Matthew 13:15, commentary and pictures

Matthew 13:15 repeats Isaiah's prophecy as fulfilled in the crowds who heard Jesus after the parable of the sower, where the mysteries of the kingdom are given to teachable disciples but hidden from those who reject light, so the one who cherishes truth receives more while the one who refuses loses even what he had. The dullness it describes is willfully self-imposed, not forced by Christ, for people harden their own hearts, close their own eyes and ears through prejudice, pride and love of the world, and refuse to see, hear, understand, turn and be healed. To see with the eyes is to grasp the evidence, to hear with the ears is to heed God's truth, and to be converted and healed is to turn with the heart to God, receive Christ's righteousness and bear His likeness, without which there is no healing. Because plain truth would be misused by hardened hearers, Christ spoke in parables to awaken inquiry, expose wrongdoing without giving cause for arrest, and let honest seekers still understand while those without love for truth could not discern His doctrine. The same condition reaches all who now resist light, yet the hard-beaten heart can still be broken by repentance, cultivated by personal loving labor, and opened by willingness to give up all for Christ, so that attentive hearing sanctifies the soul and bears fruit to God's glory.

Parable Setting and Fulfillment

The saying is Isaiah's prophecy fulfilled in the multitudes who heard Jesus after the parable of the sower and the seed. Truth was hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed to babes, the mysteries of the kingdom were given to the disciples but not to rejecters of light, so whoever has will be given more and whoever has not will lose even what he has. By contrast the disciples' eyes and ears are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear. Those living then were highly favored to receive Bible truth, precious light framed by Christ's words about hearts hardened, hearing dulled, and eyes closed so that people do not understand, turn to God, and receive healing.

The verse belongs to the parable of the sower, where seed illustrates the gospel and soil represents how people receive God's word. The varied responses to Christ's teaching show how tendencies of the human heart shaped results and explain the limited immediate results of His ministry. Some were like wayside, stony, or thorny ground and did not mature, some were briefly stirred then drawn back by cares and surroundings, while others treasured the word, and among thorny hearers the growth was choked though a few others could still be nourished, strengthened, and established in the truth. The hard-hearted reject truth by their own inward resistance and unwillingness, for Christ does not use miraculous force to compel belief or obedience. The seed of truth falls on different soils, yet poor soil is no reason to stop sowing, for the word is to be proclaimed everywhere even when results are not immediately seen. Good seed sown in good soil bears fruit unto eternal life, the mind is especially impressible in early life so that is when the seed should be sown, and Jesus is the divine Sower who scattered precious seeds of truth restored from error and arranged in the gospel.

In His earlier ministry He spoke in words so plain that all hearers might have grasped truths which make wise unto salvation. But in many hearts truth took no root and was quickly caught away, so hearts waxed gross, ears became dull of hearing, and eyes were closed, seeing without seeing and hearing without hearing or understanding.

The Jews in Christ's day were spiritually blind though the treasure house of all knowledge was in their midst in Christ. Though they had eyes and ears and intellect they did not see nor hear nor discern the hidden treasure of the gospel, like a man in dire necessity resting unknowingly over treasure hidden at the roots of a tree. Those trusting in their own wisdom and vain philosophy did not perceive the beauty, power, and mystery of redemption. For this reason He wept over Jerusalem because the things belonging to its peace were hid from its eyes.

In the verse, seeing with the eyes means understanding the evidence, hearing with the ears means heeding God's truth, and being converted and healed means turning to God with the heart, receiving Christ's righteousness, bearing God's likeness, and receiving His healing. Without understanding there is no conversion or healing, for hearts grown unresponsive, ears dull, and eyes closed fail to understand God's message. The failure to believe was not caused by lack of evidence, since understanding had been convinced by works, yet pride, prejudice, stubbornness, and self-righteousness refused to acknowledge the truth, so further signs would not have changed unbelief.

Willful Self-Imposed Blindness

The failure to understand comes from the people's own hardened hearts and closed eyes, not from Christ blinding them. People bring blindness and deafness upon themselves by willful refusal to see, hear, and understand, which keeps them from conversion and healing. Truth is never forced upon a heart that fights against it and resists its entrance. Christ does not use miraculous force to compel belief or obedience.

