Essay, Part I, Efficacy of the Word
"For let me tell you this, even though you know it perfectly and be already master in all things, still you are daily in the dominion of the devil, who ceases neither day nor night to steal unawares upon you, to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against the foregoing and all the commandments. Therefore you must always have God's Word in your heart, upon your lips, and in your ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, such is the efficacy of the Word, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, that it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and produces a pure heart and pure thoughts. For these words are not inoperative or dead, but creative, living words." The Large Catechism, #100, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 609. Tappert, p. 378f. Heiser, p. 175f.
Efficacy is the most neglected characteristic of God’s Word today, although it was central to Luther, the Concordists, the orthodox Lutherans of Europe, and the General Council in America. The efficacy of the Word was defined by WELS theologian Adolph Hoenecke: “The Word never without the Spirit, the Spirit never without the Word – that is sound doctrine.” Encapsulating the Scriptures and Confessions, that plain and simple formula means God Word and Spirit cannot be divorced from each other. If God’s Word is taught in its purity, without the adulteration of man’s wisdom, that Word will have its effect, whether to save or damn, illuminate or darken, convert or harden. Moreover, the timing of God’s work and will is not ours to judge. The efficacy of the Word is the point of contention in discussing the topic of justification. Enthusiasm—separating the Holy Spirit from the Word—lies behind every error in teaching justification, whether that error is advanced by Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, or synodical Lutherans. [A synodical Lutheran honors and protects the visible church, the synod. A confessional Lutheran values the Scriptures and Confessions above all.]
Starting a book with the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures would allow many points of agreement with traditional Protestants and with Rome. Evangelicals are keen to sponsor inerrancy conferences. My wife and I attended one in Chicago, where Robert Preus and Kurt Marquart were in attendance. One of the best descriptions of the Scriptures is from Pope Pius XII – “The Scriptures are like Christ, having a divine and a human nature, but without error.” (Paraphrased from memory. Cited in Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.) Tragically, Lutherans have been far too eager to concentrate on points of agreement rather than areas of discord. Abusing and neglecting the efficacy of the Word has made it easy for synodical Lutherans to engage in unionistic efforts without pangs of conscience. Compromise unites, while doctrine divides – the sheep from the goats.
The doctrine of Creation embarrasses synodical Lutherans because they must believe, teach, and confess the efficacy of the Word to allow Creation its rightful place. Modern Evangelicals, influenced by Harold Ockenga, are only too happy to surrender Creation to the theory of Evolution, that 19th century insight that gave us eugenics, genocide, and abortion. Roman Catholics can teach evolution with a good conscience because the Vatican has approved man’s ascent from apes (now revised as “descent” by the animal rights advocates). No one should be shocked that the “conservative” pastors who gladly embrace Church Growth are just as willing to abandon Creation:
"Don't let the world paint us into a corner of antiquarianism on subjects like a six-day creation or verbal inspiration." Rev. Paul Kelm, WELS, "How to Make Sound Doctrine Sound Good to Mission Prospects," p. 13.
"The evangelical believes that Christianity is intellectually defensible but the Christian cannot be obscurantist in scientific questions pertaining to the creation, the age of man, the universality of the flood and other moot Biblical questions." Rev. Harold J. Ockenga, 12-8-57, news release quoted in William E. Ashbrook, Evangelicalism, The New Neutralism, Columbus: Calvary Bible Church, 1963, p. 8.
"Thus, the Teaching of the Church leaves the doctrine of Evolution an open question, as long as it confines its speculations to the development, from other living matter already in existence, of the human body. (That souls are immediately created by God is a view which the Catholic faith imposes on us.) In the present state of scientific and theological opinion, this question may be legitimately canvassed by research, and by discussion between experts on both sides." Encyclical of Pius XII, Humani generis, August, 1950, #36. Cited in Remy Collin, Evolution, New York: Hawthorn Books, 1959, p. 117.
"Many Catholics hold what is known as 'moderate evolutionism,' that is, the theory that the human body evolved to a certain point from animals, and then God intervened directly and breathed into this living, animal body a human soul and so produced the first man and the first woman. Such a theory does not seem to be contrary to Catholic teaching, and Catholics are free to hold it." Kenneth Baker, S.J., Fundamentals of Catholicism, 3 vols., San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1982, II, p. 142.
Therefore, these leaders of compromise and retreat, Rome and Kelm and Ockenga, urge their disciples to look upon Creation as a burden, a terrible cross to bear. They are saying that we can make the revealed doctrine of God sound better if we process it, add sweeteners, and remove the splinters of the cross.
Synodical Lutherans will allow the doctrine of Creation to remain in the background, if no one insists on the Six-Day Creation. Are they embarrassed by God getting His work done in six 24-hour days, resting on the seventh? No, they are secretly scandalized by God working exclusively through the Word, because that Biblical doctrine denies them their glory, their agenda, their expensive programs of adulterating God’s Word. In short, the doctrine of Creation threatens their income and worldly honors, such as the Church Growth Hall of Shame.
