Luke 8:4–15 (ESV)
And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
This passage is self-explanatory as long as you avoid the predestination issues. The explanation of the parable is tough, but the explanation of the explanation is tougher.
This is about how different people react to the gospel. The doctrine of limited atonement is obvious, but it’s not as stark as in other passages where Jesus describes “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It’s the doctrine of election here that gives people fits.
The phrase, “for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand,’” is a purpose construction in the Greek. The words, “so that” mean that the purpose of “for others they are in parables” is so that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”
There’s no sugar-coating this. God intends for those folks to not understand.
This is a hard lesson, but hard lessons are worth the work. They lead somewhere.
God is fully God. He’s never overpowered. He’s never inattentive. When something happens that you don’t like, don’t explain it away by saying that it’s outside of God’s control. God created this universe, not a universe where these things don’t happen. This isn’t easy to get comfortable with.
He is Lord. Some of the things He does don’t sit well with us, but that’s our problem. We need to grow in the knowledge and the wisdom of the one who invented knowledge and wisdom. This can only happen through prayer. Invite the Holy Spirit to help you grasp the magnitude of His holiness.
Worship the almighty Lord of everything—that was, and is, and is to come.