People willfully close themselves to truth because prejudice makes them unwilling to see or hear, understand with the heart, turn from their course, and be healed. The Jews in Christ's day did this to avoid seeing a better way and being disturbed from carnal security, and people in every generation follow the same course when they prefer error, remain satisfied with their condition, and have no desire to be converted. They close their eyes to light because they fear seeing the truth and being converted and changed. They refuse light when it does not excuse breaking God's law, and accepting Christ would require giving up cherished beliefs and practices.

The closed condition is a refusal to receive what has already been seen and heard. Understanding may be convinced by clear evidence, works, and miracles, yet pride, prejudice, stubbornness, and self-righteousness refuse to acknowledge the truth. Further signs, evidence, discussion, explanations, or meetings do no good until the dullness and hardness are removed, for greater light only increased hatred rather than softening those who deliberately refused to see. In that condition people need a new heart, a converted soul, and a renewed mind and purpose before they can hear and be blessed.

The Pharisees understood Jesus' parable but pretended not to, deliberately shutting their eyes and ears so its truth would not reach their hearts. Their chosen ignorance and self-imposed blindness made them accountable and brought retribution. Jesus used parables to expose their hypocrisy and evil deeds while avoiding arrest that would interrupt His work, for they recognized His meaning but could not condemn Him for speaking through simple illustrations.

The closed state shows in coming to pick little flaws and drawing minds away from solemn truth meant for them. Darkness comes from rejecting clear light already given, not from lack of light. People who resist truth become spiritually insensitive so their hearts grow unresponsive, their ears fail to heed, and they shut their eyes to what they see, which keeps them from understanding, turning to God, and receiving healing.

Causes That Dull Hearing

Covetousness and clinging to worldly associations keep the heart from responding to conviction, so that even great light with explanations of prophecy is heard yet not welcomed, and without turning there is no conversion or healing. Evil habits and following inclination instead of duty harden the heart until the sacred character of truth is not grasped, even while belief is professed. Eyes are closed to conviction when truth exposes faults, refusing to let it sanctify, and where truth is received it is choked by cares, riches, pleasures, and honors. Accountability rests on those who hear the word of truth yet reject its instruction and warnings.

Sin hardens the heart, and waywardness and corruption of heart will not honestly and candidly weigh evidences, so the marvelous work by which God confirms His Word and the workings of His Spirit by His power are not perceived, not for lack of evidence. Conformity to the world clouds conceptions of divine things, while a low conception of the spirit that should govern life makes the heart gross. Carelessness, sensuality, pride, and selfishness stand against the pure principles of truth, and refusing to bring life into harmony with God's will and to learn lessons and bring the Word into practical life dulls the heart and leads to being lost.

Pride, selfishness, and vanity close ears and blind eyes lest the Spirit's appeals arouse attention and command assent, because the heart is unwilling to be directed in the path of righteousness that leads to the city of God. Self-delusion and a sense of superiority make the heart soil in which heavenly truth cannot take root. That self-exalting feeling claims all faith, honor, and love for itself, supposes others at fault, and speaks strong hard crushing words of reproof and condemnation that crush hope and courage like nether millstones. It is full of evil surmising that suspects even the purest, makes a man an offender for a word, and turns goodness of heart in true Christians into roots of bitterness by which many are defiled.

Envy, suspicion, and hostility toward God's servants make the heart unreceptive, and refusing the light and opportunities God gives hardens it against His work, with eyes and ears closed so there is no inward understanding, turning back to God, or healing. Idolizing opinions and being governed by preconceived ideas rather than a plain Thus saith the Lord, with refusal to be convinced, leaves teachers and ministers walking as spiritually blind, having eyes but not seeing and ears but not hearing lest they be converted and healed, needing converting power though many of the people are far ahead of them in experience. Satan then beclouds perceptions and hardens hearts so that own ways are not given up to work for a backslidden church and point sinners to the Lamb of God. Letting self rule, seeking to dominate God's heritage and compel conscience, which is offensive to God, shuts the self-exalters off from seeing and hearing, whereas grace puts self in the dust, exalts Jesus, and gives modesty, meekness, lowliness of heart, and expanding love.

