Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
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.’
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Luke 8:9-10 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
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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Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
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.’
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And his disciples axed him sayinge: what maner similitude is this?
And he sayde: vnto you is it geven to knowe the secretes of the kyngdom of God: but to other in similitudes that when they se they shuld not se: and when they heare they shuld not vnderstonde.
Show all 3 translations
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Then his disciples asked him, demaunding what parable that was.
And he sayd, Vnto you it is giuen to know the secrets of ye kingdome of God, but to other in parables, that when they see, they shoulde not see, and when they heare, they should not vnderstand.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (31)
- Isaiah 6:9 (v10) He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
- Mark 4:11 (v10) He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,
- Matthew 11:25 (v10) At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding,…
- Jeremiah 5:21 (v10) ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:
- Isaiah 44:18 (v10) They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
Show all 31 cross-references
- Matthew 13:11-17 (v10) He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. For whoever has, to him…
- Acts 28:26-27 (v10) saying, ‘Go to this people and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way…
- Colossians 2:2 (v10) that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that…
- Deuteronomy 29:4 (v10) But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
- Psalms 25:14 (v10) The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
- Matthew 13:10 (v9) The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
- Matthew 13:18 (v9) “Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.
- Matthew 16:17 (v10) Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
- Mark 4:10 (v9) When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
- Romans 11:7-10 (v10) What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. According as it…
- Romans 16:25 (v10)
- Colossians 1:26-28 (v10) the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make…
- Isaiah 29:14 (v10) therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their…
- Hosea 6:3 (v9) Let’s acknowledge Yahweh. Let’s press on to know Yahweh. As surely as the sun rises, Yahweh will appear. He will come to us like the rain,…
- Matthew 13:36 (v9) Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel…
- Matthew 15:15 (v9) Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.”
- Mark 4:34 (v9) Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
- Mark 7:17-18 (v9) When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, “Are you also without…
- Luke 10:21-24 (v10) In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these…
- John 12:40 (v10) “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would…
- John 15:15 (v9) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I…
- 1 Corinthians 2:7-11 (v10) But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory, which none…
- 1 Corinthians 12:11 (v10) But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.
- 1 Timothy 3:16 (v10) Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached…
- 1 Peter 1:10-12 (v10) Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently. They prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for…
- Ephesians 3:3-9 (v10) how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words, by which, when you read, you can perceive my…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v10 Those things are called secret, which may not be…
Those things are called secret, which may not be uttered: for the word used here, is as much as we say in our tongue, to hold a man’s peace.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–10 And his disciples asked him,.... That is, as Mark…
And his disciples asked him,.... That is, as Mark says, "when he was alone"; after the multitude were departed, and they were by themselves, it may be in some house with other disciples:
saying, what might this parable be? what is the sense and meaning of it? According to Matthew, they asked why he spake in parables to the people; and to such a question the following words are a proper answer.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v9 After the multitude had left our divine Saviour, his…
After the multitude had left our divine Saviour, his disciples wishing thoroughly to understand the meaning of his instructions, came to him, and desired he would give them an explanation of the parable. (Tirinus)
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 vv9–10 9. his disciples asked him] St Mark says “those…
9. his disciples asked him] St Mark says “those about Him, with the Twelve;” and that they came to Him afterwards when they found Him alone.
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 v10 (10) That seeing they might not . . .—St.…
(10) That seeing they might not . . .—St. Luke, like St. Mark, gives the words of Isaiah, but not as a quotation. On the difficulty presented by their form, as thus given, see Note on Mar_4:12.
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 vv9–10 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this…
And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be! This is the only parable St. Luke gives as spoken by our Lord in this place. St. Matthew who gives the additional detail that on account of the pressure of the crowd on the lake-shore it was spoken from a boat moored close to the bank relates seven parables here in sequence. It is probable that the Master spoke some of these at least on this occasion, but St. Luke, possibly on account of its extreme solemnity, possibly because he wished to mark this parable as the first of this new kind of teaching, relates it and its interpretation only, saying nothing further respecting that day"s parable-teaching. It is most probable that all these reported discourses, parables, expositions, or sermons, are simply a resume of the original words. The disciples evidently by their question which St. Mark tells us was put to Jesus when they were alone with him were surprised and puzzled, first at the strange change which that eventful day inaugurated in the method of their Master"s teaching, and secondly, at the peculiar character of this his first great parable-lesson. It was, indeed, a sombre and depressing announcement whatever way it was looked at sombre as a picture of the results of his own past ministry, depressing if regarded as a prophecy of their future success as teachers.
