Parables of confusion
The table below compares how various Bible teachers, theologians and pastors interpret the parables of Matthew 13. The one thing they all have in common is that they use a hermeneutic which is descended from Augustine, using Greek logic on a Hebrew text. (Yes. it was written in Greek, but taught by Hebrews who thought like Hebrews.) Not much else matches up. These men all oppose the use of free-for-all allegory, but they all use it.
Table borrowed from "Collective meaning and specific, prophetic reference in the parables of Matthew 13" by Jacob Jan Scholtz, Stellenbosch University [1]
| Author | Sower | Tares | Mustard | Leaven | Treasure & Pearl | Dragnet | Householder |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey | God sows through John and Jesus. Word of the kingdom includes gospel of the kingdom. | Field is never called the Church. | Mustard seed proverbial for great growth of kingdom. In OT trees are an image of great kingdoms with worldwide impact. Birds of air may symbolise Gentiles. No referent for man or field. | Woman refers to Holy Spirit; leavening process is a good effect of permeation. No referent for three measures of flour. | Man is disciple acting; treasure and pearl are value of the kingdom; buying and selling are personal sacrifice of disciple. | Different kinds of fish suggest different nationalities. Son of Man supervising “fishing” process. Church not in view, has been raptured. “Good” are those saved during the Tribulation. | All these things refer to the previous parables of the kingdom. Treasure is truth entrusted to scribal disciple. “New” refers to present mysterious phase of kingdom; “old” is OT prophesies to Israel. Scribal disciples are householders. |
| Barbieri | Word of the kingdom is gospel of the kingdom preached by John, Jesus and disciples. | Field is world. | Sphere of professing followers would grow into a large entity. No referent for man, tree or field. | No referent for woman, leaven or three measures of meal. | Man is Christ, Israel is God's treasured possession and Church is the pearl. Christ redeems at cross. | Timing at the end of the age. | Jesus performs function of householder. |
| Blomberg | God is primary sower; derivatively, Jesus and disciples are also. Preaching of God’s reign. | Field is world, not Church. Servants are props for the story. | No referent for man, mustard seed or field. Birds of the air may refer to predominantly Gentile peoples | No referent for woman, leaven or three measures of flour. | Man stands for anyone who becomes child of the kingdom. Treasure and pearl refer to kingdom of God which is so valuable that it is worth sacrificing anything to gain it. No referent for “joy” or hiding treasure. | Net a symbol for God's ingathering of all people at end of age. “Every kind” of fish stands for different nationalities. All actions at time of final sorting; “final judgment”. | Continuity between old and new covenants. |
| Calvin *added | Literalistic - Kingdom gets larger | ||||||
| Carson | Word of kingdom compared with gospel of the kingdom. | Good seed cannot be a message, must be people. Field is the world, not the Church, and this confirms a mission beyond Israel. | No referent for man, mustard seed or field. Mustard seed a metaphor for small beginning. | No referent for woman, leaven or three measures of flour. Mustard seed/plant suggests extensive growth, yeast suggests intensive transformation. | Treasure and pearl are supreme worth of the kingdom for which disciple makes sacrifices. | Situation at end when Last Judgment takes place. Not about missionary activities of Church. | “All these things” include parables and mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Treasure is the heart. “Old” is OT promises about Messiah and kingdom plus OT law and piety. “New” is fulfilment in Jesus’ Person, teaching and kingdom. Scribes likened to householders. |
| Davies and Allison | Broader Matthean context, as well as 13:37, encourages one to think Jesus is the sower. Word of the kingdom seems to mean “the preaching of the kingdom”. | Field is the world, not the Church. | No referent for man, mustard seed or field. Did Matthew think of the birds of the air as standing for Gentiles? One guesses that he did. | No referent for the woman, leaven or three measures of flour. Three measures suggest a feast, a banquet. | Believers are to find the kingdom and give all to obtain it, with the treasure and the pearl to be identified with the kingdom. | “Of all kinds” underlines universality of judgment. | Comparative proverb, not a parable; v. 51 looks back on entire chapter; scribes may be entrusted with eschatological secrets. |
| Dodd | Any Christian preacher is a sower. | Good and bad members of the Church (the Kingdom of the Son of Man). | Tree is a symbol for a great empire offering political protection to its subject-states. Process of obscure development is at an end. The Kingdom of God is here: birds are flocking to find shelter in shade of tree. | Completion of process of fermentation; ministry of Jesus is compared to wholesome influence of leaven. | Believer must throw caution to the wind and possess Kingdom of God, that is, the treasure and the pearl, are the highest good. | Fishing a metaphor for work of Jesus and his disciples. Indiscriminate catch | Dodd does not deal with this parable. |
