Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 13:11 - 13:15
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The reason for speaking in parables:
v. 11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
v. 12. For whosoever hath, to him. shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
v. 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables; because they, seeing, see not, and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand.
v. 14. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.
v. 15. For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes. they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Christ divides His hearers into two classes; but far from expounding a Calvinistic double decree in God, He makes a very careful distinction in explanation of the different positions toward Him and His message. To you it is given, He tells the disciples. It is not a matter of greater intelligence or of greater moral worth, but only of God's gracious gift through the Holy Ghost. The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven they are to know through His agency, the truths once hidden, but now revealed and made known in order to add souls to the Kingdom, to His Church. The disciples had been given, and they had received, this knowledge for the salvation of their souls. The Spirit gave it to them that they not only heard and saw, but also understood with the heart and believed, as Luther says. And these mercies were to be multiplied upon them. Their understanding and their possession of the wonderful mysteries of God should grow from day to day, giving them, finally, a rich abundance of God's mercies. But the other class did not receive Christ's message, therefore to them nothing more is given. He that lacks understanding in spiritual matters will become more and more impoverished from day to day. It is the judgment of God upon a perverse people, due entirely to their own guilt and rejection of Him and His mercy. Isaiah had been obliged to take them to task for this refusal to bow under the hand of God, Isa_6:9-10. He had announced to them the judgment of God. Their physical eyes and ears may be in commission, but the understanding of their soul would become duller with the passage of time. Their heart would become stupid, they would have ever greater difficulty in hearing the voice of God, their eyes would become closed to the offering of His mercy. That is the judgment of God upon those that harden their hearts against the Gospel of mercy, whose prime purpose is to save souls. This judgment upon Israel began in the days of the Prophet Isaiah, and was completed in the days of Christ and the apostles. The great mass of the people of Palestine, both in Judea and Galilee, hardened their hearts against Christ's Word and work. And so the preaching of Christ finally became unto them a savor of death unto death, 2Co_2:16.