Parable of the Tares
by Joy Basham, BibleSteak Contributor
Reference passage: Matthew 13:24-30; 13:36-43
Jesus, having just explained to His disciples in the parable of the Sower of the Seed that people respond differently to the Gospel, then tells another important message about the Kingdom of God in the parable of the Tares. In Matthew 13:26 it reads that His disciples are not clear on what this parable means and asks Him to explain the meaning to them.
So let's look verse by verse at Jesus' explanation of this parable and why it is important. Matthew 13:37-43 Jesus gives us His explanation.
Verse 37 - "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man"
The Sower is the Son of Man - a description Jesus used for Himself. He's not denying He is the Son of God, but emphasizes that He is also a human being, having been born with human flesh in order to die in our place for our sins!
Verse 38 - "The field is the world".
The Field, Jesus says, is the World. Here is where commentaries differ on the interpretation of "the field". Some say the field is the condition of the church. Noting that there are both true believers (the wheat) and false professors (the weeds) in both the church at large and individual local churches. And that we can't know for sure who the true Christians are until the end of time.
While this may be true, Jesus does not say the field is the church, but He says it is the world (v. 38). The greek word for world is Kosmos. It is the same Greek word used in Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world" and Matthew 13:35 "since the creation of the world." We know in both of those verses Jesus is not referring to the church, so we should not assume it means the church in this verse.
Another reason some feel the field can't be the church, is because the Bible clearly teaches church discipline. We see this taught in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 and also in Titus 3:10. If the field were the church it would contradict these verses in scripture. Jesus clearly tells us that the field is not the church, but the entire world, which would also include the church.
Verse 38 - "the good seed, these are the children of the kingdom"
In the parable of the sower, the seed was the Word of God. However, in this parable, it represents the people who obey the Word of God. Those who believe in Jesus and obey His word Jesus calls the children of His Kingdom! Jesus tells us in John 14:23 that we are the children of His Kingdom spiritually now, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." But one day literally - "I go to prepare a place for you... And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:2-3
Verse 38 - Jesus says, "the darnel (Tares) are the children of the evil one"
In this parable, Jesus teaches us that, spiritually, people are divided into two groups, sons of good (God) and sons of evil (Devil).
No one can say they are neither; nor are there "half weed, half wheat" combinations. You are either one or the other. 1 John 5:12 "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." If you reject Jesus, then Jesus says "your father is the devil". John 8:42-44 Jesus says, "If God were your Father, you would love me... (but because they rejected Jesus He states) ... You belong to your father, the devil." The tares are those who reject Jesus. They are not saved; Jesus calls them children of the devil.
Verse 39 - "The enemy who sowed them is the devil."
Jesus isn't the only one sowing seeds - the devil is also sowing seeds. But while Jesus sows truth, the devil sows lies. The devil is the enemy of Christ and is trying to sabotage Christ's work by tricking people to believe his lies, who in turn teach others in the world to believe the lies.
In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter warns about us about the enemy. He says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Today he is still prowling, looking for someone to devour. You will find him on our college campuses - spreading his lies through vain philosophies; you will find him in the media - spreading his lies about material possessions and sexual immorality. Telling us there are no consequences to the choices we make. Jeremiah 23:16-17 describes those who do this saying, "and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'" And you will find him in false religions - who teach lies about who Jesus is.
In fact Paul addresses this problem in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 and 11:13-15; "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
So why don't we just destroy these people who are trying to sabotage Christ's work? The servants in this parable asked the same question.
Verse 28 - "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'"
Let's look at Jesus response.
Verse 29 - "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.'"
Jesus made it clear that we are not to pursue such people in an effort to destroy them. Why? Because it is not always easy to distinguish between the two. Jesus refers to these as "darnel", a weed which looks exactly like wheat in its young stages. In fact, only the experts can distinguish some species of this darnel from true wheat. Jesus is saying, you might think they are unbelievers, but in reality they may be immature Christians who are still learning and growing in their faith.
Also, when men take on the responsibility of separating true believers from false, a task reserved for God alone, look in history what happens. The Spanish Inquisition - one of the most deadly inquisitions in history - they killed over 2,000 Spaniards to try to root out non-believers from the nation of Spain and religion of Catholicism. The reign of "Bloody Mary" in England saw hundreds of Protestants burned at the stake as heretics. In the Crusades, hundreds of thousands were killed for the sake of uprooting unbelievers.
