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20  Receptivity to the Gospel: The Parable of the Soils  (Luke 8:4–15)

When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable: “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is 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. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fallaway. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. (Luke 8:4–15)

The good news of salvation is so inexplicably wonderful and glorious that words cannot express its magnificence. Those who have experienced salvation’s blessings—forgiveness of sin (Acts 10:43) and freedom from its tyranny (Rom. 6:1–7); justification (Rom. 3:20–28); eternal life (John 3:16); peace with God (Rom. 5:1); adoption into the family of God (Rom. 8:15); the indwelling (2 Tim. 1:14); filling (Eph. 5:18); and empowering (Acts 1:8) of the Holy Spirit; a clear conscience (Heb. 10:22); the hope of heaven (1 Peter 1:4); the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) revealed in the word of truth (John 17:17)—find it hard to understand how anyone could reject it. After all, who would turn down eternal life in favor of eternal punishment? Who would hold on to hell and reject heaven? Who would refuse everlasting joy and peace and in its place prefer instead misery and pain?

The parable the Lord related in this passage answers the question of why throughout redemptive history most people have rejected the gospel (Matt. 7:14; 22:14; Luke 13:23–24). It is crucial to a proper understanding of evangelism, and reveals what kind of responses believers can expect when they present the gospel. Jesus’ simple illustration provides profound and unforgettable insight into the subject of receptivity to the gospel. He makes it clear that the issue is not the gospel message, nor is it the skill or methodology of those proclaiming it. The determining factor is the condition of the hearer’s heart.

The importance of the heart cannot be overstated. “Watch over your heart with all diligence,” counseled Solomon, “for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov. 4:23). Jesus noted that” the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt. 12:34), and warned that “the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matt. 15:18–19; cf. Mark 7:21–23). Scripture describes such a heart as

All of those negative terms expose the depths of human depravity

Matthew’s account provides the setting for this parable. On the day He told it, Jesus left a house (probably the one where His mother and brothers found Him [Matt. 12:46–50]) and went to the shore of the Sea of Galilee (13:1). Because of the large crowds that pressed Him, Jesus got into a boat and sat down to teach the people (cf. Luke 5:3), who stood on the beach (Matt. 13:2). The large crowd consisted not only of people from the immediate vicinity, but also from various other cities. Drawn by the rapidly spreading news of Jesus’ power over nature and the demonic realm, and His ability to heal any and all diseases and even raise the dead, they gathered to experience firsthand His powerful miracles and amazing teaching.

When the crowds arrived, the Lord spoke to them by way of a parable. Parabole (parable) means to put one thing alongside another for comparison. Parables were a common rhetorical device employed by the rabbis. Here, as He often did, Jesus put a story alongside a spiritual truth to make that truth more clearly understood. While parables could be brief illustrations (e.g., 5:36–39; 6:39; Matt. 13:31–32, 33, 44, 45–46), they could also be extended analogies, as is this one. Parables placed profound theological truth in familiar settings, making it vivid, interesting, unforgettable, and easily recalled.

Though Jesus made up such analogies all through His ministry, this parable marked a major turning point. From this time on Jesus spoke to the crowds only in parables (Matt. 13:34). That was a deliberate act of judgment on His part. Those who would not believe now could not; the fools who hated knowledge (Prov. 1:22) were deprived of it. By presenting His teaching in parables, Jesus hid the truth from rejecting unbelievers and revealed it only to His faithful followers. Without an explanation, a parable can mean anything or nothing; it is little more than a riddle. The Lord’s veiling of the truth means that judgment had fallen on Israel so that they could no longer understand the teaching of their own Messiah. Those who had rejected Him were fixed in the darkness they loved (John 3:19). Only the Lord’s disciples understood the parables, because only they received His explanation of them. Mark’s account of this incident records that Jesus “was saying to [His disciples], ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, otherwise they might return and be forgiven’“ (Mark 4:11–12).

In this passage the Lord told the parable to the crowds, and then interpreted it in private to His disciples.

THE PARABLE

“The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” (8:5–8a)

This simple story described an activity that was very familiar to Jesus’ hearers, since Galilee was largely an agricultural region. In fact, as they stood along the shore that day they may even have seen this taking place in the distance. When a sower went out to sow his seed he used a method known as broadcasting. That involved walking up and down the furrows in the plowed field scattering the seed by hand. The seed would fall on different types of soil, of which the Lord mentions four.

