Mark 4

CHAPTER IV

Mark 4:1

1 And again he began to teach by the sea. And there is gathered unto him a multitude very great so that he, having stepped into a boat, was sitting in the sea, and all the multitude was facing the sea on the land.

Mark tells us only that this teaching by the sea was the repetition of a former act (πάλιν, referring to 2:13 and 3:7). From Matthew 13:1 we gather that this occurred on the same day on which Jesus spoke about his mother and his brothers. After he was through speaking to the people he went to his house with his relatives and after that proceeded to the seaside. The exceptional size of the multitude that congregated is indicated by the superlative πλεῖστος; it was hitherto described as πολύς. The result (ὥστε) was that Jesus stepped into a boat and sat down “in the sea,” the boat being rowed out a little from the land. Πρός has its original meaning, the multitude on the land was “facing the sea.” The boat was a pulpit for Jesus, and the shore and the sea the auditorium. In this setting Jesus spoke a series of parables.

2, 3) And he went on to teach them in many parables, and he was saying to them in his teaching, Give heed! Lo, there went out the sower to sow!

This time the teaching (ἐδίδασκε, the imperfect picturing the teaching) was done in parables, some of which Mark proceeds to relate. The way in which Mark records them shows that they were not spoken in rapid succession, but that after each parable Jesus made a pause in order to allow it to be absorbed by the hearers. On ἔλεγε see v. 11. The best definition and allaround discussion of the parable is found in the introductory sections of Trench, Notes on the Parables of our Lord. As far as we know, the first typical parable uttered by our Lord is the one about the Sower. With ἀκούετε, “be giving heed,” Jesus calls for close attention to what he is about to say.

The article ὁ with σπείρων lends the participle a generic or representative sense, R. 764 on Matt. 13:3: “the man whose business is sowing.” “He went out to sow” at once places him into the field. Mark writes the aorist infinitive, which includes the whole work of sowing up to its end.

Mark 4:4

4 And it came to pass in the sowing one part fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. And another part fell upon the rock-soil, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up on account of not having depth of earth, and when the sun was risen, it was scorched, and on account of not having root it was dried up. And another part fell into the thorns; and the thorns came up and choked it, and it did not give fruit.

The entire description is typically Palestinian. The grain is sown by hand. The patch to be seeded is not extensive and is unfenced. Along its side runs a path which perhaps divides it from a similar patch, and in sowing some of the seed may fall along (παρά) this path, fail to be covered up, and thus be eagerly eaten up by the birds. Καὶἐγένετο is circumstantial and marks the importance of what follows, compare 3:23. The phrase ἐντῷσπείρειν is not temporal: “while or during the sowing,” but refers simply to the action of sowing, in connection with that some fell along the path, R. 1073. Mark has ὃμέν … καὶἄλλο … καὶἄλλο, neuter singulars, each referring to a part.

5, 6) So much of Palestine is rocky elevation so that any tilled space may contain spots where the underlying rock comes close to the surface and has only a thin covering of soil. Such a spot is τὸπετρῶδες which lacks earth. The seed, indeed, sprouts quickly because the warmth of the underlying rock comes through the film of soil (διὰτὸμὴἔχεινβάθοςγῆς), but the hot sun burns the young growth and withers it before it has sufficient root (διὰτὸμὴἔχεινῥίζαν). The aorist passives ἐκαυματίσθη and ἐξηράνθη state simply the final facts. Luke 8:6: “it had no moisture,” could not root properly.

Mark 4:7

7 Other spots in the patch are infested with thorns, ἄκανθαι. Their roots escape the plow and soon shoot up new growth, amid which the grain is soon choked (συνπίγω) because it is unable to maintain itself. “And it gave no fruit” states the sad result.

Mark 4:8

8 And other parts fell into excellent earth and went on to yield fruit, going up and increasing, and went on to bring up to thirty, and up to sixty, and up to a hundred. And he went on to say, Who has ears to hear, let him be hearing.

Mark now writes the plural ἄλλα because he must divide this seed into three groups, to indicate which another ἄλλο would hardly do; we may translate “other parts,” in harmony with the previous singulars. This plural quietly indicates that the proportion of seed that brings fruit is by no means merely a fourth of the seed sown; much seed shall, indeed, bring a harvest. Τὴνκαλήν means earth that is “excellent for its purpose,” and the repetition of the article with the adjective makes the adjective an emphatic apposition of the noun (R. 776.)

The imperfects ἐδίδου and ἔφερεν are intentional after the aorist ἔπεσεν; starting from the time of the sowing, they picture the development of the fruit. Ἐδίδου is aided by the durative participles “going up and increasing” and thus coming to fruit. Three groups appear, and the εἰς used with each states its maximum yield. Thus the first group includes all the stalks that bear up to thirty grains from the one grain that was sown; the other groups are to be regarded in the same way. Thirty and under form one group; sixty and above thirty, another group; and a hundred and above sixty, the third. Mark arranges the groups from 30 to 100; Matthew does the reverse.

Mark 4:9

9 The parable closes with a call to the hearers to use their ears. The implication is that this simple narrative about the fate of the seed has a hidden meaning, and that if one applies his ears aright he will find that meaning, whereas if one has no ears, i. e., his ears refuse to function aright, he will only be mystified. This call to hear corresponds to the briefer call ἀκούετε occurring in v. 3.

Mark 4:10

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the Twelve went on to inquire of him the parables.

Mark interrupts the recital of the parables which Jesus spoke from the boat to bring in the interpretation of the first parable and the word about the use of parables in general. Mark makes this plain by the temporal clause “when he was alone,” καταμόνας == κατὰμόνας (supply χώρας), after the multitude had gone. The imperfect ἠρώτων describes the respectful inquiry: “they went on to inquire of him.” This verb may have two accusative objects, one of the person and another of the thing as is the case here. Τὰςπαραβολάς condenses the substance of the inquiry which really comprised two points: as to why Jesus now used nothing but parables in preaching, and what the meaning of the first parable was. We gather this from the reply which Jesus made. οἱπερὶαὐτόν is the wider circle of disciples that steadily followed him; they as well as the Twelve were greatly interested in the inquiry.

11, 12) And he went on to say to them, To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those outside all things come in parables, in order that looking they may be looking and not see, and hearing may be hearing and not understand lest ever they turn, and it be remitted unto them.

The imperfect ἔλεγεν matches ἠρώτων; it is regularly used in connection with speeches when the writer wants the reader to visualize the address as it was made. B.-D.329, zur Schilderung einer gehaltenen Rede. “The mystery of the kingdom of God” is the sum of the blessed realities of the divine rule of grace and of glory. This is a “mystery” because by their own nature and ability men are wholly unable to discover and to know any part of it. If a man is to be enlightened in regard to this mystery, it must be done by means of a divine gift, which means divine revelation plus the faith which receives that revelation. On the kingdom of God see 1:15. Matthew uses the kingdom of the heavens on which see Matt. 3:2 in the Commentary on Matthew.

Jesus tells his disciples, both the Twelve and the others, that to them the mystery “has been given” and implies that it has not been given “to those outside,” the unbelieving Pharisees and the multitudes. Due to something in the past the disciples have this mystery, the others have it not. “Has been given” implies divine grace; the agent in this passive form is God. The perfect tense points to an act of giving in the past which has resulted in the present possession of the gift. What occurred in the past that caused the present difference between the disciples and those outside? All the Scriptures answer: no unwillingness on the part of God to bestow the gift (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9; John 3:16; Matt. 28:19, 20) but only the unwillingness of so many to receive God’s grace and gift (Matt. 23:37; Acts 7:51; Hos. 13:9). Persistently declining the grace and gift whenever it came to them, these people are now without it.

Thus all the realities of the kingdom are still a mystery to them. They nullified every effort of God and of Christ to bestow the heavenly gift upon them; this nullifying is the work of persistent unbelief.

The only thing that it left to Jesus is to speak “in parables” to those outside, who are still unbelieving after all his efforts. The believers will understand these parables because they possess the key to them by knowing the mystery of grace; the rest will not understand them because they lack that key. The sense of γίνεται is zu teil werden, B.-P., 248, “all things come to them.”