The Jewish nation came to this unresponsive condition gradually from generation to generation by following false theories, adopting principles opposed to truth, and placing human inventions above God's truth. Leaders turned from true knowledge by studying Scripture to support traditions and man-made observances, and their interpretations obscured what God made plain and denied essential truths, leaving them closed to Christ's teaching. Eyes thus closed and hearts and ears dull could not see the uselessness of the multitudinous traditional ceremonies that constituted their religion, though Christ greatly desired to open their blinded eyes.

Receiving truth would require giving up cherished errors and being changed, so hearts grow dull, hearing becomes sluggish, and eyes are closed to avoid understanding, turning, and healing. Cherished traditions, selfish practices, and preconceived opinions are feared as the price of being convinced and converted, so abundant evidence for Christ as Messiah and the testimony of Scripture are refused. Worldly interests and attachment to the enemy's cause keep people from seeing the importance of God's saving work and from turning from worldly attractions to heavenly things. When earthly attractions are willingly given up, even all to win Christ, eyes open to see things as they are and to recognize the true nature of what was once valued.

Parables to Reach Closed Ears

In His earlier ministry He spoke in words so plain that all hearers might have grasped the truths which make wise unto salvation, but in many hearts the truth took no root and was quickly caught away, so hearts waxed gross, ears became dull of hearing, and eyes were closed, seeing without seeing and hearing without hearing or understanding. Because seeing they saw not and hearing they heard not, He spoke to them in parables to awaken inquiry, to arouse the careless, to impress truth upon the heart, and to hold back truths the people were unprepared to accept or even understand. By connecting teaching with the scenes of life, experience, and nature, attention was secured and hearts were impressed, so that afterward the sight of the objects recalled the lessons, and to minds open to the Holy Spirit the significance unfolded more and more until mysteries grew clear. Those who desired a knowledge of divine things could still understand, for honest inquirers would receive explanation, and His parables were designed to awaken inquiry and lead to a clearer understanding of truth among a varied audience that included educated and influential listeners, many of whom received and treasured them so that no one in the assembly could refute His words.

Truth presented plainly would be misused, so He spoke plainly to His disciples but in parables before Pharisees and Sadducees, and the lesson is to avoid closing hearers' ears by presenting truths they are unprepared to receive or that have not been fully explained. Parables were the only way He could rebuke sin without causing personal offense and expose hypocrisy, evil deeds, and wrongdoing while avoiding arrest and grounds for arrest that would interrupt His work, and He taught in figures and parables to avoid opposition from the Pharisees. This was necessary because mingled with His hearers were angels in the form of men who made suggestions against the truth and criticized, misapplied, and misinterpreted His words, and the same work goes on now, with evil angels in the form of men talking with those who know the truth and misinterpreting and misconstruing the statements of God's messengers. Hearts are not moved by the gospel because Satan is linked up with the religionists, good seed is sown but the soil of the heart was not prepared so the seed does not spring up to bear fruit, and the enemy comes with his suggestions and insinuations so that the words of life that were spoken lose their force. The Pharisees understood the parable but pretended not to, deliberately shutting their eyes and ears so its truth would not reach their hearts, and their chosen ignorance and self-imposed blindness made them accountable and brought retribution.

Parables were the only way He could reach people in that hardened state, whose eyes were closed and whose hearts and ears were dull to truth, so that they could not see the uselessness of the multitudinous traditional ceremonies that constituted their religion. He greatly desired to open their blinded eyes to that uselessness. In contrast, disciples were to open their minds to instruction and be ready to believe, and they were blessed because they saw and heard with believing hearts, while those who closed eyes and ears against the truth so it could not reach their hearts did so willfully and would suffer retribution for it.