Doctrine of Creation – Conversion – Efficacy
Before man existed, God fashioned the entire universe through the creating Word – the Son of God. When God spoke through the Logos (the Word), His will was immediately carried out, not in billions of years to allow for random events of infinite complexity. This issue is not antiquarian but essential to justification by faith.
KJV Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature [new creation].
KJV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [new creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
KJV Ephesians 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
KJV Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
KJV Colossians 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
The universe was created by the Word, and every believer is a new creation through the Word. But UOJ advocates would have us understand that God works without the Word in declaring the entire world absolved, free from sin, extending this Enthusiastic decree to the residents of Hell.
Christ unifies Creation and the new creation. The Fourth Gospel begins with phrases so simple that they serve well to introduce anyone to a new language. Each of the three clauses seems to be the ringing of a solemn bell—the Word, the Word, the Word—tolling the eternal Godhead of Christ Jesus, the foundation of the Christian faith, the cornerstone of the City of God.
A. In the beginning was the Word – The Incarnation, Virgin Birth, and Two Natures are implicit in the revelation of the pre-existence of Christ, five words in Greek, six in English. Jesus, the Word, has existed from the beginning, and therefore must be God. He is also man, having Two Natures, divine and human, in one person, Christ. Far from being absent in John’s Gospel, the Virgin Birth is assumed, since it is consistent with the Two Natures united in one person.
B. And the Word was with God – The Father/Son relationship, so clearly revealed in John’s Gospel, illuminates every passage of the Old Testament where God commands, speaks, and sends forth His Word. God speaks and the speaking is accomplished through the Word, the Son of God, co-equal in majesty.
C. And the Word was God – On the first day of Greek class, the slowest student, using a jimmy, can determine that all denials of the divinity of Christ are utterly rejected in a few words of child-like simplicity.
The Genesis commands, “and God said,” are the work of the Logos in John. The creating Word—He was in the beginning with God.
“The Holy Spirit never without the Word, the Word never without the Holy Spirit – that is sound doctrine.” – Adolph Hoenecke
Christians can claim that the Word is always effective and that the Holy Spirit always works exclusively through the Word. The classic Isaiah passage alone is enough to refute any attacks against this doctrine, but there are many other passages expressing the same unified truth in different words.
KJV Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
“The word does not return to God in vain, but rather accomplishes what He has desired and succeeds in that for which He has sent it. What is stressed is the utter efficaciousness of God’s word to accomplish the purpose for which He has sent it forth. In this particular context the element of blessing seems to predominate (cf. vv. 1-6); but the thought is not thus limited. Just as the word is efficacious for the salvation of believers, so also is it abundantly efficacious for condemning the wicked. ‘The word which I have spoken, that shall judge him at the last day’ (John 12:48; cf. also Jeremiah 23:29ff.; Romans 1:16).” Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 3 vols., Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972, III, p. 384.
No gardener or farmer can dispute the comparison between the Word of God and precipitation. In a desert region, snow and rain are even more significant in bringing results than anywhere else on earth. Many opportunistic plants wait for the rare burst of rain to complete their life cycles. Wherever we live, we are creatures of the soil, because no civilization can exist or thrive without abundant and healthy vegetation. For this we depend on rain and snow.
The net effect of precipitation is bread for eater and seed for the sower, but it begins with moisture for the ocean of life in the soil: the molds, bacteria, springtails, sowbugs, centipedes, millipedes, moles, voles, rodents, insects, and earthworms. The moisture enjoyed by one form of life nurtures the next higher stage of life, so that plant roots are not “growing in dirt,” as the unlettered often say, but expanding among a vast and unappreciated fraternity of God’s soil creatures. The rain and snow touch the plant’s surface and roots with effect, to unite the effects of water and minerals and humus and creatures. Miles of root hairs expand to use this moisture and transport the chemical abundance of rich, tended soil.
The Word of God is exactly like rain and snow. The three-fold results are revealed in perfect clarity:
1. It shall not return unto Me void,
2. But it shall accomplish that which I please,
3. And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
August Pieper
"Rain and snow, too, are God's, and it is He who sends them forth from His abode. They are His messengers, do His will and carry out His commands, and only because of His will do they have their wholesome effect. Just so does His Word go forth from His mouth as His herald, fulfilling the mission assigned to it by God. That mission is defined in verse 12. It is impossible that the Word should not fulfill its mission, for it is His creative, commanding Word, alive with His power. It is the Almighty God Himself in action, even as He performs His will in the rain and the snow. Romans 1:16; Hebrews 4:12f.; Jeremiah 23:29ff." August Pieper, Isaiah II, trans., E. Kowalke, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1979, p. 489.
It shall not return unto Me void.
