Matthew 13:38 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 13:38

Comments

‘The field is the world.’ This sentence should have been given more attention by interpreters, for many understand the parable as if Christ had said, ‘The field is the church’, but he is quite clear. Even before Calvary he stated that it was the church that he came to build (Matthew 16:17), as distinct from the world. In cases of discipline, appeal should be made to the church not the world (Matthew 18:17). The very name ‘church’, coming from the Greek meaning those who are called out, indicates that the church is separate from the world. Christ explicitly told his disciples that they were ‘not of the world’ (John 15:19; 17:14), even as he is not of the world (John 17:16). To make the mistake of confusing the church and the world is therefore a serious error with serious consequences. What is characteristic of the New Testament church as distinct from Old Testament Israel is that it is composed of those who have been personally called by God (Ephesians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Timothy 1:9). Unlike God’s typical people of old, they are a regenerate people, every one of whom has been born again (1 Peter 1:23). They do not enter the kingdom by natural birth but by the new birth (John 1:13; 3:5-6). Therefore they do not evangelise among their own number, as did the Israel of old, but they assume that every one of their number knows the Lord (Hebrews 8:11). Where the nature of the church is not understood, and where the church and the state are joined together, it is not surprising that this error arises. Those who minister to a church which consists of all people in a geographic area, as opposed to those who are converted, are bound to want to interpret the field as the church, for their parish is the church. That parish will inevitably contain a mixture of believers and unbelievers. One error leads to another.

Application

Those who love the Lord must submit to his superior wisdom in not immediately removing the tares from this world. God has a reason for allowing evil to continue for a time, and he will bring great good out of it. We do not need to know what that reason is in detail, though we can say some things about it, but it is a sufficient theodicy to say that God has a morally sufficient reason for allowing evil to exist in the world for a time. Certainly, evil must not triumph, neither can it be allowed to continue forever. It is not out of weakness that God allows it to continue at present, but because he will bring greater good from it. This is not a matter of the ends justifying the means, for evil is never to be attributed to God – he cannot do evil, neither can he be tempted by evil. Evil is carried out by evil agents who act contrary to God’s commandment, and who alone bear responsibility for what they do.

Questions

Broadus says that this error came about by ‘confounding the kingdom of heaven … with what is popularly called “the visible church,” i.e., the totality of professed believers.’ To reach this conclusion, the interpreter must already have misunderstood the nature of the New Testament church and seen it as no different to the mixed multitude of Old Testament times. Broadus records the following debate between Augustine and the Donatists. Augustine, in writing against the Donatists (who excommunicated members from their churches, following lapses during times of persecution) appealed to this parable to assert that good and evil persons must dwell together in the church. The Donatists replied that the field is the church not the world, but Augustine would say that the world here means the church. The Donatists said that the world is always used in a bad sense, but he replied with 2 Corinthians 5:9: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself”; “and assuredly” (says Augustine), “God reconciles to himself nothing but the church.” That, of course, is to confuse man’s natural state in the world before reconciliation, with his new state in the church after he has been reconciled to God. He is brought out of one kingdom and placed in another. The purpose of the parable is as Broadus says, not to teach that evidently unconverted people may remain in the church, but that God’s purpose is not to prevent evil existing in the world until the final judgment.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Matthew 13:38 Commentary and Bible Study