| Ellisen | Jesus is the sower. | Implicitly links parable to great commission. | No referent for man, mustard seed, field, tree or birds. Focus on growth. | Woman implicitly identified as the Holy Spirit. Leavening process during Church age. No referent for three measures of flour. | No sacrifice or effort too great to obtain the kingdom (treasure and pearl) because its value is so great. No referent to field or hiding of treasure. | The net is the gospel which should reach all races. | Things new refer to the new kingdom programme as much as the religious leaders, whom the new scribes of the kingdom |
| France | Sower probably in the first instance Jesus. Word of the kingdom is the message Jesus has been proclaiming since 4:17. | Field is the world, not Church. | No referent for man, mustard seed, field. Tree may refer to great empire. Birds of heaven may be symbolic of all the nations. | No referent for woman, leaven or flour. | Disciples’ enthusiastic and wholehearted commitment to the kingdom of heaven, even sacrificing for it. | Angels are the fishermen. | Scribes are authorised teachers of the kingdom of heaven. “New” things refer to secrets of the kingdom and the “old” refers to 5:17. |
| Hagner | Sower is probably Jesus and word of the kingdom is the equivalent of the gospel of the kingdom. | Servants may be disciples. Field as the world points to the worldwide mission of the Church in the spread of the gospel. | No referents given. | No referents given. | For the disciple, the kingdom is worth everything (treasure and pearl the equivalent of the kingdom). | Universal invitation. Church involved in mission. | “All these things” concern the preceding parables of the kingdom. Scribe likened to householder and is trained in the mysteries of the kingdom. New and old are about relation of Torah to genuine new reality of the kingdom of God, the mysteries concerning the purposes of God. |
| Hunter | The parable reflects Jesus’ own experience of preaching the gospel of the kingdom. | If the Kingdom of God is really here, why has there not been a separating of sinners from saints in Israel? | Tree a symbol for world-wide empire embracing all peoples. Birds of the air a rabbinic name for the Gentiles. No referent for man, mustard seed or his field. | Vastness of dough shows what the sovereign power of God in action can do. No referents for man, leaven or three measures of flour | Treasure and pearl are the kingdom, if not also Christ, for to follow Christ is to be in the kingdom. | Emphasises fish of every kind. Fishers of men not be selective in where they go. | Scribe will be able to wed the wisdoms of the Old Order to the truths of the New. |
| Jeremias | Yield of the harvest symbolises eschatological overflowing of divine fullness. God brings forth triumphant end. | Concerned with final judgment. Patience required until the harvest. | Tree symbolises world power. “Birds of the air” is an eschatological technical term for the incorporation of the Gentiles into the people of God. | Since no housewife would bake bread using so vast a quantity of flour, we have to do with divine realities. | Not about complete self-surrender, but rather an experience of the splendour of the discovery that all else seems valueless compared to surpassing worth of joyful news of the kingdom. | Eschatologically concerned with final judgment. | “Old” are the things he had previously learnt, and the “new” his newly acquired knowledge. |
| Kingsbury | Sower is Jesus and the word of the kingdom is the (Church’s) total message regarding Jesus. | Field is the people of Israel and yet a universal field of operations is in view. Seed alludes to the Word. | Field alludes to Israel. Man that sowed refers to Jesus. Tree a picture of a mighty empire and birds of the air is a veiled reference to Gentiles. | Leaven viewed positively, no referent for woman, leaven or three measures of flour. | The disciple totally commits to God’s kingly rule. | Parable restricted to the righteous as opposed to evil in the Church. Sea symbolises the world or the nations of the world. Every kind of fish refers to all nations; “it was full” interpreted as End of the age. | Christian is master of the house. Treasure is the heart. New and old a circumlocution for totality of revelation that God has given disciples through Jesus. |
| Kistemaker | Sow could mean teach. | Field belongs to Jesus. | Mustard seed is effectively the message of salvation. Christianity has become a tree that provides shelter for people everywhere. | Kingdom reveals its power and presence like yeast in the world. No referent for woman, leaven or three measures of flour. | Treasure and pearl refer to Christ, and the man is the recent convert to Christianity. | Dragnet portrays separation of fish in terms of the present. | Apparently not viewed as a parable. |