Some of the seed fell beside the road. Jesus was not referring to a thoroughfare or highway, but to the beaten paths that separated the narrow strips of cultivated land. Farmers used those paths to access their plowed fields, and travelers used them to travel through the countryside (cf. Matt. 12:1). The paths were not plowed, and in the dry, semi-arid climate of Israel they would become virtually as hard as concrete. The seed that fell on those paths had no chance of penetrating the hard-packed soil. What was not trampled under foot by people walking along the paths the birds of the air ate.

Some of the other seed fell on rocky soil. Jesus was not referring to soil strewn with rocks and boulders, since those would have been turned up by the plowing and removed. In many places, however, there was an underlying rock bed deep enough below the surface to avoid being struck by the plow. The plants’ roots could not penetrate that rock bed to reach the water table beneath it. As a result they withered away, because the thin layer of topsoil retained insufficient moisture for them to survive.

Still other seed fell among the thorns. Akantha (thorns) is a general term for the category of thorny (it is the word used to describe the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’ head [Matt. 27:29; John 19:2]), prickly weeds that are useless and particularly harmful in cultivated cropland. Even the most careful, diligent plowing could not always remove all of the weed’s roots. The result was a soil that looked good when the farmer sowed the seed, but the tragic reality was that there was other life in it. The noxious weeds grew faster than the good plants, blocking the sunlight and consuming the water and nutrients from the soil. As a result the thorns grew up with the good plants and choked them out.

But the situation was not entirely hopeless. Some seed managed to fall into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great. This soil had none of the drawbacks of the other three; it was soft, deep, and free of weeds. As a result, it produced an amazing crop. Matthew 13:8 and Mark 4:8 refer to a crop yield of thirty, sixty or one hundredfold; Luke mentions only the greatest yield (cf. Gen. 26:12).All were far above the average yield a farmer could expect.

THE INTERPRETATION

As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is 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. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. (8:86–15)

As He told this story, Jesus would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (cf. 14:35; Matt. 11:15; 13:43; Mark 4:23). That challenge distinguished between those who desired to understand what He was teaching, and those who did not. Unsurprisingly, only His disciples were interested, and they began questioning Him as to what this parable meant. Jesus’ response revealed the incredible privilege that was theirs: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” The mysteries of which the Lord spoke are spiritual truths hidden through the Old Testament era and revealed in the New (see the discussion of New Testament mysteries in chapter 16 of this volume). The kingdom of God, as noted in chapter 19 of this volume, refers to the sphere of salvation where God reigns over His people. But as noted above, to the rest who reject the truth, parables are an act of judgment, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand (cf. Matt. 13:12–13). Matthew records that Jesus elaborated on that statement of judgment by quoting from Isaiah’s familiar prophecy:

In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, “You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.” (Matt. 13:14–15; cf. Isa. 6:9–10)

Because they willfully hardened their hearts against the truth, God judicially hardened them, just as He did with Pharaoh (cf. Ex. 8:15; 14:8). While such people cannot understand spiritual truth (1 Cor. 2:14), believers can (v. 16; cf.Matt. 13:16–17, 51).

Having made it clear that the truth contained in the parable was for His disciples only, Jesus identified its key elements. Significantly, He did not name the sower (as He so identified Himself in His explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares [Matt. 13:37]), since the sower is not the issue. Anyone who proclaims the gospel is a sower. Jesus identified the seed as the word of God, specifically in this context the gospel message of salvation. Peter used that same analogy when he wrote, “You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23; cf. Rom. 10:17). No artificial, synthetic seed can replace the divine seed and produce better results; attempting to alter the gospel message to make itmore palatable to unbelievers brings judgment (Gal. 1:8–9) and can only result in false conversions. The soil represents the heart (vv. 12, 15), and the four types of soil describe the various conditions of the souls of those who hear the gospel.

