And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
Jesus spoke the word through many parables, fitting His teaching to what His hearers were able to hear and receive. He gave instruction in that adapted form so it could be understood, and His teaching was then to be followed by explaining it to people and correcting misunderstandings by showing what the Scriptures said. He taught in simple, vivid language with plain symbols, figures, and comparisons. He drew those illustrations from nature, familiar things, and everyday experience, so that even the least able to understand could grasp His meaning. Spoken in that way, truth reached both the understanding and the heart. The parables made spiritual truth clear, stirred interest and inquiry, and helped hearers remember the lesson. Those illustrations made His lessons lasting and memorable, and prompted questions that clarified the force of the truth. He used parables with those likely to misuse the truth, while speaking plainly to His disciples. Parables could also convey rebuke without giving His opponents grounds to condemn Him. Truth should still be presented only in the way people are prepared to understand it, with care not to shut their ears by giving truths before they are explained and received. The verse illustrates that God reveals light gradually, giving reformers understanding step by step, because presenting people with more than they could bear would have turned them away.
Jesus spoke the word through many parables, fitting His teaching to what His hearers were able to hear and receive. He gave instruction in that adapted form so it could be understood, and His teaching was then to be followed by explaining it to people and correcting misunderstandings by showing what the Scriptures said.
He taught in simple, vivid language with plain symbols, figures, and comparisons. He drew those illustrations from nature, familiar things, and everyday experience, so that even the least able to understand could grasp His meaning. Spoken in that way, truth reached both the understanding and the heart.
The parables made spiritual truth clear, stirred interest and inquiry, and helped hearers remember the lesson. Those illustrations made His lessons lasting and memorable, and prompted questions that clarified the force of the truth.
He used parables with those likely to misuse the truth, while speaking plainly to His disciples. Parables could also convey rebuke without giving His opponents grounds to condemn Him.
Truth should still be presented only in the way people are prepared to understand it, with care not to shut their ears by giving truths before they are explained and received. The verse illustrates that God reveals light gradually, giving reformers understanding step by step, because presenting people with more than they could bear would have turned them away.