there is a shelf of rock an inch or two below the skin of soil, and the poor little rootlets cannot get through that, and so when the hot Syrian sun shines down upon the field, there is an unnatural heat, and a swift vegetation. There is growth, but the same sun that at first stimulated the unnaturally rapid growth, gets a little hotter or continues to pour down during the fervid summer and dries up the premature vegetation which it had called into feeble life. That second seed went further on the road towards fruit.
But suppose a seed is piloted past that second risk, there comes this third one. This seed gets deeper still, and does take root, and does grow, and does bear fruit. That is to say, this is a picture of a real Christian, in whom the seed of the kingdom, which is the word of God, has taken root, and to whom there has been the communication of the divine life that is in the seed; and yet that, too, comes to grief, and our parable tells us how-by three things, the thorns, the growth of the thorns, and the choking of the word.
Luke puts the interpretation of the thorns even more vividly than the other Evangelists, because he represents them as being three different forms of one thing, ‘cares and riches and pleasures,’ which all come into the one class, ‘of this life.’ Or, in other words, the present world, with all its various appeals to our animal and sensual nature, with all its possible delights for part of our being, a real and important part of it; and with all the troubles and anxieties which it is cowardly for us to shirk, and impossible for us to escape-this world is ever present to each of us, and if there is anything in us to which it appeals, then certainly the thorns will come up. The cares and the wealth and the pleasures are three classes of one thing. Perhaps the first chiefly besets struggling people; the second mainly threatens well-to-do people; the third, perhaps, is most formidable to leisurely and idle people. But all three appeal to us all, for in every one of us there are the necessary anxieties of life, and every one of us knows that there is real and substantial good to a part of our being, in the possession of a share of this world’s wealth, without which no man can live, and all of us carry natures to which the delights of sense do legitimately and necessarily appeal.
So the soil for the growth of the thorns is always in us all. But what then? Are these things so powerful in our hearts as that they become hindrances to our Christian life? That is the question. The cares and the occupation of mind with, and desire for, the wealth and the pleasures are of God’s appointment. He did not make them thorns, but you and I make them thorns; and the question for us is, has our Christianity driven out the undue regard to this life, regarded in these three aspects-undue in measure or in any other respect, by which they are converted into hindrances that mar our Christian life? Dear brethren, it is not enough to say, ‘I have received the word into my heart.’ There is another question besides that-Has the word received into your heart cast out the thorns? Or are they and the seed growing there side by side? The picture of my text is that of a man who, in a real fashion, has accepted the Gospel, but who has accepted it so superficially as that it has not exercised upon him the effect that it ought to produce, of expelling from him the tendencies which may become hindrances to his Christian life. If we have known nothing of ‘the expulsive power of a new affection,’ and if we thought it was enough to cut down the thickest and tallest thorn-bushes, and to leave all the seeds and the roots of them in our hearts, no wonder if, as we get along in life, they grow up and choke the word. ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon’; that is just putting into a sentence the lesson of my text.
II. Further, note the growth of the thorns. Luke employs a very significant phrase.
He says, ‘When they have heard they go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life.’ That is to say, the path of daily life upon which we all have to walk, the common duties which necessarily draw us to themselves, will certainly stimulate the growth of the thorns if these are not rooted out. Life is full of appeals to our desires after earthly good or pleasure, to our greed after earthly gain, to our dread of earthly sorrow, of pain, of loss, and of poverty. As surely as we are living, and have to go out into the world day by day, so surely will the thorns grow if they are left in us. And so we come back to the old lesson that because we are set in this world, with all its temptations that appeal so strongly to many needs and desires of our nature, we must make thorough work of our religion if it is to be of any good to us at all, and we are not to go on the Christian pilgrimage with one foot upon the higher level and the other upon the lower, like a man walking with one foot on the kerbstone and the other on the roadway. Let us be one thing or the other, out and out, thorough and consistent. If we have the seed in our hearts, remember that we are responsible for its growth.
Let us make certain that we have cast out the thorns. There is an old German proverb, the vulgarity of which may be excused for its point. ‘You must not sit near the fire if your head is made of butter.’ We should not try to walk through this wicked world without making very certain that we have stubbed the thorns out of our hearts. Oh, dear friends! here is the secret to the miserable inconsistencies of the great bulk of professing Christians. They have got the seed in, but they have not got the thorns out.