In this connection Matthew quotes Isa. 6:9, 10 as being spoken by Jesus, who declares that this prophecy is now fulfilled. Mark reports no quotation but states only the substance of what the quotation conveys. Since he is writing for readers of Gentile origin, this was preferable to a formal quotation, for many of these readers were not versed in the Old Testament prophecies. Why parables for those outside? “That looking they might look and not see; and hearing they might hear and not understand.” Both statements have the same sense. This double purpose clause expresses the divine intention. When unbelief has advanced far enough, all its seeing and its hearing will not only produce nothing, it is even God’s own will that it should be so.

This is the so-called voluntas consequens, the will that acts after grace has operated on a man; not the voluntas antecedents, the will that first comes to man and brings him the grace. God must finally will judgment for all persistent unbelievers, 16:16; Matt. 23:38. God is compelled to cast such people off, and in his judgment he lets the very Word become to them a savor of death unto death. See the discussion on John 12:39, 40 in the Commentary on John. Note the difference in meaning between βλέπωσι and ἴδωαι, “may be looking” and “may see.” Also the difference in the tenses: “may go on looking” (durative present) and “may actually see” (punctiliar aorist); the same difference obtains between the present ἀκούωσι and the aorist συνιῶσι.

The double clause with μήποτε depends on the preceding double ἵνα clause. God’s original purpose (voluntas antecedens) is that we should actually see and understand, and that by this means we should be converted and obtain the remission of our sins in justification. But when all his grace is in vain, his judicial purpose (voluntas consequens) is to block actual seeing and understanding (the work of the means of grace and salvation) μήποτε, “lest” conversion and remission result. Thus the ἵνα and μήποτε clauses cover the entire judicial purpose of God, and yet the final purpose (no conversion) is made to depend on the mediate purpose (no understanding). The wicked purpose of the obdurate not to believe and be saved God is eventually compelled to make also his purpose, that they shall not believe and be saved. The verb ἐπιστρέφειν, a synonym of μετανοεῖν, is the Biblical term for “to convert” (intransitive), for which we usually say “to be converted,” A.

V. The aorist denotes the actual turning made in conversion (Jer. 31:18, shub). The aorist ἀφεθῇ has the same meaning: lest “it actually be remitted” unto them, namely by God. The form is the passive aorist subjunctive, R. 1216 (ἵημι.) On the sending away or remission of sins see 2:5.

Mark 4:13

13 A break in the discourse is indicated; Jesus now turns to the exposition of the parable. And he says to them, You do not know this parable, and how shall you know all parables?

This double question is merely introductory and does nothing more than to repeat what the disciples had said about the parables in v. 10, namely that they did not know this parable, and how should they know all parables, i. e., parables in general. We may regard this as asking just one question (as we have translated), or we may divide it into two. The sense would be the same. Jesus repeats the words of the disciples who said: “We do not know this parable; and how shall we understand all parables?” Jesus changes only the person from “we” to “you.”

The common view is that Jesus faults the disciples for not knowing this first parable. Some tone this down to surprise at not knowing at least this lucid parable. This view makes the second question a conclusion that is drawn from the first: if the disciples do not know this parable, how will they know them all? If this were the sense, we should have an emphatic ὑμεῖς in the first question. Even so, the second question would be trivial, for it would be rather obvious that if this simple parable is not grasped, the disciples would have difficulty with all parables.

Mark 4:14

14 The opening question (or questions) is intended to remove the timidity of the disciples regarding parables. It is thus that Jesus himself unfolds the interpretation of the first parable. The sower sows the Word. Now these are they along the path: where the Word is sown, and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the Word that has been sown into them.

The keyword of the exposition is offered first, namely that the sower sows the Word. This expression combines the figure of the parable (“sower sows”) with the reality (“the Word”). To weave the two together, figure and reality, in a self-interpreting way is Biblical allegory, a fine example of which appears in John 15:1, etc., The Vine and the Branches. On this type of allegory consult Trench in his introduction to his Notes on the Parables. We at once feel that τὸνλόγον is used as an eminent concept. Luke writes (8:11): “The seed is the Word.” Matthew (13:19) calls it “the Word of the kingdom,” the genitive most likely being subjective: the Word spoken by the kingdom, by which the kingdom comes to man’s heart.

This λόγος is the gospel of salvation. It is “sown” by the preaching and the teaching of the sower.

All the evangelists leave “the sower” uninterpreted, for the parable does not really deal with him but with the different hearers of the Word and with what becomes of the Word when it is sown into their hearts. Yet Matthew’s “kingdom” suggests Jesus as “the sower”; ἐξῆλθεν in v. 3 fits his act exactly. All the sowing is his, all that, too, which he does through others. This sowing brings the gospel to men’s hearts.

Mark 4:15

15 When they record the exposition of this parable the three evangelists vary greatly although they agree perfectly in the substance of what they say. One could not have copied from the other, nor could all have had the same document before them. This variation is due to the oral repetitions of the exposition which must have varied considerably. Mark begins with οὖτοίεἰσιν three times and the fourth time with ἐκεῖνοίεἰσιν and thus lays the stress on the persons and on the differences between them. The first group are “they along the path,” the shortest way of designating them, the phrase παρὰτὴνὁδόν being substantivized by the article οἱ.

The interpretation as to who is meant by this group is added without a connective, which has been called hard but is only virile, since this is often done in living speech; we may, therefore, place a colon or a dash there. “Where” the Word is sown refers to place, for seed is sown in a place, and the Word is carried into the ears and the heart; “where” also corresponds with ὁδόν, the path. To complete the idea we have the ὅταν clause: “and when they hear it,” namely those of whom Jesus is speaking. This is the main point, that the Word is actually heard, wherefore also the aorist ἀκούσωσι, “actually hear,” is used. Until this takes place the devil is at ease.

Now there comes the reality that corresponds to the figure of the seed that falls on the hard-trodden path and to the birds that promptly eat up this exposed seed. “Immediately comes Satan and carries away the Word that has been sown into them.” Through the ears the Word “has been sown into them,” and, as the perfect participle implies, is now lying in the minds of these hearers but does not stay there to do its blessed work. Satan, moved by his inordinate wickedness and opposition to God, snatches the sown Word away from these hearers.

We need not regard the birds as devils (plural), they represent Satan in his different ways of snatching the Word away from men’s minds and hearts. At one time 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 he tells him that the Word is so uncertain that there is no uncontested fact in it, and no up-to-date man believes such things; then that the preachers themselves do not really believe what they say, that they preach only in order to make an easy living and are really hypocrites as their own actions often show. Numberless are these birds by which Satan operates. This, then, is the first group: hearers of the Word who have, indeed, heard it but promptly lose it again. That this is due to Satan’s work Jesus declares to be a fact, and it should serve as a mighty warning to every hearer.

Mark 4:16

16 And these likewise are they that are being sown on the rock-soil, who, when they hear the Word, immediately receive it with joy and have not root in themselves but are only transient; then, affliction or persecution having come on account of the Word, immediately they are caught.

Ὁμοίως means that the second comparison is made in a way that is similar to the first. Note that this second group is described by the present participle, they that are “being sown” on the rock-soil; the tense matches the verb σπείρεται which was used in v. 15. Both presents leave the action open and intimate that eventually something went wrong; the aorist would say that the sowing was really accomplished, i. e., with proper results and nothing going wrong. As in the first group so in the second one the point is stressed that “they hear the Word,” the aorist once more bringing out the actuality of the hearing. This parable does not deal with people who do not hear, who stay away from the Word, or who sleep or prove inattentive while the Word is preached.

These second hearers make a great show of promise, “they at once receive the Word with joy.” But the tense is again the present, which intimates that more is to follow, and what follows is not good. These do receive the Word, the seed enters the shallow soil that covers the rock. “With joy” describes the enthusiastic reception of the Word. The moment they hear it they are delighted—this is what they have been waiting for, they sing the praises of the Word. The seed on the rock-soil springs up more quickly than that on the good soil, but beyond that fact this soil proves disappointing.