The double-negative of the first clause provides the greatest possible emphasis on the absolute efficacy of the Word. Every time someone imagines or claims that faithfulness to the Word “is not having any result,” he is blaspheming God the Holy Spirit, Who teaches us otherwise. Having no result is simply impossible. Believers necessarily conclude from this verse alone that the Word never lacks the divine power of the Holy Spirit.
Here I must insert an anecdote about a WELS pastor I know, someone who retired from his congregation after being thoroughly abused by his synod for doubting the Reformed version of the Great Commission – “making disciples.” He told me he was a failure, perhaps because the meddling synod thugs tore his congregation apart. I asked him, “Have you ever baptized babies?” He had baptized many babies over the years. “Have you preached the Word faithfully.” He replied he had done his best to do that. “Have you offered Holy Communion to your members?” He agreed that he had. I asked, “How can you call yourself a failure? God’s Word never fails.”
Luther
"What business is it of mine that many do not esteem it? It must be that many are called but few are chosen. For the sake of the good ground that brings forth fruit with patience, the seed must also fall fruitless by the wayside, on the rock and among the thorns; inasmuch as we are assured that the Word of God does not go forth without bearing some fruit, but it always finds also good ground; as Christ says here, some seed of the sower falls also into good ground, and not only by the wayside, among the thorns and on stony ground. For wherever the Gospel goes you will find Christians. 'My Word shall not return unto me void.' Is. 55:11"
Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 118.
The example could be offered many times over in each synod. So great is the influence of Enthusiasm today that faithful Lutheran pastors feel crushed for not sharing in the adulation of adulterous ministers who adulterate the Word and enjoy a brief rush of material blessings.
But it shall accomplish that which I please,
Everyone seems to imagine that God wants exactly what corporations demand – a percentage increase for each year of business. Forgetting the miraculous expansion of the Christian Church in many eras, these junior ecclesiastical managers order God to deliver them 10% growth for the next three years and promise to pray hard and spend money to achieve these results.
In business meetings, these are called comps. In other words, a store measures its December 2010 earnings against its December 2009 income. They aim at store by store growth of 3% comps – at the very least. A store with bad comps is moved or closed. Those managers who deliver good comps are rewarded while those who do not increase their sales are set aside. However, business should not be confused with the Kingdom of God.
What God pleases must be measured by what is revealed in verse 8:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
We cannot advise God but we can see what is pleasing to Him by the results of preaching His Word faithfully. He is pleased to give us His cross, to allow no visible results for decades. For this reason, many begin to despise the Word and search for ways to bring about results which please the Old Adam. Those who adulterate the Word of God to suit themselves, in the name of growing the Church, miss the blessings that God alone can bring through His Word. No minister wants to be imprisoned for any cause, but John Bunyan spent much of his life in prison for preaching the Word, writing a series of best selling spiritual books, the most famous being The Pilgrim’s Progress. Doubtless he was encouraged by the example of an apostle, who also wrote from prison.
And it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
The last clause is the promise of this great, comforting, and inspirational verse. The verse is actually a three-fold promise, suggesting that the work of the Word is Trinitarian rather than anthropocentric. If the Word of God causes a riot, as it did with Paul, God is prospering it. If the Word divides the visible church and delivers mortal wounds to the Antichrist, as it did in the Reformation, this is God’s plan.
In the apostolic era, God’s Word brought a miraculous abundance followed by persecution. That persecution drove Christians from Jerusalem, providing a double blessing. One was escaping the utter destruction of the city in 70 AD. The other was the spread of the Gospel as believers traveled some of the 55,000 miles of paved Roman roads to find a peaceful harbor for their harried faith.
To paraphrase G. K. Chesterton, the efficacy of the Word has not been tried and found wanting. It has hardly been tried at all by the modern Lutherans. If the Lutherans remaining do not become serious about the Word and Confessions, nothing will be left as clergy and members flee to Rome, Constantinople, and Fuller – Enthusiasms more honest in their apostasy from the Scriptures.
Jesus taught in John 15:1-15 that we are fruitful only by our contact with the True Vine.
Luther on Management
"Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they asked; therefore, they also receive nothing." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 172. John 16:23-30.
"In like manner, St. Paul says that God's ability is thus proved, in that He does exceeding abundantly above and better than we ask or think. Ephesians 3:20. Therefore, we should know we are too finite to be able to name, picture or designate the time, place, way, measure and other circumstances for that which we ask of God. Let us leave that entirely to Him, and immovably and steadfastly believe that He will hear us." Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 179f. Fifth Sunday after Easter. Ephesians 3:20.
"If the world were willing to take advice from a simple, plain man--that is, our Lord God (who, after all, has some experience too and knows how to rule)--the best advice would be that in his office and sphere of jurisdiction everybody simply direct his thoughts and plans to carrying out honestly and doing in good faith what has been commanded him and that, whatever he does, he depend not on his own plans and thoughts but commit the care to God. Such a man would certainly find out in the end who does and accomplishes more, he who trusts God or he who would bring success to his cause through his own wisdom and thoughts or his own power and strength." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1151. Luke 5:1-11.