III. Lastly, mark the choking of the growth.
Of course it is rapid, according to the old saying, ‘Ill weeds grow apace.’ ‘They are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.’ The weeds grow faster than the seed. ‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law,’ and they have got possession of the soil, and their roots go far and strike deep, and so they come up, with their great, strong, coarse, quick-growing stems and leaves, and surround the green, infant, slender shoot, and keep the air and light out from it, and exhaust all the goodness of the soil, which has not nutriment in it enough for the modest seed and for the self-asserting thorn. And so the thorn beats in the race, and grows inches whilst the other grows hairbreadths. Is not that a true statement of our experience? If Christian men and women permit as much of their interest and affection and effort and occupation of mind to go out towards the world and worldly things, as, alas! most of us do, no wonder if the tiny, yellow, rather than green, blade is choked and gets covered with parasitical disease, and perhaps dies at last. You cannot grow two crops on one field. Some of us have tried; it will never do. It must be one thing or another, and we must make up our minds whether we are going to cultivate corn or thorn. May God help us to make the right choice of the crop we desire to bear!
Our text tells us that this man, represented by the seed among thorns, was a Christian, did, and does, bear fruit, but, as Luke says, ‘brings no fruit to perfection.’ The first seed never grew at all; the second got the length of putting forth a blade; this one has got as far as the ear, but not so far as ‘the full corn in the ear.’ It has fruited, but the fruit is green and scanty, not ripened, as it ought to be, since it grows under such a sky and was taken out of such a seed-basket as our seed has come from. It brings forth no fruit to perfection’;-is not that a picture of so many Christian people? One cannot say that they are not Christians. One cannot say that there are no signs of a divine life in them. One cannot say but that they do a good many things that are right and pure, and obviously the result of a Divine Spirit working upon them; but all that they do just falls short of the crowning grace and beauty. There is always something about it that strikes one as being incomplete. They are Christian men and Christian women bringing forth many of the fruits of the Christian life, but the climax somehow or other is always absent. The pyramid goes up many stages, but there is never the gilded summit flashing in the light-’No fruit to perfection.’
Dear brethren, let us take our poor, imperfect services, and lay them down at the Master’s feet, and ask Him to help us to make clean work of these hearts of ours, and to turn out of them all our worldly hankerings after the seen and temporal. Then we shall bear fruit that He will gather into His garner. The cares and the pleasures and the wealth that terminate in, and are occupied with, this poor fleeting present are small and insignificant. Let us try to yield ourselves up wholly to the higher influences of that Divine Spirit, and in true consecration receive the engrafted word. And then He will give to us to drink of that river of His pleasures, drinking of which we shall not thirst, nor need to come to any of earth’s fountains to draw. If the Saviour comes in in His power, He will cast out the uncleanness that dwells in us and make us fruitful as He would have us to be.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v12 (See Scofield "Rom 1:16")
saved
(See Scofield "Rom 1:16")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11, 14 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus begins to explain the meaning of the parable of the soils to his disciples.
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The seed is the word of God
"The seed is the message from God"
The ones along the path are those
"The seeds that fell along the path are those." Jesus tells what happens to the seeds as it relates to people. AT: "The seeds that fell along the path represent people" or "In the parable, the seeds that fell along the path represent people" (See: Metonymy)
are those who
Jesus speaks of the seeds showing something about people as if the seeds were the people. AT: "show what happens to people who" (See: Metonymy)
the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
Here "hearts is a metonym for people's minds or inner beings. AT: "the devil comes and takes away the message of God from their inner thoughts" (See: Metonymy)
takes away
In the parable this was a metaphor of a bird snatching away the seeds. Try to use words in your language that keep that image. (See: Metaphor)
so they may not believe and be saved. The
Since this is the devil's purpose, it can be translated as: AT: "because the devil thinks, 'They must not believe and they must not be saved,' The" or "so it will not be that they believe and God saves them. The" (See: Active or Passive)
The ones on the rock are those
"The seeds that fell on the rocky soil are those." Jesus tells what happens to the seeds as it relates to people. AT: "The seeds that fell on the rocky soil represent people" or "In the parable the seeds that fell on the rocky soil represent people" (See: Metonymy)
the rock
"the rocky soil"
in a time of testing
"when they experience hardship"
they fall away
This idiom means "they stop believing" or "they stop following Jesus" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
parable
word of God
Satan
heart
believe
save
joy
test
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11–13 8:11 The seed is God’s word: This refers to…
8:11 The seed is God’s word: This refers to Jesus’ preaching of the Good News of the Kingdom.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.