Mark 4:17

17 Something is wrong from the start: “they do not have root in themselves,” meaning depth of ground in which the root could form. They get the seed or Word but no root by which the Word could remain and bear fruit. Hence they are πρόσκαιροι, “for a short season only,” i. e., “transient” or temporary. How transient is at once stated. After grain is sown, the sun presently becomes hot, which, however, only helps the seed that has proper roots. This pictures the θλῖψις or διωγμός that always comes in this wicked world “on account of the Word.” The former word means “pressure” and in that sense “affliction” and “or” describes this as being “persecution.” Then the trouble begins for all who lack good, healthy roots in the soil of their hearts.

The remarkable thing is that the shining sun is here used to picture tribulation and persecution. The seed in the good soil must have the sun to grow as it should. That is what makes it bear fruit. Just as little as grain grows properly without sunshine, so little the Word thrives in us without our suffering “on account of the Word.”

But where the soil is shallow with ugly rock, hidden hardness down in men’s hearts, they “are caught.” The figure in σκανδαλίζεσθαι is that of a trap which is sprung by a crooked stick to which the bait is affixed. But the literal sense is often modified by the metaphorical. Here the present tense shows this. This tense is durative, and hence not the instantaneous act of being caught by the springing of the trap is referred to but the condition of lying caught thus in the trap. These hearers are scandalized, offended by what is happening to them in their tribulation, etc. The translation “they stumble” (R. V.) changes the figure in the verb; “they are offended” (A. V.) is far better. R. 880 makes the present tense inchoative: “begin to be offended,” but his reason is not apparent.

Mark 4:18

18 And others are they sown into the thorns. These are the ones having heard the Word; and the worries of this eon and the deceit of wealth and the lusts concerning the remaining things entering in choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.

The third group is characterized by a preamble: “they sown into the thorns.” Then οὗτοίεἰσιν follows as it did before. Once more we learn that these, too, actually heard the Word, the aorist of the participle stating this actuality. This point is always essential: the Word must actually be heard and grasped in its true sense. “Into” the thorns is correct. The seed is received into hearts in which the sprouting runners of thorny growths are hidden. These always shoot up thick and strong, far faster and higher than the grass-like wheat or barley, and thus smother the good grain.

Mark 4:19

19 The thorny growths are interpreted in full. Αἰών is a peculiar Greek term and always denotes an era or eon that is marked and distinguished by what transpires in it. Τοῦαἰῶνος is definite: “of the eon,” or world age in which we live. B.-P. 42 renders the expression: die Sorge der Gegenwart, the worry connected with the present time into which our lives are cast. The idea expressed is that every age has its own type of worries, and whoever lets these fill his heart will surely smother the Word he has heard, for this deals with higher interests. The next thorny growth is “the deceit or deceitfulness of wealth” (abstract nouns may have the article in the Greek), 1 Tim. 6:6–10. 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 and thus deceives him who has it or who longs for it (10:24). The two genitives may be subjective: the times worry men, wealth deceives them; or simply possessive: worry belongs to the times, deceit to riches.

Luke adds the pleasures of life, but Mark states more comprehensively, “the lusts concerning the remaining things,” these “entering in,” namely in the heart, and filling it up and crowding out all the spiritual interests. The ἐπιθυμίαι are the desires as these are directed by the will or control the will. In this passage they concern themselves with “the remaining things,” with all those that are not included in our worries and our wealth. These desires enter into the heart like thorny sprouts and shoot up and fill all the available space. The seed of the Word starts to grow, but it “is choked” or smothered in the deadly competition with some or the others of these thorny growths. The result is that the seed of the Word becomes “unfruitful” in the sense of being unable to produce fruit. The fault is again not with the good seed but with the soil.

Mark 4:20

20 And those are they that were sown on the excellent earth, such as go on hearing the Word and receiving it and go on bearing fruit, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred.

As a designation of the fourth group and to distinguish it Mark writes ἐκεῖνοι, “those.” These are “they that were sown on the excellent earth.” We now have an aorist, σπαρέντες, “were actually sown,” whereas in connection with the three preceding groups we have only present tenses. The present tenses are open tenses and thus intimate that an adverse sequel is to follow even as it does in each case. But the aorist σπαρέντες is a closed tense and means that the sowing was accomplished as it ought to be so as to attain the desire of the sower. They who were thus effectively sown received the seed on “the excellent earth,” the second article gives the adjective special emphasis like that of an appositional climax, R. 776. Luke interprets “in a heart excellent and good.” Their difference from the other hearers is again not in the Word but in the quality of the hearts.

Οἵτινες, as so often, has a causal force: “they being such,” i. e., because they are such. They are described by three present tenses: “they go on hearing the Word,” etc. The three other groups soon ceased to hear the Word, but not so this last group. Ἀκούουσι does not, however, conflict with σπαρέντες as far as the tenses are concerned. The hearing, however, goes on throughout life, but every bit of this hearing is an effective being sown with the Word. For these constant hearers “go on receiving” the Word, and to indicate this we have παραδέχονται (the preposition lending effective force to the verb) and not merely λαμβάνουσι as in v. 16. Matthew says of the good hearer that he understands, Mark (plural) that they receive or accept, Luke that they hold fast, and all three mean the same thing.

The result is that these hearers “bring fruit,” go on bringing it throughout their future lives. The question is raised as to whether to regard ἐν in the three phrases as a variant for εἰς which is used in v. 8, or to read ἓν, “one,” like ὃμέν and ὃδέ in Matthew. To regard ἐν as a preposition seems too difficult. Some have ἐν mean “consisting in thirty,” etc., but ἐν has no verbal meaning of any kind, and if it had it would cease to be a variant of the εἰς in v. 8. The breathings and the accents are later additions to the text and thus may be faulty as they are in this case where, according to B.-D., 248, 3, ἕν is the correct reading. This neuter, like those used in Matthew, means that one seed of the Word produces 30, one 60, one 100 others.

It is not the man but the Word that multiplies. The Word is a fixed entity and as such neither to be increased or decreased. Its multiplication consists in its spread in one heart and from one heart to other hearts. It is thus that the hearers bear fruit. When the Word remains and flourishes in a heart, repentance, faith, Christian virtues and works result, whereby the Word spreads.

The question regarding the difference in yield so that the good heart makes one seed of the Word bear thirty, another sixty, another a hundred, is part of the greater question as to why the Word fares so differently in different hearers. In some it does not get beyond the surface, in others it gets only just beneath the surface, in still others its top is smothered, and only in a fourth class does it flourish, some of it producing an increase of thirty, some of it sixty, some of it a hundred.

The usual view—one that relieves the commentator of further thought—is that neither the parable nor its interpretation by Jesus offer an explanation of the difference described. Those who, nevertheless, give an explanation restrict the parable to the very first contact of the Word with the human heart. Then even a man like Trench, who intends to hold most firmly to the unquestioned doctrine that all hearts are by nature wholly depraved, and none are made better save by the Word alone, allows himself to be caught in a plain contradiction of this doctrine by calling some hearts “fitter” for receiving the seed of everlasting life, “latent sons of peace” who contain tinder which the Word may set afire while others have no tinder; or contain “particles of true metal” which the magnet of the Word draws to itself while other hearts have no such particles. But this explanation is synergistic if not Pelagian.

What the parable and its exposition describe is the final fate of the Word in the hearts of men. When life is done, some show a harvest, grains running to thirty, to sixty, even to a hundred; all the rest show no harvest at all. Some never let the Word in, some never let it root, some never let it grow up. This final fate of the Word is shown us now so that we may examine ourselves as to how we are treating the Word now, before life is done. This is done because, though no man can change himself, God has means to change us all, trodden path, rocky places, briar patches, into good soil for his Word. This means of God is the Word itself as this is exhibited in this very parable.

Like all the Scripture revelations of man’s sinful state, this one, too, aims at the conscience and repentance, thus opening the soul for the gospel. The more it is opened, the more fruit will there be in the end.

Mark 4:21

21 And he went on to say to them: Certainly the lamp does not come in order to be placed under the peck measure or under the bed. Is it not in order to be placed on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden except in order to be made manifest; nor did something happen hidden away but in order to come to light. If one has ears to hear, let him be hearing!

