The passage doesn't say they 'didn't really believe'. OSAS has taught the church to instantly interpret soil #2 as the person who never 'really' believed. I just go with what Jesus said: "they believe for a while" (Luke 8:13 NASB). Soil #2 believed for a while. That's what it says.
I'm not saying they did not believe anything at all, yet not ALL belief is the same.
In James 2:19, we see that the demons "believe" (pisteuo) that "there is one God" but they do not "believe" (pisteuo) on the Lord Jesus Christ and are not saved (Acts 16:31). The word "believe" (pisteuo) can describe saving belief in Christ or a belief which falls short of consummated saving belief in Christ which results in salvation.
In Acts 8:13, we read that Simon "believed," but the remainder of the verse hints at the true object of his faith, "the miracles and signs which were done". Later, Simon gives himself away when he offers to buy the Holy Spirit with money (vs. 18-19), and in verses 20-23, Peter denounces Simon, showing that Simon's "belief" was NOT genuine saving belief:
Acts 8:20 - But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 8:21 You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 22 Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.
Simon may have believed certain things about Jesus to be true, but the object of his faith was in power to do miracles, rather than in Christ's finished work of redemption. By becoming a so-called follower of Jesus, Simon hoped to obtain the same ability to perform wonders.
He did include that scenario. That's soil #3...
"22“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. " (Matthew 13:22 NASB)
In regards to the thorny soil, the word was choked out before reaching it's desired goal, making it
[unfruitful]. TNT
The word is choked and therefore does not produce a renewed spiritual life in the person; "the anxieties of the age and the pleasures of wealth chokes the message. The worries of life and the delusions of wealth have the effect of stifling the word/gospel, such that the person
does not bear the fruit of salvation. Rieu
A.T. Robertson comments - Who has not seen the promise of fair flower and fruit choked into yellow
withered stalk without fruit "as they go on their way" (poreuomenoi).
Bring no fruit to perfection (outelesporousin). In contrast, we read in Matthew 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." If the seed that fell on the thorny ground produced fruit, where is it? Only the 4th soil produced crops of any size.
Neither the stony ground hearer or the thorny ground produced fruit. Put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives
no fruit (Bible in Basic English). The potential to eventually become established and produce fruit was there, but the word was
choked out before reaching it's desired goal.
It (the seed, the word) became unfruitful
(produces nothing, proves unfruitful, does not produce fruit, yields nothing), because the growth of the word was choked. In the Complete Jewish Bible we read, Now the seed sown among thorns stands for someone who hears the message, but it is choked by the worries of the world and the deceitful glamor of wealth, so that it
produces nothing. Nothing amounts to nothing and nothing was mentioned about it ever producing something. In both cases, faith without works is dead.
Correct. There is no mention of choking or withering in soil #4. It's good soil, that's why it's that way. If soil #4 doesn't keep his 'garden' weeded, his soil will become as soil #3 in which those weeds "choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful." (Matthew 13:22 NASB).
Like I said, there is mention of a difference in the size of the crops, but no consequences or warnings are given to the lesser producers and there are also no warnings about keeping the garden weeded for the 4th soil. Only the 4th soil was referred to as
"good ground" and produced a crop (fruit) and there is
NO MENTION OF CHOKING OR WITHERING THEREAFTER.