His teachings were sown as seed for later cultivation, and minds and hearts that desired light and knowledge could receive them as precious treasure. Pointed truth cuts hearers to the heart even when its effect is not seen at once, because truth is seed sown in the mind that is to spring up and bear fruit to the glory of God for the saving of many souls. Attentive listeners keep what they heard until after the crucifixion and resurrection, when those lessons are revived in their hearts, and they then repeat that instruction for the benefit of future generations to the close of time. Some hearers only dimly understand, though seeds of life take root in their hearts and later bear fruit, while others come from curiosity or a desire for excitement. Some who heard Him in the judgment hall heeded Him, and the gospel seed took root in them and later bore abundant fruit as faith in Him as Redeemer, and likewise Nicodemus showed little apparent fruit for three years, though he watched closely, considered the teachings, and saw evidence of Messiahship before responding, at first not publicly declared.

Great truths were hid under similitudes so that persons who had not the truth or the love of it, whose hearts are misled by their own tempers and gratified inclinations, could not know His doctrines, while an honest and pure heart discerns His doctrines even when given in parables. The unfruitful hearers with gross hearts, dull ears, and closed eyes are the skeptical, the superficial, and the secular, who cannot discern the moral glory of the truth or its practical personal application to their own hearts. They lack the faith which overcomes the world, and as the sure consequence the world overcomes them. Fruitful hearing is in proportion as hearers understand the Word and receive it into good and honest hearts, and that is in proportion to faith, not learning, for it is close connection with God that opens and makes quick and sharp the understanding.

Loss of Conversion and Healing

A gross heart is one that does not care to be converted from the error of its ways even when tested by instruction and surrounded by light. Because the will is not on the side of God's will and the truth is not loved, the truth has no sanctifying and refining influence upon such hearers. Their closed eyes, dull ears, and unresponsive hearts keep them from understanding the message, and without understanding there is no conversion or healing. For them all the light shining about becomes darkness, good is called evil and evil good, testimony becomes unreliable, and darkness closes about them. They must be separated and are gathered in bundles with the tares to be consumed by the fires of the last day, until the cry comes from unfeigned lips that the harvest is past, the summer is ended, and the soul is not saved.

Israel had received great light but in perversity refused to repent and be converted, so Christ could not heal them. Christ offers healing to those who repent and are converted, and God bears long with perversity. But those given great light who refuse to heed warnings, refuse to repent and turn to God so He can heal them, pass a boundary beyond which fearful punishment falls. So it fell upon Israel after the people crossed the boundaries of God's patience.

Before its end as a nation the Jewish nation looked to itself and did not repent and be converted so Christ could heal them. Because of that hardened condition of closed eyes and ears and unresponsive hearts, wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes were the beginning of His judgments on Israel and signs of its destruction. The rabbis falsely proclaimed those same signs to be God's judgments on the nations holding Israel in bondage and tokens of the Messiah's advent to release His chosen nation. The signs they mistook for promises of release from bondage were instead warnings of approaching judgment, because the people had not repented and been converted.

The verse is fulfilled in those who profess to obey the truth yet fail to walk in its light. To have great light and blessing with many opportunities and privileges and make no saving use of them brings condemnation measured by the privileges granted, the same sentence as Chorazin and Bethsaida. By hearing they hear and do not understand, and seeing they see and do not perceive, because the heart is waxed gross, the ears are dull of hearing, and the eyes are closed, lest they see with eyes and hear with ears and understand with heart and be converted and healed. Those who walk in the light receive increased light, but those walking in sparks of their own kindling lie down in sorrow, so the windows of mind and heart must be opened to welcome the heaven-sent rays now shining.

Warning to Present Hearers

The same condition that fell on the Jews falls on some who profess present truth, who do not understand the marvelous work by which God confirms His word and do not perceive the workings of His Spirit by His power. It is seen in some connected with important institutions who have adopted false principles and resisted truth, and in those entrusted with important responsibilities whose hearts have grown unresponsive, whose hearing is dull, and whose eyes are closed to what they see and hear, so they do not understand, turn to God, and receive healing. That hardness was reached gradually from generation to generation by following false theories, adopting principles opposed to truth, and placing human inventions above God's truth. It describes leaders whose lack of spiritual insight and willingness to be led hinders God's work, whose unbelief and counterworking delay advances that living faith and united action could have made. Evidence and discussion alone cannot open such eyes, for without personal experience of faith in Christ there is no understanding; what is needed is conversion, a new heart, and the righteousness of Christ, received by looking to Jesus in faith as Saviour and sacrifice, while resisting light and warnings sent by the Holy Spirit leaves the heart hard. Sin hardens the heart, waywardness and corruption of heart will not let evidences be honestly and candidly weighed, conformity to the world clouds conceptions of divine things, and pride, selfishness, and vanity close ears and blind eyes lest the Spirit's appeals arouse attention and command assent, because the unwilling refuse to be directed in the path of righteousness that leads to the city of God.