After the interruption (v. 10–20) Mark proceeds with a record of the parables which Jesus spoke from the boat (v. 1); Luke 8:16–18 is a parallel. “To them” appears only here and in v. 24 and not in v. 26 or v. 30. The antecedent would be the disciples and the Twelve who are mentioned in v. 10, and, in fact, these brief parabolic statements apply especially to this narrower circle of hearers. Jesus has just pictured the hearers who receive his Word; they are like lamps that have been lighted. Now lamps are to give light for people, and in the same way the disciples are to spread the light of the Word.

Jesus uses the illustration of the lamp in various connections, compare Matt. 5:15 and Luke 11:33. The articles used with lamp, peck measure, bed, and lampstand present these objects as those that are naturally to be found in a house. Jesus uses two questions and by means of the two interrogative particles μή and οὐ indicates the answers which he expects, “no” to the first and “yes” to the second. A bit of humor plays into the first question, for it is rather ridiculous to bring a burning lamp into the room and then to hide it from sight.

The λύχνος was a receptacle for oil which on one end had a snout through which the wick passed and on the opposite end a curved handle. A slender stand was regularly provided for this lamp, and when the lighted lamp “comes,” borne by a servant, it is placed on this stand so that people in the room may see. Some old references have been hunted up which say that a μόδιον, a vessel that was a little smaller than our peck measure, was at times placed over a lighted lamp; but no one has ever found that it was placed under a bed or couch. The reference to the bed doubles and thus intensifies the thought. Who would bring a lighted lamp just in order (ἵνα) to set it where its light could do no good? If its light is not wanted, the lamp is not lighted in the first place or is blown out after having been lighted. When the lamp comes in, this is done in order that it be placed upon the lampstand to light those in the room.

The interpretation is obvious. For what do you suppose Jesus lighted us? To have our light, the Word which illumines us, hidden away where no one can see it? No; we are to be lamps that are set out prominently on lampstands. The Word we possess is to enlighten also others.

Mark 4:22

22 The statement that all hidden things are to be exposed is used also in other connections in Matt. 10:26 and Luke 12:2. Here it helps to elucidate what is said about the real purpose of a lighted lamp. Note the parallelism and the rhythmic repetition in the two synonymous statements. Note likewise the paradoxical form of the thought: a thing is not hidden except in order to be made manifest—a thing never happened hidden away but in order to come to manifestation, i. e., to light.

R. 999 would regard the two ἵνα as being about equal to ὥστε with the infinitive: “except so as to be made manifest,” etc.; but we see no reason for altering the final force of ἵνα: “in order to,” etc. Now one would think that a thing is hidden for the very purpose that it shall not be made manifest and generally known, but Jesus says the purpose is the very opposite; men likewise generally think that, when something occurs (ἐγένετο), when they do something so that it is hidden away completely (ἀπόκρυφον, which is stronger than the preceding κρυπτόν), this is done in order that it may not come to light (εἰςφανερόν, a standard phrase), but Jesus says the very opposite. To understand this we should know that the two ἵνα state, not the purpose of men who do the hiding, but the divine purpose which frustrates this secretive purpose of men. God will see to it that all secret things are revealed; in fact, he will cause men to hide things for the very purpose of having them exposed.

The two propositions are entirely general and thus apply in all directions. They constitute a principle which works itself out in all cases. In thousands of instances we ourselves see how secret things come to light sooner or later in spite of men’s efforts to keep them in darkness. In some instances the principle does not seem to work out, for example, some crimes are not cleared up, the criminal is not discovered. But read 1 Cor. 4:5 and Rom. 2:16. If not in time then at the end God will bring to light even the secrets of men’s hearts.

In the present connection Jesus is thinking of the blessed secrets of the gospel. His disciples are the lamp that is to be placed on the lampstand and not to be hidden away in an unnatural manner. The mystery of the gospel is to shine forth in the world. Thus the principle works out in what pertains to God himself, namely in his plan of salvation (Eph. 3:3–6). He makes his children the light of the world. This very light of the gospel will expose the dark and hidden things of the world and will thus show what they really are (Eph. 5:13) and thus begin the work that God himself will finish at the great judgment.

Mark 4:23

23 Compare what is said on v. 9. We see no difference between ὅς and τις, both words apply to all the hearers of Jesus, to others as well as to the disciples. While the αὐτοῖς that occurs in v. 21 and 24 seems to refer especially to the disciples, others, too, are to ponder on what Jesus says, i.e., to discover the application of his striking figurative language. All will claim to have good ears for hearing—then let them use their ears and “be hearing.”

Mark 4:24

24 Jesus most likely paused at this point and then presently continued. In what measure you go on measuring it shall be measured to you, and more shall be added for good measure to you. For he who has, to him shall be given; and he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

See v. 21 on αὐτοῖς. Jesus calls on all his disciples especially but also on the multitude to give heed constantly (βλέπετε, durative present imperative) to what they are hearing (ἀκούετε, also durative) from Jesus now and at other times; τίἀκούετε is an indirect question and refers to the substance of what Jesus is saying and the people are hearing. Unless they look well to it, their hearing will bring them nothing. Superficial hearing is always bad, especially in regard to spiritual matters.

Jesus used the next saying or mashal also in other connections (Matt. 7:2; Luke 6:38). In this connection it evidently refers to the way in which men treat the instruction of Jesus. The dictum has a moral basis: the measure we use in measuring out to others is the measure we ask to be used when it is measured out to us; we have no right to ask that a different measure be used for us. It would be a piece of grave injustice to allow us to use one measure for others and then use a different measure when something is to be measured out to us. God will see to it that such a thing is not permitted. The dictum is really neutral.

The same measure we use is to be used for us. To use either a larger or a smaller measure for us would be morally wrong. Men may try to do one or the other, but God never does. Ordinarily something over and above (πρός in the verb) is put in for good measure. The measure is heaped up generously. Jesus does not say that we shall measure so bountifully, but he does say that we shall be treated in that way, namely by him and by God.

Both μετρηθήσεται and προστεθήσεται are impersonal and, as passives, indicate that God is the agent.

Mark 4:25

25 What Jesus means is explained (γάρ) by another mashal which is also used in other connections (Matt. 25:29; Luke 19:26). To the man who has, still more shall be given; and the man who has not, from him shall be taken even what he has. We might think that the reverse should be done, that he who has might be called on to give up something of what he has while the poor man who has not ought to be given as much as possible. But this would be morally wrong, a superficial judgment that overlooks what lies back of this one man’s having and the other man’s not having. The one man measured with a generous measure and thus grew rich because the same generous measure was used also for measuring to him; the reason the other man remained poor is that he used a measure that held almost nothing, and instead of adding when he measured he did the opposite, he subtracted even from the tiny measure, and so, when the same sort of measuring was applied to him, and subtraction was likewise made, he lost even the little that he had at first, and it certainly served him right.

Putting these moral dicta, as Jesus does, in this general and universal form makes them more effective and convincing. That is valid also for the present application, the treatment which the hearers of Jesus give him and his instruction. He bade them to see well to what they were hearing. Let them bring a full measure of attention and eagerness to learn—Jesus would return to them even a fuller measure of precious and saving truth. To what they had far more would be given. But those who cared not to heed, who brought no need and no desire to Jesus, would naturally find the same measure measured out to them, and that most generously, even going them one better in niggardliness. And by keeping this up (μετρεῖτε, present to indicate continuous practice) the result would be loss of the little that these hearers had at the start. Ἀρθήσεται is derived from αἴρω.

Mark 4:26

26 There is another interval. And he went on to say. So is the kingdom of God as when a man casts the seed on the earth and sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and is lengthened, how he himself does not know.

Only Mark records this parable. It is distinct from the parable of the tares, and the effort to make them one misunderstands both. On ἔλεγε see v. 11; Jesus continues to speak from the boat to the great multitude on the shore (v. 1, 2). “So,” οὗτως, is placed emphatically forward: so is the kingdom and not otherwise. On “the kingdom of God” see the exposition in 1:15. God’s wonderful rule of grace is “as when a man casts the seed on the earth,” etc. In each of the parables about the kingdom only one of its grand features is pictured. So the sense is that in a certain respect the kingdom is like that which is here pictured, and ὡς is correlative with οὕτως. On ὡς without ἄν (ἐάν) in the sense of “as if” or “as when” see R. 974; B.-D.380, 4.