| Lockyer | God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all Christians are sowers. The full Gospel is seed and in a sense the seed is Christ. | Christ claims ownership over the field. | The man is the Son of Man, the field is the world and the seed is that sown on Pentecost. Tree refers to ecclesiastical and religious-political systems and birds, of the air symbolise Satan and his evil forces. | When used figuratively, leaven always refers to sin or evil. The woman is the apostate church and the flour concerns fellowship. | The field is the world; the man is the Son of Man who not only is Creator but also Redeemer. Treasure may be the redeemed. Pearl is the Church. | The net is the gospel cast into the sea of all nations by disciples of Christ acting as missionaries. | “All these things” refer to previous seven parables as a whole in their interrelationship. Scribes receive authority from Christ to teach divine truth about the kingdom during this age. Christ is Chief Scribe; treasure is the heart of the scribe. Old and new is the Law and the Gospel. Mysteries of the kingdom include prophecies of the old with added new significance. |
| Luz | Word of the kingdom corresponds to the gospel of the kingdom and means the earthly Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom. | Field is the world, not the Church. Jesus announces a universal claim for his message. The already existing reign of Christ over heaven and earth made visible through his disciples (28:16-20) | In light of previous parable, the person who sows is understood as the Son of Man and the field as the world. Birds of the air may conceivably be Gentiles. | Implicitly identifies the woman as the Church which is to leaven the world by uncovering the hiddenness of truth. The Church has something to do with the mustard seed sown by the Son of Man and with the leaven that is leavening. | Human action underscored in view of the opportunity presented by the kingdom of heaven. Warning against riches. | Connects the mission with the Church. No time factor in this parable as there is in tares of the field. Last judgment scene. | Understanding is part of bearing fruit. New is the gospel of the kingdom and old the traditional task of the scribe. Continuity between old and new. |
| MacArthur * | Litaeralist BUT birds represent Gentiles | ||||||
| Nolland | Word of the kingdom refers to gospel of the kingdom and Jesus is the sower. | Field is the world. | Jesus must be the sower. No other referents. | Woman’s action must correspond to what is happening in Jesus’ ministry. No specific referents. | Value to the individual of discovering the kingdom of heaven. | Filling of net plays somewhat analogous role to maturing of the crop. | Solid possession and proper use of the old are tied up with the gaining of the new in the treasure of the kingdom of heaven. |
| Snodgrass | Eschatological significance of Jesus’ preaching. | Field is the world, evidencing a universal perspective similar to the Church. | Mustard seed analogous to Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom. Seems to prefer no other referents. | No specific referents. | The value and joy of finding the kingdom. No specific referent for the field, man etc. | Division takes place immediately. Net, sea, shore, fisherman, vessels do not stand for anything. | Snodgrass does not deal with this parable. |
| Toussaint | Word of the kingdom received yields more revelation and understanding. | Sons of the kingdom sown into the world (13:38; 28:19-20) | Tree and birds can be connected to growth in number of those who will be heirs of the kingdom. | Leaven viewed as evil, no specific referents. | Treasure is Israel’s kingdom programme, and pearl is the Church. Man is Jesus Christ going to the cross. | Tribulation, with judgment of Israel and the nations in view. | New and old truths about the kingdom. |
| Turner | Jesus is the sower, and the word of the kingdom is the kingdom message (4:23; 9:35). | That field is the world implies the eventual global mission of the Church. | No specific referents. | No specific referents. | Sacrifice made by disciple when kingdom values are taken seriously. | Time of eschatological judgment. | “All these things” refer to growth of the kingdom despite mixed reception. New things are Jesus’ definitive teachings and “old” are Israel's Scriptures. |
| Walvoord | Introductory parable. Not all accept gospel. | Period before the return of Christ. | Number of true Christians and professing Christians will increase. | Leaven taken negatively as evil. | Jesus is the man who goes to the cross. Treasure is Israel and the pearl is the Church. | Time is the end of the age. | Treasure is house of truth. |
| Wenham | Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom. | Good and evil co-exist in the present and separated in the future. Field is the world. | No specific referents. | No specific referents. | Disciple gives all for the kingdom (treasure, pearl). | Mission is international in scope and views Church as containing good and bad fish. | Old refers to the fulfilment of Moses and the prophets. The new is Jesus and his message of the kingdom. |
| Wiersbe | Seed is God's Word. | Field is the world. | Tree is a symbol of world power. Birds taken as negative. | Leaven taken as negative, as false doctrine and false living. | Treasure is the nation of Israel. Pearl is the Church. The man is Christ going to the cross. | Separation at end of the age during Great Tribulation. | Scribe emphasises learning; disciple focuses on living. |