"For people come to the preaching of the Gospel as if they were honest pupils. But under this guise they are seeking nothing else but a full belly and their own benefit. They consider the Gospel an economic teaching, designed to teach one to eat and drink in plenty." What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, I, p. 304. John 6:26-27.
Efficacy and Comparisons with Nature
The Sower and the Seed
in Mark 4:3-9 (Luke 8:5; Matthew 13:3)
KJV Mark 4:3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mark 4:14-20 Explanation of the Parable
KJV Mark 4:14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. 18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Hove
"Christ compares the Word of God to a seed, to a grain of wheat sown in the ground. (Matthew 13:3-23) A seed possesses power and life in itself. Power and life belong to the properties of the seed. Power is not communicated to the seed only now and then, under certain circumstances, in peculiar cases. But the Word of God is an incorruptible seed, that is able to regenerate, a Word which liveth and abideth forever. (1 Peter 1:23)"
E. Hove, Christian Doctrine, Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1930, p. 27. Matthew 13:3-23; 1 Peter 1:23.
The Sower and the Seed is explained by Jesus Himself. In the Means of Grace chapter of Isaiah, the Word is compared to rain and snow, which invariably cause growth. In this comparison, the Word is similar to seed, full of potential growth. If God gave us only one illustration, or a few, we would have more than enough to consider. But our gracious Heavenly Father shows His abundance in providing many different ways for His Scriptures to illustrate the whole counsel of God.
The Seed
Seed is a marvel because it is a storehouse of life in a portable package. Seed will endure heat, cold, storage, travel, and perhaps many years of hardships before taking root and growing. Seed travels by wind, animal, and human transportation. Each seed has its own destiny programmed within its genetic structure. The vitality of seed is easy to appreciate when a few beans or peas are placed in a damp towel to germinate. The dry, rough seed swells with moisture at first, then sends both a root to drink water and absorb moisture, and a cotyledon (baby plant) to search for the rays of the sun.
J-208
1) "Preach you the Word and plant it home
To men who like or like it not,
The Word that shall endure and stand
When flowers and men shall be forgot.
2) We know how hard, O Lord, the task
Your servant bade us undertake:
To preach your Word and never ask
What prideful profit it may make.
3) The sower sows; his reckless love
Scatters abroad the goodly seed,
Intent alone that men may have
The wholesome loaves that all men need.
4) Though some be snatched and some be scorched
And some be chocked and matted flat,
The sower sows; his heart cries out,
'Oh, what of that, and what of that?'
1) Preach you the Word and plant it home
And never faint; the Harvest Lord
Who gave the sower seed to sow
Will watch and tend his planted Word."
Martin H. Franzmann, 1907-76, "Preach You the Word," Lutheran Worship, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1982, Hymn #259.
The parable teaches us about four groups of people who hear the Word.
i. Satan takes away the seed
The first group is represented by those who have the Word snatched from their hearts by Satan. When the sower casts his seed, some will fall upon the hard footpaths that border the planting area. These footpaths were well known to Jesus’ audience and not unknown today. If a path is worn in grass from frequent traffic, sowing seed on it alone will not restore the growth. First the soil must be softened and turned to promote germination. So it is when people with hardened hearts hear the Gospel but do not grasp it. It goes in one ear and out the other. They are hearers only and not doers. They may acknowledge the faith in some minor way, even earn a living as ministers or teachers, but they do not sincerely believe and therefore do not act upon faith. Luther emphasizes in the strongest terms that synodical unbelievers belong to Satan.
J-209
"The first class of disciples are those who hear the Word but neither understand nor esteem it. And these are not the mean people of the world, but the greatest, wisest and the most saintly, in short they are the greatest part of mankind; for Christ does not speak here of those who persecute the Word nor of those who fail to give their ear to it, but of those who hear it and are students of it, who also wish to be called true Christian and to live in Christian fellowship with Christians and are partakers of baptism and the Lord's Supper. But they are of a carnal heart, and remain so, failing to appropriate the Word of God to themselves, it goes in one ear and out the other, just like the seed along the wayside did not fall into the earth, but remained lying on the ground..."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 114.
Satan is always at war against Christianity and never stops stealing faith from people, just as birds never seem to stop feeding. As Lenksi has noted in his commentary on Mark, Satan snatches away faith in many different ways:
J-210
“Once he tells a man, that the Word which disturbs his conscience is a mere exaggeration, sin is not so deadly, God cannot have wrath, we must not allow our enlightened minds to be moved by such outworn notions; again, it is all uncertain, no uncontested fact in it, and no up-to-date man believes such things; then, the preachers themselves do not really believe what they say, they preach only to make an easy living, and are really hypocrites, as their own actions often show.”