If the question is asked whether God’s rule of grace in its entirety is pictured here or only his grace in individual men, we answer that every individual “seed” is referred to as it is cast, grows, and comes to fruit, and that in this manner the whole grainfield where all this seed grows together is referred to. The comparison is not between the kingdom and the seed alone but between the kingdom and the entire action described: a man casting seed, sleeping, rising, and the seed growing to maturity without his knowing how.

“A man,” indefinite, but “the seed” and “the earth,” both definite. The weight of meaning rests, not on the man, for any man who sows would serve in the parable, but on what this particular seed does when it gets into the earth. For this seed is undoubtedly the Word of God (v. 14) save that Jesus now pictures the life that is in the seed, a life which has the power of growth and development unto maturity in itself. In the parable of the Sower (v. 3–9) Jesus pictured the soil into which this seed may fall.

What a wonderful thing seed is! Yet how thoughtlessly men handle it when they sow it, see its growth, or harvest its returns. It is one of nature’s miracles, and Jesus sets the mystery of it vividly before our eyes as he uses this miracle in picturing his kingdom. All that a man does is “to throw the seed on the earth,” and that is all he can do; the seed itself does all the rest. Jesus began with the different kinds of soil (v. 3–9) and now follows with a second chapter regarding the seed itself. In the first parable we saw it yielding 30, 60, 100 grains when growing in good earth; we now see how it does this—in a secret and mysterious way.

“The earth” pictures human hearts, namely those that are good hearts (v. 20), in which the seed flourishes. Jesus is not repeating the first parable, wherefore we here disregard the differences in the soil. Some stress the earth in regard to what it does for the growth of the seed. Bengel has said well (in connection with αὐτομάτη) that neither the cultivation nor the rain and the sunshine are excluded but simply taken for granted. So “the earth” is only the medium in which the seed grows. It has no life and can produce no life; all the life is in the seed.

There is no synergistic or semi-Pelagian thought in this parable but the very opposite, the monergism of the Word. The earth simply lies there, it does not reach out or even call for the seed; the seed must be brought to the earth by the will of another. So is the natural human heart. The Word must be cast into it by another, must lodge there and grow; then that heart has spiritual life in it, the living Word. This is how regeneration, the implanting of spiritual life in the soul, takes place. We cannot, therefore, speak of “two factors”: the seed as “the divine working of grace” and the earth as “the moral self-activity of man.” It is the seed alone that has life and grows, not the earth, and the seed merely grows in the earth and with its living power draws what it desires from the lifeless earth. It is always the divine Word alone which has life and imparts it to us so that it may grow in us; our hearts are but the soil and nothing more.

Mark 4:27

27 In the first parable the sower is Christ, and we may take it that in this parable “a man” who casts seed on the earth is again Christ. But some feel a difficulty in thinking that Christ sleeps and rises night and day and does not know how the seed grows. Of course, the fact that he commissions the sickle, namely in the judgment, seems quite in order. The difficulty is not met by thinking of this sower as being the human agents through whom Jesus works and attributing the sleeping, etc., to them, for they do not gather the harvest in the end. Moreover, this changes the sleeping, etc., into the reality whereas it is only a part of the figure, and we should not confuse the two. Commentators generally pass over this point, yet it is quite a feature in the parable and calls for interpretation.

The solution is simple enough. The heavenly Sower never sleeps or slumbers (Ps. 121:4), for him there is no night nor day, and he who gave the Word certainly knows all about the mysteries of its development in our hearts. What Jesus does in the parable is to compare himself to a man who scatters his seed and trusts that seed to grow of its own power. This trust is exhibited in the man’s actions: he sleeps night after night and rises day after day and never worries about the seed. In fact, he does not even know how it grows, he knows only that it does so. This graphically illustrates the confidence that Jesus has in his Word.

He himself did only one thing, namely sow the Word, and made only one provision, namely that his disciples should continue sowing the Word. The Word, properly sown, is all that is needed, it takes care of itself, it is full of life and power (Heb. 4:12). As for anything else, Jesus might just as well be as unconcerned as is the man to whom he compares himself. The parable reduces the great divine realities to a lowly human form in order that we may in a way apprehend them for our salvation.

The accusatives νύκτακαὶἡμέραν state that the sleeping and the rising go on continually (R. 470), and the night is put first because sleeping comes first. Although the seed is only cast on the earth, and the sower pays absolutely no more attention to it, the seed gives a good account of itself. It sprouts promptly and is then lengthened in the rising stalk (or we may regard μηκύνηται as a middle: “lengthens itself”). The present tenses describe the process. This is so wonderful that the man himself does not know how it happens. Αὐτός does not refer to ὁσπόρος, for lack of knowledge cannot be attributed to seed; it refers to ἄνθρωπος.

The debate about ὡς is unnecessary. It does not mean “while he does not know.” Its proper meaning is “how”; the man does not understand the mystery of what takes place in the sprouting and the growing of the seed. Regarded thus, ὡς does not imply that the man takes no interest in the seed and in its growth. And the clause does not refer to the person in whose heart the seed is sown, nor can it be said that he does not know how the new life started and grew in him.

“How he does not know himself,” with αὐτός placed emphatically at the end, applies, first of all, to the growth of natural seed. This is as true with regard to the scientist who spends hours and days with cunning instruments and skill to find out what the life is that does these astounding things as regarding the unpretending farmer who seeds his field and then cares no more, goes to sleep after his daily labors, works at other things day after day, and trusts that the seed will take care of itself. Because some men who boast of scientific knowledge trouble the faith of our people, we must emphasize the ignoramus et ignorabimus of the highest science in the domain of natural life, as to what life really is, and what this power of life and growth—even in a tiny grain of wheat—really is.

But if it must be said of the earthly “he does not know how,” it must be said much more about the spiritual. No dissecting hand is able to lay bare the life in the Word. The growth and power that are in the Word when, falling into the sinner’s heart, it sends out its rootlets, shoots up a blade and stalk and an ear, i. e., regenerates, renews, and sanctifies a soul, are utterly beyond our comprehension. Yet the blessed reality is before and within us, we are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which abideth forever.… And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” See James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23, 25; 1 John 5:1.

Many have lost faith in this divine seed and sow other seed of human hybridizing. They will never get anything but weeds from their sowing, flourishing weeds perhaps, but only weeds after all. Some grow overanxious when they preach the Word and fear that it will not do its work unless they keep helping it on in some manner. But all their added efforts only hinder the Word in its normal work. Complete trust in the Word is the only reaction that does justice to it. “Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain,” James 5:7.

Mark 4:28

28 Automatically the earth bears fruit, first a grass-blade, then an ear, then full grain in the ear. Now when the fruit allows, he commissions the sickle because the harvest is come.

The Greek often uses an adjective where the English has an adverb; so αὐτορμάτη modifies ἡγῆ. After what has been said about the seed it would be unwarranted to ascribe the life and the growth to the earth, or to let the earth share in this power and this growth. This is done by the synergists who refer to the moral powers of the natural man. The earth “bears fruit” only because it is the medium for the living powers of the seed. This it does “automatically,” as a matter of course; “of itself” is misleading. So as a matter of course our hearts bear fruit when the divine Word enters them and develops its power in us. This occurs when the Word remains in us and not when we lose, destroy, uproot it, which considerations are omitted from this parable.

“First, a grass-blade,” etc., is often quoted and variously applied; in this connection it describes one thing: the progressive course of the spiritual life. It cannot refer to conversion and regeneration, then increase of faith, finally good works, for good works appear from the new birth onward. The very confession of faith is the best good work. There is a sense in which the spiritual life that is produced by the Word can be said always to be with full corn in the ear. When children die, Christ does not harvest partly grown grain. We may make the distinction that those who have passed through years of trial, going forth and weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them, Ps. 126:6; while those who die in younger years indeed bring their ripe grain, but not such large shocks or so many sheaves.