Instead of rooting out false believers out of the world, and possibly hurting immature believers in the process, Christ allows them to remain until His return. At that time, angels will separate the true from the false believers.
Verse 39 - "The harvest is the end of the age". Just as a crop grows until the harvest, so the world will go on through the ages - good and evil, side by side, until God declares that harvest time has come. Then, the reapers will take a sickle to the field, removing the tares and gathering the wheat. One day we will live in heaven where there will be no "weeds" among the "wheat".
Verse 39 - "and the reapers are angels." No man (other than Jesus) uproots the weeds. That is a task for angels who can be trusted to do it right. And that's the main point of this parable - God is the one who will judge, for He alone is the one able to judge men's hearts.
Verse 40,41 - "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will gather the sons of evil to cast them aside for destruction."
These sons of evil are not just those who obviously do evil, but even those who think they have the right to be there for reasons other than their faith in Jesus Christ.
For example, the Jewish people feel they have the right because they are Abraham's descendents. However, John said in Luke 3:8-9 "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
It includes people who think they are "good people". They have never killed anyone, or stolen anything. But in the book of Ephesians, God makes it clear that we are not saved by anything good we could do. It is by God's gracious gift of His Son that we are able to enter His kingdom. Eph 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
Other people might feel that "all roads lead to heaven," and they will have the right to be there, despite the fact that their road might be different than the one the Bible tell us. However, Jesus makes it clear there is only one way to heaven. In John 14:6, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
Jesus also says that those who think they can enter by any other way than through Him will be cast out of the kingdom. Matthew 8:11-12 "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Verses 42,43 - The Lord's Warning is very clear. "He who has ears, let him hear." Be ready for that day to come. For there will be a day when both the living and the dead will be judged.
In conclusion, I do not believe this parable is about church discipline of a brother who openly sins, for 2 Cor 5:11-13 and Titus 3:10 make it clear that it is the church's responsibility to judge and expel those from the body that are openly sinning.
It's also not about government exercising the right to punish criminals to maintain peace. Romans clearly teaches that government is established by God for this purpose - Rom 13:4-7 - "for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."
It's ultimately about judging a person's soul, and acting as judge, jury and verdict! Only God has the authority to do that! Romans 2:16 - "This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares." John 12:48 - "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
Reference passage: Matthew 13:24-30; 13:36-43
Jesus, having just explained to His disciples in the parable of the Sower of the Seed that people respond differently to the Gospel, then tells another important message about the Kingdom of God in the parable of the Tares. In Matthew 13:26 it reads that His disciples are not clear on what this parable means and asks Him to explain the meaning to them.
So let's look verse by verse at Jesus' explanation of this parable and why it is important. Matthew 13:37-43 Jesus gives us His explanation.
Verse 37 - "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man"
The Sower is the Son of Man - a description Jesus used for Himself. He's not denying He is the Son of God, but emphasizes that He is also a human being, having been born with human flesh in order to die in our place for our sins!
Verse 38 - "The field is the world".
The Field, Jesus says, is the World. Here is where commentaries differ on the interpretation of "the field". Some say the field is the condition of the church. Noting that there are both true believers (the wheat) and false professors (the weeds) in both the church at large and individual local churches. And that we can't know for sure who the true Christians are until the end of time.
While this may be true, Jesus does not say the field is the church, but He says it is the world (v. 38). The greek word for world is Kosmos. It is the same Greek word used in Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world" and Matthew 13:35 "since the creation of the world." We know in both of those verses Jesus is not referring to the church, so we should not assume it means the church in this verse.
Another reason some feel the field can't be the church, is because the Bible clearly teaches church discipline. We see this taught in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 and also in Titus 3:10. If the field were the church it would contradict these verses in scripture. Jesus clearly tells us that the field is not the church, but the entire world, which would also include the church.
Verse 38 - "the good seed, these are the children of the kingdom"
In the parable of the sower, the seed was the Word of God. However, in this parable, it represents the people who obey the Word of God. Those who believe in Jesus and obey His word Jesus calls the children of His Kingdom! Jesus tells us in John 14:23 that we are the children of His Kingdom spiritually now, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." But one day literally - "I go to prepare a place for you... And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." John 14:2-3
Verse 38 - Jesus says, "the darnel (Tares) are the children of the evil one"
In this parable, Jesus teaches us that, spiritually, people are divided into two groups, sons of good (God) and sons of evil (Devil).