R. C. H. Lenski, Mark, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1934, p. 108.
ii. Rocky Soil
The second group is similar to seed sown on rocky soil. A grain crop will send down deep roots, but rocky soil will first promote rapid germination by soaking up the warmth of the sun, then kill the plant by preventing proper root growth. Often sunflower seeds will germinate and grow on a flat roof with some soil blown onto it. But the seedlings quickly die from the heat, lack of moisture and soil. In the same way, people will hear the Gospel and rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins. However, they cannot tolerate any hardship from illness or poverty. They are like Sloth, who falls into the Slough of Despond in Pilgrim’s Progress. “If this is how the journey begins, then how can I finish?” These people miss the joys of being a Christian during times of affliction and persecution, for the Light shines all the more brightly in the dark night of the soul.
J-211
"The second class of hearers are those who receive the Word with joy, but they do not persevere. These are also a large multitude who understand the Word correctly and lay hold of it in its purity without any spirit of sect, division or fanaticism, they rejoice also in that they know the real truth, and are able to know how they may be saved without works through faith...But when the sun shines hot it withers, because it has no soil and moisture, and only rock is there. So these do; in times of persecution they deny or keep silence about the Word and work, speak and suffer all that their persecutors mention or wish, who formerly went forth and spoke, and confessed with a fresh and joyful spirit the same, while there was peace and no heat, so that there was hope they would bear much fruit and serve the people."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 116.
Lenski adds that the rockiness of the soil is the hidden hardness of men’s hearts, revealed only when persecution comes because of the Word. Rocky soil can look outwardly soft and fertile, like the front yard of our last parsonage. Digging a few inches revealed construction trash, rocks, and excess concrete dumped in the ground. No gardener would expect long-term growth in such soil.
iii. Thorns
Jesus compares the third group to seed sown where thorns grow and choke the crop. How many have returned from a long vacation in August to find their favorite crops choked by weeds? The plants may grow, but they will not produce well and be fruitful. Thus many different cares push the Gospel from the hearts of believers: ordinary concerns, lust for money, self-centered pleasure. Many are too busy working for their daily bread, and luxuries, to thank their Creator for their material and spiritual blessings. One would be hard-pressed to find many faithful and thankful Christians on the Forbes magazine list of the wealthiest people in America. In the parable, not wealth, but “the deceitfulness of riches” is compared to the thorns. Lenski wrote: “Wealth as such, whether one has it or not, always tends to deceive, by promising a satisfaction which it can not and does not bring, thus deceiving him who has it or who longs for it (Mark 10:24, p).” Weeds have the ability to seem harmless at first. Many believers have fallen away from the faith by saying to themselves, “This particular evil desire (alcohol, gambling, prestige, power, another person’s spouse, another man’s divine call) will not harm me.” Slowly the weed chokes the plant. We are inclined to praise ourselves for withstanding one obvious temptation while letting our faith be strangled by a different evil desire, one more subtle.
J-212
"Therefore they [who are fallen among thorns] do not earnestly give themselves to the Word, but become indifferent and sink in the cares, riches and pleasures of this life, so that they are of no benefit to anyone. Therefore they are like the seed that fell among the thorns...They know their duty but do it not, they teach but do not practice what they teach, and are this year as they were last."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed. John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 117.
The three groups are meant to warn listeners to avoid the dangers of 1) paying no attention to the Word; 2) running from the Gospel during difficult and dangerous times; and 3) letting anything displace God from our hearts.
iv. Good Soil
The fourth comparison, the seed sown on good soil, assures us that the fruitfulness of the Word will be evident in the yield: 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold. When children are handed packets of sunflower seeds in the spring and told to plant them, they soon find out how the parable repeats itself in their own experience. Some seeds are lost are the way home. Others are eaten by the children. Some plants begin to grow but fail. However, one sunflower seed-head alone is always more than all the seeds originally given away. When a few children bring their largest seed-heads to church, they see the power of God in Creation and in the Gospel. The baptized children themselves are testimony to the growth of the Gospel through the visible Word. [See Baptism]
The perfect harmony of the Scriptures is illustrated in St. Peter’s use of the seed image:
III. Incorruptible Seed in 1 Peter 1:23
KJV 1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The Vacation Bible School class got into an old musty closet in the basement of the church in New Ulm, Minnesota. Lining the shelves of the closet were large glass jars of seed: corn, grass, and wheat. No one knew how long the jars had been stored there. Two bats had died in the closet and dried up, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown. So we took the seed outside and spread it on the ground. The seed retained its appearance but years of storage robbed it of vitality. Time corrupted the seed and made it unappealing to the birds. Instead of swarming to the seed, they left it alone.