Some would refer χόρτος to the faith of children, στάχυς to that of young people, and πλήρησίτονἐντῷστάχυῖ to that of old people. They quote 1 John 2:12, etc. But many of all ages have but a tiny faith, and some children and some youths excel many of their elders in faith. It would be dangerous to teach old people that they have reached the fullest development.

What the text offers is only one thing, namely the progressive development of all that is spiritual in man. Is it faith? That grows from blade to ear and to full corn in the ear. Is it love—hope—patience—knowledge—any Christian virtue? All these grow because they have been produced by the Word, they are “fruit” at any stage or at any time of life although the text does not include this feature. It confines itself to the imagery of natural grain which is reaped when it is mature. One point should be added, namely that the Word is sown, not merely once, but constantly. What the parable, because of the limitations of human imagery, is compelled to depict as one sowing is in reality the one that goes on throughout the believer’s life, and so ever more fruit is produced by the Word.

Mark 4:29

29 We may read either παραδῷ or παραδοῖ, for both are subjunctives. The verb is intransitive, and we should not supply an object, σῖτον or ἑαυτόν. This means that we accept the meaning “to allow” (R. V. margin and the dictionaries) although this verb is not used thus elsewhere in the New Testament, which makes commentators hesitate. “When the fruit is ripe” is an interpretative translation which renders the general sense. Ἀποστέλλειτὸδρέπανον (Jesus says “sickle,” not reapers) is like the LXX’s translation of Joel 3:13 and like Rev. 14:15: “he sends forth the sickle.” The verb “commissions” means more than “sends,” for the mission that is to be carried out is implied, namely the harvesting.

Dryander writes: “The full corn in the ear may have ripened slowly, one ear after another; wherever it is given to a man to say in humility, I stand in faith and know how precious my faith is; wherever a man has discovered in humility that this faith in him has become a power to tread under foot sin, wrath, and passion, casting off what is objectionable to God, and putting on what is pleasing to him; wherever a man by this faith of his overcomes the cares and the lust of this world and bears within him a peace which the world neither gives nor takes, and where by virtue of his faith he grows into heart humility and love—there is the living spirit fruit of the kingdom of God. The great Lord of the harvest lets none of it spoil. He gathers it for the harvest of his kingdom. Yea, he turns it into a new sowing of his kingdom and makes more new fruit of sanctification grow from it until the last harvest begins and with it the consummation of the kingdom in glory. Then all the hidden growth of the kingdom of God will become visible and also all apparent resting; and all painful cessation and upward striving will resolve itself into blessed praise.”

With a different image Paul describes the growth that reaches ripeness, Eph. 4:11–15; note the words “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” and “may grow up into him in all things.” As we have indicated in connection with v. 26, every individual in the kingdom is referred to in this parable and thus, since they all belong together, the kingdom itself in its entirety. This enables us to interpret “when the fruit allows” with reference to each individual and to the entire church. “The harvest is come” (παρέστηκεν, perfect is always used as a present) means in the case of the individual the time of death and in the case of the kingdom the last great day. “The sickle” that the Lord commissions to cut the grain is in the case of the individual death itself and in the case of the kingdom the divine power that changes it from grace to glory.

Mark 4:30

30 And he went on to say, How shall we make a likeness of the kingdom of God, or in what parable shall we set it forth? As to a kernel of mustard, which, when it is sown on the earth, though being smaller than all the seeds on the earth, even when it is sown, comes up and becomes greater than all the vegetables and makes great branches so that under its shadow the birds of the heaven are able to go tenting.

On ἔλεγε see v. 11. Matthew says that Jesus placed another parable before his hearers, which indicates how Jesus proceeded. Each parable was presented by itself after a sufficient interval. The evangelists indicate this: Mark, for instance, by introducing each parable with καὶἔλεγεν. The exceptional feature about this parable is the fact that Jesus asks his hearers—not merely the Twelve or the disciples—what likeness or parable to use for the kingdom of God (on which see 1:15). Both questions mean the same thing, both have the deliberative subjunctive save that “likeness” in the verb of the first is defined by “parable” in the phrase of the second. “Or” presents an alternative, yet not an opposite but a parallel.

These questions would naturally arouse the attention of the hearers although all evidence shows that Jesus never lacked attention. Jesus now wanted more than mere attention, he wanted his hearers themselves to think of the kingdom of God, to study its nature and its characteristics so as to make illustrative comparisons with earthly things. The fact that these questions are addressed to the mixed multitude did not, of course, imply that men who are still outside of the kingdom could suggest fitting likenesses to anything in the kingdom, and that Jesus invited them to do so. Such men would have to answer: “We are unable to offer anything.” And by answering thus they would realize their condition and feel the call and the urge to enter the kingdom.

Mark 4:31

31 Πῶς and ὡς are correlatives, the second answering to the first; the dative κόκκῳ agrees with the phrase ἐντίνιπαραβολῇ. In this parable we again have a seed, not of wheat or barley as in the preceding parables, but of the mustard plant, Sinapis nigra, the garden variety since it is compared with garden vegetables, and Luke states that it was planted “in a garden,” and not Salvadora persica, the mustard tree. The kingdom is like a kernel of mustard because, like it, the rule of Christ’s grace among men has a phenomenal growth from the tiniest beginning. The parable is very clear once it is stated; yet who of us would have noticed this remarkable resemblance?

The comparison becomes the more striking when we see that this mustard kernel is Jesus himself, for the kingdom grows from him, the King. Some think that the mustard seed was chosen, not because of its tiny size, but also because of its pungent taste. “Its heat, its fiery vigor, the fact that only through being bruised it gives out its virtue, and all this under so insignificant an appearance and in so small a compass,” Trench thinks may have prompted the choice. In the parable, however, the point is altogether the great growth of this small seed.

If the kernel of mustard is Jesus, then the man who sowed it cannot again be Jesus as some think in connection with John 12:24. This sower must be the Father who gave his only-begotten Son and sent him that the world might be saved, John 3:16, 17. Mark uses the passive σπαρῇ, which leaves the subject unstated; he states twice that the mustard was sown, first with the emphasis on ὅταν, secondly with the emphasis on σπαρῇ. These two aorists speak of the single complete act of being sown. It is essential to the parable that the kernel of mustard actually be sown; otherwise its resemblance to one great feature of the kingdom would not be apparent. “On the earth” refers to the world; Matthew speaks of the field, and Luke of the garden. Christ was planted in the world by being planted in the garden of Israel; salvation for the world is “of the Jews,” John 4:22.

The gender of μικρότερον and of the participle ὄν is due to attraction with the neuter σπεμμάτων. Jesus is speaking of the seeds that were ordinarily planted in the ancient gardens, hence the remark that botanists know of many still smaller seeds is pointless.

Mark 4:32

32 καὶὅτανκτλ is not adversative, “but” or “yet when,” etc., as our versions translate, not adversative even by introducing an adversative thought. This clause merely repeats the same clause that is written in v. 31 and thus emphasizes the fact that the kernel must be sown; καί is our “even” and thus leaves the entire sentence from ὅς onward quite regular. The entire process is sketched: the mustard seed “comes up,” “becomes the greatest of all the vegetables,” “and makes great branches”—from the smallest beginning to the greatest development; μεῖξον is neuter to agree with (μικρότερονὄν (σπέρμα)).

We think of the little Babe in Bethlehem, of the small following of Jesus when his work seemed to end with his death, and then of the phenomenal development during all the years since that time. In a despised corner of the world, from a carpenter’s home, came a teacher who gathered a handful of ordinary disciples and then fell into the hands of his enemies and died a wretched malefactor’s death. This was no tower of Babel, nothing big in the eyes of the world. Yet this was the kingdom that was to encircle the world and that is to shine in glory forever, 1 Cor. 15:27, 28. Read the remarkable description in Ezek. 17:22–24. The great branches are not the great Christian denominations but the Christian believers in all the lands of the earth.

The result of this growth is described by ὥστε with the infinitive: “so that under its shadow the birds of the heaven (meaning the wild birds) are able to go tenting,” the present tense of the infinitive describes their sheltered stay. Only their stay is mentioned and not their eating of the seeds of the great mustard plant. Since the mustard tree itself is the kingdom, all who are in this kingdom are part of the tree. The wild birds who tent in the branches are not members of the kingdom; their stay in the branches is only temporary. These wild birds are men in general who are living in all lands and find the church beneficial and enjoy its wholesome influence in the world.

