Verses 3-8,18-23: the Parable of the Sower AT 13:3-8{AT 13:18-23{the Seed That Is Sown Is the Word of God. There Are Four Kinds of Soil Into Which the Seed Falls. They Are by the Wayside, in Stony Places, Among Thorns, and Upon Good Ground. in Each Instance, Those Places Are Really the Hearts of Men. When the Seed Falls by the Wayside and It Is Not Understood, the Fowls, Figurative of Satan or His Emissaries Come and Snatch It Away. When It Falls on Stony Ground Though, Because It Doesn't Have Depth of Root, It Springs up Quickly; but As Soon As the Sun Becomes Hot, Figurative of Tribulation or Persecution, It Withers Away and Dies. When It Falls Among the Thorns, Figurative of the Cares of the World or the Deceitfulness of Riches, It Grows up With Those Thorns and Is Eventually Choked off by Them and Becomes Unfruitful. When It Falls Upon Good Ground Though, Necessarily Figurative of a Heart in Which There Is Living and Active Faith, It Bears Varying Measures of Fruit, Some a Hundredfold, Some Sixty, and Some Thirty
The issue then is not whether this one or that one has faith and, therefore, divine life. Instead, it is the effect produced by the Word in any given heart. Any one of the first three may or may not be a believer. The last one however has to be a believer, because only a believer can bring forth fruit for God's glory and pleasure.