The born-again language in this passage is a refrain from the introduction:
KJV 1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Baptists walk all over Lutherans with their version of “You must be born again.” The apostle Peter does not connect being born again to “making a decision” any more than the apostle John does. The spiritually dead are given a new birth through the preaching of the Word. The opening of the epistle speaks of being born again by the resurrection of Christ, and verse 23 through the Word. This is not a contradiction. The power of the resurrection of Christ comes from the proclamation of that central truth. The Gospel gives life and defeats death. A corollary is that the resurrection of Christ reveals that death is defeated through the Savior. The Gospel is both forgiveness of sin and resurrection, so we are born again by the Word and by the resurrection of our Lord.
J-213
“Through a seed are we born again, for nothing grows as we see except from seed. Did the old birth spring from a seed? Then must the new birth also spring from a seed. But what is this seed? Not flesh and blood! What then? It is not a corruptible, but an eternal Word. It is moreover that on which we live; our food and nourishment. But especially is it the seed from which we are born again, as he here says. But how does this take place? After this manner: God lets the word, the Gospel, be scattered abroad, and the seed falls in the hearts of men. Now wherever it sticks in the heart, the Holy Spirit is present and makes a new man. Then there will indeed be another man, of other thoughts, of other words, and works. Thus you are entirely changed. All that you before avoided you now seek, and what you before sought that you now avoid. In respect to the birth of the body, it is a fact that when conception takes place the seed is changed, so that it is seed no longer. But this is a seed that cannot be changed; it remains forever. It changes me, so that I am transformed in it, and whatever is evil in me from my nature passes away. Therefore it is indeed a wonderful birth, and of extraordinary seed.”
Martin Luther, Commentary on Peter and Jude, ed. John Lenker, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1990.
J-214
“Just why the fact of our regeneration should prove such a strong motive to us to give evidence of our faith in love is shown in the description of regeneration, when the apostle states that this new birth in our hearts is not the result of perishable, corruptible seed, as the growth of earthly plants would be, but of an incorruptible, imperishable seed, the Word of God, The Gospel of the Savior Jesus Christ. This Word of God is in itself living, full of life and of life-giving power. And it abides in eternity; even after the form of the Word, in Scripture and preaching, has passed away, the content of the Gospel will remain in eternity. Thus the life which is wrought in the hearts of men through the Gospel is a true, divine, and therefore imperishable life, and it will continue in the life of eternity.”
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 19 , II, p. 523.
Many of those who love the classical Lutheran authors of the past find themselves bewildered by the rejection of these men by their own synodical publication houses. Superb, old volumes go out of print, while dreadful new books of false doctrine get promoted as required reading. In the last days of a mad, old world, these things must take place. Unbelievers in charge of Lutheran synods do not want to associate with the imperishable Word. They prefer the worldly wisdom that promises them—not eternal life—but material blessings. Those who love the voice of the Shepherd follow Him. They are not gathered by the synod or by the newest methods, but by the Word.
J-215
“They that trust in the things of this world will find themselves bitterly disappointed at the last. For only God’s Word has lasting value; it endures throughout eternity, it alone stands firm and unmoved in the midst of this world of death. If we but place our trust in this Word, in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will lift and take us safe through the uncertainty and decay and misery and wretchedness of this world to the eternal life of salvation. Once more, then, the apostle calls out: But this is the Word which in the Gospel is preached to you. If we place our trust in this Word, in this glorious Gospel, then we are safe, here in time and hereafter in eternity.”
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 19 , II, p. 523.
a. The Engrafted Word in James 1:21
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Another example of Biblical harmony can be found in James’ concise yet powerful reference to the Sower and the Seed. The author urges his listeners to receive the Word with meekness, the very quality of Christ Himself. The vineyard and orchard workers would understand immediately the image of the Word grafted onto their hearts and growing, pushing aside the works of the flesh and promoting the fruits of the Spirit.
J-216
”To be sure, the readers are also to hear it [the Word] again and again, James himself in this epistle continuing this implanting; what he means is that they shall completely accept the Word, which they have already heard and will continue to hear. James may, indeed, have in mind the parable of the Sower and the Seed, and the good soil that produces a hundred fold.”
R. C. H. Lenski, James, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1938, p. 561.
J-217
“It is not the man but the Word that multiplies. The Word indeed, in itself, is a fixed entity, and as such neither to be increased or decreased. Its multiplication is in its spread more and more in one heart, and more and more from one heart to other hearts. It is thus that the hearers bear fruit. When thus the Word remains and flourishes in a heart, repentance, faith, Christian virtues and works result, whereby the Word spreads more and more.”
R. C. H. Lenski, Mark, Columbus: Lutheran Book Concern, 1934, p. 111.
J-218
“The disposition of the believers rather is this, that they daily and ever again receive the implanted Word, accept anew the message of their salvation and sanctification as it is brought to them in the Gospel. The seed which has sprouted in their hearts is supposed to grow into a strong, healthy plant, and therefore it is necessary that they hear and learn the Word, which alone is able to save their souls, day after day, never growing weary of its wonderful truths.”