Teachers and ministers can walk and act as spiritually blind, as in Christ's day, having eyes but not seeing and ears but not hearing lest they be converted and healed. They idolize their own opinions and are governed by preconceived ideas rather than a plain Thus saith the Lord, refusing to be convinced while Satan beclouds perception and hardens the heart, so they will not give up their own ways to work for a backslidden church and point sinners to the Lamb of God; they gather clouds of darkness about their souls, pass the word given in God's name by as though unheard, shut sight against conversion, and plan in human wisdom instead of seeking God, so Satan takes control of unsanctified reason to misunderstand and misapply, and further particulars and explanations will not make them understand more clearly. They need the converting power of God, since many of the people are far ahead of them in experience of the things of God, and the highest interests of souls for time and eternity depend on rightly understanding the work for this time. One given precious opportunities to see and feel the power of God's warnings may yet refuse warning through self-confidence, having eyes but seeing not and ears but hearing not, doing the very work warned against, and coming to understanding and conversion requires retracing the wrong road step by step and turning to follow Christ as Leader. The same blindness and deafness apply to church members who resist warnings and correction, accept deceiving messages, and remain spiritually asleep, bringing shame on the Lord.

The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is life-and-death instruction to be read as for life and taken to self. Hearers of the word of truth who reject its instruction and warnings are accountable, having received great light, including explanations of prophecy, yet refusing to welcome it because covetousness and attachment to worldly associations keep them from responding to conviction, conversion, and healing. No man is to be allowed to blind the sight by human sophistries or by mocking burlesque of sacred things, which is blasphemy. Christ's teaching looks to the future destiny of those for whom He gave His life, showing that the saved must form characters without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God by cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, in preparation to be judged according to deeds done in this life and to stand acquitted without spot or stain.

Deliberate unwillingness to receive light leaves people unhealed, warning against choosing ignorance and unbelief instead of humbly investigating and accepting truth. Those who turn from God's truth become unable or unwilling to see, hear, and understand rightly, seeing with transgressors' eyes, hearing with their ears, and understanding with perverted senses by adopting distorted judgment, a way of thinking God's servants must refuse. Refusing to heed warnings leaves people spiritually blind and unreceptive so they fail to understand, turn back, and receive healing, while humbling the heart before God and being converted is the way to healing.

Spiritual dullness is a heart that cannot feel, ears that hear not, eyes that see not, and understanding that fails. It fails to discern a vast procession of all kindreds, tongues, and nations passing in unbroken ranks to perdition, men, women, and children who know not Christ perishing in the perils of the last day without knowing the time of their visitation, this probation as the only time salvation can be secured, and a curse soon coming on nations that know not God. Those entrusted with the gospel and given light for others, churches that have heard the last message of mercy, do not awake as agents responsible to God and faithful stewards of Christ's grace, are not in earnest to save the perishing, do not bear truth as light in darkness nor warn, reprove, and rebuke with all longsuffering and doctrine, but remain careless, self-loving, and serving self. Hearts grown dull also describes careless worldly people who reject truth and Christ's righteousness, deal dishonestly with what belongs to God, and trample God's law, especially the Sabbath, grieving the Saviour who desires to save them.