This parable pictures the kingdom in its visible growth. A number of thoughts are directly involved and necessarily implied. The entire power of this kingdom is divine. It is a living organism, and its life and its power are undying—all other growths of earth have the germs of decay and death in them. The growth continues throughout time (Matt. 24:14). As long as God’s kingdom was present in the Old Testament believers it was confined to them; the parable describes the kingdom of the New Testament, which is unconfined and spreads over the whole world.

Vital growth is described and not outward organization in great numbers (the ideal of Rome and of not a few Protestants). Being Christ’s rule of grace, the kingdom is always spiritual. This spirituality is, however, itself power and, although being invisible, makes its presence manifest in many outward and visible ways. This parable stimulates faith, encourages us in our work, and fills us with hope and joy.

Mark 4:33

33 And with many parables of this kind he continued to speak the Word to them even as they were able to hear; and without parable he was not accustomed to speak to them; in private, however, to his own disciples he kept solving everything.

These two verses regarding the general practice of Jesus close another subdivision of the first part of Mark’s Gospel; compare the general statements that close the preceding subparts: 2:35–39 and 3:7–12. This use of parables in speaking the Word to the people in no way excludes the possibility that on the occasion mentioned in v. 1, 2, when the people stood on the shore and Jesus taught them from a boat, he used also other parables than the few Mark records in this chapter. The imperfect ἐλάλει conveys the thought that teaching by means of parables became the practice of Jesus. καθώς shows that this corresponded to the ability of the people to hear what Jesus had to say.

Ἀκούειν is not to be understood in the intensive sense of understanding the inner meaning of the parables but in the ordinary sense of hearing so as to remember. What Mark intends to say is that Jesus could do little more than to use parabolic language. Unbelief did not and should not (v. 11, 12) penetrate this language; but unless Jesus should cease teaching the multitudes altogether, the alternative left to him was to offer them parables. The nature of these was to fix themselves in the memory with the hope that faith might eventually be kindled in some of the hearers and the truth penetrate their hearts. Otherwise the judgment that they should not understand would remain in force.

Mark 4:34

34 The negative statement which is now added emphasizes the positive and at the same time makes clear that Jesus now followed the custom of using many parables whenever and wherever he taught. It is overstraining this statement to think that Jesus spoke nothing but parables, for “without parable” means only that he inserted many parables into his discourses. Quite a number of them have been preserved to us. But “to his own disciples,” to the Twelve, he expounded everything “in private,” κατʼ ἰδίαν, an idiomatic phrase. This, too, was a practice that Jesus followed as the imperfect ἐπέλυε indicates; “he kept solving everything,” all that the disciples had difficulty in understanding.

Mark 4:35

35 And he says to them on that day, evening having come, Let us go across to the other side! And having left the multitude, they take him along as he was in the boat. And other boats were in his company.

The account is that of an eyewitness, is dated specifically and made vivid with details. We accept Mark’s dating of the storm “on that day” when Jesus spoke the parables from the boat to the multitude on the shore (v. 1, 2). This helps us to understand Matthew’s account when he writes in 13:36 that after he had spoken the parables Jesus dismissed the multitude, went to his house, and expounded the parable of the tares (darnel) to the disciples; and then in v. 53 that after having spoken the parables he went thence, i.e., crossed the lake and experienced the storm. Matthew and Mark thus agree. The latter reports that Jesus proposes to cross the lake “when evening came,” which allows ample time for Matthew’s addition that Jesus first took the disciples to his home for private instruction.

This helps us to understand Matthew’s account of the storm in 8:23, etc. Matthew first presents the great teaching of Jesus by recording the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5–7). He then proceeds with an account of the miracles (chapters 8, 9). He first of all narrates miracles that followed on the day of the sermon (8:1–17); he then turns to the evening of which Mark writes and relates that a crowd had again gathered at the home of Jesus, and that this induced Jesus to decide to leave. Matthew then reports the storm and the miracles that followed on the next day and completes his preliminary survey of the miracles in chapters 8, 9 to match his account of the teaching recorded in chapters 5–7.

As Matthew selects his material in chapters 8, 9 without regard to chronology, so Mark, too, disregards the connection of time in chapter 2; for in this chapter he reports what occurred after the return of Jesus from the trip across the lake (Mark 5:21; Matt. 9:1). Both evangelists thus record groups of connected events in a free manner, according to their significance and not merely according to their sequence in time. This creates problems in harmony but affords no justification for the charge that the evangelists openly contradict each other, which they never do.

Διέλθωμεν is the hortative subjunctive: “Let us go across”; εἰςτὸπέραν is an idiomatic phrase which substantivizes the adverb πέραν: “to the (region) beyond.” All that Mark says is that Jesus made this proposal in the evening of the day when he preached the parables from the boat. The sermon did not last until evening. After the multitude on the shore was dismissed, Jesus first went home and there instructed the disciples privately, Matt. 13:36, etc. When a new crowd assembled, Jesus gave the order to cross the lake, Matt. 8:18.

Mark 4:36

36 The dismissal of the multitude to which Mark refers is that which occurred immediately after the preaching of the parables. Mark omits mention of the return to the house in Capernaum since he has already stated in v. 34 that Jesus explained everything in private to the disciples. Matt. 8:23 tells us that Jesus entered a boat, and that the disciples followed him. Mark is more graphic and repeats the story as he often heard Peter tell it as to how the disciples “take him along,” παραλαμβάνουσι, most of them being sailors and thus taking charge of the boat.

“As he was” does not mean “as he was in the boat” after he had concluded his sermon, for we have learned that he then went home. “As he was” includes the idea that on his part Jesus made no preparations although this implication is sometimes denied. It was evening after a hard day’s work, and Jesus soon dropped off to sleep in the boat, which gives “as he was” the meaning: tired and weary as he was. Mark alone adds the detail that other boats accompanied that of Jesus. Such individuals of the crowd as could find boats used them to go with Jesus, and also these were overtaken by the storm.

Mark 4:37

37 A study of the three accounts of the storm is highly interesting, for it shows the independence of each account. And there comes a great hurricane of wind, and the waves crashed into the boat so that the boat was already filling.

Instead of the λαῖλαψἀνέμου used by Mark and Luke, Matthew writes σεισμός, the word for earthquake, which is here applied to the heaving waters. Mark has the waves crashing into the boat and filling it, Luke that they were filling it and placing it in jeopardy, Matthew that the boat was covered by the waves. The great danger is thus adequately pictured; ὥστε with the infinitive states the result of the waves’ crashing into the boat, the present infinitive γεμίξεσθαι describes the boat as gradually filling up.

The lake lies between high hills which form a deep trough and is thus subject to sudden tempests which at times develop a terrific fury as they roar down the gorge. Already the ancient commentators go beyond the natural causes involved in this storm. We refuse to bring in the devil or the presence of Judas in the boat, and we decline to accept the allegories which even later commentators wrap about the facts to the effect that upheavals must occur where Jesus is present. We consider entirely out of place the discussion about the two natures of Jesus: did his deity sleep? did he foreknow the coming of the storm? and similar tricky questions. The storm came in the providence of God, in whose hand are all the forces of nature. The peaceful sleep of Jesus is due to the perfect absence of fear in his heart and to his absolute trust in his Father’s care.

Mark 4:38

38 And he was sleeping in the stern on the pillow; and they arouse him and say to him, Teacher, dost thou not care that we are perishing?

Luke mentions the sleeping before he tells about the storm, Matthew and Mark do the reverse. Αὐτός is emphatic: he continued to sleep in spite of the storm. The uproar and the danger did not disturb or waken him. This fact is more than remarkable. The disciples were aghast, but Jesus slept quietly on. Mark has received the details from Peter that Jesus lay asleep “in the stern” of the boat “on the pillow,” τὸπροσκεφάλαιον, literally, “the thing for the head,” the article indicating that this pillow was always there.