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible, The New Testament, 2 vols., St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, II, p. 501.
J-219
1) Almighty God, thy word is cast
Like seed into the ground,
Now let the dew of heaven descend
And righteous fruits abound.
2) Let not the foe of Christ and man
This holy seed remove,
But give it root in every heart
To bring forth fruits of love.
3) Let not the world's deceitful cares
The rising plant destroy,
But let it yield a hundredfold
The fruits of peace and joy.
4) Oft as the precious seed is sown
Thy quickening grace bestow,
That all whose souls the truth receive
Its saving power may know."
John Cawood, 1775-1852, "Almighty God, Thy Word Is Cast," Service Book and Hymnal, Philadephia: Board of Publication, 1958, Hymn #196. TLH Hymn #49.
The parable does not teach that we should test the soil before we proclaim the Word. A farmer, using this logic, would know which seed and even what plants would produce well. Those with actual experience in growing plants are too humble to predict the future, knowing that their field is in God’s hands, even today, with satellite weather services, advanced drainage, scientific fertilizers, and hybrid seed. Experienced pastors also realize that they must preach the Word faithfully without trying to measure when and how God will bless the labor.
J-220
"The efficacy of the Word, unlike that of the seed, always has a result. The man to whom the Word of God comes, and who repels it, is not as he was before. Where long and persistently refused, hardening at last comes, Exodus 8:15; 9:12; John 12:40; Hebrews 4:1, and the Word becomes a 'savor of death unto death,' 2 Corinthians 2:16. Every word heard or read, every privilege and opportunity enjoyed, leaves its impress either for good or for evil. It is not so properly the Word, as man's abuse of the Word; not so much the efficacy of the Word, as the sin taking occasion of the efficacy that produces this result, Romans 7:8."
Henry Eyster Jacobs, Elements of Religion, Philadelphia, Board of Publication, General Council , 1919, p. 155.
The parable does not teach the exact percentage of results from proclaiming the Gospel. The four groups are not meant to represent to us that one fourth of our work will be fruitful and three fourths unproductive. Instead, we see that God’s Word will multiply in spite of all the discouraging things that work against it. Soil-testing, a Church Growth concept, is nonsense based upon Zwinglian doctrine.
J-221
"Soil Testing. An evangelistic strategy that seeks out those people who are open to receiving the gospel at the present time."
C. Peter Wagner, ed., with Win Arn and Elmer Towns, Church Growth: The State of the Art, Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986, p. 300.
J-222
"In my opinion, therefore, Church Growth receptivity and 'soil testing' techniques are often unfairly criticized as if they were by definition synergistic. It is a fact that some fields are, for various historical and sociological reasons, more receptive to the preaching of the gospel and church planting than others. Our home and world mission boards make these judgments all the time in deciding where to begin churches or send missionaries."
Rev. Curtis Peterson, former WELS World Mission Board, "A Second and Third Look at Church Growth Principles," Metro South Pastors Conference Mishicot, Wisconsin, February 3, 1993 p. 12. Peterson is now an avowed atheist, working with Freedom From Religion.
J-223
"Those, however, who set the time, place and measure, tempt God, and believe not that they are heard or that they have obtained what they asked; therefore, they also receive nothing."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, III, p. 172.
J-224
"If the world were willing to take advice from a simple, plain man—that is, our Lord God (who, after all, has some experience too and knows how to rule)--the best advice would be that in his office and sphere of jurisdiction everybody simply direct his thoughts and plans to carrying out honestly and doing in good faith what has been commanded him and that, whatever he does, he depend not on his own plans and thoughts but commit the care to God. Such a man would certainly find out in the end who does and accomplishes more, he who trusts God or he who would bring success to his cause through his own wisdom and thoughts or his own power and strength."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, III, p. 1151. Luke 5:1-11.
The first three groups of hearers are not enemies of the Gospel, for Jesus taught this parable to warn us, within the visible Church, that many have no genuine relationship with Him. They have heard the Word, but the Gospel has been snatched away, scorched, and choked to death. Jesus also taught the parable to help us realize the abundant harvest that will take place from the growth of the Word. The parable illustrates the ultimate fate of the proclaimed Gospel, so we are not to reckon, worry, predict, or assume, but simply to fear, love, and trust God above all else. God will accomplish what He has promised, through His efficacious Word.
J-225
“We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand.
He sends the snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine and soft refreshing rain.”
Matthias Claudius, 1740-1815, “We Plow the Fields,” The Lutheran Book of Worship, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978, #362.
a. The Parable of the Tares in Matthew 13:24-30
KJV Matthew 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
b. Parable of the Tares Explained in Matthew 13:36-43
KJV Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Luther said that we would not understand this parable at all if the Lord had not explained it to us. Sincere Biblical students can become confused between this parable and the Sower and the Seed. In the earlier parable, the seed is the Word of God. In this parable the good seed represents genuine Christians. Tares are the weed seeds that illustrate the work of false Christians who really belong to Satan.