THE ROADSIDE SOIL

Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. (8:12)

The hard-packed, impenetrable soil beside the road (pathway through the fields) symbolizes those who have heard the gospel but reject it outright. Like that soil, the hearts of such people are hardened against the truth. The Old Testament refers to them as hard-hearted (Ps. 95:8; Prov. 28:14) and stiff-necked (Deut. 10:16; 2 Kings 17:14; Neh. 9:29; Jer. 7:26).They are stubbornly resolute and rigid in their indifference and hostility to the gospel, motivated by their love of sin. The heart of such people is a thoroughfare, constantly trampled and packed down by the sins that traverse it. It is never plowed by conviction, self-examination, honest assessment of guilt, and repentance. It is as callous to the sweet reasonings of grace as it is to the fearful terrors of judgment.

Interestingly, such hard-hearted people are often not atheists, but highly and seriously religious. A prime example was the Jewish religious leaders of Christ’s day. So firmly shut were their minds to the truth of God that they hated, opposed, and ultimately killed His Son, the very Messiah they had longed for (cf.Matt. 21:33–46).

Because the sin-hardened hearts of those who permanently reject the gospel are impervious to God’s truth, their father (John 8:44) the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Satan does that through false teachers (Matt. 7:15–20), fear of man (John 12:42), embarrassment at identifying with Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:33), pride (James 4:6), doubt that causes them not to believe and be saved, and, most of all, through the love of sin (John 3:19).

THE ROCKY SOIL

Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. (8:13)

The shallow rocky soil pictures those who make a superficial profession of faith. These people seem at first to be the opposite of the hard-hearted ones represented by the roadside soil. Far from rejecting the truth when they hear it proclaimed, they initially receive the word with joy. Their euphoria may convince many that their conversion is real. They are not only interested and receptive, but also exuberant and exhilarated—but not for long. The problem is that since these have no firm root they only believe for a while.

Perseverance marks genuine saving faith. “If you continue in My word, “Jesus told some who professed faith in Him, “then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). Paul wrote to the Colossians that those who have been reconciled to God will “continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23). The writer of Hebrews reminded his readers, “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end”(Heb. 3:14; cf. v6; 4:14; Matt. 24:13).

Joy on the other hand, is not the distinguishing mark of true salvation. In fact, a truer indication of genuine conversion is mourning (Matt. 5:4; cf.James 4:9). Joy is sometimes characteristic of genuine salvation, but sometimes of false salvation. People often respond to the gospel for the wrong reasons. They may have experienced a broken relationship, a divorce, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or been diagnosed with a serious disease. The expectation that Jesus will fix everything for them on their terms is exciting, and fills them with a false joy But these people are like the man in the Lord’s parable who crashed a wedding party without having the proper attire and was thrown out (Matt. 22:11–13). Since their faith is not genuine, they lack the robe of righteousness that clothes the redeemed (Isa. 61:10).

Nor is the absence of joy a distinguishing mark of a false conversion. Emotion is not a definitive indicator of spiritual reality. Salvation is a work of God, a divine transaction that may or may not produce an immediate emotional reaction. True saving faith will stand the test of time and assurance, peace, and joy are wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart of the redeemed.

What makes it evident that the faith of those symbolized by the rocky soil is superficial and non-saving is that in time of temptation they fall away. The scorching heat of the sun reveals that plants in the rocky soil lack a deep root structure. Because of that they are unable to draw the nutrients and moisture from the soil that they need to survive. In the same way temptation (peirasmos; “temptation,” “trial,” “testing”), affliction, and persecution (Matt. 13:21) cause false believers to fall away from their profession of faith.

Right after experiencing the miracle that had the greatest impact numerically of any the Lord performed, the feeding of the 5, 000 (John 6:1–13), many would-be disciples “withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (v. 66).They were fervently hoping that Jesus would be the conquering king who would oust the hated Romans and usher in a glorious kingdom for Israel. But they found Christ’s teaching on the true nature of salvation and His call for total commitment to Him (vv. 26–65) unacceptable, and permanently abandoned Him. As the apostle John would later write, “They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).

The faith of true believers, in contrast, is not crushed by trials, but strengthened by them. James encouraged believers, “Consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4).When faced with a painful trial that the Lord chose not to remove (2 Cor. 12:7–9) Paul responded, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (vv.9–10).The writer of Hebrews exhorted believers undergoing trials to remember that “all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11). Peter wrote, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you”(1 Peter 5:10).