Matthew is most dramatic in describing the action of the disciples, Luke next, and Mark must rank last despite the fact that he had Peter’s story to draw on. Since a number of the disciples aroused Jesus and cried out to him, their expressions varied, some saying, “Lord,” some “Teacher,” some “Master, Master.” All spoke the word about “perishing.” Mark reports that the question was asked: “Dost thou not care?” literally: “Is it no care to thee that?” etc., and the ὅτι clause is the subject of the impersonal μέλει, R. 427. It has a tone of reproach, but this is softened by the implication that it is unbelievable that Jesus should not care.

The fact that these disciples should turn to Jesus for help is astounding. A number of them were expert sailors who knew all about handling a boat, and who had been in many a violent storm on this lake. They run to Jesus who had never handled boats but had worked as a carpenter with his father in Nazareth. How could a former carpenter help these expert sailors when all their skill was at an end, and death in the roaring waves was their certain fate? In the providence of God this storm brought to expression such faith as they really had. Completely at the end of their resources, in which they had always taken great pride, they now throw themselves upon Jesus as their only hope.

They forget that he had never sailed a boat; they think not of human but of divine ability in him. They abandon all human help, the best of which they had in their own skill; they throw themselves utterly into the divine hands of Jesus.

That was faith. But their terror, the resorting to Jesus only in their extremity, their fear of death in the waves, are not faith but littleness of faith and are in glaring contrast with the calmness of Jesus. God’s providence also revealed this littleness of faith. They aroused Jesus, broke in on his sleep with differing cries. The cry reported by Mark is poignant to a degree. The present tense ἀπολλύμεθα, “we are in the act of perishing,” admits all of the disciples’ abject helplessness in the imminent catastrophe. The picture could hardly be more dramatic.

Mark 4:39

39 And having woke up completely, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Be silent! Put the muzzle on and keep it on! And the wind grew tired, and there came a great calm.

There is not a trace of fear or even of startled surprise at the terrible danger. The absolute serenity of Jesus is astounding. Matthew places the rebuke to the disciples before the act of stilling the tempest, but Mark and Luke seem to have the correct order of the acts. The preposition in the passive aorist participle διεγερθείς intensifies the verb form: Jesus roused up, was fully awake on the instant. The rebuke to the wind goes with what Jesus said to the sea, for wind and sea acted together. Note the two aorists “he rebuked,” “he said,” both are effective.

The mere word of Jesus was enough. Two words are enough, the asyndeton makes them both stronger. First the durative present σιώπα, “be silent and keep so right along.” Then one of the only two perfect imperatives in the New Testament, πεφίμωσο, the force of which is: “Put the muzzle on and keep it on!” R. 908. Mark alone reports the words that Jesus used.

The result of this command was instantaneous: “and there came a great calm.” All three synoptists record the calm, and they all use the significant aorist ἐγένετο, “there did come” on the instant, in obedience to that mighty command. It was God’s will in permitting the tempest to come at this time that Jesus should reveal his omnipotent power over the vast forces of nature by calming wind and waters with one word. Why should disciples be terrified at the threatening violence of natural forces when the hand of omnipotent power is over them? The rationalistic attempts to eliminate the miracle from the narratives are not worth serious attention.

Mark 4:40

40 And he said to them, How frightened you are! Have you not yet faith? And they feared with great fear and went on to say to each other, Who, then, is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

The observation is correct that τίδειλοί go together, and that τί is not “why,” introducing a question, but “how,” marking an exclamation: “How cowardly you are!” Compare the correct reading τί (not ὅτι) in Matt. 7:14: “How narrow the portal,” etc. The question as to why the disciples are frightened would be superfluous because Jesus himself indicates that this is due to lack of faith. What Jesus does is to express surprise that they are so fearful and cowardly, that they show such lack of faith. The rebuke lies in this exclamation, in the fact that Jesus felt that he had the right to expect more of them.

Two points, however, deserve attention. There is nothing in the text to indicate that merely because Jesus was physically in the boat the disciples had no right to be afraid. They had no right to be afraid even if Jesus had not been in the boat. As disciples of Jesus they were ever in their Father’s care, and that whether Jesus was physically present with them or not. The fact that Jesus is now always invisibly present with us (Matthew 28:20), and that we are in his keeping and care just as we are in our Father’s, should prevent us from drawing false conclusions from any necessity of his physical presence.

The other point is that the disciples had no right to fear even if they perished in the waves. We have no promise that mortal danger shall never plunge us into death merely because we are Christ’s own. In the counsel of God it may be his will that we die; we should then die with the mighty assurance that God’s will sends us what is best. We should die in confidence and not in fear. The reason these points are so generally overlooked is that this historical narrative is so frequently allegorized, and, even when the effort is made to avoid allegory, allegorical ideas still control the preacher’s mind.

In Matthew, Jesus addresses the disciples as “men of little faith” and in this way indicates what their fear showed that they lacked. In Mark and in Luke this is put into a question with the result that the sense is much the same. “Have you not yet faith?” and Luke’s: “Where is your faith?” do not deny that the disciples have faith but do raise the question about their faith. These are questions that the disciples themselves are to answer in humble self-examination. They certainly showed mighty little faith in this test. In fact, they acted as though all the training that Jesus had given them had not yet produced faith in them. Where was their faith in this hour when it should have come out full and strong?

This searching question humbled the disciples, shamed them. They had reason to hang their heads. At the same time this question urged them and prodded what faith they had. They saw how much they needed a faith, strong and courageous, and how much Jesus wanted them to have such a faith.

Mark 4:41

41 Matthew notes the astonishment, Mark the fear, and Luke both fear and astonishment in recording the effect of the miracle. Mark has the cognate accusative: ἐφοβήθησανφόβον, “feared greatly” or “with great fear,” which is explained in R. 468. The aorist records the fact as such, nor have we any trouble in understanding this as the effect. This is not the same fear as that which is expressed in δειλοί, namely cowardly terror. The danger was past. This “great fear” is the feeling of overpowering awe that was caused by the revelation of almighty power.

This feeling is bound to overcome weak mortals when, in their littleness, they meet the Omnipotent and behold his might. The disciples were not afraid of Jesus, did not run from him, but now looked upon him with the greatest awe. Matthew writes “the men” did this, which becomes clear when we recall Mark’s remark that other boats were in the company of Jesus on this occasion and witnessed the miracle (v. 36).

The second effect was that the disciples (and the others) went on to ask the pertinent question: “Who, then, is this?” etc. Matthew states a little more specifically: “What kind of person is this?” The insertion of ἄρα bases the question on what the disciples had experienced. All the synoptists have the significant οὗτος, “this one” or “this person,” and by this demonstrative connect Jesus with what he had done. The point in asking in regard to his person is stated in the ὅτι clause. Ὅτι is consecutive (R. 1001), almost equal to ὥστε (R. 699): “seeing that” or simply “that” (and not “since” or “because”).

The great single occurrence is generalized: “even the wind and the sea obey him,” ὑπακούονσιν, present tense, do so as a matter of course. R. 1182 translates the two καί “both … and,” but this fact that both wind and sea obey sounds as if there would be no marvel if only one of the two obeyed. No, we translate the first καί “even” and put wind and sea together as compared with other domains in which Jesus showed his power. These men recognized that even the mighty elements, wind and sea, were wholly subject to the mere command of Jesus. Their experience was too tremendous to permit any rationalizing explanation.

All the evangelists stop with the great question which passed from mouth to mouth and append none of the answers that were given. There was little need to record the answers. Yet we are told that the thought is in no way indicated that by stilling the tempest Jesus revealed Himself as God. But we at once feel that this assertion of the older rationalism and of its off-spring, modernism, is in contradiction with the text and with the Gospels in general. Who but God can make the raging wind and sea obey a word?

R. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, fourth edition.

B.-D. Friedrich Blass’ Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, vierte, voellig neugearbeitete Auflage besorgt von Albert Debrunner.

B.-P. Griechisch-Deutsches Woerterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments, etc., von D. Walter Bauer, zweite, etc., Auflage zu Erwin Preuschens Vollstaendigem Griechisch-Deutschen Handwoerterbuch, etc.