A herbalist said, “Every plant has a weed that looks exactly like it at first. Once the weed gets big enough to produce a flower or seed, it is obvious, but a lot harder to remove. A gardener showed me how to pull weeds from his carefully cultivated flowerbeds at our first parsonage. I tore away with youthful enthusiasm and a beginner’s eye for horticulture. The judgment was swift was absolute. The gardener said to my astonished wife, “I never want your husband to touch the flowerbeds again!” I did not.
Christ alone sows the good seed, but Satan plants counterfeit seed, tares, in the Christian Church, so that nothing good, worthwhile, or spiritual is allowed to remain unpersecuted. Although the parable seems to be depressing and pessimistic at first, Christ intends to comfort rather than alarm us. This is an accurate portrayal of the world, where Satan’s followers are so perfectly blended with sincere Christians that few can discern the difference. The Word bristles the hides of Satan’s disciples, so we should not be shocked that the cross is never far from the Gospel. The parable does not forbid doctrinal discipline in the Church, for the field is the world, not the Church (Matthew 13:37). The parable forbids issuing death sentences for heretics, since God’s angels will make suitable arrangements.
The Anabaptists cited this parable as a reason they should be tolerated. Luther agreed, stating that the State had no business using the secular sword to solve religious problems. As he wisely noted, death separates the heretic from any additional ministration of the Word. Anyone who has been engulfed in orthodox Christian doctrine, after years of hearing the propaganda of Satan, will understand and appreciate the value of giving the Word a chance to accomplish God’s will.
J-226
"For this parable treats not of false Christians, who are so only outwardly in their lives, but of those who are unchristian in their doctrine and faith under the name Christian, who beautifully play the hypocrite and work harm. It is a matter of the conscience and not of the hand. And they must be very spiritual servants to be able to identify the tares among the wheat. And the sum of all is that we should not marvel nor be terrified if there spring up among us many different false teachings and false faiths. Satan is constantly among the children of God. Job 1:6"
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John N. Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 101f.
Another lesson of the parable comes naturally to gardeners and farmers. Weed seeds are amazingly vital at first. They last for decades in the soil and germinate without provocation. They require little water and the plants develop deep taproots or extensive, invasive shallow roots. Weeds tolerate the worst soil, but thrive in the best soil. The story is told of a blind farmer who is looking for a new farm in uncultivated land. He said to his son, “Tie the mule to the nearest thistle.” The son replied, “No thistle is strong enough to hold the mule.” The farmer concluded, “We will move on. This soil is not healthy enough for our crops.” Therefore, we can observe how Satan’s disciples are strongest where the Bible is held in the highest esteem. Their weedy network grows green and lush. Extraordinary donations confirm them in their error. But they yield nothing at the harvest. They are sterile.
No one gathers and sells weed seeds. No one values weed seeds. No one wants to have weed seeds in the good seed they buy. Similarly, no one wants the Unitarianism, bitter strife, carnality, and destruction predestined by the work of false teachers, flashy revivals, super churches, movements without the Means of Grace, and union movements based on doctrinal compromise. Impressive religious groups should not intimidate or alarm the ordinary Christian or faithful congregation. Their boastfulness about themselves should alert the believer not to covet the weeds for their lush growth.
Francis Pieper
"Let us learn more and more to look upon the Lutheran Church with the right kind of spiritual eyes: it is the most beautiful and glorious Church; for it is adorned with God's pure Word. This adornment is so precious, that even though an orthodox congregation were to consist of very poor people - let us say nothing but woodchoppers - and met in a barn (as the Lord Christ also lay here on earth in a barn, on hay and straw), every Christian should much, much rather prefer to affiliate himself with this outwardly so insignificant congregation, rather than with a heterodox congregation, even if its members were all bank presidents and assembled in a church built of pure marble. Let us be sure that our flesh, and the talk of others does not darken the glory of the orthodox Church, or crowd it out of our sight."
Francis Pieper, The Difference between Orthodox and Heterodox Churches, and Supplement, Coos Bay, Oregon: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, 1981, p. 47.
Luther
"Today's Gospel also teaches by this parable that our free will amounts to nothing, since the good seed is sowed only by Christ, and Satan sows nothing but evil seed; as we also see that the field of itself yields nothing but tares, which the cattle eat, although the field receives them and they make the field green as if they were wheat. In the same way the false Christians among the true Christians are of no use but to feed the world and be food for Satan, and they are so beautifully green and hypocritical, as if they alone were the saints, and hold the place in Christendom as if they were lords there, and the government and highest places belonged to them; and for no other reason than that they glory that they are Christians and are among Christians in the church of Christ, although they see and confess that they live unchristian lives."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John N. Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, II, p. 103.