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 v10 Unto you it is given to know the mysteries…
Luk_8:10
Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of GOD--
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The mysteries of the kingdom
A mystery, as the word is used in Scripture, is nothing more than an unknown thing.
It has no reference to anything obscure, or awful, or difficult to understand. The most simple truth may be called a mystery so long as it is concealed. That a Gentile could be converted to Christ was a mystery to the Jews--an unknown thing, not a thing difficult to be understood. Read the text, Because it is given unto you to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given, and the meaning is plain and complete.
I. Let us endeavour TO DISTINGUISH THE TWO CLASSES,--on the one hand, those to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom; on the other, those to whom it was not so given. Some have interpreted this passage as a judicial sentence of perpetual ignorance and unbelief. I am more disposed to interpret it as a description of a hardened and obdurate state of mind--a wilful ignorance connected with gross stupidity. Because their hearts had waxed gross, and their ears were dull, and their eyes were closed--wilfully closed--the Lord left them to the mystery of the parables, but expounded the interpretation to His disciples in their more private intercourse. Jesus had spoken His parables from a ship on the Sea of Galilee to vast multitudes who collected to hear Him from the neighbouring towns and country. We have, then, abundant illustration of the character of this multitude. They came from the places in which He had done most of His mighty works--Capernaum, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and the neighbourhood. In their synagogues Jesus had expounded the Holy Scriptures and showed their fulfilment in Himself. But these people had seen His wonderful works as though they saw them not, and heard His words of wisdom and love as though they heard not. The application is to you, and an affecting application it is. Take heed how ye hear. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh from heaven. The dreadful shadow of the second death had fallen upon the multitude, and no beams from the Light and Life of the world could dispel its gloom. And oh, consider that the men of the neighbourhood where Jesus chiefly taught were those denied the interpretation of the parable. Exalted to heaven by their privileges, they were debased and brought near to hell by the abuse of them. Now let us look to those to whom Jesus gave the interpretation. The inquiry is, What had they which the others had not? If the disciples had not knowledge, they had the desire to obtain it, and the spirit to make it productive.
1. They had the desire to obtain it. In learning the mysteries of the kingdom (as in everything else) the docile disposition and the acquisition of knowledge are inseparably connected. What cared the multitude for the hard sayings of Jesus? Gratify their vain curiosity, amuse them with signs and wonders, feed them with loaves and fishes, and they are content. But the disciples--that is, the learners--longed to know the whole meaning of the Saviours lessons. They heard the parables, and they sought the interpretation. They felt that they lacked wisdom; they hungered and thirsted after the knowledge of righteousness, and with the docility of children they desired to learn the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. To them it was given to know--to them, having the teachable disposition, the instruction was readily and freely afforded. Multitudes are still ignorant of the truths of the Gospel, even in the midst of this bright day of clear, evangelical, heavenly light; but the ignorance of every one of them amidst so many means of instruction is to be attributed to their own wilful indisposition to learn. To how many among us is the Bible enveloped in thick darkness! its great truths are still to them mysteries of the kingdom--secrets hidden from their view, as with a Pharisaic contempt, or a sinfuldislike, they pass their wandering eyes over the words of the sacred page. They read, but understand not what they read. They have no interpreter. The Holy Spirit they have resisted and repelled. The avenues by which pure, Divine, holy truth might reach their hearts they have closed by the corruptions of the flesh and the cares of the world. But some of you have otherwise learned Christ. You were impelled by an ardent desire, and you went with humility, like children, to sit at the feet of Jesus to learn of Him. His words, read in the letter of Scripture, became much more than letter as you read them; they became spirit and life. You felt their spiritual quickening power. Imploring by earnest prayer the light of heaven, that light shone upon the Book of God, and you saw as you had never seen before, wonderful things out of His law. Thus to you much has been given. But--
2. The disciples had a spirit to make their knowledge productive. They did not neglect or abuse the knowledge they had. The good seed in their hearts brought forth its own fruit in its season. How often have the elements of scriptural knowledge been abused, and how often have they been suffered to lie neglected in the heart! And abuse or neglect will always prevent a clear and believing perception of the mysteries of the kingdom. If this be so, no one ought to utter a word of complaint respecting his ignorance of the mysteries of the Gospel. Why do they remain hidden from him? The answer is at hand: because he is not faithful to the little light he already has obtained. Men often see not the doctrine, because the present duty, always plain, it disregarded by them. You may think you know little of the mysteries. But do you not know that you ought to seek more earnestly than you have sought? to practise more self-denial than you have yet practised? to do many things you have not done, and to refrain from doing much that you continue to do? It is no wonder that you should remain still in ignorance of many things, seeing you have already more light than you follow in the practical part of religion.