No one can say they are neither; nor are there "half weed, half wheat" combinations. You are either one or the other. 1 John 5:12 "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." If you reject Jesus, then Jesus says "your father is the devil". John 8:42-44 Jesus says, "If God were your Father, you would love me... (but because they rejected Jesus He states) ... You belong to your father, the devil." The tares are those who reject Jesus. They are not saved; Jesus calls them children of the devil.
Verse 39 - "The enemy who sowed them is the devil."
Jesus isn't the only one sowing seeds - the devil is also sowing seeds. But while Jesus sows truth, the devil sows lies. The devil is the enemy of Christ and is trying to sabotage Christ's work by tricking people to believe his lies, who in turn teach others in the world to believe the lies.
In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter warns about us about the enemy. He says, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Today he is still prowling, looking for someone to devour. You will find him on our college campuses - spreading his lies through vain philosophies; you will find him in the media - spreading his lies about material possessions and sexual immorality. Telling us there are no consequences to the choices we make. Jeremiah 23:16-17 describes those who do this saying, "and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.'" And you will find him in false religions - who teach lies about who Jesus is.
In fact Paul addresses this problem in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 and 11:13-15; "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
So why don't we just destroy these people who are trying to sabotage Christ's work? The servants in this parable asked the same question.
Verse 28 - "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'"
Let's look at Jesus response.
Verse 29 - "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.'"
Jesus made it clear that we are not to pursue such people in an effort to destroy them. Why? Because it is not always easy to distinguish between the two. Jesus refers to these as "darnel", a weed which looks exactly like wheat in its young stages. In fact, only the experts can distinguish some species of this darnel from true wheat. Jesus is saying, you might think they are unbelievers, but in reality they may be immature Christians who are still learning and growing in their faith.
Also, when men take on the responsibility of separating true believers from false, a task reserved for God alone, look in history what happens. The Spanish Inquisition - one of the most deadly inquisitions in history - they killed over 2,000 Spaniards to try to root out non-believers from the nation of Spain and religion of Catholicism. The reign of "Bloody Mary" in England saw hundreds of Protestants burned at the stake as heretics. In the Crusades, hundreds of thousands were killed for the sake of uprooting unbelievers.
Instead of rooting out false believers out of the world, and possibly hurting immature believers in the process, Christ allows them to remain until His return. At that time, angels will separate the true from the false believers.
Verse 39 - "The harvest is the end of the age". Just as a crop grows until the harvest, so the world will go on through the ages - good and evil, side by side, until God declares that harvest time has come. Then, the reapers will take a sickle to the field, removing the tares and gathering the wheat. One day we will live in heaven where there will be no "weeds" among the "wheat".
Verse 39 - "and the reapers are angels." No man (other than Jesus) uproots the weeds. That is a task for angels who can be trusted to do it right. And that's the main point of this parable - God is the one who will judge, for He alone is the one able to judge men's hearts.
Verse 40,41 - "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will gather the sons of evil to cast them aside for destruction."
These sons of evil are not just those who obviously do evil, but even those who think they have the right to be there for reasons other than their faith in Jesus Christ.
For example, the Jewish people feel they have the right because they are Abraham's descendents. However, John said in Luke 3:8-9 "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
It includes people who think they are "good people". They have never killed anyone, or stolen anything. But in the book of Ephesians, God makes it clear that we are not saved by anything good we could do. It is by God's gracious gift of His Son that we are able to enter His kingdom. Eph 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."
Other people might feel that "all roads lead to heaven," and they will have the right to be there, despite the fact that their road might be different than the one the Bible tell us. However, Jesus makes it clear there is only one way to heaven. In John 14:6, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
Jesus also says that those who think they can enter by any other way than through Him will be cast out of the kingdom. Matthew 8:11-12 "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Verses 42,43 - The Lord's Warning is very clear. "He who has ears, let him hear." Be ready for that day to come. For there will be a day when both the living and the dead will be judged.
In conclusion, I do not believe this parable is about church discipline of a brother who openly sins, for 2 Cor 5:11-13 and Titus 3:10 make it clear that it is the church's responsibility to judge and expel those from the body that are openly sinning.
It's also not about government exercising the right to punish criminals to maintain peace. Romans clearly teaches that government is established by God for this purpose - Rom 13:4-7 - "for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer."
It's ultimately about judging a person's soul, and acting as judge, jury and verdict! Only God has the authority to do that! Romans 2:16 - "This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares." John 12:48 - "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.