When tests and trials come, they reveal whether faith is real or superficial. The same trials that perfect righteousness in believers harden unbelievers in their sin.

THE THORNY SOIL

The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. (8:14)

The seed which fell among the thorns pictures another group of those who have heard the gospel and initially accepted it. But the truth is soon crowded out not by suffering, but by pleasure. This soilappears good; it is not hard-packed, it is deep and has no underlying rock bed. But there are impurities in it, other life that is native to it. On the other hand the seed, the word of God, is not natural in the hearts of sinners. As a result though the seeds sprout, they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life (cf. Matt. 13:22) which, as they did with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18–25), keep the people pictured by the thorny soil from receiving eternal life.

These double-minded people (James 1:8) illustrate the truth that a person “cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt. 6:24).They are consumed with temporal things—sinful pleasures, longings and desires, ambition, career, homes, cars, prestige, relationships, fame—all of which choke the seed of the gospel so that they bring no fruit to maturity. The seed of the gospel will not produce the fruit of righteousness unless the heart is purged.

This is the preoccupied worldly heart, swept away by the deceitfulness of riches. Paul wrote of such people, “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9). The apostle John warned his readers,

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

There is nothing wrong in enjoying the things that God graciously provides (1 Tim. 6:17). The priority, however, is to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Those who understand the true value of the gospel would willingly give up all to possess it if that was what the Lord asked (Matt. 13:44–46).

THE GOOD SOIL

But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. (8:15)

In contrast to the first three soils, the seed in the good soil produces genuine salvation. This last soil represents the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, one that is genuinelyand truly good without duplicity. They are those who understand the word (Matt. 13:23), accept it (Mark 4:20), and hold it fast in ongoing obedience (cf. Luke 11:28; John 14:15, 21; 15:10). Unlike the roadsidesoil, where the seed never penetrates, the rocky soil where it sprouts briefly and withers, and the thorny soil where it is choked out, the good soil is properly prepared. The seed will grow into mature plants that bear fruit with the perseverance that marks genuine faith (see the discussion of perseverance above). As noted above, those who abandon their profession of faith prove that it was never real.

Fruit encompasses the good works that accompany salvation (Matt. 3:8; John 15:16), including both attitudes (Gal. 5:22–23) and actions (Col. 1:10; Phil. 1:11). Attitude fruit produces action fruit, and to attempt to generate action fruit apart from it results in legalism, such as that which the Lord condemned in the scribes and Pharisees. As both Matthew’s (13:23) and Mark’s (4:20) accounts reveal, there are varying degrees of fruitfulness. All believers, however, will bear some genuine fruit (Eph. 2:10); fruitlessness is a mark of false, non-saving faith (John 15:2; cf.Matt. 3:10).

A proper understanding of this masterful parable should have a profound influence on how the church does evangelism. Jesus taught that the variable is not the method or skill of the one presenting the gospel, or the message itself—the things that are frequently the focus of contemporary evangelistic methodology The variable is the heart. More specifically, it is not the nature of the heart; in the Lord’s analogy all four soils are made up of the same dirt. The determining factor in how people respond to the gospel is the influences that prevail upon and dominate their hearts.

Conviction, which prepares the heart to receive the gospel, is the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), and salvation itself is the work of God. But the Spirit’s work of conviction does not take place in a vacuum. He uses the proclamation of the gospel message of sin and the need for salvation to do His convicting work in the human heart. “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” Paul asked rhetorically “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14), since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (v. 17).

Believers must present the full message of salvation and not merely focus on its blessings. Before people can experience those blessings they must come to grips with the reality that they are sinners, facing God’s wrath and eternal judgment. They must acknowledge that their only hope lies in the salvation He has provided through the sacrificial death of His Son. Therefore Christians must explain sin to the lost before presenting God’s gracious offer of forgiveness. As the Puritan pastor and theologian John Owen noted, those who would have their souls justified by grace must have their sins judged by the law (The Forgiveness of Sin [Reprint; Grand Rapids: Baker 1977], 60). Only then will the hard soil be plowed, the rock bed broken up, and the weeds removed, preparing the good soil to produce the fruit of salvation.