II. LET US CONSIDER THE MEANS BY WHICH THESE MYSTERIES WERE REVEALED TO THOSE TO WHOM IT WAS GIVEN TO KNOW HIM.
1. A plain and easy way of giving the true knowledge is made apparent. We have the admonitions of Christ as well as His teaching. Our duty is not mysterious. We can seek wisdom, and seek it in the path of obedience.
2. The mysteries are revealed in their appropriateness to ourselves and their application to our wants: revealed to our hearts, according to our need. Show the man himself, a sinner ready to perish--the suitable Saviour for him is revealed by His paying the penalty of sin.
3. The mysteries are revealed in succession, as they prove useful, not to gratify curiosity. (R. Halley, D. D.)
The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
God is always undoing mystery. He keeps no mystery for the sake of the mystery. He is never withholding, but always giving. His work in relation to us has been from the first an unfolding. He is the God that giveth truth. I say again, He does not put forth His will to hide, but ever and always to reveal. The mysteries of God are the things that the wise and prudent so often turn aside from--they take them as matters of course; and many besides the wise and prudent, many fools likewise, many who are wise in their own eyes--let me say all who are wise in their own conceits. Of course, of course, they say; we know all about that; but we want to understand this, and we want to know what that means; and we want to see how you can account for this, and whether or not you can put this and that and the next thing in your scheme, when all the time things are crying out in them and around them which they think are too common, too simple, puerile perhaps; they do not interest us, they say. That which God requires of men is lust to attend to the thing, whatever it is, that He requires of them, as revealed in their heart, in their feeling, in their sense, that they are not doing altogether right, that they are not being altogether right. And while they are speculating, perhaps, upon what they call the mysteries, what the theologian calls the mysteries, the thing that is a mystery to them is the thing that every simple child-heart can understand. When God calls His children it is that they respond as children in obedience--in obedience. The Lord in His parable is telling us something that perhaps has ceased to be looked upon as at all a mystery with us. Do you know what St. Paul so often calls the mystery that he has to reveal? It looks to us a simple thing enough. It was a very hard thing for many at that time to receive it, and now m other forms it is hard still for certain kinds of minds to receive it. It was just that God loved the Gentile as much as the Jew, that God was no respecter of persons, that He cares for the poor man as much as for the rich. That was the mystery. We think not very mysterious after the common use of the word, but the mystery is the simple truth, the fact of relationship that lies deepest and uppermost and everywhere throughout nature, making life worth living, and men worth being. That kind of mystery is a thing that it is so difficult somehow to wake up the minds of men to see. Try to show any man his duty and he will immediately begin to ask you questions about theories. To get man or woman to acknowledge--I do not mean by word of mouth, but by act of soul, by powerfulemotion of the spirit, of themselves, of their will--to acknowledge, I say, that there is between their hearts and the infinite, all-pervading, unseen force of life, that there is a heart thinking about their hearts, and wanting to have them, that there is a father-love at the heart of things that is looking down and brooding over the hearts of His children, and drawing them to lift up the heart to God, and be in His presence a live thing opening door and window to the reception of that which He is continually trying to give--this is the mystery, the absolute simplicity of life to which it seemsscarcely possible sometimes--I mean it sometimes seems scarcely possible--to wake up ones own flesh and blood to understand and feel, for we are all one family in Him in whom the whole family in heaven and earth are named. Some would think it a grand thing to be told they could increase their life twofold, tenfold, and live for hundreds of years. God knows if I would turn that leaf to gain that. I should simply scorn it. Whatever is true in any of these things, whatever is true is mine; but I do not want it except by growing to it in the natural progress of the law of Him who is the root of my being, and who has told me that I inherit with Jesus Christ that which my Father has to give. I would put my hand forth, I say, to take no glory of existence save what the natural process of His developing of an obedient child comes to me in its own free, simple form. If you want to attain anything in the shape of true moral, physical, spiritual progress, I say, be the simple disciple of Jesus Christ. That is what you are born men and women for, not to make money, but to know God; and to know Christ is the only way to know God. You may learn of the power of God, but the power of God is not God. God is love, and until we love with our whole souls we do not know