Opening Hearts to Receive

The heart is a garden and soil where good or bad seed is sown, like an uncultivated field that must be cultivated and prepared for sowing just as a garden must be prepared for natural seed. The soil of the heart must be broken up by repentance, and the evil growths that choke the good grain must be uprooted, for hardness of heart and inattention are not unavoidable but come by resisting the Spirit and leave men responsible for the hardness that keeps the word from rooting. As no raw land yields a harvest at once without diligent persevering labor in preparing soil, sowing seed and culturing the crop, and as soil overgrown with thorns is reclaimed only by diligent labor, so evil tendencies of the heart are overcome only by earnest effort in the name and strength of Christ. The natural and the spiritual sowing correspond, with seed cast into the ground picturing death and the springing blade picturing resurrection, a correspondence to be made practical by tilling the soil. Children's minds are to be cultivated with watchful guard, for the enemy sows tares in children and youth that will bear evil fruit unless parents keep unceasing care, teaching them to reject trashy exciting tales and turn to sensible reading that leads to Bible story, history and argument and throws light upon Scripture and quickens desire to study it. Parents are given the work of preparing the soil of their children's hearts in the early years, bringing them up in nurture and admonition with the Word as standard, a work not to be neglected or trusted to other hands nor set aside for fashions of the world, since future happiness depends on early education and those who faint not will reap in children growing into Christian men and women through persistent thoughtful labor for those outside Christ.

Hard hearts are like a beaten path where seed cannot readily take root, yet they can be softened through Christlike personal care that reveals Christ's love and lets truth take root. When the heart is gross and unsoftened, preaching alone is like precious seed sown that does not take root and is lost, so the soil must be cultivated by personal contact beyond the pulpit and softened and subdued by the Spirit of God. Those in the congregation who seem interested should be observed and spoken to after the service, asking how the subjects appear and whether the matter is clear, showing by kindness and courtesy a real interest and care for souls. A few words spoken in private will often do more good than the whole discourse, and direct appeal to come to Christ softens hearts, sweeps away prejudice, and brings conversion and healing.

Seed may lie hidden for a time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart, or lie dormant after careful sowing with anxiety, self-denial and continued sacrifice, yet God's grace convicts the heart and the Spirit quickens and waters it so that after many days it springs up and bears fruit to God's glory. Even in the most careless, lessons of divine truth sown by teaching wrought in God linger in memory until the Holy Spirit waters them into fruitfulness. Poor soil is therefore no reason to stop sowing, but the word is to be proclaimed everywhere even when results are not immediately seen. The work requires the mind of Christ, perseverance without weariness in well-doing, and unselfish earnest persevering labor together with Christ and heavenly angels for the salvation of others. Patient, noncontroversial religious influence that approaches people where they are weakens prejudice and prepares hearts to receive truth.

When a teachable, consecrated worker who walks with God and has brought truth into the inner sanctuary of the soul presents truth as a living reality in demonstration of the Spirit and of power and lifts up Jesus, the people hear the joyful sound because God speaks to their hearts through him. A mind too dark to know God, an eye too dim to see Him, and an ear too dull to hear His voice shut a person out from what He teaches through creation. When that condition is absent, studying the works of God together with Scripture lets the Holy Spirit flash conviction into the mind that logical reasoning does not produce, so a deeper meaning is grasped and sublime spiritual truths are impressed on the heart, because divine truth in Scripture is reflected as from a mirror in nature and through creation the Creator becomes known.

Hearing and receiving determine whether the seed bears fruit, and preaching the theory of truth alone may not bring a hearer to fruitful faith, but presenting Christ as Saviour and proclaiming His redeeming love helps the seed bear fruit. Speech itself can plant seeds of truth in many hearts, and the sowing image calls for overcoming indifference to carry the message to those who have not heard, whose hearts have grown unresponsive with closed eyes and ears so they do not understand, turn, or receive healing. Hearts prepared to receive the seed welcome its message with joy, which is the condition that allows a person to receive it.

Worldly interests and attachment to the enemy's cause keep people from seeing the importance of the saving work, but when willing to give up earthly attractions and all to win Christ, eyes open to see things as they are and recognize the true nature of what was once valued. Attentive hearing with desire to know the truth opens the understanding so the soul gains real possession of the truth and is sanctified through it, with each individual soul itself accepting the truth sent to him and honoring God by accepting gracious words in love. Those who hear the explanation of salvation yet lack personal experience of faith cannot have their eyes opened by evidence and discussion alone, for they need conversion, a new heart, and Christ's righteousness, and looking to Jesus in faith as Saviour and sacrifice opens the eyes and brings new life, while resisting light and warnings sent by the Holy Spirit leaves the heart hard.