Revisiting the doctrine of parables:
After telling the Parable of the Sower/Soils, Jesus told his disciples that knowledge of the secrets of the KOH was given to them, but not to others, citing Isa. 6:9-10, which says in part, “you will be ever seeing but never perceiving, for this people’s heart has become calloused… Otherwise they might… turn, and I would heal them.” A person might interpret what Jesus said regarding the secrets to mean that he wanted them to remain unknown except by his disciples, but a few verses later (in Matt. 13:34) say that Jesus spoke in parables in order to fulfill “what was spoken through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world”, which implies that he wants to share the secrets with the people.
Thus, unless these statements (Matt. 13:10-17 & 13:34-35) can be harmonized, one must choose between two contradictory interpretations: 1. Jesus purposefully hid knowledge from some while revealing it to others according to His will, or 2. Jesus allowed souls to reject saving knowledge or to accept it and be his disciples. Deciding which understanding to adopt necessitates considering the other parables of Jesus in order to provide context.
The Parable of the Weeds concludes with Jesus saying, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." The mention of Judgment and the opposite destinies of happiness or hell indicates that Jesus employed parables as a means of pre-sifting souls by showing who would understand/believe or not. Some people opine that God/Jesus causes people to believe or not, but notice that in Matt. 13:10-15 Jesus did NOT say that he prevents people from becoming his disciples or that he causes people's hearts to be calloused, so let us be careful not to pre-sift ourselves by projecting our own hatred onto the all-loving Christ.
Understanding God/Christ to be all-loving is gained by searching the Scriptures for insight rather than implicitly accusing Jesus of hating his enemies, which borders on blasphemy against the loving Holy Spirit. The omnilove of Jesus is indicated by such Scriptures MT 23:37, in which Jesus lamented over Jerusalem’s lack of repentance or rejection of his preaching (cf. Matt. 22:39, John 3:16, Rom. 5:6-8, 1Tim. 2:3-4). Thus, the doctrine of parables is related to the doctrine of election. Notice that Jesus explained the Parable of the Sower/Soils in plain language, and that passage containing the Parable of the Tenants indicated his enemies understood he was being critical of them for rejecting him as Messiah (cf. John 8:42-44).
After telling the Parable of the Sower/Soils, Jesus told his disciples that knowledge of the secrets of the KOH was given to them, but not to others, citing Isa. 6:9-10, which says in part, “you will be ever seeing but never perceiving, for this people’s heart has become calloused… Otherwise they might… turn, and I would heal them.” A person might interpret what Jesus said regarding the secrets to mean that he wanted them to remain unknown except by his disciples, but a few verses later (in Matt. 13:34) say that Jesus spoke in parables in order to fulfill “what was spoken through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world”, which implies that he wants to share the secrets with the people.
Thus, unless these statements (Matt. 13:10-17 & 13:34-35) can be harmonized, one must choose between two contradictory interpretations: 1. Jesus purposefully hid knowledge from some while revealing it to others according to His will, or 2. Jesus allowed souls to reject saving knowledge or to accept it and be his disciples. Deciding which understanding to adopt necessitates considering the other parables of Jesus in order to provide context.
The Parable of the Weeds concludes with Jesus saying, "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." The mention of Judgment and the opposite destinies of happiness or hell indicates that Jesus employed parables as a means of pre-sifting souls by showing who would understand/believe or not. Some people opine that God/Jesus causes people to believe or not, but notice that in Matt. 13:10-15 Jesus did NOT say that he prevents people from becoming his disciples or that he causes people's hearts to be calloused, so let us be careful not to pre-sift ourselves by projecting our own hatred onto the all-loving Christ.
Understanding God/Christ to be all-loving is gained by searching the Scriptures for insight rather than implicitly accusing Jesus of hating his enemies, which borders on blasphemy against the loving Holy Spirit. The omnilove of Jesus is indicated by such Scriptures MT 23:37, in which Jesus lamented over Jerusalem’s lack of repentance or rejection of his preaching (cf. Matt. 22:39, John 3:16, Rom. 5:6-8, 1Tim. 2:3-4). Thus, the doctrine of parables is related to the doctrine of election. Notice that Jesus explained the Parable of the Sower/Soils in plain language, and that passage containing the Parable of the Tenants indicated his enemies understood he was being critical of them for rejecting him as Messiah (cf. John 8:42-44).