God. We may know Him a little, less or more, in proportion as we are capable of loving; or rather, not as we are capable of it, but as we do it--we know God. And in this spirit let us look at the parable that our Lord had just spoken about as containing mystery. Well, God knows it is to me the deepest of all mysteries, even in the common sense of mystery, a thing that utterly perplexes me, and I just stop there and cannot understand it, and that is, the point when the heart of man, the child of God, stops turning its back upon Him, and begins to wheel round the other way; the point when the prodigal, who is the type of every one who goes away from God, and loves anything better than God. God, it seems to me, alone can see and know that, but that this turning takes place we know, and plenty of testimony could you have to the fact. And so in this parable about the seed sown. And looking at all the parables of Christ, what I find in them is this, that He is doing what He can just so to wake up the soul of man, and to cause this change to be begun in the soul of man. He does not speak the parables for the purpose of concealment. Neither does He speak them for the purpose of instructing the intellect and the understanding about things. That is not His work, though all that follows is. Ah, you would know something, friends--let me speak to my young friends present--you would know something of the glory of a life that was independent of outside things. If you just set yourselves to be the thing God meant you to be, set yourselves to obey Him whom the Father sent just to make you shine in the very light, the supernal light, that is all about at the root of everything, wisdom and knowledge, everything that the heart of man falsely worships, precious as it is, freely worships at your command, and if you would but be Divine as you are meant to be, if you will be earthy, if you will be poor creatures, if you will be what Dante calls insects in whom the formative power is lacking, defective insects that cannot pass into the glorious butterfly; he says--and I am speaking now of what one of the greatest of men said six hundred years ago--Do you not know, he says, that you are worms that are meant to go forth as the angelic butterfly? O foolish man, he says, why do you seek low things? Why are you content to be unborn in the cocoon, or in the chrysalis of the worm? The Lord speaks, I say, in all His parables to wake up that power of life in us that makes a man put everything aside and look up and feel that he has but to be, and he must be, he must be the thing that the Eternal Father made His child to be, else we are but the defective insect we may be born. So what do I find? Here is the story of sowing seed. It falls on different soils, and at last it comes on good soil, and the Lord does not say a word about anything that the soil can do. But He seeks to make us think it and feel it and weigh it in our minds, and speaks of something that we have got to do with it--the hard-trodden ground by the wayside and the poor soil on the rock, with the corn hanging its head, drying up with the drought, and the corn that would look over the tops of the thistles--that would say, I am bad soil, but I cannot help it; the seed has fallen, but what have I got to do with it? But there is good soil, and that soil knows that it has got to do with it, and that is just the difference. When the truth of God comes to a true heart--and God claims that the heart should be true, and if the heart is not true there is its condemnation already--when the word drops into the true heart, the true heart says, I must keep that: I must mind what I am about, I must see to this thing or that, and so it grows and grows. There was one man I heard sometimes when I was a youth, and I cared more to hear him than all the rest put together. When I came out from hearing him perhaps I could not tell you a word he had said, but I knew I had something to mind; and you may make that a test whether you have been the true ground or not, when anything true has come to your consciousness as truth. The great trouble is, first, with those who never know that anything has anything to do with them. The time has not come, somehow. There may be good soil underneath, but the top is hard-trodden. There is something that seems to prevent any form of the truth getting down to the growing part of them. But when there is a sense of any call that you have not obeyed, made haste to obey it, that you may the sooner come forth into the light. Then there are some, you know, that are the picture of the different kinds of people. Well, I will not say it is wonderful, because it comes from the wonderful. Look how simple it is. There are those when they get moved with feeling begin to grow. They start very fast, you think, as though they would take heaven by storm, but the storm takes them; they are beaten down. They do not like to suffer. Well, we do not any of us like to suffer; but the question is, whether we will make the effort and even if foiled, make an effort again, to meet the future, or whether we shall let adverse powers, whatever they may be, beat us down to the dust, and we lie in the mud instead of soaring in the free air. What is it you want more than