Mateus 13
Alexander Maclaren · Citado em PreceptAustin
Mateus 13
Maclaren - Whatever view we take of the bearing of this parable on purity of communion in the visible Church, we should not slur over Christ’s own explanation of ‘the field,’ lest we miss the lesson that He claims the whole world as His, and contemplates the sowing of the seed broadcast over it all. The Kingdom of Heaven is to be developed on, and to spread through, the whole earth. Side by side with the sower’s beneficent work the counter-working of ‘his enemy’ goes on. As the one, by depositing holy truth in the heart, makes men ‘children of the kingdom,’ the other, by putting evil principles therein, makes men ‘children of evil.’...Where the good seed is sown, there the evil is scattered thickest. False Christs and false apostles dog the true like their shadows. Every truth has its counterfeit. Neither institutions, nor principles, nor movements, nor individuals, bear unmingled crops of good. Not merely creatural imperfection, but hostile adulteration, marks them all. The purest metal oxidises, scum gathers on the most limpid water, every ship’s bottom gets foul with weeds. The history of every reformation is the same: radiant hopes darkened, progress retarded, a second generation of dwarfs who are careless or unfaithful guardians of their heritage. Phil Newton - If the church were meant then the teaching of church discipline that follows later in Matthew 18 would be eliminated since it is only at the end when the evil is removed. What Christ explains is that His rule extends beyond the church. He rules the world! (The Triumph of the Kingdom) Henry Alford has an interesting thought on the field is the world - Its two principal references are, to the whole history of the world from beginning to end; the coming of sin into the world by the malice of the devil (Ge 3+), the mixed state of mankind, notwithstanding the development of God’s purposes by the dispensations of grace,—and the final separation of the good and evil at the end. The very declaration ‘the harvest is the end of the world’ suggests the original sowing as the beginning of it. Yet this sowing is not in the fact, as in the parable, one only, but repeated again and again. (Commentary) World (2889)(kosmos related to kosmeo = to order or adorn) means essentially something that is well-arranged, that which has order or something arranged harmoniously. Kosmos refers to an ordered system or a system where order prevails. Kosmos in many places in the NT takes on a negative shade of meaning. In the present context kosmos is morally neutral in one sense describes "planet earth," but more specifically refers to all human beings for the good seed refers to human beings who are sown in the world of human beings. The church age is for evangelism, not "eviction." And as for the good (kalos) seed (sperma), these are the sons of the kingdom (basileia) - In Mt 13:19+, the good seed is the Word of the Kingdom (cf Lk 8:11+). In this parable, the good seed is the Sons of the kingdom who are sons of the King! These are genuine believers and correspond to the good soil in the first parable as described in Mt 13:23+ "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” So in the parable of the tares, the good (kalos) seed describes disciples of Jesus who the Master has strategically spread throughout the world, who (empowered by the Spirit) produce good (kalos) fruit (Mt 3:10+) of good (kalos) works which glorify the Father (Mt 5:16+, cf Eph 2:10+). "The Lord plants His people in the world as His witnesses, to grow and become fruitful plants of righteousness....Christians are not left in the world by accident but are placed here on divine assignment from their Lord." (MacArthur) Sons of the Kingdom are "those who have a right to the privileges of the Messianic reign." (Broadus - see below) Broadus on sons of the kingdom - By a Hebrew idiom a variety of ideas of intimate relation or close connection are expressed by the use of ‘son’ or ‘child’; e.g., in OT ‘sons of Belial (wickedness)’, as it were born of wickedness, deriving their very nature from wickedness (Dt 13:13KJV, Jdg 19:22KJV, Jdg 20:13KJV, 1 Sa 2:12KJV, 1 Sa 10:27KJV, 2 Sa 23:6KJV, 1 Ki 21:10KJV, 1 Ki 21:13KJV, 2 Chr 13:7KJV). So with ‘sons of disobedience’ (Eph. 2:2), and ‘children of obedience.’ (1 Pe 1:14ASV) In ‘children of wrath’ (Eph. 2:3), ‘children of cursing’ (2 Pe 2:14ASV.), we have a very strong expression of the idea that these persons are by their very nature objects of wrath, of a curse. ‘The sons of this world’ (Luke 16:8NKJV) are wholly devoted to this world, as it were with a filial devotion. (See also on 9:15; 11:19; 13:38; 23:15, and comp. 1 Macc. 4:2.) ‘The sons of the resurrection’ (Luke 20:36) are those who partake of it. And so ‘the sons of the kingdom’ here are the persons who are considered as having a right to its privileges (by reason of the New Birth). James Smith - While growing together in the field there may be a seeming likeness, but their origin and character are entirely different. Regeneration is the only remedy for the tares (John 3:5+). (Handfuls of Purpose) Ligon Duncan points out why the central message of this parable was so important to Jesus' little band of disciples Who He had appointed to spread the Gospel seed after He left them. Duncan writes "That message was so important for the disciples because they were expecting Jesus to purge all iniquity from Israel and to establish a perfectly righteous kingdom, and if they had not had the perception corrected, they would have been very, very disappointed by the kingdom that the Lord Jesus was going to set up." (Sermon) Good (2570)(kalos) describes that which is inherently excellent or intrinsically good, providing some special or superior benefit. It is that which is good, beautiful, with a basic meaning healthy, sound, fit, opposite kakos (bad, evil) and aischros (ugly, deformed). In classical usage, kalos was originally descriptive of outward form, beautiful. It was used to describe of usefulness, as a fair haven, a fair wind. Auspicious, as sacrifices. Morally beautiful, noble; hence virtue is called to kalon. The New Testament usage is similar. Outwardly fair, as the stones of the temple (Lu 21:5): well adapted to its purpose, as salt (Mk 9:50): competent for an office, as deacons (1Ti 4:6); a steward (1Pe 4:10); a soldier (2Ti 2:3): expedient, wholesome (Mk 9:43, 45, 47); conscience (Heb 13:18). The phrase it is good, i.e., a good or proper thing (Ro14:21). In the Septuagint kalos is the most usual word for good as opposed to evil (Ge 2:17; 24:50; Isa 5:20). Kalos us a key word in Matthew 13 - Matt. 13:8; Matt. 13:23; Matt. 13:24; Matt. 13:27; Matt. 13:37; Matt. 13:38; Matt. 13:45; Matt. 13:48; Satan has a counterfeit for every divine reality. - William MacDonald (Borrow Believer's Bible Commentary) And the tares (zizanion) are the sons of the evil (poneros) one - The tares figuratively refers to unregenerate people as useless "weeds!" Satan "sows the world with those who look like, talk like, and, to some extent, walk like disciples."(MacDonald) But they are not genuine followers of the King.Sons of is a Hebraism that speaks of likeness (see note above). These sons do not fall far from the evil tree and are completely under his control, even as children are (or should be) to their earthly father. And we all do well to remember that at one time we too were tares, before we, by grace through faith, became wheat! The evil one is the devil. (Mt 13:19+). Because the evil one is the avowed enemy with God (and all of God's children!), so too are his "seed," and in one sense their enmity goes back to the Garden of Eden where God declared "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Ge 3:15+). Paul writes that these sons of the devil are those who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1+) adding they walk (live) "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the (EVIL) spirit that is now working (energeo in present tense = continually "energizing" evil) in the sons of disobedience (apeitheia - willful [not ignorant - cf Ro 1:19-20+], obstinate and rebellious disbelief, unwillingness to be persuaded)." (Eph 2:2+), "by nature (Ro 5:12+) children of wrath." (Eph 2:3+). Is it any wonder that the unsaved person is disobedient to God? He is controlled by the world, the flesh, and the devil, the three great enemies of God! And he cannot change his own nature or, of himself, overcome the world and the devil. He needs outside help, and that help can come only from God. Adam
Mateus 13
Maclaren - The furnace,’ as it is emphatically called by eminence, burns up the bundles. We may freely admit that the fire is part of the parable, but yet let us not forget that it occurs not only in the parable, but in the interpretation; and let us learn that the prose reality of ‘everlasting destruction,’ which Christ here solemnly announces, is awful and complete. For a moment He passes beyond the limits of that parable, to add that terrible clause about ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth,’ the tokens of despair and rage. So spoke the most loving and truthful lips. Do we believe His warnings as well as His promises? (Sermon) In the original story tares would be burned up and disappear forever, but this is not what Jesus now describes for the human tares as He "departs from the image of consuming the tares, to introduce another thought of horror, and heighten the terrible picture." (Broadus) S Lewis