Matthew 13:24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
Matthew 13:25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
Matthew 13:26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
Matthew 13:27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’
Matthew 13:28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
Matthew 13:29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”
We have looked at this parable in the Parable Surprises series (Parable Surprises – Tares Among the Wheat) and found it to be a challenging portion of Scripture.
It must have been a late night when I pulled this passage into the Conditional Security series, for at first glance, I found little that would direct a person (without bias) towards the conclusion of conditional security in this passage.
The passage spoke of the kingdom, specifically of the harvest time and how to bring to judgement those who were enemies within the Kingdom.
But after a slight glance at the parable, and especially the explanation given to the disciples, there may be hints as to the general teaching of conditional security found within.
First off, it is granted that the weeds grew along with the wheat, and that in the parable the weeds have always been weeds. By that I mean, they were sown as weeds, lived as weeds and were gathered as weeds. The parable, in it’s simplicity, seemed to keep these two types of field plants separate throughout the passage.
Yet the parable did speak of the early pulling of weeds and potentially of pulling wheat with the weeds, all of which was destined for the fire. But per the Master’s decision, and his care for the wheat, this was to be avoided by allowing the weeds and wheat to grow together in the field.
29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
No – the harvest was to be immediately preceded by the pulling of the weeds, for at fruition, the weeds showed their true colors. There would be no mistaking of the wheat as weeds.
A little later, the disciples asked for clarity.
Jesus provided clarity in identifying all the parties in the parable, including the sowers and the seed, and how the harvest would act out in the end.
Verse 41 gives me some pause in relation to the way judgement at the end is to be exercised. Let’s read it once more.
41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
Notice that in the Lord’s explanation of the parable, the weeds and wheat are not identified in relation to the source seed, (good seed, / weeds) but in the work or actions of those being gathered, (righteousness / sin and law-breakers).
Granted, nothing is specified in the Lord’s explanation that the original good seed, that is the wheat, in included in the that “causes of sin and all law-breakers”, but in the same breath, there is no specific claim that the wheat stayed wheat. Jesus changed the description of the plants from a source seed related identifier to a fruit related identifier. I find that somewhat interesting!
When I first became a follower of Jesus, I was told not to take a parable and make it walk on four legs. I think my brother was telling me that parables typically have a single point of teaching, and that we shouldn’t try to find justification for a teaching in the parables, but to let them speak for themselves in the main point.
I may be doing that very thing with this post. The teaching of conditional security is definitely not the main point of this parable, (dang – it might not be the tenth point of the parable) and if this was the only teaching in the Word that hinted at conditional security, I readily admit it would be heretical to suggest this teaching here.
Yet, throughout the Word, it seems there are subtle hints to the danger of slipping from wheat to weed.
What is your opinion of this parable, and it’s relation to the teaching of conditional security?
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