anything else? A good many of you think more about the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches; and the desires of other things enter in and choke the word--the word, the truth of God that you have got in you. There is something that you know is your duty. You may not love it very much. You have not seen the glory of it. It is to you like a rough diamond that does not shine. It is very dirty, perhaps. But you have got something in you that you know you ought to use. That is the thing the Lord speaks of; that is the thing that is come out of the heart of God into your heart, and the question is, are you caring about that more than anything else, or are you thinking, Well, I mind it just enough not to be cast out. You know it is absurd to ask me to he perfect. I am not perfect. I cannot be perfect, and the person that says that has not tried enough to know the difficulty of it, but only takes it for granted. Mother, do you think as often about your Father as you think about your child? Oh, I do not want you to love your child less. God forbid. There are very mistakenly wicked things said of that kind. Mothers say, I love my child too much. Foolish woman! you never loved your child enough. If you had loved your child aright he would have forced you to lift up your hears to your Father in heaven. You are loving yourself, not your child. No, we cannot love each other too much. Oh, friends, the absurdity of it, that we will give three-fourths to man, and give God a fourth. Are we seeking Him as the business of life, or are we making money the business of life, and thinking of God now and then, sometimes? I do not understand half ways of things. But the people that are in the condition of this corn growing amongst thorns, they are perhaps the last that will understand it to mean themselves; the strangeness of which is this, that a few more years and all the possibility of my having anything whatever to call my own--I shall have no hand to hold it, not to say no pocket to put it into. Then there is the ground that bears, some fifty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold. You get nothing except you look at that part. It is for yourself. But then perhaps you will say, May some bring forth thirty, some sixty, and some a hundredfold? Yes. Does not that imply that the Lord is content to accept an inferior quantity? That some He will take though they only bring Him thirtyfold, and others when they bring Him sixty. But the hundredfold seems to be a maximum, and therefore it seems to imply that, well, perhaps we may bring thirtyfold and we shall be accepted. How low would it go, do you suppose? Twentyfold? Tenfold? How far down would it go? Well, I think that the disposition that would be content to bring the thirtyfold would prefer to bring one seed or none at all. And I am certain of this, that if it be possible for you to bring forth forty, fifty, or sixtyfold, the Lord will not be content with your thirtyfold. And you will have something to go through yet. For observe this--Every branch in Me that beareth fruit, He purgeth it. Why? Because it is bringing forth fruit, why should He be hard upon it? He wants more fruit, and the man who is content with himself anywhere, is just the man that the Lord is not content with. I will tell you your thirtyfold would do very well provided you are not content with it, and you want to make it more. Oh, what a hopeless thing, do you say; we can never get at that? That He will see to, if you see that you want it, and that you are acting as far as you can upon it lie will see to that. Do you think that your Father in heaven will be content to have you, His child, deformed, ugly, lame, worn as with famine, with dirty face and hands, clothed in rags? What kind of a father or mother would it be who would be content to have a child such? Ah, he or she might be exulting unspeaking to have that poor miserable child in his or her arms, but would he be content to see it like that? Friends, do you want it? (G. Macdonald, LL. D.)
A right attitude essential to perceiving Gods truths
An Eastern legend relates that somewhere in the deserts of Arabia there stood a mass of jagged rock, the surface of which was seamed and scarred by the elements; but whenever any one came to the rock in the right way he saw a door shape itself in the sides of the barren stone, through which he could enter in, and find a store of rich and precious treasures, which he could carry away with him. There are some things in Gods universe that seem as barren and unattractive as bare and fissured rocks, but which contain an inwardness of warmth and sweetness inconceivable. The inner holies of God are fast concealed from those who will not come aright, with a heart of love and trust, but open to all who are willing to see and to hear. (Christian Age.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v10 (See Scofield "Mat 13:11").
mysteries
(See Scofield "Mat 13:11").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 The explanation of the parable:
The explanation of the parable:
v. 9. And His disciples asked Him, saying, What might this parable be?
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v. 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.
v. 11. Wow the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God,
v. 12. Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
v. 13. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the Word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away
v. 14. And that which fell among thorns are they which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
v. 15. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
The disciples at that time had as yet little spiritual knowledge and understanding. And so Jesus patiently explains to them the meaning of the parable, since to them it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, not by their merit or worthiness, nor because they had been interested in Christ or His work by their own reason and strength. In case of the others, however, that did not want to believe, the parables served a different purpose. Seeing they should not see, and hearing they should not understand. The eyes of their bodies might behold all that was going on in miracles and other happenings, and yet they would not recognize the power of God, the Messiah-ship of Jesus. Their ears might hear the sounds of the words, but their meaning was hidden from them. What Isaiah had been obliged to say with regard to the hardening of Israel was being fulfilled, Isa 6:9-10. The judgment of God upon a disobedient people had begun in the days of Isaiah, and was completed in the days of Christ and the apostles. It is an earnest warning for all times, 2Co 2:15-16; 2Co 4:3-4. Christ’s explanation of the parable was brief and simple. The seed of which He speaks is the Word. That shall be strewn, that shall be scattered broadcast again and again, with patient labor. The first class of hearers are those by the wayside, hearers only. There is not even a chance for the Word to begin its saving influence in their case. The seed is lying on top of the hearts, and the devil takes it away, lest, believing, they should be saved. "Therefore He says that the devil comes and takes the Word from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Which power of the devil not only signifies this, that the hearts, hardened by worldly ideas and life, lose the Word and let it escape, that they never understand it, but also that in the place of the Word of God the devil sends false teachers that tread it down with doctrines of men. For both is here given, that the seed is trodden down on the path and that it is eaten by the birds. " The second class of hearers are those that have a mere veneer, a shallow covering of Christianity. With them the "getting religion" is merely an incident, and they are able to change their profession like their clothes. There is no idea of indoctrination in their case; they are not firmly grounded and rooted in Scriptures. They are violent enthusiasts while it lasts, but the excitement does not last. For a time, and usually a short time, at that, they are prominently identified with the work of the Church. But then their interest flags and departs as suddenly as it came into being. In the time of temptation, when there seems to be danger of suffering for the sake of their convictions, they are no longer among those present. "The second class contains those that accept with joy, but they do not hold out. This is also a great crowd, that hear the Word properly and accept it in its purity, without any sects and schismatics and enthusiasts; they are glad also that they may know the right truth and find how we may be saved without works through faith; also because they have been delivered from the imprisonment of the Law, the conscience, and human doctrine. But when it comes to the battle, that they should on that account suffer harm, contempt, loss of life and goods, then they fall away and deny it all. " The third class includes such as also hear the Word, in whose hearts the seed finds a proper lodging. But later they, being taken possession of by the cares of riches and the pleasures of life, suffocate, so far as their faith is concerned, and do not bring their fruit to maturity. This is properly called suffocation, for the process is not brought to a climax at once, but takes much time. Very gradually the love of money and the deceitfulness of riches creeps into the heart; or just as unostentatiously the liking for the pleasures of this world takes possession of the mind, until the lingering spark of faith is extinguished almost without their noticing it. "The third class that hear and accept the Word and yet fall to the wrong side, that is, to the pleasure and ease of this life, also bring forth no fruit according to the Word. And their number is also very large; for though they do not establish heresies, as the first ones, but always have the pure Word, and also are not attacked on the left side by opposition and temptation, yet they fall on the right side, and that is their ruin, that they enjoy peace and good days. Therefore they do not earnestly regard the Word, but become lazy and sink into the care, riches, and lust of this life, that they are without use. " Only the last class of hearers, in whose case the seed of the Word falls into hearts that have been properly prepared by the preaching of the Law, is of value in the kingdom of God. There the meekness of the knowledge of self is replaced by the nobleness and generousness of the regenerated soul. The Word which they hear they also keep; they hold firmly to its glory and power, and are thus enabled to bring forth fruit well pleasing to God, with all perseverance.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v9 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus begins to speak to his disciples.
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The knowledge of ... God has been given to you
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God has given to you the knowledge of ... God" or "God has made you able to understand ... God" (See: Active or Passive)
the secrets of the kingdom of God
These are truths that have been hidden, but Jesus is now revealing them.
for others
"for other people." This refers to the people who rejected the teaching of Jesus and did not follow him.
seeing they may not see
"though they see, they will not perceive." This is a quote from the prophet Isaiah. Some languages may need to state the object of the verbs. AT: "though they see things, they will not understand them" or "though they see things happen, they will not understand what they mean"
hearing they may not understand
"though they hear, they will not understand." This is a quote from the prophet Isaiah. Some languages may need to state the object of the verbs. AT: "though they hear instruction, they will not understand the truth"
translationWords
disciple
understand
mystery
kingdom of God
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 v10 8:10 the secrets of the Kingdom of God: What…
8:10 the secrets of the Kingdom of God: What was hidden in the past about God’s reign was now revealed through Jesus’ words and actions. • When they look . . . they won’t understand: This quote is from Isa 6:9 (Greek version), a passage repeatedly used in the New Testament to explain Israel’s rejection of the gospel (see also Matt 13:14-15; Mark 4:12; John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27). In its original context, the passage refers to God’s certain judgment of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians. Israel’s sin and rebelliousness had taken them beyond the point of no return, so God blinded them in preparation for judgment. Those who rejected Jesus’ message were blind to the truth.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.